by K. T. Hanna
“Sure,” she says, barely recognizing her own voice.
“Any questions?” Bastian asks her gently. She shakes her head as they reach the docking bay’s doors. Suddenly, Bastian hugs her and slips a tiny device into her hand as he does so, whispering in her ear. “That’s an amplifier. If you need me, if you really need me, use that to magnify...and you’ll find me.”
She pulls away, startled by the sudden emotions and annoyed to feel tears in her eyes. “Thank you—for everything.”
Sai watches Bastian walk away before she boards Mele and stops dead, gaze locked on the slight girl with beautiful, dark, golden brown skin and odd blood-streaked hair curled up on the floor. “What the hell is that?” she asks softly.
“Oh,” Dom says, looking around from the front as he lowers the entrance door. “That is Bastian’s niece. I believe her name is Ash... Aishke, I think? We need to take her to her father. She wiped out the entire side of her mother’s family. I’m pretty sure he’ll be fine with that though.” Dom grins. “It was a very messy divorce.”
Something dawns on Sai, and she stands there gaping at their passenger. “Please tell me we have a real package. Wrapped in synth-paper. Sealed in a prismatic container. Something?”
“Nope—the package is her.”
Sai groans. “So I’m playing babysitter and hero—great. You do realize I’m going to get both her and I shot, and then Bastian will hate me and everything will have been for nothing and...” She looks around, patting Mele for a moment. “Is this secure? Can they hear me? Have I just ruined everything?”
“You realize everything you just thought actually came out of your mouth as a verbal representation of those thoughts, correct?” Dom asks as he begins to maneuver Mele out of her parking bay.
“Yes!” Sai snaps while glaring at him.
“To answer your question, you can talk as freely as you like here.” He smiles that secretive half-smile, his silver eyes twinkling strangely. “You’re safe.”
Sai smiles. “I wish that could last forever...” she murmurs and leans forward to rest her head against Dom’s cool, smooth shoulder. He feels safe, and she misses him already. Regardless of how much turmoil her head is going through, Dom is precious to her.
She’s not entirely sure how long she remains that way, but when she examines the cabin again, their guest still hasn’t moved.
“How long has she been out for?” Sai asks.
“About twelve hours. Don’t worry. The stuff she got will knock her out for three days. Plenty of time for you to get where you’re going, set up shields, and protect her and probably others for when she wakes up.”
“That dangerous?” A sinuous voice in the back of her head proposes that perhaps GNW is right to lock away psionics. Sai shudders inwardly.
Dom nods. “For now and unshielded. She never should have tipped past dormant. Even dormants have a spring of power; it’s just not accessible or filled unless triggered. Something bad must have gone down there to awaken so late. You’ll figure that out when you erect shields on her. Poor thing. Bastian couldn’t just leave her there.”
“He couldn’t leave me there either. For any other reason, making a habit of rescuing young girls would be sort of creepy.” Sai sits there for a while, watching the other girl breathe in and out. Sai frowns. “How old is she?”
“Sixteen? Maybe fifteen, almost sixteen? Like I said, she bloomed late.”
“Late doesn’t even begin to describe it.”
Time doesn’t pass as quickly as usual for Sai. Her stomach won’t stop fluttering and her heart keeps trying to beat out of her chest as the memories spam her mind. “Dom,” she says softly, not quite sure she really wants to say the words.
“Mhm?”
“I’ll miss you.” It feels so final.
He looks over at her, silver eyes bright in the dim light of the transport. “Thank you. That means more than I realized.” He pauses and glances back at Aishke before speaking. “I’ll miss you, too, and I don’t often miss at all.”
Sai chuckles, but her heart feels heavy for reasons she doesn’t understand. Almost six months at the senior facility and she’s leaving. She keeps expecting enforcement cars to sidle up next to Mele and pull them over and arrest her for treason, confiscating all the goods she has and imprisoning her, Aishke, and Dom for testing purposes.
No one but civilians pass them, and the journey is uneventful. Sai has to fight the panic she feels when Mele comes to rest just outside UC 29.
“This is it,” she murmurs and glances at Aishke. “How am I supposed to transport her?”
Dom stands up and fishes a strange set of armor out of the cage. “It’s a back harness. We’ll clip the backpack to it, too. You don’t have to phase for long so you should be able to carry both of you for this. I should be able to erase her out of the footage.”
“Great. I suppose I should give you the rest of the evidence, huh?” Sai chose a section of her thigh earlier, but it’s a lot more difficult to remove flesh than she thought. Having access to one of Bastian’s laser toys certainly helps, but now, with her thigh partially healed again, she needs to provide some more blood. While not completely sure how Dom intends to fake her death with what she gives him, she’s perfectly fine with leaving it in his capable hands.
He takes a tool she doesn’t recognize out and grips her wrist, somewhat of an apologetic expression on his face as he swipes it over the tracking bracelet under her skin. “You’re lucky you didn’t get yours at birth. This will hurt, but you’ll keep your hand. The flesh needs to look authentic.”
She bites down on her lip as the large tweezer-like contraption sends a jolt and a small sear of pain through her arm. Its prongs hook through her skin and into what appears to be a small slot in the bracelet through her skin. Dom grips the thick silver handle and glances at her. “Ready?”
“What—more?” She tries not to laugh as the sweat starts to bead on her brow. Instead she closes her eyes and nods. The sensation when he yanks the band out from under her skin is like fire scraping over stone with enough force to crack it. Her chest heaves, and it’s difficult to catch her breath as she opens her eyes, the bloody circle around her wrist flared and painful. She concentrates on it immediately to dull the pain a little before wrapping it in the offered gauze.
Sai just nods and glances at the clock as she pulls her armor back on. Not much time left. On impulse, she walks to where Dom stands checking one of the systems on Mele and hugs him. For a few seconds she stays there, not wanting to let go, and knowing she has to. His hands rest against her back and she revels in the first constant in her life: Dom.
Finally, Sai steps back, expression a little sheepish.
“That was nice.” Dom smiles his version of a smile at her. “Thank you.”
She can tell he means it.
Dawning light has already proven perfect for low visibility. Sai checks her armor and the harness as they wrestle Aishke into it. The girl barely stirs as they finagle the pack onto Sai’s back. Aishke is slightly taller than Sai, which makes the harness even more awkward. At least the girl is pretty light, and the harness hoists her up enough that Sai’s pretty sure she can phase the short distance.
A faint light shimmers briefly to the north, giving her phasing a destination. Sai looks at Dom and nods, trying not to feel so sad. If she gives into her confused emotions, she’ll never leave. She’ll end up huddled in a ball in a padded cell or strapped to a lab table.
Instead, she waits for the third light. Waits for the timing so Dom gets the correct footage.
Second light.
Sai starts to bounce on the balls of her feet, getting ready for the jump and used to the increased weight on her back. One day, she will see Bastian again and smack him in the face for saddling her with babysitting duty.
Third light.
She moves out immediately. One step, glide, two—and phase. The first phase feels a little off-center as her burden swings slightly to the left. She adjusts
mid-phase and comes out of it only slightly wobbling, immediately rectified in the next step she takes. Two steps, three steps, and phase right into the blast zone, which shakes her as she comes down to take two steps and move on. The pain in her wrist flares up with the proximity of heat from the explosion and is far worse than she anticipated. It throws her equilibrium off as she flies through the third phase. Just one more and she can stop.
The sun starts to crest the horizon, and her body strains under the added exertion. All around her, the strange red sand begins to lose its frosty crust, and she steps through one last time before launching into her fourth and final phase. She overshoots the small group, well-camouflaged by their own technology, and has to jog back. The air stings her lungs. She should have worn a mask.
It feels strange jogging into their camp, specifically set up to mimic an ambush. There’s a small tent that flickers in and out of sync with the desert surroundings, sort of like a heat haze. The more realistic the setting, the more authentic Dom’s footage will appear. She motions for water and air as she deposits her cargo gently into the makeshift bed they’ve erected in the center. Inside their tent, it’s automatically easier to breathe, and the water is cool, with a mild lemon tang that faintly reminds her of the facilities. Every pair of eyes focuses on her as she sits and sips the water, and the small tent feels crowded. She’s never wanted or liked having attention directed at her.
They wait for her to catch her breath. An elderly man at the front of the group with the same square-shaped face as Dom smiles gently.
He steps forward when she stops panting. “I’m Dr. Mathur. Welcome to the Exiled, Sai. We are sorry we had to bring you in the way we did.”
She smiles, recognizing him from Johnson’s memories, and is overwhelmed by the urge to yawn. Carrying an extra person drained her more than double the usual amount. Every limb is hard to move, her head pounds, and her wrist screams out for soothing. Sai looks up at the kindly old man and smiles. “I think I might need to lie down for a bit.”
The last thing she remembers is the world turning upside down before darkness surrounds her.
Sai blinks her eyes open and focuses on the ceiling with a strange sense of déjà vu. But this ceiling is different and tall. Material drapes it, or rather as she squints a bit to get a better look... Material is the ceiling. It appears to be a tent of some kind. Her head hurts. Everything hurts. She’s so thirsty she could drink sand.
She sits up abruptly and cries out in pain, immediately searching for her charge. “Aishke?” she speaks—or tries to. All that tumbles from her mouth is a hoarse whisper. Her gaze falls on the bed next to her, and she sighs with relief. Aishke is curled up on the cot in much the same way she was on Mele’s floor.
Sai shudders as the pain in her body rears its ugly head.
“You pushed yourself a little hard there, young lady.” Mathur’s voice is kindly and matches his appearance.
“I didn’t realize I’d be taking a passenger...” Her voice trails off, raspy and sore.
Mathur hands her a glass of water. “It is filtered. More so than the water you have had in the cities.”
She sips a few times, knowing it’s more dangerous to gulp the clear liquid down than to sip it, as much as she might want to. “Do you think they’ll look for me?”
Mathur shakes his head. “They should not. My Dom is nothing if not thorough. Will you...” He pauses as guilt and excitement war in his eyes. “Later, after you rest, will you tell me a little of him?”
Sai nods and drinks a few more sips. “Of course.”
The older man claps his hands and smiles. He has a jolly smile, and it sends a red blush to his cheeks and a twinkle to his eyes. “Excellent. Now...I have received your delivery. Thank you very much for that risk you took. It will help us at least another month, perhaps a little longer. We may be able to get a little closer to our antidote, but that is a different story. What I need to know, little Sai, is who is this other girl you brought with you, and why is she here?
Sai blinks, unsure how to explain what she barely knows herself. “Bastian said I had a package to deliver to you. This is Aishke—Aishke is Bastian’s niece? His brother’s daughter? Something like that. Mason?”
Mathur frowns. “Mason is not here. He is at one of the other cities. I am certain he does not have a daughter.”
“Oh.” Sai pushes down the panic in her stomach at having brought someone with her no one was expecting. What would they do? How would they react?
“Unless it is his ex-wife’s adoptive daughter? She could not have her own and adopted a baby girl about two years before she met him. Mason has always loved that girl. That is her?” He eyes the girl with renewed interest.
What Sai thought was blood-streaked blonde hair is just deep red dyed hair. Mele’s lighting must have been off. Aishke’s build is wiry, and her eyebrows make even her sleeping expression pinched with worry. Her dark skin has a golden sheen, making her look like a statue in the white light. “That’s what I was told. I don’t think Dom would lie.” She half-smiles at that thought.
“No, he does not.” Mathur says. “You have risked much to come to us. I am sorry we had to convince you the way we did.” His eyes are sad, and then his words sink in.
“You had to convince me the way you did?” She gulps in air, doubt eating at her again. “From what I pulled from Johnson?”
Mathur pats her hand gently. “Bastian did not get opportunity to tell you, then? Franklin and Johnson were decoys.”
“Decoys?” That can’t mean what she thinks it means.
“We have to protect those of us truly able to change things. We could not ‘leak’ our real people to GNW, but we could leak decoys.”
“Why leak anything at all?” She looks at him in horror, unable to wrap her mind around the thought. Decoys? They were completely innocent. Everything was planned.
“Because GNW knows we have many things in development. As long as we feed them a decoy every now and again, they think they are quelling uprisings. Does not always work, but it makes them feel better. Sometimes they are true targets Bastian has helped smuggle out.”
“But - decoys? Bastian has had to kill his friends?” she asks incredulously.
Mathur shrugs. “You could look at it that way, I suppose. But we never send anyone who will not die of some other complication before their natural life would normally end.”
Relief floods her for a moment when she realizes what he’s saying. “You mean Franklin and Johnson were going to die anyway? I didn’t completely murder them?” She hates the hope that floods her tone but wants it more than anything.
“No,” Mathur says kindly. “Especially in Johnson’s case. He had been ill for years because of the facility. For him, this was perfect. He could make sure his memories lived on, giving them to someone who would help do something about treatment that has killed thousands of people over the years.” Mathur pauses and takes a drink of water for himself. “You cannot let the propaganda brainwash you. Ever since the Disaster Era, psionics have been born, yes, but we are not a majority. We are working on a method where non-psionics have the ability to protect themselves from thought influence.”
Sai nods, determined to understand, but her eyelids keep drooping. “I’m so sorry. I want to hear this, I want to know this, but I can’t keep my eyes open.”
“I am sorry, my dear, I should have thought.” Mathur smiles and pushes her to lie down, covering her with the thin blanket. “Get some rest, because I have a feeling we will need you when Aishke wakes up. Not to mention we have so much more we need to talk about.”
The bed is comfortable and lulls her into sleep. For the first time in many nights, Sai relaxes.
When she does wake up, Sai frowns. The ceiling is the same pale type of tent material, but sways like they’re moving. Closing her eyes she feels around her, yelping in surprise. She has no idea how they’ve motorized the medi-tent she’s in, but it’s definitely no longer stationary.
&nb
sp; Sitting up requires a lot more effort than Sai remembers. Merely pushing herself upright smarts her wrist. If she’d had an inkling that she’d be phasing with a passenger, she’d have practiced for it. There’s a glass of water on a pristine white nightstand to the right of her, near the pillow. Gratefully she grabs it and swallows its contents, quite certain she should be okay by now.
The cool liquid spreads down her throat and throughout her body like a salve. Whatever the stuff is, she’s determined to get a bunch and keep it nearby when she trains.
Sai wriggles her toes, happy to see her legs, while still sore, are working. She swings them off the bed and lets her feet rest on the floor, feeling the tiny vibrations caused by the movement of the room. Aishke’s bed is right in front of her, and she frowns at the slumbering girl.
Still asleep, her charge looks peaceful enough. As Sai understands it, Bastian sent her along to the Exiled so Aishke wouldn’t end up a battery, tapped for the GNW thought suggestion grid. The girl’s eyes flicker while she sleeps.
Bastian and his rescue missions. Sai shakes her head, trying not to miss home too much. She stands, a little wobbly at first, and reaches her arms up to stretch all of her ailing muscles, turning suddenly when she hears a gasp.
A dark-haired woman stands in the doorway, hand over her mouth, a blush rising in her bronzed cheeks. Her long lashes, full lips, and rosy cheeks are slightly juxtaposed with her stocky, strong physique.
“I’m so sorry, ma’am. Mathur sent me to check on you, and I just didn’t think you’d be up yet. He said you were injured. I’ll bring you a change of clothes if you like.” She speaks so fast it’s difficult to keep up. Sai blinks and recovers composure just in time to catch her before she goes out the door.
“Excuse me?” Sai asks. “But I’d like to wear the clothes I brought with me.” As welcoming as the Exiled appear, Sai misses the protection of her body armor. Just in case.
