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“Have you lost your mind?” Tech threw the last water hose into the lake before turning to Griffin. “Why do you want to go back there? My understanding, from talking to my daughter, is that you’d already escaped from there before offering to help free Walker and Journey.” He motioned for Griffin and Harmony to follow him. “From what my son has said about his and Journey’s abduction and imprisonment, these Overseers will do anything to remain in control of the city and its people. I will not risk any of my family members to return you to such a dangerous place. Right, Harmony?”
Harmony glanced between her father and Griffin. She seldom made a promise, but once she did, she never broke it. She also didn’t want to go against her father’s wishes, because she loved and respected him far too much for that.
She reached out and touched Tech’s arm, so he’d stop long enough for them talk the matter over properly. “I made Griffin a promise that, if he helped me rescue Walker and Journey, I would take him wherever he wished to go.” She looked at Griffin then back at her father. “He wishes to return to Freedom. Surely, you wouldn’t want me to break my promise. It was you who taught me never to do such a thing.”
Tech took Harmony’s hand. “You ask too much of me. I can’t risk your life for this.”
She squeezed his fingers. “What if I drop him off close to Freedom while I stay safely on Airus? The Overseers can’t harm me if they can’t reach me.”
Her father shook his head and addressed Griffin. “I don’t understand why you would even want to go back to such a place. You’ll have no freedom there.”
“I put the people of Freedom in danger when I escaped, and as for them not having any freedom, maybe it’s time we tried to change that. I’ve seen how you and your robots interact. You’ve grown together and trust each other. Why can’t we have that in Freedom? Maybe all it will take is for someone like me to question how things are, to suggest we at least try to work as a team.”
Tech didn’t answer right away. He released Harmony’s hand and headed back toward Skyer. Over his shoulder, he called back, “I know my daughter. She won’t forgive me if I don’t let her keep her promise.” He turned and pointed a finger at Harmony. “But you will drop Griffin off and come straight back home.”
Before Harmony could argue, Walker joined them. “What going on? Where are you dropping Griffin off?”
Griffin answered, “I’ve asked Harmony to take me back to Freedom.”
Harmony was surprised when Walker said, “Great! I want to go with you.”
“What?” Harmony and Tech both exclaimed at the same time.
Walker held up his hands. “Father, I can’t forget the kindness shown me by a woman there named Shadow. All I thought about was escaping when Molly came that morning, but I’ve wished a million times since that I’d stayed to help her.”
That surprised Harmony. “What happened?”
He shuffled his feet. “The day we arrived in Freedom, the Overseers took us to a pier and told us we were to go aboard a ship, to help the crew.” Walker shook his head. “You know nothing much frightens me, but I can’t be around a large body of water, not without breaking out in a cold sweat. All I could think was that I was going to fall overboard and drown, so I refused. The Overseer in charge threatened to throw me into the ocean anyway if I didn’t do as I was told. Shadow must have seen the fear on my face, because she stepped in and talked him out of it. That was when they decided to lock us up instead.”
Walker nodded toward Molly and Boy. “When we arrived at the lake this morning, Molly told me Shadow will be punished for interfering with a prisoner.” He rocked on his heels. “When I asked what the Overseers planned on doing to her, Molly didn’t know for certain, but since no one has ever defied them before and now two of their citizens have, Molly thinks the Overseers will make an example out of her.”
He swallowed hard and added, “I can’t let that happen.”
Tech rubbed the gray stubble on his chin. “If we go in there blind, there’s a good possibility no one will make it back out.” Their father looked at the lake. No one daring to interrupt his thoughts.
The setting was almost perfection itself, its crystal clear water surrounded by a broad palette of greens, from grasses to trees. This place had once been inhabited by mad, cannibalistic mountain men, but fortunately, over the years, they’d done the world a favor by killing one another. Harmony, though, doubted her father currently saw any of that.
Tech finally turned to them. “We’ll rest here tonight, then the three of you will go back tomorrow. I’ll check around and talk to a few of our friends here, see who might be willing to go with me to Freedom. A little show of numbers, and that we’re not afraid of fighting, can sometimes go a long way. It’s better those Overseers understand right up front that we’re not like the folk of Freedom. Maybe, when those people see there are others like them, living in other parts of the country, they’ll wish for freedom themselves. And anyway, we want to nip this in the bud before the Overseers start thinking it might be a good idea to rule over us too. We’ll show them we won’t be pushed around.”
Everyone looked solemn but nodded in agreement.