[scifan] plantation - books one to three

by Stella Samiotou Fitzsimons

  I drop to my knees beside Rabbit. Then I notice something odd. A few feet away another body

  lies on the ground. The body of a Sliman. Wudak.

  “How did he get here?” I ask.

  Zoe hugs me. Her eyes are hollow with a pain almost as deep as mine.

  “Gritu found him and brought him here,” she says pointing at a dark figure several yards away.

  “Wudak said the receptor has healing powers. You have to feel it in you, you have to save Rabbit.”

  “I want to,” I say as my voice breaks. “I don’t know how.”

  “You almost did it for Daphne. I know you can do it now,” she says.

  “There’s nothing I can do anymore,” Doc says in anguish.

  “Please, Freya,” Scout says through her tears.

  “I will try,” I say, “but I am just a girl.”

  Wudak’s hand reaches out to me.

  “It’s deep within, find it,” he says.

  I nod. “First Rabbit and then you.”

  “The first one… will almost kill you,” he whispers. “Just the boy.”

  I have to pull myself together. I touch Rabbit’s forehead. It’s burning. I close my eyes and

  concentrate on the receptor in my tight fist. Nothing happens. I try again and I can’t get the device to respond.

  Then I remember Wudak’s words. You will become the receptor and it will become you. Its

  heart beats within you. You are bonded.

  Bonded? That word. Zolkon said that Wudak had bonded with me when we touched. The

  receptor has bonded with me. All three can be one.

  “Guide me, Wudak. Guide me while you yet breathe.”

  Wudak smiles up to me. “Take anything you want,” he whispers.

  I close my eyes and think it. Take anything you want. Immediately, a rainbow of light jumps out of my fingers. The other Saviors stagger back in awe. It’s the same rainbow that helped Daphne open

  her eyes. Is it enough to keep Rabbit among the living?

  The flood of light grows wider and brighter. I can barely see anything through it. I turn it on

  Rabbit and the rays reduce suddenly to light up his face. The light spills down onto his shoulder and

  chest where the deep wounds are killing him. Now a yellow light sparks out of the receptor and

  rushes into the wounds. Rabbit convulses as the light flows into him.

  I fight to hold the energy as steady as I can and a void gradually grows inside me, numbing entire

  areas of my body. Rabbit opens his eyes with a jolt. I have to keep him here. I’ll bring him back even if it costs me my life.

  His wounds start to heal right in front of our stunned eyes. First the bleeding stops, then the flesh

  mends together and scabs over.

  When the skin starts to heal around the wounds, I pass out.

  22

  When I come to, Rabbit is bending over me.

  “Welcome back,” he says.

  “Rabbit, are we alive?” I mutter.

  “We are. You saved me, Freya. Thank you.”

  I try to sit up but the vertigo pushes me right back.

  “Stay still,” Doc says. “I don’t want to scare you, but your heart stopped. For a moment, you

  were gone. I wasn’t sure we’d get you back. I need you to take it easy.”

  I realize we’re in the fortress and I lie on a bed but not the one that was supposed to be mine. I

  haven’t seen this room before. “How long have I been out?” I ask.

  “A few hours,” Doc says. “I took care of your calf as best I could. I found medical supplies in

  here.”

  “Where’s Pip? Finn?”

  “They’re right outside, I’ll get them for you.”

  “Rabbit,” I say, “I’m so glad you’re okay. I wanted to see you run again.”

  Finn and Pip arrive and Pip runs to me. I realize how bad it must be when even Pip knows not to

  hug me. I cannot even raise my hand to touch her.

  Finn kisses my forehead softly. “Don’t ever do that again,” he says.

  “Finn, why are we still here?”

  “Gritu and Malzod have raised the shield again around the fortress. They have also reported

  false information about our escape. They’re on our side.”

  “Wudak?” I ask.

  Finn shakes his head.

  “Wudak,” I say quietly. I feel his loss in my soul.

  Tilly and Scout come in the room. I can see the rawness in their eyes. They have been crying.

  They both hold my right hand together.

  Then come Theo and Nya, Biscuit, Zoe and Doc.

  Everybody except Damian.

  “Freya, there’s something that you need to know,” Finn says.

  “What?”

  “Zolkon survived. He’s our prisoner. He says he has some important information but he will talk

  only to you.”

  “And then can we kill him?” I say groggily.

  I don’t know why, but this makes every Savior laugh quietly.

  I nod and Gritu brings Zolkon in the room. Everyone exits. He’s in chains and in bad shape but

  Doc says he’ll live. I ask Finn to stay. I don’t want to be alone with this monster.

  Zolkon looks at me. “I hear you performed a miracle,” he says and his horrible laughter follows

  soon afterwards.

  “Buddy, laugh again, and I am going to kill you.”

  I lift my hand and the receptor flies across the room and plants itself firmly in my grasp. He

  stops laughing. Finn rolls his eyes and takes the receptor out of my hand.

  “I think it’d be better for you if we were alone when we talked,” he says looking at Finn.

  “Not an option,” I say. “Trust me. You don’t want him to leave. He just saved your life.”

  “Very well,” he says. “I want to make a deal with you. In exchange for my freedom, I will tell

  you all you need to know about your Sliman. And I don’t mean Wudak.”

  “What does that mean?” I say not liking the tone in his voice one bit.

  “You didn’t know? Your friend, the one who was captured, he’s a Sliman.”

  “What on earth are you talking about?” Finn says.

  “Well, he’s a different model, an experimental one. To this day, nobody knew one of the

  experiments had survived and thrived without the Omicron 5. Now the aliens know. That’s why they

  took him.”

  “You’re insane,” I say.

  “Am I? Haven’t you noticed anything different about him? His strength? His determination? His

  coldness and severity? His ease with violence? Let me guess, he told you that he loved you. Of

  course, he did. All Sliman are conditioned to love you.”

  I want to vomit or die. I think dying would be more graceful.

  “We wouldn’t be Sliman if we didn’t love you. Not you specifically, but every alien host. It’s

  like we have a chip in our brains that turns on the moment your hands touch us. That’s what happened

  to Wudak, that’s why he died for you. And your lad, once he touched you the first time, he grew to

  love you. He didn’t understand it. He might have fought it, but he could not resist.”

  My mind wanders now to the day of my escape. Damian’s strong arms around me, carrying me

  through the woods. He would not let go.

  “Even I felt a little jolt when you first walked in here. And you’re not so bad on the eyes either.

  Am I right, boy?”

  Finn glances to Zolkon vacantly. “Freya?”

  Zolkon shakes his head at Finn. “Youth is wasted on the wrong people.”

  “Why not you, then?” Finn asks.

  “I am too intelligent, too old to be caught in the web the aliens have woven into my cells.” He

  laughs again and he’s
lucky my mind wanders back to Damian. Every moment we shared.

  I look at Finn. Will I ever tell him what Damian and I shared? What dark secret awaited him?

  “Your friend and Wudak, they both bonded with you through touching you. Wudak knew what he

  was doing, the idiot. Your friend probably didn’t. He didn’t know that the price would be his own

  life.”

  My head hurts and I reach out for Finn’s hand. He takes it and rubs it with his, reassuring me

  he’s here.

  “He is the ultimate Sliman,” Zolkon goes on, “the model they have been trying to create ever

  since they came to this planet. But unlike Sliman, he doesn’t need Omicron 5 to stay alive. They

  hadn’t predicted that. They might tear him apart limb by limb trying to discover how it happened.”

  “Shut up,” I yell. “I don’t care what’s in his genes. He’s human, you monster. Human! Born to a

  human mother. Willing to die for his fellow man.”

  “He will be what he was destined to be,” he goes on as if he didn’t hear a word I said. “A

  weapon. As will his child.”

  He pauses as if he’s waiting for his words to sink in, but I have no reaction. I don’t react to

  anything anymore, especially the words of a madman.

  “I know you don’t know yet but you will. Soon enough. Wudak acted shocked when he saw the

  results on the analyzer. You were already carrying an embryo, one with human, alien and Sliman

  markers. But we both know that he knew. And now so does your young champion here.”

  My cheeks burn up. I look at Finn and I see death on his ghostly face. His noble features, his

  calmness, his composure are all but gone. He stares at me as a trapped animal would. I turn my eyes

  away. He knows I can’t tell him that Zolkon is lying. He knows there’s a possibility his words are

  true. He knows.

  “It’s a lie. Why would you ever offer the truth to me?”

  “My dear girl, there are three things that I would never do. Tell the truth when nobody wants to

  reward me for it. Lie when I can’t benefit from it. Pretend I care about the difference between the

  truth and a lie.”

  Finn staggers back and leans against a table.

  “This is what I propose,” Zolkon says. “If you let me go, I will contact my connections within

  the alien network and have them kill this Damian before he is tortured and brainwashed. What do you

  think? Isn’t it a fair deal?”

  “Shut your filthy mouth,” Finn yells as he pounces on Zolkon and beats down on him with all his

  force.

  “Finn,” I say but he doesn’t listen. He punches Zolkon repeatedly until the old Sliman tumbles

  down to the ground, bloodied and half-conscious.

  My best friend comes to me and takes me in his arms. His warmth soothes my aches. He kisses

  my forehead quickly, but then he lets go too fast.

  He grabs Zolkon by the hair and drags him out of my room.

  *

  GRITU AND MALZOD take us back to the base. They think we will be safe here for a while.

  Finn found Shy Boy hiding in the garden at the fortress, shaking with fear at the loud racket of the

  drones and the battle. We think he will be okay. He carried me for most part of the journey.

  I lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling. I have been in this position for two days. I have found

  that I can block out thoughts by concentrating on a small detail for hours. It numbs my brain to

  oblivion. I close my eyes and I see his face again. Why did I forget that I am not allowed to close my eyes anymore?

  I make the decision in an instant. I get up, put my boots on, walk down the hallway until I reach

  his door. I open it cautiously as if I could disturb him somehow with my indiscretion.

  I bury my face in his pillow, I smell his scent, I think of all the times I told him to stay away

  from me and my tears flow freely finally. I can’t keep the pain inside any longer. I know the truth now.

  I know that I don’t want to live without him in my life. I can’t live without our arguments. I can’t live without hating his brute manners. I can’t live without loving him.

  But I have to live in darkness now. And I have to live knowing that I will never be able to tell

  him that I love him. My knees buckle under me. I fall to the floor holding the pillow. I cry with loud sobs, I cry like it is the only thing left to do in the world.

  “Freya?” Pip says.

  I turn, startled, and see her standing in the doorway.

  “It’s okay,” I say, wiping away tears and snot. “I am fine.”

  “Freya. I know where they have taken him.”

  My senses get alerted all at the same time. “How could you, Pip?” I say.

  “It’s all in my head again,” she says. “I remember everything.”

  THE SHADOW EMPIRE

  PART ONE

  Cradle Will Rock

  1

  There’s a stillness in the damp woods that calms my soul. The heavy scents of leaves fallen on

  wet earth and spring blossoms hidden within wild foliage fill up my lungs. The mystical dew of early

  morning cools my naked feet as I wander aimlessly beneath the blue sky for the first time in days.

  Finn sits on a jagged rock by the edge of the river, his willow fishing pole bent like one of

  Nya’s huge bows. Finn once belonged to the morning. His smile would break like the Sun on the

  horizon, warming you with health and possibility. Those days are gone. He sits quietly now. Thinking

  more than fishing. None of his thoughts are likely to lead to a smile.

  This change of perspective is to be expected after what we have all been through, but something

  I have not yet learned to expect is his close-cropped hair. It still throws me off every time.

  “You should be inside,” he says when he senses my presence behind him.

  “If you can be out here, I can, too,” I reply as I sit down beside him.

  “It’s not the same,” he says. “There’s not an alien army trying to capture me no matter the cost.”

  “No, but the same army would just settle for killing you.”

  He turns to me disappointed. “Are you trying to be funny?”

  “Not at all,” I say.

  This is how we have been communicating for the past week. Sarcastic jokes, half-sentences and

  snappy comebacks. Even when together, we don’t really reach out to each other. We discuss things

  we have learned from Pip, we take part in daily meetings, we go over plans about raiding Plantation-15 but we never bring up the one thing that truly stands between us.

  A fish takes the bait and Finn turns his attention to the task at hand. He gives the fishing pole a

  sudden jerk backwards and up, then starts reeling slowly. I can tell by the way his muscles tense that he’s fighting against a big creature.

  When he lifts the fish out of the water, I turn my face away. I can’t think of a worse end, gasping

  for oxygen.

  “We’ll be having genetically enhanced trout tonight,” Finn says.

  I nod and grimace. I make an imperceptible sound. I don’t like to be there when my food dies.

  Doc says it’s a miracle that I’m up and about so quickly after having almost died. He marvels at

  my complete recovery, both physically and emotionally. I don’t tell him about the thing that drives me.

  I don’t tell him my passion to destroy and annihilate is as nourishing as mother’s milk. Fiery visions of vengeance and war trigger my immune system.

  Each Savior burns with the desire to rescue Damian. I want more. I want to level those who

  hold him. Revenge is so sweet in my dreams. W
e need our leader back. We hope that Pip’s intuition

  is true. I need his eyes again, his lips, but I also want to kill his captors. An odd craving for someone who can’t bear to watch a fish die.

  Pip has finally revealed her special ability to us, at least one of them, and Doc has concluded

  that she is a human database. There’s no end to the information she carries in her brain, including

  useful specifics pertaining to the plantation network and the laboratories within and underneath it.

  She doesn’t know the purpose of it all, but she knows every detail about the design and layout of

  the entire plantation district.

  Finn gathers his pole and tackle and throws them in the bucket along with his huge, dead trout.

  “Stay,” I say. “I’ll go and give you peace. You can catch more fish for dinner.”

  He softens as he considers me through squinting eyes. “It’s not you, Freya. I like to walk in the

  morning,” he says. “Fishing is just a necessity and this catch is enough for all of us.”

  “We could walk together,” I suggest. “Maybe have a good chat.”

  He pauses to think about this. It doesn’t take him long. “Another time,” he says. “I need to

  meditate more and more these days.”

  Finn hasn’t called me Tick once since we returned to the Sliman base ten days ago after the big

  battle against the drones. I had no idea it would hurt so much not to hear him call me by the nickname.

  I don’t have the right to complain. I made my choices. Finn deals with them the best he can.

  He deserves the space and time he needs to adjust to this new reality. I must use the time to do

  whatever it takes to perfect the plan that will get Damian out of Plantation-15 as soon as possible.

  That’s where they keep him, according to Pip. Not exactly in the plantation but rather underneath

  it. Gritu and Malzod have never even heard of a subterranean network that connects all plantations to

  Plantation-15 and Zolkon wasn’t of any help at all when we questioned him about it but Pip is

  adamant.

  She also insists that there is a laboratory area right underneath Plantation-15 where experiments

  are conducted on Sliman daily. Where all exceptional young Sliman specimens are gathered to be

  studied and tested. It’s not only humans who have that privilege.