AER (The Elements Series Book 3)

by Tracy Korn

  "What are you doing!?" Ridley yells, shoving the new woman as the smart-atoms float back to the guide, reconfiguring once they reach the holes she made.

  "I'm going to be sick!" Lieutenant Carver yells, then covers her mouth and turns away.

  "What the actual hell was all that about?" I say, still in disbelief.

  "Why are you liquid?" the woman asks, flipping her black hair out of her eyes.

  "He's not liquid!" Ridley scolds again, then finds the woman's nameplate. "Sergeant Diaz, is this your first day out of flight school?"

  "I'm just a sergeant? What skod decided that?" Diaz says, mumbling something else as she makes her way back to the others. Ridley looks at me like she's just seen aliens land, and I'm starting to wonder if maybe they have. Where is that stupid reset button?

  "Please accept our apologies, Farrow," Cathcart says to the guide. "We have some new crew members who are not familiar with port-call technology."

  "I know about—!" Diaz starts to say until Lieutenant Waverly elbows her hard in the ribs, making her cough. I smile…that's exactly what Jazz would have done, I think, then feel blood pounding in my head again.

  "It's perfectly fine…I didn't feel anything at all. I suppose there are some benefits to our port-cloud connection not fully functioning. I will take you to the reconstruction site now so you can assess the damage from the explosives," Farrow says.

  "I thought you were going to take us to the Councilman?" I say, probably too abruptly.

  "Yes, tonight. We have a feast planned to thank you for helping us," he adds.

  I press my teeth together again so I don't scream at the top of my lungs at this hologram with skin.

  He leads us through orange dirt streets with what seem to be printed houses like the ones back in Skyboard North, only much smaller. They're all the same square shape, the same white color, with the same two front windows and oversized door.

  "How did you build these?" Waverly asks, like she's reading my mind.

  "We did not build them. They were sent here by the Global Cloud Fleet as temporary facilities during our time of transition," Farrow says, then nods to me. "Your generosity is appreciated."

  "No problem," I say, nodding back to him just as Ridley catches up to me.

  "We really need all these people to patch a hole in their wall, Folger?" she asks.

  "Apparently Greene thought so," I answer, looking back at Cathcart talking up a storm to the new crew. "What's that about?"

  "They don't know anything—it's like they've never been off Earth before. He's bringing them up to speed on our involvement with the Halcyon Council," she says as the ground starts vibrating again.

  "What's happening? We're already inside the gate!" Carver yells.

  "Relax, it's just the lasers for the sleeper pockets," Cathcart says.

  "Those people back there are being gassed right now?" Richards asks, glaring at me again. I'm not taking this from a stupid Glyph.

  "What's your general problem, Lieutenant?" I say, turning to him. "You've had a bad attitude since you walked onto my transfer deck."

  "I just find it interesting that instead of trying to deal with the radiation problem, you think it's a better idea to genetically engineer people to tolerate it."

  "You see that big red ball in the sky up there, Richards?" Ridley answers before I can think of anything to say that makes sense, then points to the oversized sun. "That's got about another hundred years before the radiation is so strong it will force everyone into the core of the planet. Got any ideas how to stop that?"

  "Actually—" Richards starts to answer her, but Lieutenant Waverly grips his shoulder and says something I can't hear. Whatever it is makes him stop talking all together, but it doesn't get rid of his attitude. I'm about to say something to him when we all stop walking. Farrow gestures to patches of orange desert right in the middle of the road several feet away. The street looks torn, like a painting with the desert showing through the ripped out piece.

  "This city is as visible through that hole as the desert beyond is to us now," Farrow says. "It is only a matter of time before the untreated discover it and destroy us."

  "Where did they get carbon bombs?" Cathcart asks. "That's the only thing that could blow a hole in the parmide wall."

  Parmide? I think…like the Gaia bracelets? I'm compelled to look at Ridley, who instantly looks guilty.

  "Cass, did you…? No…I can't believe it."

  "Stow it, Mark."

  "That explosion broke your leg…"

  "What explosion?" Diaz asks, breaking the accusatory silence. The explosion…when I first dropped into this cine, we were running away from the Transcendents.

  "Did you set off that bomb?" I ask, and she laughs in my face.

  "Folger, you're really a piece of work, you know that? So I'm going to take the fall for this one, huh?"

  I shake my head at her trying to put all the pieces together, but something tells me to drop it, fast.

  "We'll discuss this later," I say, clearing my throat as Farrow looks from Ridley to me with his mouth falling open. "For now, we need to get this hole repaired. Dr. Greene, we're going to need some parmide down here," I say over the comms.

  "I'm tracing your location," Greene says. "I've also found the breech. This will take time to repair, sir."

  "How long?"

  "A few hours at least."

  "Make it happen. Ridley and I are going to find the Councilman while the rest of the team stands watch."

  Lieutenant Ridley scowls at me again, but she presses her lips together to keep whatever she has to say to herself.

  "We'll get started with the parmide remote repair now," Greene says.

  "Thank you," I say, then turn to Farrow. "Repairs will begin immediately, and my team will stand guard here to make sure your people remain secure in the meantime. Now, if you'll take me to the Councilman, we have an important matter to discuss," I add, gripping Ridley's upper arm and giving Farrow a knowing smile.

  "What—? Folger, what are you—?" Ridley starts.

  "I wouldn't say another word, Lieutenant," I say, then give her a knowing look. She scans my face for an answer she doesn't seem to find. Trust me, he needs to think I'm turning you in, I think, wishing she could hear my thoughts like Jazz. Maybe she does because her face relaxes.

  "Cass…" Cathcart says, shaking his head. "I never thought you would go this far."

  "Let's go," I say before she has a chance to reply. "After you, Farrow. Cathcart, you're in charge of the team while I deal with this."

  "Yes, sir," he says, and we walk on.

  "Vox, wait!" Waverly hisses after a second; I swear that's what she says when I turn around and see Sergeant Diaz running toward me.

  "Hold right there!" I shout, surprised to see she's already so close. She looks straight at me and cocks her eyebrow, but doesn't say anything until I hear her voice in my head.

  You're in there, aren't you? she asks.

  What? I think in reply, but her expression doesn't change. Can you hear me? I ask, but she just looks at me sideways as she turns and walks back to Lieutenant Waverly.

  "What was that all about?" Ridley asks. I shake my head.

  "Nothing…"

  "I will take you to the Councilman now," Farrow says, and we start moving again. I look over my shoulder and see Waverly staring at me, and for just a second, the images flicker in and out, flashing blue code. Just before they reset, Waverly looks exactly like Jazz standing there with a pleading look on her face as she grips Diaz's arm. Crite, I think, turning around to follow Farrow. I need to find that reset button before I can't tell the difference between this stupid cine and reality anymore.

  CHAPTER 46

  Transcendence: Part Three

  Jazz

  The ground finally stops vibrating, and I know the other teams are descending from the ship now to perform the genetic alterations on the sleeping hostiles. I don't agree with it, but if their sickness is making them so violent, I als
o don't see another way. Lyden is right, though, we're getting too pulled into this storyline. We need to move forward into the Hidden City so we can find the Glyph.

  After a second, a pale, tall man with long white hair and an off-white tunic that's belted around the waist appears in front of the huge circular wall of orange dirt. He starts talking to the captain as I look around for Fraya.

  Where did she go? I think toward Lyden.

  She had a break…Calyx pulled her out. She's in the med-bay now with Arwyn.

  Is she all right? I ask. He nods, then points toward the captain who is walking through the dirt…actually walking through it like we walked through the wall at Eco's hab. We follow him.

  More tall, pale people who are also dressed in tunics are walking around, some of them heading into white, square houses that all look the same…like little boxes with oblong doors and a perfectly square window on each side.

  "Thank you for answering our call to action. We value our partnership with your crew, and the entire Global Cloud Fleet" he answers, but suddenly, the captain lunges at him, grabbing his arm. He leaps back just as suddenly and studies his hand, shocked.

  "What?"

  "Apologies…the port-call smart atoms cannot fully mesh," the tall, pale man answers, but I don't know what he's talking about.

  Why is he telling us that? I think, then glance at Vox. Her snake eyes are wild when she looks back at me. Whoa…what's wrong?

  "Again, to answer your question, thank you for answering our call to action. We value our partnership with your crew, and the entire Global Cloud Fleet…" the pale man says again, but then Vox runs toward him as fast as she can. She tries to jump on him too, but just winds up falling through him, somehow ripping a hole through the middle of him. Vox! I think, as she jumps back up with pieces of him…dripping off of her.

  The dark-haired woman with the captain yells. She pushes Vox as the pieces of the pale man drift back together like the blue goo from the bat in the Vishan cave. I shudder at the memory.

  "What happened? Why are you liquid?" Vox asks, staring at the pale man.

  "What? He's not liquid!" the dark-haired woman narrows her eyes, then takes a few steps toward Vox. "Sergeant Diaz, is this your first day out of flight school?"

  "I'm just a sergeant? What skod decided that?" Vox says, then heads right for Arco and me. "That's the Glyph, she whispers. I heard it. I heard part of a message."

  "Please accept our apologies, Farrow," Lieutenant Cathcart says to the pale man, then gives Vox a sideways look. "We have some new crew members who are not familiar with port-call technology."

  "Uh, I know about—" Vox starts to retort, but I elbow her as hard as I can so she shuts her vent. They're going to send us back to the ship if she keeps this up, and then we'll never get to the Glyph.

  "It's perfectly fine…I didn't feel anything at all," the pale man says, then says something else to the captain as I glare at Vox.

  What did you hear? How do you know that's the Glyph? I think toward Vox.

  He was telling that captain that this was a 'call to action in partnership with the Carboderm Corporation and Biotech Global.' Why would a line like that be in this cine? It has to be one of those subliminal pieces of the message.

  I nod at her, then notice Lieutenant Ridley glaring at us. I clear my throat and start looking around.

  We pass more white box houses, and I actually do wonder where they all came from with no sign of buildings or even trees anywhere.

  "How did you build these?" I finally ask the pale man. Lieutenant Ridley gives me another sneer and then finally turns away as the guide answers me, but I'm too busy wondering what Ridley's problem is to pay attention to what he has to say.

  Lieutenant Cathcart falls back, eyeing Vox up and down before crossing to walk on the other side of me. Now that I see him up close, he really looks like he could be Arco's older brother.

  "You're all obviously new to our mission…" he starts, shooting another glance at Vox. "I don't know what anyone has told you, but the Transcendents are not our enemies. The people in the Hostile Zone aren't even our enemies. We are just tired of losing crews when it seems like a doomed cause. They're just too far gone. Lieutenant Ridley up there is pretty adamant about that, but she's seen a lot of people die," he adds as the ground starts shaking again.

  "What's happening? We're inside the gate!" Myra's voice is shrill over the comms.

  "Relax, it's just the lasers for the sleeper pockets…" Cathcart says, turning to her and holding up a hand.

  "Those people back there are being gassed right now?" Arco almost shouts.

  "What's your general problem, Lieutenant?" the captain fires at him over his shoulder before I can remind Arco not to get pulled in.

  "I just find it interesting that you think it's a better idea to genetically engineer people instead of dealing with the radiation problem," Arco fires right back, taking a step toward the captain, but he's met by Lieutenant Ridley.

  "You see that up there in the sky, Richards?" she asks, pointing to the huge red sun. "In a hundred years, the radiation will force everyone into the core of the planet. This place is doomed. You think you can reverse that?"

  "Actually—" Arco starts, but I have to stop him before he gets us sent back onto the ship too. I pull his shoulder down to me and mouth it's just a cine. He sighs, but finally nods.

  The pale man clears his throat, which pulls our attention back to him. He waves his hand toward a giant hole that's somehow in the middle of the dirt road, but there's another image inside the hole…it looks like the orange desert we just came from.

  "Where did they get carbon bombs?" Lieutenant Cathcart asks, rounding on Lieutenant Ridley. "That's the only thing that could blow a hole in the parmide wall. Cass, did you…?" he stumbles, then shakes his head. "You wouldn't…"

  "Stow it, Mark," Ridley says through her teeth, and there's something about the pinched, arrogant look on her face that actually makes me want to punch her.

  Cathcart whispers something to her, and there's awkward silence for several seconds until Vox's voice breaks it like a rock through a window.

  "What explosion?"

  "You set off that bomb?" the captain asks, startling Lieutenant Ridley. She turns to him and actually laughs.

  "Are you kidding me, Folger? You think I'm going to take the fall for this one?"

  They think she blew the hole in the Transcendents' wall? Why would she do that? She's with the crew that's helping them, isn't she? I think, finding Lyden.

  It looks like they're setting her up as the traitor, Lyden answers. The people on the ship are the good guys, genetically modifying people for their own good. I think they're positioning her as the antagonist to the mission.

  "Cass…" Cathcart says, shaking his head. "I never thought you would take it this far."

  Lyden nods at me, confirming his suspicion. And he's apparently trying to distance himself now that she's exposed.

  "Let's go," the captain says, but the way he looks at Lieutenant Ridley is off somehow…familiar somehow, the way Liddick looked at me on the beach after the marlin spoke to us, and Arco was heading our way with Jax.

  My heart starts hammering in my chest…Liddick? I think.

  "Cathcart, you're in charge of the team while I deal with this."

  "Yes, sir," Cathcart says, too enthusiastically. He turns back to us, but Vox takes off running again toward the captain, and I'm afraid she's going to try to tackle the pale man again, or maybe…Liddick?

  "Vox, wait!" I call after her, but the captain has already held out a hand to her.

  "Stop right there!" he yells, but they just stare at each other in a standoff.

  What are you doing? I shout at her in my head. But she doesn't answer me.

  She's trying to read him, Lyden thinks, taking a step toward them. Vox finally turns around and starts walking back toward me.

  That's your boyfriend, she thinks, her yellow eyes drilling into me. You saw it. That's why I
saw it.

  You think that's Liddick? Are you sure?

  I don't have to be sure. You're sure, she thinks again.

  I'm not sure!

  He heard me. I asked him if he was in there, and he heard me.

  The captain—Liddick?—takes Lieutenant Ridley's elbow and starts walking back toward the pale man again, then stops and looks back at us…at me. Is it you? I think, and I feel him, but just for a second. He heard me. In that second, I know Vox is right. I know he heard me.

  ***

  The bright light comes out of nowhere, and I can't see anything until the blurry steel beams of the Boneyard come into view. I hear the hydraulics of the metal rods moving past my ears, and I blink until everything finally comes into focus.

  I sit up and see Eco and Calyx bent in front of a console while Tark seems to be arguing with my dad and Liam about something.

  "Transcendence is unlinked," a technician in white says. I scan for Fraya, but she's not in her uplink chair. Jax is nowhere to be found either.

  "What's happening?" I say, getting to my feet. Arwyn makes her way over to me, waving Arco to us.

  "It's Liddick…Tark is convinced he's working against us because of the propaganda he's writing with his storyboarder credential. Liam and your dad are trying to get Tark to see reason."

  "He's writing that stuff?" Arco asks.

  "No…I mean I don't think so," Arwyn says, wrinkling her forehead when she meets my eyes again. "It just doesn't look good. We have entry points where he's added script. He seems to know what he's doing in there."

  "He's the captain, isn't he? He's Folger?" I ask, but I already know the answer. Arwyn nods. "Does he know it's us in there? Can he see through our bioprint masks?"

  "Yours glitched right before we pulled you out. He should have been able to see you then, but he's still making a B-line to the center of the Hidden City, so it doesn't look like whatever his agenda is has changed," Arwyn says, then looks at me long and hard. "Jazwyn, did you notice a striking resemblance between yourself and Lieutenant Ridley?"