by Caryn Lix
I sighed. “Thanks, Lex,” I said, reclining on my makeshift pillow, a folded sweater. I didn’t bother explaining to Alexei that it was anxiety and nerves keeping me awake, not fear.
But maybe I was wrong. Because after our conversation, to my amazement—and for the first time in weeks—I drifted into a deep and dreamless sleep.
TWENTY-FOUR
THE NEXT THING I KNEW, Cage was gently shaking me awake. “We’re meeting with Eden,” he said.
I sat up and blinked. The tent was empty. “Where is everyone? How long was I asleep?”
“It’s been a while, but I think you needed it.” He crouched beside me and handed me some sort of crackers and dried fruit, along with a cup of water. “I saved you what passed as breakfast. Take a moment to eat and get ready, and I’ll meet you outside.”
I fell back on my bedroll as he slipped out of the tent. I’d actually slept a full night through. No alien nightmares, no jerking awake to check on my friends, no panicking in the dark. “Thanks, Lex,” I muttered softly.
A few minutes later, I’d eaten and smoothed my curls into a ponytail. I also changed into a clean shirt from a few we’d salvaged the night before, which went a long way toward making me feel more human. True to his word, Cage was waiting for me, and we set off toward the curtained area, where Eden lounged with the rest of our crew.
She didn’t say a word, only led us inside. I rubbed sleep from my eyes and noticed Rune doing the same. She gave me a half smile. There was fear behind it, and behind my answering grin. We were walking into death, and this time we were doing it voluntarily. What were we thinking?
Eden directed us into a side room that might once have been some sort of office and sat us down. “Are you ready?” she asked without preamble.
There were nods all around. And the thing was, we were ready. There was nothing to be gained by waiting. If I was going to die, well, I’d rather not have to consider it too much beforehand.
Of course, I would prefer not to die at all, and so I spoke up. “But you’re going to tell us everything. Everything, Eden. We know you’ve been holding back. If we’re going to trust each other in battle, that trust starts here.”
The others nodded, unified, and courage stirred in my heart. Whatever divided us, we would stand together on this. I inspected Priya, Hallam, Matt. If there was anyone I wanted at my back in a fight, it was the three of them. With renewed strength, I met Eden’s eyes.
She nodded slowly. “All right. That’s fair. Here.” She waved her hand, and a holographic image spread across the table. We all jumped.
“That’s gotta be sucking up a lot of energy,” Rune said in fascination.
“It is, and I’d rather not drain our reserves, so let’s keep the questions to a minimum, okay?” Eden gestured, and the image altered. We had shifted to the desert. The city loomed on one side, the sand sweeping away from it in swirls. If there’d been roads or settlements in the area, they were long since buried in dirt. But there was one landmark, a small building some distance from the city. I barely noticed it at first until Eden zoomed in on it.
“What’s that?” Jasper leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his thighs. “Looks like a metal hut.”
“It’s the entrance to the military base I told you about.” Eden hesitated, then scrutinized each of us in turn. “That’s where the ship I told you about is stored. And … it’s where the zemdyut are.”
A long silence greeted her statement, broken when Mia went into peals of laughter. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, holding up a hand as we all turned to her. “It’s just a bit much. So what you’re telling me,” she said, staring straight at Eden, all traces of amusement gone as abruptly as they’d appeared, “is that in order to get access to this ship of yours, in order to gather your intel, we have to fight our way through the alien base. We can’t destroy the place, and the aliens are blocking access to the ship. No wonder you didn’t mention this detail before.”
Eden scowled. “If we gather the right intel, we can lure the zemdyut out of the base. Or find another ship. There are ways around this problem. Hopefully you won’t be fighting at all. The creatures have some sort of adaptive shielding—”
“Yeah, we’ve noticed,” Cage interrupted.
“Then you know our weapons won’t be much good against them. You’re going to have to sneak in and be quiet.”
Another long silence. Then Priya stood, slowly, every muscle in her body as tense as an iron rod. “Please do not tell me,” she said, “that this is the entirety of your plan.”
“Sneak in. Get the intel. Sneak out. It’s not much, but—”
“Sneak in,” said Matt, dragging out every word, “get the intel, and sneak out. That’s it?”
“But,” Eden continued sharply, “we won’t send you in alone. My soldiers and I will bring what firepower we have and back you up if you need it. I hope you won’t, because frankly, if we have to engage those things, we can all make our farewells. But I won’t leave you alone in the desert to die.” She shook her head, her dark eyes flashing. “You’re right. It’s not much of a plan. But what exactly am I supposed to do? I don’t have any intel. I don’t have anything at all.” A tinge of desperation entered her voice. “I have people to protect, children to defend, and no other options here. Without information, we die. With it, we have a chance.”
“What about this world?” Rune spoke up more harshly than usual. “You’re not telling us everything there, either. There’s no way we have the similarities we do from mere proximity.”
Eden threw up her hands in exasperation. “What do you want me to say? I don’t know why we’re so much alike, okay? I just don’t know! I’m a soldier, not a historian, not an astrophysicist. I’ve given you everything I have!”
“Really?” The words emerged more sharply than I intended, but then I figured, screw it. Yeah, we needed Eden; we needed that ship and that information. But this was too much. “You haven’t been honest with us, Eden. And yet you’re asking us to trust you.”
Eden glared at us. “Listen, no one’s forcing you to come with us. I’m not sure what I’ll do without Rune, but I’ll go alone if I have to. There’s no choice left. We have to take this risk. But if you want to stay behind, that’s your choice.”
She left the rest of her threat unfinished: if we didn’t go along with her, there was no way we would ever get off this planet. I looked at Jasper, the worry haunting his dark eyes. At Imani, her arms wrapped around herself, no doubt wondering if she’d ever see her parents to tell them the truth about her sister’s death. “All right,” I said, speaking for everyone and not caring if they objected. “We’re in. We already agreed, and we’re not backing out.”
To my surprise, no one argued. But I glanced around again and understood why: they’d all come to the same realization as me. Even Priya sat down, although her eyebrows furled in a tense line and she immediately began whispering to Matt and Hallam.
Cage shrugged. “That answers that. How do we get in?”
Eden waved her hand and zoomed in, revealing what looked like a hatch in the ground. “Here. Your people will go in this way. I’ll take my soldiers in the front. We’re going to rig explosives along an alternate stairwell. If the situation goes to hell, we’ll set them off as a distraction. If you hear that, get out. Don’t worry about anything else.”
Rune scowled. “Do we have any way to keep in touch during this little adventure?”
“We have a limited number of comm devices.” Eden tossed a handful of small plastic earpieces onto the table. “I took three for my team and left three for you. Distribute them however you wish. We’ll give you access to our armories. You can suit up however you want to. I recommend dressing for speed and stealth, though. Keep in mind we don’t know whether our weapons will even work against the zemdyut.” She paused. “Above all else, let’s hope and pray Karoch isn’t in this base. If we’re quiet, if we’re careful, we might be able to sneak around the rest of the creatures. But that thi
ng …”
“Let’s hope instead,” said Alexei coldly, “there isn’t more than one of it.”
An uncomfortable silence greeted his statement.
Eden sighed and waved her hand. The holograph disappeared. “All right,” she said. “Take an hour to get ready. I’ll show you where our weapons and armor are located. And then we move out.”
An hour. I sat in stunned silence. I’d thought I wanted to get this over with, but … an hour. An hour to say good-bye, maybe forever, to the friends I loved. To make peace with my own possible death.
To get ready for our only hope of escape.
I rolled my shoulders and straightened my back. I could do this. I would do this.
Because I didn’t have a choice.
TWENTY-FIVE
THE HOUR PASSED IN A heartbeat. I’d hoped I’d find time to talk to everyone one-on-one, to have a cathartic farewell. But that didn’t happen. Instead we spent our time choosing weapons, discussing strategy, and arguing over who would take the communicators.
Eventually we let Priya direct us. I could already see her mind working, and knowing what I did about her abilities, it only made sense to step aside. She split us into three teams. The advance team consisted of Alexei, Mia, Cage, Matt, and me. Between us, we had speed, strength, stealth, and firepower. Hopefully, if we encountered anything dangerous, we’d be able to slow it enough to give everyone else—not to mention ourselves—time to escape. I wore the communicator for our team.
Priya gave us one simple and secret objective: to find the ship Eden had mentioned and, if possible, pilot it out of the base. That would be a lot harder without Rune, but if nothing else, we could scout its location. And Rune was needed elsewhere.
The follow-up team consisted of Reed, Priya, and Jasper. Reed was mostly coming along in case of an urgent need for healing, and Priya and Jasper were there to protect him. But they had a secondary objective: they would follow in our wake, a short distance behind, scouting for anything we’d missed or we didn’t have time to investigate fully. Reed wore their communicator, and Priya wasn’t happy about it, but Cage had argued that Reed was least likely to be engaged in battle and therefore most able to offer clear communication, and she hadn’t been able to counter.
Our final team was our most important. Imani, Rune, and Hallam had only one goal: dodge the aliens and find information. They were searching not only for Eden’s intel, but for information about Wreithe, because even if Eden wasn’t lying—even if she didn’t know anything about our own planet—something was off here, and we needed to know what. Rune would be able to access any system she encountered. Imani would be there if someone was hurt, and Hallam would keep them safe if the first two teams missed anything that slipped through. Much to my annoyance, Hallam won the battle to take the third communicator, meaning I’d have him in my ear for the entire mission.
We stalked through the desert in the midmorning heat, dressed in lightweight body armor that nonetheless felt like a leaded elephant under the beating sun. I was drenched with sweat in seconds, and profoundly grateful Eden had allowed us to raid their water supply for as much as we needed. I could read her thoughts: if we messed this up, we wouldn’t need water, because we’d all be on our way to a slow death anyway.
In spite of our alliance, we divided into three groups on our trek into the desert. Eden and about a dozen soldiers stayed slightly to our right. There was some boisterous joking and laughing at first, but after thirty minutes or so they subsided into a death march, occasionally pausing to glare suspiciously at us. I could only imagine Eden’s conversations convincing her crew to join us, and for a moment I empathized with her. She was only trying to do what was best for her people. She’d been forced to kill her mentor, the man who, by her own admission, had saved her life. And now here she was, making the hard decisions, straddling a precarious divide between two groups of people who needed each other as much as they mistrusted each other.
Come to think of it, her situation was kind of familiar. No wonder I empathized.
Our own divisions were somewhat less clear, though, because of Matt. Although he started the day with Priya and Hallam, he casually drifted forward as Rune slowed. Before long the two of them were in their own private no-man’s-land between the survivors of Sanctuary and the remnants of Legion.
I glanced at Jasper on my left. “What’s up with those two, anyway?”
Imani laughed, drifting closer. “We don’t know. But Rune came back to the tent late last night.” She cast a quick peek around, searching for Cage, but he was deep in conversation with Alexei and Mia farther ahead. Cage had never indicated any discomfort with Matt and Rune’s budding relationship, but that was before Legion. Add to it the fact that Cage was incredibly protective of his sister, and, well, it was maybe best to keep him in the dark.
A smile touched my lips. This was exactly the thinking I berated him for. But this wasn’t my secret to share, it was Rune’s. With that in mind, I said, “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about it. It’s not really any of our business.”
“Screw that.” Reed joined us, his hair falling in wet clumps in his face. He brushed it aside in annoyance. “This is hot and miserable and I need something to distract me. What’s not any of our business?”
I laughed in spite of myself, and Jasper jerked his head over his shoulder in Rune and Matt’s direction. “Wonder what Priya thinks of that,” he remarked.
“Maybe she hasn’t noticed?” Reed suggested.
Imani snorted. “I don’t think there’s much Priya doesn’t notice.”
We resumed our trudge through the desert. “Do you actually think this is going to work?” Imani asked, examining her feet.
I shrugged. I had no idea, but if I let everyone sink into doubt and despair, we were sure to fail. I might not carry much away from the dozens of Omnistellar training camps I’d attended, but I would remember that. “We’ve come this far,” I said, keeping my voice firm in a way that didn’t match my emotions. “We’ve got cybernetic supersoldiers on our side. And we’ve already beaten impossible odds. I wouldn’t bet credits against us.”
Jasper grinned. “That’s the spirit.”
Reed still looked dubious, but the other two were smiling in spite of the oppressive heat. I forced myself to match their expressions, and I made a mental vow. I’d already lost so many people to the aliens. I wasn’t going to lose any more, not if I could help it. I would do anything in my power to keep my friends alive—even if it meant sacrificing our means of escape. And I’d deal with the consequences later.
* * *
We reached the bunker shortly before noon and grouped inside the metal warehouse. I expected it to be a furnace, but to my surprise, it was better insulated than it appeared from outside, and the interior was relatively cool. “We can rest here before we move,” Eden said softly, “as long as we stay very quiet. The zemdyut don’t really come out much during the day. I think it’s too hot for them.”
The interior had clearly been a military base. A few cots stretched alongside some run-down medical equipment. Tables and desks were scattered around, covered with battered tablets. Rune took one and tried to get it running, but after a moment she shook her head. “It’s not just a dead battery,” she said. “They wiped these when they left.” She glanced at Eden. “Are we going to find the same thing in the base itself?”
“You’re looking for zemdyut tech, not human. Remember?”
Right. Rune and I exchanged glances. The less Eden knew, the better. And I didn’t feel even a smidge of guilt over it. She was obviously hiding things from us. Besides, Rune was my conscience in a lot of ways. If she wasn’t worried, I wouldn’t be either.
By mutual agreement we took half an hour to rest in the cool interior, drink some water, and eat some protein rations we’d brought. We needed to be in top condition when we descended into the pit.
I nudged Rune as we sat and nodded at Matt, raising my eyebrow. She turned bright red and shook her head. “What?�
�� I couldn’t resist teasing her a bit, not with the tension coiling through the room. “I thought you hated him.”
“You know that was never true,” she hissed, glancing around nervously to make sure we weren’t overheard. “I was … confused. And so was he. What happened to him wasn’t fair. It …” Her voice trailed off, and she scowled. “You’re making fun of me.”
“Never.” Impulsively, I threw my arms around her. “You’re my bestest of best friends.”
“Keep it up and you’ll have to find a new one.” But she hugged me back, and she was smiling when she pulled away. “I don’t know with Matt. I’ve never known. All I know is that he’s intelligent and funny, and he’s got a good heart. I always saw it, from the day he became friends with Cage. I missed him while he was gone, and I’m glad he’s alive. Isn’t that enough for now?”
I instantly felt bad for teasing. “It’s enough for as long as you need it to be.”
But Rune smiled again. “You just keep him alive for me, all right?”
“Promise,” I lied. I couldn’t promise anything. But I would do my absolute best.
Once we’d recuperated, we split into our groups. “I’m trusting you with my sister and one of my healers,” Cage said to Hallam, very quietly. “Don’t let me down.”
For once, Hallam was serious. “I’ll keep them safe. You’ve got my word on that.”
The two shook hands solemnly, and Cage returned to where Mia, Alexei, Matt, and I were waiting. We grouped by the trapdoor marking Eden’s back way in. Eden and her team were poised at the front entrance, laying out explosives, ready to cover us if we called for help on the emergency channel.