A grinding sound filled the atrium. We didn’t have enough time. Eli snagged my arm and pulled me toward an alcove. Once we were in it, he nodded at the doors and the steady stream of metal bees pouring through. I glanced at the gauge on the device. Fifteen seconds.
Ten.
The screams of people flying past were drowned out from the buzzing. Patches of light began to open on the dome, illuminating the chamber.
Five.
I dropped to my knees as the bees dove straight at us. Eli knelt next to me, covering my torso with his bulk.
Two.
As the bees were about to hit, they swerved and headed for the station and a set of secondary blast doors, covering the surface as though they wanted access.
I felt a tug on my arm and looked up. Eli was on his feet, pulling me across the dome and toward the exit. Soon we were running. I glanced back to see the bees continued to gather on the blast doors, oblivious we were making our escape.
It worked. I couldn’t be happier about it. Nobody died this time, and we’d managed to escape. But we only had fifteen minutes before the device overheated and shut down. If we were lucky, we would be far enough from the swarm when we became visible again, and they wouldn’t see us.
We exited the station, heading for the main street and a large tower in the distance. My target. I knew the nanites were in my body, but I hadn’t been able to verify it. I only hoped when I got there, I could find a way to extract the code from them.
If we got there. Two miles seemed a long way to travel when you had fifteen minutes of invisibility and at least twenty minutes to get to your destination. Considering there were cameras on every corner, the bees would know in an instant where we’d gone.
We turned toward a plaza and Eli climbed up on a fountain, continuing onto the statue in the middle.
“What are you doing? We don’t have time for this!”
He began to hammer on the camera sitting on top. “Look around. All the buildings in the downtown area are on lockdown. We won’t make it to the tower before this shield goes down. I either knock this camera out and we hide somewhere while the device cools down and reboots, or we try to make a run for it.” One final whack and the camera sizzled and popped. “I prefer this method. Over there. To that playground.” He pointed, but I’d already started moving for it. The small playhouse would provide enough cover as long as the bees didn’t move too close or through the open windows.
I threw the door open and crawled in to find a young woman with two children huddled by her side. Her eyes widened when she saw me, but she didn’t say anything. I knew she recognized me, and for a moment, I wondered if she’d bought all the wanted bulletins all over the city, proclaiming me a killer.
“I didn’t do what they are saying I did.”
“Don’t hurt my children.” She dug her heels in and pushed into the corner, taking the toddler and young girl with her. The baby wrinkled up its forehead before letting out a wail and burying his face into his mother’s breast. The little girl stared at me, tears lining her eyes. Her bottom lip trembled as she fisted the fabric of her mother’s shirt.
Wrong place, wrong time. I swallowed. We had to hide and didn’t have the time to take down another of the holo-cams. Even so, I turned to leave.
Eli crawled in after me and paused when he saw the woman and her kids. “Maybe we should find another place? If the bees locate us, they’ll kill them too.”
“Is that true?” The woman looked from me to Eli and back again.
“Yes.” No use in making up a story. I knew the bees somehow tracked me, but I didn’t know how yet. The woman would know if I lied. I’d never been good at telling untruths, and she was already on high alert, ready to fight to the death. I could see the determination lining her mouth, the anger in her eyes as she barely controlled the rage.
“I want to go home.” The little girl turned, burying her face under her mother’s arm as the woman pulled the children closer, her distrustful gaze never leaving us.
“It’s okay.” I reached out to reassure her.
Her arms tightened around the children. “Leave. We were here first.”
“Too late to go. We’re out of options.” Eli nodded toward the open window in the little playhouse. A buzzing sound, growing louder by the second, filled the air outside. A warm breeze ruffled my hair. My stomach tumbled and the tiny space grew dark as the bees blocked out the sun.
Eli shrugged out of the pack holding the generator, and pulled it free, laying it before us. The red light glowed. I glanced at the window and back at the temperature warning. Too hot to reboot. The bees were on top of us. We had to do something. If one scout flew into the enclosure, we were done.
I pulled the pad out of my pack. “Max. Are you there?”
The screen flashed and went black. I pushed the com button again. “Max.” The ground vibrated under me. The bees had drawn all the power in the area, draining the pad, possibly the generator. I doubted I could get the EM shields up if I wanted to.
“Mama,” the little girl screamed, joining the infant.
“It’s orange.”
I twisted to look at the generator. “Okay, this is what we are going to do. We have thirty seconds until the generator cools enough to activate. It may or may not work. Eli, you take the girl, and I will take the generator. We are going to make a run for the tower. I will have the pack ready to go live as soon as the light hits green. They are going to see us while we run, but if we can stay ahead of them for thirty seconds, they won’t find us when the shields go up.” I punched a couple of keys, and the device began to hum. I shoved it in the pack. “We have to leave. To stay here will be suicide. They’re scanning the area, and it’s only a matter of…”
A bee flew in the window.
“Run!” Eli grabbed the little girl, and we scrambled from the playhouse, bolting past the swings with several of the bees darting in and around us. The swarm above spiraled and moved in our direction. I ran next to the woman, the pack’s strap in one hand, the frightened mother’s hand in the other. Heat blasted in from behind us as Eli came up beside me, the little girl in his arms shrieking.
We launched past several parked transports and down a concrete sidewalk. I didn’t dare look back, having done that before and learned my lesson. A green light flashed through the pack, and I pulled the woman around a corner, dropping to my haunches beside a stone building, drawing her and the baby down with me. Holding my breath, I turned as Eli and the little girl joined us. Bees zipped by, so close my hair whipped around me. Eli grabbed us, and we huddled together, ducking our heads, the buzz now a terrifying roar I couldn’t hear the children’s screams over. Flashes of lightning and ashes swirled into clouds as the swarm flew past.
And as fast as it came, it left. The sun again beamed down on a silent street. The shield crackled and smoke poured from the bag. I dropped the now useless device. “We need to get to cover now.”
Eli nodded, picked the little girl up, and we ran for the nearest building trying the doors. I tugged and tugged, but they wouldn’t budge, as riot protocol had activated. “Another.”
We ran to the next and the next, finding all locked down. I glanced around in a panic, and then I spotted it, a transporter, its door ajar, ashes blowing around the base. “In there.” I pointed as the cloud in the sky circled around and came at us.
As the transporter’s dome dropped down, the first bee hit the glass.
Bang, bang, bang, the entos hit, memories of the cracking glass in the lift came back hard and heavy. I closed my eyes, desperate to come up with one idea. Anything.
“Mommy, Mommy!”
“Even if we reach the tower, we won’t be able to get in.” The entos hit harder and faster, ramming the glass and shaking the vehicle, determined to destroy the barrier.
“Will it hold?” the woman said.
I shook my head. Eventually it would crack. When it did, it would be seconds before the swarm shattered it and we were all dead. “Ev
en if it does, they can wait us out until the end of time. We’re likely to die of thirst or bake to death in the sun before they go away.
“Can you start it?”
“They’re drawing all the power in the area. Even if I could, we wouldn’t get far before they drained the charge.”
I pulled out the pad and tapped the screen, certain it would be as black as it had been before. Instead, Max stared back at me. Some of the fear holding me in a chokehold pulled back.
“Can we get a little help here?”
“What can I do for you?”
“Do you think you could loop some holo-cam feed and send the bees on a false trail, long enough for us to get into the tower?”
“I can. I’ll bring them back to the station. It will buy you some time.”
“How about the tower’s doors?”
“Can you say open sesame?”
I wrinkled my brow. “Why?”
“You know, Ali Baba?”
“Who?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Is that some kind of secret code?”
“No, don’t worry about it.” Max rolled his eyes. “I’ll explain later. On my count, you will have five minutes to get your ass…” He eyed the children behind me. “Your butts to the tower. Who are the kids?”
“They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“I’ll say. Okay, you should start to see the bees move away.”
I glanced around as they continued to bounce off the glass. “No.” But as I said it, they lifted into the sky, moving back toward the station. “They’re leaving.”
“Time to go.” Eli popped the dome open and extracted the woman and children. “Come with us, okay?”
She nodded, and we were off again, this time headed for the tower and the only way to end the terror attacking the islands. God help me, I wouldn’t stop until I brought it down. As we reached the entrance, Eli hit the latch. The doors didn’t move.
“Bees.” The little girl pointed over Eli’s shoulder and from where we’d come.
“Shit.” I hit the latch. “It should open.” But it didn’t. I slammed my palm into the button. “Come on. Damn you.”
“Open sesame!” Eli yelled out.
The doors groaned and began to slide open.
I looked at Eli who shrugged. “Thought I’d give it a try.”
“I don’t know who Ali Baba is, but remind me to give him a big kiss when I meet him.” We rushed inside, and the doors closed. Around the lobby, several people huddled in groups, including police and soldiers. They turned toward us, and I knew I’d been spotted as one of them stood.
“You there. You’re Iia Danner.”
I nodded. “I know what you’ve been told, but I’ve come to help.”
“It’s about time. We’ve been trapped in here since this morning. The bees circled the tower until about an hour ago, when they flew off toward the station.”
“Can you take me to the control room?”
He jerked his chin toward a lift. “This way.”
I eyed it. “Are there stairs?”
He frowned. “Yes, but the lift is faster.”
“The lift is also a death trap. Trust me. I’d rather take the stairs.”
“It’s one hundred and fifty stories up.”
“Then we better start climbing.”
* * *
Three hours later, I rested my hands on my knees and stared at the lock on the satellite relay station room. Now what? I didn’t have a chip or authorization. I didn’t have a clue how I would get the nanites out of my body to deactivate the uplink. And right about now, I wished I’d thought about the one hundred and fifty floors before.
Eli came up behind me and studied the locks. “All right, you’re on.”
“Yeah.” I shoved my hand in my hair, unable to dissect the most intricate security system I’d ever seen. No way could I crack these locks.
“Open sesame?”
The door remained closed.
“Nice try.” I eyed Eli. “But I think it’s going to take a bit more than Ali Baba’s secret code to release these locks. According to the log by the door, my great-great-grandfather was the last person to enter.”
The police officer nodded. “Wait. We happen to have a master programmer here. He arrived earlier this morning for systems maintenance. He should be able to open this. I think he’s on the eightieth floor. Let me call him up.”
I nodded and turned to Eli, mouthing, “I don’t like this.” It all felt too easy, too convenient. The doors outside opened because of Max, everything so far worked because of a kid who reminded me a bit too much of Tyler. I couldn’t get over the feeling someone brought me here, even if it seemed it took an act of God to get me to this place. A few days ago, I wouldn’t have considered helping with any of this. Now, I didn’t think twice about bringing an empire to its knees.
I was about to shut down the power on the islands and drop the place into the Dark Ages. It could take months to replace the power supply with something like solar, and even the panels would not be enough to get the infrastructure up and running. None of what we could adapt without our satellites had enough power to run all we’d built. People’s lives were about to change, and I doubted they’d like it, even if shutting the towers down saved them from the bees.
Not to mention, a niggling feeling in the back of my mind screamed someone had manipulated me.
I leaned against the wall, both physically and mentally exhausted. With a groan, I scrubbed my face. “What if I can’t do this?” I looked up at him, tired, so damn tired and sick of the death and the threats. With all my being, I wished the changes would vanish and I could start over.
“You can.” Eli’s voice didn’t waver, nor did his expression change. He believed I could do this, yet I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to be the savior of a nation, the one person who could make a change that would affect so many.
“What if I can’t?”
Eli gave me a soft smile, his eyes held a comforting warmth, more than any words could express. “I have never believed for a second you were not the one, even when you were convinced you weren’t. I know you can do it. There is no question.”
Tyler stood next to him. I blinked, but he didn’t vanish. “He’s right. You can shut the tower down.”
“I don’t think so.”
Tyler walked up to me. “I know you can. You don’t forget how to breathe, Iia.”
“You’re not real.” I reached out, dragging my hand through his image.
“I am very real. And alive. The implant you received to enhance your hair also acts as a conduit so you can see me, talk to me.”
Eli moved toward me, to the very spot where Tyler stood. He came to a stop inside the ghost of my old friend, oblivious he was there. Eli used his fingers to tip my chin up, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “You’re talking to your friend again, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Focus, Iia. Now is not the time to fall apart. You have to be present, in mind and body.”
“I’m not falling apart.” I stood. “I’m remembering how to breathe.” I walked up to the door and stared at the lock. “I’m going to need some tools, parts, and privacy. I’ll make a list of what I require, but if I’m going to do this, I don’t want anyone looking over my shoulder. Eli is right. I have to focus.”
“That a girl,” Tyler chimed in. “You don’t happen to have the codes, do you?”
I turned to look at him. “Quiet.” I pulled my backpack off and yanked the pad out, typing a list of supplies and handing it to one of the soldiers. “Thank you.”
* * *
Axel picks up a romance novel. “Why don’t you rest for a bit?”
I stretch out on the floor and lie back on Angel. Sometime during the last hour, Angel had made his way out to where I sat and took up guard near my head. He didn’t growl or make any indication Axel is a threat. With a huff, he rests his head on his paws. I yawn. “I can’t believ
e we sat up all night and talked. I haven’t done that in…never.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had a lengthy conversation with anyone too.”
As Axel opens the book and starts to read. “My father always told me a proper lady never ventured into a gentleman’s gambling hall. So, I had no reason to be surprised when I ran head on into the Earl of Sutton and he mistook me for a courtesan.”
I close my eyes and soak in his company. If my dog isn’t worried about my guest, neither am I.
19
The coast of what used to be California, 12th June 2239
As Axel reads to me, I listen, but not to the story. I’d memorized it a long time ago. The pitches and falls in his voice express a great deal of emotion I might miss if I don’t cue into it. Hearing an actual human speak to me seems so foreign, and yet as comforting as eating baked banana dessert.
When we reach chapter twelve, I let him continue, absorbing every inflection and the odd accent I have not noticed until now. I’ve lost so much, and yet he never had what I mourn. As he reads, I feel a connection to him, one I’ve never had with anyone else. We are both without the love flying off the pages and pouring from his mouth.
I’ve never longed this way. Want. I miss the company of people, of having strong arms hold me. I can barely remember what it felt like to lace hands with a man while making love. As the couple did in the book.
His voice goes silent.
I open my eyes to find him staring. “What?”
“Do you ever wonder what it would be like to have someone in your life to grow old with, to just be yourself and not worry about what anyone else thought of you?” he asks.
I shrug. “I thought I had someone at one time, but I’d been wrong.” As I hold his gaze, I see something I missed before. A sadness, almost as if it exhausts him. He looks so weary. I get it. I find myself reflecting on how very tired I am of being alone. We both suffer.
“How did he die?”
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