[scifan] plantation - books one to three

by Stella Samiotou Fitzsimons

  that?” I say.

  Wudak opens his mouth and a pink foam oozes out.

  “No, don’t talk,” I say. “Doc is here, he will fix you. Call him, Damian.”

  “Communications don’t work in this district,” Damian says.

  “Go get him then. Get everyone.”

  “What’s the point?” he says. “Let’s kill them both and get the hell out of here.”

  “Wudak saved us,” I yell at him. “Use your brain, we’re nothing without the receptor. We might

  as well surrender. We need them alive.”

  He curses under his breath as he goes to get Doc and the others. Finn takes a second pulse gun

  out of his backpack and throws it at me. I catch it in midair and then I look at Zolkon.

  “Tell me what you meant about Damian,” I say. “What is it about him that got you so

  interested?”

  “I don’t think I’ll tell you anything,” he says. “At this point, you need me more than I need you.”

  “I won’t kill you but I will maim you,” I say and point the gun at his foot.

  “Tough. I like tough. Tell me, do you see that little transmitter on the ground?” Zolkon says. I

  look down and spot a small device much like a touchpad. “A few minutes ago, I pushed button

  number 3. Do you know what this means?”

  Wudak groans. “Freya,” he whispers. “Danger.”

  “Shush,” I say. “Don’t exert yourself.”

  “What he’s trying to tell you is that pretty soon the whole place will be swarming with Sliman

  and aliens,” Zolkon says. “You have maybe three minutes. How tough are you now?”

  “You’re bluffing.”

  “Freya,” Wudak calls my name again. “He gave… your… position… with number 3.”

  The pink foam flows freely out of his mouth again and I tear a piece of my dress to clean his

  face. I glance at Finn and I can tell that he doesn’t think this is a bluff.

  “You transmitted a message to the aliens?” I ask Zolkon. “Why? You said they were your

  enemies. You want to bring them down.”

  “Well, I can’t do that anymore. Not with you out of the picture. If you can’t beat them, join them.

  That’s the name of the game.”

  Finn knocks him on the head with his gun and Zolkon loses his balance and falls.

  “He’s telling the truth, isn’t he?” he says.

  My response is drowned out by a deafening sound.

  Zolkon laughs as loud as he can. “The drone!” he yells.

  21

  The drone lights up the sky and the earth with its search beams. The noise subsides once it locks

  into position and stays hovering a few yards outside the fortress. It looks like a huge helicopter

  without windows. It is made with some kind of dense metal that seems to be impenetrable.

  Finn puts his arms around me and pulls me down to the ground. We stare at the sky in awe.

  Zolkon has disappeared. The underside of the drone opens up and lets a mob of Sliman climb down

  rope ladders. The shooting begins instantly. The Saviors are being attacked outside the fortress.

  “We have to help,” I say.

  “It’s you they want, Freya,” Finn says and the overwhelming sadness on his face is something I

  never expected to see.

  “And they’ll kill everyone to get to me if they have to. I can’t let that happen, Finn.”

  “Are you going to give yourself up again? It didn’t work last time.”

  “Who knows, maybe an idiot will throw a second receptor at me,” I say jokingly but it’s all

  bittersweet now.

  I get up and glance back at Wudak lying on the ground. I wave goodbye but he grabs my ankle.

  “Freya, let’s go,” Finn says, growing frantic as the shooting intensifies.

  “He’s trying to tell us something.”

  I put my ear close to his mouth. He lifts his hand a few inches off the ground and I take it in

  mine. I feel something in his palm. The missing chip.

  Wudak tries to smile while he whispers, “He’s not so smart.” He coughs on the pink foam. “I

  took this when I jumped on him.”

  My eyes well up. There’s nothing I can do to stop the tears. I can’t take any more losses, any

  more death. I can’t take one more moment of pointless, meaningless suffering. I kiss his forehead.

  “I will be back for you,” I whisper.

  “Freya, are you okay?” Finn asks.

  “Oh, yeah. I’m better than okay,” I say as I turn my face to him. “Hand me that receptor. I have

  the missing piece. Now let’s go fry some Sliman.”

  The bandages fall from my feet as we run to the front gates. The drone immediately turns its ugly

  nose on us.

  “Damn right, I’m here,” I say and then turn to Finn, “Stay close to me. They won’t blow me up

  just yet.”

  I raise the sensory receptor and direct it at the scene of the battle. The Saviors have barricaded

  themselves behind a line of rocks about my height. They’re fighting a horde of Sliman. There’s forty,

  maybe fifty of them, but they cannot get close to the rocks yet. Damian and Nya lead the battle taking a lot of risk every time they climb onto the rocks to fire on the Sliman.

  I create a shield around the rocks that will make laser blasts and magnetic knives bounce right

  off. When the Sliman realize this, they turn to find me.

  “Oh, yes, come to me,” I say as I create a huge electric wave that reaches the main body of the

  Sliman as fast as lightning. The drone above slightly switches its position as the Sliman are struck

  with the energy surge and writhe on the ground in pain and terror.

  I don’t take a single moment to rest. I know it’s risky, I know it could exhaust me but I want to

  strike while they are still confused. I close my eyes and concentrate all my internal energy on the

  receptor. When I squeeze it tight, it emits a phosphorescent green light that attacks everything in sight except for the rocks and the Saviors that are safely encased by the blue shield. I have created two

  different fields: one that protects and one that destroys.

  The Sliman that did not get blasted are now frozen to death within seconds of being reached by

  the green light. I look up. I wonder if I could reach the drone with the beam. I wonder what

  repercussions that would have on me and everyone on the ground.

  I quickly scan the battlefield to assess the situation. I don’t think there’s a single Sliman left that could put up a fight. I obliterated them with two blows. That’s what my rage can do now. Someday I

  will be able to do all this at will.

  When Finn touches my shoulder, I get startled. He has read my mind. He knows I want to take

  aim at the drone. I can feel it in his troubled gaze, his protective hand. “Hold on to me,” I shout.

  “Don’t let go! It will be bumpy.”

  I close my eyes, I don’t know why the drone hasn’t released its wrath on us yet. I don’t know

  why it just hovers above our heads, but I won’t wait to find out. Maybe the aliens didn’t expect to find me with the receptor.

  I don’t know if I’m strong enough but I need to be and that’s all that counts. When I open my

  eyes, the ground starts trembling. A purple whirlwind forms in front of my eyes. At first, it’s so small, it can fit in my palm, but a moment later it starts building up until it becomes gigantic and reaches the drone. It encircles it furiously and shakes it with incredible violence.

  I see Damian out of the corner of my eye as he climbs onto the rocks.

  “Stay down,” I say but he can’t hear me. And he probably wouldn’t stay down even if he could
<
br />   hear me. “Keep everyone safe,” I whisper as I am getting ready to deliver the blow that will bring the drone down.

  I know that my hand will not be able to handle the ferocity of my attempt even before I feel the

  piercing pain that shoots through my shoulder blade, neck and arm. It’s such an unbearable feeling that I have to clench my teeth and tighten every muscle in my body so as not to fall to the ground. Finn

  senses how weak my knees get and supports me with his entire body.

  Then the underside of the drone opens again and a blue beam penetrates my whirlwind traveling

  fast toward Finn and me. It takes all I have to stop it from striking us but I know I won’t be able to for long.

  The pain extends to my spine, my knees and even my feet. My ears ring with the shrillest of

  sounds. I get lightheaded. I can barely see Damian and the rest of the band run towards Finn and me.

  Rabbit outruns everyone and gets to me first.

  He holds on to me in an effort to offer extra support. But I don’t need physical support. I need

  internal strength, I need to find a second source of energy within me and I don’t know how to do that.

  I think of my mother’s hands bathing me as a girl. I hear my big brother’s voice and I scream as

  loud as I can. The surge of energy obliterates the blue beam and explodes the drone.

  I fall to the ground depleted of all strength managing somehow to create a shield above us all to

  deflect the sudden tornado of metal raining down on us from the destroyed drone. Everyone falls to

  the ground screaming as the assault of metal shards crash down onto us. The Saviors bury their heads

  beneath their arms.

  The last of the metal hits and slides down my curved shield. I fade out and the shield disappears.

  My mother’s hands in the bath water. The sun through the window.

  “Wake up,” I hear Damian’s voice.

  “Freya, open your eyes,” Pip begs of me.

  I blindly reach out for the receptor and someone places it in my hand. I need you, I whisper. I need your energy. Fix me.

  Then I feel the jolt. A different kind of jolt. Like an invigorating stream of warm fluids running

  through my spine and arteries. The physical warmth and strength is accompanied by an exhilaration of

  emotions like I have never experienced before.

  I spring onto my feet with renewed energy. I don’t know how long it will last so I’m not going to

  waste any time. I get ready to attack the drone again but, I remember, I destroyed it. Rabbit, Biscuit, Tilly, Pip, Scout and even Nya get up from the ground and start cheering.

  Our joy is short-lived when we see a second drone approach. At the same time, Zolkon shows

  up with a legion of bloodthirsty Sliman behind him. I’ve never seen Sliman that looked more lethal.

  They must be a new breed. The Dark Legion, I remember Zolkon’s words.

  I attack them with my electric field but most of them manage to escape it. I note that they are

  faster and more agile than any other Sliman before them. I work my blue shield to protect all Saviors

  as more than a hundred Sliman attack us from two different fronts. They don’t shoot at the shield.

  They know. They’ve been trained for me and my receptor.

  My main concern now is the new drone that hovers above our heads. When the rope ladders are

  thrown down, I know we’ll be surrounded by Sliman in no time.

  “I’m dropping the shield,” I yell. “I’m going to attack.”

  We form a circle so our backs are protected. Then I let go of the shield and immediately release

  a green energy field that sweeps the Sliman off the ground and lifts them hundreds of feet up in the air before they drop. I reform the shield, choose a new target area and then drop the shield a second time.

  I blast as many Sliman as I can.

  I’m blasting them left and right. A lot of them get up for a second round but their numbers are

  diminishing slowly. We work like a synchronized machine. When I lift the shield, we all get in attack

  mode.

  The defeat of the Sliman is exhausting, but nearly complete. Zolkon is watching us from a

  distance with a grin on his face and I don’t understand what he’s so happy about until Rabbit drops to the ground with a hole the size of a quarter in his left shoulder blade and a smaller one in his upper chest. Laser beams are shot through the drone above us.

  We find ourselves under assault from above as laser blasts rain down.

  I get the shield up and Doc runs to aid Rabbit. I realize we’re trapped. More Sliman begin to

  show up on the ground in armored vehicles. If I attack the drone, we will be open to a ferocious

  assault from land.

  “Take the drone out,” Damian says. “I will take care of the Sliman.” He turns to Nya. “Get your

  explosive arrows in order, we have work to do.”

  Nya quickly draws her three explosive arrows out of their sheath. They’re the last ones she has.

  They could be the last ones she will ever have.

  I lift the shield and target the drone with a whirlwind.

  Nya blows up a bunch of Sliman with one of her arrows while Damian and Finn cover her. They

  turn slightly and she launches the second arrow. My whirlwind grinds against the drone’s blue beam

  as I glance to my right to watch Nya’s arrow arc down and deliver its payload of vengeance. The

  Sliman are shredded by the massive explosion when the arrow hits the ground.

  A few surviving Sliman start to retreat. Nya’s final arrow chases after them and wipes them out.

  I try not to think about Rabbit. If I do that, I will break and everything will be lost.

  I feel the drone submitting to my will. It feels like a leaf in the wind. I can blow it away with a

  simple wave of my hand. And I would do that except my focus is divided by the arrival of another

  drone.

  I hear Zolkon shouting behind me, “They are both here! Position 1-8-4.”

  I turn and see him talking on a touchpad. When the magnetic hook falls towards me from the first

  drone, I react only because the receptor wants me to react. It practically forces my hand to send an

  energy blast at the hook and blow it up. I point the receptor at the drone when I suddenly feel

  something hit my left calf like a sharp rock.

  Zolkon shot me.

  It all happens very fast now. I fall down. I lose the receptor. Dozens of magnetic hooks descend

  from the sky among a shower of laser beams. They pulse with energy as if they were alive. Finn

  jumps on the ropes that hold the hooks and cuts them off one after the other while everyone runs off to avoid being pierced or shot.

  Pip sits down next to me and I put my arms around her to protect her. Rabbit is unconscious and

  Doc and Theo carry him away from danger. A penetrating rage consumes me as Zolkon picks up the

  receptor and faces me.

  “I’m sorry it had to come to this, my dear girl, but if I have to choose between you and me, well,

  you lose every time.”

  He grabs Pip by the hair to pull her out of the way. Another Sliman grabs Pip as Zolkon searches

  for the tiny slot for the core chip. He finds it. He begins his hideous laugh and the next moment he is shot in the shoulder from above.

  “Looks like the aliens have no more use for you,” I say and call to the receptor. It jumps back to

  my hand. It knows to reboot my body’s energy. I feel the refreshing jolt and then wield its power like it’s all mine. The Sliman guard releases Pip and raises his hands in surrender. I let him run away.

  As I attack the first drone, I turn the energy field into a heat wave and hit the fuel deposit setting it on f
ire. The drone burns a moment before exploding into the sky. I create a magnetic field around

  Finn, Pip and me to protect us from the blast wave. The other Saviors are at a safe distance forming a ground perimeter.

  Sweat drips down into my eyes as my breathing increases and becomes shallow. I will not give

  out now. I have to finish this. I take aim at the last drone that starts to retreat. My final trick is something I feel, but have never trained or even heard Wudak mention. I send a purple field up in the

  sky and grab the drone. I stop its flight. I hold it there and concentrate on my idea.

  I want to throw the drone against the fortress to smash it like a bug.

  Then I hear him screaming. Damian. The drone has lifted him off the ground with two hooks that

  have pierced through both his arms. My heart stops. How did I lose focus? My rage blinded me.

  Wudak warned me of this.

  “No,” I yell and let the drone go. It would kill him to destroy the drone. Damian is too high to

  cut the ropes. He is too far for me to catch him. I run after him. I’m a puny human. A small girl. I

  cannot catch them. I run anyway until the drone is a speck on the horizon.

  I hear footsteps behind me. I turn and collapse in Finn’s arms.

  “We have to get him,” I yell through sobs, “we have to run, Finn.”

  “He’s gone, Freya,” he whispers.

  “No,” I yell and slap him all over his face and chest.

  He shakes me by the shoulders. “You have to accept it. He’s gone. He’s as good as dead. Even

  if they don’t kill him, even if they keep him alive, he’ll never be the same.”

  He kisses my forehead and I push him away. “Rabbit needs you,” he says hurt. “You’re his only

  hope.”

  I don’t know how to say this to him. I am empty, I don’t know how to help anyone. He lifts me

  up and carries me back. My tears are hot and salty. Everything hurts now. My hand, my arm, my legs,

  my heart. Everything that I am screams in agony.

  Finn puts me down, grabs my hand and pulls me. I am useless. The sunrise greets the world with

  a deathly desert orange. Every face is different now. The Saviors are stained with a filthy truth about a filthy lie, the lie that we could win without any sacrifices.