by PJ Haarsma
I could not stop staring at the miniature bit and harness that was now directly in front of me.
“Are you all right?” I heard the alien ask as I bolted into the street. “Hey, what are you doing?”
I stopped in front of the creatures carrying the baby bit.
“Out of the way,” the aliens demanded, pushing me backward as they walked. Their dark, thick skin was crusted and blackened. The noseless creatures looked identical, and they were all the same height as me.
“Where are you taking this?” I asked the one in the middle.
“Are you an idiot? To the cooling tank, where else?”
The other aliens only laughed.
“How long before you get there?” I said.
“When the parade is done?” another said. “This one really is stupid.”
More laughter.
“When is the parade done?” I demanded.
“When it is finished,” affirmed the third alien, and all three of them were laughing uncontrollably now.
I looked up at Max and waved at them to come down. They bolted straight toward me and hovered just above my head.
“We have to get back to Toll,” I said.
“Why?” Theodore asked.
“That bit is for the baby, isn’t it?” Max said.
“Yes. That’s Odran’s solution. Keep the baby Samiran for Orbis. Let Toll go, but keep his child as a slave to pull the crystals,” I said.
“Toll will not like that,” Nugget said from the back of Ketheria’s chair.
“No, he definitely won’t like that,” I agreed. “He will flood the ring and we’ll all be history.”
“You have to warn him,” Ketheria said.
“Look out!” Theodore shouted as powerful hands clamped down on my arms.
“Let him go!” Max yelled.
I struggled to look over my shoulder, but I already knew who it was. Odran yanked me against his tank, and the metal from his support glider dug into my back.
“Everything was working perfectly until you showed up. My seat on the Trading Council is almost paid for. You will not ruin this for me, you meddlesome brat,” Odran gurgled in my ear, squeezing my arm even tighter.
“Stop — you’re hurting him, Odran,” Ketheria cried.
Max darted forward and pounded on Odran’s tank.
“Leave him,” I told her.
I’d been in tougher situations than this, and Odran had just given me the advantage — he’d underestimated me.
“Do you actually know how insignificant you are on these rings?” he said. “Can you even begin to comprehend your status on Orbis?”
“That doesn’t give you the right to treat us so poorly.”
“Just wait to see what I have in store for you,” he whispered.
“You’re going to steal Toll’s child for your own gain, aren’t you?”
“Citizens have been doing it for centuries,” Odran said. “Security!”
“Not this time,” I whispered, and pushed into the computer that ran Odran’s glider. I shut the program down, and his tank jerked to the left, tilting wildly. Odran’s oily face smashed up against the glass only inches from mine.
“What are you doing?” he screamed.
“I’m not going to let you do this to Toll.”
“Security!”
No one in the crowd even noticed us. Our vests told everyone we were knudniks and of little importance. Besides, it was the Festival of the Harvest. The Citizens would never imagine something bad happening now. One more tinker with the computer chip inside Odran’s tank and the support glider struck the ground with a loud clank. I yanked myself free and jumped aside. Odran struggled against the tank before it tipped over and slammed onto the street. The glass exploded into a million pieces. The sludge that filled the tank splashed the audience, much to their delight.
Odran dragged his legless torso from the wreckage with the cables and alloy bucket still attached. He clawed at my feet with his waterlogged arms, but I simply stepped aside.
“You will die for this,” he gasped, his yellowed eyes ablaze. “You will not see the next cycle! I don’t care who you are!”
“I will not let you make a knudnik out of another child,” I declared, mounting my flying machine. “Let’s go, everyone!”
I leaned forward in the flyer, and it accelerated up and over the parade, straight toward the cooling tank. I looked down, and Core City continued to blossom with color and noise. I saw the Samiran bits turn a corner. All three, even the smallest one, were on their way to the cooling tank.
I could see Charlie below us, too. He shouted, “What are you doing?”
“Nothing, but I need you to slow the parade down!”
“What?”
The cooling tank was located in the largest building ahead of us, so it was the easiest to find. Near the building, on the ring’s incline, I could see the bright blue ocean of Orbis 2. The new home Toll longed for was less than a thousand meters from the stadium building that housed his prison. If I didn’t get to Toll before he found out what the Citizens had planned for his unborn child, it wouldn’t make a difference if that ocean was a zillion kilometers away.
Max put her flyer down smoothly at the entrance of the great hall. About two hundred aliens lined the steps and cheered as we landed.
“We’re not with the parade!” Max shouted, to the disappointment of the aliens.
“Hurry, we don’t have long,” I said, and dismounted the flying machine.
Theodore stopped outside the huge doors. “What about the Crystal of Life?” he asked
“I don’t care,” I replied.
“But Johnny . . .” Theodore was concerned. “Toll may be free, but without the money from the crystals, our lives won’t be worth much on Orbis.”
“Theodore’s right. You will make too many enemies if that crystal is ruined,” Ketheria warned.
“There must be something else that can pull those crystals,” Max said.
“I think there must be, too,” I agreed. “But the Citizens love their pageantry — look at this Festival. They love their old ways, and they love the slavery — it’s part of their culture. They don’t want a machine to do it.”
“I bet you I could whip something up,” Max said.
I looked at her. “Are you sure? This isn’t like patching up a scavenger-bot.”
“You just help Toll and keep him from flooding the ring,” she said. “Leave the crystal to me.”
We sprinted up the stairs along the tank and used the light chute to jump to the deck. We were not alone. At least ten aliens were putting the final touches on the stands, and even more vendors were getting in place. I grabbed Odran’s staff and slammed it on the button. What if Toll wasn’t here? I struck the deck again.
The water rippled, and Toll quickly surfaced. “Johnny? There is much work to be done, my friend. There is no time to talk,” Toll said.
“We have to,” I whispered, and looked around at the aliens staring at us. “But not here.”
“There is no time. The crystal will arrive very shortly,” he argued, and began to sink into the tank.
“Toll!” I knelt down at the edge. “It’s important. More important than the crystal,” I said, my eyes fixed carefully on my huge friend.
“Wait here, then. I must find enough suits for all of you.” Toll dipped into the water as some of the aliens were drifting over to us.
“Suits for what?” Theodore asked.
“To go into the tank,” I told him.
“Why do I have to go in there?” he protested. “I saw what it did to you the last time.”
“Don’t worry — the suit works with the bio-bots in the tank. They’ll protect you.”
“I don’t care; I’m not going in there,” Theodore cried, taking a step back. Nugget, who was listening to everything, followed his lead.
“Theodore, I wore one of the suits. They’re fine,” I assured him as Toll resurfaced. I jumped onto the Samiran and pull
ed the suits from the compartment on the harness. “Put them on. They conform to your body.”
Max held the suit up, marveling at the technology. “And this will keep the bio-bots from sucking the heat from my body?”
“And killing us?” Theodore added.
“Yes. Now hurry, please!”
Nugget followed Ketheria’s lead, and once everyone was dressed, we climbed onto Toll and descended into the tank. In the distance I saw the rock and glass formation that made up Toll Town. This time, however, when Toll emerged inside the air pocket, Tang was not there to greet us. In fact I could see no one. Toll Town was deserted.
“That was unbelievable,” Max exclaimed as she jumped off Toll.
“I didn’t really believe you before, JT,” Theodore said. “But wow!”
Ketheria was all smiles, while Nugget kept sticking his head back in the water to see what else was down there.
“We are safe here, Johnny, but please tell me what is so urgent.”
I didn’t want to upset Toll. “I don’t know where to start,” I said. I looked at Max.
“They’re going to keep your child to pull the crystals from now on, after your work rule is done,” she blurted out. It was a slap in the face.
“Don’t get upset,” I said. “I have a plan.”
But Toll wouldn’t listen. The water rippled around him, his gigantic body shaking. Toll let out a cry that almost cracked our skulls. Everyone clamped their hands to their ears.
“What did he say now?” Theodore shouted over the noise.
“He isn’t saying anything,” I yelled. “Toll! Toll! Listen to me.”
“I will destroy this tank and everything around it before I let them take my child,” Toll said, his voice booming off the walls.
“No. You don’t have to. We’re going to open the tank doors that lead to the ocean. You and Smool can leave before the baby is born,” I explained.
“You’re gonna do what?” Theodore said,
“You can do that?” Toll asked.
“With a little help,” I said, motioning to my friends. “I need you to be ready at the gate.”
“But Smool is heavy with the child, Johnny. I am concerned. She will have the child any cycle now.”
“Then we have to hurry.”
“I need to get back to Odran’s,” Max said. “Theodore, I need your help.”
Theodore nodded. “Of course.”
“Toll, can I have a few of these suits?” she asked, and Toll nodded his huge head slightly, imitating our gestures.
“Ketheria, you go with them,” I told my sister, but she shook her head and gave me a look that told me that was not an option. “Fine, you can come with me.”
“But we have to hurry.”
“Wait. We need to take everyone from Toll Town with us,” Toll said.
A familiar voice from behind me said, “Everyone is ready, Toll.” It was Tang. He crawled out from a hole in the rock high above the water. Another ten or fifteen pairs of eyes peered out from the darkness. “I knew you would be of great help to us one day, Johnny Turnbull,” Tang said.
“Tell Tang to call the Linkians,” Toll instructed me, and I did. Tang removed a pipe from his pocket and blew on it, then said, “We will meet you at the tank doors.”
“What’s a Linkian?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” he replied.
“Toll, you told me that the door to the ocean has been readied. Is there a control room, someplace where this is done?”
“Yes, but it is at the far end of the great tunnel. Near the ocean.”
“How are you gonna get there, JT?” Max asked.
“There are power-flow shafts that run the length of the tunnel,” Tang said.
“JT, that’s not enough,” Theodore complained. “You need more than that. What will you do when you’re there? This isn’t a very good plan.”
“It’s all we’ve got,” I told him, and turned to Toll. “How can I get to these power-flow shafts?”
“The Linkians will take you there,” Toll said as the water next to him began to glow and magnificent purple creatures, with skin like the finest velvet I’d ever seen, broke the surface. The sleek aliens sported four long, identical tentacles that sprang out from the center of their bodies. Two of the thick tentacles swept through the air and stuck to the edge of the pool near my feet.
“Incredible,” Max exclaimed.
“Jump on with your sister, Johnny,” Toll said. “I’ll take the others back to the deck. We’ll wait near the main door for your signal.”
“Toll will take you back,” I said, turning to my friends. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”
“It’s too late for that,” Max said.
“Do you know what you’re going to do?”
“I just need to get to Odran’s quarters, There’s something there I remember seeing . . .” she muttered.
“We’re doomed,” Theodore moaned.
“This is going to work,” I assured them. “I’ll see you when you’re done, then.”
Max took my hand. “I’m gonna hold you to that, JT.”
I stepped onto what I thought must be the head of one of the Linkians, but I could not see eyes or a mouth. I sat with Ketheria holding on to me and Nugget in between us. We nestled into the velvet skin as the creature reshaped itself to keep us snug on its back. I picked up a thick, red chain that wrapped around one of the tentacles, and I grasped it in my hands.
As we dipped into the water, I watched about a hundred aliens crawl out of the rocks and climb onto the backs of the other Linkians. Some needed time with their suits. There was no pushing or shoving, no panic. When four or five Linkians were filled with knudniks, a new batch surfaced. Everything was done in an orderly manner, and Tang stood watch as Toll slipped away with Max and Theodore on his back.
I ran my hand along the skin of the Linkian. “Let’s go,” I said.
The Linkian then dipped into the water. I was forced to hold on tightly as it took the lead and charged through the tank. The Linkians were graceful beings. They used their thick, velvety tentacles to soar through the water as if they were flying.
“Vairocina?” I said.
“Johnny? Are you all right?” she replied instantly.
“I’m fine,” I told her. “But I need your help.”
“Someone has alerted security,” she said. “They are tracking you now. They are using the staining.”
“You must stop them, Vairocina! I can’t have anyone know where I am.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late,” she informed me.
“So if someone wanted to, they could tell I was inside the tank right now?” I said.
“Yes,” she replied. “The stain allows any Citizen with a tracking device to locate you.”
But who would be looking for me? Charlie? Odran? The Trading Council? Probably all of them, I thought.
“Vairocina, you need to tell them I’m fine or stall them, or something. Anything to give me more time.”
“What’s wrong, Johnny? What are you doing?”
“I’m helping a friend,” I said as the Linkian slowed to a stop. Before me were two gigantic columns of rusted metal with tall, thin portals of glass running down between them. These must be the doors that lead to the escape tunnels, I thought. On the right side of the doors, just above us, was a grate as large as the tunnels we found running under Orbis 2.
“Through there!” I shouted at the Linkian, pointing to the grate. “That must be the power-flow shaft!”
The Linkian pushed upward with its long tentacles toward the grate.
“Hold on, Ketheria!”
The Linkian rolled on its side as Ketheria and Nugget clutched my waist.
“Duck!”
I lay out flat against the alien as it shot sideways through the narrow slits of the algae-covered grate. We scraped through the opening, and the Linkian bore down against the powerful current trying to suck us back out the grate. It took everything I had to k
eep from slipping off.
The shaft was narrow and pitch-black except for pools of blue-green light that shone every twenty meters. It ended with another grate, too small for the Linkian to slip through. I saw a thin metal ladder attached to the wall on my left. At the top of the ladder was some sort of hole or door, even blacker than the unlit water. The Linkian sprawled out against the wall and gripped itself against the flat surface. This must be it, I thought, and I reached out for the ladder, pulling myself off the Linkian.
Ketheria tried to do the same, but the current was too strong. When she let go of the red chain, the current grabbed hold of her and ripped her from the back of the Linkian. Nugget yelped and reached out for my sister. In an instant the Linkian whipped its tentacle around and grabbed on to Ketheria.
The Linkian brought Ketheria back to the ladder, and I took her from the alien as it gently released her. Nugget was too frightened now to move, so the Linkian picked him up, too, and passed him to me.
“Wait here!” I shouted to the Linkian. I don’t know if he heard me, but I used my hands to make him understand I wanted him to wait. The Linkian simply rested against the wall of the tunnel.
At the top of the ladder, I paused in front of the black hole. I tested it with my right arm. There was a little bit of resistance, but my hand went straight through. I stepped in, dragging Ketheria and Nugget with me. The opening led to a small control room, wet and rank with mildew. We peeled our water suits away from our faces, and they shrank back around our shoulders.
A type of stonewort covered everything in the control room, which made it impossible for me to decipher the controls. Ketheria dove in and wiped away the algae with her hands. Nugget followed her lead. They uncovered a long glass portal that gave us a view of the escape tunnel and the enormous doors that led to the ocean — the doors we needed to open.
“Vairocina?” I called for my friend.
The air bent, and Vairocina gathered in front of me. “Yes, Johnny?”