Tye

After navigating through the darkness of the Inner Circle's maintenance corridors, I finally reach the entrance to the Palace and begin making my way through the halls. I'm not too sure where to go but I see a large room open up in front of me. I glance around. There's no one in sight so I move to dart through, heading for the stairs. When voices break the silence, I freeze in place.

"If any of them escape, I'll have all of your heads!" A tall man strides into the room. Lord Oliver. My breath catches in my throat. I try to slink back, fading into the furniture. The Lord snarls, "Bring them to me, now!"

Several Stalkers walk into the room behind him. Their dark eyes scan the room briefly as if they're habitually used to assessing for danger. A commander turns to his men and gives a command with a silent flick of his wrist.

I duck out of sight as the three guards turn toward me. They rush past me and down the corridor. I glance back at Lord Oliver before darting through the doorway to follow them. I move swiftly and silently through the hall, tracing their steps. They make their way through the corridor and then upstairs before coming to a door that stands ajar.

The guards pull their weapons and put their backs up against the wall as they ready themselves to breech the room. I raise my plasma pulser, firing three successive shots. They slam into their victims, hard and true, searing through flesh and bone to leave scorch marks on the walls behind them. The Stalkers' bodies fall in awkward angles. Their absent eyes gaze at nothing as I streak past them into the room.

I grimace, steering clear of the entrails and blood trailing out of the Virreal unit nearest the door. Crouched behind another unit, I see Niah and her sister. Their faces are pained and tear stained. The girl, Wish, looks like she's been through the wringer. "You two okay?"

Niah nods. "It was a close call, but we got out."

"What happened?"

Niah recounts what she knows and Wish fills in what she can. When they talk about the chortessa I feel a spark of hope. "Lord Oliver has a chortessa? A captive pet?"

Niah turns to Wish. "Do you think it was real?"

Wish nods. "I don't know. I don't know if anything was real in that place." She turns to her sister. "But you were there. You were really there, weren't you?"

Niah nods then turns back to me. "Does that mean there may be a chortessa strapped into a machine somewhere?"

I nod, excited. "Yeah! It's Ally, it has to be!"

"Ally?" Wish asks and I realise they don't know. Most of the Faithful remember the chortessa pup that was my constant companion when I was little. We had been inseparable. "I raised her as a pup when her mother got killed in a Stalker trap." I tell them. "The Stalkers captured her about a narcycle ago. Casper was certain she was still alive. He'd tell me all about Lord Oliver's puppy. Where do you think she is?"

Niah's eyes seem to shimmer with a sparkle of her thoughts. She lifts the tablet from the top of the console. "Let's find out."

She plugs the device in and taps at the screen. I glance at the door and wonder how long it will be before another regiment of Stalkers is sent to find out what happened to the first. "How long will this take?"

Wish smiles at me. She seems more subdued than my memories of her on the mini-zip and the mamot, but her smile shows a warm allegiance as if she is sharing an inner secret. "It won't take long. Niah's real good with tech and programs. But she gets a bit lost in them, give her a decca." I nod and move across to the door to keep an eye down the hall. The bodies still lay unmoved and the corridor is empty.

"There!" Niah says, stabbing a finger at the tablet. She unhooks the device and turns toward me. "Let's go," she says. Wish falls into step behind her and they cross to me at the door.

I glance out again. "Which way?"

Niah points to the left and we move carefully into the hallway. We tread, silent but quick, down the corridor. I want to lead but I don't know the way so I let Niah step in front of me. She refers to the screen at intervals but moves steadily with a sureness of foot.

As we come on a larger room, there are voices ahead of us. I tug Niah back and we duck into a groove between some furniture just before a small party of Stalkers rushes past us. Niah sighs beside me. "Thanks," she whispers before pausing a moment to listen for more danger. Once the Stalkers pass, we duck out of our hiding place and move swiftly across the room to the north.

We continue to weave, heading down stairs and along passageways until, eventually, the walls around us turn earthen and dank. I bite my lip, realising we must be getting close to where they've been keeping Ally. It doesn't look like her quarters will be any lap of luxury.

"Nearly there," Niah says quietly. I nod. We round another corridor. "There's a second life sign here. It paces up and down the long corridor at regular intervals so I think it might be a guard."

"Step back and let me go ahead." I tap the side of the pulse weapon with one finger and then hold it in front of me as I step to the corner of the intersection and peer around. The guard is walking toward us. He spots me and cries out but I fire the plasma pulser. The lance of energy cuts through him, silencing his cry.

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"Someone might have heard that!" Wish whispers.

Niah glances at the device. "Yeah, there's movement to the north. We have to be fast. There is about a furlong between us, several doors, but if we're not quick they'll be upon us in deccas."

We dart down the hall and Niah pulls us up in front of a dark room with heavy iron bars. It looks like one of the ancient prison cells from the old histories of Nar. A sopping mountain of mangy fur is sprawled across the cold floor. It jerks from time to time like a pup that's dreaming. I slam against the iron door but it's locked.

"Step back," I call as I do exactly that. I aim the plasma pulser at the door and fire. The lock and frame buckle as the metal melts away. I shove the frame of the door again and it swings inward. "Stay here. It's been a long time, she might not remember. She doesn't know you. She'll be frightened."

"Won't she need to be untethered from the program?" I glance back at Niah, who holds her tablet. She fumbles for the right adaptor to plug into the old system built directly into the wall of Ally's cell. "I'll do this, you go to her. I'll try to wake her up immediately."

She hooks in as I cross to kneel beside my chortessa friend. She is torn and battered, bruised and bloodied. Her teeth are rotted and the cords of the Virreal device jut out of her as if they grew out of her fur. In ticks she stirs, whimpering.

"Okay, you can unhook her now. She's awake."

"Ally girl, shhh." I keep my voice calm and smooth, trying to help her remember the way we always talked together. "It's me, Ally girl. It's Tye. I've come for you."

She whimpers so pitifully that my heart aches, but her tail lifts in a half-hearted attempt to wag. I detach each of the cords from her and tug them out of her matted fur. The process feels like it takes an age but can't have taken more than a few moments.

"Two furlongs," Niah whispers from across the room. She's already unhooked the tablet and is waiting with Wish beside the door.

"Come on, Ally. We've got to go." Ally looks up at me. Her eyes are wild and pained but I see the hint of recognition there. She tries to get to her feet, stumbles, and falls back in a heap. She gazes up at me. I can tell she's not sure she can trust me. "Hey girl, it's okay. We'll get you out of here."

I tug the large beast into my arms. She's heavy but so malnourished and withered that I can heft her in my arms without being crushed.

I glance at Niah. "Can you guide us out of here? We have to go."

She nods, and we streak back down the hall. We weave carefully through the maze of the Palace's rooms and corridors until we can disappear into the narrow passages between the Palace and the city. Eventually, we make our way through the shadows. With each step, we head back to the chapel.

***

Niah

The way Tye cradles the chortessa in his arms makes my heart ache for them both. She must have once been a truly beautiful animal. Now she hangs in tattered ruin across Tye's strong arms. Her head lolls against his shoulder each time his steps jostle them.

We weave our way through the strange shadowy interior walls between sections of the city. The long corridors twist in patterns around the borders and create a passage that allows us to completely bypass the streets of the Inner Circle.

As we cross into the Outer Circle, the corridors are less numerous. From time to time, we dart out from them in one place and enter them from another. I'm thankful for the lightless streets of the Outer Circle. It makes it hard to see where we're going but it also means we won't be observed by others. Despite looking a lot like a ragged blanket of fur, Ally would definitely draw attention.

Eventually, we reach the chapel. It's lit from within by a soft glow of candles. Tannan, Jenin, and Blake are pacing the large hall of worship when Wish and I push the doors wide for Tye. He carries the chortessa inside.

"Where have you been? The alert went up factors ago. We thought you'd been taken!" Jenin says, rushing forward.

Blake grins behind her. "We were making odds on who was most likely to need to be rescued."

Tannan pushes them both aside to come forward. He glances at the blood-soaked beast in Tye's arms and waves us toward the chamber that leads down into the catacombs. "We better get her looked to. No time to waste. Jenin, Blake, secure things behind us, will you? And blow out the light. We don't want the Stalkers to have reason to look for them here."

They nod and the rest of us move into the catacombs. Tye shifts Ally to one shoulder but it still takes time to navigate the ladder. Tannan helps him down but I can see by the way the muscles in his upper arms quiver that he must be exhausted.

He turns to me when we reach the ground. "I need to get her seen to, will you be okay on your own?"

Wish steps up beside me and wraps her fingers around mine. "She's not alone. I'm not leaving her. You can't make me!"

Tye's wry smile makes me smile, too. "He didn't mean that silly," I say to Wish. The smile I give Tye is shy and I nod. "We'll be okay. I want to check in on Hart."

"Right, the bolt trap. Do you remember the way?"

I nod, not because I do remember but because Tye looks like he's about ready to drop. Besides, I already checked the tablet so I know the maps extend down here. What's more, there seems to be what looks like a homing beacon set to guide the way back to the droid's main unit. Hart had clearly been a phenomenal work of technology to be able to build dynamic maps from the supersonic sonar pulses this little tablet must produce.

Tye's gaze lingers on me a moment and we both stand in silence until Wish shifts on her feet beside me. Tye breaks the gaze first, glancing at her. Then he nods. "I'll find you as soon as I can." He moves off down the corridor and I lead Wish to the tech lab.

As we enter the lab, Wish lets go of my hand and immediately begins exploring the shelves and tables. Oblivious to Lyris, she rummages through the gadgets and parts, assembling parts as if it's all second nature to her.

"Niah! Wish! You returned for me!"

I smile as I hear Hart's familiar voice. "Hart!"

Wish turns to him and shakes her head. "Not my idea, rust bot. Your circuits still scrambled? Screws still loose?"

Hart's blue orbs blink as they'd always done. His head tilts as he considers her. "Actually, I am much restored–"

"Yes," Lyris says, interrupting him. "In fact, we've been having quite a conversation. About clones, and missions, and cures."

I feel an uneasy pit rise in my stomach.

"Blake and Jenin brought this back from the edge of the Outer Rim." She lays a tall black cylinder in front of me. I release the breath in my lungs as I realise what it is.

"Is that the fabrication drive storage from the drill platform?" Wish asks, crossing the room to us.

"Hart seemed to believe so. I got the impression it was important that you have it. Something to do with an ore you need?"

I nod. "What else has he been telling you?"

"He tells me you really are Bellamy," she pauses, as if giving me a chance to refute it, but in my heart I know there must be a degree of truth in her words. I'd seen him myself. His real face, even frozen in horror and death, was too much my own. Lyris continues, "In fact, he tells me that you're here to save the world."

I shake my head. "I'm not Bellamy. I can't be him and I can't bring him back." I pause, looking up to see Lyris's eyes on me. There's a dark yearning within them, as if even she has been waiting her whole life for a saviour. I swallow the uncomfortable lump in my throat, then continue, "I'll do what I can. I understand the technology but I have no idea if we can get it to work or even what it does if we can."

Wish glares at Lyris. "We didn't sign up for any of this you know. It's not fair to ask her to save your world. We don't even know you. We don't have to help you."

I turn and place a hand on Wish's arm. "But they helped us, Wish. They didn't have to but they did. And we're going to do what we can, too. We might not have been created on this world, but it was Bellamy's home and, somehow, that makes it mine."