"It's a little small," Meyer says.
Gabrielle chuckles. "That's Avlyn's. The others are larger, and the fabric should adjust to your bodies. I figured they would be helpful for your journey, and an additional set of clothes is always nice to have on hand."
~ ~ ~
At the surface, the frosty morning air bites at my skin. Something tells me winter is not too far off. Thankfully, the camo suit plus the khaki jacket Gabrielle lent me from her stash keep my body warm. When I asked her why she had so much extra stuff, she shrugged and said, "You never know what you might need to trade out here." I wanted to ask her if she saw many traders, but she rushed away after Aron and his micro drone army, getting ready for a full-fledged attack on us.
The view of the sun's rays washing over the hills surrounding the valley is a refreshing change to life underground, or even in the city. I breathe in the sweet scent of the dry grasses, hold it in for a beat too long, and let it out again.
The drones hang in the frigid sky above Aron and Gabrielle as they operate a handheld controller. She has Meyer on some errand double-checking the perimeter security. Ben exits the shelter from the same place we entered near the rock formation with a smile on his face. His suit has transformed to a golden wheat color, matching the hue of the scrub grass, and he has the identical modified stunner holstered to his side as I have on mine.
"You seem happy," I comment.
"I am. We must be prepared and this puts us one step closer to getting off the map."
My stomach drops at the thought.
"We're ready," Gabrielle calls as I see Meyer jogging back to us.
"Talk later?" I pinch my lips together and wait for him to nod, then walk over to Aron, Gabrielle, and Meyer.
"It goes like this," she explains. "We'll begin with a target-based sequence similar to the one you two ran in VR." She addresses Ben and me. "No EP information for Avlyn past the first round."
"No EP?" I echo incredulously.
"The others don't have them, and Meyer tells me you didn't have one during your escape from Elore, yet you took out Aron's original micro drones easily."
"I knew her skills were improving from practice in VR, but when they transferred to real life ..." Meyer says.
"I couldn't believe how she shot them down." Aron sighs as one of his drones buzzes lower and floats inches above his shoulder. "But these perform better. I've used the data we've been collecting to make modifications, so I'm interested to see what happens."
"And anyway," Gabrielle adds, "there might come a time when your EP stops functioning. Deactivate the data feed you see, but keep the tracking. We can download it inside later."
Ben kicks impatiently at the dirt. "Let's move."
"Sounds good." Gabrielle raises her handheld. "I'm uploading the program to your EP, Avlyn."
Data floods my vision, alerting me that the secured perimeter runs in a mile-and-a-quarter circle surrounding the bunker. The test will take place anywhere within it.
"We're linked. You have a five-minute head start. You'll be notified by Flexx when each new level begins after you pass the last. Your EP will shut off automatically. At this point, I recommend sticking together to build on your skills as a team." She looks at each of us. "Any questions?"
I expect Aron to have a few, but no. He only waves his hand toward the drone next to him and it zips away to join its group.
"Oh," she says, "and just as in the sim, if you are hit by a drone, you will experience pain."
Ben peers my way and raises his eyebrows.
"How much pain?" I ask warily, remembering the sim.
"You'll have to find out." Gabrielle holds up the handheld and a countdown shows in my vision.
5… 4…
I grab for my stunner, as does everyone else.
3… 2… 1…
"Go!" Gabrielle yells.
The four of us rocket from our positions and I follow the instructions my EP gives. Ben is right on my tail. Since he can sense my emotions and intentions, it's as if he knows exactly what I'm going to do next.
The area consists of mostly grass and scraggly bushes with clusters of rocks here and there. We dart toward a grouping of bushes marked in the EP and force our way in between them to hide. As we do, our suits transform to a mottled green, perfectly blending with the greenery poking its way into my back.
"Three drones in range," Ben says as he draws his stunner.
The ghosted drones illuminate in my vision, two of them marked for me. My heart pounds as I raise my stunner and discharge at the blinking red drone. I destroy the first one with a single shot. The light on the top shows green, but the second veers and continues pulsing red. Someone from behind me hits the target. I swing around to see who it is, finding Aron lowering a stunner of his own.
"Good shot," I say, surprised.
He lifts a shoulder in a shrug. "I've been practicing virtually."
Meyer moves up beside me and I lean into him. "Maybe Aron's not as untrained as you thought."
"Maybe," he answers.
The EP instructs me to move despite the third drone still in pursuit at sixty feet. We scramble from the bush and I pause to relieve us of our attacker. The pulse leaves the stunner and the light changes to green.
Bullseye!
Level 1 Complete
Immediately, my EP shuts down. "Here we go," I whisper under my breath as Meyer motions to the group to move. We shift and sprint in the direction of a boulder, our suits morphing from green to speckled tan once more. Two more drones lit red on the top fly over us, moving faster than the last. Ben hurls himself down and I follow his lead.
I raise my stunner and peer past the side of the boulder, aiming.
"They're mine," Ben says, scooting forward. He aims and shoots, but this set moves faster, in increasingly evasive patterns. He misses both. The drones zip toward our position and my shoulders tighten. Out of the corner of my eye I see Meyer surge ahead and raise his weapon to the incoming drone. As the scene reduces to slow motion in my head, I turn and observe his face move from tense to relaxed. Then, as if time bursts onward, he depresses the trigger, releasing a pulse. One of the drones changes to green. The second drone zips our way.
I throw my stunner up and fire, but the AI evades. A pulse sound emits and a glowing light hits me straight in the chest. My back slams onto the ground and my stunner flies from my hand, thumping as it lands in back of me.
"Avlyn!" Ben yells.
A sharp pain speeds from my chest into my limbs, a groan escapes my lips as the drone circles back. A pulse sound emits again, followed by the sound of exploding metal.
"My drone!" Aron yells.
Ben leans over me, weapon in hand. "Are you okay?"
My body jolts at the sight of a drone floating behind him, the light displaying green on the top. It's out of weapon mode.
"Whoa …" Ben says. "Aron must have made some significant upgrades to the weapons system on those things. Lucky for us they were set to stun."
I gasp as he helps me sit. As I do, an unmarked, four-seater hover pod zooms through the sky, beginning its descent as it heads in the direction of Gabrielle's bunker.
"Who's that?" I choke out, my stomach sinking.
Chapter
Thirteen
Ben grabs my hand and pulls me to my feet. My chest still stings, and when the drone lightly swoops in, as if one of its friends didn't just try to kill me, I wave it off.
"Sorry," Aron says. "The upgrades performed better than I thought."
"You think?" I ask, rubbing the hair standing up on the back of my neck.
Aron looks at Ben. "But you weren't supposed to destroy it."
"I didn't mean to," Ben says sheepishly. "When it shot Avlyn, I think I automatically reverted my stunner to its kill setting. I was trying to protect her."
Meyer jogs toward us. "You okay?"
"Yeah." I tap on my comm to talk to Gabrielle. "A pod flew over us your way."
Gabrielle's voice sound
s a moment later. "Probably nothing. Likely a trader. Tracked it on the screen. Doesn't appear armed, and you were within the cloaked perimeter, so their on-ship detection shouldn't notice the activity, but you should head back anyway. I need to make adjustments before you move on to the next level."
Great … it's going to get more difficult.
"We should get back," I say.
"The pod?" Meyer asks.
"No, Gabrielle's not worried about that." I gather the smashed pieces of the destroyed drone and turn in the direction of the bunker. The last working drone that's suddenly friendly—or at least as friendly as a non-living piece of tech can be—takes its place above Aron's shoulder again, making zipping and buzzing sounds as if it has something to say.
Aron walks to my side. "She mention what the ship was?"
"Trader, probably."
Gabrielle's voice comes onto the comm. "Avlyn?"
"Yeah?"
"You four need to get back here. Immediately."
"Is something wrong?" I ask, motioning for everyone to pick up the pace.
"Nothing. Just get here. There's been a change of plans today." Gabrielle's voice clicks off again.
"Let's go." I reactivate my EP as we dash for the bunker.
The rock formation soon comes into view. Gabrielle stands outside the entrance. A figure walks toward her from the underground hangar and embraces her.
Sanda Brant overlays the body in my vision, but this girl has black, short-cropped curls. Gone is the mop of gold-tipped hair.
As we run, I tap below my ear to activate the comm. "What's Sanda doing here?"
No answer.
We increase the pace, panting when we reach the bunker.
"Wha … what's happening?" Ben asks between breaths.
Sanda breaks from Gabrielle and turns to me, her blue eyes filled with sadness and relief. "I'm so glad you're all safe. You don't know how worried I was until I received Mom's message, so when Ruiz sent me this way—"
Stunned, I look at Gabrielle. "You told her we came to you?"
"She never actually told me you guys were here," Sanda contests. "I gathered it from the message."
Gabrielle tips her head toward me. "I had no idea Sanda was coming, but it's fine. Since I moved here, I set up a secure line so I could stay in contact with her."
The words settle heavily in my stomach. Even so, this whole business doesn't calm my fears. Gabrielle should have filled us in. Asked our permission.
"Avlyn?" Meyer must have noticed the stress showing on my face. "It will be all right. Sanda hasn't even seen Gabrielle since Jays—"
"But what if she was followed? Or the message was intercepted?" I ask. "Then Waters or Manning might come here."
Ben steps to my side. "We should have been told." I look at him and his eyes meet mine in a show of solidarity.
"We?" Sanda asks.
"Yes, we," Ben replies. "And who are you again?"
"Sanda is Gabrielle's daughter and my sister," Meyer says.
Ben addresses Meyer. "And Avlyn is my sister, and I want to keep her safe."
"No, Avlyn is right. I made a mistake," Gabrielle says, breaking the tension. "I've just been on my own so long and have a particular way of doing things. I didn't consider asking permission. It won't happen a second time."
I nod to accept the apology, but still feel like the words aren't sufficient. Our lives are at stake.
"So, how long are you here for?" I ask, starting to feel terrible for wanting to keep their family away from each other after losing Jayson.
"My assignment doesn't start for a couple days." Sanda's lips curve up into a tentative smile. "And I have interesting news. Ruiz found Cynthia Fisher. That's who I'm headed to meet."
Meyer's eyes widen. "I thought she was dead? Or at least way off the grid?"
"Who's Fisher?" Aron asks, out of breath.
"She used to be a Director when the council functioned as a team," Meyer explains. "She and Ruiz were forced to step down at the same time, and Fisher disappeared. Most thought she died."
"Fisher came to live with my family," Gabrielle says.
Meyer looks her way with a small frown. "What? When?"
"After Manning pushed her out of Direction. I must have been ten or so. She made it out of Elore and my father and mother took her in. She was pregnant and couldn't remain in the city."
"I'm confused," Aron says.
"I was too. But I was too young to really know what was happening, but something was off. Thinking about it now, I don't think the father was her spouse. She stayed with us until the baby was born; a girl. Days later, she and the child were gone. I have no idea what happened to either of them, but I've been hearing rumors of Cynthia resurfacing recently."
"And the child?" I ask.
"Nothing." Gabrielle chuckles. "But it's not exactly as if she's a kid anymore."
"Why didn't you tell us this?" Sanda asks.
Gabrielle shrugs. "We were sworn to secrecy. But I figure if she's out in the open now, it doesn't matter."
"What do you think Ruiz wants with Cynthia?" I ask Sanda.
"I don't know for sure, probably to join the fight. I should find out soon, since that's my destination after I leave here. I'm here for a couple days."
Nervousness grows in my stomach. "So Ruiz didn't tell you anything?" I move forward toward Sanda. "What if your pod was tracked by her?"
Meyer steps in between us, arms crossed. "Avlyn, are you serious?"
I turn my back on Meyer and stare off over the tan and green landscape of the scrub brush surrounding Gabrielle's bunker.
"It's fine, Meyer," Sanda says. A delicate hand touches my shoulder and I spin. "I know you're upset, and it's obvious you don't even know if you trust Ruiz anymore. If I were in the same place, I'd be wary too, but I've known her my entire life. Meyer trusts her, and so did my father."
"Waters may be influencing her," I argue.
"You need to give her more credit," Sanda says. "And about my pod, Mom programmed a little scrambling app I upload every time I come here, so no one knows about this place."
Meyer slips his hand around my waist. "I know you're scared, but it's going to be all right."
I lower my eyes and sigh. I'm mostly confused and don't know what to think anymore. "You're right."
"Let's go inside and discuss this further," Gabrielle suggests, reaching for her daughter.
I relax into Meyer's embrace and follow the group below ground.
~ ~ ~
"I brought more news too." Sanda connects her handheld to Gabrielle's computer system in the lab and taps on the small screen. My stomach clenches as an Elorian vid showing the attack on New Philadelphia plays. Elorian warships cause mass damage to the city.
Father. Is he safe? Still alive?
"Was the damage that bad?" Aron asks.
Sanda shakes her head. "Waters had them driven off quickly with minimal casualties and damage."
"But by showing this, Manning is admitting to Elore that Philly exists," I say. This is totally against everything Direction stands for.
"It's not like he had a choice," Meyer says. "When Waters rescued us, they left multiple buildings destroyed. Either he had to say Affinity had amassed an army, or that there was more to the Outerbounds."
Additional New Philadelphia buildings explode into rubble on the screen. Manning's voice sounds as a voice over. "As you can see from our victory, we are well equipped to ensure the safety of all Elore, and we will continue to prevail over future threats."
"And what does that mean?" I ask, disconcerted.
"We don't know yet." Sanda disconnects her Flexx and pockets it. "He could be planning anything."
~ ~ ~
For the rest of the day, Gabrielle, Ben, and I analyze the testing data from the morning, but my heart isn't in it and I head to bed early. Although I'm mentally exhausted, I do little else than stare at the ceiling, lit by a tiny, dim, blue-tinged auto light in the corner of my room. My mind races with
thoughts of Father and what my leaving might have done to him. At this point, I don't even know if he's alive after the attack on New Philadelphia. What if Water's decided he's an enemy and put him in isolation? Father supported Manning until just recently. President Waters may not trust him.
Guilt rolls through me. No matter what I do, I seem to lose the people I love.
I roll onto my side and throw the pillow halfway over my head, but it does nothing to slow my racing thoughts.
Defeated, I drop my feet to the floor and into waiting slippers, then stand. After a moment of unsuccessfully trying to convince myself to return to bed, I grab the jacket flung on the one chair in my quarters and find myself in the hall, making my way toward the kitchen. I arrive at the exit and place my hand onto the door's security pad.
Open.
The door slides back. A brisk fall wind meets me, along with a moon so big it nearly takes up the sky. Without hesitating, I pull on the jacket and make quick progress to the underground hangar. Three pods wait, ours, Gabrielle's, and Sanda's. I dash for Sanda's and release the hatch, climbing inside. I scan the controls and place both my hands on the console.
Immediately, my vision goes white, and I rack my brain to think what to ask for. I'm searching for any tracking tech programmed into the pod when I remember the concealment app Sanda said her mother programmed. I visualize the coding it would take if I designed such a program and, certain enough, the symbols swirl in, sparkling and surrounding my body. A warm sensation engulfs me and I reach for the coding. The energy surrounds my hands, absorbs into me, and then it's gone. It's secure.
I rest my hand over my heart while the pounding slows. The pod has not been tracked. How I know this, I'm not sure. It's as if the pod is organic and we've become one. It speaks my language and I understand it. The system's the one thing I can trust. Being a part of it is the safest I've felt in weeks.
The sensation makes me desire to stay, but I must get back into the bunker. I free myself from the pod's system. A strange loneliness washes me, but instead of dwelling on it, I push it aside and make my way out of the hangar and across the yard, teeth chattering, clutching myself to ward off the cold.
Immersed Page 11