Proxy

by R. D. Brady

  They were going against the tide. Panicking people were sprinting away from the ship. Hordes of people with no plan in mind except to get away. A woman ran along, her hands clutching the hands of two little children. She fell, and the children slipped out of her grasp. She looked back at them, and then with barely any hesitation, started to run, leaving them behind.

  Riley cursed softly as he shifted gears, heading toward the kids. Petra had seen the same woman and tripped her as she went past before heading toward the kids herself.

  Petra knelt down in front of the little girl who sat crying, big tears rolling down her cheeks. “Hey, hey. It’s okay. Let me help you.” Petra picked the little girl up.

  Riley reached for the little boy, who just stood looking around, his eyes big, his mouth open. He reached down and picked him up as well. “We need to get them out.”

  Petra looked over at the downed ship with longing before straightening her shoulders. “I know.”

  They gripped the children and started toward the gates of the city. They’d only made it about ten feet when Addie and Jamal intercepted them.

  Addie reached for the little girl in Petra’s arms. “We’ve got them.”

  Jamal took the little boy from Riley. “Go on. We’ll get them to safety.”

  “Thanks,” Riley said before turning and running. Petra was already zipping through the crowd. Riley sprinted after her. It wasn’t as easy for him to slip through the crowd, but his determination got people to move out of the way. And when that didn’t work, a quick shoulder check seemed to do the trick as well.

  Riley kept one eye on the crowd and the other on the mothership, looking for any sort of movement coming out of it. So far he hadn’t seen anything. At the same time, his mind reeled at the size of the thing.

  His gut clenched. If Miles wasn’t where they thought he was supposed to be, how were they going to find him? It would take weeks to search every inch of that ship. And they didn’t have weeks. Miles wouldn’t have weeks. They were holding him captive. He was no doubt in horrible shape. And in this situation, they wouldn’t exactly make keeping him alive a priority.

  Riley took a breath, dodging past an overweight man whose face was red from the exertion of running as he dragged a large bag behind him. Even above the noise of the crowd, Riley could hear the tinkle of metal as the man dragged his treasures down the street.

  Riley shook his head. A bag full of gold wasn’t going to be of much use outside of New City. No one cared about that kind of wealth. The only wealth that mattered was the kind that helped you survive. If the man made it out of the city, he wasn’t going to survive long on his own. And Riley didn’t think many groups would be willing to take in the residents of New City.

  Not that he had any compassion for them. They deserved the future they got. But Miles, Miles deserved to have a future. Riley ducked his head and lengthened his stride as the crowd thinned out. The ship was only twenty feet away.

  Petra didn’t slow as she approached, veering to the right. Riley spied the opening. It was one of the landing bays. Without a word, Petra slipped into the dark bay. Without a moment’s hesitation, Riley followed her.

  81

  Miles stared at the three Unwelcome as he crouched along the wall, waiting for the ship to hit. These three had been his captors. In some cases, they had even been his assailants. But now they needed each other to get off the ship. Explosions sounded from deeper within the ship. Multiple explosions going off over and over again. He didn’t know what had happened to the ship, but he had a feeling that Lyla was somehow responsible for it.

  He let himself have a small grin. He’d wondered if they would come for him. No, that wasn’t quite right. He’d known they would want to. But he’d wondered if they could. The technology of the Naku was so much greater than anything they could muster. He should have known they would have found a way. Leaving people behind—Lyla didn’t do that.

  But even if his people were coming, he knew he needed to get moving. He couldn’t simply wait here for them to come and rescue him.

  He turned to ask Anixquold what the quickest way off the ship was when what felt like an earthquake rolled through the ship. Miles was thrown in the air, as were the other three. He slammed back down hard, biting his tongue painfully. He slid down the hall, coming to halt as he crashed into a wall. He groaned. “I think we’ve landed.”

  Gaxdrill snorted. “What makes you think that?”

  Anixquold got to her knees. “That wasn’t as bad as I—”

  A giant screech sounded throughout the ship. All of them went still, and then in a flash, they were trying to maintain their positions as the ship lurched violently to the right.

  Gaxdrill’s feet slipped from underneath him first. With a yell, he went tumbling down the hall. Dexender and Miles quickly followed. They each slammed into one another.

  Miles managed to roll so that only his shoulder, rather than his feet, slammed into the side of Dexender. But he tensed as Anixquold slid toward him. He knew that he was going to break some bones when she hit, but he had no purchase.

  Dexender grabbed onto him, yanking him closer to him and Gaxdrill and away from Anixquold as she managed to shift her weight to the side. She slid past them, her feet slamming into the far wall with a thunderous crash that had Miles worrying she might have destroyed her knees.

  He craned his neck to look back at her. “Anixquold?”

  “I’m okay.”

  “What was that?” growled Gaxdrill, shifting so that Dexender and Miles could stand next to him. They were all now standing on the wall rather than the floor.

  “I think the ship just split in half,” Miles said.

  Miles looked up toward the other door. It was going to be a long climb to get to it, if they even managed it. The walls and floor were slick tiles. The grooves between tiles were practically nonexistent. It was almost like climbing up a wide, long, slippery chimney.

  I don’t think we’re getting out of here without help.

  Another shudder ran through the ship. More muffled explosions sounded in the distance. “Oh no,” Dexender groaned.

  Miles reached out, trying to brace himself against the wall with one arm and the other wall, but the hall was too wide. There was nothing he could do as the ship shifted again, this time in the opposite direction. He was helpless as he started tumbling forward again.

  “Miles!” Anixquold yelled.

  Miles couldn’t even respond, as he seemed to be picking up speed. From the corner of his eye, he noticed someone shoot past him.

  Anixquold.

  As Miles came abreast of her, she reached out and grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him to a jarring stop. Miles reached up with his one good arm and held on to her hand as Dexender and Gaxdrill went sliding past with a yell. He looked up at Anixquold—one of her hands was wrapped around the frame of his old cell.

  Another shudder, and the ship shifted back again in the other direction. Anixquold started to slide, but then miraculously, the ship seemed to come to a halt. Miles lay panting in the hallway that now only stood at a slight angle. He took a deep breath. “Is everybody okay? Is anybody hurt?”

  Anixquold released him, and he saw her flexing her other hand.

  Blood dripped from it onto the floor. She’d been holding on so tight that the metal from the frame had cut into her hand.

  From down the hall, Gaxdrill groaned. “I’m pretty sure my organs are in different positions than they were when this whole thing started. Dexender?” Gaxdrill’s voice held a note of panic.

  Even in the dim light, Miles could make out that Dexender’s helmet had come loose. And there was a dark spot along the side of his face.

  Miles himself felt all right. His shoulder was banged up from where he’d crashed into Dexender. And he was pretty sure he had some sort of burn from sliding on the floor. But thanks to Anixquold, he’d avoided any major injury. Miles crawled to his feet and made his way into his cell, grabbing the pillow and ripping off
the cover. He quickly ripped it into strips. He walked over to Anixquold. “Let me see your hand.”

  She shook her head. “It’s nothing. We need get moving.”

  Miles extended his hand again. “Let me see your hand.”

  Anixquold slowly unrolled her fingers. The cut was bad, easily four inches across and at least an inch deep. He could actually make out bone in one particular section. He took her hand, inspecting it. He placed one end of the strip on her palm. “Hold this.”

  Anixquold did, and then Miles wrapped the strip around her hand tight enough to stem the bleeding but not cut off her circulation.

  Anixquold winced but made no comment. He handed her the edge of the strip. He nodded to the edge of the strip she held. “Hold that up.”

  She did, and he quickly tied it into a knot. “Pull tight.” He finished tying it off. “Good?”

  “Good enough,” she said.

  Miles grabbed the other strips and headed toward Dexender. Dexender sat on the ground, leaning his head back along the wall. Gaxdrill was crouched next to him. He’d removed his helmet as well. Miles was surprised at the worry he saw on the Unwelcome’s face. The cut on Dexender’s forehead was bleeding pretty hard, which worried Miles, but not as much as if that much blood was coming from a different part of this body. Head wounds tended to bleed a lot.

  Miles crouched on Dexender’s other side, inspecting the cut as best as he could in the dim light.

  “It’s bad, isn’t it?” Gaxdrill asked.

  “Actually, I don’t think so. The cut’s superficial. He’ll be all right.” He quickly pressed some of the strip against the wound. “Dex, I’m going to need you to hold on to this.”

  Dexender opened his eyes and stared at Miles as if he couldn’t understand what Miles was saying.

  “I’ll do it.” Gaxdrill took the strips from Miles’s hand and held them against the injury.

  “I wish we had more light. Do you know if he hit anything?” Miles asked.

  Gaxdrill nodded. “He hit the wall as we swung back down. It was a pretty good hit. And he didn’t have his helmet.”

  “It could be a concussion. He’ll be out of it for a little while. We’ll have to help him get off the ship. I’m not sure he’s going to be able to do it on his own. “

  Surprise flashed across Gaxdrill’s face. “You still want to bring him?”

  Miles stared at him, trying not to hold it against him. The Unwelcome had been used to injury sometimes resulting in people being left behind, people even being killed. “Of course we’ll take him. He’ll heal from this. It will just take him a little time.”

  Anixquold approached with some longer strips of material. “I ripped up the sheets. Thought you might need some more.”

  Miles nodded his thanks before he tapped Gaxdrill’s hand. “Let me see.”

  Gaxdrill pulled his hand back, giving a sharp intake of breath as the blood began to flow freely again.

  But Miles nodded. “It’s already slowing.” He placed a new clean strip on the wound. “Okay, I’ll hold this. I’m going to need you to take those strips and tie them around this bandage.”

  Gaxdrill nodded, biting his bottom lip as he carefully wound the strips around Dexender’s head.

  “A little tighter,” Miles said.

  Gaxdrill nodded again. “Okay.”

  “Good. Now tie it off.”

  Gaxdrill did and then rested his hand for a moment on Dexender’s cheek. It was an incredibly tender action. Surprise flashed through Miles.

  Huh, didn’t see that coming.

  Miles slipped his good arm underneath Dexender’s arm. “Help me get him up.”

  Gaxdrill slipped his arm underneath the other. Between the two of them, they got him to his feet. Anixquold, who’d gone to check out the far door, returned. She eyed Dexender. “How is he?”

  Miles spoke before Gaxdrill could. “He’s got a head injury. But with our help, he’ll be fine.”

  Anixquold’s eyebrows rose, but she made no further comment about Dexender. Instead, she pointed out the new problem.

  “The power’s off. I don’t think we can open the door.”

  82

  Anixquold and Gaxdrill moved Dexender closer to the door leading into the main hallway. Anixquold was right—the scanner next to the door had no lights on. There was nothing to power it. The only lights on were the dim emergency lights along the edge of the floor.

  Gently, Anixquold and Gaxdrill lowered Dexender to the floor. Miles stood with his hand on his waist as he scanned the door. “There has to be some sort of emergency release.”

  Anixquold nodded. “It’s on the other side.”

  “Of course it is,” Miles muttered as he stared at the door, trying to figure it out. Electricity wasn’t his thing. He’d read books on it, but he’d had very little experience with it. The last time had been when he’d set up the email at Meg’s camp, which felt like it had been years ago. Other than that, his only other experience in recent days had been at the Lab. And all he’d seen was that it worked, not how it worked.

  But maybe they didn’t need electricity. Maybe they just needed to get through it. “Do you guys have any romags?”

  Anixquold moved to a panel a few feet down the hall. She pushed against it. The panel swung open, revealing a small hidden chamber. Three romag stood upright on holders.

  Miles smiled as Anixquold handed him one. “This just might work.” He nodded toward Dexender. “Can you to get him down the hall? I’m not sure how big a spark this is going to make.”

  Anixquold headed for Dexender before Gaxdrill stopped her. “I got him.”

  Miles and Anixquold followed the two of them. Gaxdrill half carried Dexender to Miles’s cell, leaning him gently against the wall inside.

  Miles leaned at the edge of the cell, looking down the hall. He propped the romag up on his half arm, trying to line up his shot.

  Anixquold tapped him on the shoulder. He glanced back at her. “What?”

  She nodded at the weapon. “I’m betting I’m a better shot than you.”

  Miles gave a small chuckle. “I bet that’s true.” He lowered his hands and handed her the romag.

  She took his spot at the edge of the cell. “Where am I aiming?”

  “First, aim for the scanner.”

  Anixquold lined up her shot and then pulled the trigger. A blast of sparks emitted from the scanner and down the hall. Anixquold ducked back. When they looked back out, the scanner was gone, but the door remained close.

  Miles sighed. “I knew that would have been too easy. Okay, this time aim for the door itself from the side that opens.”

  Anixquold hesitated for a moment. She glanced back down the hall and then at Miles. “How about if I aim for the wall around the door?”

  Miles grinned. “If you think that thing can eat through the wall and reveal the door, then I’m all for it.”

  Anixquold actually smiled back at him before once again lining up her shot. This time an explosion of sparks went on for a good fifteen seconds. When they were done, smoke filled the hallway. Miles waved his hand in the air, trying to clear the smoke from directly in front of them. He peered down the hall. Although not perfectly revealed, there was enough of the edge of the door revealed that they should be able to get a grip around it.

  Miles stepped out into the hallway. “Okay. Let’s give this a shot.”

  With Gaxdrill helping Dexender, they made their way back to the door. Miles took Dexender’s weight as Gaxdrill and Anixquold grabbed the edge of the door and began to pull. Even with the two of them working together, it was slow going. But inch by inch, the door opened until there was about an eight-inch gap. But then it seemed to stall. They pulled and pulled, but it refused to budge.

  Finally, Anixquold let go, looking at Miles. “You can fit through. You need to go.”

  Miles carefully lowered Dexender to the ground. “Okay. I’ll slip through, and then I’ll get the release from the other side. Where is it?”


  “It should be next to the scanner,” Anixquold said.

  Miles peered through the doorway. It was chaos on the other side. Everything was bathed in shadows. Unwelcome ran in different directions, no one seeming to know where to go.

  Anixquold looked out after him. “Stay along the wall.”

  Miles nodded, swallowing hard before he squeezed through. He let out a small yelp as a piece of heated metal touched his back. He tugged himself through to the other side, stumbling forward a few steps. He jumped back as an Unwelcome appeared from the dark, knocking into his injured shoulder. Miles crashed into the wall with a grunt. “Ow.”

  The Unwelcome didn’t even slow. Miles wasn’t even sure it realized it hit him.

  Heart pounding, he turned to the wall. The scanner was to his right. Miles scanned the space around it for the emergency lever. The romag blast had cut right through the wall, making it easy to find the lever.

  But the blast had also sliced right through it. There was no way he was going to be able to get it to work.

  Miles peeked back through the door, shaking his head. “Lever’s not going work. The romag cut right through it.”

  Anixquold nodded. “I thought it might have. You need to go, Miles. Head toward Landing Bay 12. It should allow you to get off the ship.”

  Miles stared at her, the truth of what she’d done hitting him. “You knew. You knew if you aimed for the wall that you’d damage the emergency lever. You had no intention of getting off the ship.”

  Anixquold shook her head. “I didn’t know for sure. I hoped I was wrong. But I knew that was the only way we’d get the door open. And I was the only way you’d be able to get off the ship.”

  “I’m not leaving you here.”

  “We’ll be fine. We’ll be found, and everything will go back to normal.” She paused. “But tell Arthur … tell him I’m sorry. I didn’t understand. I wish …” She shook her head. “Just tell him I’m sorry.”