by Jessica Gunn
“What brings you here?” Germay asked.
“We are exploring the Links in search of our missing people,” Sophia answered. “The Lemurians took them and have hidden them somewhere in time.”
“You look on the wrong side of the war, soldier.” Germay’s eyes shot to Trevor. “Perhaps you should ask this one.”
Trevor’s jaw set hard. His defection was much clearer than his attempt to deny what he was. Right now, he was as much a Lemurian as I was.
“Trevor doesn’t side with them,” I reminded the room.
Germay’s eyes still rested on Trevor. “We shall see.” She broke her gaze from Trevor and looked to the rest of us. “Come with me. We’ll meet with the Council to see what we can do for your search, and to send you home.”
“You’re willing to help us?” Pike asked, doubt evident in every single syllable he spoke.
I agreed. This was way too easy, way too straightforward. That same feeling I’d had when looking at the African idol gnawed into the lining of my stomach like bad Chinese food.
“We help all travelers who stumble here on their search for something more,” Germay supplied.
Except, you can’t cross over the exact same Link twice, unless you have a different Link Piece with which to do it—thereby making it not the same Link, just a trip between the same two points. And even then, there had to be some temporal or geographical differential. Therefore, how many Pieces connected here, to this very spot? And, more importantly, why?
I turned to Pike and, from the wideness of his eyes, it was clear he also couldn’t believe it—we’d finally agreed on something.
We were being played. Big time.
I hung back with Major Pike as Dr. Hill and Sophia talked to Germay on our way to the Council’s chambers. We didn’t speak, but my proximity to him, the irony of my falling into step alongside Pike’s long, military strides, spoke volumes.
When Trevor and I had first come to TAO, Major Howard Pike hadn’t exactly liked us. Then I proved my worth with a gun… in that I could aim it better than most of TAO’s soldiers, even if I refused to use the weapon unless absolutely necessary. Pike and I didn’t take to each other like I did with Captain Marks. Pike’s a severe man, hardened by years of combat. He was also one of the very few soldiers at TAO. Many of the scientists were civilian-contracted, like on SeaSat5. Only the small team of engineers and the handful of security guards were actually Army-bred military officers. Which made me question how Pike got assigned to TAO in the first place, something I knew I’d never find out.
Pike had put us through training hell, which didn’t mesh well with me. But what had really put a wedge between Pike and I was the first anniversary of SeaSatellite5 being taken by Lemuria. I’d shown up to a mission half-plastered. We’d traveled anyway, with a prominent TV archaeologist in tow, trying to keep him from spilling the Atlantean beans he’d been so luckily shown. Me being a tipsy-idiot-bitch was probably—almost—acceptable. But me being a bad shot for the first and only time in my life was absolutely not. A stray bullet had struck Pike and the TV archaeologist had almost died because of it. That was twelve months ago, and I was still regaining his trust.
But now, walking in time with him, I sensed the missing trust rebuilding itself. I couldn’t be sure Sophia read the situation the same way as us. Maybe she was just playing along with the role Germay wanted us to play. But I was sure Trevor and Dr. Hill didn’t pick up on the eerie feeling in the air. Like the atmosphere here was thinner, barely enough to breathe, while being electrified at the same time.
We came to a stop outside two large marble doors. Germay knocked quietly and someone opened them from the other side, revealing a large chamber with a tiny table on the far end. Silence echoed. The only disruption was the noise of Pike’s even breaths beside me, a calming technique I recognized from our training days. Being stuck inside a large room filled to the brim with people who appeared to be Atlanteans, or at least people who sided with them, didn’t sit well with either of us. Why? We were allied with Atlantis. That shouldn’t have been a problem, and yet something slimy crawled down my throat. Even as strangers, Germay should have treated us like allies, without suspicion.
Sophia turned to me, one eyebrow lifted in question. I answered her with a quick motion of my eyes toward Pike, to the room at large, and then back to her. Sophia’s nod was almost unseen. She sensed it, too.
“Welcome!” came a loud voice from the far end of the room. “What brings you visitors to our time?”
Dr. Hill stepped out and explained our research regarding Link Pieces, how the Waterstar map had led us here, and about our search for an Atlantis-allied vessel.
I didn’t really listen. My eyes traced a path along the walls, laden with gold on the bottom and stripped bare of adornments on the top. The ceiling arched wide and high, encasing a large room that had only a single, open window perched high at the center. If clouds flew above it, I could pull water down if need be. Probably.
I shifted my gaze, trying not to make it obvious I’d scanned the hall. I wanted more ways out of here than through the door in which we came. It didn’t look like that was going to happen. Not that it mattered. One touch to the others and I could have us out in seconds if Sophia worked the transfer back.
Something washed over me, causing my skin to break out into goose bumps beneath my heavy fatigues. I stood still, not letting on that something had happened. Sophia turned to me with wide, scared eyes. The second my goose bumps shifted into fire scorching my skin, I missed a step and stumbled, crying out. Why weren’t the others affected by this too? Just me and Sophia. Me and—
Not good. Not good at all.
Guards moved in around us, drawing their weapons. Sophia nodded to me, and we spun on the ones closest to us, lunging at them. Pike reacted and brought his gun up, but it was too late.
The second either of us connected with a guard, the burly men threw Sophia and me back to the ground as if we were the size and weight of a child’s doll. My breath rushed from my lungs when I smacked against the ground. I had just enough time to force air into my lungs before guards descended upon us, slapping our wrists together with restraints.
wasn’t sure what they were hoping to attain by attacking the guards, but any chance we had at a peaceful talk ended right then and there. And oh, you could probably add “getting home” to that list, too. God only knew what we’d change by being gone. Unless this is what happened all along…
Time-travel hurt my brain. I preferred more tactile sciences.
Even though Pike, Chelsea, and Sophia did no damage, the Council threw us into prison cells made of stark white, plastic-metal material that wouldn’t break. Bars appeared around us and bright fluorescent lights shone down on us, blinding and warm.
Didn’t these future guys think the same thing I did? That if we stayed here, things could change? Then again, this being the future and all, they already knew what happened. In their present, we did go missing without explanation. Unless the change happened in real-time, in which case they wouldn’t?
Screw time-travel.
About an hour later Germay’s people reemerged, only to take Pike in an attempt to figure out some sort of understanding. They shouldn’t have taken the Major. He wasn’t diplomatic enough. Sophia would’ve been the better option since these people were Atlantean.
I shook my head and squeezed the bridge of my nose and eyed Chelsea, who’d been silent since Pike left. She sat on the floor of the cell with her palms pressed against the stone as if she needed to steady herself. Sophia sat across the cell from her, doing the same.
Dr. Hill cleared his throat and sat on the bench. “We might have to consider the possibility of escaping without Major Pike. If we can.”
Chelsea sighed. “With neither Sophia nor I at full speed? Probably a bad idea.”
“Why’d they take your powers?” I asked her. It’s clear Germay’s people could hold us without them.
Chelsea looked up. Her hazel
eyes stole my breath. A glimpse of those eyes held enough power to still the entire world. I missed her so much. I missed us.
“Probably because the lack of trust is mutual,” Chelsea said. “They don’t want us leaving or overpowering them. But I think they’ll come back. I can still feel my strength. It’s like during the hijacking two years ago.”
I furrowed my brow. “But these guys are Atlantean, too, aren’t they? Why wouldn’t they trust us?” As for their powers coming back… we’d have to wait and see on that one.
Dr. Hill shrugged and crossed his arms at his chest. “None of them exhibited abilities.”
“I could feel it,” Sophia and Chelsea said in unison.
Feel it? Feel what?
The question must have been obvious on my face because Chelsea pushed herself up off the ground in response. “I’m with Sophia on this one. There’s this…” She trailed off, searching for the right word.
“Buzz,” Sophia supplied as she also stood.
Chelsea nodded. “Yeah, there’s this buzz between us. It’s like a way of saying, ‘you’re like me and you’re on my side.’”
Chelsea had never talked about this before. “Did you have that buzz with Helen?”
Chelsea walked toward the bars of our cell, peering around the half-circle room for another way out. She even tugged on the bars, but they didn’t budge. “No.”
“Why not?” I asked, although the answer seemed fairly simple. “Because she wasn’t also a super soldier?” Helen had Atlantean blood like Chelsea, but Helen only had one power, and her future-sight wasn’t very accurate.
Chelsea shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe. Sophia?”
Sophia had worked with Helen too, before she’d joined TAO. “In the year I spent studying with Helen, I remember feeling only a little of it. It became strongest when I met you.”
Sophia joined Chelsea at the bars, and they tugged together. Still nothing, like all their strength had been zapped. It wasn’t like the time Chelsea’s powers were taken from her during the hijacking and I actually feared they might be gone for good.
“It makes sense,” Dr. Hill said. “Think about it. If Atlantis engineered these soldiers to covertly carry out top-secret war missions, it would stand to reason the soldiers wouldn’t necessarily know each other from the get-go. Rather, if you ever ran into each other, you’d know by this feeling you both have. Otherwise, the buzz wouldn’t matter to the rest of the Atlantean population.”
“So why are you getting this feeling around Germay’s people, but you didn’t with Helen?” I asked. “They can’t all be Atlantean super soldiers.” The odds of that were, well, not in their favor. At least not with the ferocity Thompson sought out Chelsea, alluding to the rarity of her kind.
“They could be more directly tied to Atlantis than Helen,” Sophia said.
“So, what now?” Dr. Hill asked.
“We can’t leave Pike behind,” Chelsea said quickly. “Even if we could escape, even if our powers return, we have to find him first.”
“I’m right here, so calm down.”
Major Pike, flanked by two guards, entered the room. He stopped in front of our cell and sized us up. Why? Didn’t we just determine we probably couldn’t escape?
“They want us to play a little game for them in exchange for a Link Piece we need and an easy-access Return Piece,” Pike said with indifferent eyes, like he were reciting lines to a boring car commercial instead of explaining our situation.
“Game?” I asked. Games were my thing. Games I could do. Back on SeaSat5, I used to make 3D games for fun. “Sign me up. Let me play, and I’ll get us out of here in no time. What kind of game are we talking about?”
Major Pike nodded. “As much as I’d hate to throw you to the wolves, I think you’re right. Only two of us have to play, so I’ll go opposite you. No matter how weird this is.”
Weird, yes. What was the point of us playing some sort of game?
I thought back to some of the last doctor’s appointments I’d attended. Sometimes they’d included little things to make check-ups more fun and high-tech. Like my eye doctor who had a 3D game to test eye reactions. Maybe this “game” was just a way for them to assess something else?
“Sure,” I said to Pike. “Whatever it is, I’m ready.”
“That will not work.” Silence blanketed us as Germay entered the space and stood behind Pike. “We have already selected the two candidates based on probable compatibility.”
“What’s that mean?” I asked. What kind of gaming system required compatibility between two players? That seemed… limiting. Entirely stupid.
Germay stood in front of me. “The Council has decided that, after speaking with your leader here, the young Atlantean soldier and the Lemurian boy have the connection required.”
My chest constricted but I didn’t dare look at Chelsea. Any game that needed whatever connection they thought we had couldn’t be just a game. That she’d gone out of her way to call us out by our heritages on top of it all…
A pit sunk into my stomach and began to rot. Something wasn’t right.
“Why her?” Pike asked Germay. “You get the gamer kid, but leave her out of it.”
“As I said,” Germay repeated as if she were talking to a child, “they have the connection required.”
Connection. I bit my cheek. Atlantean-based powers had to do with connections. For teleportation, Chelsea had to go somewhere often enough or have a strong emotional connection to a location. Link Pieces formed from connections between objects and the location of their creation. Puzzle pieces, that’s all it was.
This time I did look at Chelsea. Our eyes met and our understanding of what we might get ourselves into saturated the moment. Connection didn’t begin to describe what we had. Because we had met just once, Chelsea’s powers dragged her across the world and under half a mile of ocean to me on SeaSatellite5. Because of what we had, we fell in love. Fell apart. Lost our friends. That would be enough to drive most people apart; we’d gone our separate ways, but we were still connected by pinkie fingers as a safety-blanket.
I tilted my head, asking for her response before I said anything to Germay.
She nodded. “Fine, but I want my powers back. And I want Sophia’s returned to her, too.”
“They will be returned to you after the game,” Germay promised, a smile forming on her thin lips.
“And I want you to promise you won’t hurt them,” Chelsea added. “We do this stupid thing and we walk, that’s the deal.”
Germay nodded. “Absolutely.”
Chelsea’s eyes slid to Pike’s, exchanging a mutual look of distaste. We were being played. But with no weapons, and Sophia and Chelsea powerless, we had no choice but to follow along.
At least for now.
ermay and two of her attendants sat Trevor and I at a machine she called the Altern Device. It looked like one of those two-way mirror exhibits the children’s science museums had when I was a kid—only with glass instead of a mirror separating me from Trevor. The clear panel sat perpendicularly to a touch screen table in front of me. On either side was a single seat, one for me and one for Trevor. The whole set-up looked super sci-fi, with glowing screens and lit up displays.
We sat without prompting and looked at each other through the clear glass separator. I had half a mind to start touching the buttons on the screen in front of me. Would one act as a light switch, and if flipped on, would Trevor disappear from sight? The touch screen on the desktop lit up. It was blank, waiting to be given input.
“Please remain still as my assistants calibrate the machine to the two of you,” Germay said.
I opened my mouth to respond when one of her assistants came up next to me and grabbed my head. She attached a square electrode to my right temple before I could react. An electrical current passed into me from it and I cussed something awful and inappropriate as it stung my temple. This was stupid, and that we had no other option until my powers returned made it all that much wo
rse. I didn’t trust Germay or her people. Yet here we were, plugged into a machine with no way out and no weapons to make a stand.
Across the way, Trevor also recoiled from the current. “What the hell was that?”
His eyes locked with mine, but before I could say anything, the screen below me came to life. The faint blue glow from Trevor’s screen highlighted the contours of his cheekbones, the way his laptop screen used to back on SeaSat5. It courted my focus, and soon I was staring, drawn to the allure of Trevor’s face as if I were seeing him for the first time.
My screen brightened even more, snapping me back to reality. I hadn’t studied Trevor so closely, drawn in by every detail of him, in months. Butterflies rushed around my stomach as if I were nothing more than a silly schoolgirl—or like I was back outside the Franklin when he’d saved me. When he became the beacon of light I’d so desperately needed.
The machine beeped and a square with indents and ridges appeared on my touch screen. A puzzle piece.
“It’s a puzzle game?” Trevor and I asked at exactly the same time.
Our eyes met, and the night at the Franklin exploded across my vision in vivid detail. Me, on the phone with Logan, cursing Ray’s name to high heaven and beyond. The call had lost service, and I’d hung up. I’d punched a hole clear into the wall. Dave, who I didn’t know at the time, had attacked me. I had thought he was a mugger, out to steal my phone and cash. Or worse.
Trevor, who’d wandered out the back exit not knowing anything. Trevor, who’d startled Dave and given me the chance to kick him away. Me, launching Dave clear across the alleyway in a manner I wouldn’t have been able to do without my superhuman strength.
Trevor, asking me if I was okay. Trevor, making sure I got back inside the Franklin safely.
Trevor, my light. The man who introduced himself as “Boncore, Trevor Boncore” like he were James Bond. My Mr. Bond.
