by Nick James
I watch as Cassius barrels toward us, gripping the pistol. He could shoot if he wanted, but he doesn’t. Instead, he stops halfway and heads for the row of empty shuttles.
I turn to Avery. “He’s gonna follow us.”
She keeps her attention on the sky outside the docking bay. “He’ll have a tough time without an access code.”
But as I watch Cassius struggle with the shuttle locks, pounding his fists on the door, I know he’s gonna find a way to break in. All we can do is put as much distance between us and him as possible.
18
“He shot Mr. Wilson!” I gape out the back of the shuttle as we pull away from the Academy. “Avery, he shot him!”
“I heard you the first time,” she replies, gripping the steering wheel. “Get up here and flip on the radar.”
I stumble to the cockpit, heart pounding out of time. “He kept saying that he’d shoot me. I didn’t believe him, but now I-”
“Jesse,” she grabs my shoulder. “Calm down. We’ve got more important things to worry about.”
“But, Avery. He actually shot him.”
“I know.” She sighs. “Why do you think I tackled the bastard? Be thankful it was Mr. Wilson and not you.”
“But he could be-”
“We’re going down.” She takes the shuttle into a nosedive, cutting through the clouds until we’re in clear air again. The Surface fills the window-a panoramic brown blanket meeting the Pacific Ocean in a wobbly line to our left.
I stare at the desolate landscape, trying to slow my breathing. Avery straightens us out again.
“Wait.” I grip the control panel. “Where are we going?”
“Where do you think?” she answers. “Down.”
“But that’s where Cassius wanted to take me!”
“Well, he’s not in this shuttle, is he?” She lays on the accelerator.
“But… but we could go to another Skyship!”
Her eyes close and her head jolts to the side. Her fingers tense up on the wheel.
“Avery?”
“Seattle.” She grits her teeth and glances over to me. “They found you in Seattle, not in ‘another Skyship.’”
I stare at her face. She’s trying to control her expression, I can tell. “Is something wrong?”
She blinks. Her mouth relaxes. “A killer chased you from the Academy. I’d say something’s wrong.”
“No. I mean, with you.”
She keeps her eyes on the scenery in front of her. “Right as rain. Now I can turn around and head to Atlas if you want. You can file this all with the Tribunal, but you’re better off investigating things yourself. Trust me.”
“Is there something you’re not telling me?”
Avery opens her mouth to speak. Before she can get a word out, our shuttle rocks violently back and forth. I grip onto my seat to avoid falling.
“What was that?” I cock my head around the cabin.
Avery frowns. “Unified Party.”
“No way.” I scan the radar screen, ignoring the meaningless lines and numbers and focusing on the two red dots closing in on our shuttle.
“It’s Madame.” Avery sighs.
I crane my neck to see out the rear window. Two government cruisers cut through the sky behind us like a pair of enormous bats.
Avery shakes her head. “They were waiting, ready to pounce as soon as we crossed the Skyline.”
I wince. “It couldn’t be Madame. Madame wouldn’t care about us.”
“The hell she wouldn’t,” Avery mutters as she guns it.
The cruisers barrel down with insane speed, equipped with enough firepower to blow our shuttle apart. They blot out the sun behind us. A missile whizzes by above us, missing the roof by inches.
“What do we do?” I spin back to the control panel, wishing I had my flying permit. It’s lucky Avery’s here. She may not have graduated, but at least she knows what the shuttle’s buttons do.
“Buckle up,” she starts. “We’re changing course.”
“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.” Our shuttle lurches to the side as a second missile scrapes the bottom.
“Hold onto something, Jesse.” Avery pulls back on the wheel. The shuttle does a ninety-degree turn and rockets up into the cloudbank. We disappear into a puff of white.
My whole body’s thrown against the back of the seat. My stomach feels like it’s about to pour out of my mouth.
Struggling to move my head, I glance at the radar. “They followed us into the clouds.”
“So much for losing them in Skyship Territory.” Avery frowns. “Is your seatbelt on?”
I nod, but double check anyway. We pierce the top layer of clouds and Avery flips the shuttle upside down.
The belt cuts into my chest and waist, but the centrifugal force keeps me from falling onto the ceiling and splatting like a bug. My stomach spins in circles. My neck feels like it’s about to snap.
We make a tight U-turn and plunge down through the clouds with reckless speed. Whiteness overtakes the windows until two dark shapes cut through beside us, devouring the clouds as they head up. Our shuttle wobbles in their wake.
Avery steers us straight down. I wait for the shuttle to break apart and disintegrate in the air. These things are not made for maneuvers like this.
Avery scowls. “We’ve gotta get to the Surface while we can.”
“What if Cassius follows us?”
“One problem at a time.”
Our first problem comes back big time. Both cruisers emerge from the cloudbank, splitting apart to surround us.
“Frag it!” Avery pounds her fist against the console and makes a sharp dive. The Surface blots out the window again. Only this time it’s not barren and brown. This time we’re heading straight into a Chosen City. Portland, from the looks of our coordinates.
Two massive black crosses float into view on either side of our shuttle. Bio-Net connectors, affixed to their positions in the air by a system of magnets. Together with their thousand or so companions, they form an upside-down butterfly net around the city-a man-made ozone layer responsible for filtering sunlight, absorbing Fringe chemicals, and programming weather inside. All powered by Pearls.
“You’ve gotta pull up!” I shout.
Avery shakes her head. “They won’t fire if we’re in range of a city. It’s our only chance.”
“But we can’t go through the Bio-Net.”
“Who says?”
I look out my window at the nearest connector. A double-barreled cannon rests on the side, waiting to destroy anything that threatens the city below. I open my mouth to warn Avery, but before I know it we shoot past. A monstrous, x-shaped shadow blankets our shuttle. No explosions.
The government cruisers split off course and shoot away from the city in opposite directions.
Our shuttle shakes as we pass through the invisible Bio-Net field. Avery speeds up, even though we’re about to crash in the middle of a Chosen. A yellow light flashes maniacally above her head, sounding a dull alarm through the cockpit.
“The solar panels are failing,” I say.
She presses a button to the side of the steering console. “Filtered sunlight. Guess I forgot.”
“Do we have any reserve power left?”
She frowns. “I burned it up trying to get away from those cruisers. We’ve got twenty-five minutes left, tops. The Net’s freaking this old junker out.”
My eyes dart from window to window, watching as the tops of skyscrapers reach out all around us. This isn’t like the Fringes, where there’d be plenty of open space to attempt a crash landing. This is a mousetrap, an endless labyrinth of arches, sky bridges, balconies, and towers. And we’re heading down. Fast.
“Jesse?”
I break away from the window. “Yeah?”
“You know how you survived that fall back in Syracuse? Now would be the time to pull something like that out of your hat.”
I take a deep breath, shaking my head. “I’ve got no
thing.”
She grits her teeth, gripping the wheel tight. “Then brace yourself for impact. This isn’t going to be pretty.”
19
Skyship Territory, 800 feet above the Skyline.
After taking over the chartered sky taxi, Cassius blasted off from the docking bay. Reinforcements barged in to stop him, but they were too late.
Piloting such a lengthy ship felt unnatural, but he’d always been a quick study. Though his trajectory was wobbly, he dipped beneath the clouds until the Surface came into view. No sign of Fisher’s shuttle. He cursed. They’d gotten a head start.
Fisher was off the Skyship, but he could have headed anywhere… even to Atlas. He could have alerted the Tribunal.
Cassius fumbled with the control deck, searching for a radar or tracer or anything that would allow him to pinpoint the shuttle.
The com-pad on his belt beeped. He removed it and held it before his face, grimacing as he read the code on the screen. It was Madame.
He toyed with the idea of ignoring it. A failure like this could derail him entirely, and he couldn’t afford disappointing her. She knew more than she was letting on. She knew about his parents.
Still, ignoring her would be worse. She’d be angry. Anger was more dangerous than disappointment.
As much as it pained him to do it, he pressed the touch screen. “Hello?” His hand shook as he waited for her response.
“Cassius,” her cold voice filled the cockpit, “tell me where you are.”
He considered lying, but didn’t. “I’m in a sky taxi heading away from the Academy.”
“And Fisher? Is he with you?”
“Uh-no, Madame. He’s on another shuttle.” He paused. “I took down one of their teachers.”
The truth was, he hadn’t meant to. He hadn’t wanted to, but the old man had gotten in the way. Cassius had acted on instinct and pulled the trigger. Before he knew it, the guy was dead.
He gritted his teeth, waiting for Madame’s response. After an agonizing silence, her voice continued, steady as ever. “I appreciate your honesty, Cassius. I stationed two of my cruisers beneath the Academy in case something like this were to happen. They’ve driven Fisher’s shuttle to Portland, Oregon-a short distance from your coordinates. I’ve put a hold on the city’s defense canons. I’d like you to follow him. Contact me when you land. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”
“Yes, Madame.” He barely got the words out before she hung up. He stared at the blank screen. “Hello?”
He held it to his ear, wondering if he’d accidentally silenced it himself. She was gone. No “Good job” or “Did you run into any trouble on Polaris?” or anything. Not that he had expected warm congratulations, but she hadn’t even seemed to care.
He brushed the thought away, eager to land on the Surface.
Folding the CP and attaching it to his belt, he charted a course for Portland at double speed.
20
Avery yanks on the steering console to bring us level as we rush past a 200-plus story building. The hull of our shuttle scrapes the corner. Eventually we’re gonna make a wrong turn and head straight through an office building.
Chosen cities are built up, not out, giving us no air space to maneuver. Towers stretch like spires around us.
“Watch out for the sky bridge!” I point at a rapidly approaching overpass. The people inside notice us, freezing and pointing in terror as we hurtle toward them.
“I see it.” Avery swoops beneath the bridge just in time. It’s like some insane obstacle course out here.
Something beneath us pops and the shuttle vibrates. The yellow warning light continues to flash. Avery swats a button on the wall and the cockpit goes dark. “Sorry, but we need every drop of power we can get.”
“What are you planning to do?” I watch as the energy meter drops from nearly full to a red stump.
“Land in a pillow factory,” she replies through gritted teeth, right before flipping the shuttle sideways and darting through a narrow space between buildings. We take out a balcony railing as we plow through the air. It’s lucky no one was standing outside.
I jostle in my seat, still feeling like I’m gonna puke. Avery straightens the shuttle as we arrive over a wide plaza-the first bit of open air so far.
“Crank the emergency brakes,” she motions. “Blue switches to your right.”
“All three of them?”
She nods. “Quickly, Jesse.”
I reach over to the switches, pulling them down and listening as the backside of the shuttle opens up outside. We look like an airborne flower now, with metallic petals spread out behind us for air resistance.
Another building looms before us, its fiberglass siding quickly blotting out our view. Coiled tracks stretch out at different angles and elevations. Slick egg-like train carts dart along each, disappearing into the city. Chute Transport, no doubt. Under safer circumstances I might be impressed. Right now, it’s just a bigger-than-usual roadblock.
Avery takes a hard left, whirling between two pieces of track to keep us from smashing into the station. With no time to catch our breath, she pulls up to avoid hitting a rooftop park on the next street. I watch a group of children pause below us, pointing up from the pristine playground as we tear by. We probably look pretty flaunt to them.
But we can’t keep this up forever. Eventually we’re gonna hit the ground.
We pass safely through the next street before flying over a brick square, yards from smashing into the heads of the travelers beneath us. Water shoots up from a fountain below, smacking our underbelly and shoving the already frantic shuttle sideways.
There’s no use pretending we’re anonymous anymore. People run to move out of danger, falling to the ground seconds before we’d hit them. Others point. I hear muffled screams through the window. Sirens. They’re everywhere.
And then it happens.
We plow directly into the bottom floor of a residential building. Avery tries to change our course, but it’s not enough. The shuttle’s airbag punches me back into my seat.
We hit the side of the building with earthquake-sized force, driving right through the siding, through the windows, and into the nearest room. I can’t see anything beyond the expanded airbag, but I hear it all-the twisting of metal, shattered glass, and the screams of the crowd behind us.
We smash into the ground, then lift up again before landing with a tooth-chattering thud. My body jerks back, twisting awkwardly in the seat.
Our shuttle slows as its nose crumples up like an aluminum can. Windows blow out. Sideways raindrops of metal and plastic explode around us. I try to shield my face, but with all the scrap flying around, it’s useless. Some pieces whiz by, others lodge themselves in my skin. If it wasn’t for the mind-numbing pain, I’d be thinking about how much it’s going to hurt when these things get pulled out later.
Chaos spins around us for what seems like minutes. Then everything stops. The front end quits caving in and the air clears.
We sit-bloody and battered-for a few moments before either of us speaks.
Alarms blare around us, breaking me from my crash-induced trance. Though we’re both in horrible pain, we know we can’t stay here.
Avery stumbles to a standing position, staggering to the door and pulling it open. It detaches from the shuttle and crashes to the ground. I lift myself carefully from the copilot’s seat and grab onto her hand, shaking.
A shallow scratch runs the length of her cheek. Her arms are torn up, but she’s standing. I glance over to see a triangular piece of glass lodged through the arm of my jacket just below the shoulder. My body feels like it’s been put through five hours of torture.
I almost died.
The thought strikes me as we limp out the doorway, nearly tripping on the jagged metal. It wasn’t even because of some super-heroic mission. We were chased. We ran. We almost died.
I shake the idea from my head as we jump down onto the rubble-strewn carpet outside. A couch sits in two
separate pieces beside the shuttle’s front window. Splinters of wood litter the ground-remnants of pulverized furniture. Food falls out of what’s left of a refrigerator in the corner. This was somebody’s home.
I search around for bodies. Thankfully, we’re alone.
Not so outside. A crowd of onlookers from the square converge behind our shuttle, drawn from all angles by the alarms. A few of the more reckless ones start to climb through the hole in the outside wall, probably hoping for some sort of citizen’s arrest. We’ve got no choice but to split.
I take off first, looping around the front of the shuttle and sprinting through a smaller hole that leads farther into the building. Avery follows, grabbing onto my shoulder. “Are you all right?” She leads me around a chair to the exit door.
“I’ll be fine,” I wheeze, though I really doubt it. Blood trickles down my arm from the glass shard. If I don’t stop to take care of it soon, I won’t be running long before I pass out.
Avery pulls open the door. I follow her into a narrow hallway, lit with artificial sunlight from flat ceiling panels above. Corridors stretch out on both sides of us-no clear exit in either direction.
Avery leans against the door, breathing hard. “Left or right?”
“Left.” I bolt away, sprinting down the corridor as fast as my throbbing body will let me. I try to ignore the blood as it spills down my sleeve and drips onto the white flooring below, leaving a dark trail.
Our footsteps echo down the length of the hallway as the alarms fade behind us. We turn a corner. A glass exit comes into view.
We run faster until the glass door slides open and lets us out into the city. The temperature-controlled air hits me immediately, revitalizing my parched lungs. It’s so fresh I can almost taste it, and for a moment it dulls the pain. But only for a moment.
We arrive in a wide marble passageway between buildings. Decorative birch trees stand in small square plots of dirt placed evenly down the center of the street. People funnel around us, eyes shifting uneasily in our direction. A woman grabs her daughter’s hand and speeds up as she passes by. Avery and I huddle close together in the shade of the building.
