The hummingbird was inside the room before Nova even had a chance to finish her sentence. They waited for the bird to return, but quickly grew nervous when she failed to come out.
AJ slipped into the room before anyone could try to stop him. They waited for a few seconds before going in after him.
As they entered, they found Thorn floating in the middle of the room. AJ stood by her side with his back to the door, gazing up at the wall. The bird’s light revealed a new kind of horror.
“Oh. My.” Felix said, stepping back and nearly tripping over a piece of junk on the floor. He quickly scuttled back up and suppressed a gasp.
Thorn’s light revealed row upon row of lifeless Collector bodies stacked on top of one another. Even in their powered-down state, they looked no less terrifying than they had back at the energy farm. The slack tentacles were ensnarled around each other.
“They’re not moving. Are they dead?”
“No. They aren’t dead,” Nova said. “They’re just… empty.”
“Empty?” Felix asked. He kept waiting for one of the red eyes to snap open.
“They’re just shells right now.” She looked around. “This room… It must be where they store the Collector bodies before…” Her voice grew shaky and quiet.
“Before what?” Felix asked.
“Before the minds are downloaded into them. AJ was right: they brought Achilles here to transfer his mind. They’re going to turn him into a Collector.”
“Then we need to hurry up and find Achilles before it’s too late,” Brady said.
“Right.” Nova composed herself. “We must be getting closer at least.”
They left the room and continued down the dark corridor. Eventually they came to a place where the tunnel forked into two paths.
“We’re running out of time,” AJ said. “It’s time to split up. I’ll go this way while you three go that way. I’m not afraid.”
The others reluctantly agreed. AJ disappeared down the left path while Nova, Felix, and Brady headed down the right. After a short while, they heard a deep bellow in the direction AJ had gone. Felix hesitated as if to turn back, but Brady pulled him forward.
There was a doorway at the end of the corridor, taller and wider than the ones they had seen earlier. A sound came from the other side that caused Felix to freeze in his tracks. It was softer now than it had been on the train, but Felix would recognize it anywhere.
It was the sound of static.
The voice in the box.
“That noise,” Felix said. “I recognize it from the train. There’s something in that room…”
The three friends passed through the doorway into a large, oval-shaped room. Like the other areas they had explored, the walls here were nothing more than fused scrap, but these walls were covered with green-tinted screens full of meaningless data. Brady almost screamed when he saw the bodies of several Collectors dangling from hooks on the ceilings like motionless marionettes. Their tentacles were limp and pooled on the ground.
In the middle of the room lay Achilles, motionless.
“Achilles!” Nova cried.
She ran over to him and wrapped her arms around his body. But the canine did not stir. A cable ran from his head to a lifeless Collector shell, and the monster’s tentacles twitched in time with a strange flickering in Achilles’ eyes.
Nova looked up at Brady and Felix with tear-streaked cheeks. “We’re too late—they’ve already started the transfer.”
Brady was the first to respond. “I’m sorry, Nova, I don’t know what to say.”
Felix walked over, knelt down, and put his hand on the dog’s head, which felt cold now. “I’m sorry, Achilles. I failed you.” He laid his own head down on the dog’s body. “Can’t we stop it somehow?” he asked.
“I don’t know how,” Nova replied. She lowered her head.
Suddenly, there was a startling blast of white noise.
The static.
They all looked around for the source of the sound. Felix spotted the box with the glowing circle. A cable ran from the box to a second Collector that dangled above.
“It’s coming from over there,” he said, pointing. “That’s the thing I saw on the train. The Collectors must have brought it here with Achilles.”
The noise grew softer, then ceased altogether. A woman’s voice filled the room.
“Nova?”
Astonished, Nova turned around slowly to face the glowing box.
“Alethea?”
“It’s not too…” A long pause, more static. “… late.”
Another hiss.
“My father,” Nova said. “He thought they had destroyed you.”
“Not destroyed… Not yet.”
“We can get you out of here,” Nova said. “You’re more powerful than all of them, Alethea. Can’t you do something?”
“Crippled… weak… no time.” The broken words were interspersed with bursts of static. “The cables… use them… save Achilles.”
“But we’re humans. They won’t work.”
“Transfer… shouldn’t… on humans.”
A final hiss erupted from the speakers, and the room went quiet. The light from the box began to fade, the energy draining.
“Alethea?” Nova shouted, looking around. She turned to the others. “They must be transferring her too!”
AJ sprinted into the room. “The Collectors know we’re here. They’re coming!”
“Then we’ve got to block the doorway,” Brady said, looking around for something to put in front of the entrance. AJ joined him, and together they began piling scrap in front of the door. The bellows of Collectors called out from far down the hall, announcing their imminent arrival.
“Who is Alethea?” Felix asked.
“An old friend,” Nova replied. “She helped us when no one else would.”
She thought to herself for a second.
“She said to use the cables…”
“… to interface with Achilles’ mind,” Felix finished.
“You’re not actually thinking of touching those things, are you?” Brady interrupted.
“Alethea said it was safe for humans,” Nova said. “There’s no other way.”
“And if you’re wrong, you’ll end up with your brain trapped inside a robot squid.”
Disregarding Brady’s warning, Nova looked around and found a spare cable lying on the floor. She held the end up to get a better look. The cable began to hum softly as it came near.
“You don’t even know how that thing works!” Brady argued.
“You just put it against your head,” AJ said as he continued to shovel scrap against the growing barricade.
“Thanks a lot, AJ!” Brady yelled at the pint-sized robot.
To Brady’s surprise, Felix reached down and picked up a second cable. Surely his brother wasn’t that dumb.
Then again, maybe he was.
Brady raced over and tried to pry the cable from Felix’s hand. “No way, Felix! You can’t do this! I can’t keep saving you every time you get into trouble.”
Felix clutched the cable tightly in one arm and pushed Brady away with the other. “You heard Nova, Brady! It’s the only way. What else are we going to do, let them turn Achilles into one of those monsters? You always run when it matters most!”
The words struck a deep chord. It would have been less painful if Felix had hit him with a hammer. Brady backed off. “Fine. If you and Nova are going to try to bring Achilles back, I’m going with you. AJ, how long can you hold them off?”
AJ was still building his barrier between them and the outside hallway. “Long enough—hopefully, but hurry up!”
“Great! Make sure nothing happens to us!” Brady spotted a free cable and grabbed it. “Okay, on the count of three.”
Nova, Brady, and Felix gripped their cables.
“One… two… three!”
Brady took a deep breath and raised the cable to his forehead. Felix and Nova followed his lead and did the s
ame. He felt it tug at his skin, and he let go of it; the end of the cable remained firmly attached. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he felt a weird tingling coming from his mind, like something trying to worm its way in.
He began to feel drowsy all of a sudden. As his eyes closed, Brady watched his brother and Nova slump to the floor.
Chapter 31: Achilles’ Mind
A STRANGE NOTHINGNESS surrounded him; it was a sensation unlike anything he had ever felt before. He was floating like an ethereal spirit, alone in the cold and the darkness of space. The buzzing he felt in his head earlier continued, and he knew it didn’t come from within. It was slight at first, nothing more than an annoyance. But the feeling gradually became more insidious—it was a presence that was making its way toward the very core of his being. It was unpleasant and unwelcome, and the harder he worked to keep it away, the more intense the strangeness became.
Then, without warning, the buzzing stopped—and a single point of light pierced the darkness. The strange force had found its way in; he knew he was no longer safe.
Brady felt his own thoughts being torn away from him; his very essence was spiraling toward the light like water down a drain. He could see his thoughts as they passed by: the people he had loved, places he had been, things he had experienced. One by one they slipped away, and he began to lose his sense of self, his meaning, his purpose. He no longer knew who he was or why he was here. He had been tucked away in the place in the mind where memories go to be forgotten.
And all of a sudden, it didn’t matter any longer. His worries were gone. He was free. There was nothing left other than his own airy, passing thoughts to keep him company. He was content, and nothing else mattered. Brady knew there had to be a point to this strange place, but he didn’t much care. He just relaxed and drifted along, not thinking about much of anything in particular.
He was about to lose himself altogether.
And that was okay.
But an ounce of something remained in him that knew this wasn’t right. It clung to him for dear life and wouldn’t let go, no matter how strongly the force of the intruder beckoned. Brady latched on to this single piece of himself. He knew he wasn’t right for what lay beyond the light, and he began to pull back, harder and harder. His thoughts began to slow; they stretched in space, taut, like a rubber band, a Mobius strip without beginning or end.
He pulled with all his might.
Suddenly his thoughts released with the force of a thousand springs. His awareness came rushing back into him, an ocean wave that crashed violently against the walls of his mind.
00101110
He was no longer alone when she called out to him.
“Brady? Where are you?” It was Nova’s voice, and it came from everywhere and nowhere at once.
He gasped when he looked down and realized that his physical self was nowhere to be found. He had no arms, no legs, and no body. In this place, he was nothing more than a consciousness.
“Nova?” he said, hesitantly. “Is that you? Are you guys okay?”
“A little disoriented, but yes,” Nova said. “I think the Collectors’ transfer algorithm tried to download us and failed, because our minds are different—just like Alethea was saying. Luckily for us.”
“Yeah—lucky for us,” he agreed. “I don’t know why it didn’t work and I don’t really care.” He stopped cold when he remembered his brother. “Felix, are you out there?”
They waited.
Then, to his relief, he heard his brother’s voice. Weak, but growing stronger.
“I’m here too, Brady—just not sure where, exactly. I can hear you though.”
“How are we able to talk to each other? What happened to our bodies?” Brady asked.
Felix responded, “I think our minds must be connected together through the cables. Instead of hearing words, we’re somehow able to hear each other’s thoughts. We don’t really exist here, at least, not physically. I think we’re in some kind of quarantine program. Limbo.”
“That’s great and all, but how do we find Achilles?”
“If we can communicate with each other, we should be able to talk to Achilles too,” Felix continued. “And bring him back. But carefully. Remember, they had already started the transfer when we arrived. Depending on how far along he is, he may not want to be found.”
“Let me try to reach out to him,” Nova said.
Brady and Felix did their best to silence their inner voices.
“Achilles? It’s me, Nova.” She concentrated. “Are you here?”
They held their breath and waited for a response.
“Achilles, please, come back to us. We’re here to help you, to bring you home.” Nova grew desperate when her friend didn’t respond. “Please, Achilles—come back to me!”
She was almost crying now, and Brady and Felix were overcome by the sadness that flowed across the cables.
“Achilles, I—”
She stopped in mid-sentence. There was a noise—a faint whimper from far away.
“He’s here—it’s Achilles!” Felix said. Brady imagined his brother with an ear-to-ear grin plastered on his face.
“Achilles!” Nova cried. “I hear you. I’m here for you. Tell me: where are you?”
Another whine. Then a muted bark that was cut short almost as soon as it had started.
Something had changed.
A brick had appeared in front of them. It was a deep black that glowed red at the core, the color of burning coals, and the air shimmered around it. Before they could try to make sense of it, a second glowing brick appeared, followed by a third, a fourth, and then more, until there were too many to count.
At first they appeared in no particular order. But as more bricks materialized and filled in the gaps, a wall began to take shape. It stretched in all directions as far as they could see. Finally, the last brick fell into place and the wall was complete.
“The Collectors’ firewall,” Nova guessed. “They know we’re here, and they’re trying to keep us away from Achilles’ mind. But that means we’re on the right track.”
She tried to reach out to Achilles again.
“Achilles? We need your help. There’s no way for us to pass beyond this wall. Only you can pass through it. Please just let us know that you’re okay.”
They waited.
“Anything, Achilles. Help us. Give us some sort of a signal.”
“Look there!” Felix said.
One of the bricks had collapsed into a plume of dust near the center of the wall. Then another brick exploded, and another. The missing bricks created holes that formed a crude face: two eyes and a mouth. The bricks around the gaps undulated with subtle movements as they settled into their new arrangement.
“It’s Achilles!” Felix said. “He’s trying to break through.”
The face remained unchanged for a few moments; then it slowly came to life. The gap that formed the mouth began to expand and contract as new bricks appeared and old bricks vanished. They were being replaced as fast as they were torn down. The bottom of its mouth pulled downward in a sharp slant as the jaw tried to open, but more bricks quickly closed the gap, sealing the mouth shut.
Brady felt completely helpless. The firewall was too powerful.
“Please, Achilles!” Nova urged. “Get out of there. Come with us. Come home!”
The hollowed face strained harder. It twisted itself into terrible contortions as the bricks came and went. The right half of the face stretched upward as if it was trying to break free from its wall, and the structure seemed as though it would burst apart at any second. Then the left side began to bend at unnatural angles. The bricks were being pulled outward, as if some unknown force was pushing from behind.
“He’s trapped in there somewhere, and I’m not leaving until we have him,” Nova said.
The energy and focus coming from her mind was overwhelming; it threatened to overpower Brady and Felix. It was as if she was trying to pull the bricks out by
force of will alone. Two large seams now grew between the joints. It was working…
But just when the wall threatened to rip apart, they felt Nova’s mind collapse. The gaps disappeared and the wall snapped back together, solid once again.
Achilles was gone.
“He’s too far away,” Nova said, exhausted. “I can’t reach him…”
Brady and Felix felt the sadness flowing from her mind.
“It’s not too late!” Brady cried. “Don’t give up!” And with that, Brady tried to forget about everything else and focus his mind on only one thing: Achilles.
“Look at that!” came Felix’s voice.
In the distance, a female figure with wings was gliding toward them, large and majestic. Her crystalline skin was a lattice of polygons stitched impossibly close together; the features of her face were mere angles carved deeply into the glass. She cast a brilliant glow all around her.
When she reached them, she stopped. The light glimmered off the edges of her triangular face.
“Use this only when you need it the most, Nova,” she said. Her mouth did not move when she spoke. The voice was the same voice they had heard coming from the box.
“Alethea?” Nova said.
Alethea did not reply. Instead, she brought her arms out in front of her with her palms next to each other, facing upward. A ball of light appeared just above her hands. It began as a point and grew slowly until it was too large for the creature to hold. She then pushed her arms forward, and the ball of light floated toward the three friends, encompassing them with its brilliance. And when it was fully upon them, they felt a strange sensation and saw symbols of all shapes and sizes drift across their vision.
And then the light was gone.
Alethea’s avatar turned and glided toward the wall. She stood beneath the great barrier that loomed over her, just a tiny speck against the massive construction.
“I can help you now, but the next part will be the hardest by far,” her familiar voice called out. “I have done all I can, Nova. I will have no more power after this. I, too, will become one of them—one of the Collectors. It is up to you to save your friend… and to save me.”
Before Nova could respond, the creature began to flap her wings. She lifted up off the ground and rose before the wall. A field of energy formed around her, a crackling electric fire with sparks that licked the sky. The field grew stronger—and then it was gone.
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