I motioned to an empty bedroom. “So, here’s your room, I guess.”
Rebecca walked inside and looked around. We were in the bedroom on the first floor of our house. The one that no one used. The bed was still made, and the nightstand was coated in dust. Not exactly welcoming, but it would look better once she decorated it. Did this base have a shopping mall? Where did we go for furniture and useless wall clocks?
She plopped down on the bed. It creaked under her weight, but then it sprung up and lifted her with it. She laughed as she bounced on the bed like a child. It was nice to see a war veteran who was so fun-loving. Manning’s smile seemed forced most of the time.
“This reminds me of my old room aboard the Beacon.” Rebecca ran the back of her hand against the dusty sheets. Was that the name of the ship of Humanity’s Oath? The Beacon? How was it that I hadn’t known that? “I decorated my room, but there was no point. I spent most of my spare time in our gym. Is Theodore still upstairs?”
I grinned. “Yup. He has a lot of books that he needs to return. You’re kind of the reason why he’s ready to return them. He doesn’t need paragraphs about Humanity’s Oath now that he’s got one of the members back.” I paused. I had a question for her, but I wasn’t sure how appropriate it was. Well, it was important to know this if we were going into battle together. “How much do you remember? About being captured, and everything that led up to that.”
Her eyes flickered pink but, thankfully, didn’t stay that way. “I remember the mission. The one that we failed. We fought as bravely as we could, but the AI were ready. There were so many. One of our members tried to escape in the Beacon, but they shot it out of the air. We were all captured. Experimented on. Defeated. What happened to us? Why am I here and not in the AI’s basement?”
I definitely shouldn’t have asked that question. Now I had to be the one who told Rebecca that all her friends were…gone. I didn’t even have Manning to help me break it easily.
“You were rescued by President Frost. You, Manning, and Upton. The others…weren’t. Manning thought he and Upton were the only survivors for so long, but then we found out that Frost had just kept you a secret while she did more experiments, so…yeah. We don’t know what happened to the others, but I know for a fact that Michelangelo—Grandpa is gone. I’m sorry, Rebecca.”
Now as long as she didn’t freak out and trash the place, we’d be golden. I watched her for signs of aggression, but she just seemed dazed. She must have been taking it all in. I didn’t want to know what it felt like to understand that most of your friends were dead.
“Grandpa?” Her face screwed up in confusion, but then her eyes widened with joy. “You’re Mikey’s grandson? That makes you that child we met in that hospital. Alex!”
“It’s Wander. Wait, that’s the part you’re stuck on?”
“You’ve grown so much. You used to be no bigger than my fist. Come here!” She walked toward me with outstretched arms. Oh no! Not a hug!
I had just told her the fate of her team, and she was freaking out about my grandfather? Did this legacy thing know no bounds? I didn’t want to remind her of the thing she should actually have been thinking of, so…I pretty much had no choice. I held out shaking arms as she wrapped her strong ones around me and squeezed. How had Manning been so cool with this? I felt like a balloon on the verge of being popped.
She set me down, but her grin remained. It creeped me out, like this whole situation.
“I’m glad that you took all of this so well.” I rubbed my ribs. They just couldn’t catch a break. “I’d better be going. I have some stuff to do, but I’ll see you around.”
“Understood, Little Locke!” Her grin grew even though what she’d said quickly turned my blood to ice. I’d been called a lot, but there wasn’t a phrase in the galaxy worse than that. “I look forward to seeing what you can do on our Epsilon mission. Serving with a Locke…it’s like nothing has changed.”
I grimaced as I left the room. “Yup…nothing’s changed.”
----------------------------------------
“Little Locke! Why would she call me that? Seriously, what do people see when they look at me? Do they see a miniature version of my grandfather? Is that what you see? Sorry, I didn’t mean that. You’ve never met him. Maybe I should stop ranting.”
Nessa offered a tiny smile. “You don’t have to stop. I could literally listen all day.”
I was back in Nessa’s house, where I spent all my free time. I wished I could say our time together was having a positive effect on her. Unfortunately, there was a red comb stuck in her hair, and she smelled like garbage. She hadn’t been taking care of herself. She’d just been using those parallel bars and moping.
Since we were in her living room, the bars were only a few feet away. I couldn’t ignore them because she kept glancing at them every few seconds. I was getting tired of her wearing the metal arms all the time. Was it time to tell her that it was pointless? Manning said something about being respectful yet assertive. That was a difficult balance.
I shook my head once I remembered that I was ranting. “Right, uh, it’s just dumb that everyone I meet always has the same set of expectations. Maybe it’s why meeting you was so refreshing. You were a total jerk. You didn’t care about my name. Just my…eyes?”
“You have the same eyes as my father. He ruined your eye color for me, but…you’re restoring my faith in it.” She grinned, despite the gravity of her statement. “Also, potential means nothing if you don’t live up to it. You don’t have much to fear in that regard. You’re surprisingly adept all by yourself.”
Surprisingly?
“Just because I can electrocute people, it doesn’t mean I don’t feel pressure. Some weird stuff happened recently and it made me reconsider how I felt about my grandpa. He was just a guy doing his best. Not his fault that everyone blew it out of proportion. It’s just that he’s gone and I’m still here, so I’m the one who has to pick up his pieces. I get it, but I still want it to stop. Why can’t people just see me for me?”
She touched my arm, spreading warmth through it. “They will once you become your own legend. You inherited a lot from your Grandpa, but, at your core, you’re something unique. That’s what Rebecca needs to see.” Nessa’s eyes widened. It looked like she’d just realized how much she’d been complimenting me. “Enough of that. It’s time to exercise. Want to help me get to the bars?”
I frowned. Time to ruin her positive image of me. It sucked because I loved her compliments.
“No.” I stared at my feet. “I can’t help you do that. Not anymore.”
Her face tightened with frustration. “What?”
“When was the last time you moved your legs? It was before the accident, wasn’t it? Nessa, I think you’re wasting your time with this. You need to move on. You should rest more, maybe—”
“Rest? Do you remember when I messaged you about Rebecca’s rampage? What I wanted was to be out there with you, but I couldn’t. All I could do was sit around and wonder if all of you were okay. I don’t care how hard it is, I’m going to get my mobility back.”
“If you had accepted the wheelchair that Surge recommended—”
“I don’t need a wheelchair!”
My heart thumped against my aching ribs. Nessa heaved with rage, or sadness. I couldn’t tell if she was about to cry or shout again. This had backfired worse than I’d imagined. If my powers had worked on that day, none of this would have happened. I knew she didn’t want me to blame myself but I couldn’t help it.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I’ll help you to the bars. Then I’ll leave…if that’s what you want.”
“No! I—I don’t want you to leave. Please.” Her eyes turned watery. “I don’t have anyone else.”
My cheeks warmed as my heart continued to thump. How hard had it been for her to say that? I could barely believe she’d said it. I was her closest friend? The guy who had gotten her into this? What could I do with this information? Obviously not leave.
I scooted over to Nessa and wrapped an arm around her. It was a long shot, but I had to test it. Her shoulders relaxed under my touch. She leaned into me, laying her head on my shoulder. Warmth spread throughout me. Nessa chuckled, probably because she could sense how nervous I was. What the heck was happening here?
I’d never felt this kind of warmth before. It only came out when I was around Nessa. There was something about her determined attitude and mechanical skills. The fact that she could confide in me was amazing too. I hoped this wasn’t a crush. My high school peers had ruined the concept of relationships for me. That didn’t take away from how nice this felt, though.
“You know I’m not going anywhere, right?” I said in a low voice.
“That’s what I hope.” Nessa sounded cheerful yet sad at the same time. It was like she was preparing to be disappointed. “I’m sorry I was so harsh to you before.”
“If you hadn’t been, I wouldn’t be here now. I guess I owe you one for that. How does getting your mobility back sound?”
Her expression shattered before my eyes. “What?”
“Surge gave me this idea. I think—no, I know I can help you walk again. We just need to modify your space suit. I could add a spinal implant to the legs. Well, it’s implants that got us into this, but—”
“Stop,” she said in a small voice. Had I crossed a line? I thought so until she smiled at me. “We’re going to build it. Together. That’s what a team does.”
That was exactly what I wanted to hear. Anything that got Nessa doing something constructive was fine with me.
“Let’s head to the forge right now. You said yourself that we aren’t doing anything else.”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
She shrunk. “But…how am I supposed to get there?”
I smirked. “Remember the wheelchair?”
“Yes…but I still don’t need that thing. We’re literally about to make something that’ll let me walk again.”
I groaned. “Until that’s ready, you still need help getting from place to place! There’s nothing wrong with help, Nessa. Come on. Just do me this one favor.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine, but if I end up hating it, you have to give me a piggyback ride to anywhere I want to go.”
She looked smug like that was meant to be a deal-breaker. Had she forgotten I was a big brother? I was used to carrying people.
“You got yourself a deal.”
----------------------------------------
I pulled open the forge’s front door for Nessa. It seemed my gesture had annoyed her. Or maybe it was her new wheelchair that had annoyed her. It was an older model, so it didn’t have the autopilot option or even a control panel. It had handlebars so I could push her, but she threatened to run over my foot if I tried. She also wanted to paint the whole wheelchair silver, so I had to hide all the silver paint as soon as I could.
She wheeled herself into the building, scowling as she did. The clanging of metal and flashes of light slowed to a halt as she drew everyone’s attention away from their work. Every time I walked in here it seemed like everyone’s attention was drawn away from their work. Guess I had that effect.
When Nessa had become inactive, I’d taken over as the temporary head of the forge. It wasn’t as fun as I had thought it would be. The forge was the sister facility to the base’s power plant, so I had to make sure that electricity was being evenly distributed, and then I had to listen to complaints from people who weren’t receiving enough electricity. Then I had to send people to repair faulty tech around the base. It was a nightmare that I was barely able to emerge from. I had no idea why Nessa liked the job so much.
“Chief?” said a young guy with droopy eyes; Dave. “You’re up and about?”
“In a manner of speaking. Why? Is there a problem with that, David?” Nessa rolled up to him. Her chair didn’t even have an electric motor. Where had they found this dinosaur? “Didn’t expect to see me back so soon, is that it?”
David made eye contact with a few of his friends before chuckling nervously. “I guess? But I’m glad you’re back! Honest.”
“Glad that I’m back? Now you’re implying that my fill-in did a poor job even though I personally chose him for the position?”
“What? Of course not! I—”
He stopped talking as Nessa shook with silent laughter. Then she opened her mouth and let it all out, filling the room with her joy. I’d been wondering how long she would be able to keep that up. Especially because the prank had been my idea. Dave and a few others joined in once they realized what was going on.
“Oh, how I’ve missed this place,” Nessa said after her giggle fit had died down. She cleared her throat and sat up straight. “I know you’re excited to see me, but I came here to build. Wander thinks he can make something that will get me my mobility back. We’re here to modify the lower half of my space suit. That’s why…he’s wearing them.”
I snickered as I motioned to my new silver legs. It had taken some time to squeeze into them, but not as long as I’d anticipated. Apparently, all the time I’d spent starving myself had paid off. Nessa had begged me not to wear them at all, but how else was I supposed to transport a pair of five-hundred-pound legs?
A guy with spiked hair nodded like there was nothing weird about this; he was Marcus. “Neat. How can we help?”
Nessa blinked. “Help? That won’t be necessary. Wander and I can do it ourselves.”
“Are you serious? What did we just talk about?” I asked. “If you guys want to help, then just gather around the scrap table. I’ll explain my genius plan from there.”
Nessa’s eyes widened as everyone put down their tools to follow my suggestion. The scrap table was overflowing with rusted and torn metal. Anytime you needed metal, there it was. Now I could hardly see it behind the wall of people who wanted to help Nessa.
“Wait, why would you all do this for me?” wondered Nessa. “I’m always harsh and barking orders. You can’t possibly want to reward that sort of behavior.”
A girl with brown hair and freckles shrugged; that was Leslie. “It’s what family does for each other, Chief. No big deal.”
Thank goodness I hadn’t had to say it. Nessa had already been carrying the burden of abandonment when she’d joined the forge. That was why she’d never opened up to her associates. Now that she was surrounded by people who loved her, she could finally let go and start over.
“Thank you.” Nessa’s smile grew wider than I’d ever seen it. “I appreciate it. Wander, explain everything before I shed a tear. You’ll all pay if that happens.”
I nodded and explained as I approached the forge’s virtuaboard. I had always wanted to use the one in Manning’s classroom. My time had finally come. I picked up a pen and drew a series of figures in virtual ink. I drew the legs as best I could, and then I drew the spinal attachment that I had envisioned. Her brain wasn’t communicating with her legs anymore, so I was hoping to trick it into reestablishing that connection. No one said anything as I sketched and talked, which drove home the feeling that I was an instructor. This had always been Laura’s dream, and now I understood why. I’d never felt so respected.
I flinched as I heard the forge’s door swing open behind me. As I turned, I saw a familiar head of black hair poking its way in. The defining feature was the blue streak.
“Hey, Wander!” Kaela whispered loudly. It was like a quiet shout. “Are you busy?”
I glanced at the crowd. “Just a little. You can take it from here, right Nessa?”
She looked at the virtuaboard. “I don’t have much of a choice. Come back as soon as you can.”
“Don’t I always?” I shuddered as Nessa shot me a paralyzing look. I walked off before she could grill me.
I stepped outside with Kaela; pale light illuminated our otherwise dark path. I smiled as a cool breeze caressed my face. Amazing how it felt so peaceful though Rebecca had been rampaging around the base earlier. Now she was staying in our house. I was sure she couldn’t go outside without getting mean or frightened looks, but she wouldn’t understand why.
“What’s up, Kaela?” I asked.
“Mission time, dummy,” said Laura. I could see her from the corner of my eye. She was leaning against Kaela’s cruiser, wearing a confident smirk. “Time to go looking for the AI’s address. I can’t believe that’s actually the plan.”
“No, you’re down-selling it. What she means is ‘Are you ready for our thrilling AI-base-infiltration mission, Wander?’” Kaela cheered like she’d just got invited to a party. Why were all my friends so crazy?
“We’re leaving right now? I didn’t think Surge wanted to ship us out so soon.”
That meant I couldn’t be there for the construction of Nessa’s new legs. The ones I’d designed. Then again, it’d take at least a few weeks to finalize everything and actually get them made. I’d miss the beginning though.
“Dylan demanded that we leave as soon as possible,” Kaela said. “Blame him. I know I do, all the time. Hurry and hop into my cruiser. Maybe we can catch Dylan yelling at Surge.”
Laura shook her head as Kaela got behind the wheel. “She’s such a dork. You sure you’re ready, Wander? Don’t have to kiss Nessa goodbye or anything? We can drive by her house for you.”
My cheeks warmed with embarrassment again. “No. She’s not my—she’s not even home, she’s here at the forge. I got her to accept the wheelchair.”
Laura’s eyes widened. “Really? Man, how do you do that? It’s like you can improve people’s lives just by being around. We should just catapult you onto Epsilon. You can infiltrate the AI and convince them to self-destruct or something.”
Laura laughed as she hopped into the passenger seat. Now she was making jokes? Maybe she was spending too much time with Kaela. I jumped into the seat behind Kaela as she revved the cruiser to life. She slammed on the pedal. I stared out the window as the cruiser got moving.
Every facility had its lights on. The Moon was illuminating the ground, so it felt like we were driving on moonlight. I stared up at the greenish-white pearl that I had previously called home. Felt like I’d been away for a lifetime. It had only been about a month, though. So much had happened in that time. Who knew what could happen in another month.
“You miss that place?” Laura gazed up at the Moon through the windshield.
My first instinct was to deny it. It always was. The Moon was barren, I no longer had family there, it was cold except during the summer, and then it was blazing hot. There was Moondust everywhere even though we had the atmosphere tower. The Moon wasn’t even a planet. Everything about that place sucked.
“Yes, I miss it,” I said quietly. “There’s nothing to really miss though. There’s Opifex and his mom, but that’s not much. I’m sure you don’t miss it because of your family.”
“No, I miss it too. I guess. It’s where we first met, so it wasn’t all bad. We could go back to our old elementary school…and I could punch you again. For old times’?”
I glared at the back of her chair. “That’s the kind of thing you’re supposed to apologize for, not want to do again.”
Kaela giggled. “Sounds like you guys have always been exciting.”
“It wasn’t exciting for me. It hurt! This redheaded demon’s always had a heck of a punch.”
Laura laughed at my pain as we arrived at Surge’s office. Kaela hit the brakes, slowing us to a halt in front of it. I needed to get a rewards card for Surge’s office. With enough visits, I could get a free trip.
Kaela opened the door for us and put on her widest smile. “The cool kids are here!”
Dylan stood in front of Surge’s desk and glared us down as we walked in. Surge was behind his desk. Manning stood in the corner of the room, and next to him was…the other one.
“Little Locke. I have not seen you in hours!” Rebecca jabbed Manning with her elbow like a celebrity had just walked in. She might have been preferable when she’d been trying to kill us.
“Yeah. Hey, Rebecca…” I waved without looking at her and marched up to Surge’s desk. “Kaela said something about the mission?”
“Yes, now do you remember how abandoned the last AI base was? This one won’t be. This mission involves busting down the doors of an active AI base, and that’s too dangerous for the team of three you were before. If all of you accept, you’ll be a team of six. Still dangerous, but with a higher chance of success.”
I saw why Rebecca was a necessary asset here. She was the only person in the galaxy who could literally charge through an AI base.
Laura held up her hand like we were back in school. “Hey, I wasn’t on the last base mission. Are you sure I won’t be in the way?”
“Are you going to let anyone else hold that dagger?” Surge asked her.
“No.”
“That’s why you’re going.”
“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go, but my intelligence may be useful,” Manning said. “If we come across any decrypted files, I’ll make short work of them.”
“I got the information we needed from the last computer just fine, but apparently no one cares what I think.” Dylan placed his hands on his hips.
Kaela smirked. “You’re right about that much. The tall people know the plan, but can you fill in the rest of us? Where’s the base?”
Surge swirled his cup around, filling the room with the stench of coffee. “Venus, according to Dylan’s coordinates. Go there, get Epsilon’s location, and come back safely. Understand?”
“Yes. I understand everything except the part where we go to Venus and have to fight our way into an occupied AI base.” I groaned as I took this all in. Of all the planets in the galaxy, the AI had to set up shop on one as annoying as that ball of lava. “Why Venus?!”
Venus was the hottest planet in the solar system. Its atmosphere of carbon dioxide and literal acid clouds contributed to that. No need to even get into all the lava and volcanoes. We’d constructed atmosphere towers to help, but once you burnt a marshmallow, there was no saving it. We wouldn’t catch fire the second we got there, but it’d be pretty bad.
“AI love Venus.” Rebecca shook her head like she’d just heard something unpleasant. “They’re not affected by its heat. We’ve fought them on Venus before, but we had to retreat. Remember that, Theo?”
“I remember sweating so much that I feared drowning in my suit.” Manning shuddered. “Thank you for that horrid memory.”
Humanity’s Oath retreated? That was reassuring and motivating. If I didn’t retreat like them, I’d succeed where they’d failed. Then I’d do it again by being the first man on Epsilon!
“Rebecca, take this.” Surge reached under his desk. He grunted with effort as he lifted up one of the ruabrum’s AI-killing javelins. His face strained as he dropped it onto his desk. The whole thing rumbled under the weapon’s weight. I was surprised it didn’t break. “This is the javelin you’ll be using on the AI leader. You won’t be needing it on this mission, but you can have it for safekeeping. We installed magnetic clamps, so you can just slap it onto your back.”
Rebecca gripped the javelin and raised it up with a single hand. The handle was red, but the spearhead was a steely silver. The other spearheads had filled with red energy when they had stabbed machines. I knew because the terrifying image had been burned into my brain.
“This would be an effective sword.” Rebecca swung the javelin to demonstrate. I took a step back to avoid being beheaded. Of course Rebecca would ignore the throwing properties of the throwing weapon. “I will wield it proudly.”
I nodded. “If that’s everything, then let’s go. I’m ready.”
“Are you?” Dylan walked up to me. His scowling face was too close to mine. What horrible things did he have to say now? “Do you have control over your powers?”
My eyes grew. I was glad he’d asked. Dylan’s little “pep talk” back on Jupiter had been the first time I’d realized that I needed to master my powers.
“I’ve gotten a lot better with them,” I said. “I wouldn’t say ‘mastered,’ but I can assure you that what happened at that base will never happen again.”
Dylan smiled. “That’ll have to do, won’t it? I may have found the base, but you’ll be the one leading us there. Don’t disappoint.”
I looked to Surge for confirmation. He nodded at me. It had been a while since I’d led a mission, but this was a fitting one to return to.
“Come on, team. Let’s go to Venus. Then, when we get back, we’ll commence the raid. Time to show the AI why they should have left humanity alone.”