Broken (27 page)

Nothing stays broken forever.

But there
was
no hope. There was no way out.

Nothing stays broken…
Broken.

He glanced over at Broken’s inert form. A spark of life returned to her glassy, open eyes as he watched.

—She flew, joyous and free, laughing and radiant as the sun’s splendor… through the skies of Valen.

[CHAPTER 26]

M
ichael caught his breath. There was hope. No wonder the thin man had shot her.

The thin man followed his gaze, and saw Broken start to stir. He shot her again. She went limp.

"Stop!" cried Michael. "Please!"

The thin man glared. "I’m sorry. But we can’t have her coming back to life and interrupting us." He glanced over at her. "Ugh. I…
dislike
her. I
dislike
most other Extrahumans. Don’t you, my son?"

Michael said nothing, praying for Broken’s survival. Could she withstand this? He needed more. A very small glimmer of a plan had started to form, but he needed her back.

The thin man continued. "I mean… the power some have… it’s abominable. Isn’t it?"

"Sure," Michael agreed, a little dazed.

"A lot of chaos could come of them. But they won’t be a problem forever, hopefully."

"You seem to get along with Sky Ranger."

The thin man smiled again. "He’s a fool," he whispered. "But don’t tell him so!"

Michael suddenly had a flash of inspiration, remembering his visions. "You’re going to destroy Union Tower. You’re going to lie about it to Sky Ranger!" he said. "Aren’t you?"

The thin man’s eyes narrowed. "Why do you think that?"

Michael looked at him piercingly. "I
saw
it. I see the future, remember? I saw you telling him three different things about the Tower. They were all lies, weren’t they? You’re going to do it yourself."

Michael suddenly remembered the archivist in Union Tower, who had been wearing Reformist pins. He’d seen the man's future. Had he been planting a bomb? "Let me guess," said Michael. "A saboteur on the inside? Someone who’s been there a long time? …The archivist? I met him. I saw some things that didn’t make sense. But now…"
The thin man aimed his pistol back at Michael. "I think you had better not say anything about that. Yes. We need to get rid of them. They’re dangerous. They have to die. In fact…" he checked his watch. "Ah. Ah! It should already be done. We’ll blame it on terrorists. Let Sky Ranger chase them around for a while, get some exercise. It does everybody good."

"You’re
evil
," said Michael, letting some of the horror he felt creep into his voice.
Come on, Broken, wake up. I need you.

"Enough of that," snapped the thin man. "You’re a fool if you believe that
evil
exists. That’s something for fairy tales, isn’t it? Evil villains? Men are neither good nor evil by nature. Isn’t that so?"

"Men can
do
evil," Michael said, "Even when they think they are doing good."

The thin man expression turned to a scowl. His grip tightened on his weapon, trained on Michael's head. "Is that what you think? Hm. I think it’s time for you to give me an answer. Join us."

Michael wanted to. God, how he wanted to.. Life. Fresh air. Love. The possibilities were intoxicating.

But some things were worth so, so much more. Joe had been right.

"No," Michael said.

The thin man jabbed the laser pistol into the soft flesh of Michael’s hand again. "I’m sorry. I have to convince you, my son. It's for your own good. You'll see."

He squeezed the trigger. Michael’s hand exploded into flame, searing the flesh. Agony—!

He cried out, trying to clutch it, to put the fire out, something—

Before he knew it, the thin man was at his side, smothering the flames with a wet towel. Michael howled from the terrible pain, rocking back and forth on the ground. Both his hands were covered with charred skin,  bones gleaming pearl-white through the blackened flesh.

"You’ll get new hands," the thin man assured him. "Wonderful things, best technology available. First rate for us, yes. Don’t fret. It will hurt for a while. But pain is temporary, and sometimes illuminating.”

"The Union," Michael gasped. "Union Tower…"

At once the thin man rounded on him, no longer kind and soothing. "Say
nothing
of that! Not if you value your life!" He pointed the pistol at Michael’s legs. "I’m warning you."

Michael sobbed quietly. The thin man sighed. "I’ll wait until you’re more yourself. You’re coming with us. We’ll work on you there. You’ll come around. I believe you will, Michael, I've seen it." He tried to smile at him. "You’ll forgive me someday. I’ve seen that, too."

The thin man left Michael curled on the floor as he busied himself with the controls scattered around the room. As the initial, searing agony ebbed, Michael’s pain-fogged mind wandered to Monica. What must she be thinking? Where was she?

Would she ever escape?

"Mon… Monica," he gasped. Delirium was taking over.

"Eh?" said the thin man. "Oh. The girl.
Your
girl, or she will be. She’s fine, as far as I know. Just down in a cell. Come with us, and she’ll come, too. If not… well, we may let her go. I don’t know yet. I’ll probably have to check her out, first. She’s UNP, isn’t she? We may send her to a prison colony. Yes, we’re starting those up, now. Cheaper than jails here, I should think. Just drop them off and your problem is solved. Very neat. She may go to one of those for a time. But she may not. I can’t say. She did commit some acts of terrorism."

"Broken…" he managed to say. "Let her go…"

"Not possible," he said. "The Science Ministry so rarely gets to study Extrahumans, and I’m afraid we just blew up most of the rest of them on this planet! What a grand idea of the former regime, to put them all in one place. I wonder if they had something like this in mind. A ruthless bunch, those. Wrongheaded in so many ways. But refreshingly ruthless. The Science Ministry will study her, yes. It probably won’t be very nice for her, but..."

They wouldn’t let her go.

She wouldn’t fly free, unless… they succeeded. He made a valiant attempt to stay conscious, to keep thinking, keep planning. He shivered violently, sick to his stomach. He focused his eyes on Broken’s limp body. She had bled a lot. Did that matter to her?
Please wake up.

"You’re in shock," said the thin man. "Say the word. Give up this ridiculous quest of yours. Medical attention is just a call away. In less than an hour, the best doctors and cyberneticists on the planet will be fashioning a new pair of hands for you. What do you say? Come on, Michael. My son. Don’t die for stubbornness’ sake."

* * *

Broken surged upward towards consciousness. She vaguely remembered something from
last
time (whatever that was), that she had to be careful, that she mustn’t make a sound. She opened her eyes carefully, just a crack, to a dreadful sight. Michael lay on the ground, and his
hands—

She had once grabbed hold of the high electric fence surrounding Union Tower… her hands had been badly burned. She hadn’t gone near the fence again, even though her hands had healed themselves quickly enough. Michael’s hands wouldn’t heal.

He made sounds, indistinguishable noises…

"Union Tower," he said.

"Say
nothing
of that! Not if you value your life!" The thin man aimed his pistol at Michael’s legs again. "I’m warning you."

Michael dissolved into tears. The thin man was still talking, but Broken didn’t hear a word.

What about Union Tower? Why did Union Tower matter? Why did the thin man care so much about it? Why couldn’t Michael mention it?

At that moment, the door slid open.

* * *

Michael held his breath. He had never seen this before. He had no idea what to do. The thin man glared at him, finger ready on the trigger. All he could see was that the thin man was… terrified. He would still have no chance to speak before dying. It would be for nothing. He squeezed his eyes shut.

Bravery…

He prayed for courage.

* * *

Broken saw Sky Ranger drift through the door and take in what was going on. He cocked his head, but said nothing. How like him.

Michael wanted her to say something. She could see it in his eyes.

* * *

Broken was awake. Michael saw her staring steadily at him.

Speak
, he willed her.

* * *

"Union Tower," said Broken.

The thin man wheeled, surprised, and trained his weapon on Broken.

* * *

Joe stood before him. He smiled.

"Do what you have to do," he said.

Michael fought through the pain, pushing himself upright on the stumps of his hands. His mouth formed the words.

"He destroyed Union Tower! The thin man destroyed—"

* * *

"Shut up
!
" cried the thin man.

He turned back to Michael. The pistol stopped its deadly arc right in front of Michael’s face.

Joe beckoned.

He glanced at Broken.

She
flew
.

He was content.

* * *

The thin man pulled the trigger. Light surged into Michael’s head, and his body crumpled to the ground, lifeless.

[CHAPTER 27]

T
he thin man turned on Broken.

"You!" he roared, aiming at her. "I’ll kill you again and again!"

She tried to move, but found her arms and legs wouldn’t work.

Michael…

A black and white flash passed in front of her.

"What was that about the Tower?" said Sky Ranger to the thin man. "What happened? Why did you shoot that boy?"

The thin man sighed in agitated annoyance. "Look, Sky Ranger, better you hear from me. Well, the truth is, it’s been destroyed. By, uh, terrorists. With rocket missiles. I’m sorry—"

 "Lies," croaked Broken. "He did it. I heard." In fact, she dimly remembered the thin man saying so. Sometimes hearing came back early.

"I don’t believe you!" cried Sky Ranger, slapping the pistol from the thin man’s grip in his rage and nearly knocking him to the ground. "I don’t believe you!"

He stormed over to a screen and set it to a news channel.

"—from New York. The Union Tower fell just a few hours ago, Jeb, and it looks like it was the result of sabotage from within. Several members of the Union are suspected to have been aligned with the UNP rebels, and this may have led to—"

"My people..." Sky Ranger moaned, the color draining from his face. "My people!"

The huge man roared, and smashed a giant, white-knuckled fist into the screen. The thin man tried to edge away.

"You see? She's lying to you! We didn’t do it. The terrorists did! Sky Ranger, get ahold of yourself! Now! I command you!"

Sky Ranger knelt in front of Broken. "Sil…"

"Little Hawk. Please believe me," she said. Every word was a struggle. But life flowed back into her, and she grew stronger. "Believe me. He
killed
Michael. He killed him so he couldn’t tell you…"

"I don’t understand…"

"You’re on the wrong side," she whispered. "Crim... Crim was right. And because of that… we’re the only members of the Union left alive." With a tremendous effort, she jerked her head towards the thin man. "
He
did it."

"You!" Sky Ranger advanced on him. "You
lured
me here. You wanted me
away
from my
people!
I could have
saved
so many of them—! Women and children, innocents!" Tears of anger and despair ran down his cheeks. "You—!"

"Sky Ranger!" snapped the thin man briskly. "I said it was terrorists, not us! Who are you going to believe, me or some lunatic? You don’t even know her anymore!"

"Don’t trust him, Sky," Broken said. "He killed Michael to shut him up."

"That was—he was going to—Sky Ranger, stop! This is a breach of—guards!"

 “I trusted you! I had assurances from the highest levels that my people would be looked after!” cried Sky Ranger.He let loose a wail of pure grief and fury, and advanced on the thin man..

A flock of guards ran into the room. Sky Ranger, magnificent and terrible in his full wrath, tore them to shreds before Broken’s weary eyes. His movements were a blur of black uniform and flying blood. She hadn’t seen him this angry since Crimson Cadet died.