Evolution (27 page)

“The rulers of my people are not
lords
. They're cruel men and women who would see most of my race blown to extinction, so long as it would also take out yours. I came here without their permission, and I'm not speaking for them. I'm speaking for myself and those who want to see Kiel's rulers subjugated. Including the thousands of innocents you captured from the Surface city. We want the same thing. We want the Developers gone. The prisoners you took would fight on your side if you gave them the chance to listen.”

“You and your kind would return to Marden and help us?” Hashima asks. She's looking me straight in the eye, challenging me. “I have your assurance of that?”

I take a deep breath. There's only one thing I can say, and hope it will turn out to be true. “Free the prisoners you've taken and tell them why you need their help. Offer them a place as free citizens with protected rights in your world, in exchange for their help restoring Marden's health, and I can assure you at least half of them will return with you.” I pause, letting the promise settle in the air for a moment. “I will freely go with you and convince others to as well.”

Again, the vul standing behind Hashima begin speaking in clicks and hisses. She turns around and spits vulyn at them. They seem to come to some decision, and Hashima turns around again.

“You speak lots of words,” she says in a harsher tone. “But we do not make treaties with Kielan brutes. We've made that mistake before.” She looks past me, at the vul who brought me here. “Zahesh, take her to the hold.”

My captor, Zahesh, tightens his grip on my arms and starts to turn me around.

“You don't understand,” I say. “You're all going to die if you don't overpower Kiel's rulers.”

“We will find a way into the underground cities on our own,” Hashima says.

“You don't have time!” I struggle against Zahesh as he tries to pull me toward the hatch comb. “The Tessar wants us to work together. He sent me here to help you, on his behalf, because he was too weak to make contact with you on his own.”

Hashima says something to Zahesh in vulyn, and he stops struggling with me. The vul leader walks toward me, her robes flowing over the roots of the golden tree. “I can easily see if you are lying,” she says.

I feel a pinch in my wrists; the electric force has been switched off, freeing my arms behind my back. When Hashima reaches me, she wrenches one of my arms up.

“What are you—” I start.

She touches her fingertips to mine, and a glow emanates from her hand. The light engulfs me, and there's nothing I can do to stop the connection; Hashima is too strong. It feels different this time, like heat is leaking out of my body.

*   *   *

I'm running through the Surface work camp, my bare feet sloshing through the muddy street. Nine-year-old Logan limps behind me, trying to keep up. “Clem, slow down!” he says.

I'm watching officials drag Laila into the back of a hov-pod, along with the other twenty-year-olds being taken to quarantine. Logan grabs my arms to keep me from running after them. “No!” I scream. “You can't take her!” But they do anyway.

I'm leaving for the Core on the day of the Extraction test. Logan and I say good-bye in the lobby of the flight port. I cling to him when he holds me, not wanting to let go.

I'm shooting an Unstable my first day in the Core. I don't want to do it; I'm not a murderer. But I have to save myself, so I squeeze the trigger. The bullet misses the target.

I'm listening to the Developers make the announcement about their plan to separate the Core from the rest of Kiel. They're going to kill Logan and thousands of other citizens. I have to stop them.

I'm on a spaceship on my way to the moon, watching the bomb timer on the dashboard tick closer to zero. I try to take the escape pod out so Beechy and Oliver won't have to die, but Oliver gets in first. I can't save him.

I'm back in the Core. I've been captured working undercover for the Alliance. Commander Charlie forces me to inject myself with his control serum. I can't disobey any of his orders.

I'm on the Surface, watching the Mardenite army invade the sky. Raiders shoot down the hovercraft. My friends are captured.

I'm in a strategy meeting, listening to the Developers tell me their plan to build the bomb.

I'm in the laboratory talking to the Tessar. He shows me his memories. We realize we can form peace between our peoples and end the war.

*   *   *

Just like that, the light disappears; the connection is broken. Hashima releases my hand with a gasp, her eyes widening. I'm blinking involuntary tears out of my eyes from the rush of emotion I felt in my memories.

Hashima saw all of my memories. She knows everything now.

Turning away, Hashima gives an order in vulyn to Zahesh. He grabs my shoulder and hauls me toward the door.

“Wait! What did you decide?” I ask. “Will you help us?”

Hashima says nothing, just watches as Zahesh drags me out of the room.

 

28

I pace inside the stuffy cell. It's like the sleeping room aboard the raider, except there isn't a porthole and there aren't any plants growing on the walls. All I have is the bed made of moss on the floor.

I'm not sure whether I should be relieved or worried Zahesh didn't put me in the hold with all the other prisoners. Was it because Hashima didn't want me spreading word of everything I've learned to them? Or because she's considering agreeing to my alliance, and she wanted to keep me close?

I'm afraid I might've screwed up by letting her read my memories. I've handed over every war plan, every secret I've learned from the Developers, and the vul don't need my help to overthrow them anymore. They know our weaknesses, and they could use them to destroy us.

But if the Tessar showed me the truth about the vul and their kind, and they aren't the monstrous aliens the Developers told me they'd be, what Hashima saw should've changed her mind. She saw how horrible the Developers have treated their citizens. She saw how most of us have been imprisoned all our lives, and we had nothing to do with the wars; we didn't even know about Marden's existence. She saw that her people are truly in danger. All I can do is hope she won't let age-old prejudices get in the way of peace.

*   *   *

I have no idea how long I wait in the cell. An hour? Two? Three? I almost fall asleep more than once, having been up all night. But I don't want to sleep through someone's arrival, so I do everything I can to stay awake. I shout and yell through the door, hoping someone will hear me.

After a long time, the door slides open. I'd given up and started dozing off, but now I startle awake and jump to my feet. Zahesh is in the doorway.

“Come,” he says, putting the electric field around my wrists again.

“What did the Qassan decide?” I ask.

“You will see.”

He takes me back to the chamber where the golden tree grows. Hashima walks over the roots to greet me. There's something slightly less harsh about her eyes this time, though her voice sounds the same when she speaks.

“Thank you for your warning of your commander's plans,” Hashima says. “We will ally with you.”

“You're going to help me overthrow the Developers?” I ask.

“We are,” Hashima says. “My warriors have been informed. We will depart for your planet in three hours' time.”

Sweet, beautiful relief washes over me.

“We must save both our peoples and rescue the Tessar,” she says. “His survival is of the utmost importance. Balance cannot be restored on Marden without his guidance. I saw much of your invasion plan in the
mayraan
, but we will discuss more details shortly.” Hashima gestures behind me, and I see another vul has walked into the room. A vul with lidless green eyes, a sheen of white hair, and silver armor. “Jehara will take you to your friends in the hold, so you can see that they have not been mistreated. We will announce the alliance immediately, but they will be freed after the invasion.”

“What if any of them want to help you fight?” I ask, thinking of Beechy and the other Alliance rebels. I'm sure they'd want a hand in this final battle. “There are rebels like me among your prisoners who could be a great asset in planning out the invasion.”

“If they are willing to give their help, we will gladly accept it,” Hashima says. “Do remember, you are expected to uphold your end of the agreement and ensure at least half will return to Marden with us.”

“I will,” I say, forcing steadiness into my voice. I know the people in the work camp. Once they learn the truth about everything, I'm sure they'll agree.

“Good,” Hashima says. She studies my face as Zahesh removes the electric field from my wrists. “You are a strange Kielan. Do you know this?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, rubbing my wrists.

“The
mayraan
has never been so strong with another,” she says. “Nor has any Kielan before you ever been able to meld with the Tessar. I saw in your memory how the doctors modified your genes. They made your mind more like ours, in some way. Though I do not think they intended it.”

I frown. What does that mean—my genetic modifications somehow made me more like the vul than any other Kielan?

I open my mouth to ask a hundred questions, but Hashima has turned away to return to the group of vul standing beneath the golden branches. She's no longer paying me any mind.

The vul with silver hair and armor, Jehara, beckons me to follow her out of the hatch comb, so I go to her. Her lips part in a smile that shows me her yellow teeth. “You are Clem-en-teen?” she asks.

“Clem-en-ty-ne.” I correct her pronunciation of the word with a smile.

“I am Jehara,” she says, leading me out into the corridor.

“Je-hair-a,” I repeat, pronouncing her name slowly.

She nods and clicks her tongue encouragingly. “That is close. With practice you'll get better.”

I examine her armor as she walks a step ahead of me. The material reminds me of silk, though it must be more protective than that. It clings tightly to her sinuous limbs, leaving only Jehara's hands exposed. “Are you one of the warriors?” I ask.

“I am the Qassan's aid,” she says. Her voice is softer than Hashima's, though it has the same clicks and hisses. “I fight for her, yes, and also assist her in any way she needs. It has been said you met with the Tessar.”

“I did. I wouldn't have come if not for him.”

“How is he?”

“He's weak,” I say. “But he is alive.”

Jehara sucks in a shaky breath. “We must bring him home,” she says, leading me through another hatch comb. I notice the ceiling is a few feet higher than in Core ships, probably because the vul are so much taller. “We must rescue him and help him grow strong again. The death of the Tessar before his time will hasten the death of many worlds. We feared he'd gone on to the next land already, but the Qassan had a vision. The Tessar spoke to us through her and told us he was still alive.”

I remember hearing him speak to her in his memories, while he was locked in a cell in the Core. “Can you all communicate with each other from that far away?”

Jehara shakes her head. “Most cannot. But the Tessar is different. Special. When he was born, the ocean waters warmed and the fish stayed close to the surface. There was bountiful food to eat. That is why we call him
Tessar
. He has saved my people many times. It was a fearful day when he was stolen away.”

“What happened?” I ask. “Why did my people attack your planet?”

I've heard the Developers' version of the story: My ancestors had left Marden to make a home for themselves, having been at odds with the vul on Marden. But they faced a horrible famine on Kiel, so they went back to Marden seeking a peaceful return, only to find themselves attacked by the vul. But I don't believe it was as peaceful a return as Commander Marshall said.

“Long ago we lived in harmony,” Jehara says. “There is a pattern for all life, a rhythm in which the land and the sea must work in order to thrive together. Long ago, the humans lived according to this rhythm. All things were in balance. But they became greedy, wanting more than they needed. The Tessar warned the humans not to leave Marden, but they would not listen. They sought a new home, where they could grow more riches and build a vast empire. The humans no longer understood the balance. But they learned, yes they did, when the famine came. That is why they made war with us, to take back Marden. They made slaves of our people. We knew there would be no more harmony with them, so we could not let it happen. We fought back until they left, but they came back once more. That is when they stole the Tessar. We could not bear it. We feared there was no more hope for humans, so we sought to keep them from surviving anymore. Now it is clear we made a mistake. Marden will die if the balance is not restored.”

We're walking down a hallway with the tubelike plants growing in the walls, so I ask Jehara about them.

“They are species from Marden,” she says. “We wanted to save them from dying, so we transferred seeds from the soil and grew them here. We are hopeful we can make them grow again once we return home. We are also collecting samples of species from your planet to take back with us. We will cultivate them on the journey to Marden and see if they are likely to grow.”

The vul must be collecting the samples in their settlements down on the Surface.

At the end of the next corridor, Jehara leads me through a hatch comb into an enormous room with one wall and ceiling made of glass. An observation deck. I slow my footsteps, staring out the window. The surface of Kiel looks eerily calm from so far away. There's no sign of the war. No sign of the danger brewing underneath, which could destroy the planet in less than a day's time.