Escape

by Gun Brooke

  “Your friends. The two men and the woman you were sitting next to?”

  “Did you see what happened? I can’t remember.”

  “We were close to the junction between cube four and eighteen. You were all running toward the jumper car that was emitting the…was it smoke, by the way?”

  “A kind of smoke, yes. Go on.”

  “They passed over to the car just before the damaged one. You yelled something like ‘There’s not enough time but we have to try,’ and that’s when they stopped. You were all on the floor, pulling at something.” Olion coughed again, his breathing more labored than before. “You were about to move over to their side when the explosion came. Then that tearing sound…” He drew a trembling breath. “It was awful.”

  “What happened then?” Caya wiped at the dust mixed with tears on her cheeks. She could easily picture what he described for her.

  “One of the men shoved you really hard and sent you flying back into the car. I was in the one after yours, and I clung to a seat when, for a moment, I saw you fly straight into space. Damn. We nearly decompressed, but then the walls closed. The emergency seal I read about, no doubt.”

  “Oh, sweet Creator.” Caya was crying again now.” Her friends. Had they been sucked out into space? Had Foy known what he was doing when he pushed her back? Probably. No. Most likely. They had sacrificed themselves. After knowing her for such a brief amount of time, they gave their lives to try to save hers…why? “And then?”

  “I don’t remember anything after that. Where did our jumper cars go? I mean, we’re here, right on the track. Our jumper had seven cars. Three of them were lost behind the bulkhead. Four were left behind here. There might be something left of them behind me. I think I hear faint voices back there.”

  Olion sounded so close now that Caya reached out in front of her and felt for him. Her right hand touched something warm. A shoulder. “That you?” she whispered, her throat hoarse from crying.

  “Yes. I’m glad you’re here, but I wish you weren’t. The beam is sliding along my body now.” Olion spoke with dread flooding his voice. “Get past me on my other side. You might stand a—”

  “Stop it. Remember what I said? I’m going to get you out of here. Preferably with your leg attached.” Caya felt along the young man’s body and found the vibrating beam just above his knees. His lower body was turned sideways under the beam, and his upper body was positioned flat onto his back. What if he had broken his back? She might paralyze him or, worse, kill him, if she miscalculated while trying to move him. “Listen, all right? I think we can use the momentum of the moving beam to our advantage. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the closer it gets to the track, the faster it’s going to move, isn’t it? Like a stronger pull?”

  “Yes,” Olion whispered.

  “And when it moves faster, it won’t pin you down as hard, not until it’s close to the track, at least.” Caya was thinking fast and trying to engage her physical abilities at the same time. If she could at least have a vision of being successful in saving Olion, she wouldn’t hesitate. “All right. You tell me when it reaches just below your hip. I’m going to scoot over to your other side. Once it goes over your hip, which is the highest point of its trajectory toward the track, it will pick up speed and swoosh along the flat area of your stomach and chest. We can’t let that happen. It will eventually hit your chin.” And take his head off.

  Caya didn’t say that out loud. She didn’t have to. Quickly, she crawled on her belly around Olion and felt for his arm on the other side. “Tuck your free arm as close to your body as you can. Stick it into your trouser pockets if you can. That way you’re less likely to get stuck.” Caya refused to tremble as she gripped Olion’s arm and waited for him to tell her where the beam was. If he passed out or she miscalculated, it was all over. She felt with her foot behind her and found plenty of space behind her. The tunnel floor was smoother here than it had been where she woke up earlier.

  “Caya. It’s almost there. It’s shaking much harder.”

  “When it hits your highest point, your hip, remember, yell at me.”

  “I will.” His teeth were clattering.

  Caya gripped his arm harder and braced herself.

  “Now!” Olion’s voice broke as he screamed the word.

  Caya didn’t hesitate. Digging her naked heels against the debris on the tunnel floor, she pulled.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  “Madam President. Your presence is required in the Assembly.” Thea’s first assistant stood by her elbow, handing her a computer tablet.

  “Required, Palinda?” Caya raised a sardonic eyebrow at the word choice.

  “Yes, sir. The Assembly is ready to vote on the new minister of treasury.” Her assistant had stood her ground since Thea’s first day as the Oconodian president, and Thea would expect nothing less of the firm woman. “As you know, Minister Salvat resided on cube eighteen, and her death has been verified.”

  “And this was only moments ago!” Thea winced at how she had just yelled at her assistant. “Or that’s how it feels anyway. Doesn’t Sinthia Salvat get even a hint of mourning or official respect before we give her title to someone else?” Thea knew the rules but still resented the perceived callousness.

  “Madam…” Palinda placed a careful hand on Thea’s arm. “It needs to be done. We cannot afford to leave such a vital position in your administration empty. Here are the three names brought to the Assembly by the EPT, the Election Preparation Team.” She reached passed Thea and tapped the tablet she had just handed her. “There.”

  Glancing at the short list of names, Thea did her best to muster some energy and interest, but she couldn’t think of anything but Caya. “Well then,” she muttered. “Hand me my coat, please. We might as well get this over with, as no life is sacred aboard Pathfinder anymore.”

  Palinda frowned but handed Thea her long coat. As Thea strode toward the part of the government wing of cube one with the black coat billowing behind her, she tapped her private communicator on her right shoulder. “Tylio to Briar Lindemay.”

  A crackling, static noise made Thea fear the communication system was down, but then a breathless voice replied, “Briar here, sir.”

  “Where are you? I hear voices.” The last time Thea had talked to Briar and Adina, they had been on their way to catch their breath in her private quarters. She checked her timepiece. That was more than seven hours ago.

  “I’m back on duty, temporarily transferred to the hospital in cube four, Madam President.”

  Cube four. Thea nearly stumbled but righted herself before it became obvious to her entourage. “I realize you’re sorely needed there and I won’t keep you, Briar. I merely wanted to check in on you and Adina. I have no news of Caya…yet.”

  “Neither have I, and I insist on taking that as a good thing.” Briar spoke curtly. “I would know if my sister was dead. I’m inundated with so many emotions right now, I can’t pinpoint her, but trust me when I say she is alive, Thea.”

  Thea clung to Briar’s words as if they were the only thing keeping her sane at the moment, and most likely that was true. “Thank you,” she murmured. “Tell Adina I checked in, please, when you hear from her.”

  “I will. She gave me Commander Dodgmer and his team to help keep the emergency unit safe, as we’re the first checkpoint near the…the jumper tunnel. Adina figured we needed engineers with security experience.” Briar’s voice caught and she coughed, no doubt to hide her lapse.

  “Good to know. I’ll let you return to your patients. As soon as I learn something, I’ll page you, Briar.”

  “Thank you, sir. Remember. Wherever she is aboard Pathfinder, or even in some obscure part of cube eighteen, she is alive. Briar out.”

  When Thea reached the large doors to the assembly, Palinda pressed the sensor and they walked inside. Forty-eight Oconodians and twelve Gemosians stood and bowed in respect as she took her seat in the chair that eerily resembled a throne, something Thea had always disliked
. Now she could barely focus on the matter at hand, her thoughts teetering on the precipice of a hope that might be entirely futile. She had to learn to trust Briar’s gift as much as she depended on Caya’s.

  The EPT gave their reasons why the Assembly would choose between their list of candidates. Thea listened, but very few words actually registered. As soon as she saw the short list, she knew which candidate would get her vote. Akka Tuvier was a capable national-finance expert who always appeared levelheaded and thoughtful. She was eighty-one but more youthful that most of her younger colleagues in the Assembly. If her health remained stable, she would have ample time to train a younger successor.

  The voting began, and the members of the Assembly all used their tablets and their fingerprint and retina scanners to choose their respective candidate. The results displayed on the main screen above her as soon as the last vote was cast, and Thea was pleased to find that Mrs. Tuvier won with a vast majority.

  Now Thea could focus on the matters at hand that needed her attention. She would soon address the traumatized Gemoconian people—and she had a young woman to find. Before the members of the Assembly returned to their respective cubes, she needed to speak to them as well. It never hurt to lay down the law before the men and women who represented her.

  *

  Caya opened her eyes carefully, as she could still taste the dust in the air. “Olion?”

  “Here,” a husky voice said to her left. “Are you all right?”

  “I am. I think. You?” Caya squinted and managed to make out a sharp profile against the faint light behind Olion.

  “You pulled me away just in time. I can’t believe it.” Olion sounded younger, relieved and on the verge of crying. “My knee hurts like hell though.”

  “No wonder. Let me find something we can use to stabilize it before we start moving.”

  “Moving?”

  “We can’t very well stay here. You need medical attention and I—I want to get ahold of my sister.” Caya stopped herself before she spoke the truth. She had two important things to do when they got out of there, if the rest of Pathfinder was intact. First, she needed to make sure Thea and Briar and her friends were all right. Second, she had to tell Thea how much she loved her. Even if it meant going back into protective custody, being at Thea’s mercy, she needed to tell Thea how she felt before it was too late.

  As she felt for something to use for Olion’s knee, her fears resurfaced, and she once again dreaded that everyone she loved was dead. She beat the thought back by opening her mind to her clairvoyant gift. Nothing appeared, which made Caya wonder if her potential concussions had affected her changer abilities adversely. Not that anyone aboard Pathfinder would believe her if that was the case. Once a changer with the mutated gene, always a changer.

  She felt some debris that had to have fallen off the walls or the ceiling, then lifted the thin beams and ran her fingers along the edges. They were about half a meter long and without sharp edges. “Hey, Olion. I have something here. I can fixate your knee with these using my jacket.”

  “That’ll be great. I’m going to start crying for real if the pain doesn’t ease up soon. I really don’t want that.” His trembling voice made the gallows humor limp a little, but she gave him points for trying.

  “You’ll be fine and so will I.” Caya dragged the thin rods back to Olion. “These are of some other alloy. Not magnetized.” She felt along his leg. “I’m not as good as my sister with this, but she’s a nurse and I’m just a student.”

  “I’m sure you’re a hundred times better than me.” Olion whimpered as she moved his leg a little. “Don’t mind me. I’m not good with pain, but I truly want to get out of here. My mother is bound to go insane with worry. After surviving the Loghian refugee camp, she’s not going to take it well if I mess up when we’re so close to Gemocon.”

  “Can’t say I blame her. I’ll do my best not to get on your mother’s wrong side.” Shaking from sheer fatigue now, Caya placed the beams on either side of Olion’s fractured knee. She tore off her jacket and bit into the hem while yanking at the fabric. The jacket was rather thin, and eventually she was able to tear off four long strips. “Here we go. This may hurt some.” She pushed the first strip under Olion’s knee and pulled it out halfway on the other side. Making a knot, she stabilized the fracture before she repeated the process in three more places. Olion moaned, but she worked as quickly as she could. When she tied the last strip around his thigh, she sat back down on her heels, tore one more strip from her destroyed shirt, and wrapped it around her hair to keep it in a tight bun. This would make crawling and pulling Olion along with her easier.

  Tugging at Olion turned out to be easier than she’d feared. His arms were all right, and he was able to push himself backward toward the source of the light. Soon they both gasped for air and coughed against the dust. Caya lost track of time, and her entire world seemed to consist of crawl-grasp-drag, over and over.

  “Wait, wait. I need to rest,” Olion gasped after what felt like an eternity. “It hurts too much. I can’t afford to faint.”

  “All right. Let’s rest a few moments.” Caya sat down and examined Olion’s impromptu knee orthosis. It seemed to be stable.

  “I think the air feels less dusty.” Olion sniffed it carefully. “Or am I grasping at straws?”

  “No. I think it actually tastes less dusty as well. That can mean one of two things. Either we’re close to a jumper gate, or enough time has gone by for the dust to begin to settle.”

  “I hope for the first.” Olion shifted next to her. “Seems like the tracks aren’t as filled with debris here either.”

  “We’re farther from the explosion, or whatever caused this.”

  “You realize that we’re incredibly lucky, don’t you?” Olion spoke gently, patting her arm. “We’re alive even if the jumper was destroyed to a degree where we couldn’t even detect it at all in the dark.”

  Caya didn’t want to talk about the devastation that took the life of her friends. “I know. It’s painful to even contemplate.”

  “Sure is.” Olion lay down next to the track. “I have to rest some, but don’t let me fall asleep—” He sat up again. “What’s that noise?”

  Caya had already heard it. A low, buzzing noise that approached from where the faint light originated. “I don’t know. I hope it’s not a jumper because I doubt it will fare very well among the debris and broken rail back there.”

  “That’s not what it sounds like,” Olion called out as the sound closed in on them. “The jumpers make this special whistling sound as soon as they leave the gates. This is different.”

  He was right. As Caya stood on her knees, she saw the light grow stronger. “Something’s coming. Not very fast, but it might still hit us. We need to move to the side now!” She pulled at Olion, not caring about his knee at this point, but set on saving his life. He seemed heavier than before, and Caya sobbed in frustration as she gripped him under his arms to maneuver him to lie along the tunnel wall.

  The whirring sound was now so close, the light was blinding them. “Creator of all things, don’t hit him. Please!” Caya called and tossed herself on top of Olion, hearing him cry out as her right leg pressed against the makeshift bandage. She was going to save him as her friends had saved her. Perhaps this was why she had survived the destruction of the jumper cars.

  The whirring noise stopped, and the momentary silence was deafening in a weird way. Caya was still sobbing her words over and over, shaking all over. “Don’t hit him. Save him. Please. Please…”

  “You were right, sir. There was movement up ahead. Actually, whoever it is, they’re still moving.” A male voice broke through Caya’s frantic prayer. “And from where I’m standing, there are at least two of them.”

  “Are they wounded?” Another voice, this one female, called out.

  “I don’t know, sir. I’ll check.” The first voice came closer, and gentle hands touched Caya’s back. “Hello there. We’re here to help. Can
you tell me if you’re hurt?”

  Caya turned her head sideways and tried to look up at the man. “You have to help him. My friend. Olion. Please. He’s hurt.”

  “That’s what we’re here to do.” The man spoke calmly. “What’s your name, ma’am?”

  “Caya. But take care of Olion first. I’m fine. I’m—” She caught herself before her speech was reduced to hysterical babble. “Is Pathfinder still intact?”

  “For the most part,” the man said, sounding a bit evasive. “And we’ll help you first so we can get to your friend. He’s name’s Olion, you said?”

  “Yes.” Caya fell against the man when he helped her get to her feet. Her ankle hurt so badly, she wondered if she had fractured it.

  “Oh, hell.” The man caught her and lifted her easily up in his arms. “Nissandra? Here’s the first of the two. A young girl.”

  “I’m ready for her, Mino.” The woman, Nissandra, was as strong as her male counterpart and placed Caya on what felt like a gurney. The fine dust, even if it was less dense here, still played havoc with her eyesight. “There we go, sweetheart,” the woman said and put a blanket over Caya and strapped her down. “I’m not going to mess with you. I’ll leave that to the people at the emergency clinic.”

  Caya heard Olion cry out, and then he was placed on the other side of what had to be an EVAC jumper.

  “This one has a busted knee,” Mino said. “It’s been stabilized though. Did you do that, Caya?”

  “Yes.” So tired now, she could barely speak, Caya tried to reach Olion to pat him reassuringly. “Where are you taking us?”

  “The local emergency clinic in cube four for you, but I think your friend will need more advanced care. He’ll go to the university hospital in cube eleven.”

  Caya slumped back onto the gurney. She wanted to go to Briar’s hospital, but she could get word to her from cube four. It wasn’t fair to take up an EVAC transport just so she could see her sister. Briar would come to cube four soon enough, and Caya could ask her about Thea. She also needed to know about Miron and Rhosee.