Shadow of the Factorum: The Interview

by K. A. Trent

  “Does it hurt?” I heard Kerra’s voice in my head again. “You know why it hurts, right?”

  “Yes,” I whispered as I ran. She couldn’t hear me. She wasn’t there.

  I am not here.

  I could feel the tears building up again as I ran, as I left everything behind. Donna, Ashley, Carrie, all of them. They were all gone, forever and I was racing toward an uncertain future. What was at the end of this? What was I going to find? Was I going to die? Would that be such a bad thing?

  I am not here.

  I bounded up another duct, climbing through the opening, and then carefully pushing a top vent aside so that I could emerge into a network of small pipes, each one allowing me to climb further up until finally, I emerged onto a ledge leading toward an old fashioned door, one that swung open instead of sliding. Inside a small utility closet, a ladder led me into the ceiling, allowing me to dive into another vent and begin the final stretch.

  “Astra; you don’t get stronger when you succeed, you get stronger when you fail, when you’re torn down, when there’s nothing left, and it’s up to you to put yourself back together.”

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough, Kerra,” I whispered to the walls as I reached the final duct. A quick leap, and suddenly, I was falling downward, as far as far could go with the curve of the duct breaking my fall, slowing me down in places. Faster, and faster, until finally, I blasted through a vent cover, knocking it aside and hearing it clatter across the floor as I slid out, fast, into an open area. I slammed against the floor and slid, using my arm to break my momentum. I finally came to a halt, resting against the floor, catching my breath. Seconds later, Kerra appeared, staring down at me with a smirk across her face.

  “Thirty-four seconds,” She said, placing her hands on her hips. “I told you you could do it.”

  Chapter 32

  “How…how did you know where to find me?” I gasped as she pulled me upright. “How did you know…”

  “There’s only one holding cell in the Luna spaceport,” She explained. “It’s a converted utility closet, and the spaceport is where they would bring you if you failed your hearing. Come on.”

  “So- so that obstacle course, that was-”

  “We don’t have time,” She said, taking me by the arm and pulling me down a hallway, occasionally ducking into low maintenance passages and re-emerging into different spaces altogether. I lost track of where we were going and eventually I stopped trying to keep up mentally. I allowed myself to become lost in the winding corridors, the scenery became a blur. Where could we possibly be going?

  “We’re here,” Kerra told me. She let go of my arm, I breathed a sigh of relief. We stopped moving for a moment, I realized just how tired I was. I leaned forward, placing my hands on my knees, breathing heavily while Kerra stepped away from me and looked around, searching for something.

  “Miss Erth,” A familiar voice shouted. I looked up, two women in black were making their way toward us. Myla and Teegan. Teegan, the Desh from Donna’s shop, Myla, the Desh from the studio. “I’m shocked you’re even here; I still think this is some kind of trap.”

  “No trap,” Kerra placed turned on her heel and walked toward me. She placed her hand on my shoulder and moved me forward. “This is Astra.”

  “Astra,” The woman said, nodding toward me. “So nice to see you again. I trust Kerra’s been treating you well?”

  ‘Yes Ma’am,” My reply was automatic, there was nothing more to say. I wanted to know who these women were, why there were here, and more importantly what Kerra was doing, but again, it wasn’t my place to ask.

  “Astra,” The first woman said. “We’re members of the resistance, and we’re male, like you. We’ve come to help you.”

  “Like...like me?” I was confused. These were women, they looked like women.

  “You think Donna got that good at makeup overnight? You’re not the only male to be pulled out of the Factorum.”

  “You say we as if you’ve always been a part of this,” Teegan growled.

  “Watch it, male,” Kerra put serious emphasis on the male, I could sense the hatred building within her.

  “Your prejudice is still showing,” Myla remarked. She looked and sounded like a woman. There was still hope for me, maybe. “But we don’t have time for this-”

  Myla was quickly cut off as Kerra stepped forward and shoved them back, against the nearby wall, placing her forearm against their neck. There was a click, and the sound of an energy charge as Teegan tore a sidearm from a hidden holster and pressed it against Kerra’s temple. I stared on in horror, helpless and confused.

  “We don’t have time for this,” Myla pushed Kerra’s arm away and regained their composure. “We have a hoverspeeder waiting by entrance 23-FY; it’s covered with a tarpaulin, but they’re going to notice it sooner or later. We can take the eastern path out of the spaceport, there’s a section of wall that’s open and isn’t guarded, but you can bet it will be once they notice she’s missing.”

  “Astra,” Kerra told me. “We’re going to leave the spaceport and head over to Ursla Minor. It’s a smaller spaceport, much smaller, but security isn’t very tight. I’ve secured us a ship-”

  “If you can call it a ship,” Myla shook their head. “That thing is... I can scarcely believe it’s going to make it out of atmo let alone to the warp gate.”

  “We have to make it, no matter what,,” Kerra explained hurriedly. “They were going to ship her offworld or kill her, we knew it was going to happen. We can’t keep her here in Luna. They’ll sweep the entire colony, they’ll find you, they’ll find every single pocket of resistance and that leads back to Donna which in turn leads back to me. No, this ends today. Win or lose, we take her out of here.”

  “Wait,” I interrupted her. “Wait just...why all this for me? Why not just...if I’m putting everyone in danger-”

  “Because,” Teegan told me. “Your mother was an officer in Ereen’s navy, there are genetics that tie you to her. Whatever stories she’s told, you can back her up, you can tell them what’s happening here, and they’ll believe you. You’re more important than we are. There are more important people down in the Factorum, but the difference is, you got out. They walked you out the front door without knowing how important you are. Astra, there are a lot of people down there who want to get home, to their families. It’s about to be up to you...and her.”

  “I hope they execute you,” Myla glared at Kerra. “There’s no excuse for the things you’ve done.”

  “One thing at a time,” Kerra muttered. “Let’s get moving.”

  “Stay between us,” Myla pulled me forward, placing me in the center of the group. Teegan handed Kerra a rifle and we began to move forward. We pushed on, from hallway to hallway, and for the most part, it was quiet, until, I heard it, a voice from the other end of the corridor.

  “Hey!” The voice shouted, and then, a flash, a pulse. The wall beside me erupted, a sear of energy scorching the darkened metal.

  “Get down!” Kerra pulled me forward and tossed me behind a metal box. I fell forward, both of my hands flat against the surface as Teegan took cover beside me. She drew the pistol from its holster, I caught a glimpse of it, the jet black metal, the blue energy cartridge in the upper receiver, the same energy cartridge that the correction rods use. The same. Amidst the muzzle flashes and the shouts, I could almost feel it, I could feel the cold metal placed against my skin, I could feel the electrical impulses flowing through my body amidst the laughter of the overseers.

  “This one likes to climb,” One of them had laughed as she’d placed the rod against my neck and discharged it. I’d screamed, my body had arced. My jaw had felt as if it had beep punched over, and over. “We could cut its tendons, keep it where it belongs.”

  The boot pressed into my stomach, I cried. I’d choked, my eyes had watered. The rod hit me again, this time against my chest. I tried to scream but there was no voice to be had. I witnessed the bile spewing from my l
ips as I dry heaved and my body jerked reflexively, my vision dimmed.

  “Aww, does the little male need a nap? Let me wake you up!”

  Another hit, this one in my groin area, I screamed and tried to bring my body upward, trying to lay on my side, trying to assume the fetal position. Trying to disappear.

  “Astra, Astra, wake up, what are you doing?” Kerra was smacking my cheek lightly with the palm of her hand. I came back to reality, became aware of her pulling me upright. Myla took my other shoulder, and together they began to drag me toward a nearby door while Teegan continue to fire off shots. I could hear more bootsteps down the hall, more shouts. Overhead I could see red lights flashing, a harsh siren blaring.

  “We don’t have time!” Teegan screamed; I wasn’t sure what they were screaming about. “Through the vent, come on!”

  I saw Kerra’s foot shoot forward, I heard the vent cover clattering against the floor. I watched watched drowsily as we moved from the open area to the confined vent lined with red strip lights between each separated section.

  “Astra, crawl, you can’t be dead weight,” Kerra pushed me along. It took all of my will to put one hand in front of the other and follow Myla through the duct.

  “There, I see daylight!” Myla could see it. I couldn’t.

  “Move fast,” I heard Kerra say. “You left your speeder outside the wall, anyone with a brain in their head knows where this vent goes. We don’t have much time.”

  “They read a schematic,” Teegan shouted forward to us. “That doesn’t mean they have a brain in their heads!”

  “Move, move move!”

  A few dozen more feet, another grate smashed, we tumbled from the vent and slid about ten feet down an angled wall. Kerra grabbed me by the shoulder to keep me from slamming into the dirt and held me upright. We stood on a small stretch of dirt, a massive plain of grass stretching out in every direction in front of us.

  “Don’t walk on the grass, Astra,” Kerra warned me as she took my hand.

  “What?” I looked at her in horror. “Why would I walk on the grass?!”

  “Right,” she rolled her eyes. “I forgot that you read books.”

  The speeder was already near us, it hovered maybe ten inches above the ground, bobbing in place, but moving only slightly. Behind us, above the wall, I could hear nothing. Looking back, I gasped at just how high it was. Ereen was a massive walled city, and from reading the books Kerra had given me, I knew that there were only a few entrances and exits. Some connected to other colonies via the massive expressway, others were accessible only via ship. We were at one of the few ‘exits’ where you could simply walk out, and it wasn’t truly an exit.

  “Come on,” Tegan joined Kerra in pulling me toward the speeder. Just as we reached it, I heard the sound of metal on metal, we all turned and witnessed the sight of three doors, large enough for speeders to pass through.

  “What...what is that?” I gasped.

  “Thought you knew everything,” Kerra grabbed me under the arms and tossed me into the back of the speeder while she climbed in beside me and Teegan took the driver’s seat. “Let’s go!”

  The speeder hummed and rose an additional foot off the dirt, the turf below us undisturbed by the repulsors. I squeezed Kerra’s hand but she shook free and glanced at me for a moment just before she took up her rifle and took up a kneeling position, facing the back of the speeder as the craft blasted across the field. I gasped as the wall that had overshadowed us moments ago suddenly became a figure in the distance. We were moving fast, very fast. There was nothing to grab onto, I turned and looked behind us, watching in horror as the horizon just before the wall became dotted with speeders, like ours, some flying slightly higher, all of them much better equipped. They had closed cockpits and what looked like mounted guns.

  “We’re not going to be able to avoid that,” Teegan commented.

  “Nope!” Kerra agreed, “Astra, get down.”

  As per usual, the moment she asked me, I was shoved down into the seat rather than her allowing me to actually carry out the action on my own.

  “It’s on the floor!” Teegan shouted from the driver’s seat, the wind obscuring their words as we raced along. I squinted as my bare eyes took in the silvery sky of Ereen, and turned my head, trying to hide myself from the world, seeing the massive speeders begin to overtake us. Kerra reached beside me and grabbed a cylindrical object; I noted the brown rifle handle, the handgrip on the barrel. What was it?

  “I’m off!” She shouted, pulling the trigger. There was no charging whine that I had come to associate with the pulse rifle, and no loud crack from a projectile. Instead it was more of a thump, and suddenly, she was lifted from the seat beside me, torn away with the rope of a grappling hook. I opened my eyes, struggling to see her, trying to catch at least a glimpse but the world moved by too quickly. She was gone, I was alone.

  “Stay down, Astra!” Myla warned me. “If you die there’s no point to any of this!”

  Behind us I heard an explosion, loud enough to shake the speeder. I could feel Teegan trying to keep us on-course as the craft shook from side to side.

  “Holy shit!” I heard Teegan remark. I wanted to look, I wanted to see, but my entire world consisted of the back seat. Slowly and carefully I lifted my head, tiny fingers wrapping around the top of the seat as I poked my eyes out. Just before I could catch a glimpse, Kerra was beside me again, pushing me back down, out of sight and out of mind.

  “I said stay down!” she shouted at me. “Teegan, it’s up ahead!”

  “I can see it!” Teegan shouted back. “It’s not going to matter if-”

  “Bank, bank, bank!” Myla screamed. “Bank right!”

  Immediately, the speeder tilted to the right, the engines screaming behind us as I tumbled downward. I grabbed aimlessly at the seat, then at the floor, then at the sides of the speeder; I was going down, down toward the grass. My stomach lurched, my eyes widened, I felt my jaw clenching. A few more feet and- and- I was stopped just short of passing the edge of the speeder; Kerra’s fingers wrapped around my hand, pulling tight and lifting me into the air. I turned my head and saw her, hair blowing in the wind, her stance wide as the soles of her shoes gripped the metal floor of the speeder. Her other hand grabbed the lip and she looked to be slipping.

  “Level it out!” she shouted toward Teegan as the projectile whizzed past us, just inches from my face. Teegan whipped the controls and allowed the speeder to level out just as a stream of tracer bullets shot past us, sweeping in an arc overhead. I must have screamed because Kerra clamped a hand over my mouth before shoving me back into the seat. She practically knelt on top of me, aiming the pulse rifle off the back of the craft and firing off round after round.

  “Target the guns!” Myla shouted helpfully.

  “What else do you think I’d be targeting?” Kerra demanded, her tone dry yet dripping with sarcasm. Her sentence was cut off mid-way by an explosion, then a blazing heat erupting next to me. Kerra once again dug her fingers into my shoulder and dragged me to the right, away from the building flames, Teegan and Myla cursing in the background.

  “Right side repulser losing power!” Teegan reported. “Someone get back there and fix it!”

  “Stay down,” Kerra ordered me. I obeyed and felt Myla climbing over me as she made her way toward the wing.

  “Seventy percent power!” Teegan called back.

  “I’ve got it!” Myla confirmed. I heard the sound of spraying; fire retardant. The heat vanished, followed by the clanking of tools, the hiss of a plasma torch.

  “Forty percent - damn that’s fast!”

  The speeder began to list; I could feel the wing inching closer and closer to the grass; there was no leeway, no grace period, even I knew what would happen if it managed to come into contact.

  “This way!” Kerra tugged me toward the other side of the speeder; I thought about telling her I knew how to move myself, but I kept my mouth shut.

  “Uh, troop carrier!” My
la pointed out from her position on the wing.

  “Are...you...freaking...serious?!” I heard Kerra shout as she brought her rifle to bear again.

  “I don’t know, but they sure are!” Teegan reported.

  “Get it fixed!” Kerra urged her over the wavering hum of the engine. “We’re about to become salad!”

  As soon as the worst left her mouth, I witnessed her scream and fall into the seat beside me. I quickly scrambled upright, just in time to notice the unfamiliar figure towering over the both of us. A black uniform silhouetted against the silver sky of Ereen, a helmeted face, eyes peering at me from somewhere beyond the horizon of a black visor. In its right hand it held an energy pistol much like the one I’d seen Myla use earlier; its left hand reached for me. I scrambled backward but there was nowhere to go, the black gloved hand wrapped five fingers around my arm; I cried out in fear as I was unceremoniously torn from my hiding space between the seat and the floor. Before I was completely removed, Kerra stepped forward, planting a fist firmly in the face of my would-be abductor. The grip loosened and I tumbled downward, onto the back of the speeder, my hands searching frantically for something to grip.

  A second set of boots dropped onto the back of the speeder as I slid backward toward the grass, toward my certain demise. Another pair of gloved hands grabbed me, this time moving me back toward the edge. I screamed and flailed my arms, unable to reach my abductor. It wasn’t the first time I’d been in a position like this; abductions and assaults were common in the Factorum between the guards and other prisoners, but I had something to lose; I had Kerra, I had Donna, I had so many things. All of it was about to be lost in a single slip, and I was afraid. I was gripping the air, I was swinging against an invisible enemy, I was clawing at the arms wrapped about my chest. Then Kerra was there, the pulse rifle came to bear in a flash, it connected with the masked face of my abductor. A high-pitched whine, a burst of light, and suddenly the arms were unwrapped from my torso. I stumbled backward following their momentum and was barely rescued as Kerra snatched me by the arm. I swung around, catching a glimpse of the falling body as it collided with the grass; I saw it tear, rip under the force of the razor sharp blades. Arms detached and rolled, a spray of red mist permeated the air briefly before finally, the black figure came to rest. I felt my stomach lurch. Kerra tossed me back into the seat where I cowered with my hands gripping the edge, my eyes barely looking out and over.