It took us some time to reach Shu’s destination. We’d all gotten back into the cruiser and onto the road, but getting to the place he’d asked us to go to took about an hour. Our time was limited, so, hopefully, we could accomplish whatever we needed to before too much time passed.
On the way over, I noticed that the skyscrapers had thinned out. Instead of buildings that touched the sky, stout, rundown houses stood on either side of the road. It reminded me of New Selene…but was somehow worse. Not as many cruisers had been around either. That was the first sign that we were headed somewhere undesirable.
Once we actually got to our destination, I understood why no one was heading there. A huge camp was laid out before us. A crowd of ruabrum wearing purple bracelets were being ushered toward a blue-light archway. It was like the purple one back at the parking lot. The camp was surrounded by metal lining. I assumed that it was meant to project solidios walls. The FD soldiers had probably used the giant vehicles beside the ruabrum to transport them there.
Shu didn’t need to explain a thing. This was what the reports had meant by “imprisonment.” Ruabrum were being kept in prison camps like this all over the city. The sight made my blood boil.
“Are you kidding me with this?” Laura gritted her teeth. “I get to punch Frost in the face, right? She clearly deserves it.”
“How did you know that your tribe was imprisoned at this particular camp?” Surge asked.
“My tribe’s gathered a lot of data about these detention camps.” Shu refused to look at the captured ruabrum. “We know how full each of them are. This one have the most space, so any new ruabrum they capture will be sent here.” Shu glanced at the ruabrum. “I recognize some of them. Please help me save them.”
“That was always the idea, but we need a plan.” Nessa rubbed her chin. “The entrance is surrounded, so we’ll need to sneak inside. What then? How do we free all of the ruabrum at once?”
I glanced at the camp again. We would need to disable the solidios barrier if we were hoping to get the ruabrum out. The bracelets would be a problem too. They were probably restricting the ruabrum’s movements or strength. That was why they hadn’t fought back yet. If we shut them down, they’d regain their strength.
“We’ll use our suits’ cloaks to get inside,” I said. “Laura and I, specifically. The rest of you, stay out here in case we need reinforcements. The solidios barrier has got to be managed by some sort of generator or computer. We’ll figure out where it is and then take it down. Then we get all of the ruabrum to fight back as one. Easy, right?”
Nessa blinked. “Only if it’s Opposite Day. Wander, the cloaks will only last for five minutes.”
My jaw dropped. “Dang it! I forgot all about that. We’ll just need to be fast.”
“That’s your solution? Be faster?!” Laura sighed. “Whatever. We don’t have many other options. I’m down for this if you are.”
Even though I’d come up with the plan, I wouldn’t have said I was “down” with it. I would have just said that it was our only chance. Maybe the AI would be useful here, but I didn’t see how. The very idea of AI rescuing ruabrum was a difficult one to entertain. I would prefer to keep them out of this.
Kaela’s frown made it seem like she hadn’t heard anything we’d said. She was still stressing over the Beatitudinem stuff. I didn’t have the time to comfort her, but I hoped that she’d be okay. I also hoped that she’d do her part in this mission.
“I have a feeling we’re going to rely on comms a lot for this mission. Keep your helmets on. Let’s go, Laura.”
Activating the cloak was trickier than just willing it on. That was what happened when you hacked into your space suit. After Laura and I completed the process, our bodies flickered before disappearing completely. I felt like a cloud, floating above everyone. It was hard to even know where Laura was when we were both invisible. I just had to give orders and hope that she’d follow them.
I climbed out of the cruiser and headed toward the camp. FD soldiers surrounded the entrance. The other soldiers were shouting at the group of ruabrum. They were telling them what would happen once they got inside. I listened in the hope that I’d gain information, but all I heard were insults that I could never repeat. I would be lucky if Laura didn’t try to ignite all of those jerks where they stood. I would have loved to electrocute them too. Maybe I’d get the chance.
The light projected in the blue archway was transparent. It seemed like I could walk through it, but what would happen if I did? I assumed its purpose was to record how many ruabrum were inside the camp. Everyone who walked through would be cataloged. That included me and Laura. I wished there was some way to get through without problems, but we only had about five minutes.
I took a deep breath and ran through the light. The archway hummed, attracting the attention of the FD soldiers. I’d called it. The archway hummed again as Laura probably followed my lead.
I scanned the camp. Stout buildings decorated every inch. Slouching ruabrum marched around, escorted by FD soldiers. I balled my hands into fists. Everything about this was wrong. If I could summon a lightning bolt to decimate this camp, I would.
Laura called my suit. “Now where do we go? I don’t want to look at this any longer than I have to.”
I spotted a large building in the distance. “Let’s head over there. That building seems important.”
There was a pause, and then Laura said, “I can’t freaking tell which one you’re looking at.”
“Oh yeah…the biggest building, then.”
We shuffled past all the ruabrum until we arrived at a huge building. It had at least three floors and each one was covered in windows. The double-doored entrance was guarded by FD soldiers. We might have been able to sneak past them, but those doors didn’t seem like they’d just open up. They weren’t locked by a hand scanner or anything, but there was a keyhole on them. Who still used keys instead of fingerprints?
“Damn!” Laura said. I imagined she had spotted the keyhole. “How are we going to get in there? We could jump through a window, but we’d be throwing stealth out the window. Speaking of, how much longer are these cloaks going to last?”
“About three minutes. This isn’t good; we don’t have nearly enough time to save everyone in that time. If we get spotted, they’ll report us to Frost. New plan: steal a key from one of the soldiers. After that…we’ll see.”
I was sure Laura could hear the lack of confidence in my voice, but she didn’t say anything about it. This wouldn’t be the first time I had led her without a plan; she was used to it.
I scanned each soldier who marched past. I did spot a few with keys, but they were practically chained to their suits. There was no way to get the keys without the soldiers noticing. I’d have to make them hand them over. Maybe I could do that with my powers, but it’d probably give me away.
Only two minutes were left on our cloaks. I groaned in frustration despite the possibility that someone would hear me. This wasn’t working. The usual flood of bad ideas invaded my mind, but I spotted something that made me pause.
A ruabrum with a white burn scar was being escorted toward a building. The scar was on the right side of his face. It reminded me of Rebecca’s scar. In addition, it reminded me of something that had happened the last time I had been there: something I wasn’t proud of.
“Follow that ruabrum,” I told Laura. “The one that’s closest to us. We need to go where he’s going.”
I ran toward the ruabrum and the soldier. The soldier opened the door to one of the houses, and pushed the ruabrum inside. I rushed in behind them, and assumed that Laura did too. The room was filled with bunk beds. All of them were filled with ruabrum who were too big for them. None of them was smiling, a few were shuddering, and all of them were gazing at the soldier with fearful eyes. The horrors of what I was seeing were enough to distract me. I momentarily forgot why I was even there.
“Hey Martian freaks, I brought you a new friend.” The soldier kicked the ruabrum, causing him to stumble and collapse on the floor. “How about thanking me? I’m singlehandedly keeping you long-legged mistakes from being lonely. Just a single ‘thank you’ would be nice.” When no one spoke up, the soldier groaned and pulled out his rifle. He aimed it at the ruabrum, causing them to flinch. “Thank me, damn it!”
Screw this!
I shot electricity at the door, willing it to shut. Once it did, the soldier whipped around with a gasp. He aimed the rifle at the door as if hoping to shoot whatever ghost was haunting him. I’d almost died enough times to be considered a ghost for sure. I’d add that to my list of nicknames.
“Who the hell is there?!” The soldier swung the rifle around, causing all the ruabrum to gasp again. “Come out! I know you’re there.”
I shot electricity at the loudmouthed soldier next. He grunted as I willed his arm to reach around and disengage the key from his waist. I forced him to hold the key out. Then I yanked it from his hand as he continued to grunt. I’d already gotten what I needed, but the rage that this idiot was making me feel was overwhelming.
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I gripped his shoulders and slammed him against a wall then sent electricity coursing through his suit. He convulsed and yelped as pain invaded every inch of his body. Only when he went limp did I let him go. He slid down to the floor. Part of me wanted to literally kick him while he was down. The guy was lucky that I hadn’t brought Beth along.
As I stood up, I realized that I could see my arms and legs again. The cloak had worn off. I glanced behind me and saw Laura gazing at the unconscious jerk. She looked up at me, and smirked. Yeah, she would have done the same thing.
I faced all the ruabrum next. None of them looked excited to see me. If anything, they were looking at me in the same way they’d looked at the soldier. I understood why: we looked the same. We were both humans in space suits. My helmet even covered my face, so none of them could recognize me.
“Well, we made it this far,” Laura whispered to me. “Now what?”
“We’re about to find out.”
I disassembled my helmet as I looked straight at the scarred ruabrum. Once the metal had disappeared back into my suit, the ruabrum’s face fell. I expected him to back away, but he stood up and took a step closer. He examined me as if I were a book on display. I reassembled my helmet so that I’d understand him when he spoke.
“It is you,” said the ruabrum in a tone that was familiar but sounded electronic.
I nodded. “It’s me, Krim.”
Krim’s face twisted with unimaginable fury as he lunged at me. His hands were around my neck within seconds. His insane strength allowed him to bypass my suit and reach my actual neck. Pain spiked in my throat as my air supply was cut off. It was a terrifying combination that confused me.
A fireball surged past Krim, erupting into a wall of flames. He released me to gaze into it. I coughed and gasped for air. It felt like I’d just escaped from an underwater prison. That was the kind of strength we needed on our side.
Laura extinguished her flames. “Back off, or we’re going to find out what charred ruabrum smells like.”
If she hadn’t been there, there was no guarantee that I would have survived that. I couldn’t blame Krim for it either. The last time we’d seen each other, I’d burned him with my electricity. I was the one behind the scar on his face. He was the reason why I had become so cautious with my electricity.
The unconscious soldier was proof that I’d outgrown that mentality. As long as I didn’t go overboard, my power was fine. It had gotten me that far, after all.
Krim backed up, scowling as he did. “That is not my name. That is the name that humans assigned me because they could not speak my true name: V’egelnuf.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Wait…you’re Shu’s farbrother? You’re the leader of your tribe?”
“Currently, yes. I was the most active participant in those ‘riots.’ They named me leader in the hope that I would lead us to a better life.”
I scanned the room full of frightened ruabrum. “I see you’re doing a great job. Look, we came to get you guys out of here. I’m going to take down the system that powers this place. Once I do, it’s up to you to get everyone to fight with us. If all of the ruabrum fight back at once, we have a chance.”
He grimaced. “Fight alongside humans? I would never command such a thing. If you free us, we will leave. Fend for yourselves.”
I sighed. “Is this about your scar? Because I’m really sorry about that—”
“Leave!”
V’egelnuf turned his back on me. If he didn’t want to talk anymore, there was nothing we could to do to change that. We just had to carry out the rest of the plan and hope that things would go our way.
“Okay, I’m off to shut down the system,” I told Laura. “Wait here. Maybe try to convince V’egelnuf to change his mind? Mostly just stay out of sight. Definitely make sure this guy doesn’t leave the room.” I motioned to the unconscious soldier.
“You’re still going?” Laura asked. “But the cloaks wore off. Just concealing your face isn’t enough to allow you to sneak into that building.”
“Fair point. Luckily, I have a rebuttal.”
I raised my crackling hand and brought it down on my chest, willing the electricity to cling to the cloaking device and charge it. It wasn’t a phone battery or anything that could normally be recharged. All I wanted to do was speed up its cool-down period. If I did that, I could get it to work again.
I stopped the electrical stream and tried to start the cloak again. My body flickered much more than it had before. I thought the cloak had failed when it stopped flickering and left me visible. Then a low buzz assaulted my ears. My body had disappeared once again.
“Did you just hack your hack?” Laura asked as she looked around the room. She was looking for me. “Aren’t you afraid your suit will explode or something?”
“No, I’m afraid that Nessa will get mad at me for being reckless. I’ll be fine, but I’ve got to move before my borrowed five minutes wear off. If that’s even still the limit.”
I opened the door, slipped outside, and closed it again. I needed to hurry before someone got in there and found Laura. Sprinting toward the building, I hoped that no one would hear my footsteps. I reached the entrance to the huge building and found that soldiers still surrounded it. I could have sneaked in, but if they noticed, it wouldn’t be good for me.
I backed up around a corner and shot off a little stream of electricity. The guards yelped and ran toward me. Flipping my middle fingers at them, I chuckled as I ran back to the building. I jammed the key into its hole and turned it. The door beeped as I pushed it open. I took out the key and pushed the door closed as softly as I could.
The inside of the building looked like a black-themed hospital. That mostly had to do with the fact that there were counters everywhere. Beeping and glowing monitors decorated the place too. People stood in front of them, typing up reports and whatever else the evil computers needed to have typed on them.
I wondered whether I could use one of them to shut the place down. If only it were that easy. If I’d been able to control everything, where would I be?
I tiptoed around the place, weaving around soldiers who had no clue I was there. Heading toward the back of the floor, I passed so many soldiers that I began to eavesdrop on their conversations.
“So which camp is General Alhabor stationed at?” asked a female soldier.
“None of them. He’s busy moving the weirdo at the hospital tonight.”
“Frost is finally collecting that guy? Maybe things will settle down once that freak’s out of here. I’m tired of never knowing what’s going on. What’s with those black and white robots she keeps around now?”
There was my confirmation that Connolly had arrived on this planet. If he was here before Frost, then he had to be “prepping” the place for her arrival. Unfortunately, I would have to tell Nessa about all this later. The last thing that this mission needed: daddy-daughter complications.
The soldiers had also mentioned something about the “weirdo at the hospital.” They could only have been talking about Upton Manning. That meant that Connolly would be at the Red City Hospital for AI Victims tonight. Frost had threatened to use him like she’d used Rebecca. Now she was going to make good on that threat. I’d worry about all that later, especially because I’d reached my destination.
I was facing a wall made of monitors. Each one seemed to be displaying something different. Some of them showed corners of the camp like security cameras might. A huge keyboard sat underneath all of them. That had to be what I was looking for. It was the closest thing to a generator that I’d be getting.
I raised a hand and lowered it to the keyboard, willing the computer to deactivate the solidios wall around the camp. My head tingled as I felt it go down in the distance. Great, now I just had to deactivate all those bracelets so that the ruabrum could fight with all their strength—
Electricity surged out of my suit. The current caused my suit to buckle and seize as if I were in the middle of a quake. I wasn’t causing the electricity, so it must have been coming from my suit. I might have hacked it one too many times.
My body reappeared as my knees buckled. It felt like my suit was dragging me down. The suit hadn’t shut down, but it wasn’t operating at maximum capacity either. What had I done, drained it of all its power?
“Hey, what the hell is this thing?” shouted a soldier. I couldn’t look at him, but I assumed he was talking about me. “Something just showed up over here.”
My arms had seized up. I was tugged to my feet. Soldiers walked into my field of vision. They dragged me away from the monitors. There was no way I’d be able to shut them down that way. I scanned the room for anything that could help me out.
There was a huge window beside them. I could see half of the camp through it. If I looked far enough, I could even see…my cruiser. The line of sight was hardly clear, but it wouldn’t be much of a problem for a marksman, or markswoman.
I willed my suit to call Kaela’s then waited for her to pick up. I waited…and waited…and waited. I was being dragged across the entire first floor, presumably to a prison cell, and Kaela was ignoring me? What could she be doing, taking a nap?!
A click filled my ears as she finally picked up. “Yo.”
“What do you mean ‘yo’? I’ve been calling you for at least a full minute!”
“I was snacking,” Kaela said in a monotone.
If my suit self-destructed right now, I wouldn’t even care. I would welcome it.
“Okay whatever. Look, things aren’t going great right now. I’ve been found out, and now I’m being captured. I shut down the solidios wall, but I never disabled the ruabrum’s bracelets. You need to shoot the computer from where you are. That’ll shut them down.”
Kaela sighed. “How am I supposed to know where it is? I’m not there with you.”
She was right, but I had a solution ready. I willed our comms to switch over to AR mode. My depressing surroundings shifted. I was back in the cruiser with a bag of chips in one hand and the Gamechanger in the other. I was seeing through Kaela’s eyes for sure.
I scanned the horizon in search of the building in question. I found it to the right. I even spotted the window that the monitors were beside.
“Kaela, look through the Gamechanger, and check out that huge building. Shoot the window on the side of the building. First floor.”
She peered through the rifle’s scope, allowing me a view as well. I guided her gaze with additional tips, for instance, telling her to look right then an inch to the left then two inches to the right. Eventually, she spotted what I was talking about. And thank goodness she did because I was still being dragged around in there. I dreaded what would happen when they stopped, and I felt like that moment was coming.
“I don’t know, Wander,” Kaela said. “This is a tough shot to take. I might chip a few buildings, someone might walk in front of the beam, and there’s no guarantee I’ll even hit the wall you’re talking about.”
“I know, but it’s our only chance. You have to pull the trigger, Kaela. I trust you. I know you’re upset about losing your family again, but, like you said, it’s in the past. We’re your family now. So please, help us out here.”
The dragging stopped. The arms reeled back and flung forward as they tossed me into something. I ended the call with Kaela to see what was going on. My actual surroundings loaded back in, revealing that I was inside a dark room. A pair of soldiers were preventing me from reaching the exit. One of them held a ruabrum bracelet. I guess I was about to get confirmation that they worked on humans…
“Did you see all those Martian freaks on your way in here?” asked one of the soldiers. “Sure hope so because you’re about to join them.”
They’d go so far as to imprison a human? What had happened to Frost’s army? Did they not have hearts?
“Before we throw him into a building full of angry Martians, let’s tear off that helmet.” The soldier who said that cracked his knuckles. “Let’s find out who this guy really is.”
Would they still imprison me after they found out who I was? I doubted it, but whatever they’d do instead was bound to be worse. They crept closer to me, but my suit hadn’t recovered yet. I couldn’t get away. My only hope was…
BOOM!
The tiniest of vibrations rumbled through the building, shaking the room. The soldiers whipped around to look at the faint blue glow that filled the hall. It disappeared a second later. As their confusion set in, my relief did as well. I knew I could count on family.