Before Seb could think on it any more, Sparks walked to the simulator’s exit. He sighed, his body sinking with the deep exhale. He’d have to follow her out there.
The simulator rooms took up one side of a huge underground bunker. Each one had rows of benches behind them for spectators to sit on. When Seb and Sparks had gone in, the benches were full. When they came out, Moses remained as the only one there. No doubt the rest of them had witnessed the mess their mission had been and left before things got heated.
Whenever they ran a simulation, they had to turn the lights in the bunker down low. Any glare from outside could break the illusion. Although Moses sat close to where they’d emerged from, the dark room cast a deep shadow across his face that hid most of his features. Yet Seb saw his cold eyes clearer than ever as Moses surveyed him with his usual contemptuous detachment.
As much as Seb wanted to walk past Moses and go back to his room, the large shark-like creature wouldn’t stand for it. Especially when Sparks walked over and sat down next to him.
Although Moses had always been hard to read, Seb felt something in the air at that moment. The slightest spark and the big creature would blow his top.
Seb moved over to the bench and sat far enough away to be out of Moses’ reach. At first, the head of the Shadow Order turned to Sparks, his tone light in his appraisal of her performance. “A-plus, Sparks, well done. You did everything you needed to do and in a timely fashion. My only criticism would be to try to hold the ship a bit steadier in the bunker. The last thing you need is an unnecessary crash while you’re getting away.”
Sparks nodded at Moses before lowering her purple eyes in deference. “I will do that. Thank you.”
The attention of the other two then turned to Seb and he shrank even smaller than he already felt.
Moses cocked his head to the side. “What was that?”
Other than ‘Go screw yourself, Moses,’ Seb didn’t have a response.
“You let us down, Seb. How many simulators will you mess up because you can’t get any better in a dogfight? I’d suggest you fly the ship and let Sparks shoot, but Sparks is such a good pilot it would be a waste to have her on the guns. At least with Sparks’ skills, you may stand a chance of survival. If we put you in the cockpit, you’d probably crash before you took off.”
Heat flushed Seb’s cheeks and his pulse raced. A torrent of fury built up inside him, but he held his tongue.
Moses must have wanted a response because he tutted when he didn’t get one and shooed Seb away with his hand. “Go and watch Gurt and the Silent Assassin to see how it’s done. Hopefully, you’ll learn something from them.”
Seb walked over to the observation area for the simulator next to them. Gurt—a Mandulu who could shoot the pimple off a baby’s bottom—had the Silent Assassin as his teammate. They aced every simulator they tried and Gurt made sure Seb knew about it.
As Gurt and SA’s virtual mission played out in front of them, Seb watched his and Sparks’ escape on the monitor above the simulation room they’d been in. It played as a replay until someone switched it off. That could take days because Moses believed in everyone learning from one another. And to be fair, Seb and Sparks aced their escape for the most part. Everything went well until they had to engage in a dogfight—the story of so many of their simulations.
A heavy nudge nearly knocked Seb from the bench. When he looked at Moses next to him, the shark-like creature spoke through a face full of sharp and clenched teeth. “Focus on this simulator. You might learn something.”
The clock on the screen showed Gurt and the Silent Assassin arriving at the hangar at about the same time as Seb and Sparks had. The combined fighting force of the two saw them dispatch their pursuers with ease, but they didn’t have Sparks’ skills for hot-wiring the motor on the shutter. Instead, Gurt fired what seemed to be over a hundred shots at the hangar’s doorframe. Made from rock, the frame crumbled and the shutter fell forward and crashed on the ground.
SA got the ship started while Gurt stood in the hangar’s doorway and used his blasters to see off the next wave of attackers.
The beasts barely made it through the gap in the rocks before Gurt dispatched them, every one of his shots scoring a direct hit from over fifty metres away.
The second Gurt entered the ship, he went straight to the gunner’s turret and SA flew them out of the hangar. They picked a different ship than Seb and Sparks had—a larger one. The pilot had to take responsibility for making sure the vessel would be appropriate for their needs. SA had to be certain Gurt could fit in the turret.
Seb squinted when he looked at the faraway dots. “Are they—?”
Gurt confirmed it for Seb when he let seven blasts free and seven explosions responded in the distance.
The last of the exploded ships died out and the lights in Gurt and SA’s simulator suddenly came on. The abrupt change dazzled Seb for the second time that day.
The simulator room turned white as the projection vanished. Gurt and SA stood in the middle of the sparse space. After a high five, they exited the simulator.
A grin as wide as his fat jaw, Gurt looked at his spectators and said, “And that’s how you do it.”
When he caught Moses’ eye, he smiled. Moses acknowledged his pride with a gentle nod.
Seb didn’t need to feel any worse, but that never stopped Gurt, who walked over and sat down next to him on the bench. “So how did you do?”
At that moment, the replay of Seb’s simulation showed him and Sparks in the ship. When the screen filled with the white light of their ship’s explosion, Gurt pulled a sharp breath in and winced away from the image. He laughed. “Wow, not so good, then.”
Fire spread beneath Seb’s cheeks and he looked at SA. He didn’t see the same derisive joy on her face. He didn’t see much on her face, to be fair.
In the few weeks Seb had been at the Shadow Order’s training camp, SA hadn’t said a word. A tall and sleek female with yellow skin, she stood about the same height as him, just over six feet tall. She had the grace of a cat and the bite of a cobra. She could fly as well as Sparks, if not better, and her knives seemed like an extension of her limbs when she engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Not even Seb would fight her if she had her blades on her, which she always did.
When SA had trained to fight as a child, she’d taken a vow of silence. She’d only speak when she had something worth saying. Something worthy of the time and effort her masters had put into her training. Otherwise, she’d shut up and learn.
Hard to read, SA’s brilliant blue eyes drank Seb in, and for the first time since he’d messed up his simulation, he felt calm.
A firm shove from Gurt forced Seb from his moment of serenity and the brute said, “Don’t ignore me.”
Seb’s world slipped into slow motion and he jumped to his feet.
When Gurt stood up with him, Seb stepped forward. Before it could go any further, Sparks jumped up and stood between the two. They both ignored her as they continued to push against one another.
A blinding pain roared to life in Seb’s thigh and pulled his groin muscles tight in a spasm. The shock of it launched him backwards and he landed on the hard floor on his back. The spot where Sparks had electrocuted him on his right thigh burned and his quads twitched. Gurt—who had fallen away in the opposite direction—looked equally as shocked by Sparks’ intervention. The tiny Thrystian simply shrugged while she looked from one of them to the other. “You two don’t need to be fighting.”
“I beg to differ,” Seb replied, wincing as he forced his words out past the pain Sparks had inflicted on him.
Before Gurt could respond, Moses stepped between them and addressed Seb. “Gurt has every right to call you out on your performance, you know.”
Instead of replying, Seb got back to his feet and looked across the large bunker to see a crowd of about fifty recruits had gathered to watch.
Moses then moved so close Seb could smell the antiseptic reek of his cologne. His deep vo
ice rattled against Seb’s chest. “Your dogfights are pathetic. You’re going to get yourself and your team killed if you don’t get any better. We’ve been practicing and practicing, and if anything, you’ve gotten worse.”
Fury bubbled beneath Seb’s skin and he felt every pair of eyes in the place on him. He kept his attention on the dark blue floor and said nothing.
Moses stepped even closer and shoved Seb in the chest; it sent Seb stumbling backwards, his weakened right leg giving way beneath him as he fell on his arse again.
The contact with the hard floor shook through Seb and he bit his tongue on impact. The metallic taste of his own blood filled his mouth, and before he could think, his world had slowed down, he’d jumped to his feet, and he’d rushed back towards Moses.
About a metre away from the large creature, Seb stopped when Moses pulled out a blaster and pointed it straight at his face. What had seemed like a lot of teeth doubled when Moses bared them. He seemed to be struggling to keep his voice even, his chest rising and falling with his quick breaths as he said, “You need to keep your mood in check, boy.”
In the face of Moses’ obsidian glare, Seb’s world returned to a normal speed. A vacuum for emotion, Moses’ eyes sucked him into a black hole. If Moses wanted it, Seb would disappear forever. He needed to remember that.
“Now, I like you, Seb,” Moses said, “but I won’t have anyone getting in my face like that. You got me?”
Heavy breaths helped calm Seb down. When he glanced across at Gurt, the Mandulu flashed him a facetious smile.
Because Seb hadn’t replied, Moses stepped closer to him and spoke slowly. “Have. You. Got. Me?”
Another deep breath and Seb fought to keep the petulance from his tone when he said, “Yep.”
After Moses lowered his gun, Seb walked past him and left the bunker.
Chapter 5
Just as the elevator doors were closing, Sparks jumped sideways through them and joined Seb inside. Made from chrome, the elevator had just two buttons: one for up top and one for the complex below. Seb had already pressed the button to take him up top.
The doors closed completely and Seb’s stomach lurched a little as the elevator rose. For the first few seconds, they stood in silence before Seb said, “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
“Do you think you have a choice?”
Already tense, Seb wound even tighter. “What?”
Although only small, Sparks stood fierce in her assertions and stared back at him. “If you can put your ego to one side for a minute, you might actually be able to think straight.”
Seb breathed through his nose and ground his teeth.
“Well, think about it. Where did we escape from to get here?”
Seb didn’t respond.
“And where will they send us if we don’t want to be here?”
“I wonder if a cell would be better than the crap we have to put up with in this place.”
“Just think about the money, Seb. You ain’t getting performance-based pay. We just have to do a year or two in the Shadow Order, and then we can go wherever we like.”
“We?”
“You can go wherever you like. Don’t worry; I’ve already spent enough time with you. I’ve got plans of my own.”
Silence filled the small elevator again and Seb looked everywhere but at Sparks. Not that the chrome walls had much to look at. “Why did you come in here with me? I wanted to be alone.”
“Because I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
“And if I’m not? What can you do about it?”
An impish glee lit up Sparks’ purple eyes. “I can help you continue the argument. Because that’s how we fix things, isn’t it? We get angry with anyone who gets in the way and shout until the matter’s resolved. That’s how all great debates are settled, right?”
Seb sighed.
When the elevator doors opened, the salty and wet wind rushed in and blew Seb’s hair back. He’d been on Aloo before and he’d hated the weather, but now he lived beneath the sea in a space filled with recycled air and artificial light, coming up to Aloo’s surface often helped level him out. Blasted by the elements, he spread his arms wide and inhaled the cold force of nature as it battered him and left the taste of salt in his mouth.
On the opposite pole to the spaceport, the Shadow Order’s base remained one of Aloo’s greatest secrets. Anyone who ever visited believed the spaceport to be its only patch of land. Moses went to great lengths to make sure it stayed that way.
The large metal surface served as the landing pad for their base and sat like a huge coin in the sea. The water surrounding it rose and fell. It splashed against the sides as the waves broke on it. Sometimes the storms got so rough, the platform ended up completely submerged. When that happened, the lifts would lock down and nobody could leave the base.
Every time Seb came up to the surface, the motion of the waves made him dizzy as he rocked with them in the constantly shifting environment.
Now Seb had had a few minutes to calm down, he turned to Sparks, who looked out over the sea. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I just can’t control my temper sometimes.”
Sparks pulled her razor-sharp bob from her face with one of her long fingers and remained deadpan. “I hadn’t noticed.”
Seb couldn’t help but smile.
“Look, I understand why you feel how you do. It’s rubbish that we’re not getting the simulations nailed—”
“I’m not getting them nailed, Sparks,” Seb interrupted.
“We’re a team. I take the hit with you. I may not get the dressing down that you do, but I feel the loss heavily too.”
The salt-sting in Seb’s eyes burned stronger when the clouds parted and the sun’s glare dazzled him. It bounced off the vast expanse of water as if it were a huge mirror.
“We just need to practice more,” Sparks said. “We’ll get there.”
“We’d best do. I think Moses will send us on a mission soon.”
“Look,” Sparks said, “I know you probably don’t feel like going back down below for a while, but it won’t get any easier. In fact, it’ll only get harder the longer you stay away from everyone else. At least if we go back now, we can get some food in the canteen.”
Sparks tugged on Seb’s arm as she moved back toward the elevator in the centre of the platform.
Reluctant at first, Seb gave in and followed her.
Chapter 6
The elevator reacted to Seb and Sparks’ close proximity to it by rising from the flat platform with a gentle whir and opening its doors. Seb watched Sparks enter, but he remained still. Rocked on the balls of his feet by the elements, his eyes still stinging, and the taste of salt drying his mouth, he watched the tiny Sparks stare back at him with her hands on her hips. He drew a deep sigh. Although he wanted to remain up top a little longer, it wouldn’t be worth the hassle she’d undoubtedly give him. He followed her into the small elevator.
After the doors closed, Seb looked around the tight chrome space, the smell of disinfectant in the air. “Do you think the elevator is this size for a reason? Or do you think they built it and then realised they’d excluded all of the larger species from joining the Shadow Order simply by restricting their access to the base?”
Sparks clicked her tongue and looked around the inside of the elevator too. “Well, I suppose you have to make a decision on size at some point. And even if some of the bigger species could get down into the base, they wouldn’t be able to pilot any of the ships because they wouldn’t fit in them. If you want an organisation built on espionage, I don’t suppose a large lumbering Walldat would be much use anyway.”
It made sense.
Sparks ruffled her nose. “They should consider themselves lucky they don’t have to cope with this smell too.”
“I asked Moses why the lift always stank,” Seb said.
“And?”
“The elevator cleans itself when it can. Because it has to open up to the elements of Alo
o whenever it goes up top, it self-cleans when it closes. It washes away all the salt so it doesn’t corrode over time.”
The description seemed to bore Sparks, who looked like she’d switched off to Seb’s explanation. After he’d pulled his sodden hair from his eyes, he looked at his quiet friend. “Are you okay?”
“Huh?” Sparks asked, a deep frown hooding her purple eyes.
While clicking his fingers at her as if to get her attention, he said, “Aloo calling Sparks, come in, Sparks.”
After a shake of her head, a touch of clarity returned to Sparks’ eyes. “You weren’t the only one of our team who found the simulator hard.”
“No, but I was the one who messed it up.”
“I nearly did too.”
“Stop trying to make me feel better, Sparks.”
“I’m not, trust me. Moses noticed it, and I think you would have were you not so involved in the escape.”
Although Seb cast his mind back and he remembered Moses saying something to Sparks, he couldn’t recall what exactly. So ashamed of his performance, he’d found himself lost in his own hole of negativity.
“The ship,” Sparks said. “I nearly crashed the ship.”
“But that was you getting the hang of the controls.”
“I had the hang of the controls. I can fly most things with my eyes closed. It wasn’t that, it was the fire.”
The lift continued to plunge down into the Shadow Order’s base. It ran deep to get to the bottom of the ocean. Seb’s heart fluttered and his chest tightened as if he could feel the vast pressure of water that pushed against the base’s outer frame. One weak spot anywhere and … He shoved the thought to the back of his mind and returned to the memory of the simulator, drawing a blank. “What fire?”
“Do you remember shooting the barrels of rocket fuel?”
“Ah! Of course, that fire.”
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