I guess I’m not quite right, either. I always wondered why Alkine had insisted on so many medical checks when I was a kid. Turns out that while I might seem like a normal teenager on the outside, inside’s a different story. Again, not enough to ring alarms, but different. Like Hemming said, it’s all in the proportions.
“Jesse.” A hand pulls at my elbow, breaking my attention from the second room.
I jump and turn to see Eva standing before me. “What?”
“I think I heard something.”
I glance around, searching for figures, shadows, anything. “Where’s Skandar?”
Her eyes widen as she scans the room for him. “I thought he was right behind me. Maybe he-”
Footsteps interrupt her. Skandar rounds the corner, scratching the back of his neck.
Eva’s whisper intensifies. “Where were you?”
“Rifling through the agent’s side pack,” he whispers. “You know, Alkine always says to use what you’ve got. Most of the guy’s stuff was standard issue.” He holds up a palmsized, semicircle device. It looks like some kind of remote. “Except for this. It’s got buttons.” He shrugs. “It must do something, right?”
I grab the device from his hands. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Skandar’s eyes fall on the wall in front of us. “Wow. That’s different, isn’t it?”
I step back and analyze the remote. There are three buttons on top-hardly complex. Of course, there’s no telling exactly what they’ll do. Knowing my luck, I’ll push one and end up setting off some kind of explosion. But I’ve got to try.
Before Eva can push her way in to have a look, I press each button in turn.
Nothing happens.
Eva shifts beside me. “You know, we shouldn’t-”
“Wait.”
I watch as a border of blue light appears from the darkness, illuminating the edges of the wall. The line spreads from the corners and stretches across the boundary of the floor and ceiling. Once the two pieces meet in the middle, the light changes course-moves vertically and splits the wall like someone’s cutting it open with an invisible blowtorch. Without a sound, the pieces slide apart. The light fades and we’re left with two slabs pulling across the ground, retracting into the walls. I haven’t seen technology like this in the Academy. Unified Party, maybe, but not our dinky little ship.
Ryel doesn’t notice the movement at first. His eyes remain closed until the walls are halfway retracted. When they open, he has a sort of glazed look on his face, like he doesn’t know where he is or who we are.
Then, as if a switch has been triggered, his mouth falls open and he realizes.
I can tell by how quickly he moves that he knows it’s me. Even though we’ve barely seen each other-only once in person-there’s recognition in his wide eyes.
He bounds from his seat on the concrete, barefooted. “Please don’t tell me I’m imagining this.”
He speaks perfect English. It wasn’t like that back on the rooftop, but Pearl transport energy allows for language recognition and processing. He doesn’t have any discernable accent, more like he’s studied every different way of speaking and crammed it into one voice.
“Ryel.” I stare at him, unsure what to do. Shake hands? Hug him? Bow?
He stops several feet in front of me and takes a moment to survey what’s left of the walls before refocusing on my face. “I’m going mad. I’ve had visions of shadows. Don’t know if they’re real or not. Are you real?” He clutches my shoulder. “Jesse Fisher?”
I glance behind me at Eva and Skandar. “We’ve gotta get him out of here.”
“There are more of us,” he motions past the retracted wall, “in the holding chambers.”
Eva cringes. “I told you this wasn’t a good idea.”
“You’re here,” Ryel continues. “You’re standing right before me.”
I step back. “Yes. It’s me.”
He presses his hands together as in prayer, allowing himself a smile, though it looks more like a strange grimace. “The others! Our brothers and sisters.”
I peer over his shoulder, expecting an agent to rush from the darkness and tackle us. “Yeah. Okay.”
“Guards.” Eva steps between us, expression tense. “Alkine’s bound to have them.”
“There’s one room,” Ryel says. “Halfway down the corridor, secured. They’re sleeping, now.”
“Go back to the entrance,” I tell Eva. “See if you can grab some weapons from the side pack. Then meet us down here.”
“I am not pulling a weapon on one of our own people.”
“They’d pull one on you.”
Skandar retreats, pulling her with him. “Don’t worry, Jesse.” They disappear around the corner.
Ryel’s head cocks to the side, his posture unusually rigid. “Do you hear it?”
I shake my head.
“The agents are coming. My plan… it won’t work.”
The corners of the room erupt in a flurry of activity. Six agents burst from the hallways beyond, each armed and decked in full battle gear. They come at us quick. Too quick.
I grab Ryel by the wrist and pull him forward. “Run!”
As we push forward, I fiddle with the remote in my hand in the hopes that it’ll do something. It’s too late to close the wall again, but maybe I can trip some emergency security system.
We sprint through the mazelike corridor on our way to the escape ladder. I grab the closest rung and climb. My arms still ring from the Sophomore Tour. The agents will have a harder time negotiating the ladder with all their gear. I saw the weapons they were holding. No stunners. That was lethal force. They wouldn’t shoot me. They can’t. Not if they know what I mean to Alkine.
I reach the surface and emerge on the dirt gasping for air. Ryel follows, struggling to his feet.
“Jesse!” Eva stands next to the fallen agent, brandishing a small pistol. Skandar crouches beside her, digging through the guy’s weapons pack.
“They’re coming.” I stagger from the hole. “We’ve gotta get back to the shuttle.”
Skandar stands. “All this guy’s got is stunners.”
“It doesn’t matter. Which way’s the shuttle?”
Eva consults the stars before pointing behind her. “There.”
I take off in a sprint, followed by the others. Ryel runs beside me, easily matching my pace.
A shot fires into the sky behind us. It’s meant to intimidate. All it does is tell me where the agents are. They’ve made it up the ladder.
We jump across rocks-over ridges and through plots of mud. All the while, the agents pursue us. I can’t even see the outline of the shuttle yet. With each step, escape becomes more unlikely. Without a Pearl, I’m helpless.
Skandar bumps into Eva. “Give me the stunner.”
She resists, but he grabs it from her hand and sidesteps away.
“What are you doing?!?”
“Get to the shuttle!” Skandar shouts. “I’ll hold them off!”
As my lungs scream for air, our shuttle pulls into view. I look over my shoulder and watch the agents approach, closer and closer. A second shot breaks the silence. I cover my head, expecting to be hit.
Instead I see Skandar freeze and pivot in the grass, brandishing a stunner in each hand. It’s tricky enough to accurately shoot one of those things in training modules. Trying to stun a guy through full body armor is near impossible.
“Skandar! No!” Eva slows, desperation in her face.
He doesn’t listen. He stands his ground, waiting for the agents. “Go! Go!”
The shuttle grows closer. We’re almost there.
Skandar fires-two darts laced with tranquilizer. One connects. I hear a body fall.
I slam into the side door of the shuttle and plug in the code to open it.
More shots. The agents’ attention is diverted. Skandar’s bought us the seconds we need. They better not hurt him.
The door opens. We scramble inside. Ryel follows us.
Eva cranks up the engine before she has a chance to sit. I watch the skirmish through the side window. A
