It happened again as they rushed along the corridor leading to the closest jumper station. Caya was right behind Tomita, holding Foy’s communicator pressed against her ear to try to hear what the person responding said. So many people were shouting and talking around them, she could barely make out what she said herself.
“I need to convey a message to the president, sir,” Caya yelled.
“Don’t…we all. Leave a…message at the official line for grievances. Thank you.”
“Ah!” Caya pressed the sensor again. If she hadn’t tossed her own communicator she would have reached Thea instantly. Now she had to deal with the president’s minions, who clearly couldn’t hear what Caya said or simply hadn’t been told to let her message through. She tried Briar again but only got her message service again. Same went for Adina. Of course so many systems had to be down now when it truly mattered.
Nausea struck her and she wobbled to the side. Caya slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from throwing up in the middle of the crowd. “Tomita,” she whimpered as the light around her became hazy. “Foy…”
“Hey, guys!” She’s going down.” It was Foy’s voice. Strong arms carried her to the side, where she fell into a vortex of scattered images, voices, and nothing that made a lot of sense at first.
“Run, Caya. Now! Run!” The voice was Tomita’s and Caya ran. She was on a moving object and then she was airborne. She saw the number eighteen pass before her eyes, and then pieces of metal singed her skin, layers upon layers of destroyed bulkheads fell around her, and bodies were tossed into space.
Gasping for air, Caya fell, and as she opened her eyes, she was startled to find she was back with her friends. They sat right outside the gate to the jumper that would take them to cube one. Caya followed the chart above her that showed the route of this particular jumper. They were in cube four, and to get to cube one, they had to pass cube eighteen.
“We have to warn them.” Caya stood, staggering to the side before she found her balance.
“That’s what we’re trying to do, yes.” Aldan frowned as he tried to look into her eyes. “You seem a bit out of it, Caya.”
“I’m fine. But you don’t understand. We have to stop at cube eighteen and alert them. They’ve just reattached and something…not quite sure what, is going to cause an explosion. Maybe white garnet. Maybe a malfunction after the attack. People will die.”
“Then hurry,” Tomita called and rushed toward the jumper sitting on the magnetic tracks. “This leaves in a few seconds.”
It was such a wondrous feeling to never be doubted. These three very new friends took her visions at face value, which saved so much time. They barely jumped through the doors before the jumper sped down the track into the tunnel system.
Around them, a few people sat hollow eyed with evident shock. The jumper was surprisingly empty. Perhaps people stayed away from it due to fear of new attacks, alien or domestic. That was probably quite smart, as you would be seriously trapped if a new attack happened and they were right at a cube junction. Caya stood quickly. Tomita rose as well, taking Caya’s hand. “What’s wrong?”
“In my vision, people got tossed into space. The explosion occurred at the junction between cube eighteen and another one. So, which cubes border on cube eighteen apart from four right now? Is the ship’s configuration the same as before the separation?”
“Not sure. But earlier, only three cubes bordered against it, as it was located at the belly of Pathfinder. Four, six, and one.”
“And we’re in four.” Foy regarded the screen above them. “Though only for a few moments longer. Then we will move into eighteen. We’ll stop at a gate just inside. We need to stay on for two more gates before we’re even remotely close to a law-enforcement facility.”
“They’re going to toss us in the—”
A screeching sound made them flinch, and the entire car began to shake. Sparks erupted from the walls.
“It’s in here,” Caya cried out and began dragging at her friends and the people around them. “The white garnet. It’s in the jumper walls. Or on the outside. We need to move back through the train. Come on! Run!” She didn’t care that she was being rough with the dazed people, who looked confused at the now-running material that permeated the walls. It didn’t look like what Adina and Briar had once showed her. Perhaps it was something else, or something mixed with white garnet?
She ran back through the jumper cars, forcing as many as she could to come with her, and eventually the aisle between the seats were crowded with panicked people.
“It’s too crowded here. We need to move back one car at least, or two.” Foy pointed at the one they’d just passed. “I can’t see any of that sparkly, gooey stuff in there. Perhaps we can detach the affected car from the rest of the jumper?”
“It’s worth a shot. These people won’t stand a chance if that stuff explodes.” Aldan looked grimly at Caya and Tomita. “Caya is too valuable for her to risk her life—”
“Don’t even try.” Caya gently shook Tomita’s shoulder. “We’re going to be all hands on deck here. Come on before it’s too late.”
They hurried back, and the closer they came to the car they’d left only minutes ago, the stronger the acrid scent of the foreign agent became.
“Enough. This is as far as we can go without inhaling the damn stuff.” Tomita stopped them. “How do we separate this car from the next? Is there some emergency lever? Or a way to connect with the staff overseeing the jumpers?”
“No idea.” Caya wished she had paid more attention when Korrian spoke of how she came up with the idea for the jumper system. “I know they’re magnetically connected, like they are with the track. We’re going to have to try to break the magnetism between them—or better yet, change the polarity.”
“Make them repel each other,” Aldan said and nodded. “It’s just that we have only seconds to do it.”
Caya looked at the line that showed where one jumper car ended and the next began. She knelt and felt along the black, rubbery border. Peeling it back, she tried to see if there was anywhere she might flip a switch.
“It’s too late.” Tomita stood now and pulled Caya to her feet. Tomita and the two men stood on one side of the border and Caya on the other. The jumper began shaking more violently, and Caya tried to move farther toward the front, to pull the others back with her, away from the disintegrating car, but Tomita shook her head. “No. Listen to me. It’s too late!”
A loud rumble just behind her friends made Caya scream in panic. “No. No! Jump.” She leaned forward, clawing for them, screaming their names. She managed to grip Foy’s sleeve, but he shocked her by shoving her hard across her chest without actually touching her. Telekinetic. The word struck her as she flew through the air backward. She thought she heard a loud whooshing sound before pain exploded throughout her and everything went black.