left.”
“You can never have enough cookies or pie,” he says.
“Oh, come on, Biscuit,” Rabbit says. “You don’t have to use the same joke all the time.”
Biscuit becomes perplexed. “I never joke about food.”
Zoe comes to me. “Are you happy?” she says and I can see she is touched by what has been
revealed today.
“I am, Zoe. For the first time in my life I can honestly say that.”
Zoe understands how I feel because of Theo whom she loves like a younger brother. Besides
Finn and me, they are the only ones that share the same background having both been harvested for
Plantation-1.
“I wish Daphne was here,” Zoe says. “She would have liked that. She’d told me many times she
wished she’d have a little sister.”
Zoe’s voice breaks. She misses Daphne a lot. We all do, but with Zoe the loss is more urgent
and present. We have become closer the past few weeks, Zoe and me, and she has proven to be a very
wise and honest friend.
“We will carry her with us and make sure she didn’t die in vain,” I say even though I know it’s
not much of a consolation.
*
“PIP WAS SENT TO US for a reason,” Damian says when we sit down for supper in the
evening. “Whatever that reason was, it’s up to us to turn it into something positive, something that
will bring stability to our group.” He turns to Pip. “You are an official member of the Saviors, Pip.
You may never be safe, but you will never be alone.”
2
Any notion of an interrogation would have normally been enough to set me off running for
shelter and covering up my tracks. As it is, I’ve had to agree with Damian that it is of crucial
importance to have Pip try to remember as much as she can from Plantation-15. Damian doesn’t leave
anything to chance. I have come to appreciate this quality about him.
We are gathered in Damian’s tent, Pip, Finn, Doc and myself. Pip doesn’t remember much, she
has big holes in her memory and I don’t like to watch her struggle to remember to no avail. They did
something to her. Any mention of the Sliman or her plantation causes distress in her eyes. Our only
hope to discover what happened is to help Pip remember.
Pip’s brown hair has grown a lot since we found her and the two colors in her eyes (black and
azure) have blended into a beautiful dark blue. She is graceful in her movements and although she
hasn’t demonstrated any special abilities, she has shown considerable skill at many things. She is
quick, agile and intuitive. She can learn new skills with a fair amount of ease. She doesn’t like pulse guns but she is very accurate with a shock bow.
“Let’s go over it one more time,” Damian says. “How exactly did you leave the plantation?”
Pip types out what we already know. A guard took her away from the group of children while
they were practicing. He escorted her to the back of the library building. There, two more Sliman
were waiting. All three got Pip out of the plantation through a back gate. They had a vehicle waiting.
They dropped Pip in the field were we found her. When Pip hesitated and tried to get back on the
vehicle, they pushed her out and drove away. It wasn’t until after we located her that she realized it caused a horrible feeling inside when she tried to speak. Something worse than fear. Simple words
she can manage. Anything else at all terrifies her and she starts to shake.
“Is it because of the shock, Pip?” Damian asks her. “Did something happen to you? Did you say
something you shouldn’t have, maybe?”
Pip shrugs her shoulders and types that she can’t be sure. She can’t remember what happened
with the Sliman on the way to the field. And she can only remember glimpses of what the inside of the
buildings in the plantation look like. Parts of her memory are blocked or erased.
“It’s as if they didn’t want her to give away anything about Plantation-15,” Damian says. “But
they did want us to find her. They have a plan.”
Finn nods. “Do you think we should keep moving?” he says.
“I honestly don’t know,” Damian says. “Doc, is it possible that there’s a tracking chip in her?”
“There’s no way for me to tell,” Doc says. “Not without a body scan.”
Tracking chips can be so small they are almost invisible. They can be implanted through the
mouth and ears, or with an injection straight inside the bone marrow. We don’t have the equipment
that could locate a thing like that.
“Don’t talk about Pip as if she’s not here,” I say.
“Tick, Pip understands the importance of the situation,” Finn says. “She wants answers, too.
Give her some credit.”
Damian puts his hand on Finn’s shoulder.
“What is it?” Finn says staring at Damian’s hand.
“What did you just call her?”
“Who?”
“What do you mean who? Freya, or should I say Tick? What the hell is Tick?”
“Don’t tell him, Finn,” I say exasperated.
Tick. Short for ticklish, Pip types. Freya told me. On the plantation. It was Finn’s name for her.
Damian removes his hand from Finn’s shoulder. “Thank you, Pip,” he says while looking at me.
“Finally, someone in the family who can give a straight answer.”
It’s nice to see some things never change. He can still drive me crazy with his arrogance.
*
MY HAND FEELS TIGHT and tense around the sensory receptor. I always get a bit nervous
before I have to use it. I can feel how the energy enters my body like a mild electroshock before it
takes me over completely. I wonder if this is similar to what happens to Pip when she tries to speak.
The device gets attached to my nerve endings and then multiple signals start traveling up and down
the channel that has been established. My mind sends orders to the receptor and the receptor sends
reports to my brain.
I have not been able to completely control the relationship yet. In fact, the more I use the
receptor, the more it seems like it’s the one in control, not me.
Theo has been working with me to learn how to channel the energy the way I want. I’m hoping
that the day will come soon when I will learn to be in absolute command of its capabilities.
Maybe Pip can learn to control what’s happening inside of her, too.
I embrace myself for what is about to come once I order the receptor to switch on and produce
the blue energy that Theo will be able to convert into electricity. I stand next to the generator in the small clearing to the west of the camp. I close my eyes and concentrate.
The energy enters my bloodstream and a series of white flashing lights blur my vision. The
generator starts humming and I know the connection has been established. I need to keep doing this for a few minutes before the camp is powered up again.
“It’s good to see you haven’t lost your super-hero powers yet,” I hear Damian’s voice behind
me. It startles me. My heartbeat gets faster and I get an instant headache as the receptor suddenly turns off.
“Damn it, Damian, what are you doing? Are you trying to kill me?”
“Believe me, if I wanted you dead—”
“Yeah, yeah, I’d be dead by now. You have all the charm of a Sliman.” I rub my arms
vigorously to get my blood going again. Everything feels numb.
He hands me his flask of warm green tea. I take a sip and glance at him trying to gue
ss what he’s
doing here.
“So he has a special name for you,” he says.
I knew he was not going to pass on a chance to make fun of me. “Is that a problem?” I say.
“No, not a problem at all.”
“So drop it already.”
I hand him back the flask of tea and shake the receptor as if trying to determine whether it will
work again or not.
I steal a glance at Damian. “What are you waiting for? Go. I can’t concentrate with you staring at
me.”
“You’re ticklish,” he says. “On top of everything.”
“You’re getting weird again.”
“For someone as secretive as you, you’ve allowed Finn to know a whole lot about you.”
I fear where this is going. “I’ve known Finn all my life. Of course we know things about each
other.”
“Just how ticklish are you exactly?”
It hits me that he’s here to tickle me. Or at least try. I see the amused expression on his face. I
don’t like it because it’s not consistent with who he is and because I want to avoid thinking about the night that he kissed me at all costs. It brings up too many painful memories, too many regrets. I need normalcy in my life more than anything else right now.
“Oh no, you don’t,” I say as he drops the flask and moves in to put his plan to work. I try to run
away but he catches up with me quite easily.
“I’m holding the receptor and I will use it if I have to,” I warn him but he doesn’t take my threat
seriously. There are a few dead Sliman who made the same mistake. His fingers attack my mid
section. The shock of being tickled makes me lose my balance immediately. I fall to my knees and
twist away from him.
He kneels down, too, and I can tell that his fingers aim at my neck. Before I can think about it, I
turn the receptor at him and blast him away with some purple energy that lifts him a few feet in the
air. I turn off the receptor and Damian drops to the ground.
“Damian, did I hurt you?” I say as I rush over to him. He groans a little and then he attacks me at
full strength. He holds both my wrists in his left hand and starts tickling me with the right hand. I fall back writhing with uncontrollable laughter and he climbs on me without pausing the tickling attack for one second. I think I’m having a déjà vu from yesterday when Finn attacked me in the same way.
“I can’t breathe,” I protest but he is relentless. I could kill them both, I think, and that would be
the end of the tickling.
“Damian?” It’s Tilly’s voice. Yep, it’s déjà vu alright.
Damian stops to look at her. Tilly and Biscuit watch us in bewilderment.
“What’s going on?” Damian says as he sits up. I do my best to straighten my hair and my shirt.
“Ah, three Sliman are here and they’re asking for you,” Biscuit says.
“Seriously, Biscuit, what’s going on?”
“He just told you,” Tilly says. “We were practicing outside the cave when the Sliman appeared
out of nowhere. We reached for our guns but they dropped theirs, they raised their arms and said that
they’ve come in peace. Then they asked to talk to our leader.”
Damian’s face grows pale. “It’s begun,” he says as he draws his gun. “Freya, keep your receptor
out of sight but keep your fingers on it.”
We rush to the camp. The receptor is in my pocket and my fingers feel sweaty and heavy around
it. The scene is as Tilly and Biscuit described it but it feels even more peculiar. Three huge Sliman
warriors, clad in black from head to toe, stand in the middle of the camp. Their bright green eyes
shine in a ghostly manner underneath their hoods. Their pulse guns and shock bows are on the ground
right behind Finn’s feet. Finn is pointing his gun at them.
One of the Sliman, who seems to be in charge as he stands a bit ahead of the other two, turns to
Damian. “There you are,” he says and his voice, although deep and really low, has nothing strange
about it. It could be the voice of any big, strong man. “You must be the leader.”
“And you are?” Damian asks.
“Wudak,” the Sliman replies. “We’re here in peace.”
Damian shakes his head. “And why should I trust a Sliman?”
“Just hear us out and then you can make that decision.”
“Speak then.”
“Shouldn’t we do this in private?”
“No,” Damian says. “We’re all equal here. But of course this is something you wouldn’t know
anything about.”
“No, you are not all equal,” Wudak says. He turns his gaze on me. “We are here to tell you that
we are loyal to you,” he says. “You will be our queen. And we will serve you as you wish.”
I am stunned at this and step back in fear as all three of them walk towards me with bowed
heads. Damian jumps to action punching Wudak in the face with the back of his pulse gun and then
banging the heads of the other two Sliman together.
“Get the hell away from her,” he yells.
Wudak wipes the blood off his face. “So the word is true,” he says. “You are as strong as a
Sliman.”
Damian pays no attention to him. “Finn,” he says, “tie them up.”
3
The Sliman’s hands are tied behind their backs. Damian pushes them inside the cave. Nya
stands guard at the entrance. Her long body is straightened like a fine bow string, all her senses are sharpened.
Damian forces the three Sliman to sit down in front of Theo’s heavy desk. He ties their legs
together before tying them to each other. The Sliman don’t resist this and they don’t even blink when
Damian removes the hoods from their heads.
The one named Wudak has long black hair with two thin braids in front. He is handsome in a
peculiar way. The other two have shorter brown hair. All three of them have their identification
numbers tattooed around the corners of their eyes in grey ink. The detailed calligraphy of the tattoos reveals that they are high in the Sliman ranks, especially Wudak. They seem to be of the same age, but then again so do all Sliman. They never age and they never seem to change.
“How did you find us?” Damian says as he draws a combat knife out of his boot.
“You don’t need to be aggressive,” Wudak says. “We are here to explain things to you. So that
you understand.”
“How did you find us?” Damian repeats pausing between words for effect.
“I am Wudak,” the Sliman says. “Commander of the third Sliman Regiment on Plantation-15.
This is Malzod and this is Gritu.”
Gritu looks smaller than the other two but still huge in comparison to most of us. Damian is
about to punch Wudak again when I intervene and hold his hand down. “Let him talk,” I beg of him.
“She’s right, Damian. Let’s hear what they have to say,” Finn agrees.
Wudak turns his face towards Pip. “We have been following you,” he says. I search for Finn’s
eyes. It all makes sense now.
“You released the little girl.” Damian is the one to say it out loud. “You’ve placed some
tracking chip on her. That’s how you knew where to find us. That’s why you let her go. To set a trap
for us.”
Wudak shakes his head. “We freed her as a gesture of our goodwill. So you would know we are
truthful.” He says those last words looking at me.
“You knew she was my sister,” I whisper.
“Yes. And we destroyed all evidence that could connect her to you.”
&n
bsp; I consider this for a moment. “I have two sisters,” I say.
“No, you don’t. Not anymore. Otherwise, she would be here as well. You have my word for it.”
I cover my mouth with my hand. Pip’s eyes well up and her fingers pull on my shirt. Finn tries to
put his arms around me but I push him away. I’ve known that my brother must be either vanished or
lobotomized by now, but my sister is young enough that she could be in a plantation still.
“How?” I say. “How did she die?”
“I see that I have upset you. I am sorry about that. I keep forgetting how sensitive humans are,”
Wudak says and lowers his head.
“Is this the kind of crap we have to listen to?” Damian snaps. He would want nothing more than
to kill them right now. Maybe in his mind that would be a way to avenge Daphne’s death.
“There has to be some point in all this,” Finn says. He turns to Wudak. “Is there a point? I don’t
like your chances if you don’t get to it fast.”
“We are here to protect the queen with the sensory receptor,” he says. “She is in danger.”
“My name is Freya,” I say trying to hold back my tears.
“Freya, you are in grave danger. We have come to protect you and offer our allegiance.”
I can feel how my companions shift their positions, how they stare at the Sliman in shock and
fear. Damian grabs Wudak’s hair and pulls it back as if trying to rip it off. “What kind of danger?” he says. “And why would you care?”
“Because we are slaves like humans. And because we don’t like it,” Wudak says staring into
Damian’s eyes.
“Bullshit,” Damian spits out.
Wudak turns to me again. “The aliens, they don’t want you to know what you are capable of
doing, but we know. We can show you. We can teach you. We can help you win.”
“Is my sister dead?” is all I can say.
“We don’t have that information,” Wudak says. “What we know is that she is out of the
plantation network and that is never a good thing.”
“What happens when kids leave the plantations? Where do they go?” Damian asks. It’s the
question we have all been asking since the day we were able to talk.
“I will tell you what I know when the time comes. You have to trust us first. I don’t know
[scifan] plantation - books one to three Page 15
