Adan twisted back so he could see the exit. Between his sling and the yeso cast around his ribs he could barely see it.
“What’s going to happen to Raif and the others?” he asked.
“If they’ve been gone this long, they’ve probably been captured, or killed.” Sierra stared at the door also, but he knew she wasn’t checking her work. She was looking beyond it, the same way he was.
Zain entered the room, accompanied by two Waymen, and handed Sierra a pack. She slung it over her shoulder lethargically, as conflicted about leaving as Adan. The two Waymen with Zain had a cloth stretcher which they laid on the ground. The stretcher was little more than strips of old clothing lashed around two long metal shafts which served as handles.
“Do you need us to lift you onto the carrier?” asked one of the men. Like Zain, he also spoke in the language of the Collective.
Adan shook his head no, but instead of sliding onto the stretcher he caught Zain by the hand. “Can’t we wait just a little longer? They went out there because of me. I wouldn’t want to think…” Images of the three Sentients dead in the rubble seared his thoughts. When he realized his fingers were digging into Zain’s sleeve he let go and sank back to the ground.
“I don’t want to lose them anymore than you,” Zain said, “but we’ve delayed the evacuation as long as we can.”
Adan could see people gathering in the next section of the tunnel through the opposite doorway. They were loaded down with packs of supplies slung over their shoulders. A chromium cart hovered beside them, covered with boxes and bulging sacks.
Bryce stood at the far end of the tunnel.
“That’s everything. The outer door has been sealed. It’s time to go.” Bryce’s voice boomed down the tunnel.
Zain nodded to the two Waymen beside Adan. They knelt down and helped Adan slide onto the cart. Zain passed through the doorway and moved towards the front of the assembled Waymen in the next tunnel. Sierra fell in behind Adan as they carried him through the door.
Shuffling feet whispered sorrowfully down the hallway, sweeping away any last hope that the search party would come back in time. Sierra stared blankly ahead, looking so disconnected Adan might have taken her for an Oasis scientist if he didn’t know better.
Complete silence hung over the group of twenty remaining Sentients as they made their way into yet another tunnel. Adan glanced furtively over the edge of the stretcher as they passed into a curved passage. For a brief moment he contemplated jumping off and running out into Oasis to find the missing Sentients. With the yeso covering his ankle he didn’t think he could injure himself any further, but he knew it would be pointless. He had no idea where they might be by now and would just as likely end up sharing their fate.
But then a thought, one that was not his own, thrust itself into Adan’s mind.
“Someone—open the latch.”
It was Von; and he was just outside the entrance to the tunnels.
Adan’s eyes darted up at Sierra, but her face remained impassive. She didn’t get the message, he realized.
Glancing up ahead of him, he could see only Waymen. The former members of the Collective were too far away to have received Von’s plea.
Without a second thought, Adan shoved the cutter onto his arm, flipped his legs over the edge of the stretcher, and staggered to his feet.
“I’m on my way,” he answered.
The yeso on his ankle made it awkward, but he pounded down the tunnel as fast as he could. The thump, pad, thump, pad, thump, pad, sounds of his odd gait broadcast his exodus to the nearby Waymen, though most of them just kept walking.
“Wait,” Sierra called out, chasing after him. “Where are you going?”
“It’s Von. I’ve got to let him in.”
Sierra caught up to him and grabbed hold of his arm. “He made it? What about Raif and Nance? Are they there too?” The Waymen carrying the stretcher stopped and stared at the two of them, but the rest passed out of sight, around the bend in the passage.
Adan checked to see if there were any other bioseines within range, but Von’s was the only one.
“Von, what happened to Raif and Nance?”
“We got surprised by somatarchs,” Von informed him. “They got captured.” The sight of Raif’s unconscious body hefted onto the shoulder of a white-robed somatarch flashed through Adan’s mind.
“They got captured by somatarchs,” Adan relayed the information to Sierra. The color drained from her face. “Sierra, you should use your bioseine—Von needs us.”
After a reluctant moment, her thoughts at last connected to his. “Are you sure Von’s alone?”
“Does it matter?” Adan asked, picking up the pace. “We have to let him in.”
“I’m alone as far as I know,” Von’s thoughts shot back into Adan’s mind.
Sierra hurried after Adan. “Von, we’ve sealed the entrance with synth metal to keep the somatarchs out. We can’t open it anymore, even from the inside.”
Adan slowed. He had forgotten about that.
The Waymen with the stretcher came running back towards them.
“What’s wrong?” one of them asked.
Adan stopped in the middle of the tunnel.
“Wait,” he said, ignoring their question and holding up the cutter on his arm. “I think I know how we can get through.” His words came out in a jumble as he turned and addressed the Waymen. “Go—tell the others we went to let Von in. He’s just outside the tunnel entrance—bring help.”
The Waymen nodded and turned back the way they came. Sierra and Adan took off running towards the exit.
“What’s going on?” Von asked, desperation pulsing through his thoughts like a warning beacon. “How are you going to get the door open?”
“I have a cutter. Don’t worry, we’ll be there soon,” Adan assured him.
“I hope this isn’t a mistake,” Sierra confided to Adan privately. “If he was followed we could lose the whole cell.”
The possibility troubled Adan, but not enough to make him turn back.
“Von, are you sure you’re alone—no one followed you?” Adan asked.
“Yes. I lost the somatarchs in the storm.”
They sped down the long tunnel, soon arriving at the outer entrance. The gap around the edge of the circular hatch was covered by a wide metal strip, fusing the door to the wall in a seamless plane.
The yellow blade leapt from the end of Adan’s cutter. Sierra shied away from him as he approached. She pointed at the seal. “Try to cut the synth metal just along where there’s a bit of a dip in it. That’s where the gap is between the door and the wall. I have some more synth in my pack. We’ll seal it back up when we’re through.”
“We’re almost there,” Adan told Von.
He started in around the swathe of synth metal surrounding the door, but his sling made it awkward.
“Wait,” Sierra grabbed his arm. “You’re cutting into the wall. You could bring down the door on top of us if you keep going like that.”
“Sorry. Why don’t you cut it instead? I can’t even reach the top anyway.”
She gave him a dubious look, but nodded and took the tube and shoved it on her arm.
Avoiding the hinges, she sliced through the seal. The yellow blade glided perfectly around the gap. After a few moments, the seal was broken. Adan spun the wheel lock mechanism and swung the portal open.
Air rushed in around the sand covered figure of Von. His eyes shone with grateful relief.
“Thank you for coming. I’ve got the chronotrace.” He reached inside his robes and pulled out the device. He held it out towards Adan, but Adan never got to touch it. A blur of white rushed in at that moment, slamming into Von. It carried him right between Sierra and Adan, sending him colliding with the floor.
Adan turned to see a somatarch, its darting hands latching around Von’s throat, already choking the breath from him. Adan leapt on top of the creature, but the somatarch swung its arm back like a club, hitting
him in the chest and knocking him to the side. Adan landed on the floor as chips of yeso went flying. He felt the cast around his ribs crack.
The somatarch resumed its grip on Von, who was dazed and barely conscious, but it kept its lifeless eyes locked on Adan, regarding him with neither malice nor care.
As Adan regained his feet, he saw Sierra swing the cutter’s blade at the creature’s shoulder. But the yellow blade did nothing more than rip his clothing and trace a glowing line through the air.
Adan charged the creature from the side, his sprained ankle a distant memory. The somatarch kicked his legs out from under him and he fell a second time, landing flat on his back. The yeso cracked even more.
“Red,” Adan shouted to Sierra, as the somatarch smashed Von’s head against the floor. He ceased to struggle. “Flip the switch to red.”
“How? I don’t know how it works!” Sierra screamed.
With Von no longer a threat, the somatarch leapt on top of Adan before he could get up, covering the distance with a single leap. Its hands latched onto his throat.
Unable to speak, he reached out to Sierra with his mind.
Twist right, swipe up. Twist right, swipe up. His thoughts went out desperately towards her. The somatarch slammed the side of Adan’s head into the floor and sparks of light erupted across his eyes and everything went blank.
Sixteen
A Quick Healer
The red light of the cutter cast a haunting glow over the room as Adan came to.
The white-robed somatarch lay beside him, its eyes, lifeless even while it lived, now staring blankly in his direction.
Sierra stood over the fallen body, the cutter on her right arm. Beyond her, Von rose up slowly off the floor.
“Are you all right?” Sierra asked, kneeling beside Adan as the blade winked out of existence.
“What happened?” he asked, sitting up. “You killed it?”
Confusion and shock undulated across Sierra’s face. “I got your message,” she said, looking up and down the length of the tube. “I did what you said and turned the cutter red.” She touched the shattered bits of yeso still clinging to Adan’s body. “Your casts are ruined.”
“I’m all right,” he said.
“No, you’re not. Look at you.” She touched the side of his face and, as he could feel nothing, he checked his bioseine and found he was bleeding from a cut near his brow. The side of his head was also starting to swell. She took off the cutter and pulled out some almamenth from a little pouch in her jumper. After she finished rubbing some of it into his neck, she wiped the blood from his face with a rag.
Von walked gingerly towards them.
“I’m sorry I put you in danger,” he said. “If I thought I had been followed, I never would have asked you to open the door.”
The blows Von had received to the head looked much more serious than what Adan had suffered. His entire left ear was covered in blood.
“We’re just glad you made it back.” Sierra rose to examine Von and began treating him with almamenth as well.
“Adan, we couldn’t find the shifter,” Von said. “We looked as long as we could.”
“That’s okay, the chronotrace is what mattered.”
Adan rose tentatively and stared out through the open door onto the dust-filled ramp leading out of the tunnel. He should have thought through what he was doing. Saving Von was the right thing to do, but he had almost gotten them killed by rushing in without getting anyone else to help.
“We’d better seal the portal back up,” Adan said.
“I’ll do it. Just let me finish with Von,” Sierra replied.
“I can do it,” Adan said. “Just give me the synth.”
“Adan, you’ve got two cracked ribs, a broken collarbone, a sprained ankle and just came within a heartbeat of losing your life. Just rest. I’ll be done in a moment.” She lectured him with her eyes as well as her words.
Adan sat down against the wall. He supposed he wasn’t exactly an ideal patient. He touched the yeso around his ribs and some of it crumbled in his fingers. He pushed his fingers through the gaps and felt the bone. It felt surprisingly strong.
Intrigued, he checked his bioseine to see the status of his injuries and whether or not his bones were as strong as they felt.
“Sierra,” he said, as he took in the information. “I think you’re a better handler than you give yourself credit for. You or Zain, one or the other.”
“What are you talking about?” Sierra asked. Finishing with Von, she went over to the door. She got out the canister of synth as Adan rose to his feet—his very stable and solid feet.
“My ribs and my collarbone,” Adan said. “Even the wound to my leg. They’re almost completely healed. I just checked my bioseine.”
Though he had no reason to doubt his bioseine, he reengaged his ability to feel pain just to be sure. All he felt was a stiffness around his neck and shoulders and some tightness across his ribs.
“That’s impossible.” Sierra half-frowned, as if he were making a bad joke.
“I can let you connect to my bioseine and see for yourself if you don’t believe me.”
“But the bioseine can’t heal our bodies. Not like that anyway.”
Adan itched his skin through the cracked yeso. The gel layer was drying out quickly now that it was exposed to the air. “I don’t know what’s going on either. My bioseine’s not telling me anything.”
Sierra scrutinized him, looking more concerned now than when she’d been treating his injuries.
Von stepped in. “Whatever is going on with you, we’ll figure it out once we get to the new cell. Right now, we have to seal up this portal.”
Adan nodded in agreement and Sierra opened the canister of synth. Together they shut the door tight. She ran the nozzle on the end of the container around the edge of the door. A shiny silver paste flowed into the gap and spread around the edges in a thin sheet, about a hand’s breadth wide.
Once she finished, Von handed Adan the chronotrace. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t salvage the bismine. All of the crystals were either shattered or lost.”
Adan’s shoulders slumped. Von had risked his life for a useless device.
“Do you have any chips we can use in your supplies?” Adan asked.
“I don’t know. We can check.”
“I can’t believe we lost Nance and Raif…” Sierra said.
Von paused, but Adan could read in his face what he was about to say. “Our only hope of saving them now is to find Adan’s friend.” He stared at the sealed door, as if he were the one who was the prisoner and the door was the only thing between him and freedom.
It did not take long to arrive at the new safe haven. The new location looked almost exactly like the one they’d left, except that the tunnels were a little narrower. The Waymen and the former Collectives spread out into three branches that met in the middle, each with its own hatch connecting to more tunnels. They began to transform the area into as much a semblance of a living space as they could, unpacking their gear and lining up sleeping mats along the walls. Most had very little: a change of clothes or so for each person, a few bowls and cups made out of clay, and some pinions and shivs. A few lumins were scattered about the room as well, shedding light down the passages.
Bryce had not taken the loss of Nance and Raif well. His face settled into a scowl when Von gave him the news and his reaction shifted into a full-blown tirade when he heard how Adan and Sierra had opened the door and let in the somatarch. He stormed off with Von following after him.
Adan withdrew into a corner of the tunnel to sulk. His time with the Sentients was not going well and he was no closer to finding Gavin or the extractor. The recovery of the chronotrace was a small victory, but without bismine to power it, it was a hollow one. Zain had gone off to look for some of the energy chips, but had yet to return.
Sierra came over to Adan, bringing a bowl of steaming mosh in her hands. He had watched her prepare it inside a metal crate on to
p of some white incandescent stones. Though he should have been famished, he was more interested in feeding his guilt and somber mood than his body. Not even the rich smell of it drifting through the passage could rouse his spirits.
“Want some mosh?” Sierra asked, hunkering down. When he didn’t answer she waved it enticingly in front of him. “What’s the matter? Don’t trust my cooking?”
Adan let her plop the bowl of blue green paste in his lap, unable to bring himself to eat. He glared at the lumpy substance as if it were somehow the source of his troubles.
“I messed up back there,” he said finally.
“Yeah, you did,” Sierra said with a little laugh. “But you saved Von’s life. That’s what matters.”
“No, you saved Von’s life. I just got beaten over the head.” He still felt miserable, but somehow her rare display of levity stirred him enough to realize that he was actually quite hungry. He dipped his hand into the warm paste and put some in his mouth.
“There you go,” she said, looking pleased.
The warmth from the paste spread inside of him. The taste brought back memories of his time in Senya’s hogar.
“Sierra, this is pretty good,” he mumbled.
“Thank Zain,” she said, “he’s the one who taught me the recipe.”
“You still have to show me where you get the ingredients.”
“Right, the quarry,” she said, “We actually need to go there and get some more soon. We’re running low. But it can wait until tomorrow. We’ve had enough excitement for one day, I think.”
“Do you think it’s safe, now that they know about the tunnel entrance?” Adan asked, stuffing more of the delicious paste into his mouth.
“I don’t know,” Sierra said, her mood turning serious again.
At that moment Von came back from his meeting with Bryce. Everyone in the room turned to watch him. He ignored their looks and helped himself to his own bowl of mosh from the crate. Then, noticing Sierra and Adan, he walked over and sat down next to them.
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