by J. N. Chaney
“Not that I know of. Tiberius is one of a kind. At least as far as we can tell,” he answered, looking pensive. “When I tried to tell your father and the Primes, they brushed me off. Thought I was delirious from being outside too long.”
“And we kept killing them,” I guessed. “But we don’t actively hunt them, it’s only in self-defense,” I pointed out.
Mario raised an eyebrow and gave me a pointed look. “So, the Boneclaw you killed on your last hunt attacked you first?”
“No,” I admitted. He had me there. That particular Boneclaw had been eating the frost horn we were tracking.
Now that I thought about it, I couldn’t remember a single instance of a Boneclaw attack that didn’t start with us. Had it always been that way?
I shifted uncomfortably at the memory of the keening wails coming from the four Boneclaws that had entered the gorge. It irked a little to know that my misgivings had been correct. Even if they didn’t all speak like Tiberius, there had to be some familial connection between the creatures.
“When Tiberius learned that the killings were still going on, he attacked a hunting party. The next time we met, he showed me the tunnel they’d created. He said the cave systems and our compound were no longer safe until we stopped attacking and repaid our blood debt. He wanted a tribute every day until our dead equaled theirs.”
“Which you agreed to,” I said, disgusted again.
“What choice did I have?” Mario asked, throwing his hands up. “It’s better to lose a few than to die out completely.”
“Where did Karin fit into that plan?” I said bitterly.
“That was circumstance. A mistake I deeply regret.” He paused, a mournful expression on his face, then continued. “I have it on good authority that your father will make a full recovery. That means he’s still the Director.”
“I know what you’re going to ask,” I said, holding up a hand to stop him. “And the answer is no. I won’t help you kill more people.”
“What if the death of one could save the colony?” Mario asked quietly.
“What do you mean?” I didn’t like the gleam in his eye.
“If I deliver your father to Tiberius, the debt is settled.”
“No!” I whispered, feeling sick to my stomach. “There has to be another way.”
“See? You are just like him. Unwilling to make the hard decision for the good of the whole.”
“Would you give up Nero?” I countered.
Whatever civility we had during our conversation vanished and Mario fixed a hard stare on me. “That’s irrelevant, Miss Visaro. And you’re going to help, whether you want to or not. Now, as far as the staff goes? You will do as you’re told.”
I glared at him. “I don’t understand why you need it. You seem to be in control of everything here just fine with the other weapons you stole.”
Mario blinked, then his lips twitched up into a hunter’s smile, as if he had prey in his sights. “As intriguing as Tiberius is, he’s too dangerous to be left alive. With the power we saw on display in the hover tunnel, I think he can be killed with it.”
Mario leaned back in his seat. “If you refuse, I will send someone you care about for each Reckoning until you agree. I think I’ll start with Mark. Do we have a deal?”
I nodded, furious.
“Good. I’m aware you’ve had a long day. Get a few hours rest, then you can start.”
I caught sight of Nell on my way from Mario's office, but she wouldn’t meet my eye. In fact, the other prospus kept her head down and pretended not to notice me at all.
One of the guards handed me food and a container of water before ushering me back into the room they were using as a jail. When I stumbled in, the people nearest to the door cringed back.
What’s going on? I wondered, then scanned the faces looking for Mark. When I didn’t see him right away, I worried Mario had done something with him.
“Lucia, over here.”
I let out a sigh of relief at the sound of his voice and made my way over to one of the far walls. He was sitting on a mat and patted the empty one beside him. I took it gratefully and sank down next to him.
“I was worried when you didn’t come back,” Mark said, giving me a searching look.
Not wanting everyone around us to hear what I had to say, I told him in hushed whispers what had transpired in the last few hours. By the time I’d finished, my friend looked stunned.
“And here I thought they were making it up,” he said.
“Making it up? You knew about this?” The question came out like an accusation, which I instantly regretted.
“Only just after you left,” Mark said, his voice taking on a defensive tone. “Will Butler heard the guards talking when they let him out for a restroom break.”
Recalling the discontent I’d noticed in the cavern, it made sense that the guards would have been talking about what happened. It also explained why everyone had been so jumpy when I entered. No one wanted to be next.
I opened the ready-to-eat meal that had been shoved at me, recognizing it as one made by Janus’ food synthesizer. It annoyed me that on top of everything else, Mario had raided the compound’s food supply. What else had he taken?
Dim light provided by oil lanterns didn’t offer much of a view, but I didn’t see Prime Lambert anywhere. As cramped as the room was, they probably had another.
“Look,” I said, talking around a mouthful of food. “I only agreed to help with the staff to buy some time.”
“You want to come up with a plan,” Mark guessed. “Do you have anything in mind?”
“Not yet,” I admitted, then finished off the meager meal before speaking again. “My brain is running on vapor right now.”
“I’ve gotten some sleep here and there. Why don’t you do the same and I’ll try to work on something in the meantime.”
“It feels wrong to sleep in the middle of everything going on,” I said, chewing on my bottom lip.
“You’re no good to anyone in your current state,” Mark said loftily, reminding me of Prime Lambert. He always had a precise way of speaking that sounded stuffy, though not in a bad way.
“Yeah, you’re probably right about that,” I said, trying and failing to suppress a yawn.
The events of the day were certainly catching up to me. Whatever energy I’d gleaned from the forced power nap was long gone and exhaustion had me struggling to keep my eyes open.
“Sleep. I’ll wake you if anything important happens,” Mark promised.
“Alright. Don’t let me sleep too long, okay?”
He smiled wryly. “With these mats it won’t be a problem.”
Unable to fight it any longer, I curled up and let the weariness take me under.
This time when I woke up, the first thing I noticed was the smell. With so many people together in close quarters without bathing, the air had taken on a certain pungency.
Sitting up, I wrinkled my nose and checked to see if Mark was still sitting next to me. He was.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“A little better. You?” I stretched to work some of the kinks out and felt a satisfying pop somewhere deep in my back. No one in the community was a stranger to hard floors and uncomfortable nights, but this one had been rough, even for me.
Mark too, was showing signs of wear. Dark circles marred the skin under his eyes and gave them a hollow look. The swelling around the injured one had gone down, though the bruising was a dark mottled purple, and the fat lip had shrunk back down to normal size. His white hair stuck out at odd angles as though he’d been tugging on it.
“I haven’t come up with much,” he replied, brows furrowed in frustration. “I tried to get my bearings during the last bathroom break but it’s only down the hall.”
“It’s okay,” I said with forced cheerfulness.
“No, it’s not,” Mark said listlessly. “They came and took Wendy Cooper while you were out.”
“What? Why didn’t you
wake me up?” I hissed.
“Because you wouldn’t have been able to stop them,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper, before nudging a chin discreetly at the other prisoners. Our conversation was starting to draw attention.
I wanted to argue but he wasn’t wrong. We didn’t have any weapons and most of us were beaten to hell from the chaos at the ceremony, but I didn’t have to like it.
“Fine,” I relented, trying to think logically. “Nero will probably send for me soon. I’ll see if any of the rebels will talk to me. Not all of them looked very accepting of Mario's leadership style in the cavern.”
“That’s a good idea,” he agreed. “I don’t see how we’re going to find a way to escape without help though.”
“Why don’t you work on rallying our people,” I suggested. “Maybe the next time the guards come we can overpower them. It’s not like a bunch of them can come in at once.”
Mark seemed to perk up at that idea. “That could work. It’s worth a try at least, and better than sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves. I just wish I could get my hands on a datapad.”
I did too. My fellow prospus might not have been the gutsiest person I knew, but if he could get his hands on one of those our chances of escape would improve drastically.
The door opened, prompting some of the other prisoners to stir nervously.
Allan’s large form stepped into the room, eyes scanning until they fell on me. He jerked a thumb wordlessly at the door and waited to see if I would comply.
Deciding to save my breath and energy, I did.
“Hold it,” he said, grabbing my arm and holding up the restraints when I tried to walk past him.
“Is that really necessary?” I asked, giving him the beady eye.
“What do you think I am, stupid?”
Yes, I thought.
“Of course not,” I said sweetly. “It just seems a little overkill.”
“I’m not going to be the one responsible for you causing problems,” said Allan, not budging.
“Fine,” I sighed, holding my wrists out. “Lead the way.”
14
Allan put a guiding hand on my elbow, and I had to resist the urge to shake it off.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked lightly, trying not to be obvious as I studied our surroundings in my peripherals.
He gave me a sidelong look. “You really want to know?”
“Yes,” I answered honestly.
“Mario has the right idea, working with that Boneclaw. It’s for the good of the whole colony. A few now to spare the many.”
“So, you’re okay with offering up our people?” I challenged, incensed all over again.
“Not really,” he confessed. “But you saw what they’re capable of. Someone had to do something.”
“And how are the sacrifices getting chosen? It seems to me that anyone not falling in line is going, and that’s bullshit,” I said, ignoring the obvious jab at my father.
Allan didn’t have an answer for that, and we continued on in silence.
This part of the fusion core facility didn’t look too much different than ours except for the state of disrepair. Mario and his people had obviously been hard at work getting portions of it in working condition, but some areas looked untouched. Still, survival here would be impossible without the advantages our compound provided.
Janus had worked with more than a dozen generations of our people to create a sustainable place to live. Which, I realized, was likely why Mario had chosen to attack at the ceremony. Most of the community had been gathered together, relaxed and unsuspecting.
Between the missing food, people, and other resources, someone was bound to have eventually noticed. In order to avoid that scenario, he had made his move. Which, as it turned out, had been a smart one.
Having the “missing” hunters speak out with their concerns had been particularly clever for a few reasons.
Their sudden arrival had caused confusion and prevented any opposition. Their words held clout and surely swayed some of the community to Mario's side. It also had the added bonus of getting his men close enough to attack without arousing suspicion.
I hadn’t seen anything useful by the time we made it back to the lab from before. As he had then, Nero waited inside.
He looked up when we entered, and his lips turned up into a smug grin. “My father says you’ll be helping after all.”
In that moment, I wanted to punch him. “Is this some kind of game to you?”
Nero’s smile faltered at the venom in my tone, but he tried to save face. “Don’t be tetchy just because you lost, Lucia.”
“Tetchy?” I asked, incredulous. “People are dying and you think I’m being tetchy? No wonder Mario had to rig the Selection.”
His fists balled up at his sides and I thought he might actually strike out at me. Then he visibly relaxed and waved a hand at the table.
“Just get to work,” he grumbled, then stepped back and pointed to where the staff lay on the table.
It had been secured to the table with the barrel end pointed directly at where I’d be sitting.
“I can’t work on it if I can’t move it,” I told him bluntly.
“You’ll have to make it work. And this way we know you won’t be trying to activate it. If you do—”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, waving my still manacled hands and cutting him off. “I’ll just kill myself; I get it. It’s just impractical to do it this way, and besides, I’m going to need tools.” I said that last part thinking that he would have to send someone to search for some, thus giving me more time.
“Already taken care of,” he said with a smirk, dashing my hopes. “They should be arriving shortly.”
Allan came and fixed my restraints to the table with a long length of chain. I had just enough room to reach up and to most of the staff, but not enough to make any type of escape.
By the time he was done, the tools had arrived. I recognized the bag as being one from Josef’s lab and figured they must have sent someone to steal it. If they were able to get into the lab that easily then Josef must have been somewhere else. I tried not to think of the possibility that he had been killed or taken prisoner in order to get them.
“I can’t make any promises,” I told Nero, still jockeying for more time.
“Oh?” He had the gall to look amused and I knew that he knew I was stalling.
“Josef helped me with a lot of this. If you send Mark to assist, it will get done faster.”
“No,” he said, drawing out the word. “I don’t think so. Good ol’ Jo couldn’t stop going on about how impressed he was with your work on it. Nice try though.” Nero turned to leave, then paused. “Luce, don’t take too long, okay? Lives depend on it.”
Oh, how I hated him in that moment. The statement had a double meaning. Instead of giving me a time limit he’d put everything in my hands. If I took too long, people would still die, offered to Tiberius as a blood payment. Smart bastard.
He left me staring daggers into his back, taking Allan with him. I was alone in the room but knew there were at least two people guarding the door.
I tested the limits of my restraints first, gauging reach. My estimate had been pretty close and I found it was easy to get to the parts I would need to work on.
The staff itself bore no visible damage from the cave-in, which I was grateful for. I tried a few different angles and maneuvers to see if it could be activated without blowing a hole in myself but couldn’t. Without being able to walk around the table, I was forced to lean over it in order to reach the energy core housing and put some part of my body in the line of fire.
Remembering the tool bag, I snatched it up thinking they might have been careless enough to leave something inside that would help me take off the restraints.
The contents were delicate, made for precision work on small components, though I did find a datapad. I pulled it out without much excitement since they hadn’t slipped on anything else so far.
<
br /> As I’d anticipated, it had been heavily modified. I spent some time digging through it but couldn’t send any messages or access anything besides the diagnostics program for the staff.
Deciding to at least pretend to work while I worked out a plan, I synced the pad to the staff and did a basic system check. Everything came back clean, with no errors, not that I’d expected any.
Though I knew exactly where to alter the algorithm for the biometric lock, I went through it all, line by tedious line. Even if there was no way around eventually making the staff usable for Mario, maybe I could alter something else in a more subtle fashion.
The hours slipped by as I worked, largely uninterrupted except when nature called. Once, I thought I heard the thumping start again but I tuned it out.
My stomach growled audibly after a while and I realized that I hadn’t eaten since the ration meal, which now seemed like days ago. My mouth felt pretty dry too, and I was considering the merits of making a racket to get the guard’s attention when one of them entered carrying a tray.
It was Nell.
“Hey,” I said in a friendly voice.
She strode over to me without meeting my eyes and set the tray down without answering. On it there was another vacuum sealed ration meal, a bowl, a napkin, and a cup of water.
“Can you at least tell me why you’re going along with this?” I asked, still keeping my tone casual.
“Just eat your food, Lucia.” Then in an act completely unlike her, Nell knocked the water over. “Oops.”
I cursed and jumped back, stopped short by the restraints. Nell left without saying if she was going to bring more and I was left to clean up the sopping mess, which had gotten on everything.
The napkin wasn’t nearly large enough to soak up all the water and most of it went onto the floor.
“What a bitch,” I grumbled, still surprised at her antics, then I picked up the ready-to-eat meal.
As I was about to open it, something on the plastic wrapping caught my eye. They were usually blank except for the use by date. This one had a strange marking on it. Curious, I studied it a little closer and saw that it was a message.
