When Stari decided to help me and follow up on Chax’s concerns about the Changeling siblings, she’d informed Grandpa. He wasn’t particularly interested but allowed the tests to take place.
He glanced at each of us before his eyes shifted to the metal box in Stari’s hands. He let out a breath, the realization of what had happened wearing him down.
“We were so close,” he said.
“We’re not done yet,” Stari said.
But I could see in Grandpa’s eyes that to him, they were done.
“If we can get the ships out of here, we can launch the attack now,” Stari said.
“Changeling ships are outside, waiting for us now,” Grandpa said. “The moment we set off the detonators and ascend, they’ll destroy our ships before they even fully breach.”
Grandpa shook his head.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “But we can’t let the ships be destroyed like this.”
“They’re going to get destroyed anyway when the Changelings get to the hangar,” Stari said.
She placed her hands on his shoulders.
“Please, Grandpa,” she said. “Don’t let it end like this.”
Grandpa brushed his granddaughter’s cheek with a finger.
“My dear girl,” he said. “This hasn’t ended. You will live to see us victorious yet. I come from a generation where fighting is alien. It has to be you that leads our people to freedom. The new generation.”
“I don’t understand,” Stari said. “What are you saying?”
Grandpa straightened up in his wheelchair and turned to an assistant.
“Prepare the self-destruct sequence,” he said. “We’ll take at least some of these sons of bitches with us.”
“No!” Stari said. “We still have a chance! There’s still hope we can beat them!”
“Not when they know our location,” Grandpa said. “You will lead the others to the emergency base. I will stay here to ensure the self-destruct sequence gets carried out properly.”
“Please, Grandpa,” Stari said. “Don’t stay here. Stay with us. Stay with me. I don’t have anyone else.”
“You’re wrong,” he said. “You have everyone else. Take care of them for me.”
Grandpa nodded to a pair of soldiers. They grabbed Stari by the arms and carried her from the room. She dropped the metal box as she struggled.
I picked up the metal box containing the trackers.
Grandpa smiled at me.
“I always said you were a good egg,” he said. “Take care of her.”
“I will,” I said with a confidence I didn’t feel.
“Self-destruct sequence initiated,” Computer said. “Self-destruct in T-minus ten minutes.”
The lights turned red and began to flash.
“Everybody out,” Grandpa said.
No one moved quickly. They cast awkward glances in Grandpa’s direction as they shuffled toward the door.
I cast a look back at him as the door hissed shut behind me. An old man dying with what they believed to be their last hope. Poetic and yet possibly the most depressing thing I could imagine.
The door hissed shut behind me.
A thick mist consumed the base, giving it a sinister and eerie feel. The red warning lights flashed and illuminated haunting shadows.
“Self-destruct sequence initiated,” Computer said. “T-Minus eight minutes.”
The soldiers lost their grip on Stari. She bolted to the door and banged on it with her fist.
“Let me in!” she cried. “Grandpa! Let me in!”
“He’s not going to let you in,” I said.
Stari wiped a hand over her snotty nose.
“Yeah?” she said. “What do you know about it?”
“Nothing. I’m just a stranger here. But I know true love when I see it. Your Grandpa wanted you to live so you could lead the survivors in the future. It won’t happen now but it will happen someday. A new opportunity. And when it happens, you need to be ready.”
Stari peered up at me with her bloodshot eyes and snotty nose.
“You really think we can beat them?” she said.
“I know you can,” I said. “They don’t know we know the location of their Control Room. It’s still there. And we can destroy it whenever we want to. But we have to get out of here and survive first.”
I offered her my hand.
She stared at it a moment before taking it.
“Fine,” she said. “But we’re going to need a good engineer to beat them.”
“I’ll keep my eye out for one,” I said.
We shared a smile.
“Without defeating the Changelings, me and Chax aren’t going anywhere.”
Aren’t going anywhere.
“Oh, shit!” I said.
“What?”
“I need to make sure Chax gets out alive,” I said. “He’s still trapped in his cell!”
“You don’t have enough time,” Stari said.
“I have to try.”
“No, you don’t,” Stari said. “In the event of a self-destruct sequence being initiated, the cells are automatically unlocked. He’ll be out in the base somewhere. You’ll never find him.”
Logic held little weight in a panicked mind and I was going haywire.
The thought of never seeing him again, or his gorgeous dimples and wavy hair…
I turned to run.
“Seize her,” Stari said.
The soldiers moved quickly. They restrained my arms and dragged me away. I struggled but it was no use. The metal box tumbled from my hands. Stari scooped it up.
“Chax is going to have to rely on himself,” Stari said. “Sacrificing your life will not save his. Trust me, if he loves you enough, he’ll find you.”
She turned and jogged into the thick dust cloud. The soldiers surrounded me on every side. They stood so close, I kept catching their feet and almost fell flat on my face.
The shuttlecraft faded in and out of the mist, like ghouls in a child’s fairy story. Stari raised her hand to slide across their underbelly as we passed underneath, saying goodbye to her friends.
We weren’t the only ones running toward the exit. Other Yayora figures faded in and out of existence on either side of us. They all appeared to know where they were going.
Would Chax think to follow the crowd? Yes. He wasn’t an idiot. Stari was right. He would find his way out of there.
He had to.
I couldn’t face living without him again.
Ziiiiiiip!
Bolts of plasma flashed through the mist like multi-colored strobes of light at a rave. Two struck the soldiers on either side of me.
