Enoa Cloud.
Kol could still find her in his mind, like a faint sound at the edge of hearing. She was still at the base. He was sure of that, certain since he’d recognized her watching him.
It was like he’d heard her call his name then, a sound outside his normal hearing, a vibration he could feel that meant Enoa Cloud.
Why was she here? Why would anyone sneak into Helmont’s base?
Not for him – no one would come there for him. Still, she had been there to witness his testing – why? And how had she found him?
Kol had no answers, and he looked for none. He couldn’t risk losing the dim sound, like staying quiet to eavesdrop on a faraway conversation.
He couldn’t lose her.
Enoa Cloud meant the Aesir was close. The Aesir could escape the base with Max, and his brother would finally be safe and free.
So Kol held onto the vibration until he reached his cell. And when he returned there, he formed a new projection and held his cell door open. His body was flooded with adrenaline and a manic, feverish hope that forced the numbness and exhaustion from his mind. As long as he heard without hearing and knew Enoa was there, he had strength to fight.
But what next? He couldn’t flee into the corridor outside, unarmed. He couldn’t wait. What if Enoa or the Aesir completed their purpose and vanished like they’d arrived? He couldn’t risk losing this one chance, but there might be no opening to flee.
That was the one question he had to face, his one problem to solve – how would he know his moment had come? How would he know it was time to leave his cell and fight to bring Max to salvation.
Kol didn’t wait long for an answer.
Enoa moved.
The unheard sound got louder, came closer. Kol knew Enoa Cloud was moving deeper into the base, closer to his own subterranean level in the facility.
Kol got a new strange sense, a new complete certainty. She’d found him too, like he gave off his own sound, and she heard him, and she was on her way.
The unheard sound grew.
* * *
“I’ll tell you how many guards there are, while you get ready.” Enoa adjusted her belt so the hilt of her staff fit neatly beside her right hand and the stun box fit at her left. She held a small box of pharmaceuticals under her left arm. “I can get one with the stun thing. How many can you get fast?”
The elevator door slid open. The hallway outside had no overhead lighting. All light came from sconces embedded in the walls. These walls angled upward and were narrower at the top than at the floor. A pair of double doors stood at the opposite end of the passage.
“I can shoot two.” Jaleel held a bulk pack of toilet paper in both arms, ninety-six rolls in four layers, hiding most of his chest and head. “Three if I’m really in the zone, but I’ll need a couple seconds to get ready after I fly the disco disruptor.”
“Disco disruptor?”
“It’s what I use to mess up camera feeds. I’m still working on the name. How are you gonna tell me the number of guards, that they won’t know?”
“I’ll fit it in when I say what we’re carrying,” she said. “If I see four guards, I’ll say we have four cases of painkiller. How will I know you have your thing ready to mess with the cameras?”
“You’ll see a little flying ball shining lights everywhere,” he said. “You’ll know.”
“Okay.” Enoa stepped from the elevator. “When we get in there, just put your stuff down and get ready. I’ll do the talking. Wait until I’m about to use the stun box before you start your disruptor. And maybe you should start unpacking as soon as we get there. They’ll be confused if we get right to work. I’ll say something about an emergency delivery. What do you think?”
“Sounds like Looney Tunes,” he said. “We’ll go Bugs on them.”
“Uh… sure.” Enoa led the way, the passage too tight for them both to walk together while Jaleel held the toilet paper.
The double doors opened at her approach. A small anteroom stood before a long corridor, this one lined with doors, each fitted with a number pad and card reader. A black desk stood in front of the corridor, manned by two guards. Enoa searched the anteroom and corridor for more guards and saw none.
But down the passage, Enoa could see where Kol was kept. She knew, like the light from one of his projections actually glowed through the door of his cell.
The troopers at the desk glanced from her to Jaleel, setting his toilet paper down onto the floor, and then back to her.
“What is this?” The guard on the right had black stripes along his blue armor. “More lost plebes. What the…”
“Pharmaceutical delivery for Cell Block One Nine Seven Seven,” Enoa interrupted. “To fulfill your emergency request. We came right away! Two cases of painkiller, and lots of toilet paper and, uh… I’d have to check the list for the rest.”
The guards exchanged glances.
“We didn’t order anything.” The guard on the right pressed his hand to the desk. The desk glowed red from his touch, some hidden controls coming to life.
“Bet this is another prank from Two Zero One Five,” the Blades Trooper said. “Sarge will know.”
Another Rifle Trooper appeared at the opposite end of the passage. He approached.
“We were told to come here right away!” Enoa said. “With three cases of painkiller, actually. I just remembered.” Jaleel gave her a thumbs up from behind the mound of toilet paper. He started pulling out rolls out of the package.
He also removed a small, reflective sphere – his disruptor. He held it up and looked toward her. She saw the shapes of arrows and Jaleel’s collapsed bow through the plastic packaging.
“Let me show you!” Enoa set her box down on the edge of the desk. Then she pulled a folded paper from the side of the box, a typed list of contents they’d taken from one of the third trailer’s cases.
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Enoa also drew her stun box, and she primed it as she walked around the desk, angling toward the nearest Rifle Trooper.
“Look! This is what they gave us.” Enoa faced the guard. He turned to look at her and she unfolded the page. ‘For Immediate Delivery – Cell Block 19-77’ was written across the top of the page in black marker.
The Blades Guard watched her, both hands at his sides. His belt was ringed with sheathed weapons, all within reach.
“Look!” Enoa said again.
The little ball flew from Jaleel’s hand, humming as it shot up toward the ceiling. It flashed like a disco ball, multifaceted projectors and mirrors sending light everywhere. Both guards yelled and turned toward the light.
Enoa jabbed the stun box under the Rifle Guard’s breastplate, speared it through his tunic. She triggered the charge.
The man convulsed. He fell away from the stunner, arms twitching, legs too weak to hold him upright.
The Blades Trooper was still ducking away from the light display when an arrow took him in the gap at his right shoulder.
Another arrow flew into the open hallway. Enoa heard a yell and a thud. She peered into the passage. The second Rifle Trooper lay in the middle of the corridor, arrow sticking from beneath his breastplate.
“Holy shit.” Jaleel stood behind her, still surrounded by the unpacked toilet paper. He held his extended bow and a loose arrow. “Where will we go with them now? They never talk about that in movies.”
“We’ll put them in Maros’s cell,” Enoa said. “Hopefully he’ll be strong enough to help us.”
Enoa hadn’t yet considered what she’d say to Kol Maros when she freed him. She hadn’t even considered the rage she might feel just from the sight of his face.
“Do you know where they’d keep their keys or Card Keys?” she asked.
Another Rifle Trooper burst into the hall before Jaleel could respond, charging from one of the cells, his weapon already raised.
The trooper ran headlong into a blue wall that appeared right in front of him.
The translucent field of blue dragged him backward, screaming, back the way he’d come, deeper into the cell block.
When the light cleared, a shape in white was already on the trooper, driving a fist through the man’s helmet.
Kol Maros sagged away from the man and fell against the wall. His hair was partially matted, stuck together in long tendrils. Weeks-growth of beard hid his face.
“You didn’t tell me it was the unibomber who chased you all around the country,” Jaleel said.
Kol raised his left hand in greeting. It shook. “I heard you heading this way so I, um, I decided to meet you.”
* * *
“If I survive here, Miss Cloud.” Kol had been given no true chance to prepare, so he had no time to fear, to plan his words or to question them. They could not linger in the cell block, so he spoke without hesitation and with all the clarity he could find. “I will owe you forever. It is my fault what happened to your home. I could have put a stop to all of it. And now you’re still in danger, but I will rebuild your home for you, if I survive long enough.”
“This maybe isn’t the best time for a big speech,” Enoa said.
“I’m sorry, but I need to ask one more thing from you,” Kol continued. “I need to ask you to take my brother to safety. I’ll owe all of you.”
“Hey, you’re in luck!” the other disguised trooper said. “That’s already the plan.”
“Where is your brother?” Enoa walked up into the hall while her companion collected the discarded packages all over the floor. “I only found you because I followed your Shaping.”
“That’s how I knew you were on your way,” Kol said. “My brother, Max, is being held in a medical study, three corridors away. There will be more guards.”
“More good news.” The disguised man joined them at the edge of the cell corridor, holding a massive pack of toilet paper. “I have more stun arrows.”
“Kol Maros this is Jaleel Yaye,” Enoa said. “Jaleel, this is Kol.”
“Thank you for coming here,” Kol said. “I’m sure that you’re here for some other reason, but even if I had never… Even if…”
“Even if you never committed arson,” Jaleel said.
Kol inclined his head. “I would still forever be in your debt for saving Max. He was never in the Liberty Corps. He always opposed it. And I can’t let him die for helping me and helping Littlefield. I… I can’t, but I didn’t know how much longer…” He cleared his throat. “I heard some of your ploy when you arrived. Do you think you could perform that again?”
“Maybe,” Enoa said. “But where will you go? We’ll need to find somewhere for you to hide.”
“I have a better idea.” Jaleel laughed. “We’ll do the old prisoner transfer trick instead. Show us your hands, traitor! The Lord Baron says he wants the two brothers brought together!”
* * *
“It appears most of the information on your friend, Ophion, and the Montgomereys was never updated from the redacted reports recovered after the Blitzkrieg leaks.” Dr. Stan continued scrolling through data. “I’m not sure you’ll learn much from this.”
Even with only a partial view of the screen – Orson saw large gaps in text, occupied only by extended underscore lines.
“We’ll take it anyway,” Orson said. “Take it all. The Clouds next.” He saw a brief break in the line of text, but then it resumed, still inscrutable.
“I see four entries under the Cloud family. Sucora Cloud, or Eta, has her own extensive listing. Enoa has her own as well – and recently updated – along with two other… I’m not sure… I don’t know what they are.”
“Well, if you don’t, I definitely don’t.”
“These two linked files are pre-electronic collection. They have the standard integration date, May the first of Nineteen eighty-four. One is about messages engraved in linoleum, buried in West Virginia. The other is a report from a Sir Rowan – was he the man that she and Jaleel encountered in the Crystal Dune Forest?”
“Yeah. He’s the one who was after her personally. What’s he saying?”
“This is the original report, at some point in the late seventies or early eighties. He says he can sense Anemos. That he can pick out that Shape even from many miles away. He describes sensing Eta and her pupil, Theta. ‘I can feel them at work even from hundreds of kilometers. When they are idle, I still feel them, but I need to be closer. They’re getting so strong together. I can almost feel the control they have. It’s beautiful, and we need it.’
“And he has updates to this. Multiple updates. The most recent is dated a week ago. ‘They’re still in that desert. I know it. I can sense Enoa there. I know. Her scent is faint, but it’s there at the Alliance border. She can’t hide from me. We can find them.’ But there’s no registered response.”
“She can’t hide?” Orson stood. “Do another quick search, please, see where this Rowan is stationed right now.”
* * *
The last of the medical observation corridor’s guards fell, an arrow sticking from his hip. Three others lay in the entryway to another long hallway of cells, almost identical to the one they’d just left. These cells were wider with longer doorways, but all else looked the same.
Enoa waited for Kol to collect a Card Key from the belt of a fallen trooper. Then she followed him down the corridor, Jaleel just behind her, bow still extended.
“Once we have your brother,” she said. “We’ll leave the guards in his cell like we did with yours. Then we can go back up to the surface. Or we can once we find a way to hide you and your brother.”
“You only need to worry about Max.” Kol turned the Card Key between his hands. “I need to find Duncan. He’s my friend that you met… outside Littlefield.”
“Yeah,” she said. “I remember the astronaut. Is he here too?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Helmont tried to kill him. I interfered, and I haven’t seen him since then, but I need to know.” He stopped at a cell and swiped the Card Key. Its door slid aside.
Enoa recognized Max from the roof. He sat in the center of the room, still strapped to his cart, an IV draining into his arm. He sagged to one side, his eyes open but distant. He did not look at them. He didn’t acknowledge the door opening in any way.
Kol ran to his brother. Enoa and Jaleel watched from the doorway.
“Look who’s here, Max,” Kol said. “They’re friends from the Aesir crew. They’ll get you far away from here. They did well, didn’t they, finding their way here?” He turned back to Enoa. “It would be easier with his wheelchair. Did you see anywhere there could be storage for his things? No, that must be long gone. They’d destroy everything.”
“Not true.” Someone spoke down the hall, a sudden singsong voice she recognized. Enoa spun toward the sound. There’d been no one else there. She’d heard nothing.
Sir Rowan floated at the end of the passage, both feet off the floor. She recognized the trunked helmet, the orbs that rose from his armor.
“Waste not is our policy,” Sir Rowan said. “Hi, Enoa. You can’t imagine my excitement, feeling you here – and the way you and Mr. Maros were calling to each other! It’s a good thing the other Shapers drowned you out, or we’d never get the chance to catch up.”
Enoa raised her staff, Jaleel his bow, arrow ready. Kol rushed from the cell to join them.
“Don’t worry, children,” Sir Rowan said. “I won’t be turning you in. This can be our little secret. Put your weapons down and let’s talk.”