by Natalie Reid
“Is that some comment about missed opportunities?” he asked, carrying on with her drunken conversation.
“I’m gonna be honest with you, I have no idea what I’m talking about.”
Aaron leaned his head in a little closer to hers. She could smell the alcohol on her breath as it hit his skin and reflected back to her.
“Ironically enough,” he breathed out, “I do.”
His intense eyes held hers, before his gaze dipped down to her lips. And then three years of complications, of reasons and difficult barriers built up by fear were erased like crumbling sand. There was just an inch of space now. And it was easy to cross. Before her mind could pick up on the signs, he pressed his lips to hers in a firm kiss.
Jessie closed her eyes, only aware that there was a flood of emotions spinning through her, and that Aaron’s kiss just made everything stand still. But then she felt her door open behind her, and he was guiding her in. Through the haze in her mind, something was nagging her, kicking her with a dull boot, telling her she forgot something, whispering in her ear over and over but she couldn’t think straight to remember what it was. It was like the day she evolved, and her hand kept reaching up to her neck in dissatisfaction, knowing that something was missing.
Then Aaron’s hand wove its way through her hair, and suddenly it acted like an electric shock through her brain. She saw a set of long slender fingers buried in light brown hair, nervous energy making them twitch, and the cocked head of a young man with wide-rimmed glasses.
Hey virgin, Tag’s looking for you.
Finally Jessie’s head cleared enough so she could tell her arms to push Aaron away. When he felt pressure against his chest, he broke away from her and did not try to reconnect.
“I feel sick,” she told him.
“Way to flatter a guy.”
It was dark, but she could see the embarrassment flush across his face as he smiled self-consciously and rubbed at the back of his neck.
She shook her head and hurried over to her bathroom. “I don’t drink.”
“Are you okay?” he asked from the other room.
The concern that echoed through his voice made her relax a little. Then she threw up in her toilet and realized that her head was splitting in pain and her mouth was intensely dry.
“You can go now,” she said awkwardly, not even knowing if he was still there or not.
She heard the gentle voice of the young pilot bid her a goodnight before the creak of her door opened and closed, leaving her alone.
In the quiet, dark bathroom, she felt far from drunk. She was now acutely aware of how much her body hurt from dehydration, and how awkward her situation with Aaron had just become.
Reaching for the shower to her right, she turned the water on and crawled inside. She closed her eyes and rested her head under the steady stream of liquid. Her mouth opened slightly in an exhausted effort to catch whatever water decided to spill inside.
Chapter 15
Drink, Pivot, Thirst
The pounding in Jessie’s head could not keep out the sound of the incessant knocking for long. Her eyes opened in pain, and she looked around her. Luckily it was still dark outside so that the morning light did not stream through her window in harsh pinpricks. However, what little light the four o’clock hour had to give was still hurting her eyes.
The knocking grew more angered at her door. She drew her legs from the bed and was about to walk to her closet to slip into her uniform, when she realized that she had slept with it on. It was slightly damp from her drunken shower, but it was still presentable.
She placed a hand to her forehead and forced herself to walk over to her door. When she opened it and found Carver standing there, looking mad about something, she immediately stood up straight. Her head instantly cleared and her body felt as rigid as a board. This was the first time she had seen him since…
She forced herself not to think of that.
“You’ve received a message,” Carver said, as if that fact should upset her as much as it seemed to upset him.
She blinked up at him in confusion. She didn’t have a tablet like everyone else, but if someone had a message to give her, they usually just came up to her and told her.
“Sorry?” she asked, hoping he would clarify.
He turned sharply, saying, “Come with me.”
She poked her head out in the hallway and watched him walking away. He was headed towards the hangars instead of the offices. If someone had a message, she would have thought to receive it in Carver’s office.
Closing the door behind her, she hurried to catch up with him.
“What’s this all about?” she asked. “And why are we going to the hangars?”
Normally she wouldn’t have dared ask him so many questions, but after finding out who he really was, she felt she deserved at least this much.
“From what I understand, the situation is urgent.”
They whipped around a corner and had to avoid crashing into a soldier going the other direction. Jessie shot her an apologetic glance before turning back to Carver.
“It’s your friend Ual,” he told her. He kept his eyes straight ahead as he spoke. “A man from Task Force called, saying that Ual requested your presence right away.”
Jessie’s heart fell to her stomach and acid rose in her chest. “Is he alright?” she asked.
“I don’t know but…” They turned another corner. The hangar was in front of them, and a transport ship looked primed and ready to take off. Carver had to speak a little louder over the rumble of the engine as he said, “The man I spoke with just said that Ual was in a bad way.”
Jessie picked up her pace, practically sprinting into the opening doors of the transport ship. Much to her surprise, she turned around to see that Carver was getting on with her. Once he was on, he gave the signal to the pilot, and they took off without a moment’s hesitation.
Carver took a seat by the door, but Jessie couldn’t sit still. She began pacing up and down the short aisles of the ship, running a hand through her hair to try and get rid of her frantic energy. Though she was concerned for Ual, something else broke through her fear and messed with her mind so she couldn’t even think straight.
She was thirsty. So thirsty. She needed to find some water otherwise she didn’t know how she would be able to handle this.
Looking over to the back aisle of the ship, she saw a water bottle squished down in between two of the seats. It was un-opened and bore the BLES crest on the outside. It was almost as if Tag had left it there on his way out, knowing that she would eventually need it.
She rushed over to it and couldn’t get the top open fast enough. Then she pressed the bottle to her lips and let the liquid flow down her throat in hungry gulps. She didn’t stop until there was nothing left. The bottle fell from her hands when she was done, and she gasped for breath. Her chest heaved up and down, and she placed a hand to her forehead. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Carver glancing over at her, but she was too worried for Ual to care what her Lieutenant thought about her.
During the ride over, the transport ship never seemed to have moved so fast, yet still travel so slow. They passed the landing port at the edge of the city where it normally stopped, and kept going towards the western portion of the city where Ual and most of the high-level government workers lived. Normally a military ship would never be allowed to fly over the city like this, but Jessie figured that, either they were throwing caution to the wind, or the government had already cleared it. Either way, something fishy was going on.
When the ship finally landed, the doors opened to reveal a wide, well paved street with large houses on either side. The street was serenely quiet and dark except for several dots of man-made light up ahead. The light came from three Task Force bikes, which were parked in front of a house that she assumed was Ual’s. Two men stood outside the door to the house, leaving the third man un-accounted for.
Jessie didn’t wait for Carver as she ran out of
the ship and over to the front lawn of the house. She ran so quickly that she had to remember to stop once she reached the two Task Force agents. It would have been so easy just to have pivoted over them and kept going straight into the house, but she knew that she didn’t have the luxury of angering the government right now.
“Tell me what’s happening,” she asked one of the men in gray uniform.
The man didn’t answer her, but instead turned his head to the side and placed a hand to his ear, saying, “Sergeant, she’s here.”
As she waited for this man’s sergeant to give her clearance to pass, she looked over to the side of the house. This was where the third bike had been parked. It leaned on the outer wall with its lights spilling up the steps that led to the front door. Its owner must have jumped right off the bike when he arrived, for the keys were still in the ignition.
The front doors of the house opened, and a moment later a man came out and walked down the stairs towards them. It didn’t take her long to recognize the man as Ritter. He seemed to be behind everything that went on in the city.
“Follow me,” he ordered.
“What do you want with her?” Carver asked from behind.
She did not allow the two men time for conversation as she pushed past the agents and started unwaveringly towards the house.
“You might want to brace yourself,” Ritter commented as he jogged up the steps behind her. “You probably won’t like what you find in there.”
She ignored his comment and feverishly pushed through the front doors. She looked around the living room but couldn’t see anyone.
“Where is he?” she breathed out.
“He’s in his study. But I have to warn you, he’s in a state. When I tried to get near him, he threatened to kill himself. That’s why I sent for you. He says you’re the only one he’ll let through.”
Jessie gulped down the tight knot of fear in her throat and asked Ritter to lead her to him. When she rounded a corner of the house and entered into a hallway, she could see an open door waiting for her at the end. The door was open wide enough so that she could see Ual sitting in a chair.
“Owl!” she cried out.
She ran down the hall and was inside the room in less than a second. Ual did not move or make any indication that he knew she was there.
“Owl?” she whispered out in growing dread, wondering if she was already too late.
Ual’s eyes were closed shut, but he did not seem to be asleep. His face was strangely taught, and his shoulders were quivering. Jessie followed the movement of his shoulders down to his hands. They were gripped at his stomach and were trembling in pain.
She whispered his name again and reached out to take his hand. When she did, she felt the cold, slick touch of moisture. She wanted to scream out, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t lose her composure. Ual was not dead yet. If she remained calm, she could save him.
“He’s still alive!” she called out. “We have to get him to BLES.”
Turning around, she saw Ritter standing in the doorway, blocking her exit. His eyes went to Ual’s stomach, and then over to her right hand stained in his blood.
“Quick! Help me get him out!” she urged.
Ritter tweaked his mouth in thought and slowly shook his head. “I’m afraid you’ve got bigger problems Jessie.”
She stopped bending over Ual to stand up and face Ritter directly.
“You know, when I saw you in that shop,” he started, “I wondered who in the world you were getting that cage for. It bugged me so much that I decided to find out. It didn’t take long to realize that you were sneaking into the tenth floor of the Desolar Complex.”
Jessie’s hands shook and clenched into fists as she listened, but she forced herself to remain quiet.
“Then I hit a block,” he continued, “because there are no cameras in there. But…” He stopped to let a smile crack open his face, like a breaking, rotten egg. “There was only one Potentian housed on that floor anyway. I thought you might like to know, he’s set to be terminated this morning.”
Jessie felt her heart drop to the deepest part of her stomach. She imagined acid eating up the soft tissue of her heart, and even wondered how long it would take for the vessels to stop working and pumping blood to the rest of her body. But while her mind was consumed by this sharp and sour dread, her legs rose above it and sprang into action. She darted past Ritter in the doorway, barely shoving him to the side as she flew past him. And then she was out of the house and leaping onto Ritter’s bike.
The consequences for stealing a Task Force agent’s bike were far from her mind as she started the engine and peeled out across the lawn. She was only vaguely aware that Carver was calling out to her, and that the other two agents had started on their bikes after her.
Aero City zoomed past her in a flurried frenzy. The two men behind her lasted only several blocks before losing her completely. She pushed her bike harder and faster than they could. She was used to piloting a plane that could run five times faster, so her mind reacted quicker than theirs could.
Still, despite her immense speed, she did not feel like she was going fast enough. She almost felt as if she might move faster if she was on foot. Only logic kept her from discarding the bike, telling her that it was just an irrational feeling that resulted from the stationary position of her legs. By the time she got to BLES, she had come to terms with the fact that she moved much faster on the hover bike than on foot, that she decided not to part with it yet.
She came to the front entrance and pulled out the cylinder key that she kept around her neck at all times. The doors immediately opened, not knowing that they had just emitted a speeding hover bike in through its main lobby.
It was still early in the morning, so early that the sun had not come up yet. But there were enough people walking around the main hallways of BLES that a few yelps and cries of surprise were released when Jessie tore through the lobby on the bike. She circled around the base of The Eye before coming face to face with the bottom entrance of The Desolar Complex.
She pushed the front of the bike right through its doors, sped down the first hallway, and came out the other side. A scientist was just exiting one of the rooms as she went zooming by, and he had do dive back in to avoid being hit.
When Jessie reached the end of the hall, she turned and rode straight into the stairwell. Though the bike did not actually touch the ground, the wavy and smooth nature of the strange stairs made it easier to climb up. For a moment, Jessie felt as if she were dreaming, riding up that curvy, metal stairwell while hovering on a bike that lit the air in rotating blue light.
The top floor door nearly ripped from its hinges as she burst through. She narrowly avoided hitting the opposite wall of the hallway, and swerved to the side just in time. Then she swung her leg off the bike, and the un-manned machine kept going down the hall until it connected with the far wall and fell to its side.
Back at the other end of the hall, Jessie was scrambling over to the first door on the left and tearing inside. What she found waiting for her there nearly sent her falling to her knees.
Ben was standing by the machine in the corner, grasping at the metal knobs and levers. The Potentian Band around his neck had been removed, and his throat was choking on toxic air. Jessie called out his name, but she could hardly hear her own voice through the rush of blood surging in her ears. Ben could not hear her either as he groped desperately for a button or switch that would turn the machine back on.
She ran over to him and hugged him from behind. His frail body shook in her arms with each breath he tried to take. Tears were streaming from her eyes, but she could make out the discarded Potentian Band on the floor. If she could get that back around his neck, maybe she could have a chance of saving him.
One of her arms drew away from Ben to reach down for the small object. It was clamped tightly in a circle, and there was no way she could get it around Ben’s neck without opening it up first. She took her other hand away from
him and gripped at the band as tightly as she could, trying to pry it open, but it was as if she was trying to rip a tear in solid metal with nothing but her hands. Ben reached for it too, but his thin, pink fingers could do little more than brush past the surface.
It was then that Jessie realized it was hopeless. She wasn’t getting that band open. She threw it down in fury, and then looked up to Ben. His eyes were on hers in a mix of hurried desperation and wide fear. His face was turning red due to lack of oxygen, and his body was convulsing in shear panic.
Jessie gripped at his shoulders saying, “It’s okay Ben. It’s okay,” but they both knew she was lying.
He gripped at his throat, as if trying to widen it to let more air past. Tears were streaming from his eyes so uncontrollably that they coated his neck and caused his fingers to slip on his skin.
Jessie wanted to look away. In all her life, she had never seen anything more terrifying than this. But she couldn’t leave. So she stayed with Ben; stayed with him as the pain and panic took over his body and told him that this was the end. The choking in his throat grew fainter, and his convulsions were weaker and weaker. Jessie couldn’t stand the pain she saw in his eyes. She wrapped her arms around him and held his head to her chest.
“The pain will stop. It’ll go away soon,” she told him, but she didn’t know if his brain was still working enough to understand her.
Her body shook as if in a deadly fever, and suddenly the world around her seemed foreign. She felt as if she and Ben had been taken from their home, some place gentle and far away, and had been thrown into an alien world where they were subjected to the whims and customs of a harsh race that knew nothing of the words fragile and sacred.
Her body shook so hard that she didn’t realize when Ben’s grew stiff and silent. She let herself believe for just a few moments more that she wasn’t alone in this metal room, that the boy in her arms was still breathing and living and keeping her company in this alien world.
Suddenly the door to the room burst open, and several men in gray Task Force uniforms barricaded themselves in the doorway.
