by M. Van
“Are the both of you okay?” Harp asked, sounding concerned.
“Fine,” I replied for both of us.
“You’re at the ArtRep Tribes Center,” Kyran exclaimed. The line fell silent for a moment, and I imagined the look Harp must have given Kyran to clamp his mouth shut.
“Plan?” Harp asked.
“We figured we might get you that information after all,” Saera said.
“Does this mean you have changed your mind about Sulos?” Harp said sharply. Saera cleared her throat before pulling a face that made me wonder if what she was about to say would be sincere.
“Maecy and I had a talk, and she convinced me of the bigger picture,” she said. “We need that intel and, with it, to find a way to disable the bombs stuck in our people’s heads.”
Because with the heads-up she wouldn’t be able to read the shock on my face, I poked a finger into her chest and lifted my hands and shoulders in a what-the-hell gesture. I didn’t even know most of the bigger picture, so how was I supposed to convince her of it?
Saera shook her head dismissively and pressed a finger to her lips. I dropped my arms in dismay and waited for Harp’s reply. It took a while as if he needed to think it over, but then he said, “On what tower are they exactly?”
Saera perked up and grin formed on her face. Then she planted a fist against my shoulder. The gesture was meant to be playful, but as soon as her fist connected with my suit, she pulled her hand back, waving it in pain, and held it to her chest.
“What the hell is that thing made of,” she said in a whisper as if the guys on the other side wouldn’t hear us.
“We’re on the one in the middle,” I said in answer to Harp’s question.
“All right,” Harp’s harsh voice said as he came back over the coms. “We need to develop a plan, and it might take a while. In the meantime, you wait there.”
“So, what…you think this is a good idea now?” I asked, ignoring Saera as she glared at me wide-eyed.
“Tyrel will explain,” Harp said before he fell silent.
“Great,” Saera muttered and sank to the ground with her back against the fence.
“Eh…Ms. Lux?” Tyrel’s voice chimed in my head.
“Yeah,” Saera and I replied in synchronized voices.
“Oh…eh…I mean—” Tyrel started to say until Saera cut her off.
“Why don’t you start calling us by our first names like you’ve always done. Might be less confusing,” she said. “I think Maecy can handle it.”
“Okay,” Tyrel replied hesitantly. “Ms.…I mean Maece, could you run a scan of the main building?”
“Sure,” I said and pointed my heads-up in the direction of the building as I moved to stand next to Saera where she sat on the ground. With all the light bouncing off the windows, the building looked almost white by the green overlaying my vision.
“What’s your first name?” I asked Tyrel as letters scrolled across my screen.
“Just Tyrel,” she said, “or Ty.”
“Okay, Ty. Is that your first or last name?” I asked. The words had barely left my mouth when I felt a tap on my leg. As I glanced down to face Saera, she wore this wan expression and slightly shook her head.
“Maece. The scan,” Tyrel said.
“Right, sorry.”
As my gaze shifted back to the building, the line fell silent. I figured there to be a story behind Tyrel’s one name and apparently a personal one, although Saera seemed to know the details.
I had almost finished my pass of the building and listened to Tyrel’s fingers tap on the smooth surface of her workstation as the young woman’s hesitant voice came over the coms.
“I don’t remember it,” she said. “We, uh…fled from one of the Tenebrae power plants when I was six, and my mom didn’t survive the trip. I was raised inside the Subterran foster system, but never stuck around long enough to share a name with anyone, so…”
I sighed heavily, not sure what to say when she added, “There, I’m done.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, but it came out as a sort of afterthought that didn’t do her past justice. “I mean…” My voice faded, but it seemed Tyrel wasn’t looking for sympathy.
She said, “That was a long time ago, and I made it. Others haven’t been that lucky and are still stuck at those plants.”
From the expression on Saera’s face, I could tell she had also recognized the determination in Tyrel’s voice.
“Was that what the intel was about?” Saera asked.
Tyrel confirmed the question and then said, “The plants are producing a lot more power than is necessary to sustain the cities. They are running at a hundred and twenty percent constantly, and they have been for years. Those plants were never built for that kind of production schedule, and the effort needed by the people is horrendous—they are dying down there.” Her voice broke on the last sentence.
“What!” Saera exclaimed as she sat up straighter. “That isn’t possible. We would have known if that were happening. The Subterra government would have intervened.”
“It’s true,” I said as I turned to sit next to Saera. I had seen some of the intel before I broke the connection and had run after Saera. The images of men, women, and children forced to hard labor had remained fresh in my memories.
“How did this happen without us knowing about it?” she asked. Saera shook her head in dismay as if what Tyrel had said couldn’t be possible. Shock and disbelief radiated from her face, and I placed a hand on her shoulder as a moment of silence fell over us.
I had some previous knowledge of the power plants. There were four of them within the Combined Districts of Tenebrae. All four were remnants of what we had lost, conquered by Tenebrae during the war. After the war ended, both sides had come to an agreement to leave the four plants under the management of Tenebrae. This so-called peace agreement had forced Subterra to relinquish these major underground power suppliers along with all its workers.
Subterra already controlled the main food resources, and the districts wanted something substantial to even the odds. A deal was made that had left thousands of Subterrans stranded within the new Tenebrae borders. The way the information sat configured in my mind, I would have assumed that those power plants were run and worked by the same people as the cities above. Although not perfect, the people living aboveground were treated with at least some form of dignity. As an enforcer, I never had any reason or memories to doubt that this would be different for the people living underground.
“What are they doing with the power?” I asked.
Saera’s head perked up, and her mouth opened, but she waited for Tyrel’s answer.
“We don’t know,” she replied. “That’s why Harp has decided to go with your plan and break into ArtRep to find out.”
“Oh,” I said.
A crack sounded over the line as if the transmission was interrupted, but Tyrel’s voice came back a second later.
“Kyran’s calling,” she said. “I’m breaking the connection. Contact you later.”
The line disconnected, but it didn’t silence the noise in my head. There were too many unanswered questions. Answers to questions that felt as if they were on the edges of my memories, trying to bleed through, but unable to penetrate my thoughts. Frustrated, I removed the heads-up and let my head fall back against the fence. I dropped the device in my lap and pinched the bridge of my nose.
“You okay?” Saera asked.
I nodded without turning to her. “Too much information to process,” I added.
Saera snorted a laugh. “You should have plenty of space up there,” she said. Somehow, I recognized the attempt at a joke in her words, but it didn’t resonate. From the corners of my eye, I squinted at her.
“Too much?” she asked, sounding innocent.
I just tilted my head back and groaned.
Harp had left us hanging for several hours now, and meanwhile, the planet had started to turn its back on the sun. A blood-red sky bled from the horizon up in
to the semidarkness. The city had taken on its usual colorful facade of brightly lit buildings, and I had to admit that it made the city easy on the eyes. It didn’t stop the thoughts from running wild inside my head.
“Whose teddy bear did Kyran stick in my head?” I asked. The image of that grimy bear, with its squashed nose and beady eyes, kept popping up in my mind. Boredom had left me with nothing else to do except sifting through the few memories I did have. Saera didn’t reply, and I glanced at her, wondering if she had fallen asleep, but her eyes were open.
I had a feeling that I might snap at her if she intended to shut me down again with her little speech about why it was important to her not to share my background, even though I had promised to refrain from asking too many questions. To my surprise, she said, “Mine.”
I drew out the silence after her admission, hoping it would prompt her to explain. “Then yours after you coerced me into giving it to you.”
Chuckling, I pulled a leg up to my chest to prod an arm up on it and shifted to face her.
“I doubt I’d be able to coerce you into anything.”
“Well, you did back then,” she said with a tiny smirk, “exactly four hours and six minutes after you came to live with us.”
“Us…,” I said hesitantly. “With you and Harp, you mean.”
Saera grunted as if I had said something preposterous, but then gave me long sideways glance as if thinking whether to continue. It seemed obvious that her refusing to share was a form of protection, but I wondered if it was herself or me she wanted to protect. She finally blinked and snapped out of it. Then she shifted on her butt to face me, crossed her legs, and sighed with exaggeration.
“We kinda stuck together after our parents died,” she said, “and no, not our…ours, but first yours and later mine—we lived in the same building.”
“How’d they die?” I asked.
“Same as mine—work mishap in one of the power plants.”
Frowning, I stared at her.
“Surprise,” she said with an insincere, broad smile, “we’re Tenebrae power plant brats.” It dawned on me that Saera and I had a similar background to Tyrel’s. Like her, we also must have fled the power plants located in Tenebrae occupied territory.
Saera opened her mouth to say something else as a green light on my heads-up started to blink. I picked up the device but hesitated to put it on. I locked eyes with Saera and regretted the interruption. Even if there might still be a way to reverse this amnesia thing by removing the device in the back of my head, I felt a need to know things now.
“Finally,” Saera said as I placed the device on my head. A moment later Harp’s voice came over the coms.
“We’ve determined your entry point, and where to go from there,” Harp said. “Your little stunt has most of the enforcers roaming the city in search for two female saboteurs, and most of the building’s security guards are guarding the lower levels of the building.”
A bunch of data scrolled down my screen, including a scheme of the building itself. I glanced at Saera, who looked anxious as she listened intently to what Harp had to say. “You’ll need to get into Sulos’s office which is on the top floor. From there Kyran and Tyrel will guide you through the process of getting the intel,” he added.
“Jeez, Harp,” I said trying to relieve some of the tension, “that was at least three sentences.”
Saera’s lips straightened into a thin line, but I noticed the tiniest of twitches, which could have been mistaken for a smile. “Come on,” I said after Harp’s lack to reply. I got to my feet and then held a hand out to Saera. “Let’s get this over with.”
Chapter seventeen
Maece
Slowly, we walked across the glass overpass that bridged between the second and third building. The sight of Saera’s face going even paler than I would have thought possible made me decide to stick close to her. I felt the slightest tug on my belt as she held on to it while I guided us across the glass panels.
“You didn’t seem to have this much trouble with heights before,” I said, trying to keep a conversation going, although it occurred to me this probably wasn’t the best topic to keep her mind off the five-hundred-foot drop below our boots.
“This is not fear of heights,” she replied. “This is fear of insanity, and I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Then what do you want to talk about?”
“Nothing,” she said adamantly. Silence followed as we neared the building, and I looked up. This building was taller than the one we had left behind us, with three added stories on top of it. This didn’t enable us to climb the fence as we had with the other building.
“Almost there,” I said, hoping to sound reassuring. Saera clung to my belt as I sensed her stopping. I turned to face her, which forced her to release my belt.
“Whaah,” she yelped and grabbed my arms.
“Hey, hey…look at me,” I said as I placed my hands on her shoulders. Her eyes turned to face me, but she didn’t seem to find the comfort she needed from staring at the reflection of her own fear. I lifted the heads-up up on my head and tried again. “We’re gonna do this together, okay.”
She cleared her throat and nodded. Keeping my movement to a minimum, I unhooked a clasp from my belt and uncoiled about seven feet of cable. I looped the cable around Saera’s waist, fastened it, and then hooked it onto my belt, all the while keeping my eyes on her.
When we first started our trek across the city, using the buildings to keep us from being spotted by the enforcers, Saera didn’t seem that troubled by heights. It must have happened when she was forced to jump from the entertainment-center building.
I had jumped the gap with the aid of my suit, but Saera wasn’t able to make the distance. After her jump, I was supposed to steady her rope, but I fumbled it, and she fell several feet before I regained my grip. Fortunately, none of the visitors enjoying an afternoon of virtual reality features had heard her screams. The incident had her pretty shaken up, though, and it seemed to last.
Her glance followed mine as I scanned the smooth surface of the building. At least the surface appeared to be smooth, but I was glad to see the shield brokers jutting out. The square shaped metal blocks were evenly positioned all over the sides of the building and acted as fuses for when the building’s individual shields went up.
The dome protecting the city was old, and many of the privileged folks living around here had lost their faith in its reliability—so they made sure that the buildings they lived in had shield backups. If indeed the shield failed, an underground Hymag line would be able to bring the residents to safety deep underground. The government provided certain individuals or groups with these kinds of redundant systems. Most of them lived around these parts—near the ArtRep building and government facilities. Fortunately for us, along with the ventilation grids, these shield brokers would work as a foothold.
“Chester,” Saera suddenly said.
I turned to her and asked, “Who?”
“The bear,” she added as her wild-eyed gaze caught mine. “That’s the bear’s name.”
I grinned and tugged on the rope. The force of my pull made her take a step forward.
“Come on. You can do this,” I said and stepped up to the wall to find my first handhold.
As I climbed, I kept glancing down and held a diligent eye on Saera, who seemed to have turned to talking to keep her nerves in check. She took her time, placing each foot with care on one of the fuses and calculating every step. As she did, she talked.
“Chester was this kid that lived on our block,” she said, “just a few floors down.”
“I named a bear after a kid I knew?” I asked.
“No,” Saera said exasperated, “it was my bear, remember.”
“Oh yeah, and I coerced him from you,” I said. “Tell me—how did I do that as I was what four…five years old?” Looking up, I saw we had almost reached the top. After that, we needed to climb the fence, but then we’d be safe—well…saf
er.
I found another foothold and steadied myself as I felt a sudden hand grab my calf. I froze, afraid to move until Saera found something else to grip. With my heads-up, I noticed her elevated heart rate and heavy breathing.
“How did you know that?” she asked.
“Know what?”
“That you were four or five.”
I glanced down at her, not sure how to answer, and decided on, “You told me.”
Saera shook her head, and with my heads-up, I could clearly see her eyes had gone wide, but her fear pheromones had decreased. She had told me, hadn’t she?
“So how did I do it?” I asked, ignoring her reaction. I hoped to keep up the distraction.
“You were staying with me and my mom one night when your parents and my dad were at work at the plant,” she said. “There…there was an explosion, and they never came home.”
I blew out a breath as I released the last fuse and grabbed hold of the first bar that would lead us up and over the fence. This wasn’t the story I had hoped for, and it didn’t make for a good distraction. Finding out both of my parents had died on the same day as Saera’s dad probably should have hit me harder than it did, but then I didn’t remember my parents.
Saera, on the other hand, did, and it must have been hard for her to revisit those memories. I hated to be the one to bring that pain to the surface, and I considered changing the subject but didn’t know how, and for some reason, the fragmented memory of that bear seemed important. It was the only thing I had that represented something of the person I used to be. Besides, I had finally managed to get Saera to talk, and I wasn’t about to shut her down.
“That must have been hard on you and your mom,” I said.
Saera grunted something after reaching for another fuse, and she stuck her foot into the next ventilation hole.
“It wasn’t easy,” she added between her labored breaths. “Mom was suddenly on her own with three mouths to fill.”
“I stayed with you after that?”
