Inside

by Maria V. Snyder

  As the room emptied of air, I explained to the others what to expect and not to panic, trying not to let my own fear taint my voice. Of all my adventures, this was the scariest so far. To keep from floating away, we were all harnessed to magnets that clung to the side wall.

  I felt light as the door to Outer Space swung open. My stomach rolled as if I fell from a great height. Various exclamations and curses reached me through my receiver.

  Funny thing about Outer Space, I couldn’t hear the door as it opened but I could hear Logan’s voice inside my helmet. He thought he was going to get sick.

  “If you puke, try not to cover the glass on your helmet,” was Sloan’s advice to him.

  The magnets keeping us attached could be turned off by squeezing the handle. I released one magnet and moved it, then the other, working my way to Outside.

  The nothingness didn’t seem so empty this time. Pricks of light dotted the blackness. I ignored the beauty behind me and climbed slowly up the side of Inside. The others followed.

  “Don’t let go,” I said again. “One magnet on the metal at all times.”

  “Yes, mother,” Logan said.

  The climb was easy because we were weightless, but difficult due to our cumbersome suits and magnets. I marveled over the audacity of this attempt, at what—or rather, where—we were. On the outside of Inside. In Outer Space. It was humbling, thrilling and terrifying at the same time.

  When we finally reached the top of Inside, we all took a moment to drink in the amazing sight of Outer Space and to catch our breaths.

  “Okay, Logan. Do your thing,” I said.

  While Logan hunted for the antenna and the override controls, I signaled Lamont. “If you can, it’s time to start acting like my mother.”

  The plan was to disable the antenna and then access the override controls for the port’s big bay doors. Once it was activated, the air would empty in the main hangar. From the Video Cameras, we knew the transport full of Insiders remained in the side bay with a dozen Outsiders guarding it.

  We hoped the transport of Outsiders was in the hangar. By opening the hangar doors, the bay doors would seal shut, protecting our ship and trapping the rest of the Outsiders in their ship.

  Lots of hopes and speculations, but anything was better than waiting around to die.

  “It’s a go,” Logan said.

  The doors widened. Our second lucky break—the transport was in the hangar. Figures moved behind that strange black metal, which Hank had called metalastic, a combination of metal and something named Plastic, making the vehicle lighter than if it had been made entirely of metal, but just as strong. It also let in the radiation Lamont had talked about, which was why it was only supposed to be used as a temporary transport.

  We climbed down into the hangar before the doors closed. Since we had a limited amount of air in our tanks, we couldn’t keep the hangar doors open. Bubba Boom unhooked his welding gun from his tool belt. Air began filling the hangar. It would take some time before we could remove our helmets.

  As Bubba Boom headed toward the transport ship’s access hatch, the Outsiders figured out what we planned to do—melt the metalastic so they couldn’t open the hatch and escape their ship.

  A long thin tube on the underside of the ship swiveled and pointed at Bubba Boom. I yelled for him to duck as the tube spat out bright disks. Our luck had run out.

  “Get in close,” Riley yelled.

  Everyone scrambled to get underneath the ship, hoping the gun had a limited turning radius. Bubba Boom remained flat on the ground. Two more guns spun as if searching for targets. Sloan pulled a wrench from his belt and attacked the one gun. Riley grabbed the other, hanging from it with both hands. And I shoved the handle of a screwdriver into the opening of the last one.

  Riley’s gun jerked back and forth, shaking him like a toy. Mine belched. The screwdriver shot out and dented the far wall. Only Sloan had success.

  “Take out the rest,” I called to Sloan as Riley flew off his. “Before they…”

  Too late. The hatch opened. Cold horror froze the sweat on my skin as one then four then seven suited and armed Outsiders poured from the ship. I checked the air pressure gauge that hung on my belt. There still wasn’t enough air for us to shed the space suits. It would have given us a small advantage.

  I pulled my knife. The others followed my example except Bubba Boom. He hadn’t moved, but I didn’t have time to worry about him right now.

  The Outsiders fanned out, trying to surround us. They held those long tubes Bubba Boom had warned us about.

  “Get behind something,” Riley called.

  I ducked behind one of the transport’s legs, feeling too big for the first time in my life. Sloan finished bashing the last gun, but it was four against twelve.

  “Trella, I admire your tenacity,” Ponife said. His voice echoed from a speaker inside the collar of the helmet. “However, it is time to stop. Surrender and I will allow your cohorts to join the other survivors.”

  “No,” Riley said.

  “It would be unwise to trust them,” Logan said.

  “Thanks for the advice, Logan. Tell me something I didn’t know,” I snapped. Putting my knife on the floor, I glanced around, searching for a way to escape. “This stinks, but I don’t think we have a choice. Too bad we didn’t get to the hatch in time.”

  I walked to the hatch and almost laughed when six Outsiders followed me. Tenacious I may be, and stubborn and maybe even a bit reckless, but I never would consider myself dangerous enough to need six escorts.

  We entered the ship. The room was similar to Gateway with another door and a control panel. As the hatch closed behind us, I hoped Riley and the others had gotten my hint. One of the Outsiders punched a few buttons. I repeated the sequence aloud.

  Ponife chuckled drily. “Your friends are in custody. No one is left to help you.”

  This was the second time he had claimed I was alone and helpless. It didn’t go as he had expected the first time; you’d think he’d learn by now. Or I would. Fear still pulsed through my body.

  After a hissing noise vibrated through my suit, the other door opened and we were in an area that resembled a changing room, with empty suits hanging on hooks and shelves full of helmets and gloves.

  “Keep your helmet on,” Ponife ordered. “We have no plans to kill you.”

  “I feel so much better,” I said.

  They removed their helmets.

  Ponife had perfected his superior expression. “You should be happy. Your mother and friends will all be members of our new combined community.”

  “Is she here?” I asked.

  “No. She is with the others. Only you will stay with us until our world below is…cleaned.”

  “Cleaned? Why don’t you call it what it is? It’s genocide.”

  “Because that would be technically inaccurate.”

  “That shouldn’t bother you since you’ve gotten a bunch of stuff wrong already.”

  “Trivial issues, causing only minor delays.”

  “I’m glad you can put a positive spin on what I’d call stupid mistakes.”

  Ponife took the bait. “For example…?”

  “You assumed that knife was my only weapon.” I pulled the last bomb from my pocket and yanked the pin out.

  Rolling it along the floor, I dodged a few Outsiders until one aimed his gun at me and pulled the trigger. One disk clipped my right shoulder, slicing through the suit, my skin and muscles. Fire burned as I lost the use of my right arm in an instant. The air inside my suit leaked through the rip with a high-pitched whistle.

  When nothing more happened—damn, a real dud this time—Ponife asked, “Is that it? Do you have anything else?” He yanked me to my feet and took off my tool belt
. He strode to one of the cabinets and rummaged. Returning, he slapped a white patch over the hole in my suit.

  Pain from the slap mixed with amazement. “Why did you save me?” I asked him.

  “I told you before—”

  “No plans to kill me. But you said ‘we’ and he…” I pointed with my left hand to the one who still clutched his gun. “He didn’t hesitate. Are you sure your plans match the others’? Because that particular idea is another mistake.” I wasn’t being suicidal, really. My will to live throbbed in my heart; I was just hoping to sow a little dissension among the Outsiders.

  They glanced at each other until Ponife growled at them to stop. Then an ear-aching alarm sounded. Surprised, their focus shifted to the hatch. I was the only person to see the glass ball flash.

  Once again, I flattened my body to the floor. Glass shards pelted my right side as a wave of energy rolled me over to my back. I stared at the ceiling, silently thanking Ivie and Kadar.

  “Trella, quit napping while we do all the work.” Logan’s voice filled my helmet.

  Riley’s face blocked my view. “Are you hurt?” he asked.

  “Nothing Lamont can’t fix,” I said, groaning as I ambled to my feet. Ponife and the other Outsiders had been stunned by the bomb. “How did you two get in here?”

  Logan gestured to Riley. “His knife. Sloan’s wrench. Bubba Boom’s surprise recovery. And my genius.” Then he muttered, “And your help with the code.”

  “Can you repeat that last part?” I asked.

  “Later,” Riley said. “We need to leave before the rest of the Outsiders come to investigate.”

  We made it through the hatch. Bubba Boom waited nearby with his blow torch. His face was peppered with cuts and a cracked helmet rested by his feet.

  “Disk deflected off my helmet,” Bubba Boom explained. “I passed out from lack of oxygen. I woke when there was enough air, but decided to stay down until the odds looked a little better.”

  As Bubba Boom sealed the hatch, we removed our suits. Riley helped me with mine.

  He inspected the cut on my shoulder. “I see bone. Do you know where your mother is?”

  “On the other ship.”

  We all glanced at the bay door. Two possibilities waited on the other side. One—Outsiders controlled the ship. Two—Hank and his people had managed to free our Insiders.

  Logan examined the panel next to the door. “When should I open it?”

  Riley handed me a gun he had taken from the fallen Outsiders and then armed himself with two. I held the unfamiliar weapon in my left hand. Sloan also held one and his wrench rested on his shoulder. Bubba Boom finished sealing the hatch and joined us. Riley gave him one of his guns, then pulled his knife from his belt.

  “On three,” Riley said. “One.”

  Logan pressed a few keys.

  “Two,” Sloan said.

  More beeps followed. Logan’s hand hovered above the glowing red button.

  “Two and a half,” Bubba Boom said.

  A nervous chuckle rolled through us.

  “Three,” I said.

  Chapter 23

  Logan punched the button. The door slid open. Chaos greeted us. We clutched our weapons and peered into the crowd of screaming people. I searched for Outsiders, but only Insiders poured from the hatch of the ship.

  My brain finally sorted through the overwhelming scene. The screams were happy cries and the Insiders were hugging and celebrating. I spotted Hank leaning against a far wall. We crossed to him, dodging a few overly excited people.

  “Looks like my idea to widen the lift worked,” I said to him.

  “Your idea was crap, Trella,” he said. “I could only send up a few people at a time.”

  “How did you take out the guards?”

  “I didn’t.” He gestured to the Insiders. “They did it before we reached them.”

  “How?”

  Riley clapped me on my good shoulder. “You taught them how to stand up for themselves.”

  “I don’t think so,” Hank said. He poked a finger toward one woman, standing off to the side by herself. “Rumor has it the doctor knocked out all the Outsiders inside the ship, then rallied and organized everyone else to attack the guards in the bay. The Outsiders didn’t stand a chance.” He glared at me, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Now I know who you inherited your pain in the assness from.”

  I smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  Riley and Logan accompanied me as I went to congratulate my mother. Sloan went searching for Jacy and Bubba Boom stayed with Hank.

  My mother’s eyes lit up when she spotted us. She wrapped her arms around me, but pulled back when I hissed in pain. Then there was no talking to her as she transformed into doctor mode, tsking over the deep cut and insisting on getting me to the infirmary without delay.

  Wishing to remain and find out more details, I grumped at her. “I’d rather have you mother me.”

  “Then you’re in luck since I can do both. Get moving or I’ll make you stay in the infirmary long after you’re recovered.”

  “Yes, Mother.”

  The cleanup took longer this time than when the Force of Sheep had won. Even though the Insiders had all rallied against the Outsiders, resentment still lingered between them. A few of us—me, Hank, Emek, Jacy and Domotor—sat together and decided how to proceed. Yes, we included Hank. He always wanted the best for Inside and he had good insights into what changes the people craved after the Pop Cops were gone.

  We kept the family names and soon everyone Inside had a family. Then we asked everyone to sign up for a job. Except this time, there wouldn’t be scrubs cleaning and uppers working the controls. If a person wished to work in the air plant, he would learn every aspect of the plant and his job would rotate from computer controller to changing filters to hauling cleaning trolls around from shaft to shaft then back to being a controller.

  For the jobs no one wanted—like cleaning out the waste pipes—every single person of Inside would take a four-hour shift, which, when you considered we had a population of 22,500 and some, that meant I would have to do my four hours every nine hundred weeks. Doable.

  Levels five to ten would be completed first and then everyone would be able to move out of the barracks at the same time.

  As for the Outsiders, they would be invited to join us, to choose jobs and vote. For those who declined our offer, they would be given a room in the brig. We realized the danger in letting someone like Ponife have freedom in our world, but agreed not to limit or incarcerate someone with a difference in opinion. Actions and not words would land an Insider in trouble. Jacy volunteered to head the ISF for now.

  Soon after I had recovered, I joined Logan, Riley, Bubba Boom, Hank and a handful of others in saying goodbye to Anne-Jade. We lined the hallway up to Chomper’s lair and paid tribute to a hero. Logan wished for her to be recycled and not sent out into Outer Space.

  “She will always be with us,” he said.

  By week 147,033, we had completed the work schedule for everyone and repaired all the damage to the machinery and computer. At hour zero of week 147,034 we held elections for admiral, vice admiral, captain and for the commander of the ISF. Logan had rigged Video Cameras with sound so every Insider could hear the candidates’ plans for our future. I had campaigned for either one of the admiral positions. The other admiral candidates were Domotor; Riley’s father, Jacob; Emek and Takia. Logan, James Trava and Bubba Boom ran for the captain’s position. Jacy and Sloan campaigned for commander.

  Riley brought the early election results to me at hour twenty. They would be announced to everyone at hour twenty-five. I was helping Lamont in the infirmary, but he wanted to tell me them in private. We retreated to my room and he closed the door.


  He sat on the edge of my bed with me. Impish delight lit his blue eyes. “Remember your promise?”

  I pretended to be confused. “Which one? I just promised everyone to keep our world safe and sane. Did they vote for me?”

  “I’ll tell you after you keep your promise to me.”

  “Well…” I tapped my lips with a finger as if I considered his words. “I could just wait five hours—”

  He cut me off with a deep passionate kiss.

  When he broke it off, I said, “Waiting really isn’t my thing.” And I drew him close for another kiss.

  Before we could go any further, Riley pulled away. “I have something for you.” He stood on the bed and opened the air vent. Reaching in, he grunted and pulled out a small cleaning troll.

  “Zippy?” I asked.

  “Yep. Logan fixed him.” Riley set Zippy in my lap then took both my hands in his. “You made a commitment to the people of Inside and I’m proud of you.”

  I sensed he had more to say so I kept quiet.

  He squeezed my hands as if suddenly nervous. Then he took a breath and said, “I’d like you to make a commitment to me as well. Will you be my mate?”

  Before the Outsiders came, I would have been too scared to say yes. Good thing this was after. “Yes.”

  It was too awkward to kiss with Zippy in my lap, but Riley stopped me from moving him.

  “Open Zippy,” he said.

  “He opens?”

  Riley pointed to a button on the top. I pressed it and a panel opened. Tucked inside Zippy was Sheepy. With a cry of delight, I pulled the little stuffed sheep out. Tied around his neck was a pendant. It was the symbol for Inside—a square with a capital I in the middle, but on the opposite side was a sheep.

  “Does it—”

  “Yes. If you push on the sheep, it will send out a distress signal.”

  “I hope I won’t have to use it.”