by Caryn Lix
And really, if we’d achieved that miracle, maybe one more wasn’t too much to hope for.
TWENTY-ONE
WE FOUND EDEN OUTSIDE THE break room, far enough away to show she hadn’t been listening—or that if she had, she’d hightailed it out of the area when she heard us coming. She didn’t seem particularly surprised by our decision, but I guessed it was inevitable. Eden was right: she held our only hope of escaping this planet. “But before we do anything,” Priya warned her, “I want more information on this spaceship and this military base. If you die in the attack, I don’t want to get stuck here.”
Eden nodded. “You can trust me,” she said. “As long as I can trust you.”
Priya regarded her appraisingly. “We’ll see about that.”
“When do we do this?” I asked, shifting nervously. It had seemed much easier to talk about storming the aliens in the security of the briefing room with a strong wall at my back and Cage holding my hand, my friends surrounding me. All of our brave words paled here in the shifting shadows of the deserted store.
“Soon. Tomorrow, unless you have objections. Until then, I’d like to invite you to stay in our barracks. It’s more secure than your apartment building, and besides …” A slight smile touched her lips. “We stole most of your supplies.”
Cage leaned against the wall, arms folded over his chest. “I thought you didn’t want us to terrify your families.”
“They’ve had time to prepare. And I’m sure Talia—the lady you saw earlier—has filled everyone in by now anyway. Gossip spreads fast in a place like this.” She examined each of us in turn. “I will have to insist on secrecy, though. You can’t tell anyone what we’re planning.”
“You don’t think they’d trust a bunch of strangers to break into the alien facility and report back with accurate information?” Priya raised an eyebrow. “Which raises an interesting question. How do you know you can trust us?”
Eden shrugged. “I haven’t got a choice. Besides, you don’t have much to gain from lying to me and everything to lose. Let’s meet tomorrow morning and go from there. I need to know the zemdyut locations and movements soon. We have supplies to last a few months, but even once we know which areas are safe, there’s no guarantee what we’ll find outside the city. We haven’t heard from anyone in years. I don’t want to leave things too long, and I’m guessing you want to get home sooner rather than later.”
“You’ve got that right,” muttered Jasper under his breath. The rest of us nodded in agreement.
Eden led us to the sequestered area. She hesitated imperceptibly, then squared her shoulders and pulled back the curtain.
Cage and I squeezed through first, then stopped in surprise. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but it wasn’t a full-blown shantytown.
The parts of the department store I’d seen so far were all more or less the same: dark, dirty, neglected. They resembled parts of Nuokyo in Robo Mecha Dream Girl, and they were exactly what I’d expected from a postapocalyptic scenario.
Here, though, things were reasonably clean and even well lit by the strange lanterns hanging every four or five feet. They had cleared the left half of the store entirely to make room for rows of tents, similar to the quick pop-up varieties I’d seen on Earth. People were obviously living in them. Some stood open, revealing curious children peeping in our direction or sullen adults refusing to meet our eyes. Square spaces marked each tent area, covered in what looked like plastic grass strewn with toys, blankets, mats, chairs, and even a few tablets.
To our right, the space was divided into two: a long row of tables and chairs, and another curtained-off area.
Eden pushed past us. “Welcome to Sanctuary,” she said.
I almost had a heart attack. Behind me, Mia choked violently, and Rune sucked in a gasp of air. “What … what did you say?” she whispered.
Eden flashed us a smile. “That’s what we call it. Sanctuary.” Her smile faltered as she absorbed our expressions. “Does that mean something to you?”
“No, it’s just …” I turned to Cage for support.
To my surprise, he threw his head back and laughed. “It’s not our first Sanctuary,” he said, shaking his head wearily. To the others he added, “Take it easy, okay? It’s not a sign.” The expressions on the former prisoners’ faces didn’t seem to agree, but Cage pushed on regardless. “You’ve got quite the setup here.”
“Unfortunately, we’ve had plenty of time to perfect it.” Eden indicated the tables. “We eat communally. You’ll hear a bell. If you want food, come then; we won’t hold it for you.” She nodded to the curtained-off area. “There are bathrooms and showers through there. You’ll find towels and a selection of clean clothes if you need them. Take what you need, but be sparing with the water. We don’t have anyone with the ability to get the plumbing active again, so we rely on recycled rainwater and good old-fashioned engineering.” She led us farther into the room. As we advanced, more faces appeared in tent doorways. A group of children sat at one of the tables with a man and some tablets, and from the way he tried to keep their attention off us and on him, I suspected he was their teacher. I’d seen such exasperation on more than a few teacher faces before. That felt like a long time ago, sitting in a classroom with no real worries on my mind. Part of me strangely envied these kids. No matter how bad things got, someone would shelter them from it. Someone else would handle the problem.
Eden stopped in a corner of the room. “There are three tents here you can divide between you,” she said. “They’re stocked for new arrivals. If you need anything, come find me.” She indicated the curtained-off area. “I’ll probably be in my office back there. Lunch is in about an hour. Anything else I can do for you?”
We all stood dumbfounded. A thousand answers to her question raced through my head. She could explain how they’d organized this place. Ease my fears about it being called Sanctuary. Tell me how to stop everyone from glaring at us with such suspicion and curiosity.
But none of that was likely to happen, so I only shook my head. Eden nodded and stomped off toward the curtains. The second she disappeared, a murmur of voices rose around the room.
“I feel like we should get inside,” said Matt slowly.
Priya nodded toward the smallest tent. “I’ll claim this for Legion.”
Matt hesitated, glancing at Rune as if he’d hoped for another rooming arrangement, but she seemed oblivious. Had the two of them talked at all since our escape? Something existed between Rune and Matt on Sanctuary—something more than friendship, but still undefined. Matt’s apparent death, and the fact he’d hunted us on Obsidian, had splintered that, but I still caught them exchanging sly glances, awkward looks that vanished when their eyes met.
But apparently Matt wasn’t ready to challenge orders quite yet, and he disappeared into the tent behind Priya and Hallam. They instantly zipped it shut, hiding themselves from us and the world.
That left eight of us to divide between two tents. Rune, Jasper, Imani, and Reed took one, and Cage, Mia, Alexei, and I took the other because, I strongly suspected, no one else wanted to share their space with Mia and Alexei. Alexei himself took up half the tent once we got inside, but I was pleasantly surprised by the space. A shiny new carpet covered the floor and you could almost stand in the center. The tent wasn’t large—once the four of us spread out the bedrolls stacked against one wall, we’d fill the entire place—but it would give us some privacy and a place to sleep.
We left the tent flaps open and sat in a circle on the floor. No one seemed happy. Cage was fiddling with my fingers like they were anxiety beads. Mia stared at the floor, her jaw locked and her eyes hard. Only Alexei appeared calm, but it was the same calm I’d seen him wear on Sanctuary—the first Sanctuary. It meant he’d resigned himself to whatever came next and had simply chosen not to worry.
“So what do we do now?” I asked quietly.
For once, no one volunteered any answers, not even Cage. “I guess we fight some aliens
,” Mia said at last. “We’ve done it before.”
“The goal is to not fight,” Cage said sharply. “Why do I have to keep emphasizing that? Eden asked us to go in and obtain information. That’s it.”
Mia snorted. “And you trust her? Whatever else happens, we’re going to have to gather some intel of our own. There’s more to this than she’s letting on, I promise you that.”
Alexei sighed. “Mia, did you notice that Karoch thing? It’s huge. It can see. I’m not sure it has a single weakness.”
“Everything has a weakness.”
“Of course they do,” I said softly. “But I’m not sure we can figure Karoch’s out in time to exploit it.”
“Eden still bothers me.” Alexei nodded in my direction. “I know she stuck her neck out and fought for us. But that doesn’t mean she’s entirely on the level. We might have been the excuse she needed to get rid of Gideon.”
I shrugged. It was possible. Some of Eden’s frustration with the current situation had come through while she talked, and I understood her desperation, watching supplies dwindle while Gideon dug in his heels and refused to take action. She might very well have been waiting for her moment. But what were we supposed to do about it? “We don’t have a lot of choices here,” I pointed out. “Either we work with Eden and hope her spaceship can get us home, or we die on this planet.”
“I know. It doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
There was a commotion from outside, and Cage sighed his what now sigh I’d gotten so accustomed to over the last few weeks. But it wasn’t a disaster this time: only our friends pushing their way into our tent. They clambered in without an invitation, plopping themselves down wherever they chose: Rune on my right, leaning her head on my shoulder; Jasper by Mia; Reed and Imani stretched along the ground near the rear of the tent. “Come on in,” said Cage dryly.
“The door was open.” Reed tugged at his mess of hair. “Your tent looks exactly like ours.”
“So now we’re camping in an abandoned department store on an alien planet,” said Rune. “That’s new, at least.”
“In a place called Sanctuary,” Imani added, and that shut everyone up, at least for a moment.
Cage sighed. “Please, please, do not get superstitious. Just because Omnistellar chose a stupidly inappropriate name for the prison where they trapped us doesn’t make the word ominous, okay?”
“No, but it doesn’t make me feel great, either,” Rune replied, still leaning on my shoulder. She seemed exhausted, maybe at the thought of the coming exertions. “It makes me feel trapped here.”
I put my arm around her, and she smiled up at me. “In a way, we are,” I told her gently. “But we’re doing everything in our power to get free. It worked on the last Sanctuary, right?”
“Yeah, that went great,” Mia said sarcastically. “We only lost most of the prisoners and accidentally abandoned one of our friends. Hopefully this goes exactly as well.”
Jasper shook his head. “This time there’s extra motivation. I have to get home.”
“Hey.” Cage shot him a glare across the circle. “The second we get home, we’ll help you find your family. They took care of all of us on Mars. You’re not alone on this, okay?”
Jasper hesitated, then nodded. “Thanks. That means a lot, actually.”
“But in the meantime …” Cage nodded at each of us in turn and dropped his voice, his nervous gaze taking in the tent’s thin nylon walls. “I’m glad you’re all here. You’re the ones I trust, and I need to know: How far do you trust everyone else?”
Rune sat up and leaned around me to peer at her brother. “You mean Matt.”
“I mostly mean Eden and her soldiers. But yeah, meimei. Matt and Legion are part of the equation.”
“I don’t think Legion’s going to turn on us,” I reassured him. “I mean, definitely not before we escape this planet. But after Omnistellar betrayed them, I don’t think they’ll be in a hurry to arrest us once we get home, either.” Once we get home. I allowed my false confidence to fill me with hope. “At worst, they’ll abandon us after we return. We can handle it. As for Eden, it’s like I said. We don’t have any other choice. That doesn’t mean we have to trust her, though. We can come up with some plans of our own.” Remembering what Matt had told me about Priya’s abilities, I reluctantly added, “Priya might be useful there.”
A bell clanged, and we all turned to watch as crowds of people headed toward the tables, many of them peering into our tents as they passed. They all looked roughly the same to me: dirty, tired, downtrodden. “Do we join them?” I asked softly.
Reed shrugged. “You can do what you want, but if there’s food, I for one am in.”
Of course he was. I caught a few suppressed smiles from the others, and I tightened my grip on Cage and Rune. Whatever else happened, we were together. We were united. I still had my family, even if my parents, my company, were gone.
So far, I’d accomplished the impossible: I’d kept them safe, even on this alien planet, even with monsters attacking and strange people threatening from every corner. And I’d keep them safe in the alien base, too, even if it meant giving my life to do it.
TWENTY-TWO
WE CLAIMED A CORNER OF a table against the wall. No one joined us; in fact, they left the entire table empty, cramming in at the other three. A moment later, Priya, Hallam, and Matt appeared and sat beside us. “We’re pariahs,” said Hallam cheerfully.
Eden emerged from behind the curtain. She observed the situation, and for a moment I thought she might join us, just to prove a point. But instead she sat at another table, a smile on her face as she struck up a conversation with her neighbor.
I shrugged. I didn’t need to be friends with these people. And I understood their fear and suspicion, especially since their leader had never returned from dealing with us. With luck, we wouldn’t have to intrude on them for long. After Eden’s news, we could be home in a matter of weeks, depending on the speed of Eden’s ship and exactly how far we’d traveled.
And, of course, the aliens not tearing us to pieces.
A shudder went through me as the enormity of what we were doing suddenly sank in. I’d been hiding from it, I realized; sequestering myself behind a wall of bravado. But now, at the worst possible moment, it hit me: we were going to voluntarily march into an alien stronghold featuring not only the horrifying creatures who’d ripped through Sanctuary and Obsidian, but something larger and older and far, far worse.
Cage’s hand slid over my elbow. “Easy,” he murmured, pulling me against him. I caught at his shirt and forced my breaths steady. Embarrassed, I raised my gaze, but if the others noticed my momentary weakness, they had the good manners to pretend otherwise.
After a while two men and a woman came from an almost-hidden door, carrying large bowls of food. With unspoken consent, we allowed everyone else to serve themselves before we left our seats. We were intruders here, and the last thing I needed was someone attacking us in the middle of the night.
Eden caught my eye across the room. “Hey,” she called, louder than was strictly necessary. “If you’re risking your lives to help us regain our freedom, the least we can do is feed you. It’s not much, but it’s edible. Promise.”
A low murmur surfaced, and people gaped at us again, this time some with respect, but many more with fear. Maybe they didn’t even want to think about what we were planning to do. I understood the feeling. Hell, I was on their side—assuming they knew anything about it. Eden had seemed to want to keep things secret, her comment about risking our lives notwithstanding. She must have told them something, though, in spite of her earlier warnings. In her way she was as duplicitous as Cage could be, manipulating situations with skill and ease. That was worth watching out for.
The main table featured three huge communal bowls alongside mismatched plates and cutlery. I scooped up some sort of grain that might have been rice, dropped a pile of unidentified meat beside it, and added a spoonful of what looked like dried pe
as. It was not particularly appetizing, but at the moment I’d take it. I added a cup of water and returned to the table, where Cage was frowning at Imani’s plate, which held only a small portion of rice and some peas.
“That’s not enough food,” he said.
Imani shrugged. “I can’t tell what’s in the meat.”
“Then you need more of the rest.”
“I’m fine.”
Cage glared at her. “Are you hungry?”
“Yes, but … I don’t want to take more than my share.”
“You’re not,” I said. “Imani, you’re a healer. You’re going to be awfully important in whatever comes next.” I swallowed, trying not to think about what that might mean. “We need you at full strength.”
“Here.” Mia grabbed Imani’s plate and headed for the front, her slight limp more pronounced after the incident with her foot. The aliens on Sanctuary had damaged her limb so badly not even our healers had fully repaired it, and it looked like Gideon had shot her in the exact same spot, making matters worse. But no one challenged her as she doubled the food on Imani’s plate.
Hallam nudged Imani. “Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself, kid. No one else is going to do it for you.”
She gave him a haughty scowl, one that spoke to the beauty belle she used to be. “I’m not afraid. And I think my friend just proved you wrong.”
Mia returned and dropped Imani’s plate in front of her, and we all set ourselves to eating. I looked around the table, the uncomfortable silence broken only by the soft murmurs of the crowd at the other side of the room and our chewing, which seemed painfully loud. “So,” I said, just because I couldn’t take the quiet tension, “what do you guys make of Eden’s story?”
Hallam leaned back, wiping his hand across his mouth. “Hard to say. The corps have been searching for intelligent life for a long time and never found a glimmer. Eden’s explanation makes sense in its own way. I can see a civilization with the tech to shield itself doing so, especially if they didn’t like what they saw when they looked at our planet. But I’m still suspicious that we’ve never even caught a glimpse of them before. You kids better prepare yourselves. Even if we survive the alien pit, even if Eden’s telling the truth about her spaceship, and even if we can figure out how to get home, we might still face a journey of several years. And that’s assuming we have the fuel and supplies to get there. Remember, they’re low on materials. You think they’re going to hand us enough food to journey across the universe?”