by J. M. Page
Ben paused at the doorway, long-forgotten but recently opened, still slightly ajar. Bora’s attention stayed on the access panel that looked like it had been dismantled, the screen hanging on by a few wires, electronic guts and circuitry on full display.
He patted the dog on the head. “Good girl, Bora.” And she gave one last loud woof before returning to all fours.
Ben tried to pry the door open while Celine examined the access panel. The computing parts still seemed to be in working order, it was just the display that was unusable. After a minute of fiddling with it, she turned to the Prince. “Do you have an access code?”
At the same time, Ben, with Rufus’s assistance, managed to push the door open wide enough for Celine to slip through.
“Yep,” he said, curling his arm to flex his bicep. Celine couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her mouth.
Inside the control room, there was an entire wall of blinking lights, all flashing warning red. Underneath the lights, at waist height, there was a small screen surrounded by enough levers, switches, and buttons to make anyone’s head spin.
Celine ignored them all and went straight for the screen. It was completely blank and dormant until she touched it. Strange glyphs and characters streamed across the screen too quickly for her to focus on any one of them long enough to decipher it.
She moved to take the panel off, to examine the circuitry inside, when she realized she didn’t have the tools for the job.
Ben was already a step ahead of her. He searched the room, finding a narrow closet with a few basic tools that looked like they hadn’t been touched in centuries.
Celine set to work, feeling the pressure of Ben’s eyes on her, the urgency of saving the city clenched at her heart and her fingers kept fumbling with the tools. She cursed and muttered at her clumsy fleshy fingers, never so frustrated and helpless in all her life.
“Is everything okay?” Ben ventured, a gentle hand on her shoulder.
Flyaway wisps of hair stuck to the perspiration on her forehead and Celine swiped the back of her hand across it, nodding. “I just need a little time,” she said, her stomach tying itself in knots. The tool slipped from her fingers again and they refused to obey her when she tried to pick it back up.
Her hand was mutinous, but she didn’t want Ben to see it. She could figure this out. She had to figure this out.
“We don’t have a lot of it. Is there something I can do to help?”
Her breaths grew short and shallow, her pulse beating against her eardrums, her insides inverted. Somehow her stomach was in her throat and her heart was through the floor, but she couldn’t pay attention to any of that or even the icy cold dread that poured through her veins.
Keep a brave face, she told herself.
She looked back at Ben and saw all the fear and concern she felt written on his face.
“You’re worried about your father, aren’t you?” she asked, taking a wild stab in the dark. As much as she wanted to be angry at her father, she still worried about him and the other modders being discovered and condemned.
Celine was willing to bet that Ben felt the same about his father, even if their relationship was strained.
He nodded once, curt and to the point. “I shouldn’t be, the King will be the first person whisked to safety until this can be sorted out, but…”
“He’s still your father,” Celine said.
“We have our differences, too many to count, but… Yes.”
“Go look for him. Once the force field is back online we’re going to have to give him the all-clear anyway.” She tried to infuse her voice with some optimism, like the all-clear would be coming any moment now.
She spotted the light in his eyes, the momentary relief at the thought of finding his father safe and secure, but it was quickly occluded by hesitation.
“Are you sure? You don’t need any help from me?”
Celine offered the most confident smile she could muster at the moment and shook her head, her ponytail swishing over the tops of her shoulders. “I can fix anything, remember?” Saying it out loud made her intestines plummet, but she held her expression, giving nothing away. She hoped.
Ben took two long strides toward the door, stopped, looked back at her with some unspoken word on the tip of his tongue. He shook his head, lunged for her, and planted a fierce kiss on her lips.
“Thank you. When this is all done, I’m going to take you to all the wonders this galaxy has to offer.” He took her hand in his and pressed something hard and cold into her palm. When he released her, she saw his coin in her palm.
Her chest squeezed, her lips still tingling.
When this is all done…
“For good luck,” he said.
She nodded mutely and watched his retreating form with an aching pit of longing deep deep inside. She may never see him again.
Once she was sure the Prince was gone, Celine grabbed Rufus and followed out the door.
“Where are you going?” the little android asked. “The controls are back there.”
“I know. But I can’t fix it,” she said, giving him a weighty look. Rufus let out a tiny squeak of surprise.
“That’s not possible! You can fix anything, you never fail,” he protested.
Celine shook her head, her thoughts turning grimmer by the moment. “No. My arm never fails. I have to get it back.”
Rufus let out a high-pitched squeal. “Your arm? How? You can’t get it back; you gave it to that… that…” He trembled, not able to finish his sentence. “Are you crazy? She could kill you! She’s already trying to kill everyone. How are you going—” The little bot was clearly worried about her decision making, but Celine shrugged, cutting his tirade off before it went too far.
“I don’t know, but I have to, don’t I? I got everyone into this mess and I can’t fix the force field without my arm.”
“So don’t!” Rufus said, trying to bury himself in her shoulder, but failing without her usual garment. “Go back to the tunnels where you belong.”
Celine frowned, her brow wrinkling in thought.
“What makes you think the tunnels are any safer?” The moment she said the words, her pulse rocketed.
“She wants the planet back to herself… Easy enough to get rid of the city-dwellers by disarming the force field, but…”
Rufus shuddered, seeming to connect the same dots. “Modders don’t mind dust.”
Celine shook her head. “No, because we have the tunnels.” Slimy cold dread slid under her skin and her throat tightened at the memory of Scorpia saying how generous and benevolent she was for allowing them to use her tunnels.
Her new arm prickled and burned and Celine wanted nothing more than to be rid of it. It was a reminder of the stupid foolish choices she made that got them all in this situation. The choices she never should have made. The arm felt like a parasite, clinging onto her and ruining their hopes of survival. She needed to get rid of it and she needed to get her other arm back. Fast.
“We have to warn them,” she said, newfound resolution ringing in every word.
“But what if she’s there?” Rufus squeaked. “What if she’s already collapsed the tunnels?” Celine patted him, trying to reassure the scaredy bot. He raised very valid points, of course, but she didn’t have a rebuttal for any of them. Just hope and a prayer.
“We have to try,” she said, doing her best to navigate through the labyrinthine passages of the palace.
Rufus burrowed in deeper into her shoulder, making soft whining noises. She had half a mind to leave him behind, but that never actually worked.
“What about the Prince?” he finally asked.
Celine nearly stopped in her tracks to level a surprised look at him. “What about him?” She looked both ways around the nearest intersection, thinking it was eerie to see the palace so empty when it was usually bustling with activity.
“I thought you didn’t like me talking to him? I thought he was dangerous and untrustworthy?” She fo
und herself smirking even as she said it, teasing her robotic companion.
Rufus lifted his little arms in what resembled a shrug. “Maybe he could help?”
Celine made a show of pretending to consider it, but she knew it wasn’t possible. Ben would just be a liability. Something for Scorpia to use against her. She’d rather he stay safe. She shook her head, finally recognizing the corridor they turned down.
“I can’t risk him being put in danger,” she said, breaking into a sprint toward her quarters.
She wasted no time changing into her old dusty flowing garment that she arrived in, leaving the pretty, albeit ruined, dress on the neatly-made bed. A pang of longing hit her in the gut, forcing the air from her. What might life have been like if she’d been born on the other side of the wall?
She had to turn away before she let melancholy take hold. Things were as they were and she couldn’t change them. She couldn’t go back in time to change the circumstances of her birth any more than she could go back and unmake the decision to be rid of her arm.
Her old robes felt odd, heavier than she remembered. Before she left the room, she tucked Ben’s coin in her pocket. For good luck.
“I know I can stop her,” Celine said, not sure who she was trying harder to convince. “I don’t know how, but I’ll figure it out, one way or the other.” She had to. The whole city was counting on her, whether they knew it or not. The tunnels too. The fate of the whole planet rested on her shoulders.
No pressure.
Without looking first, she walked out of her room and into the hallway and bumped right into poor Aris, nearly knocking her over.
“Oh!” said Aris, when they collided. “Oh! It’s you! What are you doing here? Everyone’s meant to be on the evacuation ships.”
Celine didn’t ask why Aris herself wasn’t on the ships. Maybe she was left to round up any stragglers. It didn’t matter at the moment. She shook her head, her jaw set.
“I’m going to fix this,” she said, stooping to give Aris a quick, but tight, hug. “Thank you for all your help and for not treating me like the ignorant outsider I am. I’ll never forget that.”
When she released Aris, Celine realized she might have said too much. Aris looked worried, her mouth slightly open, her eyes narrowed trying to read in between the lines. There wasn’t any time for chatting, though. Celine knew the way out of the palace from this point and she took off in one direction, while Aris turned on her heel and went in the other.
Chapter Twelve
Ben
“Your Highness! Thank goodness I found you,” a small woman said, barging into the meeting room where Ben sat staring at a screen. He thought he remembered her name starting with an A. Airie? Anna? He didn’t acknowledge her right away.
On the screen was Ben’s father, the King, along with a selected group of dignitaries and advisors all aboard an evacuation ship destined to leave the planet any moment.
“Bennett, this is no time to be stubborn. Make your way to an evac ship. I’ll tell them you’re on your way,” the King said.
Ben gnashed his teeth and shook his head. His momentary relief at knowing his father was safe from harm was washed away on the rapids of his anger and disgust. What kind of King ran away when his people were in danger? When there was panic in the air and uncertainty in their hearts? What kind of leader just left his subjects to deal with that?
“Terrans will persevere,” his father said, reciting the old adage. “There are plenty of ships for everyone, it’s just a matter of corralling them.” The comparison to livestock only made Ben’s blood boil and steam. The way the King spoke about the people in the city made it abundantly clear that their welfare wasn’t the first thing on his mind.
“Fine,” Ben said. “If you’re so certain of that, I’ll get on the evac ship.”
The King’s eyebrows shot up toward his hairline. “Really?”
Ben nodded, folding his arms in front of his chest. “Sure. Once everyone else is safe, I’ll get on the very last ship.”
“Bennett—” his father said, a warning in his tone. Ben knew he was ready to launch into a lecture, but in the background he heard the pilot giving the countdown for take-off.
Ben held up a hand to the screen. “I won’t let cowardice make me abandon my people or my home. Maybe that’s a concept lost to you in your self-preservation. Have a safe flight, father.”
Without waiting for a response, Ben ended the transmission. In his head, he continued the countdown he’d heard until the ground rumbled and shook. Outside one of the massive windows, he saw a ship rise up, darkening the city with its enormous shadow. He shook his head and turned back to the girl, still bouncing on her heels.
Aris, the name came to him from the abyss. He finally took a good look at her and spotted the concern and urgency written in her expression. The way she wrung her hands and couldn’t stand still for anything.
“What is it?”
“Celine, she—” The instant Ben heard her name, his heart seized. Celine’s name spoken from Aris’s frantic mouth spelled trouble. “Well, she looked like she was in quite a hurry to go somewhere…” Aris said, now unable to look him in the eye. “Wearing what she arrived in, I’ll add.”
A hot knife of betrayal twisted in Ben’s gut. She was supposed to be fixing the force field. He knew he shouldn’t have left her alone. Knew he shouldn’t trust her. Things were always suspicious around the outsider and he knew for a fact she’d kept myriad secrets about herself.
And she’s had an explanation for every single one, another voice said, deep in the recesses of his mind. And he did trust her, no matter what evidence there was to say he shouldn’t. She’d never done anything to harm anyone. There was no faking the wonderment she displayed in flight, either.
No, if Celine ran off, there had to be a good explanation. A good reason. Maybe he didn’t see it, but she was always a step ahead of him.
Ben looked toward the window again, the evacuation ship with his father now long out of sight, and looked over the city he knew so well, blanketed in dust, the giant walls barely visible through thick orange clouds.
Where are you going, Celine? he wondered, electricity buzzing in his chest. This was all too much. They were in this together — or were supposed to be. Now he had to figure it all out without her?
He played through all the information he had, slowly, point-by-point in his mind. There was a vengeful alien that hated humans and wanted to rid her planet of them. She disarmed the force field to get rid of the Terrans but…
Ben thought back to how Celine talked about her father and all the other modders in the Wastelands. Those that were led to believe the city spelled death for them. He didn’t know how many people lived in the Wastelands, but those were Celine’s people, just as the Terrans were his.
If the alien wanted everyone off her planet…
Celine must have gone to face the witch alone. Ben cursed under his breath, jumping up from his seat the moment realization hit him.
“Your… Highness…?” Aris said, but he was already running out of the room, praying he wasn’t too late.
Chapter Thirteen
Celine
“Celine,” Rufus whined as they neared the tunnels she’d called home her whole life. The ground rumbled underfoot with every ship launch, the enormity of the exodus straining the planet’s rigidity.
She ignored him and ventured through the mouth of the tunnels. Just as she did, a massive quake sent debris raining down on them, cracks appearing and spreading up the walls and ceiling.
She didn’t have much time.
It wasn’t long before she was in the main part of their village, but it was unrecognizable in the panic. People didn’t know what was going on or where to go. Everyone thought the safest place was underground, but Celine didn’t trust Scorpia. Ship launches never caused these kind of tremors before and Celine suspected the alien had done something — dug new tunnels, spread out the existing ones, thinned the walls, it was ha
rd to say what exactly — to undermine their structural integrity.
Another quake sent up a chorus of panicked cries and a shower of dust filtered in through the cracks in the ceiling.
Amongst the chaos, Celine spotted a familiar figure. “Dad!”
Abatu turned, his expression confused and his mechanical eyes landed on Celine, focused, and his face lit up. Through the swarming crowd, they found each other and embraced.
“Celine,” he said into the top of her head, nestling her face into his chest. “I—”
“Dad I—” They both said at the same time.
Abatu frowned and shook his head. “I’m the one that should be—”
Celine mimicked his expression. “I never should have—”
Abatu huffed a great sigh and pulled her back in for another tight hug. They didn’t have to say any more. Celine found she wasn’t angry with her father any more. Just worried. Worried and afraid that they wouldn’t make it out of this alive.
Celine looked over the crowd, trying to see past to the tunnels that branched from the main hub. She needed to go after Scorpia. Hopefully she could find her before it was too late. She needed her arm if she was going to have any hope of fixing the force field, any hope of saving the city.
“Everyone, listen to me,” Abatu said, his voice booming. No one paid him any heed in their fear. “Panic will not help us, brothers and sisters,” he said again, a lone point of sanity in the middle of chaos.
Celine’s eyes drifted from the branching tunnels to her father, struggling to get people calm and under control. He’d never get them out of there at this rate.
“Dad, we have to get them out of the tunnels. They’re going to collapse,” she said.
Abatu’s mouth formed a grim line and his shining blue eyes turned red. “How do you know? Is it the humans?”
Celine shook her head, old frustrations bubbling up inside of her. “No, Dad, it’s not the humans. They’re not evil at all. They’re… welcoming. It doesn’t matter,” she said, pushing aside thoughts of Ben and his welcome. “Someone wants everyone off the planet. Everyone. She’s going to collapse the tunnels, I just know it. You have to get people out. I have to go after her.”
