Harbinger

by Matthew S. Cox

  “Why his mom?” Shawn raised his arms and let them flap against his side. “Find any cop.”

  “Only Mom can see me when I’m astral.” Evan looked among his friends. “Any of you guys suggestive?”

  Everyone shook their heads to the negative.

  “How long do you have before you get forced to join families?” asked Evan.

  “Umm, a day or two.” Maela shrugged. “They said there’s some law or something they gotta figure out first.”

  Shawn shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. The worst thing that will happen is we get split up. We’ll still all be in this settlement, so when the cops raid it, we’re good.”

  “The worst that’ll happen is we get stuck here forever and there’s no technology in this place!” Maela flailed. “Do you know how much it sucks for me here? I can’t do anything. I’m a technokinetic and the most advanced machines here are levers.”

  Shawn poked her. “Calm down. It’s not like they’re gonna kill us or anything. They think we’re orphans.”

  “Umm, Shawn… we technically are orphans.” Walter set his hands on his hips. “Except Little Man out there… he got adopted.”

  Evan cringed a little, feeling bad for them, but mostly because he missed his mom.

  “What about her?” asked Shawn.

  “My parents aren’t dead. They’re assholes.” Maela scowled. “Didn’t want a psionic kid. Found out I was a technokinetic after I turned eight. At first, I was thrilled to have super powers, but when I showed my parents, they freaked out. I went from their daughter to this creature neither one of them wanted to touch.” Tears ran down her face. “We lived in Arcadia City. My father lied and said we were going on a fun trip. He took me to Primus. We went down to like the ninth tier and he abandoned me there.”

  “Sorry.” Shawn put a hand on her shoulder.

  “Ninth what?” asked Walter.

  “Tier.” Maela ‘drew’ horizontal lines in the air. “It’s an underground city. Each level is called a tier.”

  “He just left you there?” Evan reached past the bars to take her hand. “That’s super evil. I’m gonna tell Mom and she’s gonna make sure they get arrested.”

  “Thanks…” Maela squeezed his hand. “That’s sweet of you. But it’s Mars. The MDF has enough to worry about. They don’t have time to arrest assholes for abandoning their kids.”

  “MDF?” Walter tilted his head.

  “Mars Defense Force. The police.” She sighed. “Don’t you guys know anything about Mars?”

  “No, not really.” Walter shrugged.

  “How’d you wind up coming to Earth?” asked Evan.

  “I got arrested for stealing from a vendomat. The MDF sent me to Division 0 when they realized how I made the machine give me stuff. And, I only stole food and clothes, so they let me slide for being a kid.” She grinned at Evan. “The guy who arrested me made the same face you did when I told him my dad abandoned me.”

  “Well, that’s really sad and wrong.” Evan frowned. “My old mom didn’t want me either.”

  “Mars sounds kinda cool, do you miss it?” asked Shawn.

  “Not really. It was scary being alone in the tunnels. If I didn’t sleep in a vent too small for adults to fit in, I’d get kidnapped or robbed. And, Mars makes even this dump look clean. You guys call this place ‘the Beneath,’ but it’s nothing compared to Primus. The tunnels where I used to live are like fourteen stories underground. We’re not technically even underground here.”

  “You said nine stories before.” Shawn raised the Eyebrow of Doubt.

  “Tiers are bigger than stories, and there’s like twenty meters of solid ground above everything as like a shield or something. They made those cities before Mars had air.”

  “Woah,” whispered Walter.

  Evan’s right sneaker slipped down a few inches on the dead bush stalk. “Okay. I’m gonna go find a place to hide and try to find my mom again.”

  “Be careful.” Maela looked around at the room. “We’ll, uhh, wait right here.”

  “Umm, we can’t leave. We’re locked in,” said Shawn.

  She shot him side eye. “You have heard of sarcasm, right?”

  “Oh. Duh.”

  Evan didn’t need telepathy to sense the fear coming from his friends. They all probably wanted to be adopted, but not by crazy underground primitives. “Okay. Going. Be back as fast as I can.”

  He jumped down from the window, listened for a moment in case anyone might be coming, then ran out of the yard in search of a hiding place.

  15

  Beneath and Beyond

  Considering his best chance to avoid being caught involved going away from the settlement, Evan walked in a straight line until his surroundings became too black to see.

  He activated Darksight and kept going, roaming back and forth across the street to peer into abandoned houses. A few had people in them, so he hurried away. The others looked too dangerous. Remembering Jeff’s warning about falling through the floor, Evan gave up on houses and ran into an alley.

  “Hey!” shouted a man from behind.

  Evan whirled, staring at a thirtyish guy in a poncho of bright hazard orange with numerous holes. The guy pointed a battered katana at him, but whatever he’d been about to say stalled in his throat. His surface thoughts contained mostly fear at the sight of Evan’s glowing white eyes and couldn’t quite figure out if he’d found ‘one of the aliens’ or a monster from the deep dark who would kill him with ‘laser eyes.’

  “You there.” Evan pointed up at the man. “I am the great mage Monwyn the Magnificent, and I demand the freedom of my friends. Your townspeople are holding them prisoner. Release them at once!”

  “Bwaaaa!” yelled the man before running away in a panic, screaming about aliens.

  For a few seconds, Evan felt quite impressive, but wound up sighing. That hadn’t helped anything. In fact, the man would probably come back with more adults. He briefly considered just waiting for them and allowing himself to be taken prisoner, but on the chance they’d think he was a ‘monster,’ a mutant, or a legit alien, he decided to keep running.

  His mother had told him about those Harris cultists who hated psionics for no real reason other than something she called a ‘made up sky wizard.’ She’d explained that humans don’t like things or people who are different, often hating them and wanting to destroy whatever they couldn’t understand.

  Since he didn’t want to be destroyed, he hauled ass.

  Three streets down, he spotted a large, green dumpster as big as a truck trailer with white lettering on the side reading ‘O’Malley Construction.’ He climbed up onto the remains of a car beside it and peeked over the rim. The huge dumpster contained pieces of wood and slabs of white stuff he didn’t recognize, but the debris came close enough to the top that he figured he’d be able to get back out. This metal box would hide him from view.

  Evan threw a leg over and sat on the top to look around. Nothing moved as far as he could see, so he felt safe that he hadn’t been followed here. He jumped down inside, the crunch of old wood and crumbling drywall beneath his sneakers. For added security, he wriggled in under some of the junk so anyone casually peering into the container might not see him right away.

  Once settled in, he closed his eyes and concentrated on Astral Projection.

  Being flat on his back reminded him of the burning pit enough to squirm and shiver.

  Okay. If I feel worried again, I’m gonna grab the cord right away.

  Once the tingle of astral energy washed over him, he sat up out of his body and glided past the dumpster wall to hover in the street. A growl came from the right. Evan spun, instinctively leaping back from a large blurry form rushing toward him.

  The malevolent ghost in the long, black coat attempted to grab him in a bear hug. Evan dropped straight down, nearly sitting on the road. The ghost’s arms closed on nothingness over his head. Before the man could recover his balance, Evan darted forward between his leg
s and flew down the street.

  That tingle of his body being messed with came on again, but weak.

  Evan stopped and whirled around. The ghost’s rear end stuck out of the dumpster, but whatever he tried to do to didn’t seem to work as he gave up and stormed around in a circle. Upon noticing Evan watching him from a distance, he pointed, flashed a dark smile, and ran off into the Beneath.

  Uh oh. I better hurry.

  He stared straight up and zoomed, crossing his arms over his face and closing his eyes when the city plate drew near. The squishy compress of going through a solid object happened, then a few smaller brushes with pipes or gratings, and another heavy mush as he pierced the top of the plate. Evan uncurled himself and climbed higher into the air. Hands shaking from worry that the ghost would lead something worse than a primitive settler to his body, he zoomed up high enough to spot the PAC. Once he found it, he rocketed toward it as fast as he could will himself to fly.

  By the time he reached the building, he felt out of breath even though physical effort had no bearing on his speed in astral form. Evan zipped in a straight line, ignoring walls, bee-lining for his mother’s squad room.

  He burst out from the wall and hung in midair—in an empty, mostly dark, office.

  “No…”

  Heartbroken, he glided over to her desk and orbited it. Worse than her not being there, the PAC showed no obvious signs of alarm. If anyone had noticed the four of them missing, the place would be in a frenzy. He dove into the floor again, heading for the Admin area where Mr. Short should’ve been waiting for them to check in after cleaning the classroom.

  He found the teacher—well, trainee teacher—still sitting at a desk with a senshelmet on, playing a video game.

  Evan let out a heavy sigh. “He doesn’t even know we’re missing!”

  Frustrated, he floated up high enough to kick the man in the head… his bare foot whiffing without contact.

  “Gah. Ugh,” said Mr. Short, leaning forward. “Weird brain freeze.”

  He settled back into his seat.

  “You’re derelicting your duty,” yelled Evan, but the guy didn’t react.

  Shivering from worry, Evan spun in circles, dreading what could possibly happen to his defenseless body at any second. He probably should zip back to it and move somewhere else the ghost wouldn’t see… but what if his mother returned to her office in the time it took him to re-hide and come back. No way would she ever go home with him missing. He wouldn’t know where to search for her if he didn’t get her at the office.

  Desperate, he launched himself into the ceiling and flew back to the squad room.

  He emerged out the wall at the back of the room the same moment his mother fell into her chair and let out a heavy, sad sigh. She bent over the desk, head on her arms, and sniffled.

  “Mom!” shouted Evan, barely able to talk past the urge to cry from joy.

  Kirsten jumped and spun around. The sight of his astral body appeared to confuse her, so he doubted she’d been crying over him going missing. “Ev… Sorry I’m late.”

  “Mom… Mom…!” He flew in for a hug—and sailed clean through her. He stopped himself and turned to face her.

  A shimmer of amber light ran over her body. He zipped into her arms, clamped on, and burst into tears, overwhelmed with having his mother hold him.

  “Hey, kiddo. I’m sorry. I’m here now. It’s okay.”

  Evan sniffled and leaned back. “I’m not upset because you’re working late. We’re in trouble. Why were you crying?”

  She squeezed his spongy astral form tight. “Bad case… people being cruel to a child your age. What do you mean you’re in trouble? We who?”

  “A ghost tried to kill me. He made the elevator go nuts and dumped us in the Beneath. My friends from school got kidnapped by settlers and locked in a room. I’m hiding in a dumpster near them, but that ghost saw me. I think he’s going to make something bad find me.”

  Dorian materialized by his desk and hurried over. He looked at Evan, then Kirsten. “Stay here with your mother. I’ll follow your thread down there and make sure nothing messes with you.”

  “Okay.” Evan nodded.

  Kirsten jumped to her feet, still clinging to his astral body.

  “Meet you there.” Dorian sank into the floor.

  His mother took his hand and ran down the hall, towing him like a helium balloon. He could fly much faster than running, but it wouldn’t do any good to bring his mother down there as an astral projection. She rushed to the elevator, rode it to the first level, and dashed down the hall to the motor pool.

  “It’s not that far. Only like a couple miles,” said Evan.

  “Something’s threatening you… I’m not going to waste time running across the city.” She hopped in, frantically mashing the console to bring the car online.

  Evan settled in Dorian’s usual seat as much as he could. “It would be faster if I flew outside the car and you followed me.”

  Kirsten grumbled. “I won’t be able to see you with the electronic window.”

  “Don’t freak, Mom. The people who have my friends aren’t gonna hurt them. They’re only like stupid primitive settlers.”

  “Oh… them. Spaceship Earth people?”

  “Yeah. You met them?”

  Kirsten made the tires squeak pulling out of the parking space, nearly fishtailing the heavy patrol craft as she turned down the lane between rows of various other hovercars and A3Vs. “Met? Not exactly. Spied on from a distance and stole food from, yes.”

  Evan laughed.

  Once she drove outside and switched to flight mode, Evan pointed in the direction they needed to go. Finding his way back proved quite simple as he needed only to follow the silver thread connecting him to his body. He directed her in as straight a line as high-rise buildings allowed until reaching the point where the cord plunged straight down in the middle of a street.

  “We’re here!” he zipped down out of the car and hovered by the ground.

  Passing cars paid him no mind, occasionally making his legs blur when they hit him.

  His mother’s patrol craft glided off to the side and landed in the nearest open space among parked cars. She hopped out and waved for him to come closer. He zipped over to her.

  “It’s right under us.”

  “I can’t go straight through the ground.” She pointed at an alley. “The nearest hatch is this way.”

  “Oh. Right. Duh.” Evan smacked himself in the forehead.

  She jogged around the corner of a building that looked like a bar with ‘Tittie City’ glowing in pink holographic letters in front of the otherwise blacked-out window.

  “Don’t go in there,” called Kirsten from up ahead.

  Evan shrugged and flew after her.

  His mother hurried along for a minute or so before stopping at a squarish hatch plate in the middle of the alley. She crouched nearby, waved her left forearm at it, and an electronic chirp sounded. Kirsten grasped the handle at the center and pulled. With a blast of white fog and a loud hiss, the panel separated from the ground and rose on mechanical struts.

  “Are you gonna get squeezy later?”

  Kirsten, sitting on the road with her legs hanging, looked at him. “Yeah. Most likely.”

  “Good.”

  “Don’t make me cry now.” She smiled, despite her eyes being watery.

  He followed her down the ladder. The hatch closed itself a few seconds later. Kirsten made her way down the narrow passage, and a switchback stairwell that spanned all eight levels within the plate. She checked her armband display every few seconds until the map led her to another hatch in the floor. It opened to a perilous ladder that went down the outside of one of the giant columns holding up the city.

  “Mom,” said Evan. “Why are you climbing the ladder? There’s elevators inside the columns.”

  “I don’t trust them. Everything down here is hundreds of years old. I don’t want to wind up trapped in a capsule.”

  “
Oh. It worked for us.”

  She stared at him. “What the heck were you doing in one of those elevators?”

  “We thought it would go up.” He stuffed his hands in pockets his astral body didn’t have, and kicked at a nonexistent rock. “It didn’t. The ghost made it break.”

  “Why is a ghost after you?”

  “He’s mad at you. Said he wanted to hurt me to make you sad. He’s kinda weak though.”

  Kirsten glowered. “Dammit.”

  She dropped onto the rungs and made her way down the fifty-meter column to the ground. Once she reached the bottom, Evan glided off, following the silver cord. He couldn’t wait to get back in his body and hug his mother for real.

  Kirsten ran after him for several blocks until they rounded a corner and the dumpster came into view. Dorian and the ghost that had been harassing the kids spun around and around in the middle of a fistfight. From the look of it, Dorian had the advantage. Two living men in tattered grey ponchos ran off in the distance, still screaming.

  “Who is that, Mom?” asked Evan, hanging next to her at eye level. “And Dorian’s kicking his butt like a level twenty character hunting goblins.”

  Kirsten narrowed her eyes. “I’m not really sure. I don’t recognize him… but goblins? Nah. He’s not even that powerful.”

  “Heh.” Evan grinned.

  “Sniper,” said Dorian with a grunt. “Henry Motte’s house.”

  She called the Astral Lash and walked closer.

  Evan shied away from the burning energy radiating from the glowing whip. At the moment, it could hurt him. He smacked himself in the forehead for being dumb and grabbed the cord. In an instant, he found himself flat on his back in the dumpster, once more in his body and unable to see a damn thing.

  “I didn’t kill anyone at Motte’s house,” said Kirsten

  Dorian chuckled. “I got this guy. He was about to shoot you from down the street, so I gave him a little scare. He jumped straight off the building and fell forty stories. Bet that hurt. Shame that corporate assassins don’t follow proper safety protocols for high-altitude work.”