[Samuai]
We sit around a table in what was once the Control Room. We know now it did little more than run surveillance and air-conditioning. Megs and Keane are on one side. My mother, Davyd, Asher, and another Lifer I don’t know sit on the other.
We told Asher she didn’t have to be here after what happened to Elex but she insisted. She’s cried no tears since she returned through the engine room door, leaning on my brother’s arm, but she’s pale and silent.
Toby stands guard at the door with two Lifers I don’t know.
“Seems it’s not going to be as easy to get out as it was to get in,” I say into the silence. “A traitor from the city warned the Company I would come here.” I avoid the might-have-beens of hitting Eliza harder in our fight. “They’re armed and waiting outside.”
“What’s this Company?” My mother’s voice is strong and sure. “Why do all this?”
Her question echoes the million I’ve had over the last few days. The unique Q weapon, the aliens, the lack of a real army.
Why?
Guilt muddies my thinking and makes the air hot and heavy in my lungs.
I can’t sit still a second longer. The screech of my chair pushing back makes both Megs and Asher flinch. I pace the room from the table to the console.
“The Company is the remains of what government pulled together after the Upheaval,” Keane explains. “It ran the propaganda to get resources for the big launch of this ship.”
“Their officers wear the same uniforms as the Nauts, but they carry a strange weapon. I seem to be immune.” I lift my shirt to show the green marks still on my skin. “Shots like this are what left Megs’ brother fighting for his life. I think everyone on board is resistant. It’s why they couldn’t bring Elex down easily. I’m guessing they weren’t sure their experiment worked or they wouldn’t have come armed with Qs.”
Asher says nothing but recoils at the sound of her mother’s name.
“But you don’t know.” Davyd’s non question is filled with skepticism.
The perpetual smirk on his face triggers my hands to ball into fists. He led me to the Control Room. He wanted to get rid of me. Now he’s sitting next to Asher like he owns the place.
I grab the Q from my pocket. Stride around the table. And fire into the skin of his bare arm. A green mark forms in seconds but he doesn’t even flinch.
“There. Guess confirmed.”
Davyd jumps to his feet and grabs a handful of my t-shirt. “Whatever you have to say, just say it.”
I smack his hand free. “Who says I have something to say?” But the memory of the last time I saw him won’t go away.
“Me.” His brows go up all innocent-like and I almost punch him. “I’m not surprised you’d prefer to skulk in the shadows. After all, that’s how you left.”
Every eye in the room is on me. “I believed I could help.”
“By running away?”
“You know an awful lot about what happened for someone who stayed behind.” I wave my hand around the table. “Yet, I suspect you didn’t share anything with anyone here.”
He hesitates a beat, but I’m the only one who notices. “For weeks you and Maston had these secret meetings, clamming up whenever anyone was around. I was working late when ordered to bring you to him. You weren’t surprised that night to be woken and then you disappeared with him.” He swallows as though the words are hard to get out. “When Maston returned, he reported your tragic death. I’d just lost my big brother. Who would blame me if I didn’t want to tarnish your memory?”
He sounds so sincere, but he’s not. There was the smirk for starters—it’s the last thing I saw on the ship as Maston led me through the door. And he’s too ambitious not to be involved. Our whole lives he resented me for being older and being the one Maston chose for Naut work, leaving him with Huckle. He’s playing us, playing all of us and I don’t have a shred of evidence to prove it.
I glance around the table and see sympathy for the position Davyd found himself in Asher’s beautiful face. Damn him to hell, I never thought he’d have her conned.
“You knew,” I say. But there’s doubt in my voice and I hate that there’s still so much going on with Maston that I don’t understand. “You’re probably still working for them.”
Davyd holds out his hands. “I didn’t.” He even manages to have his voice catch. “I want the same as you. Freedom, equality, all of it.”
I shove him back so he lands heavily in his seat. I feel Keane’s eyes on me but I don’t want to look his way and see censure. Instead, I return to my place and stare at the table.
Keane takes over again. “We’re guessing it’s something they’re putting in the air or the water here deliberately.”
Mother waves her arm to speak and then waits for Keane to nod his head. “All children on the ship get injections. Maybe there’s something in those.”
I zone out when he talks about the green robes and rebellion. I’ve heard the spiel before. None of it will bring Asher’s family back. Maston and his CEO must have a stake in all this. Having seen their fledgling New City, I know they don’t have resources to throw away on keeping a pretend ship running.
“Could the aliens be real?” Keane asks. His brows are lowered and he’s jiggling his right knee like the rapid thoughts in his brain need some kind of outlet.
I slap my forehead. “That’s it.”
Davyd leans forward in exaggerated anticipation. “Wow us, oh brilliant brother.”
I ignore him and look to Keane. “The Company doesn’t need to recruit an army.”
“Because they’re breeding one.” Asher’s soft words finish my sentence.
I nod. Obviously her silence was less wounded and more thoughtful. She’s become so strong. The girl I knew would’ve given up after her mother died.
“Yes. It’s us. We’ve been created to be immune to the Q, the greatest weapon in the Upheaval.”
“We need to get away.” Asher’s voice is strong and sure. “Now, while we outnumber the Company.”
Davyd nods. “I agree.”
Keane and Toby share a glance. Keane stands. “The world out there is unstable. Resources in the city are few. Leaving’s fine but where will you go?”
Megs clears her throat. “We could take you beyond the mountains.” She’s speaking to everyone but her gaze is on Asher. She’s trying to help.
I remember the place Megs talked about that day on the roof. It could be a fresh start for everyone on the ship.
Keane frowns. “We’re not ready to move.”
“On this ship we have farmers and tailors and mechanics and cooks.” As I speak I’m aware I’m listing the jobs of the Lifers. The Fishies don’t have much to contribute. “We have skills. If you’re making a new start we could help. Work together.”
“Together?” Keane asks. He pins Asher with questions in his eyes. “What about those you’ve captured below?”
She drags a hand across her eyes, then looks at all of us. “Get past the Company and we all get a new start. They’ll have the same choice: stay here in the shell of a spaceship or start fresh with you.”
Keane nods. “You’d be welcome.”
“Let’s get this over.” Asher shoves her chair back and stands. Incredibly fragile, incredibly strong. She turns to the Lifers, her face ice. “Everyone gather in the ballroom.”
They move at once to obey her command.
***
“Listen up,” I call to the Fishies and Lifers squeezed into the ballroom.
I don’t look for her but I know Asher’s behind me. She’s the one who made this decision when she could have left the Fishies to rot. But it’s up to me to speak.
The weight of her brother’s loss and now her mother’s is a wall between us. If she knew the truth…
I tamp down the memories. There’ll be time to tell her, sometime when we’re safe from the Company and its plans, in the place Megs told me about beyond the mountains. But we have to get through a wall of Company soldiers and off this island first.
The crowd of Lifers and Fishies look to me and the weight of expectation in their eyes almost freezes my throat.
Almost.
“The Company has a specially developed weapon. It will take down anyone from the city but those of us from the Pelican are immune.”
“They still have fists and feet.” Davyd glares at me like I was disrespecting Asher’s mother. He stands at her side and despite Megs—despite the fact I left her—jealousy rears in my chest where I held her image close to my heart for so long.
I stare my little brother down. The one who betrayed me to the Company to get me off the ship. I don’t know whether he planned to get closer to Maston or Asher, but whatever his reason, I know he has Zed’s blood on his hands too. There will be a reckoning between us but not at the risk of more lives.
I owe too many people to be sidetracked now. “I will go first.” My emphasis is deliberate. I know he can’t stand to be thought chicken.
But it’s Asher who responds first. “These people from the city have freed us to a life on earth.” She stares out over the crowd. Touching them all with her gaze. “All we have to do is take it.”
And I see the girl I fell in love with all those years ago. Strong and determined. She has lost more than all of us, but is willing to fight for what she believes in.
The Lifers close rank around her. Even before Elex’s death they followed her as leader but I don’t think she’s realized her power yet.
I find myself looking to my people, the Fishies, in the hope they’ll step up to the battle. For several long seconds there’s nothing. I’m aware of those from the city observing and shame spikes within me.
Then Davyd moves from Asher’s side. He saunters through the Fishies’ crowd like he’s heading to the bar. Soon they are all looking at him. He halts in front. “We’re with you. Wouldn’t want you showing us up.”
In an instant he’s spoken for everybody and claimed them as his own.
Davyd and Asher become a blur of action. Keane and Toby confer about the best approach once they open the door. They work together easily, finishing each other’s thoughts. They direct those who will stay and care for the wounded and children, and select those who will join us in the attack.
Other than answering a few questions about the weapons and the layout beyond the door, I’m not needed. So much for coming in to save the day.
“Davyd’s your brother?” Megs asks.
Asher and Davyd had my attention and I didn’t notice her approach. I turn to face her. “Yes.”
“And Asher?” Her tone’s casual but her arms are folded.
There’s no point in lying. “She was my girlfriend.”
“You couldn’t have mentioned her?”
“No memory, remember?” But the excuse sounds as hollow spoken aloud as it does in my head. When I remembered nothing else, I remembered Asher’s voice. I’ve had plenty of time to tell Megs since my memories returned.
“What is she to you now?”
I glance over at Asher, the girl in the white dress, who hasn’t spoken to me properly since Megs walked through the door.
“She’s an old friend,” I say eventually. It’s the truth, but so inadequate to describe my feelings.
Megs leans closer. I breathe in her scent of open air and fog and freedom.
“What am I?”
“A new friend.”
It’s lame and weak and we both know it. If only there were some way to love them both without hurting them more.
She offers a sad smile and walks over to Toby and starts talking about ships to ferry everyone off the island once we’ve neutralized the waiting Company force.
A hollow feeling takes up residence in my gut.
It’s with relief rather than fear that I stride through the engine room when Asher calls for the attack to begin. She carries a jagged piece of pipe, a twin to the one Elex had in her hand earlier.
We gather at the heavy metal door that leads outside. It’s cramped, dark, and smelly in the small space. Others wait in the engine room to follow us out into the meadow where Elex was killed. I pass my Q from hand to hand. The safety’s off and I’m ready to fire. Davyd carries an identical weapon. I wonder which of the city visitors gave it to him.
Megs wanted to fight but Keane and I agreed she had to stay behind. One Q shot and she’d be like her brother.
Asher pauses and looks at each of us one last time.
“There were about twenty of them. Mother took down two.” She’s so matter of fact it makes me ache more than if she dissolved in tears. “We will do better. Those with the city weapons, fire at will. The rest of you will need to get closer.” She stands straight and tall. “Do not throw your lives away.”
That is all. There is no count, no hesitation. The door’s dragged open.
I move with the others into the open air. My gut cramps at the sight of the row of Company officers. They learned from Elex. In two waves they throw fist-sized rocks. One hits my shoulder but I raise my Q and take the officer down with one press of the switch.
Something moves past me in a white blur.
Asher.
She’s in amongst them before I fire again. Davyd’s close behind. He drops another officer a second later. She swings with madness like her mother. But she’s sane. Deadly. Light on her feet, she dances out of their reach. Fine drops of blood trail down her dress. She takes a blow to the kidneys without flinching and opens up the officer’s neck with a swing of the pipe. He’s on his knees, clutching at flapping skin as she finishes him with another blow to the nose.
A Lifer screams. I drag a woman I’ve never seen before back to the door. Blood streams from a slash to her chest. When she’s being seen to, I return to the fray. Beneath the tall, swaying trees, Asher swirls like an angel of death, uncaring for her own safety.
A flick of the Q I hold brings another officer down.
My ear rings and pain shoots through my head. I turn and raise the weapon but the Company woman’s strong. She holds my wrist in a clawed, desperate grip. Her knee lifts and my balls are on fire.
Eyes watering, I free my hand and swing at her nose. The sound of the impact’s lost in the noise of the fighting around me but I feel the bones give and smell blood. The officer cries out. Both hands clutch at her face and she runs toward the trail.
I hold up the Q but can’t bring myself to shoot her in the back. A scan of the fighting shows a killing field. At least eight officers are motionless and three Lifers too. Asher or Davyd are nowhere to be seen but we’re definitely winning. It’s only a matter of time.
There’s too much death in the air for me to rejoice.
I follow the fleeing Company officer as she weaves down the trail. Her sobs carry behind her. My legs ache. I don’t know what I’ll do if I catch her but I can’t let her bring reinforcements. Twice I fall and scrape my knees on the rock. But I force myself back to my feet.
The shouts and sounds of flesh hitting flesh disappear behind me as I get further away from the killing meadow. I hear wind through the trees and smell the salt from the sea.
The officer turns to face me at the foot of the trail. “Don’t come any closer,” she shouts, her words slurred by the bright red blood pouring into her mouth from her mangled nose. There’s a rock in her hand.
I take three deliberate steps. “Go on.”
I might not be willing to shoot a woman in the back but these people messed with my brain. I’ll take one down in a fight.
She backs into the water. Then her bloody mouth curves into a smile.
My heart stops. Bang. Something hits the back of my head. The pain takes my knees from under me. I bring up the Q but my hands are jelly. A man takes my weapon from my nerveless grasp.
Still, I fight. I didn’t go through everything to die here when victory’s so close.
The man pushes me toward the woman in the water. The rock in her hand becomes a club. My hands come up to protect my face but only momentarily. The man in the Company uniform drags them behind my back and holds them there.
One blow, two. Then I’m under the water. It’s shallow water. My knees hit the sand. But they’re holding me down. I taste salt and try to hold my breath.
And hold my breath.
And hold my breath.
Images swim in my brain. Asher and Megs. Mother. My favorite apple pie, hot and steaming, on the bench. Green grass soft beneath my feet. Stars. I’ll never see them again. My lungs burn, my head pounds.
Until I can’t hold my breath a second longer.