Salvation

by Caryn Lix

  She showed no inclination to fight, apparently aware she’d missed her chance. She slumped in Hallam’s arms, eyes fixed on her feet.

  Eden took a step backward, her face twisting in a series of rapid-fire emotions: guilt and anger and fear and sorrow, all mixed up in a show that would have been comic if it weren’t so grotesque. At last she retreated and, without another word, strode off into the desert, her crew at her heels.

  We watched them go in silence. Sweat pooled at the base of my neck. I was trembling so badly I barely kept my feet. My eyes stung and my vision blurred, whether with tears or sweat I didn’t know. Cage’s hand tightened over mine, but it was small comfort here in the middle of the desert on an alien planet where we were all going to die, and probably soon.

  “We have to get out of the sun,” said Priya at last.

  Mia wrenched free of Hallam and stalked across the sand. She sat about ten feet from the collapsed warehouse, resting her arms on her knees, staring at it.

  I exchanged glances with Cage. “You want to talk to her?” I asked softly.

  Cage snorted. “I don’t think she’s in the mood.”

  “If she just sits there, she’s going to die,” said Priya bluntly. “We’ve already been in this heat too long. I suggest everyone ditch their armor. We’re not likely to need it. Keep the weapons. Ration what water you have left.”

  “And then?” snorted Jasper. He, like Mia, was still sitting in the sand, blinking at his feet. “We make it back to town and what? Scavenge for whatever supplies Eden missed? Raid her people and let all those kids die so we can eke out a few more days of life? What’s the goddamn point?”

  A hopeless silence settled over us, because that was the thing: no one could answer him. What was the point? Liam was dead. As far as I knew, no one else had the power to jump dimensions. We were trapped here. “Maybe we can still get off the planet,” I said at last, although my voice rang hopeless and dull in my own ears. “Maybe there’s somewhere else we can go. Mars, or—”

  “You really think Eden hasn’t considered that? Besides, the spaceship was supposed to be in there, remember?” Jasper jerked his chin at the fallen base. “Next idea?”

  My chest constricted. “You’re not helping,” I said sharply.

  “Yeah, well …” Jasper flopped back in the sand. “Somehow I’m not in the most optimistic mood.”

  “Enough,” Cage growled.

  Jasper shot to his feet, his dark eyes flashing, apparently ready for a fight. “Oh, I’m sorry. Am I upsetting our illustrious leader? Or leaders? No one’s in charge around here because no one knows what the hell to do next. Or am I wrong?” He glared at Priya, at Cage, at me. “Come on. Tell me. What’s our plan?”

  “Jasper, stop,” said Imani. “You told me once that we have to keep going. Well, now I’m saying it to you. We can’t just give up. We can’t—”

  “Oh, Imani, stop. There’s no point anymore. Can’t you see that?”

  “If we’re going to lie down and die, fine,” said Matt. “If not, Priya’s right. We need to get out of the sun.”

  The argument built and I backed away, unable to do anything but shake my head. Jasper wasn’t wrong. Give up and die wasn’t much of an option, but what other choice did we have left?

  I cracked open my chest plate and peeled off the armor, and for a moment even the hot desert wind felt wonderfully cool against my parched skin. I dropped the armor on the ground at Rune’s feet.

  I blinked. I hadn’t even realized she was beside me.

  “Kenzie,” she said quietly. “Are you all right?”

  I shook my head, turning my back on the brewing argument to focus on my friend. “No. Pretty far from it, actually. What about you? What happened?”

  “After you warned us about the aliens … well, whatever they are … guarding their tech, I retreated to the military tech facility on the fifth floor and accessed their network. The human network, I mean. I thought that if I got into the system itself, I might be able to break into the creatures’ system, since it seemed to have merged with the human one. That it might be easier to understand. That’s how I learned the truth about where we were and how Eden had lied to us. The center was a sort of Faraday cage, though, and it blocked our comm frequencies. We didn’t know about that part until Reed’s team came charging in full of panic. And then we heard the creatures moving below, and we looked down the stairs and …” She shuddered. “There was a group following you. I hacked the cameras and found another coming up to meet you. And a third in the basement. I tried to create a distraction by setting off an alarm in a room on the sixteenth floor. It worked to a degree. A bunch of creatures flooded in there, and I locked the door behind them. But I had to release the system to power down, and we left the room to warn you before things got worse.”

  “You did good,” I said tiredly. “It’s too bad it turned out to be for nothing.”

  “Well, that’s the thing.” Rune peered thoughtfully over my shoulder, and I realized she’d drawn me some distance away from the others. “I did actually manage to connect to the alien network. I did exactly what Eden wanted.”

  My eyebrows shot up as I examined the worry on her face. “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t a clear good-news situation?”

  “Because it’s not. I told you I managed to hack into the alien … I don’t know. I want to say system, but that feels wrong for what I accessed. I didn’t understand much of it, though. It was a jumble, and of course, the language was unfamiliar. So I did what I could, which was grabbing a tablet and programing a back door into the alien network. They have a rough version of internet, and as long as I don’t get too far from the base, as long as something is still intact down there, even a flicker, I should be able to access it. Not that it accomplished much. Understanding that system is virtually impossible.” She hesitated again. “For me.”

  “Right.” I rubbed my face tiredly, feeling sweat and dirt smearing beneath my fingertips, not caring. “Okay. Let me take a look at it. I’ll see what I can do.”

  “It’s not so simple.” Rune forced what she probably thought was a reassuring smile. “Kenzie … I think the only way to interact with the system is for you to do what I do. Bond with it. Enter it completely.”

  I stared at her. “So what you’re telling me is, we have a chance of getting some new information, but it’s probably nothing, and most of the aliens who supplied it are dead anyway, and the only thing I have to do is supernaturally merge with an alien computer system to check it out.”

  “That’s about it, yup.” She shrugged. “Except for one little detail. The aliens aren’t all dead, Kenzie. There are more of them spread out beneath the ground, far more. Now you see why I wanted to talk privately.”

  I closed my eyes as yet another headache pounded behind my eyes. Why was nothing in my life ever, ever easy?

  THIRTY-THREE

  RUNE AND I ANTICIPATED A lot more resistance to her plan than we got. I think everyone, even Cage, realized the futility of our situation. If we were going to accomplish anything, this was the only possibility. After all, if the zemdyut had crossed dimensions to get here, obviously they had the means to travel between them. Maybe we could somehow use that to get home. We needed something, some option other than dying of starvation or dehydration or heatstroke. It didn’t take long for Rune to confirm that some bit of the alien network had survived the collapse and that we’d be able to access it, the first bit of luck we’d had in, well … ever?

  We had to argue a bit with Priya, who didn’t understand how anything could have survived an explosion of that magnitude. But as Rune pointed out, we were dealing with alien technology. We didn’t know its strengths and weaknesses. And while the bottom of the base had definitely been destroyed, the top half might have simply crumbled. Pieces might be intact. When she focused, she found a signal—weak, but present. And that was enough to silence Priya, because no one, not even Legion, questioned Rune’s instincts when it came to tech.

&nb
sp; Instead of returning to town, we built a sort of shelter from what remained of the warehouse. Jasper’s ability to move inanimate objects telekinetically came in handy, as did Matt, Hallam, and Priya’s cybernetically enhanced strength. I offered to mimic Jasper’s ability and help, but that was strictly vetoed; there was a general consensus that I needed to save my energy for what came next.

  Before long we’d established a miniature version of the warehouse near where the original had stood. It wasn’t much, but it would block the worst of the heat and sun for a while.

  Everyone staggered inside—everyone except Mia. Cage and I exchanged glances. After a moment, I shrugged and risked approaching her. “Mia?” I said softly. “Mia, we’re going in. Come out of the sun.”

  No response.

  I silently appealed to Cage again. Moving carefully, he settled on her other side. “Don’t hit me again, okay?” he said, sounding reasonably calm and cheerful, although one of his arms was tensed in case she did precisely that.

  Mia didn’t even blink.

  I examined her helplessly. I’d never seen Mia like this. She’d clearly planned on dying with Alexei beneath the surface, and since we’d dragged her to safety, she was going to sit here until she died anyway. Were we going to have to knock her out again? Somehow, I didn’t want to be the one to try.

  “Mia, please come inside,” said Cage softly. “We can talk about this. Or not. Whatever you want. I don’t …” He raked his hands through his hair and shook his head at me desperately. “I’m sorry, Mia. What was I supposed to do? Leave you lying on the ground? Refuse Alexei’s dying wish?”

  I thought that might get a rise, but it didn’t. I risked laying my hand on her arm, flinching in case I needed to roll away, but she didn’t even stir. Her armor was hot to the touch. If we didn’t get her out of it soon, we actually were going to have to drag her indoors. “I know how you feel. My parents are both gone, remember. I lost everyone I had in the world. But I’m not going to lie down and let the aliens win, and I didn’t think you would either.”

  Now, slowly, she twisted her head to sneer at me, a mix of scorn and derision in her eyes. “You know how I feel ?” she repeated, almost whispered. “Because your treacherous corporate slave parents died trying to kill us? Is that it, Kenzie?”

  I ground my teeth, every muscle in my body knifing rock solid. She doesn’t mean it, I reminded myself. But it was hard, so hard, not to respond, not to let the grief for my mom and my dad spill over into fear and anger. “Maybe I don’t,” I said at last. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I have no one left but you and the others.”

  “And I have no one at all.”

  “That’s not goddamn true,” Cage snapped. “And I’m losing patience with this self-pity act you have going on.”

  My eyes shot open as Mia pivoted on him, and I waved my hands, signaling him to stop. Cage didn’t even look in my direction. “You lost Alexei,” he said bluntly. “So did I. My cellmate for five years. My best friend. But that doesn’t matter, does it? All that matters is you. What you lost. Kenzie’s parents? Who cares? They weren’t important to you, so they’re not important at all.”

  “You son of a bitch,” said Mia quietly.

  “Maybe. Who the hell knows, right? I never met my mom.” Cage got to his feet. “Come on, Kenzie. She is going to risk her life again,” he said to Mia, “in a last-ditch attempt to save us. Because she hasn’t given up. As for you, well, if you want to sit here and bake to death, I won’t stop you. It’s a pretty pathetic way to go out, letting Eden and the aliens win, but … your call.” He took my arm, turned his back, and half dragged me across the sand.

  “Cage!” I gasped in utter disbelief.

  “Keep walking,” he said under his breath. “Quicker. If she decides to throw something at me, I want to be out of range.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  He shrugged. “She started talking again, didn’t she?”

  I shook my head, my brain struggling to process what he was saying.

  But it was true. She had started talking again, and she’d done it when I’d pissed her off. Cage had simply followed my lead.

  “You won’t really leave her there?” I pleaded.

  Cage grimaced as we ducked into the makeshift shelter. “No, although I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do about it if she’s seriously determined to sit there until she dies. Rune, do me a favor and peek outside, tell me what Mia’s doing?”

  Rune edged to the door—actually a slab of metal we’d laid over the reassembled brick—and peered out. “She’s on her feet,” she reported. “I think she’s coming this way.”

  “Everyone look busy,” I suggested.

  “No problem there.” Rune grabbed a tablet off a table—again, just a slab of metal on some bricks. “Kenzie, come sit down so I can run some calibrations.”

  I settled myself on a pile of bricks in the corner. Reed and Imani stationed themselves nearby, arms folded, faces set in matching scowls. “So you know,” Reed told me, “if something goes wrong in there, we’ll do our best to keep you alive. But …”

  “But no guarantees,” Imani finished. “Because this is a stupid, pointless plan. You know that, right?”

  I forced a smile. “You got something better?”

  Jasper, who’d been lurking nearby, crouched in front of me. “No, we don’t,” he said. “And Kenzie, I want you to know … what you’re doing? It’s beyond brave.”

  I forced a smile. “We’ll get you home, Jasper. I promise.” Yet another in a long line of promises I didn’t know if I’d be able to keep. But if I didn’t, well, chances were we’d all be dead. I’d rather offer him short-term hope. If we had any chance of survival, we had to be at our best, not wallowing in despair … a lesson I’d learned all too well.

  Mia smashed her way through the door. The metal flopped to the sand behind her as she strode in like she owned the place and surveyed all of us with apparent distaste. “Well?” she said. “What the hell are we doing this time?”

  “I’ll bring you up to date,” Matt offered, drawing an approving smile from Rune. He couldn’t quite hide his answering grin, making both Mia and Hallam roll their eyes.

  Rune raised the tablet to my face. “Excellent,” she said. “The alien tech is definitely still functional. At any rate, I can maintain a connection.”

  “Fantastic,” drawled Hallam, who was leaning against the wall with his arms folded. “Anyone considered that maybe there are still creatures living down there too? Creatures who might be on their way up here?”

  “I don’t think so,” Matt tossed over his shoulder. He was in a corner with Mia and appeared totally relaxed, which was good, since it probably meant she hadn’t tried to kill him yet. I rolled my shoulders and tried to focus on the task at hand, which wasn’t the easiest thing to do in a small, hot, cramped room full of angry people. “I don’t sense any life coming from beneath us.”

  Mia winced, barely perceptibly. I was pretty sure I was the only one who saw it—me and maybe Cage, who was sitting beside me. His arm tensed against mine. “Is she ever going to forgive me?” he whispered.

  “Yes,” I said with assurance. “You saved her life, Cage. Whether or not she appreciates it at the moment.”

  He smiled faintly. “And now you’re risking yours.”

  “It’s a computer system.” Rune knelt in front of me. “I don’t think it should cause her any real damage. Not unless she does something completely unreasonable to announce her presence and alert the aliens.”

  “Stop calling them aliens,” ordered Priya. “Apparently, they’re interdimensional beings.”

  “Interdimensional aliens?” I made a face. “Does it matter what we call them?”

  Priya, for maybe the first time in my memory, flashed me a grin. “No. I’m just pissed off.”

  In spite of myself, a laugh bubbled out of me. After a moment, Rune giggled too, and then Matt. Before long everyone except Mia was caught
in semihysterical laughter.

  “Great,” said Cage, shaking his head, his shoulders still twitching as he suppressed a final guffaw. “I think we’ve officially been in this dimension too long. Kenzie? Find us a way home?” And before I could react, he caught my chin and pulled me toward him, dragging me into a long, drawn-out kiss that left me gasping and the others in a variety of states of embarrassment and amusement—except for Rune, who was too caught up in her own abilities to notice.

  “Okay,” she said, raising her head and not seeming to see the dark flush I felt crawling over my cheeks, Cage’s slight grin, or the chuckles surrounding us. “Kenzie, you ready?”

  Everything faded in a heartbeat: my remaining amusement, the warmth of Cage’s mouth, the temporary camaraderie. I was going into an alien system. What did that even mean? “What will happen?” I asked.

  Rune shook her head. “I wish I could tell you. But I’m going to be here every step of the way. I’ll disconnect us if you seem like you’re in trouble.”

  I drew a deep breath. I trusted her. I trusted all of them, even Hallam and Mia. I glanced around the room. Everyone was looking at me with encouragement, and Matt gave me a slight smile and nod.

  I could do this. I could.

  “Let’s get started,” I said, more bravely than I felt.

  Rune set the tablet in my lap. “I have to maintain contact to keep it powered,” she said.

  “If I’m using your ability, can’t I do that?”

  “You’ll have enough to worry about. Draw on my power, Kenz.”

  I closed my eyes and found her: flickering powder blue and shimmering silver. She was cool and comforting as I pulled her power around myself, feeling a faint buzz of electricity in the air. “Okay. I think I’ve got you. What now?”