by Y A Marks
“I don’t care why she needs to ride a hoverbike,” AJ said, walking up behind us and stuffing something into his mouth. He ran his hand across his head like he was brushing imaginary hair. “I’m just hoping she falls. I’ve got fifty credits on her to drop at least ten times before she gets the hang of it.”
My face glowered. I wanted him to drown in my annoyance. On the inside though, I was excited. I had never driven anything. I just walked or rode inside buses, taxis, or the train. “If you’ve bet against me, then you picked the wrong side. Shooting is one thing. Getting around is another.”
No one truly believed in my plan, save Josalyn, who liked the odds of the last drone changing its flight pattern to find me. Honestly, I didn’t know it would work either, but I believed it would give us a chance. If Capt. Davis needed to save face by finding the murderous teenager and rebel Paeton, then she might just turn an aircraft carrier around to get to me.
Rylan and AJ took me to the hangar. When I first arrived to the Escerica stronghold, the aircraft that took me from Atlanta descended into the floor of a gigantic barn so that it wouldn’t be spotted by police or the government. AJ called this area B1 or Basement One. The levels counted backward as they descended into the ground, all the way to Basement Ten which was the floor where I learned to shoot. Not all of the basements were the same depth. For instance, Basement One was actually four stories in height so it could hold vehicles of all sizes.
Once we arrived, I had my first real look around. The place was practically empty. There were a few small crafts covered with tarps, but the only impressive vehicle was the one I had arrived in.
“For all the attention ya’ll get, you guys don’t really have much down here,” I said.
AJ faked a laugh. “Oh Rylan, your girl gots jokes.”
I think I annoyed AJ with my comment, but I wasn’t trying to be rude. I was just trying to figure out how this organization worked. I didn’t ask any questions when I arrived besides where I would be staying and what I’d be eating. I didn’t even ask about learning to shoot. At this point, I needed to know everything. I was enemy number one after all, and this Escerica Organization may be my new home, possibly forever.
“She ain’t my girl,” Rylan grumbled as we went along. My heart crashed into my stomach at the words. He was right. We weren’t official, and I had pushed him away. I couldn’t be mad, but it still stung.
AJ lifted a hand in Rylan’s direction, but Rylan sped out of the way. AJ’s face tightened as he turned back toward me. “We don’t have much money, missy, if that’s what you think. We do have supporters, rich supporters, but they can only do so much. And we still have to eat. So where’s the money to buy all the fancy equipment? And, oh yeah, if we bought all that stuff, who would we buy it from? It’s not like we can just walk up to some mega millionaire and ask for a sonic jet without creating a paper trail.”
“So what do you do?” I asked, unmoved by his sarcasm.
Rylan spun around his fingers twirling in the air. “We make everything. The jet you see is basically a private jet we stole and added some supersonic jet engines. That’s why you don’t see much and why we have to move so slowly. Our supplies are limited.”
“We also steal,” AJ added.
He and Rylan exchanged a glance with tight faces.
I walked up toward the jet and reached out and touched the wing. “You sacrificed your only plane for me?”
Rylan leaned against the wheel. “Dhyla says you’re special. We do what Dhyla says.”
He huffed, but his eyes caught mine and held. A twisting frustration was building inside him. It spread through the air and wrapped me up. It was so intense, even from fifteen feet away, he stole my breath.
“Ugh, break it up,” AJ said. He waved his open hands at us. “I don’t know when all this started, but it’s annoying.”
I spun around to glare at AJ for interrupting.
After a sigh, he took a step toward me. “Don’t let anyone fool you. I like you and all, Paeton, but it was never my idea to come with the jet. But Dhyla runs our little outfit. She’s not as hard core as the other Escerica leads, but we aren’t the military types over here anyway.”
I relaxed my stare and placed the brightest expression I could on my face. “It’s all right, AJ. I still love you.”
AJ rolled his eyes, but I could tell he held back a pleased grin. I wanted everyone on my side, not against me. I was foolish when I arrived. With a plan, I felt confident and strong, like I always did before I robbed from someone’s bank account. It was a rush to prepare and then watch the pieces unfold.
The unfaltering loyalty of the Escerica members warmed me. While I was still learning to get along with people—people who were my peers, that is—it was nice to know they would have my back. Even if they didn’t trust me, they trusted those like Dhyla and Sun Hi who believed in me. Josalyn believed in me too, even without Dhyla.
“So how many bases are there in Atlanta?” I asked.
“Over thirty, each with their own separate commander,” Rylan said. “Our group is more like the refugee camp of Escerica. Others are bit more edgy.”
The three of us continued to the far wall where a tarp lay over a heap no taller than a few feet. I couldn’t believe there was a hovercycle under the tarp, maybe it could have been a bicycle.
AJ grabbed the pale-green material and yanked it off, throwing a layer of dust into the air. I reeled back as my lungs agonized in the polluted air. After six or seven coughs to clear my throat, my gaze settled on the tiny object hidden beneath.
I couldn’t believe that tiny thing was a hoverbike. The thing looked to be designed and created by the Escerica rebels, based on what AJ had told me. It had four hoverdisc pads on the bottom for flotation, a glass windshield, which wouldn’t help much at all, and two wings on the side for stabilization. Each wing was barely longer than half my height. The only thing about it that looked extraordinary was a secondary hoverdisc-type thing that was pitched high in the back.
“What the heck is that?” I asked after a few seconds for everyone to take in the sight.
“That’s a hoverbike.”
“When was it made, 2077?” I couldn’t help the sarcasm. The thing looked ancient. I would have almost expected it to run on steam.
“It was pieced together from an antique. Back when people knew how to make hovercycles.”
“So is it like a Yama-Honda? With one of those old drag racing type engines?” I didn’t know much about that type of stuff. I was trying to sound somewhat knowledgeable with the little information I’d heard from Mr. Palmer over the years.
“Sort of,” AJ started, and gave me a sideways glance. He probably wanted to know how I knew that.
I figured it was time to start showing I could be more than just a human lock pick, but I was hoping he wouldn’t ask any questions.
AJ walked behind the hovercycle and put a hand on the handlebars. “This frame is from an old Varda machine with Halco wings. The hoverdiscs are normal police issue. If you haven’t already noticed, we try to take the parts of anything we shoot down. But what makes this baby purr is the temporal engine.”
“Temporal engine?”
“Yeah, it uses a magnetic disc system which can warp time.”
“Like the magnaboots…”
“Yeah,” AJ said, somewhat excited.
I glanced at Rylan and shrugged. I could hear him in my mind warning me about tricky-tech. I didn’t make the hoverbike, though, so he couldn’t blame me.
“This can shoot you across the sky faster than anything, ’cept maybe a missile. Because the time warp is around the bike itself, it doesn’t really give you the same effect as wearing the boots, but for every three minutes this thing is on, you may need thirty minutes to get yourself back to normal. So you only use the warp when you have to. Otherwise, we’ll rely on holo-clones.”
“Those are the things that you used back at the Stadium, right?” I asked Rylan.
He glance
d over and nodded.
“Well, let’s see you give the bike a try,” AJ said.
I walked over to the hovercycle, making sure I stepped on the side bar and not directly on the wings. It helped that someone had written in large, red letters, “Do Not Step On Wings.” I stretched my leg over the seat, sat down, and grabbed the handlebars.
AJ leaned over. “Let’s see how you do.” He pressed the start button and took a few steps back.
The hoverdiscs crackled underneath me before flaring with a few large sparks. The engines warmed and coughed out a few dust clouds before settling.
“How old did you say this thing was?” I asked.
“It’s an antique,” AJ said angrily.
“It’s a piece of crap,” I joked.
Rylan snickered. I caught his eye for a moment. A second later, he looked away.
“Why don’t you just try to take off? Without breaking it,” AJ said.
I glanced down at the panel and noticed a little lever on the LCD labeled “altitude.” I pushed it upward, and the motors whined. Slowly, I began to ascend.
“It’s off the ground. Now, let’s just hope she doesn’t break it,” Rylan said, his hand covering his mouth.
“I heard that,” I said twisting the hovercycle.
The machine rotated and strummed forward. One of the wings tapped the wall before an explosion of sparks sprayed out. I steered away from the wall, but I heard a long screeching noise and watched both Rylan and AJ cover their ears.
A thousand iron nails slid across my back as the hovercycle cut into the wall. My stomach flipped, but there was an exhilaration that I couldn’t deny. It started as a tingle in my back and spread through my limbs. Showing I was serious, my face continued to hold a scowl.
“Don’t tear it up. Get away from the damn wall!” AJ yelled.
I jerked hard on the handlebars. The hovercycle moved away from the wall and the sparks stopped. I calmed down a little.
The hovercycle floated over Rylan and AJ. As I refocused my attention on where I was going, my insides dislodged themselves and worked their way out of my torso. The plane was about twenty yards in front of me, and I floated on a collision course with it.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no,” AJ said, waving at me from the ground. “Use the handlebars and try to turn.”
“I am!” I yelled. “It’s like they’re stuck or something.”
Rylan glanced at AJ. “Do you think it’s the autopilot?”
AJ slapped his forehead. “Yeah, yeah, that’s probably it.”
Both of them jogged after me as a blast of heat shot into my back and slid out into my forearms.
“Paeton, you need to go into the panel. There should be a label called Auto Controls.”
I glanced at the LCD and saw the button. I pressed it and a long list scrolled onto the screen. “I got it.”
“Okay, okay, now, uh, find the one that says Master Control.”
I used the scroll bar to move up and down, but didn’t see anything. “There’s no label with that,” I said.
The hoverbike wobbled. I forced the controls, but they wouldn’t budge. I neared the plane. It was less than ten yards away.
“Uh…uh, try, um, Steering Column,” AJ said.
I ducked down to the screen moving past what seemed like dozens of different labels. “Why are there so many of these? Who programmed this, the dictionary?”
Finally, I saw the label and pressed it. Another screen popped into view. It had three different settings, Full Auto, Intentional Steering, and Manual Steering. I pressed Manual.
The bike stopped moving forward, and I could turn the handlebars more easily. But now the bike was moving up and down, and side to side. The bike was moving backward from what I wanted it to do.
“You’ve got it on Manual. You needed to pick Intentional,” AJ said.
“Well, how was I supposed to know that? Don’t you think you should have told me that?” I yelled.
I went back into the LCD screen and began my search all over. But before I could reach the Steering Column Controls, AJ yelled a dozen profanities and covered his head with his hands.
I glanced at him just as Rylan began cackling. The hoverbike rammed into the plane’s fuselage. The jolt almost knocked me off, and the bike began to spin as I fumbled with the steering. I hit the back end of the plane, then the tail, and finally rapped against the back of one of the engines.
My spirit was playing drums on my heart, speeding it up, and increasing the pounding.
My fingers fumbled to find the Steering Column button. I found it and switched over to Intentional. Immediately, the hoverbike stopped jerking. I pulled back on the handlebars and rotated my wrists backward. The bike stopped and hovered in the air.
I glanced at the plane. I hadn’t done much damage. There were a few dents in the surface, but nothing major.
I did feel bad about the damage to the plane, but joy coursed through my body like a flood. I was flying a hoverbike. For years, I was a passenger, but I had become a captain. “Look, I did it.”
AJ glanced up at me. He looked like I had just murdered his best friend.
Rylan clapped his hands. “Good job, Paeton.”
CHAPTER 22
That evening, I lay in my bed and went over my mental notes. I was sure everything would work out if I could get the police to commit to following me. I may not have been the smartest person or the best strategist, but I had worked the system for the last two years. Every time I stole from someone’s account, I had to make assumptions about who they were, if they were likely to come back, and approximately how much money they had to be worth. I did my best to never go to the same ATM within a six month period. Sometimes, I’d go to some that were right next to each other, while other times I’d ride the train for miles to get to an ATM. I even paid taxis to shuttle me to a few I found on the Internet. That way, the thefts wouldn’t just be around the train line.
There were days when I thought all the extra effort was overkill. No one was probably even looking for me. Half of the people I stole from may not even have paid enough attention to realize their money was missing. A few thousand credits was a lot of money to me, but not to someone who made thousands a week. My methodical ways made sense in my mind, and so far, I hadn’t been caught. The only times I ever got in trouble were when I was first sent to live with Ms. Cooper. That’s when I received all my misdemeanors.
It wasn’t Ms. Cooper’s fault. At the time, I wasn’t used to being poor. My mother had been Middle-C. When I went to the store with Ms. Cooper, I’d sometimes ask for candy or a toy. After a few times of not getting what I wanted, I started to pocket the items, hoping no one would notice. Most of the time they didn’t notice, but a few times they did. Ms. Cooper begged the store managers to go easy on me. Sometimes they did, but most of the time, they didn’t. So I was charged with shoplifting and petty theft.
By the time I was fourteen, I understood my new role in life. I was okay with it until the day came when I had to pay my own way. That’s when I went back to the only thing I knew how to do: steal. This time, however, I was smarter about it. I’d double check to make sure I didn’t leave any clues. My hoodie helped to cover my face from the cameras. I’d wear wigs sometimes, large shades other times, and even disguise my face and neck with fake tattoos or beauty marks. Every robbery, no matter how small, was an adventure. I’d plan how to do it and what was needed. I never stole anything if I wasn’t ready. That’s what stupid people did. Even if I was caught, I learned never to run. Running made me appear guilty, but facing those after me made me look innocent.
As for my current plans, I hoped they would work. I couldn’t shoot. I was goofy and could barely ride the hoverbike. I wasn’t funny or some awesome conversationalist, but I was ready for this. It was just stealing.
A few raps on the metal door startled me, and I sat up. Before I could say anything, Dhyla’s voice cut through the silence.
“Paeton, you in there?”
“Yeah. Give me a sec.” I got up and opened the door.
Her face was long, and her eyes seemed tired. I had never seen her look like this before.
“Dhyla, are you okay?” I asked. Immediately, I wrapped my arms around her body. She was cold, not sick-cold, just not herself.
“I didn’t know if you had any time for me. I um, just wanted to know if I could talk to you.”
“Sure. I’m not doing anything, just going over some ideas in my head.”
She came into the room. I motioned for her to sit on the bed.
“I’m sorry my accommodations aren’t more accommodating,” I said. “You know Rylan, he said this was the best in the place, but I told him I generally prefer rooms that sleep forty-thousand.” I laughed. Dhyla forced a smile.
Her body drooped and her eyes were twitchy. She was worried. I didn’t want her to be. I survived for over two years on the street. Her concern worked its way into my skin. A wave of sadness circled my heart for words not said.
We both sat down on the bed, and she stared at my face. After a while, she moved a few stray hairs behind my ears and smoothed down the frizz on my head.
I really wanted her to be behind me on this. She never trusted my methods, but it was my way of life. She meant the world to me. If she believed this plan was possible, even my own doubts would fade away.
“Are you ready for all of this?” she asked.
“Why? You don’t think it’ll work?”
“I’ve told you many times, you amaze me. You’re a scrawny girl with a backpack and a love for flavored coffee. I don’t know how you’ve managed to survive so long. Somehow, you manage to keep on living.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I wanted to say thanks, but it seemed a bit awkward.
“I just hope you know what you are doing this time,” she said. “One or two random street cops are one thing. Taking on the police force and the government is something altogether different.”
She was underestimating me. I was doing my best to cover up my emotions, but my neck was hot and tingly. Anger was welling up from within. It was not a problem for me to risk my life to open some electronic gateway. I didn’t even know what that would accomplish. Getting into the Summit was important to her and to Escerica, but not for me. I didn’t understand why one was okay, but the other was not.