by Simon Archer
Finally, on our last stop before reaching the Nether, things started to change. We turned on the TV that evening after a long day of lounging around the ship and reading up more on the history of Direfall and the Nether as a whole. And there was… nothing there.
“Huh?” Malthe asked, staring blank-faced at the grayed-out screen. There was a notice across the bottom that read ‘We Apologize for the Interruption in Our Regularly Scheduled Programming.’ Then a man appeared on the screen.
“Hello,” he said as he stood at a podium, speaking to a microphone, and flanked by about a dozen other men in suits. “I am Mayor Emil Rey of Direfall. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me today.”
“Wait, is that who I think it is?” Cindra asked, leaning forward and pointing at the righthand corner of the TV screen. I squinted at it and gave a sharp intake of breath.
“It’s Achilles,” I said sharply. “It’s him. It’s Achilles!”
“So he is in Direfall,” Malthe mused with a sigh of relief. “We’re on the right track, then.”
“Damn straight, we’re on the right track!” Clem cried, pumping his fist in the air excitedly.
“Shhhh,” Kira shushed us, pressing a finger to her lips, and we all fell silent to listen to the rest of this mayor person’s speech. He looked weary and rather unsure of himself. Like he wasn’t so sure that he was doing the right thing by being there.
“I have an announcement—or rather, a series of announcements—to make,” the mayor continued, gesturing in Achilles’s direction. “As you can probably see, Achilles Tibor is back with us here in Direfall. Many of you have probably also noticed that the Termina camera feeds have been turned off. This is intentional. We will no longer be running any programming from Termina for the time being.”
Cameras flashed, and reporters shouted questions. Achilles cleared his throat loudly, as if he wanted to correct the mayor on something, but knew he wasn’t supposed to talk right now himself.
“Um, right,” the mayor continued. “What I mean is, there will no longer be any programming coming from Termina at all. Not just for the time being.”
More cameras flashed, and more reporters joined the cacophony of shouted questions. Lin and Kira even covered their eyes since there was so much flashing.
“Now calm down, calm down,” the mayor said with more than a twinge of annoyance in his tone, motioning with both his arms for everyone in the live audience to simmer down and shut the fuck up. “I’ll answer questions later. And I know that this will all come as quite a shock to a lot of you. But it’s what we’ve determined to do in consultation with the President, the other continents, various law enforcement agencies, and Tibor Enterprises itself.”
“What does this mean?” Clem asked, looking around worriedly. “What’ve they done to Termina?”
“Maybe it’s just gotten too boring for everyone?” Malthe asked hopefully. “And they’re just trying to take a step back and reevaluate?” But this was obviously wishful thinking, and the mayor confirmed as much.
“We will say that we are preparing a military invasion of Termina as we speak,” he said, and everyone both in our cabin and on the TV screen gasped in horror. “Our first forces should arrive on the island in two week’s time. Our full invasion will be complete within a month. We recognize that this is a drastic measure, but I assure you that it is a necessary one. And it is in the best interests of everyone in the world that we go through with it.”
All the reporters were talking at once now, but the mayor screamed over them, practically roaring into his microphone.
“I know that this is all very concerning to everyone and that this will in all likelihood cause quite a bit of backlash,” he yelled, now more than a little annoyed, clearly. “But it is one hundred percent necessary. All the metrics point to this. We’ve continually underestimated Termina and the people who lead it. Anyone who’s been watching the television show lately, which I imagine is literally everyone, can attest to that. I know that Termina is fun to watch. But in all the intervening years since it’s founding, we’ve lost sight of its original purpose.”
The mayor cast a side-eyed, weary, and dare I say almost resentful look in Achilles Tibor’s direction.
“And that is, that we’ve forgotten how dangerous the binders, the foxgirls, and their allies truly are,” he continued. “We’ve forgotten, and we’ve left the true purpose of the island behind. The whole original point was to keep these people away from us. And, I’m sorry to say, that has failed. Resoundingly. We’ve become complacent, and we’ve allowed ourselves to begin to see Termina as a far off land existing only for our entertainment, instead of an island prison for the world’s most dangerous residents. And that complacency has allowed seven of the most dangerous of even this most dangerous of populations to escape their prison.”
The room exploded then. And so did our cabin. All the reporters, and all of my teammates, started talking at once.
“What the fuck!” Clem exclaimed. “They can’t do this! They’re telling people we got out? But why?”
“I don’t know,” I said, biting my lower lip and furrowing my brow as I continued to stare at the TV.
“Sir, how long have you known about this?” one reporter managed to scream above the rest at the mayor. “Are these seven the seven TelCorp workers who supposedly disappeared into the tunnels in search of Achilles Tibor?”
“They are,” the mayor said, nodding in the direction of someone off-screen, and all of a sudden, the whole screen panned to giant portrait pictures of all of us, captioned with our names. “Those of you watching at home should see them now. Those of you here with me can see them on the screen above my head. We’ve known about this for some time, but thought that announcing this to the public would cause too much panic and do more harm than good, sending those we’re looking for into hiding and minimizing our chances of capturing them.”
“Why the change now?” another reporter asked.
“That’s an excellent question,” the mayor said sullenly. “We are not sure why, but these seven Termina citizens have evaded our capture. We thought that they would stick out like a sore thumb when they arrived here, given how out of place and easily recognizable they would be. But that has not happened. We’re not sure why, but at this point, we see the need to enlist the public’s help in finding them.”
“But how did they find out about the outside world? Where are they?” another reporter asked frantically.
“We’re not sure about that either, unfortunately,” the mayor admitted. “But we’re working on it. We believe that they originally arrived at the Barrens, but we can’t be certain. We’ve had no leads since then. Several shippers have gone missing from the Firebend docks, along with a ship. As for how they found out about us in the first place, that was a turn of logic. We have recordings confirming it was not aired on television. As I said, we’ve underestimated these people for far too long. They’re craftier and more intelligent than we ever gave them credit for, at least not since the last Great Binder War.”
“But how are we to find them?” another reporter asked.
“We’re working on that,” the mayor said, without a whole lot of confidence. “But we’re enlisting your help because frankly, the search is not going well. And also frankly, the people of all the continents need a wake-up call. Termina is not all fun and games. Need I remind you that among this group are two binders and three foxgirls, all incredibly dangerous. This is a serious threat to our safety and to our very existence. It’s time to wake up and stop seeing this as entertainment, and see if for what it is: war.”
There were more questions and answers after that, but it all fell into a dull background in my mind, a kind of buzzing noise fogging up my consciousness. Finally, the news conference faded back to the gray error message, and we all sat in silence for quite some time. Then Malthe spoke, his voice quieter and softer than it usually was.
“What now?” he asked weakly. “What’s next?”
<
br /> “I don’t know,” Lin murmured.
“Sure you do,” I said. “Nothing’s changed, except that there are even more people looking for us now, which means everyone’s going to panic. The mayor and whoever else is making the decisions were right to keep things under wrap until now. This will just set off a panic and make everything more muddled, which could very well make it even easier for us to fly under the radar. Since there will be so much going on, people will actually be paying less attention to us, if that makes sense.”
“God, Nic, I hope you’re right,” Cindra said quietly, her expression vacant as she stared at the TV screen, blank but for the same old apology message for the interrupted programming.
“I am,” I said definitively. “They’re doing this because they’re desperate. They have no idea what they’re doing or where to look for us, so they’re freaking out and throwing all the paint against the wall and hoping something sticks. We just need to make sure that it doesn’t.”
“I guess at least everything is all out in the open now,” Clem said with a shrug.
“Exactly,” I said. “We’re more up to date on what’s going on now, just like everyone else. Before, we weren’t sure if they could observe us, even though we couldn’t find any surveillance tech, or if they had some kind of deep dark secret plan to find us, or if they’d already found us and were just biding their time for some reason. Now everything’s all out in the open. And we know they have no idea what the fuck they’re doing. Don’t you see? This means we’re winning!”
Kinley gave a hollow, dark laugh at this. “I’m sorry, but having every single person in the fucking entire world looking for us, and probably trying to kill us, doesn’t exactly feel like winning, Nic,” she scoffed.
“I know it doesn’t,” I said, giving her a kind smile. “But it’s true. They’re freaking out and running scared. That means that they think they have reason to be. Which means that we have the upper hand here.”
“Which also means that they have no idea about our holographic face-changing tech,” Malthe reasoned. “Otherwise, they would’ve said to look out for something like that.”
“Exactly,” I said, nodding to him. “They have no idea how we’ve evaded detection for this long, and so they’re running scared and enlisting the entire human race to find us. Except they’re looking for the wrong faces.”
“Right, okay,” Lin said, taking several long deep breaths and nodding slowly. “Okay. I’m feeling a little bit better now. Or at least less panicky.”
“Good,” I said, smiling at her now. “And you should. We all should. We’ve learned a lot today. We’ve confirmed that Achilles is in Direfall and that we’re headed in the right direction. We’ve confirmed that no one’s found us yet. We’ve confirmed all kinds of things. We’re on the right track. I really think we’re going to pull this off, guys.” Several of us laughed shallowly and nervously.
“Okay, Nic, you’ve done your due diligence,” Cindra said, flashing me a small smile. “We’re not panicking anymore.” We all sat in silence for a few more minutes after that, staring at the blank gray screen with the error message some more.
“But what about Termina?” Clem finally asked softly, and my stomach sank pretty much all the way to the lowest deck on the ocean liner.
“Yeah,” I murmured. “Termina.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Our home was under attack. And in all likelihood, they had no idea that it was coming.
“I just wish there was some way to contact them,” Malthe said, slamming his fist against a nearby side table, causing a vase with some fake flowers in it to rattle and nearly tumble to the ground.
“Oh,” I said, suddenly remembering something. “Iggy!”
“Huh?” Clem asked, turning to me with a quizzical expression on his face. “What about him?”
“The mayor said that they think we were in Firebend because a ship disappeared,” I explained excitedly. “Which means they haven’t found it yet. Which means that Iggy got back home okay.”
“Well, I agree that’s awesome,” Clem said, looking rather bemused. “But I’m not so sure about how that relates to what we were saying...”
“Don’t you remember, they had a TV in that thing!” I cried. “And I told Iggy to show it to Semra so she and the board would know that they’re being watched. Which means that in all likelihood, they saw this.” I pointed straight at the TV for emphasis. Suddenly, Lin gasped with realization.
“Which means they know that they’re coming!” she cried. “Oh, Nic, that makes me feel so much better about all this.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said, sighing with relief and leaning back in my chair. “And Semra and the other board members, they’re not stupid. They would be watching. They know what’s up. They’ll be ready for these people when they come.”
“Will they be able to hold them off, though?” Malthe asked. “Without us, I mean?”
“Well, they’ll have gathered by now that these people aren’t able to listen in on TelCorp Headquarters,” I said. “So they won’t be stupid enough to make any plans or anything outside of there. So they’ll be able to plan and not let on that they know about the incoming troops. And the troops are coming in waves from each continent, not all at once, so that will make it easier to take them out one by one. Plus, they have ample time to prepare, based on the timeframe the mayor gave.”
“Oh, yes,” Lin sighed. “That’s all very good. I hadn’t thought through it quite like that.”
“You really think they’ll all be okay?” Clem asked, looking at me as if he didn’t dare hope. “Really?”
“Yes, I think they’ll be okay,” I said, trying to convince myself as much as everyone else. But everything that I had said was true, after all. Semra wasn’t stupid. Far from it. She would’ve done everything I’d said. And then some. They’d be ready. My only concern was that she wouldn’t know how to utilize all the tech Malthe had made for our defenses.
“You left instructions for them, right?” I asked, turning to the hacker who was fiddling with one of the many little tech instruments that he had brought with him. “They know how to use the drones, and the tanks, and everything?”
“Oh yeah,” he said, brushing away my concern. “I mean, they won’t be able to use it as well as me. But remember, I have a whole department that I trained. They can handle it. And I’m needed more here. This is where the big fight is.”
“Okay,” I said, breathing another sigh of relief. “Okay, that’s good. That’s all good. I think everything’s going to work out for the best. It’ll all be settled soon, at any rate. One way or another.”
“I should go grab us some food,” Cindra said, rising from her seat and tapping the bracelet on her wrist twice to put on her holographic disguise. “I’m assuming we want to stay in tonight, given everything?” We’d often gone out on the ship at night. It really was nice, and there was a wide variety of dining and entertainment options available to us there. But I really wasn’t feeling it that night, not after everything we’d seen. So I shook my head.
“Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” I said, and everyone else nodded. And with that, Cindra disappeared out into the ship, headed down to one of the lower decks to get us some food, and hopefully some drink. God knows I needed it right then.
She came back not long after that with two giant bags of food in tow, along with some liquor bottles.
“Just what I need,” I muttered, reaching for the nearest bottle and pouring the amber-colored liquid into a nearby glass. I took a long sip, and the drink immediately warmed my stomach and soothed my soul.
“What’ve you got for us?” Clem asked, rubbing his hands together eagerly as he peered into the nearest bag.
“I got stuff from the restaurant from the other night, that one we all loved,” she said. “I figured we’d need it. Here you are, Nic.”
She handed me a black takeout contained holding the most amazing pasta dish I had ever had in my life. I’d ordered it wh
en we’d been there last. It was a kind of gourmet macaroni and cheese filled with all kinds of gooey deliciousness and topped with crisp bread crumbs, spices that added more than a kick to the dish, and some caramelized onions.
I eagerly opened the container and took a big bite, washing it down with more of the liquor. It was the perfect pairing, and I couldn’t think of a better meal I’d had in my life. The outside world really wasn’t all that bad at all. Except for all the, you know, hating us and wanting to kill us and all that stuff. That was pretty bad. But other than that, it was pretty nice, actually.
“So, what’s the plan when we get to the Nether?” Clem asked after we’d enjoyed our meal in delicious silence for some time. “What then?”
“Well, our first stop on the continent isn’t in Direfall,” Lin pointed out. “It’s in a smaller port. There’s a Tibor Enterprises there, though.”
“So we head in there and see what we can find, just like with the rest of ‘em,” I said through a gooey mouthful of my pasta.
“What’s the point of that again?” Clem asked. “I don’t see how we’ve learned anything new from any of these other ones. It’s just another list of TelCorp clients.”
“Which will be valuable when we get home,” I reasoned. “But we could still find something more. And the Nether is the home of Tibor Enterprises, so maybe there’s a better chance of that happening here than at one of the other ones.”
“Fair enough,” Clem shrugged, seeming to accept this explanation before turning back to his own food.
“So what about when we get to Direfall?” Cindra asked. “What then?”
“Well, we know where the Tibor Enterprises headquarters are there from our research,” Malthe said, covering his mouth as he chewed and spoke at the same time. “So I say we head there first. Or at least some of us do.” He got a bit of a sly smile at this.
“What do you mean?” I asked him, suddenly interested in something other than my mac and cheese. “Do you have something else up your sleeve?”
“I might,” he said cautiously as if afraid giving voice to it would jinx it, make it not work. “I’ve been working on something. Kind of similar to what I’ve been doing with the holographic disguises, but bigger. Way bigger.”