The Retreat (The After Trilogy Book 1) (32 page)

Of course he did, Romy thought bitterly.

“But then, I . . . ,” he trailed off, almost sounding nervous. “I woke one day, and I just couldn’t do that anymore . . . so I led you to your friends,” he finished.

And disappeared.

“I meant to wait until Deimos died,” Atlas admitted. “One less body to fake.”

Silence occupied the cavern, aside from the steady typing from Houston.

“Well . . . that’s . . . shitty,” Deimos said.

“I was going to get rid of Rosemary’s part of the ship with a team, and then collect the rest of you, and bring you straight here. But then . . . I couldn’t do that either.”

He sounded angry about it, not apologetic. Some of his decisions seemed callous and ruthless, but with this insight into the weight he bore, it was no wonder he’d made them.

“Thank the stars you wanted to have sex with Romy,” Deimos muttered sarcastically.

Houston laughed and Atlas glared at him.

The doctor shrugged. “Everyone’s thinkin’ it.”

A slight red tinged Atlas’s cheeks.
Her
face was burning. Thrym’s face hovering directly in front of her wasn’t helping. She cleared her throat, sweat breaking out on her forehead.

“We told you to tell the others you were there on research,” Atlas said. “But what we didn’t tell you is that we told the Mandate all of this. An edited version. But they were aware of where you were the whole time.”

“They
knew?
” Phobos said, stupefied.

Atlas nodded. “I contacted them and reported that my people found you; that you were mentally impaired from the crash and my psychiatrists wished to observe you on Earth. The insane space soldiers cost the Mandate billions and billions of dollars every month. The Mandate agreed to let us study your transition.”

Elara whistled low. “That was the biggest bluff of The Retreat.”

A flicker of amusement crossed Atlas’s face. “Yes, it was. They gave us a month. We had a month to find your body replacements.”

Thrym’s eyes looked over her head, watching Houston. That was the “other stuff” he’d been working on.

Phobos’s voice was adamant. “The bodies never would have passed inspection.”

Houston rounded in front of Romy, checking the placement of a cable. “Not if we didn’t have people in the right places.”

The knot was quiet. Could it have worked? Had this organisation infiltrated that far into the Mandate and the Orbitos?

Romy spoke stiffly, not wanting to jostle anything. She was covered in cables and tubes. “You were going to make the switch the next morning. . . .”

Atlas crossed his arms. “I was.”

She blinked hard. “And I ruined everything.”

He crouched by her side. Thrym refused to budge. Romy didn’t want to look at Atlas with Thrym so close.

“I wanted to tell you everything, Rosemary. But I couldn’t. The Mandate maintains their presence in each settlement. I knew someone would be watching us, monitoring, reporting back. It could have all fallen apart. Now we know Lucas was their ear.”

“How is it that Lucas didn’t report you were on Earth?” Phobos asked.

He shrugged. “Atlas is not the name I use aboard the orbitos. As far as Commander Cronus and the Mandate know, Atlas is my top psychiatrist. I have a number of different aliases.”

For some reason, Romy hated that his name wasn’t Atlas. “Atlas . . . isn’t your real name?” She frowned.

He brushed a thumb over her cheek. “Atlas is my real name, Rosemary.”

“Why did you even take us back to Jimboomba?” Deimos asked. “Why not bring us straight to the bunker?”

Atlas stood. She wished he’d come back. “Because you wouldn’t have made it here alive, Deimos. They would have searched the immediate area and closest settlements until they found you. We had to prepare your body doubles at our main base. This was simple enough; we used 3D printers to alter the appearance of five of our recently deceased soldiers. Houston created your faked results from the samples he took upon your arrival at Jimboomba. The transportation of the bodies to Jimboomba took the longest. Our main base isn’t close on foot, and air travel is strictly monitored by the Mandate. We only use it in emergencies and never if we mean to keep a secret. The body doubles had to be transported via the ground, skirting around the settlements on the way. They arrived a week ago. All I needed to do was make the call that you’d discovered the subterfuge and I had to put you down. The fake bodies would be analysed by our own men in the system, leaving the simple matter of getting you to the bunker.”

He’d disappeared for a full week. This is where he’d gone? “You came here when you left for that week,” whispered Romy.

“There was still equipment we needed here. Once here, we wouldn’t be able to leave for some time, until the Mandate turned their eyes elsewhere.”

“I can’t believe you were going to leave me to die,” Deimos exploded.

“He carried you," Phobos said quietly.  "All the way here when you lost consciousness. Over the hill, on his back.”

Deimos snapped his mouth shut.

One of the machines was whirring faster and faster, the sound building. Romy tried to look back, but was held in place.

“This will fix her?” Thrym asked Houston.

He surveyed Romy with tight lips. “I’m not sure. There’s never been anyone like her. No one has ever come through what she has . . . mentally intact.”

“How many of the space soldiers have killed a human, though?”

“Many, unfortunately,” Houston said sadly. “Twenty years after The Retreat, when our organisation was young, they revolted against the Mandate. It was before anyone knew what happened when a space soldier took a human life. The battle was quickly lost when the bulk of our force lost their minds. There hasn’t been another one since.”

Her mind was boggled by the fact there had even been a rebellion she wasn’t aware of. But of course, the memory wipe would have erased all traces of that, if she’d been alive then. “Wouldn’t Earth humans remember that?”

“Settlements are few and far between,” he reminded her. “And the Mandate controls all communication. We only see what they wish us to see.”

Houston clicked a button and peered up at the screens. Romy could just see one screen by straining her eyes upwards. You couldn’t see the five exits anymore; instead, images of two brains flickered into view.

“This is the brain of one of the soldiers aboard Orbito Four.” It was a brain full of reds, yellows, and oranges.
A brain full of pain
, she thought.

“And this is little skyling’s brain.” He clicked again.

Romy couldn’t see the rest of the other screen.

There was a long pause. “. . . I don’t see the difference,” Elara said.

“Exactly!” Houston rounded the bed, eyes flicking over the two pictures as though he was staring at a secret the rest of the world couldn’t see. “Then why is she still sane?”

“Get the card out, H.” Atlas settled on the foot of the bed once more.

Romy stared at him. There was so much she wanted to say.

But she settled for the words, “I’m so sorry, Atlas. I messed everything up. I . . . I should have trusted you.”

His stone eyes softened, framed by black lashes. He half-smiled at her. “I’m sorry you couldn’t. I knew you could sense there was something going on, but my hands were tied. You’re not to blame for this.”

She smiled back.

“All right,” Houston said. “Everyone stand back and
brace
.”

Thrym took a large step back, and the others held their arms in front of their faces. Elara gripped onto the side of her chair with one hand.

Atlas didn’t move.

Romy tensed, ready for the pain.

Houston cracked his knuckles. “In three, two. . . .”

Click
.

Seconds ticked by.

And nothing happened.

“It’s done,” Atlas said gently.

“But I. . . .” She frowned. “It didn’t hurt.” For some reason she’d expected pain.

Houston was ripping the cables from her, laughing like a madman after his dramatic display.

Then Romy realised.

The ringing was gone! She closed her eyes, searching.

The glass.

It was fixed.

The cracks had disappeared. Romy sobbed, and pressed a trembling hand to her mouth. The cracks were gone. She wasn’t broken anymore.

Experimentally, she let go of the sheets.

There was no floating sensation.

No feeling that she could be ripped from Earth in an instant.

She gasped, opening her eyes to stare at Houston. He winked at her, squeezing her hand, which was frozen like the rest of her.

“How did you know that would work?” she asked.

“I didn’t,” Houston answered.

Thrym interrupted. “
Why
did it work?”

“I’ve tried it before, with poor results. But for whatever reason—that I will most assuredly be getting to the bottom of—it worked on the little skyling.” The excitement in his voice was clear. Houston glanced sideways at her. “I would expect you wouldn’t remember much outside of this cave?”

“I. . . .” Romy frowned. “I remember from the time Atlas found me, uh. . . .” Her face heated.

“Gloriously naked under the waterfall?”

She turned away, blushing. “I remember how much it hurt. The thoughts I had.” She covered her eyes. “I had some terrible thoughts about you all. . . . You have no idea how grateful I am that you made that go away, Houston.” Romy dropped her hands. “
Thank you
.”

“Do you remember why you were in pain, little skyling?”

She picked up the short strands of her hair. They were still pink. “I . . . hurt someone.” Her eyes met Atlas’s. She tried to reach back, but there was nothing there. “I think.”

“And what do you remember about each of us?” he asked. “What do you remember about Atlas, for instance?”

A beautiful ocean was drawn from somewhere in her mind. “A sunset at the ocean,” she said, puzzled. “His office. The . . . the locked room. And your bungalow.” Her eyes met his once more. “I know you’re commander of Orbito Four.”

Concern etched Atlas’s handsome face. A face she trusted. “How do you feel?” he croaked.

She flexed her fingers, swinging her legs down as the last of the electrodes were removed. Romy stood, wobbling ever so slightly. Her body was exhausted, severely fatigued. They said she’d been functioning and taking care of herself, but she hadn’t really.

She was filthy for a start, filthier than any of the others. Her mouth was completely dry; she hadn’t been drinking water.

And she was ravenously hungry. Her stomach rumbled, echoing through the cavern.

“Did you just fart?” Phobos asked.

Her face flamed anew. “That was my stomach!”

“Sure.”

“Shut up, Phobos.” Elara rolled her eyes. Romy threw her a grateful look.

Her legs trembled from holding her weight.

“Ro, honey,” Deimos said gently.

She started. The twins came round from the other bed. She looked to her other side where Elara and Thrym had neared.

The knot enclosed her in their arms.

And she held tightly to them, tears falling silently to the floor as she said, “I’m okay. I’m okay.”

Deimos shifted to hold her closer, and she met Atlas’s eyes through a small gap.

He stood with Houston, who was wiping his eyes beneath his glasses.

Atlas looked sideways at Houston, and quirked his lips when he met her eyes again.

She grinned, her heart swelling in her chest.

Knot 27 was together, and alive. And that was all that mattered.

Or . . . it used to be. Romy studied the man she had alternately trusted and distrusted for weeks. She was glad it turned out she could do the former. Glad for him, but also for herself. Romy could trust in her instincts again.

It was all okay now.

Atlas was turning from the room. Romy attempted to untangle herself.

“Where are you going?” She stared after the towering man over Elara’s arm.

He turned in the doorway. “I need to contact the main base and have them send a force to retrieve us.”

She eyed her friends who stood as a barrier between her and Atlas, and sent him an exasperated smile. “I don’t think I’m going anywhere.”

And those were the last honest words she ever spoke to him.

P
ain shot through Romy as she was slammed against the Mandate vehicle.

It was only two hours ago that Atlas made the call for his organisation to collect Knot 27 from the bunker.

That was when Houston had turned the screens back from Romy’s brain to the security cameras at the bunker’s five exits.

All five cameras had shown Mandate soldiers. They were surrounded. Houston had raced for Atlas, who had already seen on another set of screens in the control room. For a while everything was chaos.

And all they could say was how they shouldn’t have been found.

. . . Until Atlas figured it out.

“They caught Tina,” he said.

Tina was part of the rebellion. She’d known everything about the bunker. About the knot. About Atlas. She’d tried to run, knowing with Lucas dead and the knot gone, she’d be targeted. Obviously, Tina didn’t make it far.

Romy cried out, her hands twisted behind her back and contained with a sharp binding. There was gunfire everywhere, all of it aimed at the object in the sky. The flying contraption containing all of her friends—her knot, Houston, and Atlas.

The man behind her gripped her neck and marched her to another vehicle. But she didn’t—
couldn’t—
take her eyes off her friends in the sky. They weren’t supposed to come back for her, she screamed inside. But she should have known they would. Being part of a knot was a life sentence.

The gunfire was lessening.

The Mandate was realising the flying machine was too far away to hit. Romy closed her eyes with a smile.

The vehicle door opened and Romy was shoved through it, hitting her head hard against the top of the car. The Mandate's hunters were yelling at her in a wall of noise.

But she couldn’t stop herself from smiling, even as a syringe plunged into her neck and black flooded her vision.

They got away.

* * *

“W
e open this door; it has the least amount of soldiers on the other side. We rush them,” Atlas decided.

One of the exits only had seven soldiers at it.

Even odds.

If the knot were combat trained.

Which they weren’t. The odds weren’t remotely even.

“We open all the doors.”

She looked up to find them all staring at her. It was she who spoke.

Romy stared at the screens. “If we open one they’ll rush to that exit.”

“The exits are at least five hundred metres apart,” Atlas said. “They won’t know which one to cover.”

“Exactly,” she said. But Romy had another plan.

Houston was busy wiping the medi-tech of information, transferring and destroying all evidence of Romy’s body.

The knot had none of their packs. Only the old map that Romy purposefully gave to Elara for safekeeping. It seemed pointless now, knowing Atlas was part of an uprising, but she didn’t want to leave it behind for the Mandate to see. Banging and crashing made her jump. Houston was smashing the machines. Thrym was helping him while Deimos looked on, swaying on his feet. The shot Houston gave Deimos earlier was beginning to wear off. How much more could he take? Apparently yet another shot of the energy-boosting substance; Houston administered it while Phobos joined in the smashing.

“Okay.” The doctor nodded to Atlas. “I’m ready.”

Romy had never seen him so serious. And she knew it was a bad sign.

“How far away are your friends?” she asked, rushing after Atlas as he left the room and entered a different one. One full of controls.

“Nearly two hours,” he answered tersely. “It will take us most of that time to reach the surface.” He shouted to Houston, who shouted back.

They were ready to leave.

Atlas closed his eyes, wiping at a sheen of sweat. Romy watched his actions carefully. There was a red button in front of each entrance’s camera. It seemed simple enough.

“What’s this one for?” Romy asked. There was another green button off to one side.

“It seals off the internal rooms from the tunnels.”

Atlas moved down the line, pushing on all of the red buttons. Red lights began to flash in the cavern, noiselessly alerting them that the bunker was open to attack.

Atlas grabbed her arm. “Come on. You’re up front so I can keep an eye on you.”

They ran for the exit with the least number of soldiers. Atlas pulled Romy along by the hand. They ran for half an hour, Deimos keeping up for now.

Romy looked back at Elara, who was flagging.

“Atlas,” she called. “I’m going back to help Ellie.”

He gave her a hard look.

“Or I can stay up here with you and we won’t notice when Ellie collapses,” she said harshly.

Atlas opened his mouth.

“Atlas,” panted Houston. “We need to move. We don’t have time.”

Romy looked pointedly at him and moved back so the others could pass. “Keep going.” She whispered encouragement to them. Phobos patted her back as he passed. Deimos gave her a smile. Thrym asked her if she was all right.

She fell into step behind Elara and grabbed her hand, dragging her, aware that Atlas was turning back to watch her movements from the front.

“Atlas,” called Thrym. “We need your help with Dei.”

Atlas threw one last look Romy’s way before bending underneath one of Deimos’s arms to support him.

“Keep your eyes on the ground in front of you, Ellie. Just focus on that. You’ll be there soon,” she encouraged her friend.

Elara whimpered and did as her lying knot mate asked.

And that was when Romy turned back.

She flew down the tunnel. And she knew that despite not having enough time to return for her, that they would. Because that was what a knot did.

They protected each other until the end.

So she ran, surpassing speeds she’d ever run before. Flying over rock in the flashing red light of the cavern. Romy always thought she’d be running through trees on Earth. Leaping over logs. Leaves brushing her face. Not to be, it seemed.

She skidded into the control room, unable to tell how much time had passed. It didn’t matter because she couldn’t hear her friends in pursuit so they were too late.

Romy sprinted for the green button and pushed it.

She ran back out to the main chamber and watched the doors come down. Her eyes widened as she spotted Atlas hurtling around the corner.

“Rosemary!” he shouted. “Don’t do it! Open the doors.”

She studied the doors’ descent. He wouldn’t make it. “Atlas, please take care of them,” she called. “Go now, and make sure you all survive. I’ll help from down here.”

“Please,” he shouted. Romy faltered at the utter despair in his next words. “I need you.”

The doors were nearly closed. “You have my memory card. Houston will figure it out. Thank you for trying, Atlas. Thank you so much,” she called back, her voice breaking.

She steeled herself. “Take care of them, Atlas. Promise me!”

The bunker sealed with a resounding boom.

Romy watched him for ten minutes as Atlas threw his fists against the bunker wall. He knew how futile his efforts to break in were. He was shouting, but she couldn’t hear anything, until he turned to the camera and then she could read his lips.

“Please open the door,” he said.

She couldn’t look away, even as she refused to listen to his plea.

Ten more minutes passed before he gave up and sprinted away.

She deflated. Even though it was her last wish that he keep them safe, it was also the last time she’d ever see Atlas and his half-smile.

Her eyes fell on the cameras in front of her.

The fools, she thought.

The Mandate's forces had split in half. Half were entering the tunnels, while half stayed outside. Romy smiled and pushed the red buttons, walking down the row of them as Atlas had over an hour earlier.

She looked at the clock on the wall. Eleven-fifteen shined back at her. The ETA for pickup was midnight.

It took the soldiers outside a few moments to understand what was happening. And by then it was too late. The flashing red lights in the bunker calmed. Romy knew they would have stopped in the tunnels, too. Atlas would understand her plan.

That she’d sealed the outside doors. The Mandate's forces were now halved.

The odds were even.

Romy swallowed as she watched the impassive faces of the Mandate soldiers through the cameras. It took them thirty minutes to arrive outside the sealed bunker.

But there was one tunnel they didn’t arrive through.

The one by which her knot left. It gave her hope.

Romy looked at the clock. It was now 11:47 p.m.

She walked back along the row of red buttons, pressing each one. The flashing red lights resumed in the bunker. And Romy smiled again.

The soldiers outside stayed put. They’d learnt. What a shame.

The soldiers in the tunnel outside the bunker scrambled back, raising their guns, wondering if the red light signified attack.

And that’s when she saw them.

Her knot and Atlas. Outside.

She pressed her face to the screen. Phobos was unconscious; Elara was clutching her side. But they were alive! Atlas shot the three guards outside with eerie precision. He’d done as she asked. Tears streamed down her face. He was looking after her family.

Romy watched until the knot was out of sight.

And walked slowly to the green button. It would open the bunker, and seal her fate.

It needed to be her. She was the only knot member without a memory card. The Mandate couldn’t glean anything from her. Houston was needed; Atlas was needed. Her knot would take her loss hard, but Houston now had the information from Romy needed to help them. Knot 27 had each other. They’d be fine, as long as they got away from here.

Romy had to keep them safe.

That was her job all along.