by MJ McGriff
“This is such a bullshit assignment,” Davidson said. It was the first time I heard him speak since we’d met.
“We have our orders,” Stevens countered.
“We didn’t train our asses off to babysit the chief’s spoiled brat. I mean, did you see that reckless stunt she pulled yesterday?”
“I was there, remember?”
“If that had been any one of us we’d be in the brig for a month. But because she’s the chief’s daughter she gets a pass.”
My face was hot for different reasons. I wasn’t spending a month in the brig because my reckless stunt had saved people’s lives.
“There’s nothing we can do about that,” Stevens said.
“C’mon, Stevens! There are way more important things we could be doing.”
“The chief has enough people looking into Sector C.”
“But what about the workers’ strike in Sector B? Who’s covering that?”
“Nunez.”
“That guy’s an idiot.”
“Davidson, it’s only three days. After that, we’ll bring her back as the chief ordered.”
They both started zipping up their pants. “And what if she throws a tantrum? You know how those Fourth Gens get.”
“I brought my cuffs just in case.”
Chapter 5
I spent most of the next day too mad to enjoy the trek up the river. I tried to lighten my mood by focusing on the large fish jumping out of the water. I collected glassy little river rocks along the shore. But Stevens’ words kept coming to mind.
“...it’s only three days. After that, we’ll bring her back as the chief ordered.”
Thomas told us the mission would take at least five. There was no way I was going to let them cut this mission short. Flo wasn’t going to let them either.
“I know a little path through those mountain caverns,” she told me. “We’ll get them so lost in there it’ll take them days to find their way out.”
I just wanted to flat out tell them I wasn’t going anywhere. If they managed to get those electrifying cuffs on me, though, I would have no choice.
We reached the part of the river where it was safe to cross by mid-afternoon on the second day. Instead of a manmade bridge, it was a series of flat rocks. Though the water wasn’t as rough as it was downstream, it still made me a little nervous to cross. I had no idea how to swim.
“Don’t tell me you’re nervous,” Flo said as we watched Thomas walk across those rocks with ease. Phoenix was next, her foot slipping slightly on the middle rock. She was quick on her feet, though. She regained her footing and made it the rest of the way across without incident.
“Officer Wilson, I suggest you stay on this side of the river,” Stevens said, grabbing my arm. “It isn’t safe.”
I pulled my arm away from him. “Why do you care?” I snapped. “I’m a spoiled little brat, remember?”
He tried to keep a straight face, but I could see the surprise in his eyes. I blew his little plan to whisk me away. “We have orders to keep you safe.”
Flo was right at my side, staring down those guys like I was.
“Screw your orders,” I said and pulled my arm away.
“She’s not going back to Sector A in three days like the chief told you,” Flo added.
“Officer Wilson,” he started, but Flo threw her hand up.
“Save it. Your services are no longer needed, so turn around and go back home.” She took me by the arm, and we started across the river. It wasn’t so scary anymore. I was so pissed and couldn’t wait to get away from those a-holes. That fear returned, though, when I lost my footing, falling hard on my butt and I started to slide. The cold water was up to my ankles when Flo caught me.
“If you wanted to go for a swim all you had to do was say so,” she said, pulling me up.
I looked back and those idiots were arguing amongst themselves, struggling to cross the river. “Let’s get out of here.” Maybe there was a chance of losing them before we reached the pass.
We made it to the other side without a problem. The others were already halfway down the grassy path that led away from the river.
“We’re almost there!” Flo said. “You’re going to freak out when you see the pass.”
“It can’t be better than what I’ve already seen, can it?” I asked, keeping in step with her, the path winding through the high, thorny bushes.
“Way better! I mean, I’ve only been on four missions. But I swear there can’t be any place more awesome than this.”
My steps quickened and by the time a clearing came into sight I was running. Flo tried hard to keep up. I darted straight into a field. Sparkling purple flowers popped against the blades of emerald-green grass. Thousands of palm-sized insects with wings of fresh white, blood orange, and ruby danced as they flew from one flower to another.
“On Old Earth, they called those butterflies,” Flo said as she walked out in front of me. She outstretched her arms. “And if you stand still long enough, you can get a better view.” A few minutes flew by and they started landing on her arm. She giggled as they flew all about her. It was pure magic.
“C’mon, you two!” Phoenix and Thomas were halfway across the field.
I didn’t need to see anymore. I could’ve stayed out there gazing at those butterflies and beautiful flowers for the rest of my life.
I had settled for the next best thing, skipping through the flowers with my best friend. Those New Earth butterflies scurried out of our way. The field started to slope and we were back in a forest again. These thick black trunks had branches that overflowed with electric yellow, ruby red, and girly pink leaves. They looked too beautiful to be real. I heard a quick rustling of leaves. My eyes widened at the small, furry, gray creatures hopping through the trees. Their tails looked like balls of cotton, their ears long and flopping about their cute little faces. Flo called them the New Earth version of rabbits. I glanced back to see if there was any sign of the handlers.
Not a buzz cut in sight.
Just when the landscape couldn’t get any more surreal we emerged from the forest. We were in Old Man’s Pass. On our right were the mountains, the brown rock extending up so high it was kissing the sky. Their caps were a dusty white, like the snow I used to read about. Way on our left were more of those colored trees. Tall, oddly shaped rock formations rose from the ground, their ashy gray surfaces shining in the sun. They created a winding path down the gentle hills of auburn grass.
Thomas was already heading toward the mountains, with Phoenix close behind them. Flo and I took our time following them, but as we got closer we realized we weren’t alone. Thomas was heading straight for a group of people walking away from the mountains.
“Who’s that?” I asked.
“Don’t know,” Flo replied. “Maybe the team from Fishermen’s Creek decided to take a detour back home.”
“I can see why they wouldn’t want to go back so soon,” I said. “It’s incredible out here.”
“Isn’t it? I hope we don’t screw it up like Old Earth.”
“I’m sure if everyone knew how perfect this place was, they would be less inclined to muck it up.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Those people looked like colonists, dressed in the same drab clothes everyone else back in Sector A wore. They also had packs and cases in their hands. Thomas was waving wildly at them, shouting out pleasantries.
The shouting turned to screams.
One of those colonists had a gun and he was pointing it right at Thomas and Phoenix.
I dropped by backpack and pulled out my sidearms. “Take this,” I said, handing one to Flo.
“India...what is happening?” She took the gun from me.
I took out my second one, charging it. As much as I hated to admit it, having Davidson and Stevens would have been helpful. But when I glanced back and saw nothing but those rock formations, I ran across the field toward the explorers at top speed. The armed colonist forced Thomas and
Phoenix to their knees. Behind him were four others, one of which noticed me coming straight toward him. I slowed down, raised my gun, and pointed it at the gunmen.
“Put the gun down!” I yelled at him.
Flo caught up to me and she did the same, though I could see her hands shaking out of the corner of my eye.
“Don’t be scared, Flo,” I said to her. “They’re outgunned. There won’t be any shooting today.”
Boy was I wrong.
Those other four men pulled out guns from under their raggedy shirts.
“Shit, India,” Flo said. “We’re in trouble.”
***
The group of men dressed in workman’s clothing ordered us to our knees. With our hands behind our heads, they took all our belongings.
“What do we do now?” asked the tall lanky one.
The man next to him kept his eyes on me, his face weathered with age. He gave no answer.
“I knew we shouldn’t have come all the way out here!” cried another. His black hair covered an eye.
“Quit your whinin’!” the old man said. “We’re taking them in.”
“Sir, we are here to find Oranium.” Thomas’s frail body quivered as he pleaded with one of the gunmen.
“We’re tired of you people always thinking everything belongs to you!” the old man sneered. He kneeled down, looking at the bag next to him. The blue crystals glowed inside. He quickly closed it and got to his feet. “Tie them up. We gotta get back before dark.”
His men bound our hands behind our backs. I got one last glimpse of those majestic mountains before they put a sack over my head. We were forced to our feet and we walked for a while. The barrels of their guns never left our backs. The whole time my mind was reeling about who these people were. It didn’t make any sense. They didn’t look like explorers. So what were they doing all the way out here? Were these people responsible for those who were missing in Sector C? If so, why would they take that many people hostage?
I heard a door open and they shoved us inside of some type of enclosed space.
“Take a seat!” one of them said, but as I felt around there were no seats. Only a cold metal floor. The doors slammed shut and it got dark.
“Is everyone okay?” I asked, which was a stupid question. I wasn’t all right.
“Oh my goodness, what is happening?” Flo mumbled, her voice cracking.
“Damn traitors,” Phoenix spat.
“Traitors?” I asked.
“I thought it was just a stupid Sector B rumor,” Phoenix explained. “Guess I was wrong.”
“I’m sure this is one big misunderstanding,” Thomas said.
Our vehicle started to go up a bit before lurching forward. I couldn’t feel any tires under us. That meant it was a hover vehicle. That wasn’t possible. The president had them decommissioned months ago. Their energy cells took up too much power—the power we needed for other things.
We’d been moving for a while, my backside aching from sitting on the hard floor. It was my turn to be nervous. We were going way off course. Even if my security detail finally did catch up, we were long gone by the time they got there. That meant they would go back home—and my father would blow a gasket. He would save us. If anyone knew how to track me down it was him. Though he would chain me to my bed for the rest of my life.
It was a selfish thing to think about given the situation. Yet thinking about the alternative—imprisonment or worse, death—couldn’t be an option. At the end of the day, I was there to protect everyone with me. I couldn’t do that if I was a nervous wreck.
The little bit of sunlight I could see started to dim. It would be dark soon, and it would be even harder to find us.
Darkness was finally all around us when the vehicle came to a sudden stop. The doors cranked open and arms pulled us out. All I could see was dark brown dirt, an eerie blue light illuminating our path. Voices swelled all around us.
“Who are they?”
“What are they doing here?”
“Do they know who we are?”
Another door creaked open and they pushed us inside, the voices behind us subsiding once the door closed. It was then when they snatched the sacks off our heads. The light from the three moons shone through the cracks and holes in the metal shack.
“Take a seat,” one of the gunmen said, and we immediately sat down on the dirt floor.
“Why are you doing this to us?” Flo cried. “Please let us go!”
The men chuckled and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind them. The chains they used to lock us in rattled against the door.
Flo was right next to me, and I placed a cuffed hand over hers. Tears were streaming down her face, her curls sticking to her forehead. “Please tell me we’re going to be okay.”
I wanted to believe that. I couldn’t. This didn’t look good at all. “It’s going to be okay.”
She put her head on my shoulder. Thomas wasn’t so talkative now, the moons’ light shining on his stoic face. Phoenix was fuming, already on her feet pacing.
Okay, India, what do you do know?
Those guys weren’t the ones in charge. We were in some kind of camp. Davidson and Stevens should’ve gone back for help. Their leader would want to speak to us and find out what we were doing out there. That meant there was a chance to talk our way out of this. In case there wasn’t, we needed to make an escape. To make an escape we needed strength, which we didn’t have. We’d been traveling all day with no rest and no food.
“Everybody, I know you’re scared,” I said.
“Damn right we are,” Phoenix said.
“But we need to get our rest,” I continued. “There’s no telling what’s in store for us and we need all the strength we can get. I’ll stay up and keep watch.”
It took a minute, but they listened, everyone finding a spot to rest that was at least within an arm’s length of each other. My nightshift work proved useful. The darkness gave me the second wind I needed to push through and stay alert. I concentrated on the sounds outside.
Occasional shouting.
Two women laughing.
The rumbling of a ground vehicle rolling past.
A strange mechanical humming. It got closer until it was right outside the door, coming to a halt in front of it. The chains clanged. Everyone immediately sat up, Flo’s fingers digging into my skin. The door opened and a man carrying a lantern glowing with a blue light was standing in the entrance. The light was so blinding I couldn’t get much of his face.
“Which one of you should I be speaking to?” he asked.
I stood up. “Me.”
“Good.” He turned around and spoke to the woman standing beside him. “Bring her with us.”
She nodded. The dirty looking guys with her covered my head and dragged me outside.
Chapter 6
I went from a dirt floor shack to a room that resembled my quarters back home, except with a lot more space. Slick gray walls, a large grated window, and wall cubes for storage. Inside them were various parts—screws, bolts, beakers. On one side was a wood table filled with gadgets, the likes I’d never seen before. A toolbox was under it, the lid open and full with plenty of things I could use to render this guy motionless. The woman this man spoke to earlier pushed me to the swivel chair in front of the bed that jutted out of the wall. She was six feet tall, much slender than me, with long platinum blond hair that went down to her waist. Her small, blue eyes were full of contempt. She slammed me down and did the honors of tying me to it with thick, plastic cords.
When I was secure, the man walked in. “Leave us, Verona.”
“That’s not wise.”
“It’s fine.”
She left the room, slamming the door behind her. He walked over, sitting down on the bed in front of me. He had smooth, tanned skin, his dark brown hair in small, shiny waves on top of his head. Despite the short trimmed beard, he wasn’t much older than me. At least a year or two shy of being a Fourth Gen. His dark eyes only adde
d to his aura of mystery, the kind of mystery that got girls into trouble.
“What is this place and why have you taken us prisoner?” I asked.
“I thought we would start with introductions first,” he said.
“This isn’t a friendly visit.”
“You’re right. It’s not. But I do like to know who exactly I’m dealing with. I’m sure you would want to know the same.”
“I want to know when you plan to let us go.”
He smirked. “The chances of that happening right now are slim.”
“Why?”
“Because our safety depends on secrecy.”
Safety? They were the aggressors here. “Who are you hiding from?”
“That’s a loaded question.”
“It’s quite simple.”
“For you, maybe. When you learn more about his place and what I’m trying to do, you’ll see it’s not that simple.”
“Who are you and what are you trying to do?”
He smirked. “Good. Now we can get to introductions. I’m Oliver Adams and you’re Officer...”
“Wilson.”
“I’m sure you have a first name. All you Fourth Gens have those nostalgic Old Earth names.”
“Why does it matter what my first name is?”
“Because you’re going to be here awhile and I for one want to address you properly.”
That’s what you think. “Why be polite if you’re just going to tie us up and leave us in a dirty metal shack?”
He leaned against the bed. “I assure you it’s a precaution. Once you learn about our ways you and your people will realize that we aren’t as horrible as you think.”
Pulling guns on us, tying us up, putting sacks over our heads—those were actions that were far from friendly. He wasn’t fooling anybody with his good looks and smooth charm. We were prisoners, not guests. And it didn’t matter what he had going on in whatever this place was. Owning guns as a private citizen was illegal. Living outside of sector confines was also against the New Earth Charter. When the president found out about this, every last one of them was going to serve a lot of years of hard labor.
