The Island Experiment

by Erica Rue

  “When we were pursuing the Green Cloaks, I wanted nothing more than to kill all of them. When we found them, the Vens had beaten us to it. We found six dead Green Cloaks at Raynor Farm, and the sight did not fill me with the joy and relief I had anticipated. It made me sick to my stomach. All I’m asking is that we give ourselves time. A hasty decision where lives are concerned will leave us with regrets.”

  Cora still commanded respect and power, even after Elijah’s revelation. The crowd softened and turned to listen.

  “Elijah was right about one thing,” she continued. “The Farmer lied to us. He was not a god. I am not a god’s granddaughter, as I recently discovered myself. But I humbly ask that you allow my uncle to lead you just a little longer, as we set up an alternative form of government. Our people do not need more chaos right now.”

  Cora and Benjamin exchanged a look. It was clear to Lithia that her cousin had not had a chance to discuss this with her uncle, but even so, he nodded in agreement. It seemed that Elijah’s proof had convinced him, too, stubborn as he was. Most of the crowd nodded along. Lithia got the impression, and not for the first time, that Aratians didn’t like change.

  One voice rose up above the others. It was Moira. Lithia hadn’t noticed her before.

  “When? When will you set up the alternative?”

  “Within the month,” Cora said. “I fully expect you to hold us to it. And give us input. Our numbers are fewer than they have been in quite some time, and every voice deserves to be heard.”

  Benjamin began directing people. Green Cloaks were taken to the jail. Others huddled in groups, discussing the day’s events. Agitation was high, but the wild chaos had been subdued.

  In the aftermath, Lithia got a call from Brian. “Where are you?” he asked.

  “The Vale Temple. Where are you? Where’s Dione? Let me talk to her.”

  “We’re in the colonizer. We’re about to land it near the Field Temple.”

  “Mother of the void,” Lithia murmured, raising her eyebrows. She actually did it.

  “The fabricator’s on board, and I want to start negotiating terms of use before one side gets greedy or jealous. Complete transparency. I want to preserve the alliance. Is Benjamin okay? Zane told Dione there was a coup?`”

  “There’s been a touch of a political upheaval here. Things are settling down, but I don’t think it’s a good time for Benjamin to leave.”

  She glanced over and saw him holding Evy on his hip and talking with one of the Aratians. Amelia was by his side. If they were free, her friends might be, too. She scanned the crowd and saw them—Bel, Zane, Oberon, and Jai—standing at its fringes.

  “Could Cora come as a representative, then?” Brian’s voice buzzed from her manumed.

  If they had really brought back the colonizer, the Aratians would want to know about it. Lithia relayed the message to Benjamin and Cora, and Benjamin gave his niece permission to get things started.

  She relayed this to Brian.

  “I’ll have Colm get you,” he said. “He’s apparently acting leader of the Ficarans for now.”

  Victoria’s wounds must have been serious for that to be true, Lithia thought. She was about to end the call, but then she realized Brian had never handed the call over to her friend. “Wait. Where’s Dione? I want to talk to her.”

  Brian paused long enough for uneasiness to creep into her stomach.

  “She’s resting,” he said. “One of the dragons burned her pretty badly, but we patched her up.”

  Lithia was even more eager to go now. “Here are the coordinates. I’m bringing Zane and Bel, too.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll let Colm know.”

  He ended the call.

  Time to round up the others and book it, Lithia thought. She had picked a location a little ways from the settlement for Colm’s pickup point. She didn’t think that a Ficaran Flyer should pop into the middle of the settlement after the day’s excitement.

  She headed over to collect Bel, Zane, and Oberon. Jai had already disappeared into the crowd, presumably to help.

  “What happened to you guys?” she asked.

  “They caught us, but we’d already fixed the holoprojector,” Bel said. “They kept us with Amelia and Evy, but once our guards saw things were going downhill for Elijah, they ran.” She grimaced. “I don’t think they made it far, though.”

  “It’s not up to us what happens to them now,” Lithia said.

  39. LITHIA

  Lithia was glad it was Colm, not Victoria, who’d be at the initial briefing on the fabricator. He was a lot easier to reason with, and he and Cora had built up some rapport during the trip to Raynor Farm.

  Bel and Zane were happy to come along and check out the colonizer. Oberon looked tired, but happier than she’d seen him since they blew up the Ven Invader. The ride was mostly silent, but Lithia gaped when Colm landed the Flyer next to the colonizer. It was huge.

  “I can’t believe they got this thing to fly,” Bel said.

  “I can,” Zane replied. “They built these things to be idiot-proof. Normally the people on these things weren’t well-trained. Everyone got a few rushed certifications before leaving, but really their skill sets were more focused on getting a settlement up and running once they hit the ground.”

  “These things are also pretty hardy,” Lithia added. “They have to be when inexperienced people are flying them.”

  A tall, lean man with a beard emerged from the ship and waved at them.

  “Who’s that?” Zane asked.

  “Must be Brian’s dad,” Lithia replied.

  Colm clapped loudly and laughed. Lithia jumped and turned to see a wide grin spread across his face. “I can’t believe it!” Colm crowed. “He’s really back.” He strode forward and wrapped the man in a strong embrace.

  Brian appeared out of the colonizer in time to smile at Colm’s greeting, but there was still no Dione. Lithia frowned.

  Brian’s dad made his way over to the rest of the group. “Oliver,” he said, extending his hand to each of them. “Nice to meet you.”

  He studied Lithia and Cora closely, looking from one to the other, but didn’t say anything.

  Lithia figured someone would tell him soon enough.

  “Where’s Di?” she asked.

  “In the medical bay, resting,” Brian said. “Once she’s awake you can see her. She’s stable, and if any alarms go off, I’ll get a notification.”

  “Once she’s awake she can see me,” Lithia retorted. “Why would her being asleep stop me? I’m going in there now.”

  Oberon put a hand on her shoulder. “Lithia, let her rest.”

  Lithia first bristled at the request and shrugging his hand off her shoulder, but then she nodded. She’d see Dione soon. Not even dragons could keep them apart.

  Cora greeted Colm not with a handshake, but with a hug. This seemed to surprise him, but he smiled and hugged her back.

  “We’ve been through too much to fight over whatever this is,” she said, gesturing toward the colonizer.

  Brian’s face lit up. “I agree. It’s the ship Jameson used to transport the original colonists. Inside there’s a fabricator. With the right raw materials, it can make almost anything.”

  Colm pat Brian on the back, and Cora tilted her head, no doubt imagining the possibilities.

  “Like farming equipment,” she said.

  Brian nodded.

  “And medicines?”

  “Some, I think,” he replied.

  She hesitated, then frowned. “Guns?”

  Brian frowned, too. “Yes, guns.”

  “I can lock or remove the gun templates,” Oberon offered. “With Zane’s help.”

  Cora shook her head. “That’s what the Architect did to the Flyers. She locked them because she didn’t trust us to use them wisely. In doing so, she turned them into a weapon.”

  Lithia couldn’t help herself. “But… these are guns. They are weapons.”

  “I know,” Cora said. “The
point I’m trying to make is that we need to make sure whatever agreement we come to makes us feel no need for an armed conflict. With each other, at least.”

  Colm nodded. “I understand where you’re coming from. You want an agreement on moderation.”

  “Limitations on weapons and ammunition,” she replied. “But I recognize that both sides will still need weapons.”

  “Victoria will not like this,” Colm said.

  Lithia scoffed, but turned it into a cough. Victoria was seriously injured, and derision felt out of place.

  “This isn’t about egos,” Cora said. “Soon, my uncle and I won’t be in charge of anything at the Vale Temple, and we want to put a framework in place with you that my people can build on. There’s been so much change…”

  Cora paused, and Lithia watched her take a steadying breath. The girl had grown so much in the past few weeks. When Lithia met her, she had been a trusting child. Now, she was negotiating the peace of Kepos. It seemed impossible to her, but she realized that her cousin had spent her whole life watching her father and uncle, learning the words and postures. After her experiences, she had learned the stakes, and what the words really meant.

  Cora would actually make a good Regnator, though she was giving it up. This was perhaps her greatest sign of maturity yet.

  “Colm, I’m tired,” she said. “The Aratians are tired. We have an alliance, and with this fabricator, we can choose to strengthen it or tear it apart. If we do this right, no one will feel the need to fabricate a gun.”

  “Then let’s do this right,” he replied.

  “We can start by drafting an amendment to your alliance right now,” Oberon said, pulling a tablet from a nearby cabinet. “All I ask is that I have use of the first segment of this colonizer, the one with the jump drive. It’s time my students and I made our way home.”

  “I don’t think that will be a problem,” Cora said.

  “Nor do I,” Colm agreed.

  Lithia smiled. Negotiations were off to a good start.

  40. DIONE

  Dione was alone when she woke up. Pain shot through her calf. There was a giant note, impossible to miss, that Brian had left: “Call when you’re up.”

  She sent him a message.

  She tried to ignore the pain by walking through how the nervous system worked. An outside stimulus triggered a signal. That signal made its way through the nervous system like a game of telephone. Each neuron passed on the message—PAIN—to the next via chemical signals called neurotransmitters. Eventually the message arrived in the brain where it was somehow processed into the unpleasant sensation she was getting all too familiar with.

  She distracted herself by picturing and mentally labeling the parts of a neuron while she waited for Brian to come to her rescue. Her lower body was encased in some sort of medical contraption that produced a sterile field to protect her damaged leg. She tried to wiggle her toes, but it hurt too much for her to assess the damage.

  The doors to the med bay opened. Brian smiled at her as he entered. “Hey, how are you—”

  “DI!” the voice that interrupted him startled her.

  “Lithia?” Dione barely recognized her own weak voice.

  Her best friend bounded into the room. “I’m here. You’re an idiot. You know that, right?”

  She wanted to respond, but one thought dominated her mind. “Brian, more pain meds?”

  “You’re almost maxed out,” he said. “That’s what the computer says, anyway.”

  “Almost?” she repeated back to him.

  He hit a few buttons on the controls. “That’s it, though.”

  The effect was nearly immediate. The sensation in her leg went from a sharp, biting pain to a throbbing ache. Habituation. Eventually, she’d get used to it. Dione smiled.

  Lithia did not. She looked horrified.

  “I’ll be fine,” Dione said softly. She felt very tired after just a few minutes. “This happened a few hours ago. I think. Jameson kept a bunch of really good burn meds and ointments on board. He knew he might need them one day. I’ll be walking again in no time.”

  “I’ll leave you two to catch up,” Brian said before heading out.

  Lithia nodded, but when Dione inspected her friend’s face, something looked wrong. She saw dark circles under her eyes that hadn’t been there before. The mirth that usually danced in her eyes, even in the face of a disaster like this, was absent. “Are you okay?”

  “No, Di, I’m not okay. My best friend nearly got killed by a dragon. I’ve been fighting Vens. I’ve been crashing shuttles and breaking ribs. I’ve been watching people die. I just want to go home.”

  Dione reached out for her friend’s hand, unable to get up yet. Lithia was sobbing now, and Dione squeezed her hand firmly, unable to embrace her.

  “Does Oberon know?” Dione said, when the tears subsided.

  “I don’t think so. Everyone’s upset with me except Cora. I crashed another Flyer into the Vens so they couldn’t get to the Marauder. They think I’m crazy.”

  “I’m sure you didn’t have a choice.”

  “It wasn’t a stupid risk, though, Di. It was the only way I could protect them.”

  “You look exhausted,” Dione said. “Why don’t you stay here and rest a while?”

  “I can’t,” she whispered. “The nightmares.”

  More silent tears streamed down Lithia’s cheeks. Dione felt tears well up in her own eyes. She had abandoned her best friend when she needed her the most. Now, everything that Lithia had been bottling up was exploding under the pressure, and Dione couldn’t even hug her.

  “We’re going to get you help. This ship has a jump drive. Brian checked it out. I think with a few repairs, we can make it space-worthy. We can go home. We can get you help.”

  Lithia shook her head in horror. “I don’t think I can be fixed. I don’t remember what it was like to be me before this planet. Before the Vens.”

  Sadness pooled in the pit of Dione’s stomach. She had been feeling the same way. As things happened to them here, she had gotten a better understanding of Bel, of her quiet determination and the serious expression that nearly always masked her face.

  This planet and the Vens, they had taken something from her that she would never get back. She had killed. It didn’t matter that it was a Ven or that it was necessary. She didn’t regret it, but it had changed her in ways she was still discovering.

  Until now, Dione hadn’t realized how much it had taken from Lithia. Lithia had killed, too. She had been in the thick of every battle on Kepos. She had seen death, she had dodged it by centimeters more than once since they crashed here. She had done all of this without her best friend by her side. Dione couldn’t grasp the burden that was weighing on her shoulders.

  While Lithia was fending off the Vens, she’d been looking for the professor, stopping communication on the Ven ships, and, most recently, looking for Brian’s dad. Difficult and dangerous tasks, but nothing like the combat situations Lithia had faced.

  Lithia sniffed and pulled her hand away to wipe away her tears. “I’d better go. Cora and Colm are still discussing how to share the fabricator.”

  “You don’t have to go,” Dione said. “Don’t you think you’ve earned a break? There’s a bed right there. I can tell you all about the dragons.”

  “I need to finish this,” Lithia said. “You wouldn’t even recognize Cora if you saw her now.”

  “Look at you, being a good influence. Wait until your mom and dad hear.”

  That got a small smile from her. “So you really think this thing will get us home?”

  “I do,” Dione replied.

  She had to. That way she knew that everything would be okay.

  ***

  A few hours after Lithia left, there was a knock on the door. Dione put down her reading, took a deep breath, and readied herself. She’d been expecting him, so by the time Oberon walked through the door, she had already planned out everything she was going to say.

&nb
sp; He looked her over without a word, eyes stopping on the medical casing that obscured her ruined leg.

  “I’m okay, you know. This machine is keeping the burns clean, and in a couple of days, I won’t need to be in here anymore.”

  “You’re not okay,” Oberon said. “I’ve looked at the report of your injuries. You have serious nerve and muscle damage in your leg, and if this had happened anywhere else on that island except for the colonizer, you’d be dead. Do you realize that, Dione?”

  The sympathy she’d felt for her teacher’s anxiety slipped away. For the first time she could remember, she was mad at Oberon.

  “Of course I realize that,” she said. “But it’s not like the rest of you were any safer. You’re just mad that I left. I’m supposed to be the one who always follows the rules. You counted on that. It made you feel like you still had some control over us out here. Well, you didn’t. I know you feel responsible for us, but when we arrived at Kepos, we thought you were dead. When I left you on that Ven ship, I thought you were dead. All we could do was survive. There were no more rules. Just because you came back doesn’t mean that the rules did. This is not biology class. There are no do-overs. There is no room for mistakes, or you’ll end up like me.”

  Dione didn’t know when during her rant she had begun to cry, but she felt the tears dripping off her chin. “You think I don’t understand that I’ll be on crutches once I’m out of this thing? That I’ll need special treatments and therapy if I’m going to walk pain-free? I’ve done my research, professor,” she spat. “You should know me well enough to at least expect that of me.”

  Oberon looked down, and when he looked back up, tears were welling up in his eyes, too. “I didn’t want this for you. Any of you. I’m so sorry.”

  Dione’s voice softened. “I know. None of this is your fault, but you’ve got to stop acting like it is. You keep lashing out at us because of the choices we’ve made, but there were no good options. We did our best, and that’s all you have the right to ask of us. We’re all leaving here scarred, maybe me least of all. Bel nearly died, and she has that scar on her cheek. Zane and Lithia were in the thick of the battle against the Vens. I can’t even imagine the things they saw. Lithia’s not okay at all.”