The Fourth Sage (The Circularity Saga) (38 page)

"It's energy," Ty says, without taking his hands away.

"I thought the same thing," Jeremiah replies.

"But it's also strong enough to hold a two-thousand-pound platform with nine people on it," Ty continues. "I really would like to know what generates it."

"And how to control it," Amber adds.

"There must be a panel around here somewhere," Ty replies.

"I looked but I can't find anything."

"Wait," Seth says. "If there are sandstorms here, it might be buried."

Max has already started digging.

"It could be several feet deep," Seth says, as he begins to push the sand to the side.

Now they all start digging.

After a few minutes, Sam stops. He stands up and looks past them into the cave. The others don't become aware of it at first.

"Sam," Tevis says. "What is it?"

He kneels down again, touches the sand with his hands ever so slightly.

"Do you feel that?" he says.

The others shake their heads.

"No," Amber says.

They get up and turn in the direction he’s facing.

"If you had a vivid imagination, you could think this is a dust cloud forming," Tevis says.

"You might be right," Ty says. "How far?"

Sam shrugs.

"We need to find shelter," Ty says.

"If we don't find the control panel now, it might be gone by the time the storm has passed," Amber says. "We should try to find it now."

"You have seen the walls of the buildings," Ty says. "The sand can take your skin right off."

"With an approximately hundred km/h wind, we have about t-t-ten minutes," Jeremiah says.

Max begins to sign something.

"Aries is awake," Tevis translates.

"Keep digging," Ty says.

* * *

Aries awakes from a piercing pain in her stomach. At first, she can't pinpoint its origin—a rhythmic, repetitive push into her abdomen. When she opens her eyes, she sees the blurry image of arms dangling next to her head; it takes her a while to realize they are her own. The rhythmic pounding is generated by the android's shoulders, over which she’s draped. They must still be going through one of the tunnels.

Born-of-Night, where are you?

Ahead.

With her answer, Aries gets an image of another domelike cave. This one, slightly smaller in size than the previous one, has about a dozen large rectangular stone plates arranged in a circle. The center is left empty. The piercing pain in her stomach and chest is only overshadowed by the pain in the right side of her neck, where the needle had penetrated her artery. It feels hot, infected, and like a patch of dead flesh, disconnected from the rest of her body.

We are all okay.
She hears Max in her thoughts. Relief floods through her.
We followed your path and should be below your location.

The androids enter the cave and spread out in a circle. The one carrying Aries moves toward the center and drops her onto the floor where she lands hard on the stone. She is having difficulty controlling her arms and legs. When she tries to move her fingers, they twitch uncontrollably. Whatever the android injected into her must be some kind of a paralyzing nerve agent.

Can you stand?
she hears Max.

I doubt it.

From the opposite side, a few dozen androids pour into the cave. They are being followed by two of the E-9s. But where the androids move to the outer wall of the cave, the two E-9s take up positions next to one of the stone tables. Then a man walks through the opening and toward them. Aries can see right away that he is human. He's not that much taller than her, maybe even equal in height. A bit stocky, the top of his head is bald. He wears a black suit with no buttons in front, and is holding a file under his arm. He stops between the two E-9s at the table. Two androids bring a chair and place it behind him. He sits and places the file in front of him. Throughout this, he hasn’t taken his eyes off her. For a while, there is silence. Aries can see Born-of-Night sitting on a small ledge far up under the ceiling, looking down.

"The charges against you are manifold," the man begins. The tone of his voice could almost be conversational, were it not for an undercurrent of malice. "You have violated several laws, the most severe among them being the conspiracy against the greater good of the people."

Aries realizes that she tries to smile at the preposterousness of this statement, but has trouble moving her face muscles. Her hands and arms feel like knotted branches in a dead tree, crumpled up and cold.

We found another platform,
she hears Max.
We hope it works the same way the other one did but we can't find the control panel.

Where is the platform?
she asks in her thoughts, without taking her eyes off the man.

From what I can see, it should be right behind the man with the weirdly shaped head,
Max replies.

There's no way I can get there.

You have to try,
Max replies.

"Let me tell you what's going to happen to you," the man says, while opening the file. "Your case falls into the RED category. The RED category is comprised of not just regular criminal cases and misconduct. No, the RED category describes cases that have penetrated deep into the core of what makes us function as a society. It is considered the ultimate crime, as it is a crime against each and every one of its members. Every child, every woman, and every man who lives with us, who is part of us as the large family that we are, has directly been affected by your actions. Trust that has taken years to build has been broken, and it will take time and effort to rebuild it. You must realize that your actions have penetrated the very fabric of our basic existential premise. The greater good of the people stands above all else. You have violated not only us but each member of your own people, including your friends and parents, whose honor you have betrayed with your actions. You have nullified your father's dedicated work. You have brought great hardship to your people, as we now have to remove certain privileges from them as a result of what you did. The freedom they previously experienced now has to be curtailed until the trust is rebuilt and we can function again together, as a united people. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"

Could it be true? Could what he told her be the truth? Had she acted against her people?

You can't listen to what he says.
Max's thoughts cut through hers.
He's manipulating you.

But what if he's not?
she replies.
I have been acting against the greater good and now everyone has to suffer because of me.

You have to fight it, Aries.

I don't know how. And I don't know if I want to.

You have to try,
Max answers. She can hear the desperation in his thoughts.

How?
she asks.

At that moment, she becomes aware of the depth of her despair. She has betrayed them, betrayed her friends, and left them to die. She has led them all to the edge of a precipice where they will be pushed into the abyss. It's on her. The man turns to the E-9 next to him. "Bring the boy," he says.

Aries can hear the words over the pounding of her heart. What boy? Then she hears footsteps on the stone floor. Through Born-of-Night's eyes she sees the red-striped uniform of another E-9. He carries someone on his shoulders. Aries recognizes him right away. His curly dark hair, the hooded sweater. She watches in horror as the E-9 drops Kiire onto the stone floor, a few feet behind the man. Aries tries to move toward him but can only manage to roll to her side.

"You and your co-conspirator will be brought before the high court and your sentence will be carried out immediately thereafter." The man closes the file. "Is there anything you wish to say in your defense?"

Is that Kiire?
She hears Max in her thoughts.

I think so!
Aries can see Kiire's limp body behind the man
. I have to get to him.

She pushes off with her foot, slides forward a few inches. Another push. She jerks her body in his direction. Half a foot. Everything around her begins to spin.

We found it.
Max's thoughts reach her
. Amber found the control panel. She thinks she can get the platform down but you have to be on it.

I won't leave without Kiire.

He's not that far away from it. Maybe ten feet to his left.

Another push, another six inches. She can see Kiire's blurry outline. He's so far away.

Kiire, I'm sorry!
she thinks. Her tears come and blur her vision.
I'm coming. This time I'm coming for you.

Her legs feel like they are being penetrated by a thousand needles at once. Good. Good.
Wake up, I need you!

Another push and she is close to the table.

She can see the man's expression through Born-of-Night's eyes. There is amusement. One rodent crawls toward another in a final attempt to save both lives. Pathetic. She moves past the table. She can see Kiire's face. One eye is completely shut. There are bruises on his cheeks. The left side of his mouth is swollen.

I'm coming for you.

She can now feel her hands and arms. She is almost thankful for the pain, reassuring her that she has control over them again. Then she reaches him, wraps her arms around him, whispers in his ear.

"Come with me."

She pulls him. Or tries to. He's too heavy.

"Come with me!" she says, louder this time.

The man, still amused by the scene that unfolds before him, gets up, moves toward them.

"What are you whispering in his traitor’s ear, huh, you little filth?"

Slowly, too slowly, she moves Kiire's body.

Only a few more feet,
says Max in her thoughts.
Your legs have to clear the force field before we can do anything.

Aries begins to cry, then scream. First they are only short yelps each time she pulls Kiire's body closer to the platform. Then they become longer.

Almost there,
she hears.

High up in the ceiling, she sees the hawk lift off the ledge and dive toward her. Through her tears she sees the man. He is close now, like a coach inciting the athlete to give it her all.

Now!
she hears from Max.

She looks up at the man, holds out her hand to him. He takes it. A final gesture of kindness for the unworthy. She pulls him toward her. Born-of-Night swoops in and lands on his head. The E-9 turns and takes a step forward. The force field shoots up at the same time the platform drops down.

* * *

The walls surrounding the platform rush by as they plunge into darkness. The narrow space is filled with the man's screams as Born-of-Night pecks at his head. He moves his arms, hits Born-of-Night who lifts off, hovering above him, ready to strike again.

"What have you done?" The man screams at Aries. Then he hits her. When his fist hits her cheek and nose, the back of her head smacks into the stone floor. She can feel the blood inside her mouth. She lifts her arms to shield her face and absorbs the next few punches with them. Born-of-Night lands on his head again. This time she digs her talons into his face, pecking at his eyes. He blindly tries to grab on to her but she avoids his hands each time. Then they drop out of the ceiling and into the cave. The wind hits them full force. Black dots dance before Aries's eyes as she sees a massive cloud, almost completely black, moving fast toward them.

Come to me,
she thinks when she stretches out her hand toward the hawk.
Now!

Born-of-Night jumps onto her arm. Aries grabs her, pulls her toward her chest, covering the hawk with her arms. The man's screams behind her are the last sounds she hears before blackness takes her in its comforting embrace.

* * *

"We need to go," Seth says.

"We can't leave her," Tevis translates Max's signs.

"We will all be dead if we don't leave now!" Ty yells through the deafening wind.

As the platform descends from high up in the cave, they run past the ruins and toward the tower. Sam at first holds Mila by the hand but then lifts her up and carries her. Then Tevis stumbles and falls to the ground. And when Ty and Seth stop to pick her up, they see the first of the rats cross the crest of the hill and run toward them. Its eerie cries fill the valley. A second appears and then a third. Seth lifts Tevis up onto her feet and they start to run again. The others are twenty feet ahead.