The Kepos Problem (Kepos Chronicles Book 1)

by Erica Rue

  “I can do it. I don’t need your help,” Lithia said. Dione sighed, and backed away, knowing better than to argue with Lithia when she was being this stubborn.

  When Lithia tried the last door, the hallway was so silent that everyone heard the gentle click.

  “It’s open,” she said.

  “But I tried that door! It was locked,” Dione said.

  “How did you do that?” Brian said.

  “I can’t explain it,” Lithia said. “It just opened.”

  They all tried the door handle, but Lithia was the only one who could open it. Dione inspected the door more closely. It was a DNA lock, keyed to open for certain markers. But that didn’t explain how Lithia’s DNA opened it. A bizarre coincidence? That didn’t seem right. She wondered again why Lithia had asked Zane to help her get all those coordinates. What had she been looking for?

  The sound of heavy boots thumped on the floor above them. Now was not the time to press the issue.

  “Let’s go inside, before the trackers get here,” Dione said. Evy seemed reluctant.

  “But they’ll take me home,” she said.

  “We’re on a very important mission, but we’ll let you go tomorrow morning and make sure they find you,” Lithia said.

  “I won’t say anything. I promise,” Evy said. The little girl’s lip quivered.

  “We know, but we want your help.” Lithia bent down to her level. “We’re not from here, and you know so much, you could help answer our questions. I bet you could help us a lot,” she said.

  “Okay,” Evy reluctantly agreed. Dione could see her eyes light up when Lithia asked for her help. It surprised her how quickly Evy had warmed up to Lithia. This was a good thing, or so Dione hoped.

  22. DIONE

  For the first time since crashing on this planet, Dione felt safe. The door was thick and soundproof. This place, behind the DNA lock, was more than a room to hide in. It was a fully furnished apartment with power. By some luck, or perhaps design, the solar for this part of the base was still working. A lot of the food, mostly cans and lined packages, was still good, because it had been designed for extended shelf life. Brian seemed most interested in the food.

  There were only two doors down the little hallway. The first was a modest bedroom, and the second was the bathroom.

  “Shower dibs,” Dione called into the living room, not waiting for an answer before locking the bathroom door. Getting rid of this mud was priority number one. She stripped off her stinking clothes, leaving piles of dried river silt all over the floor. The clothes went directly into the trash, even though she knew no one would empty it. She found fragrant soap that left her smelling like lime and coconut, and once she was clean, she wrapped herself in a towel.

  She went to the bedroom in search of new clothes, but found it had very little in the way of personal items. The wardrobe was practical and well-worn. She raided the closet and found some leggings and a lightweight top. Her synthetic StellAcademy uniform had been suffocating in the heat compared to the light cotton of these clean clothes. They were a little long, but otherwise fit just fine. Her hair, raggedly cut as it was, looked much better without all that mud.

  Dione hesitated with her hand on the door knob. She needed just another minute alone, another moment with her thoughts and no one else’s.

  She sat down on the bed, and looked around the room. The frames on the wall held photos of exotic landscapes and animals, but no personal photos. Displayed prominently on a shelf, there was a violin that had been 3D-printed to look like a swan, each feather in place. Whoever had lived here clearly loved music, because that was the only personal item she could see in the room. If this was the apartment owner’s most prized possession, why hadn’t she taken it when she evacuated?

  Her thoughts drifted back to her own problems. Real problems. The Aratians thought they were demons and wanted to kill them, probably, though Evy seemed nice enough. The Ficarans, well, Brian said they had shuttles they could use. Why were the shuttles locked, anyway? Even though they hadn’t searched the whole base, Dione was certain they would find no anti-parasitics here. And if they found the meds and figured out how to unlock the shuttles, there was still whatever shot them down. The Icon, Brian had called it.

  After everything, they were back at square one. Square negative one, because now they didn’t know if there were anti-parasitics down here at all. They needed to make a new plan, but in order to do that, Dione needed answers. In order to get answers, she would have to go out there and ask some questions. And Brian was already suspicious.

  She started to push herself off the bed, but her right hand came down on something hard, hidden beneath the pillow. She pulled out an ornate book bound in leather with gilded edges. A quick glance through the pages told her it was a journal. She held on to it. Maybe it would reveal something about the person who had lived here or about this planet, which had certainly piqued her curiosity.

  When Dione emerged, she saw Lithia elevating her ankle while Brian gingerly cleaned it with some sort of disinfectant.

  “That feels so much better,” Lithia was saying. “I just may be able to walk again tomorrow.”

  “Give it a few days,” Brian said.

  Dione watched while she grabbed his hand and thanked him.

  Lithia turned to notice her freshly clean friend standing in the doorway.

  “Typical Dione. Been here less than half an hour and you’ve already got a book in hand,” she said, pointing to the journal.

  “We can’t change who we are,” Dione replied.

  Brian, still in Lithia’s grasp, looked up and smiled when he saw her. “You clean up nice.”

  “I bet you do, too,” Lithia said to him.

  “I think Lithia’s volunteering to assist,” Dione said. Brian laughed and released her hand.

  “I’m only here to help,” Lithia said, winking. She was clearly interested in Brian, and that meant what it always did. Dione didn’t stand a chance with him, but it didn’t matter anyway. Why was she even thinking about this? Stupid human teenage brain. They had more important things to worry about, and if Lithia wasn’t going to worry about them, then she would.

  Plus, why did she have a crush on a person who pulled a gun on a kid? That should be enough to make her dislike Brian, but he hadn’t done it with bad intentions. In a way, he seemed just as lost as she did. He had offered to help them—admittedly, because he needed a pilot—and now he was a target alongside them. He probably could have escaped on his own, but he’d stuck with them.

  “Dione, you okay?” Lithia said. She had zoned out.

  Enough of this. Time to refocus.

  “Yes, we need to come up with a plan,” Dione said, salvaging the moment as best she could.

  “Is that what you were thinking about?” Lithia said.

  “Kind of. I think I’m just tired.”

  “Here, try this. It’ll help you think,” Brian said, handing her a warm mug.

  “This better not be some weird Ficaran drug.” Dione sniffed it, skeptical. “Wait. Hot chocolate?”

  “Found it with the other food. It’s Evy-approved, too,” Lithia said. Evy sat there, sipping from her own mug. They had asked her to stay because they needed her help, or so they said. This could turn out to be true, if a few things fell into place.

  “Evy, how did you end up out here?” Dione said. She edged her way through the room to sit near the girl.

  “I was looking for bugs. Titus got spooked, and threw me off.”

  Dione smiled. Bel would love this girl.

  “Titus? Do you have a maximute, too?” She couldn’t imagine how that would work. Evy was so small.

  “No, my machi. My dad says I’m too little for a maximute. After Titus ran off, I was too far to make it home, so I stayed here, hoping someone would find me.” Dione didn’t know what a machi was, but she assumed it was some kind of pony or smaller dog.

  “Find any good bugs?” she asked.

  Evy wasted no time i
n putting down her hot chocolate, and pulling a giant beetle out of her satchel. “This is the biggest Cela beetle I ever saw.” The beetle was dead, thankfully, but that didn’t stop Evy from inspecting it in wonder.

  Dione glanced at Brian, and even he had a smile on his face, no matter how grudging.

  “What mission are you on? Why do you need me?” Evy said.

  “Our friend back home is sick. We heard there might be medicine here in this base, this… temple, to help her, but everything is gone. Do you know if the Aratians have the medicine that used to be here?” Dione said.

  “We have lots of medicine. We have the best doctors, too. What’s wrong with your friend?”

  “She was attacked by a monster, and when it scratched her, it made her sick. Now, her scratch glows green.”

  “That sounds familiar,” Brian said.

  Evy stowed her beetle, and launched into what sounded like a story she had heard many times before.

  “A long time ago, before the Great Divide, demons fell from the sky. The Farmer took thirty men to defeat the demons. But the demons were fierce, and they fought back. The four men who survived along with the Farmer returned, but one of them was hurt. The demon had grabbed him and poisoned him. The poison made his cuts glow green and he got sick. Unwilling to let such a brave man die, the Farmer examined him, then went to the Forest Temple and came back with medicine. The medicine cured the man, and no more demons fell from the sky. Until today.” Evy looked suddenly alarmed. “You’re not demons, are you?”

  “I know Dione probably looked like a swamp monster when you met her, but do we look like demons?” Lithia asked.

  Evy giggled. “No. They were horrible. Bodies with giant green scales, narrow eyes, sharp claws.”

  Dione and Lithia exchanged a look. Dione’s heart was pounding. That description sounded like the Vens, and paired with the glowing “poison,” it seemed fairly likely that the Vens had been here before. “Are you sure?” she said.

  “That’s the same story I’ve heard,” Brian said.

  “So why do only demons fall from the sky?” Lithia asked. “Because we fell from the sky, but we’re not demons.”

  Evy thought about it for a good minute. “Then maybe it’s just usually demons. Not always.”

  Dione liked this girl. When confronted with facts that challenged her beliefs, she modified them. Many adults who liked to shout over the vids didn’t seem to grasp that concept.

  There were still so many questions. What was this Great Divide? She had to prioritize. Figure out if the Aratians have the meds.

  “Do the Aratians still have some of this medicine?” Dione asked.

  “I think so,” Evy said. The uncertain confirmation of a ten-year-old was a lot to hinge a plan on, but they didn’t have much choice.

  Lithia had been mostly quiet, but now she jumped in with a question of her own. “Why did the demons fall?”

  It was Brian who answered. “The Icon.”

  “The Icon?” Dione said. “You mentioned that earlier.”

  “It’s a weapon up in the Mountain Temple that protects us,” he said. “Don’t you know about the Icon? It protects the southern island, too, right?”

  “Who runs it?” Lithia asked, dodging his question. She was quite good at that, Dione noted.

  “The Farmer gave it instructions to protect us before he went away,” Evy replied. Lithia looked to Brian, but he just shrugged. So, no one ran it? Or the Farmer, whoever he was, set some program to run it. At least she could rule out an actual deity.

  “Where in the mountains? Can you take us there?” Lithia said, placing her hand on his arm. Dione pretended not to notice.

  Brian leaned in. “No one’s been there in a long time. It’s unreachable without a Flyer.”

  It was his turn to ask the questions. “So are you going to tell me how you got the Flyer to work? How many do your people have?”

  Lithia lied as easily as she breathed. “Our ancestors left us with the secrets of the Flyers. We have a couple more, but we don’t often use them.”

  “Why not?”

  “Conservation of resources. We only use the Flyers if we have to, and this was an emergency.”

  “Do you think you can take the spell off of our Flyers?”

  “Maybe, I don’t know. But even if I can, there’s the Icon. It attacked our Flyer and made us crash.”

  “Then you flew too high.” Brian was matter-of-fact. It also meant that there was no way to leave the planet as long as it was functional.

  “So if you don’t go too high, you can still use the Flyers without getting zapped,” Lithia said. Dione could see the gears turning. “Evy, do you think you can get some of those meds they used to cure the man from your story? They could save my friend’s life.”

  Evy swung her foot while she thought. “Maybe. Cora might have to help me. They let Cora do everything.”

  “That’s your cousin, right?” Lithia asked. “Can we trust her?”

  “Yeah. But what do I do with the medicine?”

  “Sell it to Hector in the market,” Brian suggested. “I’ll handle it from there. How does that sound?”

  “Good,” Evy said. She looked excited to try out some espionage. Dione had doubts about a ten-year-old pulling this off, but Evy didn’t seem like an average ten-year-old.

  “And don’t bother turning Hector in, because he doesn’t realize who he’s working with,” Brian added.

  Evy nodded solemnly. She seemed to take this task very seriously.

  “Then all we need is a Flyer,” Lithia said to Brian.

  “I think Victoria, my leader, will help you, but she’ll want something in return. She’ll want you to unlock all the Flyers,” Brian said.

  “Why wouldn’t we?” Dione asked.

  Brian ignored her question. “And I want the one you use when you’re finished, no matter what Victoria says.” He clearly had a strong goal in mind for this Flyer. Maybe he’d share that with them soon.

  “Done,” Lithia said.

  Dione nodded. It all seemed too easy, which set off warning bells in her head. She mentally put those bells on mute. At this point, it was their best chance.

  23. DIONE

  Lithia decided it was her turn to shower, and limped off on her own. Evy was falling asleep in her seat, and Brian explored the kitchen some more. He couldn’t possibly be hungry after the pile of food Dione had watched him eat, but it sounded like his settlement was experiencing some sort of famine.

  Finally, she had a few moments to herself. Dione looked down at the exquisite journal in her hands, the one she had found under the pillow in the bedroom, and opened it up to the first page.

  The Architect kidnapped me and brought me here to destroy the Farmer, but she underestimates him. It’s not going to work. He’ll never surrender everything just to get me back, because he knows it’s not what I would want. So Architect, when you read this, like I know you will, realize that this will never work. You seem to think that if I write this by hand, and I recognize my handwriting, I’ll realize that the words inside are true. All of these words certainly are.

  That witch injected me with something. It’s making my mind hurt. I don’t know what sort of sick experiment she’s running, but I hope it kills me. Then all her leverage will be gone. All those people who trust her, I’d like them to see me now. I think she gave me some sort of drug, because I’m seeing things. Things I know can’t be true. Like, I see my wedding, but it’s not my wedding. I’m marrying some man I don’t even know and the Farmer is nowhere in sight

  Based on the very little that Dione knew about the Architect, this account seemed off. In fact, it was disturbing.

  “Brian,” Dione called toward the kitchen, “can you tell me a little about the Architect?”

  “Sure,” he said around a mouthful of crackers, “like what?”

  “What was she like?”

  He swallowed thoughtfully. “Everyone says she was really smart, and she knew things th
at only the Farmer knew. At first everyone tried to worship her as a god, too, but she wouldn’t allow it. She called the Farmer a false god. She said she was just a person. She was the architect of the rebellion, though. Without her, the Great Divide never would have been possible. What the Aratians see as heresy and defiance, we see as our freedom. The Architect let us make our own choices.”

  “So what happened to her?”

  “That’s the end to a longer story, but I’d be happy to tell you.” He smiled at her again, and just that one look sent butterflies through her stomach. She really needed to get control of herself.

  “Is that the Great Divide that you keep mentioning?” Dione asked.

  “Yes. Have any stories like that on the southern island?”

  “No, but just because we don’t war out in the open, doesn’t mean there’s no conflict,” Dione said. She was thinking about the Alliance, and what Bel had told her about how they were handling the Vens. The author of the journal certainly didn’t share these lofty opinions about the Architect, but was it possible that the Architect was doing the wrong things for the right reasons? Was such a thing even possible? Dione wasn’t sure yet, but she planned to read the rest of the journal. Maybe it would provide some answers.

  At that point Lithia came out of the shower, and Dione couldn’t help noticing Brian noticing Lithia’s long legs when she walked, albeit clumsily on her injured ankle, into the bedroom. They both jumped when a very loud snore erupted from Evy, sleeping in the chair.

  “I think Evy has the right idea. We should all get some rest,” Dione said.

  Dione woke up Evy and led the groggy girl to the bedroom, making her a little nest out of blankets and pillows. Dione and Lithia had agreed to share the bed, while Brian volunteered to take the couch. It sounded like he was taking his turn in the shower, before going to sleep.

  Lithia was already in bed by the time Dione entered the room. When Dione crawled into bed next to her, it reminded her of when they were little and would have sleepovers at Lithia’s house. She missed that. The giggling and the staying up late. Dione wanted to tell Lithia about the journal, but her friend wasn’t accessible. The wall was still between them, and she felt like only Lithia could dismantle it and let her in. Dione took a deep breath, sighed, and closed her eyes. In just minutes, the exhaustion of the day crashed over her, and she was asleep.