by Tim Kaiver
Emmit thought of how he'd grown since Adi's apparent death. He'd fought maras, found the bird that led them here, and helped the three of them—Sprinkles included—cross the gorge.
"Exactly," Sara said.
Adi looked sad, but didn't say anything as Emmit glanced at him. He'd played a part in this lie too, but again, they'd all made it here. His dad was right.
"This is only the beginning of our journey, Son." He lifted the handheld device and showed Emmit a picture of the statue. He tapped the base and zoomed to a paragraph of Veltuk letters carved into the stone. Emmit translated them.
"Son and father will unite to carry promise and power into a new era of war and blessing."
Emmit looked up at his father in wonder. "How…?"
"The Father of the Ancients guides those who follow." His dad shrugged and lowered the device. "This is just one discovery among many that bolstered my faith since I saw you last. It helped me keep going, gave me hope I might see you again. And now we're together. Your mom and the captain are almost here. I only need to press one button to link up with Adi's father. But we need to do that from our ship, and we will leave soon after."
"Emmit!" his mom called. He saw through her eyes that they had reached the building. The bird led her into one of the dark entryways, and she stepped over the loose stone steps. "We're here. Cullen's injured."
"They're here," Emmit said, but they were already moving for the door, Adi following their lead. Emmit went back for Dy, and hustled to catch up as they jogged down the hall.
"She's right," Sara said. "His head injury is bad. Getting his memory may be difficult."
Emmit thought about that, and Cullen's role in their escape.
"We need him to fly, so that's not what I meant," Sara 'pathed. "He's part of the plan too. Willo lied. Telepathy isn't stable enough to hold memories in a pullspace bubble. We're all going to Vijil, and need Cullen healed. Let's go."
Fel Or'an was an odd mixture of old, broken stone and new remodeling that made the hallways solid where it mattered, but in some places relics had been left, such as the mara head profiles and Veltuk writings carved into the wall on his right. The carvings were intermixed with symbols and pictures of exotic landscapes and unfamiliar animals. One was a black horse with a human torso kicking its front hoof at a glowing orange plant with a head like a cobra. Numbers and class titles filled the spaces between every man or animal on the painting. He read them, and a hope bloomed that more might experience the Cipher. The eroded stone, grafted into the newer-looking wall, floor, and ceiling as though showcasing and supporting a museum from some millennia ago, made him wonder: A new era of ultras and discovery?
They entered an adjoining hall and found his mom with an arm around Cullen, helping him walk. The gash in his scalp made Emmit cringe. She favored her leg with the bad hamstring, but Cullen's legs were dragging. He could barely look up. Bandages were wrapped around his head and chest, with dark stains of blood seeping through. And what had happened to his suit? The helmet looked like it had malfunctioned.
Sara ran ahead even as his dad slowed. "Captain!"
Emmit peeked into Cullen's mind, and had to stop as the amazing scene unfolded, from exploding mara to his not-pretty leap across the gorge and his rescue of Emmit's mom.
You did all that for her? Anything negative he'd felt toward Cullen turned to respect and gratitude.
"She did quite a lot too," the wounded man thought back.
+10 XP to group – relationship growth.
*Mission to reach Fel Or'an – Complete.*
+25 XP to group – reached Fel Or'an with ultras, Adi, texts and case of serum. *Quest yet complete.*
Emmit gained a level! Now Level 3 Ultra. XP 15/180.
Level-up bonus: Ten-second boost to either Telescope or Charm.
"Yes!" Emmit shouted.
Sara looked at him strangely. He felt her probing his mind.
He shrugged, confident she wouldn't see the truth. "I'm just excited we're almost there."
"True. Almost. The Solvent's not far." Cullen tried to walk, but wavered off balance. Sara grabbed his arm to stop his fall. "Let me help you." she said, helping him onward past Emmit.
Group XP summary: Cullen Level 3 Bounty Hunter 120/150; Ehli Level 3 Ultra 75/180.
Items found: 2 waver plants.
With plenty of firecone left, he declined the offer, giving it to his mom.
His dad and mom shared a silent look. His dad stood motionless as she hobbled on. Emmit caught his dad's sense of reluctance to help her, and didn't understand why. That's my mom... your wife.
But the look she'd aimed at his dad hadn't exactly been a glowing welcome. More like a guard's examination.
Her gaze fell on Emmit and her face relaxed. Her pace increased, and he jogged the short distance—past his dad—to hug her. She reeked of blood, sweat, and mud, but he wasn't a ripe rose either. I can't believe....
Her memories flashed in his mind. He saw what she'd endured, felt the pain in her shoulder and leg, and experienced her fear as if he'd dangled from the branch and had the wind rocking him loose as his fingers burned to let go.
Their connection tightened to a narrow tunnel between their minds. He read her distrust of his father, and shared his conviction that they ought to forgive him. I have.
She looked at him as if she were glad for him, but wasn't quite there yet. She took a waver plant out and bit into its bud.
"The rejects," Sara 'pathed on a wider frequency. She shared an image of someone riding a mara as it leapt over the gorge. They fell short of the other side, but the reject jumped off the mara to safety. The mara let out an unholy shriek that echoed as it fell into the gorge. A shimmering blue blast zipped up out of the hole and into the red, dusk sky. "Ten made it across," Sara 'pathed, and Emmit and his mom turned and ran to her.
"I'm glad you made it," his dad said as they passed him. "I'm sorry we couldn't risk meeting you at the gorge."
"And for leaving us in prison?" his mom said over her shoulder. "One of your guards just turned."
Turned? Emmit asked.
"Into a reject," his mom 'pathed. "I have to help them. They can't get inside."
His dad ran with her.
"I'll be back," his mom 'pathed.
Emmit caught up to Sara, who nudged at Cullen to limp faster. "Come on, Captain. I'll sew you up so you can get the ship ready." She pointed to an opening in the hall. "This way."
Emmit paused, unsure where to go. He didn't want to risk losing his mom again. "But—"
"We don't have time," Sara 'pathed.
Why was it necessary for his mom to get so close to the rejects? He linked to Sara's mind and probed her for information about Ocia, Torek, and Jolnes. She'd heard that they were exhausted, each sporting injuries that would inhibit their ability to fight if forced to face the rejects.
Sara typed a sequence of numbers into a keypad, and the light above turned green. The hatch unlocked with an audible click before it slid open. Beyond was the interior of a ship a little larger than the Talis. The name Solvent was painted in gold letters on the black floor, just inside the hatch. The style of writing reminded him of the title on one of his dad's books. His library had been full of journals, and the way the writing style matched the ship's name made the ship feel like an extension of the journey his father had been taking for decades.
As Sara half-carried Captain Re through the hatchway, he thought of his parents. What if they don't make it back?
"They will," Sara 'pathed.
The black bulkheads reminded him of Sprinkles. Emmit found his wolverine in the same room where they'd taken him to get sewn up and bandaged. He gently poked the snoring wolverine's cheek. Sprinkles’s eyes snapped open in a look that made Emmit turn to see what he was looking at.
Adi looked terrified.
"What's wrong?" Emmit asked.
Adi's distant stare sent a chill through his veins. Adi whispered, "They want me—" He clapped his hands to his head
and, releasing a horrible cry, fell to his knees. "No. Stop. I can't. Let me go!"
*Mission to protect the crew from reject control – Activated.*
Emmit lifted Adi upright. His touch on Adi's hip opened a channel, through which he heard the echoes of Willo's laughter. And not the nice kind.
"You weren't planning to leave without us, were you?" Willo 'pathed.
Pain struck Emmit's mind as the words invaded his defenses. He thought of using his charm bonus, but held off. He doubted this was her main attack. Fighting to keep control, he pleaded with Shephka to help him survive so he could use his bonus and defeat her.
***
Cullen squinted against the artificial lights. The tangy aroma of warming fenarum signaled the readying of a pullspace generator that hummed from a closed hatch to their right. Farther down the passageway, he saw two neuronet docks with seats angled to face the bulkhead.
Sara led him into the sick bay. It housed clean steel shelves, a bed with a cloth on it, a sink, and shelves that he assumed carried medical supplies.
"You can set that there," she said, indicating his backpack.
He put it down and eased himself onto the examination table.
"We'll take that off your hands soon enough," Willo 'pathed.
Please do. I could use the excitement of watching you try.
The slow spinning in his head threatened to disable him, but if a fight came, he'd manage.
A drawer slid shut and Sara walked to his side, a bottle in one of her gloved hands and a white rag in the other. "This'll burn," was her brief warning before alcohol first doused, then ignited a new fire on his scalp.
He tensed his fists. Some alcohol leaked into his eye, and he grunted, "Eye."
She dabbed the alcohol away. "We have a new suit for you. Let's get this off. Can you hold this?" She pressed his hand and the cloth to the scalp wound while she carefully cut his suit with heated scissors. The aroma of burning hair and plastic mixed with the alcohol sanitizing his blood.
"I had my doubts that you'd help us get this far," she said as she cut.
Cullen didn't reply. He had too.
She lifted his upper back enough to free the sleeve underneath, then cut through the side of his collar. "You've come through, though."
"We're not home yet."
She pulled on his hair near the head wound, and the scissor blades sheared through it. "No, but I still wanted to thank you. We're closer than I thought possible."
As he twisted to look her in the eye, his gaze fell on his jacket and the broken wristcom. Having it working would speed up his pre-flight syncs with a new ship and pullspace link to his neuronet. Sara was busy, and he didn't have the strength to fix it. He thought of Emmit's work on the p-drive. "Hey, Emmit!"
"Yeah?" Emmit called back from the passageway.
"Can you fix my wristcom before we jump?"
"What?" he 'pathed. "I don't know how to do that."
I'll show you, Cullen thought.
"Okay, I can try."
You'll do great.
34
Ehli let Schaefer lead her down the hallway, past a mural of a giant ball of light creating a crater in a wheat field. She'd seen a picture like that in one of Schaefer's books, but that crater had been in the middle of a river with mountains beyond. There wasn't time to analyze the mural beyond its inspiration to hope in the power that had brought her here. Shephka help me. Rejects assaulted her mind with threats and taunts, but she didn't fight back. She used their words to create a mental picture of their location, hopping from one to another until she landed on one in the process of turning one of Schaefer's soldiers
She read his name from the reject's mind.
Relax, Stroman. We're coming. The distance between them made their connection little more than verbal.
The hallway led to a stairwell carved with elaborate weaving, which they descended. Whoever had built this had taken great care.
"What went wrong here?" Ehli asked.
"Oniz—or Willo, as she calls herself—sabotaged my ultras after I declined her... advance." His mind softened, and he shared a view of an office. Willo was there, smiling, close up. Her washed and styled hair, and pretty silver blouse, presented a softer figure than the hardened jungle soldier she'd met.
Ehli's foot slipped on the edge of a stair and she slid to a hard jab in her butt.
Schaefer stopped and helped her up. "I admit to battling feelings for her, but I never did anything."
She felt the disgraced truth, and the regret.
He turned to continue down the stairs, keeping her hand in his, reminding her of walks together at home.... Here, they were far from that world of peace and calm.
Save your breath, she 'pathed.
"It's been hard keeping this secret," he thought. "I wondered if you'd given up on me—on us. After I faked my death, I wouldn't have blamed you, but I couldn't help holding on to the unlikely chance that you and Emmit believed I was alive." The scene reappeared at the point when he pushed Willo away from a kiss. Ehli held on tighter to keep from falling as her eyes took in two realities. The darkness in Willo's glare looked more like the Willo she knew. "Two weeks later, we had our first murder."
They rounded the final spiral in the staircase. Ehli felt the absence of resistance in his thoughts. This was truth.
They reached the bottom of the stairs and headed left. Only the dim light of dusk through the open windows lit the wide room.
"I am sorry," Schaefer said. In the brief eye contact, she saw the man she had married, bearing new layers of imperfection. She too was not perfect. She didn't need to be an ultra to read his love for her and their son.
You realize you can't lie to me anymore, she 'pathed.
"I do," he thought. "And I won't."
Stroman was now close enough that his pain began to weigh on Ehli. She absorbed his fear, joined him in his mind and comforted him like the mother the young man missed. I'm coming, she shared, thinking of her son. This was a risk, but they had to secure the base.
+5 XP – telepathy practice.
80/180 XP to Level 4.
Perhaps too far from next level to earn a bonus by the time it mattered.
They reached the end of the room and found a modern double door built into the heavy stone. On the other side was a force far more threatening than lies and misunderstandings.
Schaefer entered a code on the keypad and the light turned green. Locks disengaged atop and below the door.
As it slid open, Ehli took his hand in hers, enjoying the sliver of solace in their standing like this, side by side, ready to face the world together.
+15 XP – relationship restoration.
Wow, that's a good XP gain.
The Cipher is rooted in the power of love. Excellence cannot be achieved without it.
She couldn't deny that. Completing quests and preparing for war, along with saving her son, were her priorities, but the Cipher's message drove home a point worth valuing. She could complete the quest, win the war, and keep her son safe, but if she didn't do it as one driven by love, she conceded how those victories would be hollow without the excellence she desired. She'd been foolish to let the attraction to the captain linger, even with her doubts about her husband's intentions and past failures. Loving him meant continuing to choose him.
Schaefer pulled out a levitor pistol and clicked on the flashlight attached to its top. "I'm glad you're back, too."
He pointed the light into the pitch-black hall. As soon as the doorway cleared, they ran together.
***
Emmit created a workstation on a table with an extendable arm so that Cullen could watch him while Sara finished his stitches. With mental guidance from Cullen, they soon had a new power source installed and many of the wires spliced and repaired. The cooling system was busted, but Cullen said it should be fine to create the Mericure Bubble. If they made it to Vijil, he could get a replacement.
"You shouldn't have let your mother leave."
/> Willo's voice interrupted Emmit as he snipped a wire casing, making him cut through the wire. He'd have to remeasure and cut a longer replacement wire.
Cullen looked up and locked eyes. "You okay?"
"No," Willo 'pathed. "This is between us."
The way she said it, and the hold she had on him, he didn't think he could do anything against her will. "Sorry, just nervous," he told Cullen, then unspooled a new length of wire. What have you done? he 'pathed to Willo.
"Nothing yet, but time's running out on that gift."
Anger surged. She's stronger than you realize.
"Oh, I know. But I have two hundred rejects ready to make her ours for good. We couldn't have done this if she hadn't come closer, and she took that bait oh-so-easily. She and Schaefer." She laughed through their connection. "What do you plan to do if he doesn't come back?"
Hold your threats, reject.
Emmit finished splicing the wire, and thumbed the tiny power button inside the casing. The wristcom hummed and lit up. He smiled, glad to succeed and not need his bonus yet.
"Yes." Cullen tightened a fist. "Great job, Em."
+10 XP to Cullen and Emmit – repaired wristcom.
Emmit dismissed the notification for fear Willo would read it.
"What are you hiding from me?" she 'pathed.
We're stronger than you realize, he 'pathed back, and started for the door. "Sara, can you get me jacked?"