by L T Anderson
Silver’s heart pounded in her chest as she leaned back on her elbows and surveyed her surroundings. The hexagonal room contained floor-to-ceiling video monitors on four walls. There was an opening to additional rooms on the fifth wall. The door to Felix’s transport cube occupied a small space on the sixth wall next to a wet bar. The glass-covered ceiling was open to the sky. Indirect violet lighting illuminated the baseboards around the entire room.
A control panel sat blinking directly front and center of the monitor walls. Three of the monitors displayed multiple pictures within pictures. The fourth monitor wall was framed by a light bar with a faint yellowish glow. Silver was mesmerized by the curious mix of colors—mostly a dark bluish-green hue—swirling within the frame. Her eyes glazed as she stared at the black, almost three-dimensional center of the framed wall.
“Ms. Long?”
Silver felt a tug on her left arm as Felix struggled to break her involuntary trance.
“Ms. Long, get up, please.”
Silver squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, forcing herself to break away from the daze-inducing sight in front of her. She allowed Felix to help her into the adjacent chair.
“What the hell, Felix?” Silver rested her elbows on her knees and rubbed her palms into her eyes. She looked up at the ceiling again. “Are we still in the Underground? Are we even on the ground at all?”
“You will know more, all in good time.” Felix smiled and stepped behind the wet bar. “I’m going to bring you some water. Then we can talk.”
Silver scrutinized the constantly changing images on the monitors: Tremayne downtown. Tremayne garment district. Tremayne City Park. The Changers War Room. Every floor, every elevator, every restaurant and business establishment in the Changers’ Underground City. Punk headquarters. The Perimeter Wall. Various locations occupied by Punks. Every train platform in southern and Central California.
“What is this?” She spun her head toward Felix. “Felix, what is this? My team never had such a sophisticated security system.” Her hands were trembling. “No wonder I was demoted. I should have known about this.”
Felix walked around the bar and pulled another chair next to Silver. “First, Ms. Long, please take a deep breath and drink some mineral water. I do need you to remain calm.”
Silver looked sideways at Felix and grabbed the tumbler from his hand. She drank fast, swallowing half the water before forcing the glass back into his hand. “There.” She gestured toward the monitor walls. “Now explain…this!”
Felix gazed at the side of Silver’s face. Wisps of stray black hair meandered over her ear, touched her neck and intertwined with the long peach fuzz on her neck. She looked vulnerable, scared. Felix couldn’t remember a time Silver Long had ever touched his heart. But tonight, his heart went out to her.
“Relax, Ms. Long…Silver.”
Silver inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled, her shoulders slumping forward ever so slightly. “I guess with everything I’ve seen, it shouldn’t be a shock to know you monitor all these places. I should learn to stop being surprised when it comes to you.” She looked at Felix. “And sure, dispense with the ‘Ms. Long’ and call me Silver.”
Felix smiled inside and stood. “I do not yet have monitors everywhere—only the locations you see here, plus a few others. That I have the capability to act as a spy and observe activity in so many places is only a fraction of my capabilities.” He walked across the plush carpet to the control panel in front of the four monitor walls.
Silver kicked off her pumps and stood slowly. “Word in the Underground is the new number one scientist is way ahead of you, Felix. Not just intellectually, but in terms of imagination and the ability to work with others toward a common goal.” She stood still for a moment, then moved tentatively toward Felix and stood beside him. She caught herself gazing again at the swirling, multicolored monitor and diverted her eyes to Felix. “But I’ll give you a chance. You say this spying operation of yours is only a fraction of what you can do?” She shrugged. “Okay, surprise me some more.”
Felix raised an eyebrow. “Be careful what you ask for.” He tapped a number of buttons on a touch pad in front of him. A holographic monitor appeared, suspended midair in front of the control panel. He removed his sport coat and tossed it on a chair behind him.
Silver folded her arms across her chest. “What, you have to prepare or something?”
“Just making myself comfortable.” He turned to the monitors. “Okay, now choose a location, any location you see on any of the monitors.”
Silver smirked. “All right…” She paused. “Let’s see. There.” She pointed at a live image of the city center in downtown Tremayne.
“Very well,” Felix said. He looked past Silver and motioned to a table. “Pick up that ball. That one, there.”
Silver picked up a red rubber ball and squeezed it.
“Now, take that marker and write your initials on the ball,” Felix said.
Silver did as instructed and marked the ball with two huge letters: SL. She turned it over in her hand and tossed it to Felix.
Felix caught the ball and placed it in front of him on the table housing the control panel. He glanced at Silver. “You may want to sit down again.”
Silver snorted. “I’m fine.” She swiveled at the waist and surveyed the room again. “Titanium walls, a secret transportation box around the Underground, flashing lights and wall-sized monitors. Hoop-de-doodle. If you can impress me with a rubber ball, there’s no hope left for me anyway. Do whatever you’re going to do.”
Silver watched as Felix flicked his fingers in the air toward the holographic screen in front of him. The yellowish glow around the darkened multicolored wall glowed steadily brighter.
Felix pointed to the monitor with the live image of Tremayne. The main intersection at the city center was busy. Traffic lights flashed and changed with the flow of pedestrians and vehicles. “Watch this. Then keep an eye on that monitor.”
Silver turned to Felix in time to see him toss the ball at the swirling, dark-colored wall. As the ball hit the wall, the yellow lights flashed, then dimmed as the ball disappeared. Silver blinked, did a double take, then remembered the monitor. She looked again at the other wall as Felix flicked away at the virtual screen.
The image on the screen enlarged as Felix zoomed in to a crosswalk at the intersection. The rubber ball bounced slowly into the crosswalk. Felix stopped the camera long enough for Silver to read her initials on the ball, then released the view back to live action.
Silver dropped her arms to her side. She stared at the monitor, mouth open.
Felix turned to her. “Tell me, dear. Has the great Dr. Xander Rasmus perfected real-time teleportation?”
Chapter 17
The Team of Four
Krystal reclined on the huge black leather sofa in Dion’s quarters at Checkpoint One. Ryker and Winter were involved in another death match at the pool table in one corner of the room while Dion and Jimbo watched the activity from behind the bar.
“You didn’t call the pocket,” Ryker said. “Shot doesn’t count.”
Winter stabbed her cue stick into the carpet and placed her free hand on her hip. “What, so we’re playing cutthroat rules?”
Ryker smiled. “You betcha, girl. Now pull your ball out and hand me the cue ball.”
“You suck,” Winter said. “I don’t think any of your rules are official. I think you just make up this shit.”
“He’s making it up,” Krystal said. “But rules are rules.”
Winter shot Krystal a look and threw the cue ball at Ryker.
The ball struck the palm of his hand as he flinched and ducked. “Ow! Damn, Win.”
A cold breeze swept into the room when Jasper and Lace entered.
“Beer time,” Jasper said.
“Me too,” Lace agreed.
Jimbo opened two bottles and slid them down the bar top as the two punks stepped up.
> “Nico’s on his way in, bro,” Jasper said.
Dion dumped the contents of an ashtray into a can under the bar. “Awesome.” He lit a cigarette and clinked his Zippo shut.
Lace hopped onto a barstool and swiveled around to face the room. “So, Krys. Are you starting to feel more at home? Kinda like the old days?”
“Actually, I feel better. Most of the time before—when I was a Changer—I felt like shit. I mean, I loved you guys.” She glanced at Winter. “All of you. I was leading this miserable double life.”
“How miserable could it have been,” Winter said. “You were living forever, girl.” She puffed up. “I mean, check it out. Good-looking, Curtis Dyer was in love with you, you were about to get your own place here at headquarters—”
“And my life was committed to the fucking Changers,” Krystal said, sitting forward. “I don’t know what you don’t get about it, Win.”
“Ease up, Win,” Lace said. “No one walked in her shoes.”
Jasper set his bottle on the bar top and swung around. “How long are we gonna flog this dead horse? So, yeah, Krystal was a Changer. But she’s not now. We voted her back in, man.”
“Was she feeding info to the enemy?” Winter asked. “We don’t know that.”
“We do,” Lace said. “She said she wasn’t, so in my mind she wasn’t.”
“It’s our code, dude,” Jimbo said. “Punks are loyal to Punks. We do what we think is right and what’s good for the Punks.”
Winter looked at Jimbo. “Don’t call me dude, Jim.” She turned to Krystal. “I’m having a hard time letting it go, Peterson—”
“But you have to,” Lace said. “Krys is one of us. I feel like she always was.”
Ryker held his hand up. “Toss me a beer, Jim.”
Winter tossed her cue stick onto the pool table. “What, so shit’s gettin’ real? Have your say, Ryk.”
Ryker caught the bottle Jim tossed him. He popped the top with a bottle opener attached to one end of the pool table. He held the bottle cap up and snapped his fingers, hurling the cap—Frisbee style—back to Jimbo.
He took a triple swig and looked at Winter. “Krys is in, just like you, me and the rest of these people. Let it go, Win.”
Winter’s shoulders slumped. She looked at Krystal. “It’s hard for me to say I’m sorry, Peterson. I hate the Changers with everything in me. What they’ve done to this country, to this world…”
“I get it,” Krystal said. “Dammit, Win. Just know I’m on your side. I always was. I hated the Changers as much as you. I still do.”
Two-way radio communication sounded in the ceiling speakers. “Nico here. Copy, Jimbo?”
Jimbo strode to the far end of the bar and tapped a button on the control console. “Go, Nico.”
“Where’s Dion?”
“Head on over to Dion’s quarters. Everyone’s here.”
“You got it. I’m out.”
Krystal stood from the couch and approached Winter. The room went silent when Winter folded her arms across her chest.
Krystal’s eyes locked on Winter’s. “Me and you are gonna have a beer sometime real soon,” Krystal said.
Winter didn’t flinch. “Fat chance.”
“Real soon.” Krystal held up two fingers to Jimbo. She caught the first bottle and turned back to Winter. “The next one’s yours.”
Winter held steady, her eyes fixed on Krystal. Jimbo winced when the second bottle left his hand and flew toward Winter’s head.
Krystal set the first bottle on the coffee table behind her. Without looking she reached up in time to intercept the second bottle midflight. She felt Winter’s hair on the back of her hand.
Winter closed her eyes then slowly opened them. The hardness left her face.
Krystal swore to herself she saw a smile—barely perceptible—cross Winter’s face. She popped the two bottles open and handed one to Winter.
“I got your back, Win.” She took a swig of her beer. “Have mine.”
A light knock from outside sounded on the door a split second before Nico entered.
“Come on in, buddy,” Dion said.
“Hey,” Ryker shouted from across the room. “Shut that door. It’s cold out there.”
Nico managed a grin. “You’re telling me.” He kicked the door closed and blew warm breath into his hand.
Dion extended a fist across the bar. “You look like you need a warm-up. What’ll it be?”
Nico bumped his fist on Dion’s. “Got any hot chocolate?”
“Comin’ up,” Jimbo said.
Krystal stepped around Winter and strode toward Nico. “So, is this the badass I’ve heard so much about that’s in charge of security in Tremayne?”
Nico extended his hand to Krystal. “Hi, I’m Nico. You must be Krystal Peterson?”
Krystal bumped Nico’s fist and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you. Yes, I’m Krystal.”
Nico nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
Ryker racked the balls on the pool table and hung his stick on the wall. “So, bro, we’ve been anxious to get your report.”
Fred Garrison sat across a small dinette table from Thomas Dennis in the pair’s temporary quarters at Checkpoint One.
“I feel detached, Thomas.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“We escaped the Changers to help put an end to their dreams of world domination.” Fred glanced at the digital clock above the door. “Now, here we sit. Big dreamers, us.”
“Didn’t you think Krystal would sort of rely on us to help figure things out?” Thomas shook his head. “Seems like she doesn’t even need us.”
Fred looked down at his cell, vibrating on the table. “What the?” He held the device up to Thomas. “You recognize this?”
Thomas frowned. “No. Three numbers: 4-6-25. What kind of ID is that?” He looked at Fred. “Are you going to answer it?”
“Think I’ll let it hit my voice mail. See if they leave a message.”
The vibration persisted. Fred sat forward and looked at the cell again. “Should have stopped by now. What the heck?”
“Hell, just answer it,” Thomas said. “Hang up if you don’t like it.”
“I’m putting it on speaker.” Fred touched the cell to connect the call. “Hello?”
“Fred, my friend. And hello to my friend Thomas, as well.”
“Felix?” The two responded in unison.
“How have you two been doing?”
Fred leaned forward on his elbows toward the cell. “Physically, okay. Emotionally, it’s been a roller coaster.”
“We wondered if we’d ever hear from you again,” Thomas said.
“Of course, of course. What’s this about your emotions? I heard you made contact with Krystal—or she with you.”
Fred sensed Felix had a smile on his face. “Yes, we are with her now.” He glanced at Thomas. “Well, not exactly with her. We’re at the Punk headquarters at the Perimeter.”
“Yeah,” Thomas said. “She’s in a meeting of sorts, I guess. They have us tucked away in this little studio apartment.” He looked around the room. “More like a motel room.”
“I trust you are becoming acclimated to the human lifestyle. At least from the Punks’ perspective.”
“Honestly, Felix, they’re not really letting us in on anything,” Fred said.
“Most curious. There is much to do. Krystal is going to need all the help you can give. You must stick together.”
Thomas sat back. “We feel like outsiders.”
“That’s enough! Krystal will need you two. The Punks need you, whether they know it or not. And the world needs you. Now pick your chins up off your laps and man up!”
“We can do that, Felix,” Fred said. “But we’re going to time out in a few months. That’s not something we’re looking forward to correcting.”
“A small issue. Stop worrying about the little things. I’m going to send you
additional help—someone else to add to your team.”
“So we’ll be a team of four?” Thomas frowned. “I can’t imagine anyone who’s left in the Underground that would give up the Changer lifestyle.”
“Big boy panties, Thomas. Big boy panties. Now I want both of you to go to Krystal. Interrupt her meeting if you must.”
“We’re under guard here, Felix,” Fred said.
“I’ll let Krystal know you’re coming. Just do as I say.”
“So we know some shit went down in Bystander territory,” Ryker said. “And it seems minors—children—are at the center of it.”
“I guess you could say that,” Nico said. He retrieved a tall mug of hot chocolate from the bar top. “There’s a lot going down, but we’re not sure what to make of it.”
Dion walked around the bar and sat in his favorite chair next to the leather sofa. “Make yourself comfortable, buddy. Start from the beginning.”
Nico hoisted himself onto a barstool and turned to face the room. “Well, today started out kinda like I expected.” He sipped his drink, eyeing the group over the rim of his steaming mug. “I figured it was gonna be pretty quiet since Dion hadn’t lifted curfew or given the all clear signal to the city manager. Then Will called me on the radio and said Krystal Peterson…” He glanced in her direction. “…had pretty much taken out all the Chybrids that were attacking us here at the Perimeter.”
Krystal smiled. “For the record, everyone did a helluva job holding down the fort before I got here. Punks died to protect this place and our cause. And to protect the Bystanders.”
“I understand,” Nico said. “I was here for the big battle before Dion sent a bunch of us to Tremayne to set up a defense there.”
“You’ve seen a lot for your age,” Krystal said as her cell buzzed. “Hi, Felix…Yes, they are…Yes…Yes, of course…Yes, we’ll talk later.”
“He stepped up,” Dion said. “When a whole ton of Punks ran for safety in the tunnels, Nico stuck it out. He’s one of us, that’s for sure.”
“Agreed,” Ryker said.
Silver stood behind the wet bar in Felix’s quarters. “I can’t believe you contacted those dregs.”
