Transcendent (9781311909442)

by Halstead, Jason

  She stared at him and nodded before moving and sitting down. She turned to the display that was showing the broadcast from the exhibition matches of the biomech season. “I thought you didn’t like the biomechs?”

  Krys shrugged. Up close, they were terrifying. From a distance, in controlled matches, they were kind of cool. “Nothing else on. Why’d you want to know about before? I thought we were past that.”

  She sat down at the other chair of his small table before saying, “Our supply convoy was attacked on their way back.”

  Krys set his fork down and stared at her. “You’re kidding me!”

  She shook her head. “All hands and supplies lost, including Lesk.”

  The news about the technician being killed stole wind from him. The smile that was on its way to his face faded away. “Everyone?”

  She nodded. “Innocent people are dying, Krys. You don’t know anything about this, do you?”

  Krys felt a flash of heat in his face. His thoughts about owing her were lost in the fire that spread down into his chest and belly. “How would I know anything about innocent people dying? I’ve been fixing the things your people keep breaking because they don’t know how to use them!”

  “I thought you were teaching them?”

  Krys scowled. “You can’t teach a rock to fly.”

  Shelby’s brows knitted together. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “They don’t care!” he seethed. “None of these people want to be here. They’re just doing jobs that they’re forced to do. They don’t care about Venus, the animals, the crops, or the people. None of you give a damn!”

  Shelby jerked her face back as though he’d struck her. Krys glared and wanted to jump on her and put action to his words. He wanted to make her understand how it felt to lose everyone who mattered. Friends, family, everyone!

  “That’s not fair, I—”

  “Yes it is!” He shouted back. “It’s as fair as you coming here and killing everyone who mattered. You took away everything. Your people. Your friends. You want to talk about innocent people dying? We weren’t hurting anyone—we were just farmers. We would have provided to anyone who needed it. We weren’t greedy. We didn’t care who needed help; we gave it because that’s what we did. Nobody needed to die. Nobody.”

  She stared at him and nodded. She blinked away a shimmer in her eyes and stood up. She cleared her throat and asked, “As your commanding officer I have to ask you, did you know anything about this?”

  Krys continued to glare at her with fire and venom in his eyes. He imagined himself in one of the biomechs while she ran from him.

  “Krys?”

  “No!” he spat. “I don’t know anything.”

  She watched a moment longer and nodded. “You’re my only technician now. There’s no telling how long until a replacement is sent for Lesk.”

  “Lucky me,” he growled.

  Shelby sighed and turned back to the door. She put her hand on the button to open it but hesitated. She turned and stared back at him and then was distracted by the display.

  Krys followed her gaze and saw the biomech match finishing and the display switching to a young girl being interviewed. He was about to turn back when he stopped and gasped. Sitting in a blue and white student uniform was Lily.

  “Lily,” he whispered.

  “You know her?”

  Krys clamped his mouth shut but nodded before he realized it. He ignored Shelby and watched Lily as the short interview continued.

  “Young Miss Lily Strain, congratulations on being the youngest person to ever qualify for the biomech program in the armored division. On your first try, no less! What were you thinking when you went into that test? Were you scared?”

  “I was,” she admitted with a reddening of her cheeks. She picked her head up and looked at the camera. “But then I remembered that I wasn’t just doing it for me. I was doing it for my friends and my instructors. Really, for everyone else who believed in me. I may be the one person you’re talking to, but it’s a team effort.”

  The announcer chuckled and put on an excited expression. “Well, there you have it! So young and so wise already. We’ve not seen the last of you, young Miss Strain! Or I suppose I should be calling you Cadet Strain.”

  Lily blushed again and nodded. “Thank you,” she said before the display changed to something else.

  Krys watched, hoping it would cut back to Lily but the tournament went on now that the combatants had time to leave the field for their thoughts on the match. Krys tuned them out and turned back to Shelby. “Lily was my friend. As far as I know, she and I are the only people from here who are still alive. If Lily’s doing that, and I’m doing this, imagine how much was lost when you came in here guns blazing.”

  Shelby’s throat bulged as she swallowed. He saw her nod once, briefly, and then turn back to the door. Without turning back, she said in a soft voice, “You’re not right about everything, Krys.”

  “Oh yeah? Like what? You can’t lie to me. I’ve been here and seen what people are like.”

  “They like you,” Shelby said. “I like you.”

  “So?”

  She turned her head to look at him and he saw the glistening in her eyes that stole some of the heat from his belly. “So maybe we’re doing our jobs. Maybe we’re following orders. But some of us do care. I can’t change what happened, and I can’t change what’s going to happen. But I do care, Krys.”

  Krys opened and closed his mouth, at a loss for words. It was ridiculous that she thought she couldn’t change anything, but he had a hunch that wasn’t what she was trying to tell him. Before he could figure out how to respond, she opened the door and walked through it into the darkness outside. The door slid shut, stealing his last chance to make amends.

  He glanced down at the remains of his uneaten dinner and pushed it away. Lesk was gone now, too—another friend taken by the stupid war. At least he knew Lily was still alive.

  At the thought of Lily, Krys jerked his head up to the display. He had to find out more about her! He jumped to his feet and went to grab an infopad. He had some searching to do.

  Chapter 28

  Lily blinked as the high-powered lights turned off and everyone started moving. Mr. Lindsey, the reporter who had just interviewed her, clapped his hands and stood up. “Good job, kid,” he said, dropping from his stage voice to a gruffer and more casual one. “Keep it up and you’ll go far.”

  She watched him turn away and head off the stage where the interview had taken place. She’d suffered under three hours of questions, albeit with breaks here and there to touch up makeup or to give them a chance to have a drink or use the restroom. The interview was going to be broken up into short segments released at key times. Or so she’d been told.

  She turned, not certain what to do, and was about to stand up and head over to where Palla was waving to her when she heard Mr. Lindsey’s voice. “I don’t care about how many bits you can get out of this. Come on! She’s a stupid kid. Jenkings gets a chance to talk to the biomech jocks, and I get a kid?”

  He kept talking but he moved far enough away she couldn’t make out his words. She turned, searching for him, but couldn’t see where he’d gone.

  “Lily!” Palla called out.

  Lily turned and put on a smile that didn’t match the empty pit in her belly. If Mr. Lindsey thought she was a stupid kid, what were other people thinking? What was she, really?

  “Come on, Lil, we’ve got to get you back.”

  Lily stood up automatically. She kept her fake smile on her face out of habit and nodded to the workers in the studio as she moved to join Palla. Did Palla think she was a stupid kid too? Stupid but lucky, maybe.

  “You did awesome up there,” Palla chattered as they walked past a table loaded with finger foods. Palla snatched something and popped it in her mouth. Lily was so caught up in her worries she didn’t even notice what it was her mentor had chosen.

  “Mentor?” Lily whispered aloud.
/>
  “What’s that?” Palla asked, turning to look at her. “Are you okay, Lil? Too much light maybe? Do you need a drink?”

  Lily shook her head. “No, I just was thinking out loud.”

  “About what?”

  Lily looked at her. “About you. And me, I mean.”

  Palla’s brow creased. “What about us?”

  “Well, your mastery project kind of disappeared, didn’t it? And I haven’t seen Kami and Trix in a while now.”

  “I still help them out when I can,” Palla said. “I’ve been refocused on helping you, though.”

  “So you’re not really my mentor anymore—more like my assistant.”

  “What? No! Of course, I can’t help you with the army stuff, but your other classes I can still tutor you in.”

  Lily fixed her with a raised eyebrow. “Really? Some of my instructors can’t even teach me course-relevant material anymore.”

  Palla frowned. “What are you saying? I’m not dumb, you know.”

  Lily shook her head. “No, I never meant that. I…” She trailed off in a sigh. Frustrated, Lily blurted out, “Do you think I’m a stupid kid?”

  Palla gasped and pulled her to the side of the hallway they were walking down to stop her. “What are you talking about?”

  “Well, do you?”

  “Of course not!” the older girl snapped. “You’re a genius, Lily. Off the charts kind of smart. Why would you think that way at all?”

  Palla waited. “Lily?”

  Lily sighed. She didn’t want to get anyone in trouble but she couldn’t stop thinking about it. “I heard somebody say it. They weren’t talking to me, just about me.”

  Palla grunted. “Okay, that makes sense.”

  “It does?”

  Palla smiled. “See, I can still be your mentor after all!”

  “Not if you don’t help me understand it,” Lily pointed out.

  “Well, people don’t always think with their heads.”

  “That’s helpful,” Lily said with a roll of her eyes.

  Palla grinned. “Stop it. I mean, in this case, were they upset about something or did they just sound mean?”

  Lily frowned and thought back to the snippet of conversation. “Upset, I guess.”

  “Well, there you go. People get wrapped up in things and lash out. They’re trying to gain control over a situation. I know I’ve done it. Done it with you, in fact.”

  “Oh,” Lily mumbled. She thought back to some of their confrontations and nodded. “Yeah, okay. Me too.”

  “See? You’re not a stupid kid. You’re smarter than most of the people on this station. Definitely smarter than whoever said that. He was just upset about something and scared.”

  “Scared?”

  Palla nodded. “Scared of something he couldn’t understand.”

  Lily looked down at herself and then back up. “What’s not to understand?”

  “A pretty young girl like you with so much potential who wants to get dirty and drive a giant robot?”

  Lily shrugged. “So?”

  Palla laughed. “Well, it takes some getting used to. Pretty girls are expected to do something that keeps them pretty, I guess.”

  “Not where I come from. Everybody works and you do whatever it is that needs to be done, not whatever you can do that won’t chip a nail.”

  Palla burst out laughing. When she gained control of herself, she nodded. “That’s why people are scared. Your ideas are so fresh and real they seem crazy.”

  Lily stared at her. “You’re pretty—are you afraid to get dirty?”

  Palla smiled and shook her head. “No, I’m not afraid of hard work. I’d rather not get dirty, but I’ll do what I have to. Besides, I’m not that pretty.”

  Lily ignored Palla’s attempt at a joke. “Are you scared?”

  “Scared? Of what?”

  “Of me.”

  “A little, maybe,” she admitted. “I mean I was, but I’m not anymore. I didn’t understand you.”

  “And now you do?”

  Palla smiled. “Not entirely. But enough, I think. I know your heart and your head’s in the right place. I think we’ve become friends, Lily. I hope good friends?”

  Lily nodded. “I hope so too. I could use a friend. But be careful.”

  “Careful? Why?”

  “My last friends got shot.”

  Palla winced. “I’m not worried. Besides, you’re going to be a biomech pilot in no time. Nobody’s going to mess with you or your friends when that happens!”

  Lily felt the heat rush to her cheeks but she smiled and nodded in spite of it. She hoped Palla was right, and then maybe she could get the friend she missed the most back at her side. She’d be able to protect him and make sure nothing bad ever happened to them again.

  Chapter 29

  Krys walked through the cold drizzle and shivered. He had no right to complain; usually this far into the night cycle, snow was falling instead of rain. There was a little over a veek left until sunrise. Thirteen days, or maybe twelve now. He’d lost track of time, trying to figure out what was wrong with the tank.

  He looked up from the ground as he approached his tiny house and saw someone waiting outside, under the tiny overhang that served as a porch. It wasn’t someone: it was her. Shelby. No, not Shelby: Lieutenant Riggs.

  “I forget to fix something?” Krys growled as he walked up to her.

  “Krys! That’s not—”

  “Then what?” He stopped in front of her and stood in the rain. “I’d like to go inside.”

  She sighed and stepped out of the way. “Can I come in?”

  “Didn’t think I had a choice,” he said as he stepped up and pressed his hand against the biometric panel beside his door. It chirped and slid open to let him enter. He held it for her without knowing why. She was the commander of the colony—her print would open anything. Then again, his would do almost the same thing since he’d been promoted to the colony’s resident technical specialist.

  Or as he referred to it after reading an ancient text he found before the rebellion, a morlock. He kept the machines running so the happy people in charge could live their lives uninterrupted.

  “You’re obviously still mad at me,” she stated after she stepped in. Before Krys could give her the verbal equivalent of a kick in the face, she continued. “Did you ever stop and think about how I felt?”

  Krys did stop. He stared at her and no matter how much he’d wanted to hurt her, he found himself thinking about her. About the woman in the armor who was hidden behind reflective material. The woman who had seen him running and terrified and instead of making her life easier by shooting him or letting someone else shoot him, she’d hidden him and kept him safe.

  The same woman who had kept him out of sight and busy while she had three other chances to ship him off Venus to a reeducation center. She hadn’t told him about the two of the three ships but he’d found out anyhow. Other people liked to talk and Krys did a good job of asking the right questions or learning when to not ask anything at all and listen instead.

  “Why?” Krys asked her.

  “Why should you ask me?”

  He shook his head. “No, I mean why do you help me?”

  “Because you were just a kid in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she began.

  “I still am,” he said before he could stop himself.

  She shook her head. “No, this is your place. And you’re not much of a kid anymore.”

  He snorted. “I’m fifteen!”

  She shrugged. “So? You act older than a lot of people here do. And you’re smart. I see you watching and learning. I ask myself sometimes if we captured you, or if you captured us.”

  Krys snorted again but didn’t respond. His head was spinning now that he knew she was keeping her eye on him and had noticed him trying to gather as much intelligence as he could. He didn’t have any plans, but someday—hopefully someday soon—he might. He jerked his head up to meet her eyes. “That’s why y
ou asked if I knew anything?”

  She nodded.

  “What if I had?”

  She stared at him and then glanced away. “You didn’t.”

  “No, but what if I had?”

  She turned her head back to him. “I have a job to do, Krys. A job I don’t always like.”

  “Quit.”

  She stopped and stared at him before she shook her head. She let out a sad chuckle. “I can’t quit. Nobody can. I could put in for a transfer or reassignment, but to do what? This is what I’m best at.”

  “What do you mean you can’t quit? Of course you can!”

  She shook her head. “This is our life. Our world. Our everything, now. We’re part of something greater. Our entire civilization. We each do our part and help us to become more. If we don’t, if we refuse, then we’re betraying the people around us. Instead of being part of the solution, we’re part of the problem.”

  Krys’s eyes kept stretching as she talked. He couldn’t imagine how that was possible. To be forced to do something he didn’t like or…or…or else.

  “You keep this to yourself, all right? Nobody else can ever know.”

  “Know what?” he mumbled.

  “Know that I think what happened here is terrible. It made me sick to my stomach once I was alone and I didn’t have to hold it together. Saving your life that day? That was the only thing that got me through. But then I never heard about you or saw you. I hoped, but I didn’t know. I nearly gave up so many times, Krys. So many times I wanted it all to be over like a bad dream I wouldn’t have to wake up from.”

  Krys watched her as she spilled her soul to him. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears and it made his chest and throat tighten.

  “Hope,” she whispered and then lifted her head a little. “Hope kept me going. When they brought you in, I dared to hope and then I recognized you. I made a difference. One life. One small life. That was enough. That made all my nightmares and guilt worth it.”

  Krys swallowed and glanced around. It was his house, more of a closet really, but he felt like a stranger. “Um, thanks?” he offered.