by Lisa Lace
I stopped listing things when I started thinking about how comfortable and practical pants are. There was a gentle bump and the sound of the hovercraft powering down.
We had arrived.
As I stepped out of the hovercraft (without any man's help, I might add), I drew in a sharp gasp. Everything looked normal here. Outside was a large hanger. After only a few steps, we arrived at something that appeared to be the main control room.
The enormous space was curved, and there were screens on all the wall. The displays showed various places on Yordbrook. One screen focused on the space station that was the main way on or off-planet.
People stood in the middle of the room. They worked on consoles floating around them, speaking into the air.
"Okay, stop right now," I said, and both Porter and Jesse turned surprised faces my way. "How in the name of all that's holy does this planet have any level of modern technology?"
JESSE
It was better to tell her everything now, so she knew the entire story of my planet. I had given her a shock earlier, and seeing her look of betrayal hurt my soul. I didn't want to keep any secrets from her.
No one had approached us yet. I led her to an unoccupied bench. We sat down together.
"Remember one thing about us," I said. "Our planet is not a Phase 1 world. We are no longer a developing civilization. We are a Phase 3 world that chooses not to use technology that we once had."
Annalee nodded silently.
"In the beginning was The Before Times. We call the time after the bombs The Between Times. We rarely mention The Between Times. What happened then doesn't fit well with our current version of history."
Porter spoke up. "An interim government arose during The Between Times. There was a dramatic decrease in population, but the people who survived wanted to get their old lives back."
"There was a problem," I said, reclaiming the narrative. "The biggest challenge facing the government was whether we should return to the old ways that led to the destruction or choose a new path. A few people wanted to go back to The Before Times. But a majority thought that was a mistake, and voted to adopt a simpler way of life."
"That's how Yordbrook ended up this way?" Annalee asked.
"Yes," Porter said. "Ever since those times, there has always been a minority who believed we made the wrong decision. When we constructed the official government and passed laws restricting technology, the Underground was born as well."
"We are merely the current leaders. One day, we hope for an open-minded regent who will grant us an audience and begin negotiations with the Underground."
"Wow," Annalee said.
"There are rumors that our planet's leaders want to reintroduce technology, but the timing has never been correct. Since we don't have an inside source, we think they're fantasies," Porter said with a shrug.
"These headquarters are hundreds of years old and were built right after the bombing. We kept the hovercraft running. They are all vintage, perfectly maintained ships from The Before Times," I said, looking around as I spoke.
"With state-of-the-art modern cloaking technology, of course," Porter added.
"I can't believe it," Annalee said.
"It's true." I was looking for Sheera. I found her barking orders at someone. The three of us and our fourth partner, Dayne, were the Underground leadership.
ANNALEE
My mind reeled as I contemplated the backward history of Yordbrook. Meanwhile, an excited hum buzzed through the room. A pants-wearing woman came over to us.
"Jesse," she said. "Porter. Welcome back. I see you've brought someone with you."
"I'm coming back to stay, Sheera."
Her eyebrows lifted. "Are you, now?"
"We had to extract Annalee from the Bureau. They'll be looking for me when they realize I disappeared the same day they lost my wife."
"Wife?" she asked.
"We were recently married."
She looked at me. "You're not from around here, are you sweetie?" The endearment grated on my ears.
"How did you guess?"
"You wear those pants like you were born in them. Most Yordbrook women come to like them eventually, but if this were your first encounter with them, you'd look a lot more uncomfortable."
"Sheera," Jesse said, trying to take control of the situation again. "This is Annalee, my wife. Annalee, this is Sheera, one of the other Underground leaders. She's in charge of Headquarters."
"Nice to meet you," I said, holding out my hand to shake.
Sheera looked surprised. "You really aren't from Yordbrook, are you?" she asked, taking my hand and shaking firmly. "It will be fun to have another modern woman around here."
Her face looked pleased, but I was getting a strange vibe from her.
"We've had only a little sleep," Jesse said. "We're all exhausted, Sheera. I think we'll head over to our quarters now. We can debrief in the morning."
"I'm happy to see you again and to meet you, Annalee."
I nodded and smiled blankly. At the mention of bed, I realized I could barely hold myself up. I tried not show it, but suddenly keeping myself upright was taking all my strength.
Porter was only a few doors away from us. We said goodnight and retired to our rooms.
"I've missed showers," I said as Jesse closed the door. Sweat drenched my clothes. The temperature in here was much higher than outside. He opened another small door that opened into a private bathroom.
"Here you go."
"Is this bathroom just for us?"
"Yes."
"We have a toilet and a shower and everything?"
"You'll find soap, shampoo and anything else you might need."
"I feel like I've died and gone to heaven," I said.
Jesse grinned. "Not yet. But you will once I get you in my bed," he said. I narrowed my eyes.
"If you think I'm doing anything else except having a shower, you are gravely mistaken," I said. No one was getting between me and that shower, not even the sexy man in front of me. "I need to sleep, and so do you."
"Oh no. Take your shower and get nice and clean. I have plans for us."
My skin heated at the thought. I knew I was blushing.
"You do?"
I shivered and hurried into the bathroom.
"No need to dress when you come out," he called from the other room. "You won't need any clothes."
Chapter Twelve
JESSE
All I had wanted was to lose myself in Annalee's body. We lay in each other's arms. I watched her breathing softly. We had made love and fallen into a deep sleep. I had just woken up, and I wasn't sure what time it was. I thought it might be early morning.
"Jesse?" Annalee asked, sounding drowsy but happy.
"Yes?" I smoothed her hair back from her forehead.
"Why doesn't the Underground set up a way for those who want technology to leave the planet? Why do you bother fighting the Bureau of Purity?"
I sighed. "It's complicated, Annalee."
"Explain it to me. I want to understand," she said, lifting her head.
"The Underground isn't interested in getting into a war with the Bureau. We want to reintroduce technology in a controlled manner that's safe and makes life comfortable for everyone."
"What do you mean?"
"We don't want to change things and make Yordbrook into a modern planet. But we don't want our best and our brightest leaving Yordbrook to use the Internet, either."
"Don't you think once you open the dam, even slightly, all the water will come rushing out?"
I laughed. "We hope not. We believe we can bring technology in a way that makes it invisible. If we keep it hidden, the beauty of our planet won't be disturbed. A slow introduction will let us evaluate everything and decide if we want to incorporate it into our lives. We're not going to have a war again."
"That sounds idealistic."
"Technology nearly ended our race. The Underground hasn't forgotten it even though traditionalists thin
k we have. We have no desire to repeat the sins of the past. With strict rules in place, Yordbrook will never have that kind of violence or devastation again."
"Oh," she murmured.
"We hope to gain the convenience of technology. We know it can break down barriers, provides education, and connect us to each other. The trick will be avoiding the bad things that come with it. In time, an elected council can make decisions, and the burden won't be on the monarch alone."
"You're pretty passionate about this."
"Yes," I said. "I suppose I am. I believe in the Underground. We will be successful in reintroducing modern inventions in a way traditionalists can accept."
We were interrupted by banging on the door.
"Jesse!" It was Porter. "Get your ass out of bed. The Bureau has captured Dayne."
"Who's Dayne?"
I didn't answer Annalee right away, but got up and started putting on my clothes. Since Annalee was only wearing pants and a T-shirt, it took moments to make us presentable again. I opened the door and Porter stormed into the room.
"Annalee, Dayne is another Underground leader. Where was she taken, Porter? What happened?"
"I'll explain as we go. She happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," Porter said. We headed for the main control room with Annalee marching behind us. "The Bureau of Purity is doing simultaneous raids all over the world. It's a new tactic, and it's useful to them. There was nowhere to run. They attacked all our safe houses at once."
"How could they locate all our locations?"
"We think there must be a traitor among us. There's no way they know every place we're hiding."
"Have Sheera begin questioning everyone."
Porter nodded. "You'll need to take over Dayne's area as well as yours."
"Why me?"
"You have the least responsibilities right now, Jesse. You've been undercover. One of her advisors will brief you on what's been going on."
"Who's getting her out?" I asked.
"Sheera is putting a team together as we speak."
When we arrived at the control room, it was a mess. Everyone was talking at once. We were trying to communicate to everyone that our safe houses weren't secure, but it was a difficult thing to explain. Every minute was crucial.
Sheera came to us immediately. "Have you heard the news?"
"We heard," I said. "We need to start questioning everyone."
She looked at me strangely. "The king is dying."
Porter and I froze. "Are you sure?" Porter asked. He had always been sick, but it seemed like he would live forever.
"Our source at the palace says the doctor has given him only hours to live."
"Maybe this is our chance," I whispered, looking back and forth between my old friends.
"Maybe," Sheera said grimly. "But if he dies and we get the chance to negotiate with the new monarch, we need to be ready — and preferably not with our organization in shambles."
"Exactly," Porter said. "We need to find the traitor. I'm going to run scans on all the equipment used in Dayne's area. I might be able to trace the security breach to a particular device. Then we can figure out who used it."
"Was she wearing her locator patch? We should be able to correlate the position of the device and the location of the agent to identify our suspect," Sheera said.
"I'll get on it." Porter reached for a console that was floating near his head.
"Can I help?" Annalee asked. We had forgotten she was there. Porter and Sheera looked at me.
"I'm not sure," I said. "We can try to find something for you to do. In the meantime, why don't you get some rest?"
I was trying to be kind. I could tell she wasn't interpreting my response as kindness. She looked dead tired. I knew Sheera, Porter, and I would be busy for hours. At the same time, I knew she wanted to be useful.
She nodded and started walking away, but not before I saw the hurt look in her eyes.
"Annalee, wait," I said, catching up to her and touching her shoulder. "I'm not going to give you a mindless task so that you can feel better."
"Of course not," she said, with tears in her eyes. "I don't know everything that's happening here, but as an off-worlder, there should be something I can do."
"When we think of how you can help out, you'll be the first to know." She nodded, rubbing at her nose. I kissed her forehead.
"Sleep. You won't be any good to the Underground if you're too tired to see straight."
"That's true." I hoped she was feeling better. "Thanks, Jesse."
I watched her walk away until she was out of sight. I had to figure out a way to protect Annalee, discover her potential, and fulfill my responsibilities to the underground.
Sheera cocked her head at me. "That's something new."
"What?"
"I haven't seen you worry about people's feelings or be considerate before."
"I've been known to be thoughtful from time to time," I said, mildly annoyed with my old friend. I hadn't liked her treatment of Annalee. Sheera was one of my oldest friends in the Underground, and she always acted like an older sister.
"You could have fooled me."
ANNALEE
I was confused and tired. I was also having culture shock again, having learned about a hidden civilization on Yordbrook that wasn't in the travel brochures.
I made my way back to our quarters and lay down on the bed without changing my clothes. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about Jesse and Sheera. Had he slept with her? Jesse hadn't shown any reaction to her, but it seemed like he had some history.
Jesse and I had almost nothing. No history and barely a friendship. We were good in bed. But two people who go home from a bar for a one-night stand could be good in bed together. There was nothing unusual about that. I felt ill, and I slowly recognized the emotion simmering in my body.
It was jealousy.
I felt mildly disgusted with myself. How low-class! My mother was the kind of woman who would be jealous of someone working with her man. I certainly didn't want to be anything like my mother.
Jesse was my husband, and he had promised to protect me and honor me. I had to believe he would keep that pledge.
I must have drifted off into an angry nap because an explosion woke me up. I jumped up and ran out of the room. There was chaos everywhere. People burst out of their rooms, and everyone was talking at once. The lights in the hall weren't working. I felt my way along a wall, trying to remember the way to the control room.
By the time I arrived, there was light, but there wasn't anything I wanted to see. The members of the Underground fought with men in navy clothing — the Bureau of Purity had found them. There was an enormous hole in the wall where a bomb had gone off. I didn't want to enter the scrum because I wasn't particularly skilled at fighting.
I tried to find Jesse and finally spotted him in the corner of the room. He and Porter were fighting back-to-back as if they had done this many times before.
I was about to try and escape on my own when I felt a cold blade at my throat.
"What have we here?" I couldn't see the man's face, but I recognized his harsh voice. It was the same nameless Bureau agent who had captured me back at the inn. I didn't say anything, but I wanted to cry out for help. My heart was pounding in my chest. I wondered if Jesse would assist me again.
As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I got mad at myself. What kind of a modern woman would expect her husband to save her?
"Come with me," he said, putting additional pressure on the blade. I slowly moved with him out of the room. He led us down the hall and took a turn I hadn't used since I arrived. As I moved further away from everyone else, I became frightened, and my imagination took off.
What was he going to do to me? If he was going to kill me, why didn't he do it right away? Where was he taking me?
We emerged in a garage full of personal hovercraft and boarded one. By this time, I had an idea of what he wanted. Once we were on the s
hip, he finally took the knife away from my neck. The Bureau agent forced me into the rear of the vessel where there were no doors. He moved into the pilot's chair.
"Where are we going?"
He looked at me emotionlessly. I squirmed in my seat. He was making me more uncomfortable than before.
"We've learned more information about you, Mrs. Melnyk. We didn't know the full extent of your husband's criminal activity. He's more than another Renegade."
Shit. He knew Jesse was one of the Underground's leaders.
"You will make fine bait," he muttered to himself.
"You can't use me to trap Jesse. I won't let you."
"I don't think you can stop me. And once we've caught you and your infamous husband..."
He became immersed with pre-flight procedures and didn't finish his sentence. I had to know what he was going to say.
"Once you've caught us?" I said. "Then what?"
"With the Underground fractured, there's no way for them to regroup without their leaders. We're going to make a public example of both of you to discourage others."
"What kind of an example?" I asked.
"We're going to kill you."
Chapter Thirteen
JESSE
I slammed my fist into a man's skull, and he fell to the floor. Unconscious or dead, I didn't care. Porter smashed into me when his head was knocked back by a particularly brutal punch from a Bureau man. Porter came under his guard and delivered two blows to his guts, bending him over. After he had kneed him, the Bureau agent fell to the ground.
The brawl was coming to an end, and it didn't look like our side had won. I could see some of our people on the ground. Others had been dragged off by the Bureau.
"It's time to get out of here, Porter," I said. "Through the back. Annalee's in my quarters."
"Are you crazy?" He glanced across the room to the door that led to housing. If we wanted to get to the bedroom, we would have to get past a bunch of Bureau agents.
"You're right, Porter. You can escape and save yourself. Help me if Annalee and I get caught."
He rolled his eyes. "As if I'd leave you with this lot by yourself," he said.
We took off running and screaming at the top of our lungs, looking like madmen. The Bureau men were slow to react. We manage to barrel through three of them, but the next one knocked Porter on his ass.
