by Pearl Tate
Now I know what this is! This is a device that can create the stones that the Accord is on. If that’s the case, it can probably read them too! But can it distribute them?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
- Nitara
Chevepak must have a built-in radar for traveling underground because I’m lost as soon as we’re in the dark. Twisting and turning, we travel as quickly as we can with a large group of men that are just chomping at the bit to get back down there and poke around. As soon as they found out that I was going to lead them to where Mihile was most likely being held by the Sacred Mother, they were totally in.
“Are we still going the right way?” April and I, arms linked, are following close behind Chevepak as he throws the question over his shoulder.
“Yes. Definitely.” I know if I had to, that I could navigate and eventually get to where I feel Mihile, but there’d undoubtedly be wrong turns and back-tracking. I’m not sure if they have maps memorized or GPS or what, but they never hesitate or second-guess which turn to take.
I’m relieved that we ended up not staying for the entire showdown with the Council. It wouldn’t surprise me if we have to break them all out of some kind of Quasar jail after it’s all said and done. Those women make everything look hunky-dory and formal in there, but the last time we met, we were surrounded by a deadly voltaic barrier. They made it clear how they felt, and there’s a good chance that they haven’t changed their minds.
We haven’t even started exposing the original Accord agreement and what they negotiated with the Ashen—only the more recent bullshit with the Marel. I’m positive the only reason we were able to walk in and then back out of that room is due to the news that’s broadcasting real time. Barek stayed back with Hannah and Bren to keep the coverage on the proceeding there, but sent his partner Melin with us. Even now, I can hear the low hum of the drone over our heads.
It’s comforting we have it as a witness. I don’t know Mihile’s mother very well, but everything I do know isn’t good. She’s a lying, conniving, manipulating, false spiritual leader who’s taken advantage of her position of power to control others, including Mihile. Now, we just need to make sure we figure out a way to expose all the lies and misleading information they’ve created and dominated everyone with over the years.
I don’t recognize a thing we pass underground until Chevepak is pushing aside the hidden door into the antechamber outside of Mihile’s mothers office. Now I remember. This is the same door that we left out of from Mihile’s house.
When Chevepak enters the room in front of us, he steps back, pushing April and I against the wall just outside the room, hissing, “Stay here!”
What the hell?
Trying not to take it personally, I know that something bad must be going on when he rushes away and into the room so fast, it’s as if he disappears. One second, he’s there… the next—poof. Gone.
A whole second later, his voice yells out. “Alright. All clear!”
By then, a dozen men crowd in front of us, streaming through the narrow hidden doorway and into the room. By the time I squeeze through them, pushing and shoving, it’s unidentifiable. And I’m not talking about the men now spread out all over the room.
There are exclamations all around the room, mostly in Quasarian. They don’t translate perfectly into my rudimentary understanding of the language. They’re staring at the large, metal looking statue in the middle of the room, that’s loosely shaped like an old boiler system. Like me, they’ve never seen anything like it. There’s a large central part that’s shaped like the central hub with all the ducting coming out the sides. I’ve never seen one this big, but I didn’t think too much of it when we passed through here to leave.
Now, instead of the plain gray surface it was before, the entire structure is glowing, lit from within. All the branches have pin holes of light streaming out of the ends. Incredible!
The room is bright, and with all the guys milling around, I almost miss Chevepak holding the Sacred Mother off to the side. She’s kicking at him ineffectually, but he’s easily holding her with one arm above his head, holding something. I don’t care about any of that as I yell out, “Mihile!”
He feels like he’s here. Right here. Circling the room, I shade my eyes from the bright beams that shoot out in every direction from the centerpiece.
Ending up at the same spot, I jog over to Chevepak. “Where is he?” The Sacred Mother stops struggling to narrow her eyes at me, looking me up and down as her lips curl.
“So… you’re the female who’s ruined to my son.”
Oh, I don’t think so! Pulling the parent card on me! Trying to make me feel bad when she’s the one that kept her son down here for thirty years thinking the planet was destroyed and uninhabitable.
Ignoring her disdainful look, I watch as one of the other men brings Chevepak some kind of restraints, and he passes the strange boxy device he was holding to another man before taking them. “We’ll have to look around for Mihile. That’s a laser gun, and it’s on the highest setting. Are you sure he feels like he’s here? She could have hurt him and put him somewhere?”
Spinning in a circle again, I’m drawn to the large, central base of the object sending out all the light. “Here.” I point to the hub that’s probably six feet around.
Settling my hands on the now glowing surface, I feel the faint hum of it doing… whatever it’s doing. It appears to be working based on the sound and lights. Glancing around, I see a guy to my left about ten feet away, frozen. His eyes are locked onto one of the streams… just like the Accord.
“Look!” Pointing at the man, I watch Melin get there first, his drone following behind him, circling the man as he sits there taking in information in the strange way stones seem to share it. April follows me over to the big tubular object, rapping on it with her knuckles.
“Do you think Mihile is in here?” Her hands flutter across the surface like mine.
If he’s, is he trapped? There must be a door. “I do. I think there must be a way to get in here.”
Turning back toward Mihile’s mother, I yell at her, “How did you get him in there?”
She just throws back her head and laughs, despite the weird circumstances. How can she act like this toward her own son? But then I think about how she treated him all those years. She’s the least caring person around on this planet. She hasn’t cared about him, or any of the other men around here for a long time.
“Look!” Melin’s shout draws all our attention to where his drone has locked onto one of the beams from the strange lights zig-zagging out across the room. The entire wall on the far side of the space comes on, and we watch a news woman talking to the audience, her serious demeanor cut off as the Sacred Mother’s voice and image come up on the screen, broadcasting out.
“You’re my son. My only son. Of course, I want you here with me.” She’s looking at the screen. It’s nauseating to watch her have a single tear slide down her cheek. “There are those that feel we had too many males. The less than perfect ones were sent to the Sanctuary to be raised, and by extension, then available to be sent off planet for their labor at other places. I didn’t want that for you. You wouldn’t have survived.”
Oh, wow! Now, I get it. This must be a recording that Mihile took? A confession of some sort? Mihile’s voice quizzes her calmly. “So, you hid me away as you encouraged others to ‘donate’ their extra. That’s so terrible.”
His mother’s quick to try and defend herself, of course. “It was the only way. At the time, there’d been an outcry on the homeless on the streets. The orphans who’d steal food from the hard working business owners. We gave them shelter and food and a future—”
“And what did you get? Because I can pretty much guarantee that whatever payment you received, whether it’s credits or… I don’t even know… it’s not enough for all the killings you’ve allowed. Letting males believe that they’re going to travel and see a new place and then shipping them off to be turned into catatonic meat for a sp
ecies future dinner!”
I recognize Mihile’s voice getting upset, and can just imagine how he feels. Crushed. Angry. I’m sure there’s a part of him that worries that he might have some of her evil in him, but I know he doesn’t. He’s caring and loving, and my heart breaks as the screen goes dim briefly.
When it lightens a second later, his coughing shakes the view as his crazy mother comes into focus. She’s holding a large canister up that’s emitting a gas that fogs up the view. I’ve seen enough.
Spinning around, I run back over to her. “What did you do to him?” When she doesn’t answer, I reach up and slap her. The pain ricochets through my hand but I don’t care. If she doesn’t answer me, I’m going to punch her next!
I almost hit her before she begins to speak, but her soft, calm voice catches me off guard. “So fiery. I’m glad he has you to take care of him.”
“Where is he!” I slap both my palms against her upper chest that’s almost over my eye level. Despite my smaller size, she falls into the man behind her.
Instead of answering, she points at the center hub of the strange device. So, I was right! He is in there. “How can I get in?”
Straightening up from the man behind her, she shakes her head slightly. “I don’t know… no one has ever entered it before like he did. It’s been there… forever. Since we built this place underground, but it’s never been used like he’s using it.”
Abandoning her with the others, I sprint over to the hub, slamming my hands against the surface. “Mihile! Mihile!”
April never left it, and Chevepak is on her other side, running his fingers over the surface, looking for a way in. Tears choke my voice as it cracks and wavers. What if he can’t get out? What if he’s trapped and running out of air or something?
Just then, two things happen. Bren and Hannah burst into the room, and Mihile seems to fall out of the ceiling, sliding down the side of the strange surface into a puddle at my feet.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
- Mihile
Even though it’s easy to locate the rungs of a ladder to climb up to the exit, there has to be a better way to get in and out of this thing. As I look out the opening and back into the room, I can’t hear anything, despite the fact that there are men milling around the room. That worries me until I see Chevepak running his hands over the outside of the trunk I’m in.
Spotting April and Tara next to him, I throw my legs over the side, sliding down and crumpling in front of Tara who’s having a little breakdown. Until I pop my head out the opening, I can’t even hear them. It’s the most incredible thing!
“Spread out and secure all the exits!” Sitting forward, I realize Bren, Hannah, and many more of the mated males from the Discovery have arrived. I recognize them from their distinct energy signatures even though I don’t know all their names yet. “Tag them as they enter!”
“Mihile!” Tara throws herself on me, weeping as I push back the hair from her face while murmuring words of reassurance.
“I’m fine.” Pulling myself back, I lean back against the trunk, squeezing Tara as I watch in silence the conversation playing out on the screen across the room. I’ve never seen that wall used as a display before. It takes a moment before I realize that it’s a projection coming from the large tree I’ve just exited, and it’s playing my interaction with my mother from earlier.
Tara swivels around in my lap. Flattening her palms on my face, she looks into my eyes seriously. “We saw you get gassed by your mom. It played out…” She’s pointing at the wall as I nod. “Well, now it’s on the news.”
“Do you all still have the Accord you brought from the Ashen?” My mind is racing at light speed as I consider what this could mean. If it was able to convert my recent memories onto one of the stones inside to play on the screen out here, won’t it be able to do the same with the Ashen’s Accord? “If I could get that crystal playing in there…”
“...Melin will be able to stream it through and out.” April finishes while yanking at her hand above me. I realize she’s wearing the stone on her finger as a ring. Dropping next to where I’m sitting, she snatches my hand, folding my fingers around it.
When a male crouches down too, I recognize him as Barek, the other news person that was traveling with everyone earlier. “Yes, if you play that…” he waves to the screen where my interaction with my mother continues to expose her confession. “...we really need you to do it again. Did it hurt you?” His eyes shoot up, searching the side of the device. “How did you get in it?”
Puzzled, I look up to the hole I slid out of. I can see how in the past there must have been an access ladder similar to the one on the inside, but the grooves are faint and filled in. “Right there.”
Everyone looks up, scanning the side I slid down, and I realize they can’t see it. When I go to stand, Barek and Chevepak both offer me a hand, pulling me to my feet. Reaching up above my head, I put my hand through, and they all gasp behind me.
“Freaky!” April exclaims as Chevepak and Barek both reach up their hands, pushing them through with mine.
“We can’t let them get control of this.” Barek’s voice is hushed as he looks at us both seriously.
There are scuffles near both exits as females are captured when they manage to get into the room, but they’re quickly subdued by the mated males—even when they’re carrying weapons. “We won’t,” Chevepak assures him. “Just get in there and get this broadcasting while we take care of it out here. Eventually, we’re going to have to go on the offense because we want to get the Councilors. We know they’re out there running the show. They won’t do anything devastating, like try to collapse the entire chamber because the Sacred Mother is in here with us.”
Nodding, I agree. This is our chance. I know we can’t hold them off forever, but we can at least expose the Accord. Maybe the mutiny above ground will give us a way to get out of here.
Grabbing Tara’s hand, I squeeze it gently before grasping the ledge above my head with both hands and hoisting myself up. Dropping to the floor inside the crystal tube, I study the Accord that April gave me, running it along the walls and trying all the vacant spots for sizing.
Barek drops to the floor behind me, and I can hear his quick intake of breath as he takes in the pure splendor of the display around us. “Incredible.”
The crystal drops into a spot with a slight hiss of suction and just like when I watched it on the other viewer, the meeting between the females and the Ashen begins, playing out on the ceiling above us. “Are all of these recordings?” Barek is fingering one of the other crystals, and I just shrug.
“I don’t really know. Actually, I only hopped in here to get away from my mother. Crazy bitch, you know? I don’t think she would have killed me… I mean not on purpose. I think she figured she could convince me to help her somehow? Honestly, I’m not sure why—”
Reaching out, Barek cuts me off, pointing at the wall. “Is this how you saved the information before?”
I nod slightly, watching as he studies the crystals around us. “So, you just thought about what had happened? Because we saw the Sacred Mother talking to you. Then gas you. That must have been right before you came in here. So, you were running from her and hopped in here, and she didn’t see where you went?
“I’m not sure. Maybe. I was trying to keep this…” I wave to the walls around us, “…between us since she had a laser. She hit me once.” Opening my robe, I pull back the fabric to show the slight discoloration on my shoulder. Rubbing it slightly, the mark wipes off easily. “The shot seemed to just slide off and hit one of the branches of this.”
Tapping the wall, he nods as he listens. “Your skin. The other mated males talked about how after mating, especially in high stress situations, their skin hardens. May I?”
When he reaches out, I nod, and his fingers press against my skin. He’s definitely right and I press as well. It does feel harder. “Fascinating… Do you feel any different?”
“No.”
/> “You’re bigger.”
“Am I?” Looking down, I try to see what he sees, but except for the fact that he does appear much shorter now, I feel the same.
Thinking about Tara, I move to go back up the ladder. “I want to make sure everything is alright with Tara. They may need my help to secure everyone.”
“There’s nothing else we should do to keep it playing?”
Shrugging, I start up the ladder. “Let me check and make sure it’s all available out here.” Sticking my head out, I hear the chaos once I’ve breached the opening, but except for the occasional cursing, most of the chatter is happy and upbeat. “Tara?”
Looking up at me, she smiles brightly. “Can you all see the Accord meeting?”
“Oh, yeah!” Glancing away, she turns to look at the others in the room. “Everyone sees it.”
“Alright.” Taking the few steps back down, I glance around, wondering if it’s safe to leave the stone in here, but I guess there isn’t really any place safer than this. And at least the information is finally getting out there. “Ready?”
Waving at the ladder, I watch Barek climb up to sit on the ledge, throwing his legs over before yelling, “Watch out. Coming down.”
As soon as he drops I follow him, dropping next to Tara who’s waiting with a smile. Throwing her arms around me, she hugs my waist tightly. “I’m so mad at you.”
Taken aback, I crouch down to look her in the eyes. “You are?”
“Yes! You left me.” Her lower lip pops out in a pout, but I can feel the sincere hurt she’s hiding behind her playfulness. “What were you thinking?”
Taking a deep breath, I lean in and inhale her reassuring scent, burying my face in her neck. “I’m sorry! I wasn’t. I know it was selfish to leave without you, but I was worried about having you with me. As it was, I’m thankful you weren’t here. My mother…”
“I saw what she did. I’m so sorry that happened.” Tilting her head back, she rests her head on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, though. They’ll all get what’s coming to them.”
