by Ryan Tang
"Get him out of here."
Paul's shattered nose left a bright red trail of blood as the armored men dragged him away. His head bumped noisily down the stairs.
The Director took a moment to collect himself, gasping for air as he leaned against the jet black Eternium sword. Then he smirked.
"Any other questions?"
The crowd was silent. Jared anxiously eyed the Southern Robotics guards. He had never seen them up close before. They were dressed entirely in white, with long white rifles slung against their hips. Every single one of them was at least six and a half feet tall. The Southern Robotics guards were paid three times as much as the colony's public Security Force. Stock easily attracted the tallest and strongest men on Plenty.
"Alright. I expect everyone's desk to be cleared out by the end of the week. And make sure to empty the hangars. I've sick of storing your failed machines. Anyone who forgets will join Mr. Fired on the floor. For those interested in continuing their employment, there will be a few opportunities, although not as technicians. I'm looking at a much more humble position."
He giggled.
"Call my office and we can re-negotiate a new contract for you to sign. For those of you who hope to maintain your current over-inflated salaries, I have a new and exciting opportunity."
The whole room froze.
All of Jared's stray thoughts vanished at once.
Tonight had been the most bizarre and upsetting night of his life, but he had no intention of leaving empty-handed. If Southern Robotics had a high-paying job for him, he would take it.
He thought of the prize for building a successful Paragon. He'd come so close. A full month of sun fees would have transformed his life. He'd never have to worry about another night like this again.
"I don't need engineers. I'm going to bring back the Paragons all by myself. But I do need pilots. In two months, Southern Robotics will host a tournament on the Paragon simulators. The top eight teams will be selected for my elite force of superhero pilots and be gifted with Paragons of their own. The top finishing pilots will be proclaimed the Commanders of the Hero Force and be rewarded half a year's worth of sun fees."
The back of Jared's neck tingled as he slowly understood what the Director just said.
Half a year's worth of sun fees?
For winning a Paragon simulator tournament?
"That's half a year's worth of sun fees for each winning member, by the way. Now get out of my sight!"
____
The cockpit was very hot and very cramped.
Jared's arm was jammed tightly against the rough steel plates that lined the back of the cockpit. He had to crane his neck just to see out the window. Unlike the Peacetime model, the cramped cockpit of the current edition had a hard time carrying multiple adult men. Jared didn't mind. He liked riding to and from work with his dad.
Jared took a shaky breath. He still couldn't believe everything that'd happened.
"Is Paul going to be alright?"
His father's only response was to tighten his grip on the controls.
The two of them flew in awkward silence until he finally responded.
"He should be. The Director has gotten angry before. He always makes sure to take care of his victims after."
His father shrugged.
"Paul shouldn't have brought up Stock Sr. You heard him before the meeting. Something had him in a foul mood."
There was a second, briefer pause before his dad hastily changed the subject.
"You know, this simulator business could end up being good for us. Didn't you say your team was really good?"
Jared stammered.
Nonsense words flew from his lips like sparks from a firecracker.
How could his dad just move on from getting fired?
The Director just fired the entire Inner Circle!
He invited Jared in just to fire him!
He beat the crap out of one of his most loyal employees!
He was offering millions for winning a video game tournament!
Jared's dad smiled, taking his eyes off the streets in front of him for only a moment. They were stuck in the middle of a long line of Paragons. Due to the tall walls of Southern Robotics headquarters and the two-storied homes of the wealthy Inner Circle members, Blocks 1-3 had been designated no-fly zones by the Waters administration. The Southern Robotics Paragons slowly inched forwards, propelling themselves with wheels that had descended from their chests. The arms and legs stuck out, awkward and useless as always.
"Look. It's his money. Director Stock can do what he wants with it. The only thing people like us can do is adjust. Right now, he's giving you an invaluable opportunity. You need to seize it!"
Through long habit, his dad instinctively looked around him to make sure nobody was listening before responding.
Then he smiled brightly. Jared's father's eyes lit up and crinkled at the sides. It was a real smile, not just the polite one he gave to Director Stock.
"I heard rumors about your test before and after the meeting. I am very, very proud of you. With half a year's worth of sun fees, you could build any machine you want. You can start your own company. You won't have to be political anymore. I'm going to take your machine and bring it to our private hangar."
His father had built the sprawling hangar years ago to await the arrival of the Paragons. The room had stayed empty even as Southern Robotics churned out machine after machine with stiff limbs and feeble flight capabilities.
For him to put the Peacetime model in there was an honor far beyond Stock's acceptance.
His dad thought the Peacetime model was a true Paragon.
All at once, all his worries about Director Stock's behavior vanished from his mind. His dad was right. This was the opportunity he was waiting for. All he had to do was win the simulator tournament. Then he'd have the resources to make his dreams come true. He'd be able to create the machines that Plenty needed.
The burden had vanished so suddenly that Jared felt light-headed. He felt like he was flying.
"The simulator is a young man's game. I'll practice every once in a while to put on appearances, but otherwise, I'll be working on your Paragon. Any feature you can think about, just let me know and I'll put it in there. Then, once you win the simulator tournament, you'll have a fully built machine ready to put on the production line."
Jared could not answer fast enough.
"Yes! Yes!"
"But you have to leave it to me."
His father pointed sternly at him.
"You need to spend all your time on the simulator."
Jared laughed.
"Yes, of course. Drop me off at the library. I'll get Alex and walk home with her. I'll wake up Duncan too and tell him the news. We need to start practicing now."
____
Jared gasped with relief as he stepped out of the cockpit. He couldn't tell what was worse, the heat or the cramped quarters. The engineer wiped the sweat out of his hair and forehead as he turned towards the stairs. When he finally finished, his handkerchief was soaked through with sweat. Jared yawned as he stretched out his arms and legs. He was tired, but far too excited to sleep. Once he got Alex out of the library, they'd probably stay up playing all night.
The door swung open as soon as he finished climbing the stairs.
Jared frowned.
He thought he remembered Emile locking the door. Did Alex forget to lock it before she left? She could be painfully absent-minded at times.
He stepped inside just to check.
"Alex? Alex?"
His voice echoed through the empty library. There was no response, but all the lights were still on. Jared frowned. He remembered Alex telling him that wasted electricity charges were one of the Library's most painful expenditures. If he hadn't been so busy with work, he would have tried to think of a way to help them save on power.
He called Alex's name again, but there was no response. Jared frowned, then slid out his tablet and called her.
/> It connected, but he couldn't hear anything on the other line.
"Hey! Can you hear me! Are you still in the library? Southern Robotics is hosting a tournament. The prize is incredible! We need to practice!"
All he got was silence.
Jared thought about calling one of the other librarians. He didn't know Emile particularly well, but he'd been to her class a few times and had her number handy. No doubt she'd be annoyed about getting woken up in the middle of the night, but she'd want to know about the unlocked door and the forgotten lights.
He pulled his tablet out of his bag again.
Then he froze.
The tablet slipped through senseless fingers and clattered to the floor.
An impossibly bright light emerged from the shelf right in front of him, shining directly into his eyes. The light was impossible to describe, radiant and thin all at once and formed from tightly woven strands of purple and gold. It was the most beautiful thing Jared had ever seen. It blazed towards him from a gaping hole in the library's walls.
He remembered Alex telling him about the book-corridors, the secret passageways in between the Spire's shelves. His friend must have been exploring inside.
She must have stumbled on something miraculous.
He considered calling Emile again, then thought better of it. From what Alex told him, the librarians explored the book-corridors all the time.
How hard could it be?
Jared stepped into the light.
CHAPTER 5: PREY
ALEX FELL TO THE FLOOR.
The woman's screaming savaged her ears. It wasn't just one voice but many shrieking all at once. She caught a few hints of wailing men, but almost all the voices were women. Young women and old, high-pitched cries and low ones, some as fast as police sirens and others as slow as dirges.
The noises blended into a terrifying cacophony, a strange hollow sound that echoed off the walls and contaminated the entire chamber. The air itself howled, sobbed, and begged, doubling and then tripling its pleas as the shriek reverberated along the corridors. The sound penetrated the core of Alex's brain and wrung it out like a dirty towel.
The same three phrases repeated themselves over and over and over again.
"Kill her!"
"Burn her book!"
"Give me her body!"
To Alex, they all meant the same thing.
Run.
She had to run.
The librarian stumbled uneasily back to her feet right as the hooded boy whirled around.
When he saw Alex, his jaw dropped. His astonishment showed his age. He was so young. He could not have been older than thirteen.
"You..."
His eyes darted to the book in her hand. He let out a tiny gasp. His eyes went wide, and his voice filled with fear.
"What's that? What's that book?"
He raised his model Paragon and pointed it at her like a sword.
"Tell me where you found it!"
She had to run. Her legs hurt so damn much, but she had to run.
That was no woman, and she had to run.
She took one step back up the stairs, then another.
There was a quick and melodic sound that reminded the terrified librarian of swift fingers dancing through scales on a piano.
She blinked, and all of a sudden, the boy was right in front of her, shock and anger bursting from his strange golden eyes.
"Where did you find that book!"
Alex gasped.
How had he moved so quickly?
Then there was a sudden crack like thunder, and the tunnel was bathed in fiery light.
The woman's screaming grew even shriller.
The sound of a thousand voices cracking at once was a searing knife in the back of her head. The shrieks deepened, then cracked, deepened, then cracked. On and on it went, high and low, high and low, with nothing in between.
The pain was completely overwhelming.
Alex's ears were burning.
Her brain was bleeding.
"Kill her!"
"Burn her book!"
"Give me her body!"
Alex fell to the floor again, just moments after forcing herself back to her feet.
That was no good. She had to get back up. The boy was right there and ready to kill her. She had to get back up.
How had he moved so quickly?
She stared at her copy of The Familiars crumpled tight in her hand. Her parents had given it to her the day she moved to Plenty. She had to get up. She had to get up for her parents.
Alex stared at the little cartoon shellfish her mom drew for her and somehow forced herself back to her feet.
The boy was gone. Just as soon as he'd appeared in front of her, he was back to where he'd come from. He knelt in front of the woman in the floral dress, completely horrorstruck.
Bret stumbled to his feet.
Blood was dripping slowly from his mouth and gushing rapidly from his ears. His fine suit was coated in layers of vomit. His eyes were bleeding so badly they'd both turned completely red.
He had a gun in his right hand, gripped so tightly that his white knuckles looked ready to rupture out of his fingers.
The boy screamed.
"What are you doing? This is a holy place! This is a holy place!"
Bret's raised his hand, and thunder struck again, blindingly white in the black Eternium chamber.
Yet another shelf burst into flame. The dead shapes wilted then fell onto the floor. Black fires bloomed across the decaying tomes. The conflagration spread wildly across all of the shelves.
The boy shouted again, his voice an inch from tears.
"No weapons! No weapons!"
The woman's hand dropped to her side. She wobbled for a moment then crashed face-down on the floor. Alex heard a distinct cracking noise, the sound a plate made when it fell off the table. The chorus of tormented voices echoed on and on, wailing like they were on fire instead of the shelves. Something wet and sticky oozed down the side of Alex's neck.
It wasn't just Bret.
Her ears were bleeding too.
The boy tackled Bret onto the ground.
"Put that away! No! Put that away!"
Thick smoke billowed from the shelves, completely black and impenetrable. Bret's voice dissolved into rapid gibberish as he hiccupped out relentless nonsense.
"Again! Again! Kill her! Kill her! Body! Body!"
Bret squeezed off another shot at her, missing wildly. As the strange dead creatures on the covers continued burning, the smell of rotten meat cooking penetrated her nostrils. Alex retched, and spit dribbled out of her mouth.
By now, the fire had spread through the whole auditorium.
The boy knocked the short man out with a swift blow to the head and wrenched away the thundering gun. Then he sprinted towards the flames and started smothering them with his bare hands.
The boy's screams soon joined the woman's.
His imperious voice became high-pitched and pitiful.
Alex wrenched her eyes away and stared at the crumpled over of The Familiars.
The librarian turned and sprinted out the door.
____
Alex sprinted through the tube then stopped at the feeding hole as her heart pounded in her chest. She must have been breathing three times faster than normal. But she forced herself to go slowly and carefully, thinking once again of the Paragon's cockpit as she submerged herself back into her battle-mind. When she finally made it to the other side, she jerked her tablet out of her pack.
The glow of the screen was nowhere near as bright as the boy's model Paragon, but it was good enough to see.
The light dimmed a further and further.
Alex frowned, then shuddered.
The Eternium corridors were eating the light.
She could hardly see right in front of her.
The librarian blundered into the walls over and over again. It was so dark she had no idea where she was going, no idea if she was running toward an ope
n path or yet another shelf. Alex smashed her arm and then her leg, but she hardly felt the stabbing pain. When she crashed shoulder first into a wall and rebounded painfully onto the ground, all she could think of was scrabbling back to her feet.
The woman's wails gave strength to her sobbing legs.
"Kill her!"
"Burn her book!"
"Give me her body!"
She gripped The Familiars as tightly as she could, just as tightly as Bret had gripped his gun. Her parent's gift had some sort of talismanic power. She had no idea why, but the book had scared the boy and the woman had wanted to burn it.
That was good enough for her.
When she reached the first turn, Alex shone the tablet onto her arm, leaning close and squinting to see the crude map she'd drawn. Out of the five tunnels in front of her, she'd circled the second one.
All of a sudden, her skin literally began to crawl.
The ink turned cold, a cold so harsh it drilled straight through the marrow of her bones.
It began inching across her skin. Her map twisted before her eyes. The straight lines curved and became grasping vines. The neat circles opened then morphed into jagged arcs.
In mere moments, her map became a useless writhing squiggle.
Alex blinked.
She must be seeing things.
This could not be happening.
She closed her eyes and opened them again.
The sabotaged map stared maliciously back at her.
Alex continued running, but in her heart, she knew there was no chance she could escape, not without her map.
There were three paths on the most recent turn, and she thought that the leftmost one might be correct.
But there were four turns on the split path after that and then a whopping nine different choices on the next one.
For one horrible moment, the hopelessness threatened to suffocate her until she suddenly realized what she had to do.
The answer surfaced fully formed from her battle-mind, appearing just like a sudden seam in an enemy's otherwise dogged defense.
The librarian started running as fast as she could, sprinting without any hesitation. The most important thing was to create a distance between herself and her pursuers. The strange silence of the book-corridors kept her from talking or messaging, but she could call for help in other ways.
