“You don’t know that,” Addy says. “Things could be worse. We might not have been able to use the translator, and no one would know the Youli are coming.”
“But—”
“It doesn’t matter now, Lucy!” I shout. “We need to wake the others! Get Marco and Cole! Alert as many cadets as you can and get them to help you. We’re certainly no match for the Youli asleep.”
“Marco and Cole, maybe. But the other cadets ate. They’re out cold. I’m not sure I can wake them up.”
“Addy can help you figure it out! And use the SIMPLE to call the space station. Have them send the quantum fleet. Tell them to bound directly to the Alkalinian Seat coordinates in forty minutes to evacuate. I’m going to deactivate the occludium tether.”
“I’m coming with you!” Addy shouts.
“No. You’re staying here and helping Lucy!”
“You can’t go alone!”
“I’m not. Mira’s coming with me. I can’t risk her being taken by the Youli.”
The only problem is I have to wake Mira up. With all that venom in her system, it won’t be easy.
I stand at Mira’s door and focus all my energy on two words: Wake up!
I sense her stirring. I try again. Wake up!
And again.
Wake up!
Wake up!
Wake up!
I pound on her door and keep screaming with my brain. I have to wake her!
I ram the door with my shoulder and pound some more. I rear back again and bash against it with all my weight.
The door swings open and I stumble forward, knocking a very wobbly Mira to her knees.
She’s awake. Thank goodness.
“We need to go!” I tell her. “The Youli are coming! We have to deactivate the occludium tether!”
The Youli . . . ? Mira slurs, or at least the brain-talk version of slur. She’s out of it.
“Yes, the Youli! You have to focus, Mira. I need you with me. Grab your gloves and meet me at the door. We need to go now!”
I run to my room and grab my blast pack, then I dash back to the couch and grab the voice box. I stuff my free glove into my pack, then I pull my other glove, which Cole rigged to the voice box, but nothing budges. I inspect the box and try again, but I can’t figure out how to free my glove.
“Addy!”
Addy leaves Marco’s door and runs to the couch. “What? We’re trying to wake the others!”
“Help me. I can’t get my glove free.”
Addy looks at the voice box and tugs at my glove. No luck. “I don’t want it to rip. It would be useless.”
“What if I need to bound?”
Addy spins me around and unzips my blast pack. She shoves the voice box inside with the glove and sensor grip still attached. “We may need the voice box, too. Let’s go!”
“No, Addy! You stay here. You need to help Lucy rally the others.”
My sister bites her lip. She wants to fight me.
Please, Addy, there’s no time.
She nods. “Fine. Hurry up! If you don’t have that shield down, there won’t be a rescue!”
I give her a quick hug and dart to the door.
“Good luck, Jasper!” Lucy shouts behind me.
Mira is slumped against the door, fast asleep. I run to her side and drape her arm across my back. “Wake up, Mira!” I shout as I haul open the door.
When that doesn’t work, I reach for her brain. Wake up!
Mira’s head jerks. Jasper?
Walk!
I half carry her out of our quarters and into the hall. We take a few steps, and I stumble, sending us both to our knees.
Mira isn’t light. Add her weight to my inherent klutziness, and this just isn’t going to work.
Wake up! I shout again as I struggle to pull her to standing.
She shifts her balance onto her own feet, and we continue down the hall. She walks okay for a few seconds, and then she starts to slump again. This isn’t working. Maybe I should have left her with Lucy and Addy. Maybe I should take her back.
No. Seelok said the Youli are coming for us. I can’t leave her asleep in the quarters. What if something goes wrong? She’d be right there waiting for the Youli to whisk her away!
How do I reach her? How do I really wake her up?
Maybe . . . music.
I try to remember the notes of the song we played together this afternoon, “Heart and Soul.” I tap my fingers against my leg and hum the melody in my mind: 3-3-3, 3-2-1-2-3-4.
Mira! You’re on! We’re playing a duet!
Again I tap out the melody and hum along in my mind.
At first Mira doesn’t react, but when I start the third round, a basic bass harmony rises up to join the music. And when it does, Mira stands up straighter and carries most of her weight as we rush down the hall.
I speed up the song and coax her faster once we turn the corner into the hallway that leads to the siphon port. We have to make it across the bay and to the elevator without anyone spotting us.
When we reach the bay doors, I leave Mira leaning against the wall and creep forward to scan for Alks. About a dozen Alks are down at the other end of the bay readying the Frogs. They’re rigging them with cables, probably preparing to tow the Youli vessels through the water and inside the occludium shield.
The Alks all ride on the low scooters, like the ones we’ve seen assisting Seelok and his aides. They look the same as the Alks we spotted on the lower levels carting the vials of venom. Those guys didn’t seem to notice us. They definitely didn’t care what we were doing.
We have to get across the bay. We have no choice but to make a run for it and hope these Alks don’t notice us or aren’t interested, like the ones in the venom labs.
I head back to Mira. She’s sitting down with her back against the wall. The good news is her eyes are open.
What’s happening? she asks when I bend down to help her up.
How much do you remember?
The sensation of complete blankness comes back from Mira. That must mean she doesn’t remember anything.
“I’ll fill you in soon,” I say. “But for now you’ll have to trust me. We need to run across the siphon port quickly and quietly. Can you do that?”
Mira nods. She pushes with her feet as I pull her hands, and soon she’s standing. We walk to the door, and I peer around the edge. All of the Alks are still busy with the Frogs.
“Ready?” I grab Mira’s hand. “Go!”
I run into the bay, pulling Mira behind me. She drags and shuffles her feet much louder than I’d like. I keep my eyes fixed on the rear doors. Almost there.
We make it across without attracting attention. I steer us through the hallway to the elevator and press the button.
What’s happening? Mira asks again as I steer her into the elevator.
“Hold on.” I wait for the door to slide shut. When I turn to Mira to tell her what’s happening, her eyes are closed.
“Mira?”
Her eyelids flutter.
“Hey! Stay with me!” I squeeze her arm and hope she’s listening. “The Youli are coming!”
At that, Mira’s eyelids fly open. Her shock radiates from her brain to mine.
Now that Mira’s clearly awake, I may as well clue her in on everything. “The Alks plan to dispose of all the cadets and Earth Force officers except us. I don’t know exactly what that means, but it can’t be good. The Youli want you and me alive. They know about us, probably from what happened back on Gulaga and then on their ship at the intragalactic summit. The Alks found our brain patches. They’re planning to hand us over to the Youli.”
The Youli are coming here?
Yes, I tell her. I’m pretty sure they’re coming for us.
It takes Mira a moment to process what I’m saying, then she sends me an image of the occludium tether.
“That’s the plan. Lucy and Addy are waking the cadets and calling the space station for backup. You and I have to get the occludium shield down.”
The elevator door slides open. I sprint out, expecting Mira to be right beside me, especially now that I’ve shared what’s going on. Instead she’s slumped in the elevator. The venom’s just too much for her.
I run back, slide my shoulder under her arm, and help her out. She practically collapses on top of me.
Wake up! I shout through our neural connection.
She stumbles forward and tries to straighten, but I’m still supporting at least half of her weight. If this is how it is, so be it. At least she’s semiconscious. I head off down the hall with Mira at my side.
Then I grind to a stop as a horrible realization washes over me. I have no clue how to get to the venom tube.
“Mira, you remember the way, right?”
I look over. Her head hangs loosely between her shoulders, and her eyes are closed.
Mira, please! You have to help me!
I’m sure I’ve made a wrong turn. It shouldn’t have taken us this long to reach the venom tube.
Her head tips up. What’s happening?
The Youli, remember?
She nods and tries to focus.
“How do we get to the tube?”
Mira looks around. Where’s the elevator?
Great. She doesn’t even know we’re on the lowest level. It looks like this is up to me. I steer us down another hall, which looks curiously similar to the hall I turned us down two minutes ago. This is a nightmare. If we don’t make it to the tube, across to the saucer, and down the shaft to the occludium tether, our ships can’t bound in. If they try, their atoms will be lost, which is even worse. And bounding outside the tether is no use. The bounding ships have no propulsion technology. Unless the aeronauts get out and swim through the contaminated water to reach the Alkalinian Seat, they have no way of making it past the tether.
The next hallway we come to is protected by double doors. That’s definitely not the way we came the first time, but maybe it will help us cut over to the tube. I pull, half expecting the doors to be locked, but they swing back easily. I lead Mira into the hall.
As soon as we’re inside, I realize the hall is VR-equipped like our quarters. Everything is covered in the squishy orange material and has the vague smell of rotten fruit. I spy a door at the far end of the hall and take a few steps toward it, then a computerized voice announces something in Alkalinian.
My stomach twists. This was a mistake. We need to get to the other side of this hall as quickly as we can.
A chime sounds, and then two laser beams activate from the ceiling, targeting Mira and me. They wave around us until they seem to latch on to our skulls.
They’ve found us! We’ve got to move! I quicken my pace down the VR hall, pulling Mira behind me. The lasers move in sync with our steps.
Then a second chime sounds, and the lasers snap off.
Another step, and we’re no longer on Alkalinia. I’m on the air rail in Americana East, waiting for my stop. Across the aisle, Will Stevens and some guys from the grade above me are laughing. They’re laughing at me. The doors open. It’s my stop. I try to stand, but my feet are anchored to the floor.
“B-wad!” they shout.
I shake my head. This isn’t real. It’s the VR simulation. Those lasers must have been scanners. But what is this VR tech? It’s like it searched my brain for an awful memory.
“Wasn’t that your stop, B-wad?” Will asks. His buddies slap him five and collapse on the bench laughing. Out the window, the buildings of Americana East fly by.
This isn’t real. I’m not on the air rail. I’m on Alkalinia.
But Mira is no longer by my side.
26
MIRA!
This isn’t real, Jasper! Your feet aren’t really plastered to the floor.
I force my legs to move and race down the length of the train car, which inexplicably morphs into a bridge. Before I can process where I am, Regis runs at me and dives for my legs. I collapse to my knees and peer over the edge into the abyss below.
My breath catches in my throat. This is virtual. It isn’t really happening. Just push them out of your mind.
I squeeze my eyes shut and stand, willing myself not to see Regis when I blink them open.
I don’t. I’m not in Gulagaven anymore. I’m outside on the frozen tundra of Gulaga. It’s cold, and the light is fading. If I don’t get inside fast, I’ll freeze to death. The ground beneath me shifts and sways, and a slimy tendril loops around my leg and pulls me to the ground.
I struggle to get up. I’ve got to run. I dash across the tundra, heading for the cliff. Something isn’t right. I’ve been here before, but I wasn’t alone. I was with Mira. Regis stole her glove. We got caught out after curfew and nearly froze to death. We were rescued by Barrick and the rebels.
But we’re not on the tundra. We’re in the VR hall on Alkalinia.
Mira!
Mira!
“Mira!” I shout. “Mira, where are you?” I shake my head, trying to stop my brain from thinking I’m running across a field of slimers.
The light shifts from night to day, and the slimers grow into high grass. Up ahead a large, lithe cat limbers toward a river. In the distance a herd of beasts that look like woolly mammoths graze.
This is the Paleo Planet, which means—
A boulder flies through the sky and crashes on the ground in front of me.
I dodge a second rock, which grazes my shoulder and smashes behind me.
Mira! Answer me!
The ground trembles, and a low rumble sounds in the distance. A cloud of dust rises at the horizon. It whirls and swells in my direction. I can make out shapes in the dust cloud: a million charging wildeboars.
I spin and sprint in the opposite direction. The wildeboars close in from behind, but I skid to a stop. Ten meters ahead is a Youli. He extends his palm and reaches for my atoms.
“No! You’re not real! None of this is real!”
Think, Jasper! You’ve got to stop the VR program!
I squeeze my eyes shut. We’re not on the Paleo Planet, I tell myself. We’re in the VR hallway. We are still limited by the dimensions of the room. As long as I keep my eyes closed and keep telling myself that this is VR, I should be able to find the wall.
I stretch out my arms in front and walk forward. The pounding of the wildeboars’ hooves grows so loud I can barely hear myself think. My body braces for impact.
This isn’t real. This isn’t real. This isn’t real.
A few more steps. This hallway wasn’t that wide. Just keep going.
My left hand squishes into something. It must be the wall. I keep my eyes closed and follow the wall, hand over hand. I eventually reach the corner and palm over a few more paces. There’s a break in the material. Please let that be the door. I find the handle and push back the swinging door.
As soon as I do, the program stops. The orange walls return. In the middle of the hall Mira sits on the ground, curled in a ball.
I drop my blast pack to prop the door open and run to Mira’s side. Her hair is pulled out of its elastic. A shudder rips through her. She bends her head to her knees and gently rocks.
Even without the VR, I see her in the sensory gym at the space station. Regis just humiliated her in front of all the cadets. I stood up to him in front of everybody. That was one of the first times in my life that I was truly brave.
I place my hand on Mira’s shoulder, and she flinches.
“Mira,” I whisper, “we really need to go.”
She doesn’t respond. Another shudder rips through her.
I don’t think she had the same VR experience as me, but whatever it was, it must have been awful.
Mira. I lift her hand and lace our fingers together. The Youli are coming. Everyone’s counting on us. We need to deactivate the occludium tether.
She turns her head, and her brown eyes find mine. They’re filled with despair but also something else: determination.
She lets me help her up. We retrieve my pack and leave the VR hall. I decide to
walk as far as I can without turning. Hopefully we can reach the far end of the Seat, trace the windows to the corner, and double back to reach the tube connection.
Soon we pass rooms like the ones we saw before with empty beds. Sure enough, they’re sleeping quarters. This time all the beds are filled with Alks—the scooter Alks, who don’t have cyborg arms. The Alks are hooked up to tubes that connect to small metal tables next to their beds. Could it be that they’re pumped with venom? Or some other substance that makes them compliant and unfeeling? That could explain a lot about their odd, indifferent behavior.
There’s no time to think about it. We make our way to the far wall and turn left. When we reach the corner, we turn left again and backtrack to the venom tube. It certainly wasn’t the quickest route, but at least we made it.
The hall is quiet. None of the Alks we saw yesterday are around. They must be sleeping like the others, which is a good thing. Even though they didn’t bother us, we don’t need to take any chances. Secrecy is our only advantage, the only chance that this mission is a success.
We pass the rows of labeled vats filled with venom and head for the tube. I pull back the door. I can see all the way across the open ocean, from the Alkalinian Seat to the saucer. All we have to do is cross it and take down the tether.
I stand at the foot of the tube with a groggy Mira by my side. When we first spotted the tube over a week ago, we had no idea what it was for, no clue that the thick yellow goop that flows through the pipe is one of the most valuable substances on the galactic black market: Alkalinian venom, milked from thousands of baby Alks on the other side of this tube.
The tube’s clear plastic walls hold back the open ocean. Who knows how many metric tons of water threaten to crush that tube and everything in it? But I can’t think about that now. I have to do this.
Let’s go. I squeeze Mira’s hand and take a tentative step into the tube. Her hand slips from my grasp.
“Hey!” I turn to Mira. Her eyes are closed.
Great. She’s nearly asleep on her feet again. She recovered from the VR nightmare only to slip back into venom-induced narcolepsy.
I shake her arm. “Mira! Wake up!”
Her eyes blink into focus, and she nods.
“We’re at the venom tube. We need to move! Quickly!”
The Forgotten Shrine Page 24
