Awakening on Orbis (26 page)

“It’s just the start,” he replied. “With your new suit, you can begin the next stage of your training.”

I skipped my next meal and went looking for Charlie. I waited outside the ventilation grate and slipped into the shadows whenever I heard someone coming. If it was Charlie, I planned to warn him, so as not to scare him again. I didn’t think I could take another blow to the head. I was convinced that Charlie’s hidden O-dat setup was illegal, and I didn’t want anyone tearing it down before I got a chance at it again. While I sat thinking about seeing Max again, Charlie lumbered up to the grate. I stepped out of the shadow and out of the range of his swing.

“Charlie, it’s me, JT.”

Charlie stood there with his head cocked to one side, as if he was trying to remember who I was. Maybe he hadn’t recognized me the last time and had taken me for an intruder. Charlie’s awareness of the people around him seemed so much different from Potu’s. Why? Was Charlie’s brain damaged before they turned him into a Honock? I think I knew another possible reason. I was eager to find out.

“Charlie, don’t you remember me?”

“Ketheria?”

“Yes, my sister. Peanut butter.”

“Peanut butter!”

There was something wrong with his memory. His short-term memory was either gone or disabled.

“We’re friends, remember? You showed me your screens.” I pointed at the grate. “Max and Theodore. I would like to see them again.”

“JT?”

“Yes!”

“My friends.”

“Can we see them?”

Charlie turned and pulled the grate from the hole. I slipped inside, and Charlie followed. This time when Charlie sat at the controls, I looked at the computer circuitry behind his head. Then I remembered Potu’s warning.

“Charlie, do you mind if I take a look?” I asked, pointing at the metal.

Charlie reached behind his neck and brushed his fingers across the device. Then he shrugged. That looked like a yes to me.

The interface inside Charlie’s brain was just as complex as Potu’s. After a little searching, I discovered controls for memory, emotion, coordination, and bodily functions, such as metabolism and heart rate. The Space Jumpers had completely mapped Charlie’s brain and applied controls to every function. Could this be done to someone who was still alive? I wondered. The thought of Citizens controlling knudniks this way sent a shiver down my spine.

When I pulled out, Charlie was leaning on his hands and staring at the green dots on the screen.

“Can you make them so I can see them? You know, see the images?”

Charlie flipped the switch, and there was Max. She was in her room with Grace and Theodore. Why was Theodore there every time I saw Max? I shook it off and looked at what they were doing. Grace and Theodore seemed to be watching the door. Max opened a panel in the wall and reached in to pull something out. It was slightly out of view, so I couldn’t really see as it was. I stared at Max’s face. It was so close to the secret camera that was spying on her that she was almost life-size.

When she pulled back, Theodore turned to help her. What did she have? They placed whatever it was on the floor in front of the sleeper, and Max stood up. When Max reached for her tools, I caught a full view of what they had hidden. It was a plasma rifle, and a big one, too. What was Max doing with a weapon?

Charlie reached up and flipped to another screen.

“Wait!”

But Charlie was looking at an image of Ketheria now.

“No,” he replied. “Don’t like guns.”

“Charlie, I’m going to make a couple of adjustments, if you don’t mind. You know, with that thing there on your neck.”

Charlie looked back at the screens and then at me. “Sure,” he said.

I pushed back into Charlie’s brain and went over the controls once more. What would make Charlie a little more coherent? How much would I need to tinker in order to give him back his memory, or his old attitude? These controls weren’t like dials that you set from one to ten. It was more like restricting blood flow through a vein with your fingertips. I would have to go slowly.

The first thing I did was to adjust the memory variable. Was it possible to awaken memories of his childbirth if I went too far? And which way was more? What if I cut off still more of his short-term memory? I hesitated. I bet Max would know what to do.

I made a tiny adjustment to his memory and pulled out.

“Charlie?” I said.

He turned and looked at me.

“Yes, JT?”

That was good. At least that was in the right direction.

“Charlie, where are you?”

He cocked his head and looked at me. “Here,” he said, his tone slightly mocking.

“How did you get here?”

He looked around as if he was trying to remember. Maybe I needed to adjust it more if he couldn’t remember how he got here.

“Forget it,” I told him. “Watch your friends. I need to do a little more.”

Charlie turned back to the screens, and I slipped back inside. Maybe the variables were tied together in some way. Memories can elicit strong emotions, so maybe I needed to work the two controls together. I pushed through the memories and the emotion controls, working the two of them together. I increased both a little more than before. Was that too much?

Charlie answered that for me. From inside his head, I felt his fingers clamp around my neck. I heard screaming. Was that me or was it Charlie? I pulled out and found Charlie on top of me, his hands clamped around my throat.

“Charlie!” I croaked.

“What did you do to me? Where am I?” he screamed. “Where did you go this time? I do everything for you kids and this is how you treat me?”

Spit flew from Charlie’s mouth, and the blood vessels in his eyeballs beat red with fire.

“Can’t . . . breathe . . .”

“Do you know what I sacrificed to take care of you? Can you even imagine what I’ve gone through? For what? You’re nothing but a worthless, whiny punk!”

Charlie was going to kill me. At least he was trying to. I felt the familiar blackness creeping in around the edges of my vision. I pushed back into Charlie’s brain controls and sloppily grabbed whatever I could find. Charlie’s grip weakened, and he slumped backward. I sat up, coughing and rubbing my neck. My head throbbed from the lack of oxygen.

“Charlie?”

He said nothing. He just sat there, drooling, staring at a spot on the floor. Then he slumped over.

“Charlie!”

Nothing. He was practically catatonic. What had I done? How did I fix this? I stood up and moved him to the stool. He didn’t resist. It was like pushing around a huge weather balloon. I slipped back inside his brain, looking for traces of what I had touched. Everything looked normal, the same as the first time I entered Charlie’s brain.
Do I go get help?
I wondered.
But where?

I began tweaking the variables one by one, pulling out each time to check Charlie’s reaction. After a few tries, I got the drooling to stop, but he still wasn’t responding to his name.
What am I going to do? I can’t leave him like this. He’ll never find his way out of here.
After a few more adjustments, Charlie seemed a little more alert, but he still wasn’t what he had been.

“Charlie, c’mon, get up. Can you follow me?”

He just stared at me like the little ones used to do on the
Renaissance.
Once I got him up, I pushed him toward the ventilation grate. If anyone could help fix him, Quirin could.

“You knew he was here the whole time and you didn’t tell me?” I cried. Charlie was standing next to me in Quirin’s quarters.

“You are not here to make friends,” Quirin said. His voice was sharp. “You are here to learn. Besides, I gathered that your emotional needs were met by the other human you so adamantly requested to participate.”

“Switzer? I only wanted him here because I thought it was the right thing to do after what
you
did to him.”

“I thought it was the right thing for the Honock after what
you
did to
him.
”

“Me? I didn’t do this! If anyone is to be blamed, it’s Switzer. He had one of his wormhole pirates kill Charlie.”

I cringed at the awful sound of crunching bones as Quirin shifted in his rock bed.

“This is enough,” his voice boomed. “I will not tolerate insubordination. You are an instrument, controlled by us, in service to protect the Scion. Your wishes are irrelevant. I have only appeased you so far because humans are the last chance.”

“Against what? Some invisible force that’s eating up other universes? Sounds pretty far-fetched to me. It’s just another story to oppress those stupid enough to believe it.”

“Enough!”

I felt the stone walls of Quirin’s room shudder as if his anger had lifted the rock. Even I knew when to shut up. I just needed to get my training over with and get back to the Rings of Orbis.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“I don’t want your apologies. I want your commitment. I want you to stand up and be the man I created. Your life is filled with pathetic self-awareness that only hampers your ability to act. It is time to awaken what is in you, to awaken the Space Jumper.”

The door to the room opened, and two Space Jumpers walked in and seized Charlie.

“Wait!” I cried, but I could only watch as they led Charlie, unresisting, from the room. “Quirin, what are they going to do to him?”

“Fix what you did,” he spat.

“What are
you
going to do
me
?”

“Train you. I am going to turn you into the softwire you are destined to be.”

After two more Space Jumpers entered the room, the gravity of the moment settled upon me.

I just had my first argument with my father.

I did not look back as the Space Jumpers escorted me out.

I had expected to be led back to my room, but they turned in the other direction, securing me by the arms before I could resist. It wasn’t necessary, though. I wasn’t going to resist. As they marched me down the corridor, I thought of my sister’s warning. The one where she told me that the Trust used force to awaken parts within you whether you were ready or not. Would Quirin use that force on me? I was not scared. I couldn’t have been more ready.

I was taken to an area behind the labyrinth, where I was loaded into a light chute and then dumped into a part of the Hollow that I had never seen before. I looked around the huge cavernous space and couldn’t see where the room ended. In the distance, I spotted a tiny light blinking through the mist on the horizon, but I could not figure out where I was. I followed the Jumpers a few meters to my left, but instead of finding solid flooring, I discovered individual platforms that seemed to float over a murky abyss. The center platform was the only one rooted to something, but I could not see what. When I looked down, the cylinder supporting the platform merely disappeared through a bluish fog. Each platform was rimmed with a cool, electric light; and a narrow railing, only wide enough to let one person pass, surrounded the entire area.

“Is this where I train?” I asked.

“This is where everyone trains,” the Space Jumper to my left replied.

“Why not in the labyrinth?”

“This is where you learn to use your burak.”

I wanted to shout, “I don’t need a belt!” But what was the use? No one would listen, anyway.

I looked up toward the ceiling and spotted an alien descending swiftly to the center pod. The creature sprouted thick pointed tentacles from the back of his head that made him look as if he were caught in a wind tunnel. His broad shoulders were pulled back, and he carried a long staff in his right hand. The smug look on his face alone told me that I was in trouble.

Within an instant, the alien was next to me — he was a Space Jumper. He began sniffing me like an animal.

“So you’re the one they speak so much of. A Tonat. How privileged are we?”

The alien circled me. Each step was a cautious gesture with a threatening glance, and I should have been scared, even terrified, but I suddenly found myself fighting the urge to laugh. I clenched my teeth and stared past the vile creature. I had an intense moment of clarity in which I saw this guy as a caricature of every alien I had ever scuffled with. Suddenly, I was outside of my body looking down at this whole absurd ceremony. All I saw was a kid — a kid from a planet called Earth. And now I was living in a comet with this animal towering over me, strutting about, as if
I
were a threat that needed to be dealt with. Maybe it was a nervous reaction, I don’t know, but finally I couldn’t help myself anymore, and I snickered.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, but the alien wasn’t accepting apologies.

He swung around and struck me in the stomach with his muscular left arm. The blow pushed my stomach up into my lungs, leaving no room for air. I buckled over, gasping, and the alien brought the staff up into my face. The pain exploded across my nose and I tumbled backward, slipping under the railing. At the very last moment, I reached out and caught the vertical support, but the rest of me dangled over the empty void.

“Is
that
funny?” he asked.

I couldn’t breathe, let alone answer him. Blood poured down the back of my throat, and reality came crashing down upon me. Now I was scared,
really
scared.