by David Meyer
The signal-blockers, Titus thought. They worked.
The particulate vibrated along the ground for a few seconds. Then it came together again, forming a large block. A hint of legs appeared. Arms and shoulders shot outward. The torso shed sand at the waist, gained some at the chest, ultimately taking on a womanly figure.
A stump reared its way out of the figure’s shoulders. Sand poured upward, piling on top of the stump, forming a smaller oval-shaped block. Then, with a sudden burst of wind, the stump and block morphed into a head and neck.
Fully formed, Cormella walked to the gate. Looking through the bars, she glared at Titus, anger etched across her sandy features.
Still looking at him, she trekked westward. Moments later, she passed out of sight behind the wall.
“Stay here,” Titus told the Naticans. “Keep an eye on the Banished.”
His chest burned as he sprinted across the fort. His legs, quite rubbery, protested every time one of his feet touched the ground.
Ahead, he saw the tall platform. Sanza stood upon it, her gaze locked upon the former breach. Lower down, he noticed the new signal-blocker.
The frenzied vibration of sand struck his ears. He tensed up, knowing what was about to happen.
Sanza heard the noise, too. She shifted her gaze over the wall, to the ground beneath it. Her eyes peeled wide open and she lurched backward. Her right foot stepped off of the platform …
… and into empty space.
Titus felt his chest clench. From this height, one hundred feet up, she’d surely die. Even a soft bed of sand couldn’t save her.
Putting on a ton of speed, he ran toward the platform.
She fell ten feet. Twenty feet. Thirty feet.
Her body clipped the ladder. Reaching out a hand, she grabbed a rung. But a sudden jolt loosened her grip and she fell again. Again, she reached out, grabbing at the ladder, bumping it, using it to slow her descent.
With fifteen feet to go, she managed to grab the ladder one last time. Again, it slowed her speed. Again, the sudden jerking movement jarred her loose.
Drawing near, Titus watched her with a sharp eye. There was no time to get ready, no time to settle in beneath her. He’d just have to wing it.
He pushed himself off of the ground. He dove forward, twisting his body, cutting the air like a knife. Arms curling up, he braced himself for impact.
She slammed into him. He was still airborne and the impact drove him straight down. He barely had time to wrap his hands around her before he smashed into the sand.
His gut roiled. Terrible pain shot down his shoulders, through his arms, all the way to his fingertips. Meanwhile, his lungs emptied, leaving him gasping for oxygen.
They rolled a few times before finally coming to a stop. Only then did he release her. Dazed and racked with stinging pain, he climbed to his knees. He tried to breathe, but could only manage a gasping wheeze.
“You … you …” Sanza sputtered for a moment, fighting to get oxygen into her body. “You idiot.”
He managed a laugh, which sent waves of agonizing pain rocketing through his chest. But it also cleared his lungs and he gulped in some mouthfuls of air before collapsing onto the sand. “You’re welcome.”
“I saw her,” she said. “She was climbing the wall with her bare hands. Not hands, actually. Her … well, you know what I mean.”
He coughed a few times. Rolling onto his back, he looked at the wall. There was plenty of natural light. Unfortunately, everything looked blurry. “How do the signal-blockers work?”
“You mean will they protect us from above?” She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
He rubbed his eyes. His vision cleared up a bit and he could see the signal-blocker, still beeping, still flashing colorful lights.
With a sudden burst of air, Cormella appeared. She stood up straight, perched on the wall. She stayed there for a moment, looking down at him and Sanza with something akin to annoyance. “I see you fixed it,” she said. “Both the wall and the security net.”
“What can I say?” Titus rose painfully to his feet. “We don’t much care for visitors.”
Her gaze went elsewhere, to somewhere beyond Titus. Following her look, he saw what had caught her attention.
The compound.
At seventy-four feet in height it was the tallest structure in all of Natica. The enormous machine, Miot, rested inside its walls. And inside of Miot, of course, was Luminosity.
Her lips curled into a little smile.
What, he wondered, was that about?
Her smile faded away. Turning around, she knelt down. Then she made as if to climb down the wall.
Abruptly, she burst apart. Billions of grains of gold sand went airborne and she took on the appearance of a sandswarm.
He exhaled a sigh of relief.
Sanza watched the sandswarm twist and turn atop the wall. “She’s tethered,” she said after a moment.
“What?”
“She’s tethered to the wall. To all surfaces, I suspect.” She cocked her head. “In other words, she can walk, run, even climb walls. But she can’t fly.”
Once again, Cormella formed out of the sandswarm. Her face took on a hard, determined look. Twisting around, she hiked to the wall’s far edge and began to climb back down to the ground.
Heart pounding, Titus watched the last of her pass out of sight. “I can’t believe that worked,” he said.
She arched an eyebrow. “You doubted me?”
“Not you. Maybe your machines, though.”
“Same thing.” She stood up, brushed herself off. “So, what’s our next move?”
“Dargon will try to take out the signal-blockers. We have to stop him.”
“Think you can handle that?”
“Why?” He arched an eyebrow. “You doubt me?”
“Not you. Maybe your people, though.”
The faint trace of a grin creased his lips. “Same thing.”
Chapter 48
What’s your next move, Dargon? Titus wondered, his brain churning at high speed. Attack the wall? Or try to scale it?
His sandals slapped against the sand as he jogged toward Natica’s gate. He figured it was well past midnight. If the fort could hold out until sunrise, they’d likely get a respite. After all, his people had plenty of water and rascos within easy reach. The Banished, on the other hand, would need to go elsewhere to refuel and escape the heat.
Ahead, Titus saw his people. They stood at the gate, staring outward. Keeping an eye on the Banished, just as he’d asked. And yet, there was something deeply unsettling about the way they went about it.
He focused in on the closest soldier, Private Burke. The man leaned forward, his head inches from the bars. A stunned expression blanketed his visage. He didn’t move at all. Not even when Titus appeared at his side.
“What are you looking at, Private?” he asked.
Burke didn’t flinch, didn’t shift, didn’t move so much as a single muscle.
Titus swung toward the gate. He could no longer see Dargon or the Banished. Instead, his gaze fell upon a gigantic swath of whirling, spinning sand.
Is that a drystorm? he wondered.
Sand struck the ground, kicking up new sand. The new particles joined the old ones and the storm noticeably expanded in size.
Wait, he thought, giving it a closer look. That’s not a drystorm.
Indeed, a gold figure resided in the center of the swirling sand. It raged at high speed, whipping up the desert, tossing it into the air.
It’s Cormella, he realized. What’s she doing?
“I think she means to attack the fort, Sir,” Burke said, his voice plagued by uncertainty.
Titus frowned. What harm could a bunch of sand do to the wall?
Her figure retracted, almost in half. The gold grains continued to swirl and twist and spin, just in much tighter quarters. The massive auburn particulate on her edges took on a frantic, frenzied appearance.
A queasy feeling hit Titus r
ight in the gut. He couldn’t put his finger on it. But he knew she was about to do something bad, something completely unexpected.
“Get back,” he shouted.
The Naticans came out of their collective trance. Making haste, they scurried away from the gate.
Cormella retracted again, her grains whirling in ever-tighter circles. Shrunken and surrounded by auburn sand, she was difficult to see. But it was definitely her.
A ferocious shriek rang in Titus’ ears. She expanded and her arms flew outward. Then everything exploded.
He dove to the east as a torrent of auburn sand flooded through the open bars. It knocked over a couple of fleeing people, enveloping them in an instant.
More waves of sand followed the first one. The gate acted as a boundary of sorts and grains began to build up at it. By the time things quieted down, a wall of sand, close to twenty feet high and sloping in either direction, stood at the gate.
A few people, coughing and choking, clawed their way out of the sand. Naticans hurried forward. Digging around, they extracted other residents.
What’s she trying to do? Titus wondered. Bury us?
He lumbered into the sand. He tried to push his way through it, but the stuff was packed deep enough to be a real dune. Switching tactics, he climbed on top of the stuff and cautiously approached the gate.
He got close enough that he could see over the top of the sand wall. His gaze went out into the hinterlands and he noticed another massive storm begin to take shape.
He frowned. Maybe she really was trying to bury them.
As Cormella began to retract, he turned his attention to the rest of the landscape. Looking for Dargon, his gaze swept to the east. From his vantage point, he could just make out a small portion of the towering wall.
His pulse quickened.
Suddenly, he understood. He knew what Cormella was trying to accomplish with all of that sand.
Some thirty to forty feet of auburn grains were piled up against the curving wall. All of that sand formed a long ascending ramp. Of course, the ramp was shorter than the wall. But still …
Another shriek burst forth, accompanied by a second wall of sand. The debris hurtled toward Natica.
He scrambled back down the hill as tons more sand flooded through the bars. Halfway down, it caught up to him and took out his legs. He fell and the stuff crested over his head.
He found himself in a dark, enclosed space, unable to breathe. Thrusting his body upward, he pushed his way through billions of tiny grains. Just when it felt like his lungs would fail, his head burst through the sand.
Gratefully, he gulped at the fresh air. Then he twisted around. The sand abutting the gate had doubled in height and now stood some forty feet tall.
He recalled the ramped sand at the wall, recalled how it had stood some thirty to forty feet in height. If the ramps had doubled in height after this latest blast, then they now stood sixty to eighty feet high. One more explosion would bring them right up to the wall’s top edge.
“She’s building a ramp, Sir.” Stanner appeared, helping him out of the sand. “An entrance ramp.”
“Yes.” Titus spat out some sand and wiped his mouth. “For the Banished.”
Chapter 49
How long had it been since the last crunch? Two minutes? Three? How much longer did she have until there was another crunch and BeBo disappeared forever?
Wind rushed in her ears as Kayden plummeted toward the ground. Not only was she going too fast, she was also going straight down. Broken legs seemed all but certain. Even worse, she wasn’t going to touch down anywhere near BeBo. Injured and far away, she’d stand no chance of rescuing him from the dome.
Frustrated, she accidentally tugged at the ring in her left hand. Abruptly, the boat dipped toward the left.
Her eyes went wide. Shifting her attention to the right ring, she gave that one a light tug and felt the craft dip in that direction.
She felt the thrill of discovery. But it was tempered by fear. For she’d fallen too far, too fast to change her trajectory. With just fifteen feet to go, she gritted her teeth, bracing for a painful landing.
Suddenly, a gust of wind, as if blown by Emma herself, sailed into the boat. It stopped the craft’s descent and forced it sideways, toward the dome.
Wasting no time, Kayden started tugging the rings, one after the other, lining herself up with BeBo. A few seconds later, she touched down ten feet shy of him. A clattering sound hit her ears. She released the rings and the wind, along with her momentum, carried her across the cobblestones.
The dome, pure blackness, reared up before her. She dug in her heels, came to a stop. Grabbing BeBo around the waist, she lunged backward, taking him with her.
Crunch.
The dome shot forward.
She shut her eyes. Clutching him tightly, she twisted her body, forcing them both to roll across the cobblestones.
A fierce tremor roared beneath her. A powerful wind blasted through her hair.
She cracked her eyes open, saw BeBo in front of her. His face was bruised and he looked haggard. His eyes, wide open, were focused on the area behind her.
Glancing backward, she saw the dome. A mere four inches of digital space had saved her right shoulder from deletion. What would’ve happened if the virus had erased her shoulder? Would it have erased all of her? Or would she have survived the experience, just without her shoulder?
“Last thing I remember was eating a knuckle sandwich.” BeBo’s voice sounded strained as he picked himself off of the ground. “How’d you get down here so fast?”
“I took a boat,” she replied.
“A what?”
The dome stood there, still and silent. But she knew the virus was working, gathering data for the next round of deletions. Lying there, so close to it, she suddenly felt very vulnerable.
Rolling out from under the dome’s curving edge, she stood up. Grabbing BeBo’s hand, she dragged him back a good ten feet or so.
“A boat.” She looked around for the craft. But it was now gone, likely carried off by the wind. “Probably would’ve worked better with water, though.”
He arched an eyebrow, multiple questions dancing across his lips. Then he shook his head. “I saw you up there. Did you get your laptop?”
Startled, she reached into her yoga pants.
No laptop.
She glanced around. The upper portion of the dome had swallowed up a good chunk of the building. The corner where she’d grabbed her laptop was now gone.
Her gaze went to the ground, roughly where she’d let go of the boat. A metallic object, flat and rectangular, lay on the cobblestones.
She exhaled, relieved.
“Get them,” Tabitha screeched.
Kayden spotted Mike leading the small mob in their direction. Tabitha, looking gaunt and haughty, followed them at a measured pace.
She darted forward, grabbed up the device. Then she hurried back to BeBo. “Got it,” she said. “Now, we just have to find a place to use it.”
Chapter 50
As she sprinted down Birch Street, Kayden took a good, long look at Luminosity. Or rather, what remained of the once-proud city. By her estimation, the virus had eaten up roughly half of the digital metropolis. Streets, buildings, offices, plants, books, vending machines, and—worst of all—people had survived for centuries, only to vanish in the blink of an eye. There would be no reboot, no second chance. What was gone wasn’t coming back.
Where’s Titus? she wondered for a brief second. Does he even know about this?
Titus was a good man, strong and dependable. But he and his people weren’t exactly computer whizzes. Even if they knew about the virus, they’d have no way of stopping it. Still, with a little assistance …
A crunch sounded out. The dome shifted inward, gobbling up still more stuff, more real estate, maybe even more people. The inevitable tremors quickly followed, along with a strong crosswind.
Her breathing became labored and she gritted her
teeth in frustration. In order to keep people in touch with their humanity, Emma had designed the avatars with physical limitations in mind. But right then, Kayden couldn’t have cared less about her humanity. She just wanted to get to the Skyscraper in one piece. Unfortunately, her avatar didn’t seem up to the task.
She glanced over her shoulder. Some fifty feet back, a bunch of shadowy figures pursued them down the long, dark street. They were quiet, relentless.
Terrifying.
Her chest began to heave. Her lungs started to burn.
She gave BeBo a fleeting glimpse. He continued to run at an even pace. His avatar wasn’t especially fast, but it had impressive stamina. Unfortunately, hers had just about run out.
They reached Spruce Street and she saw a familiar, four-story, rusticated stone building. It was the Computer Science Department. She’d spent plenty of hours inside that building over the last six months, working on undoing the Broken.
BeBo made to run past it. But by then, Kayden was on fumes. Grabbing his arm, she yanked him onto the cross street, pretending to continue down it. As soon as she was out of sight, she doubled back to the stone building.
She dragged BeBo behind one of the building’s broad columns. They plastered their backs to it, then became perfectly still, their only sounds being occasional soft breaths of digital air.
Noisy footsteps floated into her ears. She held her breath as their pursuers drew close.
“They turned here,” Mike yelled. “Come on!”
Footsteps thundered around the corner. They passed the edge of the building and continued onward.
She exhaled a long sigh and started to venture out of the hiding spot. But then BeBo gripped her arm.
She tensed up, gave him a look.
His body remained still. Meanwhile, his lips moved in distinct fashion. “Tabitha,” he mouthed.
Shortly after, more footsteps came within hearing range. Moving at a fast walk, they rounded the corner and continued after the others.
Relaxing at last, he released Kayden’s arm.
