I glance over, and other displays show media footage, various news channels from the outside, feeding current events. The sound is off, but the images of burning, looting, police in riot gear, are overwhelming. And the running marquees list locations and events in a perpetual scroll of shame.
I put my hands to my mouth as I see a huge explosion take apart a whole section of a skyscraper in some urban center.
While we’ve been safely ensconced in the artificial cocoon of the RQC for these past five days, things have gotten really bad out there.
I let out a shuddering breath and continue taking in the various news feeds, local and international. There’s some kind of huge demonstration in Moscow’s Red Square, and another in London in front of the Buckingham Palace where the King and the British Royal Family are hiding. . . . More demonstrations in the streets of Paris, Barcelona, Beijing, Stockholm, Melbourne. Everywhere, people are holding effigies of dolls in Atlantean metallic gold wigs and paper models of spaceships, and setting fire to them, while police advance in gear and tanks roll in. Other counter-demonstrations have Atlantean mannequins rigged as some kind of messianic figures, surrounded by halos and religious symbols, while people hold up signs and scream at each other across militia lines.
“You are early, Candidate Lark.”
His cool voice sounds right behind me and I almost jump at the sound of it. How did he come up on me that I did not hear?
My temples are pounding as I turn around and Aeson Kass stands there, watching me with his intense inexplicable eyes. In the low illumination, the colors are faded but the angles of his face are prominent—lean jaw-line, high cheekbones, chiseled straight nose and barely curving brows.
He is impossibly handsome, I realize suddenly—painfully so. My lungs begin to constrict from the awareness, so that for an instant I cannot breathe at all. How did I not see it immediately? I thought him proud, distant, ruthless . . . strangely alien when he was injured and covered in blood during the crash . . . confident and attractive, yes, but most recently, terrifying.
But he is also beautiful. . . . From the shape of his sculpted body—concealed by the functional grey uniform, but oh, I can easily imagine it—to the lines of his face and all the way to that telltale metallic hair falling to his shoulders.
“Oh, sorry!” I mumble, because I must say something. “I tried the door and it was open, so I came in, hope that’s okay. . . .”
“Good evening,” he says. “Yes, that’s fine. I left it unlocked for you and Candidate Dubois.”
“Oh,” I say. And continue staring at him.
I am so glad it’s dark and he cannot see my face burning up, again, just as it did yesterday—except yesterday I did not know why it was happening and now I kind of do. But I also know that I am still furious at him, for the blunt and devastating things he said the last time. And for the fact that he is so hot and yet cold as ice—a paradox.
What’s the matter with me?
“It is better that you don’t look at those news images,” he says softly, putting one hand firmly on my upper arm, to guide me away from the computer screens. “The world—your Earth—it is a sorry place right now, and you do not need the distraction of knowing it, which can throw you off track. The process of Qualification is difficult enough without dealing with any of this.”
The touch of his strong warm fingers against my arm, it sears me. “Okay . . .” I mutter. “I did not mean to look.”
“Oh yes, you did,” he retorts, and I am not sure if he is mocking me or not. Again I feel a searing sense of being ripped open and consumed by fire, because yet again he can see right through me.
I am saved from needing to formulate a reply by the arrival of Blayne Dubois.
He knocks, fumbles with the door handle.
“Come in!” Aeson tells him. “And turn on the light on your way in.”
Blayne manages to open the door and pushes himself inside, struggling momentarily as the wheelchair snags on a small bump in the threshold. He flicks the light switch near the entrance, and I blink as the bright overheads come on.
“Sorry I’m late,” Blayne says.
“You’re not. She is early.”
And then Aeson uses tones to call the hoverboard to him. Standing upright, leaning against the farthest wall, the board rises and comes to a stop accurately before Blayne’s wheelchair.
Blayne knows exactly what to do, by habit now. He lifts himself by his hands and arms out of the wheelchair and lies flat on his stomach against the board.
I push the empty wheelchair out of the way, without needing to be told. Meanwhile Aeson makes the board rise and hover nearly upright, at an angle.
“Lark,” he says, while Blayne grips the board with his hands to stay on, so that his arms are shaking with the effort. “Come and hold it from this side. Keep it steady.”
And as I hold the hoverboard in place, Aeson glances at me briefly. “You’ve got a bruise. What happened to your face?” he asks, while arranging Blayne’s lower limbs against the board.
“Got hit during sparring in Combat,” I say, almost proudly.
Aeson nods, without looking at me.
“Put some ice on it. Or a paper towel dipped in cold water should work too.”
“It doesn’t really hurt anymore.”
But he is no longer paying attention to me. His focus is on Blayne.
“Tonight you are going to learn how to use the hoverboard as a defensive shield,” Aeson tells him. “There are three LM Forms involved. First LM Shield Form—using your lower limbs as much as possible to keep it anchored and covering you while you fight with your upper body. Second LM Form—combination of lower limbs and using only one upper limb at a time to position it to your advantage, to block your opponent, here and here, while one hand fights.”
He pauses, to point out various spots on the board where to maintain a grip. “And finally, Third LM Form uses both hands to hold the board while your lower body makes no contact with it at all—which means a great deal of upper body strength, since you will need to be able to support your own weight entirely while you manipulate the board as a shield. Basically you are hanging off the board in an upright position as dead weight and moving it too.”
“Okay.” Blayne nods and follows the movements with his own hands, testing the grip positions.
“Why are there so many LM Forms?” I ask. “Seems very complicated. . . .”
Aeson throws me a hard glance. “Why? They evolved for a very good reason. Wounded soldiers had to have a means of supporting their injured, variously incapacitated bodies while continuing to fight. The LM Forms of Er-Du are taught to all in the Fleet as part of basic training, because they are necessary. Limited Mobility is an honorable aspect of military training for an Atlantis warrior. Every soldier experiences it at some point, and it saves lives.”
“So, you fight on hoverboards a lot?” I ask.
“We spend a great deal of time on hoverboards. Fighting is only one of the many things we do. Now—enough questions, pay attention to what you’re doing.”
I grow silent and continue holding the board. I watch Aeson’s precise movements and Blayne following his lead. I try to concentrate, to memorize these new LM Forms, now that I know their importance.
Only . . . my mind keeps flashing back to the moment on the airfield when Aeson lies against me senseless, covered with blood and soot, his face backlit with the flames of the burning shuttle. . . .
The half hour is over, and Aeson Kass curtly dismisses us. “Same thing tomorrow. Be here at eight.”
As I glance from the corner of my eye, a soft repeating beep alarm sounds from the direction of the observation console center. A video message has come in on one of the screens, and Aeson turns to it, quickly motioning us out of the room. There’s enough time for me to see a caller’s face framed by metallic hair, as it appears on screen. I recognize it as belonging to one of the Correctors.
“Go, now!” Aes
on raises his voice at us. He shuts the door forcefully, as soon as Blayne’s wheelchair clears the threshold. And the next moment, Blayne and I find ourselves outside.
“Okay . . . wonder what that was about,” I mutter.
“Atlantis business, not ours.” Blayne does not make eye contact as he starts to roll away. However, a few feet later he pauses, then turns back to look at me.
“Thanks for working with me,” he says, moving his hair out of his eyes in the usual mannerism, and craning his head slightly to look up. “Sorry you’re taking up your own homework time with all this LM stuff that’s basically useless to you.”
I walk after him. “Hey, it’s not useless at all. Didn’t you hear him explain it? These LM Forms are super-important!”
“Yeah, well.”
“I mean it!” I say. “I’m taking mental notes too, this can come in handy for anyone. Wish I’d known about it before.”
And then I add, “We’re kind of very lucky to be learning this, actually. You are lucky. I think he really believes in you.”
Blayne continues watching me. “You think so?”
I nod.
“Then he knows nothing.” And Blayne turns away, starts moving, and this time does not look back.
Chapter 24
Something has happened.
When I get back to Yellow Dorm Eight, close to 10:00 PM curfew—after running a few homework laps around the Arena Commons building stadium track—it seems like everyone has gathered in the first floor lounge. All the Candidates from our dorm are packed in, and the Dorm Leaders are there too.
“What’s going on?” I say, making my way through the crowd.
A girl I don’t know turns to me. “They found something. The Correctors were here, searching both the dormitory floors again, and looks like they found something. . . . They’re about to make some kind of announcement.”
I frown. At the same time a strange chill passes through me and takes up residence in my gut, with twisting knives. Why am I even nervous?
I look around to see if there’s anyone familiar. I notice Dawn and Hasmik toward the back and push my way toward them. Hasmik’s leaning against the back of one of the chairs, and dangling her hurt leg off the ground to relieve pressure on the ankle.
“You missed the excitement,” Dawn says, leaning in to my ear. “The Correctors were all over our floor. They kicked us out and did the bed search. Girls underwear all over the place. . . . No idea what else.”
“Oh, yeah?” I start to snort then frown instead and momentarily think about my bags and my bed—not that there’s anything that can be found there. . . .
Dorm Leader John Nicolard blows a whistle. Faces turn and the whispers and chatter in the lounge simmers down. In that moment we all turn to look, and there are two Atlantean Correctors walking down the stairs, with someone in tow, and behind them is a pair of armed guards.
They reach the bottom landing, and the person they are leading by the arms is pushed forward, so that he or she stumbles slightly, and there’s a flip of familiar relaxed blond-tinted hair, and oh, no, oh dear lord, no!
It’s Laronda.
I feel cold. Super-bottomless-pit-cold, and at the same time it’s like someone had punched me in the gut. Next to me Dawn makes a sound that’s like a growl or an exclamation.
“Oh, no!” Hasmik breathes.
“Let go of me!” After a particularly rough shove from behind, Laronda struggles in the grip of the guards. She’s wearing nothing but a tank top and hastily pulled on leggings. Her sockless feet are jammed into sneakers. Her dark brown skinny arms are restrained behind her back and her face is terrified. I have never seen her look so lost—ever. “I didn’t do anything! Listen to me! I don’t know what that thing is—”
The crowd of Candidates parts to let them pass, and the Correctors are silent and impassive as they walk through the lobby, followed by their detainee, ignoring her pleas and protest. One of the Correctors is holding what looks like Laronda’s tattered old denim jacket.
“Laronda!” I say as she passes by, and my voice carries through the room.
Laronda turns back, trains her frightened face in my direction, and I can see her eyes are red with tears and her nose is puffy. “Gwen!” she exclaims, almost choking. “Oh my lord, Gwen! I am innocent, I didn’t do anything, I swear! Please tell them! Help me! Someone set me up!”
I make a move toward her, but the nearest guard puts his arm out before me to prevent me from making any contact with her. “Please stay back,” he says gruffly, blocking me with his bulk.
“It has to be a terrible mistake!” I exclaim. My pulse is pounding in my temples. “She says she didn’t do anything! Where are you taking her?”
“Yeah, there’s no way this girl did anything wrong!” Behind me Dawn pushes forward to stand at my side. And Hasmik is right behind her.
One of the Correctors pauses suddenly and turns to look at us. “This Candidate was found to be in possession of one of the components missing from the shuttles,” he says in a chill and composed voice. “She is being detained until we can further determine the extent of her involvement.”
“Detained where?” Dorm Leader Gina Curtis says, stepping forward to stand next to us. She has a stern intense expression, and I’d hate to be the one who goes up against her.
“The correctional facility space is in Building Fifteen.” The Corrector never blinks as he replies to Gina. “All inquiries may be placed there tomorrow morning after 8:00 AM.”
“But that’s ridiculous!” Other protesting voices rise in the lounge as teens crowd in closer.
“Please do not interfere,” the Corrector says. “Unless you would like to be detained also. Any further interference with this process now will result in your Disqualification.”
We pretty much fall silent at this. Everyone, all at once. So much for solidarity in the face of personal survival. . . .
The Corrector turns away, followed by the second one, and Laronda makes a sobbing noise as she is led outside.
I stand watching her being taken away, stunned with disbelief, and my emotions are in crazy horrible turmoil.
One of the Dorm Leaders blows the whistle. “All right, everyone, back upstairs to bed! We’ll deal with this tomorrow, now, curfew and lights out!”
I am not sure whether I get any sleep that night, because although I am exhausted, I lie in the darkness of the dormitory, wide-awake for hours, and filled with awful sickening adrenaline rushing through my system. I listen to my own pulse, to the small sleeping noises and bed creaks around me. And the unnerving silence of Laronda’s empty cot is there, right next to me.
“I am so sorry . . .” Hasmik mumbles in the dark several times on my other side, and I whisper back, “It’s okay . . . everything will be okay . . . somehow.”
I don’t know whom that’s supposed to convince or fool. Not me.
I finally fall into some kind of half-frenzied slumber with nightmares about falling shuttles and levitating pieces of orichalcum and lord knows what other evil junk.
When the 7:00 AM claxons alarms peal, I am pulled out of a B-movie level nightmare.
Everyone’s coming awake, and the usual lazy groans are subdued this morning, as we still ponder the events of the previous night. Frightened gossip moves in whispers and waves around the dormitory hall.
“She’s going to be Disqualified, of course,” a girl says, as she collects her clothes and toothbrush and heads to the bathroom. “But what else? Will they put her in jail or physically harm her?”
“What if they execute people?” another girl squeaks in terror. “Do Atlanteans have capital punishment?”
The sound of that starts another wave of cold fear in my gut. There’s got to be something that can be done to help Laronda!
Okay, I decide, as soon as I am dressed, I will go to that jail building where they’re holding her and see if I can talk sense to someone. Maybe I can find Aeson Kass! I can make him listen at least!
He has to be there, right?
As I think this, and get showered and dressed, I see Claudia Grito giving me a snide look as she passes by me on her way downstairs.
Okay, did that bitch have anything to do with whatever happened to Laronda? The thought passes through me like a lightning bolt.
Dawn follows me downstairs as I start following Claudia. “Hey, don’t do anything stupid, now,” she mutters grimly. “Let’s go eat first, there’s nothing you can do now. Not before eight.”
I nod, and we head into the Cafeteria.
“I plan to skip the first part of class,” I tell Dawn.
“Yeah, I get it. Me too. I’ll go with you.”
We finish eating breakfast that tastes like straw, in a hurry. As we stop by the Common Area lobby to get our schedules scanned, I check the clock and it’s seven-forty.
“Let’s go,” I say.
Outside it’s an overcast cloudy morning, and I shiver slightly and wrap my bulky winter jacket around me. For once I did not forget to wear something warm over my T-shirt.
We head to Building Fifteen, which according to the campus map is on the other side of the airfield, three structures behind the Arena Commons Building.
There are few Candidates walking outside, just a few joggers and occasional patrolling guards. The sky is pale as milk and it’s starting to drizzle lightly as we pass the tall AC Building, and there’s Building Fifteen. It looks like a regular dorm, four floors, but there’s a four-color square logo on top.
At the doors, heightened security greets us. Two guards give us hard stares as we pass the glass doors. They scan our ID tokens before allowing us to enter the sterile lobby.
“What is your purpose for being here?” An officer asks us from behind a glass enclosure.
I glance at Dawn then back at him. “We’re here for Laronda Aimes. She was wrongfully arrested last night in our Dorm, and we want to talk to whoever is in charge of that.”
The guard, an older balding man, looks at us silently, then picks up an intercom handset. “Two Candidates here to discuss the detainee from Yellow Dorm Eight,” he tells whomever is on the other end. Then he turns back to us and says, “Names?”