The Hive Engineers

by Emilia Zeeland

  “I’m so sorry,” Yalena repeated, then forced herself to continue. “They cloned him too, but that’s not the only thing they do there. They inject clones with Novofex to see if they can survive the change.”

  “That maniac,” Stanley muttered, as a sickening vibe rolled out from the Fian crowd. “He believes making everyone into a Fian is the only path to peace.”

  “Wait, but the first tests were unsuccessful. The clones died,” Blaine cut in.

  Yalena stared at Blaine, fighting the contempt rising in her chest. “You knew that was their plan and you said nothing?”

  His green eyes turned cold. “I was a double agent. I saw a lot of things I didn’t like, but my mission was to gather information.”

  Stanley raised a hand to halt the argument. “The clones always died, didn’t they? But she’s not a clone.”

  Yalena nodded slowly. “Natalia is our classmate from STAR Academy. She’s a Moonie. I ordered them not to clone her after I saw what they did to Dave, but...” Yalena looked away sharply. “I couldn’t stop this.”

  Stanley took a step closer to Natalia. “I’m sorry this happened to you, but we’re not all the same. Being Fian doesn’t mean turning evil. And if you’d let us, we’d like to welcome you to a community unlike any you’ve known before.”

  Yalena watched her father, afraid to miss the smallest detail. He was so much more than the man she’d dared to imagine. His words traveled far and reached deep inside people’s hearts.

  “Felix is a madman who needs to be stopped,” Stanley said, to everyone this time. “I have a plan, but we’ll all need to work together. Then he turned back to Natalia. “Do you stand with us, Natalia, the first human turned Fian since the Migration?”

  Natalia’s mouth fell open. She closed it to swallow with difficulty, then her gaze darted to Yalena. “I do.”

  BEFORE NIGHTFALL, THE Fians took them to their camp. After passing through a maze of buildings, they arrived in a working-class neighborhood with gray apartment complexes. The buildings were packed together so tightly that the streets between them were only wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

  Yalena’s wet exo suit squeaked as she kept a brisk pace by Stanley’s side. He had a slight limp she wanted to ask about, but that would have to wait for another time. Plus, it didn’t slow him down much.

  Questions swarmed around inside Yalena’s mind, disorganized and urgent, but her heartbeat was slowing down. She was safe. And regardless of the strange new environment, she knew she would be all right now. Or perhaps that was the influence of Stanley’s vibe.

  They stopped in front of a little shop selling transporter spare parts. When Stanley pushed the door open, a bell rang, making Yalena snicker—Nova Fia was like traveling back in time to an Earth immediately after the Quakes. Stanley hurried behind the counter, moved a chair to the side, and inserted a code into the safe by the desk. When a light shone green from the monitor, a square of the tiled floor sunk down an inch, then popped up again. Stanley pulled it out. A narrow ladder led down as far as Yalena could see.

  “After you.” He gestured with an open palm.

  Yalena looked back at Alec, who nodded. She stepped into the opening and climbed down, step by step, probably slower than any of them would have been.

  The first level was dark, and it smelled a little musty. That must be a regular thing on a planet with such high humidity. Below that mid-section was a floor bathed in faint light. The heavy footsteps of Stanley and Alec coming after her shook the ladder. Yalena scrambled down the ladder to get to the bottom.

  The room was illuminated by a white light panel above a desk. The walls were covered in storage boxes for parts or documents or money, but Yalena didn’t ask about them. It was another front to keep the entrance hidden.

  Stanley let her study the space before he knocked on one of the storage compartments in an elaborate pattern. He waited for a minute, while Yalena stared wide-eyed. Then, the entire wall of filing cabinets moved.

  “They aren’t props, the cabinets I mean,” Stanley said. “They had to be real or Felix’s men would have found us.”

  “How long have you been hiding in here?” Yalena croaked.

  Stanley’s dark eyes studied her. “I’ve only been here for a few days.”

  Yalena swallowed hard, but her next question must have been obvious from her expression.

  “Although the hideout has been in use since the day Felix became a sole councilman,” Stanley said.

  “When was that?” Yalena whispered, but the video Lexa had shown her of Veronica’s death sprang to mind.

  Stanley’s eyes were a familiar chocolate brown color, and they remained calm still. “Twenty-one years ago. Since Felix betrayed and imprisoned me, those loyal to the Troians have had to work in secret.”

  Sickening anger vibrated through Yalena’s chest. She wasn’t fast or focused enough to mask it with her vibe.

  Stanley looked away briefly, then turned back to her. “Welcome to the resistance.”

  He walked into the opening between the filing cabinets and Yalena followed. The narrow corridor went on for a while. It sloped down, making her feel pressure on her toes. They reached another door, but it was guarded by Fians this time.

  The two of them wore army-green makeshift uniforms, which looked like regular clothes that had been dyed. The Fians saluted Stanley and didn’t even sneak a peek at Yalena. That was obedience earned, not taken by force.

  “At ease, soldiers,” Stanley said.

  They didn’t really relax, though. One of them pushed the door open for them and the other nodded at Yalena like he already knew who she was. Perhaps he did.

  The next room was an armory, where rows of rifles were piled on top of each other on metal racks.

  “Through there is the canteen.” Stanley gestured at another door straight ahead. Then he pointed at a side door. “And there is the entrance to the sleeping quarters. It’s not much. This place is basically a barracks.”

  Yalena nodded, letting each word soak in. “It still feels surreal.”

  Stanley sighed, realizing she didn’t mean the quarters. A line on his forehead deepened. “I know. I’ve dreamed of meeting you, of knowing you, since Norma told me she was pregnant.” He reached out and a strand of wet hair from Yalena’s face. “And I have so much to tell you. To teach you. To warn you about.”

  When he hesitated, Yalena’s stomach dropped. “But what?”

  The frown lines around his mouth deepened slightly. “But I believe there’s something even more important than all this right now.”

  Yalena was afraid to blink, her eyes observing Stanley’s face for the smallest twitch. But he was a leader and a general by the looks of it. He wasn’t the kind of man to flinch.

  “It’s your boy Alec,” he said. “Brave of him to come find us on his own. He’s a great soldier. An even better man. But he’s been on Nova Fia for a while now. And it’s killing him.”

  Chapter 26. Stranded

  The rest of the Fians followed Yalena and Stanley in, not bothering to keep quiet. The noise probably didn’t carry upstairs. They sounded cheerful and casual, but the chatter was only a background hum to Yalena. She searched for Alec in the crowd. He was talking to Natalia and when Yalena reached him, he got an elbow to the ribs from the Moonie.

  “Tell your boyfriend his Fian jokes are stupid.” Natalia looked indignant.

  Yalena didn’t address their squabble. “Are you going to be all right for a while?”

  Natalia eyed her like she wanted to say ‘no’, but she nodded. Yalena led Alec away by the hand. Since she didn’t know where they could find privacy, she would settle for a corner of the room.

  “This way,” Alec said, pushing her toward the sleeping quarters. They walked through rows of bunks, some of them unmade and messy, others untouched. At the end of the room, Alec punched in a code that opened a door to what looked like a flat. Like a general’s private space.

  “Is this...”
Yalena trailed off.

  “Your father’s apartment. Yes.”

  When she didn’t move, Alec gestured to one of the three rooms connected to the small corridor, the one on the right.

  “I’ve been staying with him since we broke him out,” he said.

  Yalena’s next breath came as a sharp inhale. “You broke him out?”

  Alec swiped the back of his hand across his sweat-beaded forehead. “That’s what you asked me to do, wasn’t it?”

  “I know,” Yalena said quickly, her heart hammering in her chest. In her mind, Alec was an mighty soldier. He’d never ever let her down.

  “It’s a funny story actually.” Alec gave her a tired smile, but Yalena shook her head. She couldn’t think of this now.

  “Alec...”

  He turned away from her. He swung the door wide open, then closed it as soon as they’d entered. His muscular arms tightened around her waist in a crushing embrace.

  Yalena buried her face just below his ear, arms around his shoulders. “Alec...” she said again but he shushed her.

  “Later.”

  Yalena stayed in his embrace for a minute without stirring. Alec’s presence made Nova Fia feel like home. Everything felt easier. Breathing. Smiling. Thinking.

  Yalena loosened the embrace around his shoulders. Alec’s hands untangled at her waist and he finally let go of her. A single bed and a nightstand were the only pieces of furniture in the room. A few fresh sets of mud-colored clothes hung on the back of the door.

  With her clothes still wet and somewhat muddied, Yalena hesitantly sat on the edge of the bed. She never would have acted coy in his room at STAR Academy, but the memory of it was so distant.

  “What happened?” she asked. “How did you end up here?” Then she smiled a little to challenge him. “I know I said you should look for allies, but when we found the army...the horrors that happened there made me wish you’d gone back to Earth.” She’d willed herself to believe he’d gone back to Earth.

  Alec let out a snort. “What I’m still struggling to believe is that I managed to leave. Against my better judgment, too. I had such a punch loaded for those soldiers.”

  Yalena’s smile flattened as she pursed her lips. “Those soldiers were brainwashed copies of Veronica. Of quite possibly the gutsiest woman in history since Cara White. It wasn’t their fault.”

  Alec sunk down, sitting next to her. “That’s seriously messed up.”

  Yalena looked at him with wet eyes. “It doesn’t even scratch the surface. If you hadn’t left, they would have cloned you too. Or injected you. It’s better that you left.”

  “You have the annoying habit of making the right call like that.” Alec took her hand in his and stroked it with his thumb. “I figured we were out of our depth with the army.”

  “Well, duh?” Yalena giggled in spite of herself.

  Being close to Alec, meeting her father and being on Nova Fia had jam-packed her heart with a thousand emotions that erratically sprang out. She didn’t feel in control and, for the first time, it didn’t really bother her.

  “I mean,” Alec said, his fiery gaze on her. “I knew if I went back to the near worlds, after all we’d lost, they’d never grant me a team to come back and get you. And even if they had, it would have been too late. You were right. I had to find allies closer—on Nova Fia.”

  Deep inside her heart, it warmed Yalena to hear Alec describe Stanley as an ally. And it wasn’t just because of the politics involved. They seemed to have bonded.

  “How did you find...Stanley?”

  Alec draped an arm over her shoulders and pulled her closer. “You don’t have to look so guilty for calling him by his name. He won’t mind.”

  Yalena felt self-conscious. Stanley had been right. It was a bit weird he’d met Alec first, and not Yalena.

  Alec perked up a little as he dove into his story. “Well, first of all, the Chameleon didn’t go unnoticed. The Fians have motion sensors to alert them to ships. They fired at me until the Chameleon was about to explode. I had no choice but to eject out of the ship.”

  “You what?” The fine hairs on Yalena’s forearms prickled. She’d been so focused on surviving the ice moon and getting herself and Natalia out that she hadn’t allowed herself to think of Alec in danger. “Wishing you were safe and far away was my beacon of hope in that place.” She bumped her fist against his shoulder. “You weren’t supposed to be having a worse time than me.”

  “Sorry to disappoint,” he mocked her. “I managed to evade their weapons just long enough to get to an altitude I could parachute from, but they destroyed the Chameleon.”

  Yalena winced, but in her heart it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Alec was alive. “We’ll manage without the ship. What happened next? How did you find Stanley?”

  Alec’s bushy eyebrows bounced. “It was all Blaine’s doing. Felix realized the Chameleon must be ours and he sent his best men to capture me. Blaine volunteered; he helped me fight the others.”

  Yalena tried to imagine all this playing out while she was lying unconscious, dreaming of Veronica.

  She finally connected the dots. “Thanks to your little alliance, Felix must have figured out that Blaine had betrayed him.”

  “Yes,” Alec said. “He disabled Blaine’s access pass, so we couldn’t stop Farsight’s launch.”

  Yalena licked her lips. “The whole stunt must have alerted him of our presence on this side of the wormhole, too, so he sent a Fian party to prep the soldiers on the ice moon before he left here with everyone loyal to him on board Farsight.”

  The empty streets and the rebel army roaming free confirmed that.

  “When we met just now...” Yalena struggled to find the words.

  “We saw a Fian ship land,” Alec said. “We were coming to take it by force, using the entire rebel army if we had to.”

  Not that there were thousands of them, Yalena thought grimly. “Alec, that ship barely survived a short flight and it crash-landed into water. Salvaging it won’t be easy. What if it can’t handle another trip?”

  Alec’s knee trembled in a series of nervous taps. Yalena had been so ecstatic to see him again that she hadn’t realized that the rebels hadn’t been out to intercept them. They’d been out to get the ship.

  Yalena squeezed his hand to force Alec to look at her again. “Are we stranded here?”

  Slowly, Alec nodded with a painful expression. Stanley’s warning about Alec shone in an entirely different light now. Yalena was suffocating. Drowning, as if her lungs refused to take in air.

  She bolted to her feet, hands at the side of her face. “This can’t be happening. Not now that I’ve found you and Stanley. We need to go back.”

  Slowly, Alec rose to his feet as well. He planted his palms at her hips to keep her from fidgeting. “Stanley has a solution for me, if it comes down to it.” His forehead was dotted with tiny beads of perspiration again. It had been harder to notice it in the rain before, but he was struggling. Exerting himself. Probably going without enough food and water to limit the effects of Novofex on his body, like the original Farsight crew had done before the injection.

  The injection. A swift shudder went through Yalena’s body. “No.”

  Alec grimaced like he’d experienced a flash of pain. “It’s the only way.”

  “You’re not taking the injection.” Yalena’s voice wavered. The memory of Natalia’s panic and despair flooded her mind. “I couldn’t stop what happened to Natalia, but I won’t let it happen again. Not to you too. I can’t fail you.”

  Alec drew her into a hug, but Yalena shook in denial. Everything was falling apart. Everyone who’d followed her was so much worse off now. She wasn’t a leader. She was the first sheep they’d blindly followed off a cliff.

  But she’d be damned if she let Alec pay for her mistakes.

  Yalena lifted her head from his shoulder in a sudden realization. “I’ll get you human rations. There must be some on the ship we came with.”
<
br />   “It would only delay the inevitable,” Alec said, but Yalena untangled herself from him and shook her head.

  “Don’t you tell me what’s inevitable.” Her gaze darted to the bed. “Get some rest. I’ll take care of it.”

  Taking one last slow look at him to savor the small amount of hope seeping into his expression, Yalena nodded. Then she scrambled out of the room. She heard him try to deter her once by calling out her name, but she didn’t stop.

  Back at the sleeping quarters, Yalena found Natalia hesitating by an empty bed.

  “Your father said I could sleep wherever I liked.” She sounded disdainful. “But I can’t.” She looked around sheepishly. “It’s just so loud.”

  Yalena frowned at first. After all, most of the soldiers were lying in their beds already, but then she realized it wasn’t speech that bothered Natalia.

  “I can’t hear myself think,” Natalia panted.

  “You’ll learn to block it out,” a voice behind Natalia said.

  She whirled around and scoffed at Blaine. “Not fast enough to get any sleep, you idiot.”

  Blaine looked past Natalia to Yalena. “Your friend is...friendly.”

  “We’re not friends,” Yalena and Natalia said at once.

  Blaine nodded with mock understanding at them. “Of course not. My apologies.”

  “I need your help.” Yalena waited for Blaine to fix his exotic green eyes on her. “We have food rations back at the ship. They’ll help Alec for now.” She couldn’t think about later.

  Blaine leaned against the bedframe leisurely. “Ah, got to save the human’s ass again?”

  “Hey!” Natalia swept her half-dry black mane of hair to one side as she turned back to point a finger at him.

  He only grinned in response. “Why are you offended? You’re no longer human.”

  Yalena fought a growl in her throat, but Natalia hissed at Blaine first, “Shut up.”

  “Fine, I’ll trek back to get the rations,” Blaine said. “Anything else, cuz?”