Cold Falling White

by G. S. Prendergast

  When the room is full, Sky calls attention by clapping her hands together, making a sharp smack that resonates in the high-ceilinged hall.

  Now we must decide what to do with the humans, she signs.

  As I translate, the Rogues shuffle a bit, but none have any suggestions.

  “We can go back down to my camp,” Topher says after a moment.

  No, Sky signs sharply. You will die.

  “No we won’t,” Topher says. “We can—”

  Sky interrupts him with a hiss. Mud brain humans can’t see death when it is staring into their eyes. Nahx soldiers will come. You will die.

  I only translate the last part.

  “The Nahx are still darting people?” Mandy asks. “Even now?” I notice that Blue is now sitting on her shoulder, twinkling like a tiny diamond brooch.

  Some have orders to stop. Many do not. They follow orders until they die, Sky says. In the brief, thoughtful silence that follows, the door creaks open and August comes in, fully armored and dusted with snow. He looks around, facing me for a second before moving to join the crowd of Rogues. I want to follow him, to tug him away so we can have the proper conversation we obviously need to, but Mandy interrupts me.

  “What’s she saying?”

  Sky is talking again. I try to catch up, ignoring my growing awareness that Tucker has decided to crunch a handful of my green satin skirt in his fist.

  … back over the mountains and through the drone web Aurora, can you get them back through?

  Aurora, with her tall Offside’s arm slung around her shoulders, nods.

  If it’s ice, yes. If not, no.

  “So we need to go now,” Xander says. “Not wait for spring.”

  “I’m not leaving my brother.”

  Beside me, Tucker sighs. I take the opportunity to yank my skirt away from him.

  Sky’s Offsides, who flank her like stoic bodyguards, suddenly speak, with Aurora and Nova joining them in a flurry of signs too fast for me to interpret. Sky claps her hands together again after a moment.

  Snowflakes will not be safe with the humans, she says.

  “We can defend ourselves,” Tucker says.

  Snowflakes should not harm humans, she snaps, shaking her head dismissively. Humans would not be safe with you.

  “These three aren’t going to hurt anyone,” Topher says. “And we can find someplace where we won’t have to see other humans. Away from Nahx, away from humans. It’s a big country.”

  Raven will not want to leave Summer King, Sky says. I will not allow Summer King back among humans. It is not safe.

  “What did she say?” Mandy asks.

  “I don’t know,” I lie. “She was talking too fast.” Tucker tugs at my dress again, this time sliding his hand around until it’s almost touching my butt. I know he is doing this for August’s benefit, because whatever affection for me reawakened after his memories came back has been trickling away since he discovered Emily’s body. And since we found August, he has barely looked at me. So now his intrusions into my physical space just piss me off. And even though I could very easily elbow him in the face, he knows I don’t want to make a scene.

  “Can I ask a question?” Xander asks.

  Sky nods in his direction.

  “Is the web what is keeping you and the other Nahx on this side of the mountains? Like, if it wasn’t there, do you think Nahx would trail down into BC or down to the coast?”

  No, Sky says. It’s very uncomfortable to leave the high ground. We don’t do it unless ordered.

  Not even then, Nova says. If we can avoid it.

  “So if the web wasn’t there, that wouldn’t endanger the humans outside the occupied zones, in the low-lying areas? They’d still be safe?”

  Sky nods slowly, as do several of the other Rogues.

  The web is for keeping humans in, Sky says. To let us finish the preparations.

  “Why is it still up, though?” Mandy asks. “Aren’t all the humans dead? Or darted?”

  “There are over ten thousand still alive in Edmonton,” Topher says. “We heard their distress call.”

  “Ten thousand?” I knew from the Métis girl that there are survivors in remote places, but Edmonton? That surprises me. “A recent distress call?”

  “Day before yesterday.”

  There are other humans, Sky says. In a place called Red Animal.

  “Red Animal? Red Deer? South of Edmonton? There are survivors there, too?”

  She nods. Many.

  Topher and Xander whisper to each other for a few seconds. Finally Xander speaks.

  “I think we should take down the web. Destroy it.”

  The room becomes so quiet and still, it’s like being in a museum. Sky moves at last.

  Go on, she says, wriggling her fingers in front of her mouth.

  Xander stands nervously. He’s at least a foot shorter than any of the Nahx here, and almost looks like a child about to give a school report.

  “When we were all living in a military base north of here,” he starts. “It’s maybe about three or four days’ walk—”

  Sky nods and wriggles her fingers again. Continue.

  “We were gathering intel. We had these drones, and we sent them out on recon flights to take photographs. The commander of the base, and later her son, Liam, were both very cagey about what they found out. I don’t think they trusted me. Or Topher, for that matter.”

  Topher nods, giving Xander an encouraging smile. Xander picks up the map we’ve been doodling on, as well as a few of the printouts.

  “When Topher left the base it was under attack, but one of his friends went back to get some files. He never made it out, nor did the files, but Raven was just there and she found Topher’s friend—dead, unfortunately. But he still had the files with him. Raven was smart enough to think that if he risked his life to get them, they must be worth something. So she took them.”

  Riffling through the printouts, Xander chooses one and holds it up, what looks like a map of Alberta and BC.

  “See this? This is Bennett Dam. It’s about a hundred and fifty miles north of here. There were a bunch of pictures of it in the file, along with some other stuff, probably from the pirate transmissions. It’s… well, like I said. They were all very cagey, but I know this territory really well, and from what I can tell, Liam and maybe even his mother before him were planning on attacking Bennett Dam.”

  “Why on earth…?” Mandy says.

  Xander holds up some of the printed photographs. I scoot forward to get a better look, and to get away from Tucker’s creeping hand.

  “The plan is not specified in any of the notes. But it makes sense. Look. This is an aerial shot of the dam. You can see there’s a fair bit of Nahx activity there. All those dark triangular shapes are transports, for example. So the Nahx are occupying the facility. Well, we knew this. Even in the human territory we know the Nahx have taken control of a lot of things—power stations, transmitters. But this image…” Xander holds up another photograph. “This is the same view, only this one is taken at night. And see this?” Across the page, a bright line meanders west from the dam site. “That’s the drone web.”

  Sky bends to inspect the image. Light prison? she signs.

  “Yes. Much easier to see at night. Topher and his friends have searched up and down the web and not found any gaps or weaknesses. No way to get through. Aurora and I got through, though, coming the other way. And maybe we could take a few people back that way. But it depends on a fluke, a frozen pond, basically, that was too small for the Nahx to be guarding but just big enough to get across under the ice. Who knows how long until that catches their attention? And the way I got across the first time, with August, that’s been destroyed too.”

  Xander is in his element now, talking about maps and escape routes. I can feel his enthusiasm.

  “Sky, you said the Nahx will follow directives until they die, right? One of the directives is obviously to maintain the territory, maintain the drone web to
keep humans in. If we pick at little weaknesses, they will just come along and close them up. But if we could take down the whole web…”

  “Surely the dam can’t be powering the whole web?” I say. “It’s thousands of miles long.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Xander says. “Bennett Dam pumped out millions of megawatts. And anyway, even if we take out only this one power source, there’s a chance it could cause a cascading failure and bring down the whole thing. That’s how power grids work. That’s where those massive blackouts down east came from.”

  Sky taps her hands together to get our attention. How long would the web stay down? she signs.

  “How long? I don’t know,” Xander says. “Normally in a blackout it’s just a malfunction they can fix in a few days. If you totally destroy a power station, they can’t fix it. So unless the Nahx have some other easy power source to take its place, it might stay down a long time.”

  “Long enough to get all those survivors out?” I ask.

  “Maybe. If they have vehicles and fuel. Or if rescuers could get in.”

  I turn to Mandy, who doesn’t seem convinced. As for Tucker, he flicks his eyes away from me and crosses his arms again.

  “Sky, how do you think the Nahx would react to an attack like this?” Mandy asks. “Would they retaliate?”

  Sky makes some signs.

  “She says the Nahx will think it was the Rogues and come after them.”

  “Would they, though?” Xander asks. “If the Nahx wanted to dart these survivors, they would have done it. I think they just don’t care. So why would they care if we try to rescue them? And anyway, they must know that you disrupt their jammer every day. They’ve never tried to stop you.”

  Different, Sky says.

  “We could do it without any violence. No casualties. A bit of careful sabotage and we can shut it down more or less permanently. They might not even know we were there.”

  “Sneak in?” Topher says. “I thought we were talking about blowing it up.”

  I notice some of the assembled Rogues are fidgeting, shuffling their feet back and forth impatiently.

  “You can’t just blow it up if there are hundreds of Nahx there,” I say.

  “Why not?” Topher says, his voice rising. “They’ve murdered thousands of us. Millions. And anyway, Nahx don’t even die.”

  “If you blow us up, we die!” I shout it, though I didn’t mean to. “This room is full of Nahx,” I say, gathering myself. “Are you counting on their help? But you don’t care how many you kill?”

  Topher turns his head to look at the flickering fire in the stove for a moment, and when he turns back it’s as though the flames have transferred to his eyes.

  “Do you know what we’re talking about here, Raven? We’re talking about trying to figure out a way that I can avoid being separated from my brother again. My undead brother. I pretty much have to give up any hope of ever living a normal human life because of that. Because of what the Nahx turned you into. So forgive me if I’m not sensitive enough to casualties among the things that did this to us.”

  The assembled Nahx shuffle again and “whisper” among themselves, their signs small and discreet. I see a few words I recognize—humans, fight, dead, falling. None of it seems very promising.

  Sky claps her hands again. Look, listen, she says, and signs slowly. The Rogues chose not to fight in the past. Now they will choose again. Understand?

  “Yes,” I say. “She’s opening it up for a vote.”

  Sky turns to the Rogues, getting their attention with another loud clap. Join the fight? Yes or no?

  Ash and Thorn nod immediately, but the other Rogues begin to trail out of the cabin. Some of them sign quickly to Sky as they leave. One very familiar word.

  Sorry.

  I suppose I can’t blame them for not joining our fight. If I were in their position, I’d probably bow out too.

  A few stay back. Aurora looks at Xander as she signs, Promise, with a wink. Nova stays by her side. As more Rogues depart, I notice August is still down on one knee, staring at the floor.

  In the end, there are eight Rogues left with us: Sky and her two Offsides, Aurora, Nova, August, and another pair we met right after we arrived. Xander determined their sign names to be Sun and Moon. For some reason they objected to the spoken English but accepted Topher’s suggestions, Sol and Luna.

  Eight Nahx, two humans, and three of whatever Tucker and Mandy and I are. Thirteen doesn’t seem like enough to storm a heavily guarded base, but maybe it’s the perfect number to sneak in like cat burglars.

  Sky scrutinizes the team as they assemble around her.

  Thirteen, she signs. We’ll all fit into one transport.

  “We’ll have to land pretty far away, or they’ll know something’s up, surely,” Mandy says.

  Sky nods. What’s the plan?

  “Okay.” Xander flips one of the printouts over to the blank side, pulling a pencil from his pocket. “Come closer. It’s easier if I draw a diagram.”

  As I slide off the table, Tucker follows behind me, his hand straying up to rest on the back of my neck. I move to twist away from him but his fingers—by accident or on purpose—get tangled in one of my unraveling braids, tugging it painfully. I barely make a noise bigger than a kitten’s squeak, but it’s enough.

  August dives across the room, and he and Tucker go flying over the kitchen table, upending a shelf full of tin cups as they land.

  “August!” I yell over the clatter. “Stop!”

  August hesitates enough for Tucker to roll away, but as he leaps up he gets August’s fingers in a lock. Bending them backward, he spins and stomp kicks August in the side of the head. The sickening sound of August’s fingers breaking is as shocking as a gunshot. Sky flies at them, tearing Tucker back and slamming him against the wall, pinning him there by his neck.

  “Did you break his fingers?!” I scream at him. “What the fuck did you do that for?”

  Tucker spits silver blood. “He jumped me!”

  August lunges at him again, growling.

  “Stop it!”

  Sky smacks August solidly in the forehead with the heel of her free hand. He stumbles back, tripping on the fallen shelf and landing on his ass with crash.

  All eyes are on me as a million different mortifying thoughts stream through my head, highlighted by the idea that I should let them kill each other. I also think of a thousand ways to react and things to say, but I decide to go with the simplest.

  “Both of you, just stay away from me!”

  Mandy and Xander call after me as I push the door open and stomp outside, but I ignore them.

  XANDER

  Tucker and August’s fight has become a popular topic of gossip among the Rogues. In the morning, when I emerge from Sky’s cabin, warm, well rested, and fed on the large hoard of survival food we found in the kitchen, I catch Sol and Luna chatting about it as they tramp across the open basin. I recognize a few signs: human, broken, hand, cold. They laugh in the silent breathy way Nahx do, clutching each other as they trail into the dense trees. I see the last signs Sol makes, and recognize them too.

  Summer King. Mud head.

  I’m tempted to shout after them in August’s defense. He saved my life. He saved Raven’s life. He deserves respect for that, surely. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with his mind. He’s hurting because he loves Raven and thinks she doesn’t love him back. Whether he’s right or not I don’t know, but I know what that feels like.

  Plus, Tucker was being an ass.

  I turn as the door creaks behind me. Topher pokes his head out, squinting in the bright sunlight, his face looking pained.

  “How do you feel?” I ask.

  He walks delicately across the porch and eases himself into one of the wooden chairs.

  “Not going to lie. Kind of fragile. That second can of condensed milk was a mistake.”

  “I did try to tell you.”

  He rubs his stomach, grimacing.
/>   “Has Tucker come back yet?”

  Tucker had a brief but intense screaming match with Raven out in the snow late last night, after which he disappeared, literally up a tree. Mandy dragged Raven away to help Sky and her Offsides refit one of the two partially working transports. As for August, he is nowhere to be found. So we’re all kind of a mess. Not a very promising attack team, I’ve got to say.

  I take Topher by the shoulders and turn his body, pointing to the top of a pine tree, where Tucker is a dark smudge.

  “For God’s sake,” Topher says, standing and stomping down the stairs and across the clearing. I leave them to it.

  Raven and Mandy are still working on the transport when I find them up on the plateau. The bright morning sun reflecting off the ice and snow makes the whole setting sparkle as though it’s electrified.

  “Hey,” Raven says as I hoist myself through the open hatch. She barely glances up from her work, which seems to be the reconnecting of hundreds of tiny wires into the back of an impossibly complicated circuit board. She’s moving at an incredible speed, her hand blurring as the wires click into place.

  “Topher and I are going to head out pretty soon.”

  “Is Aurora going with you?”

  I lean on a half-dismantled console. “Yeah. And Nova. We’ll be fine.”

  “And Topher is sure he has enough explosives?”

  Despite the disruption, we did manage to discuss the attack on Bennett Dam last night. The only missing link was explosives to blow up the power transformers. The Rogues, having sworn off violence, only have enough weapons to defend themselves, so they don’t have any. But Topher, as usual, planned for the worst.

  “He says he took about a dozen C-13 grenades from the base. It’s going to have to be enough.”

  Raven looks up from her circuit board finally, fixing me in a frank stare. Her eyes sparkle as the light from the open hatch hits them.

  “What?”

  “I never thought you and I would be having conversations about grenades,” she says.

  “We’ve changed.”