Akaela (7 page)

I blink.
“Through the gorge?”

Lukas nods.
“That’s what I was trying to tell you while Kael was flying, but you were too
busy dodging bullets.”

Right. How foolish of me
.

“What were
you trying to tell me?”

He points
at the map. “The gorge. It’s not closed like we were told. It crosses the whole
mesa and opens up to the other side, where the factory is. Don’t you get it?
It’s a shortcut. We can get there much faster than we originally thought.”

“Nobody’s
ever explored the whole length of the gorge,” Wes says. “My mom says the ones
that tried never came back alive.”

“An urban
myth the adults use to keep us from going there,” Lukas insists. “Kael showed
us what’s at the end of the gorge: the Gaijins’ factory. The Kiva Members said
the men’s route was to be kept secret for fear of the Gaijins spying on us.
Whatever route they took, they went from the top of the mesa because everybody
says the gorge’s too dangerous. But now we know the fastest way is through the
gorge.”

“We might
as well jump off the cliff,” Akaela snaps. “The sniper droids on the top of the
mesa will shoot us dead anyway. If the scavenger droids don’t finish us off
first.”

Of all
people! How many times my sister and I wandered at the mouth of the gorge, and
she decides to nix it now?

“I have a
plan for that,” Lukas says, casting away Akaela’s doubts. “We go at night after
the scavenger droids have retreated into their shells.”

“What if
they wake up?” Wes asks. “They came all the way to the river the night Skip
died.”

“That’s
because—” Akalea starts. But then she bites her lip and says nothing.

“Look,” I
say. “Akaela and I know how to take care of the scavenger droids. We’ve had
some practice with that. And Kael can divert the sniper droids’ attention once
we get to the other side.”

Akaela
plays with the hem of her pants. “I used to think they went through the forest.
When Dad told us about the last expedition where they stole the latest
batteries and implants, he said the Gaijins chased them through the forest.”
She dips a hand in her pocket and pulls out a white handkerchief. “I was wrong.”
She carefully unfolds the handkerchief and shows Wes the piece of scraped metal
with Dad’s serial number on it. “This is what Kael brought back from the
Gaijins’ factory.”

Wes stares
at the piece of metal and swallows hard. I know what he’s thinking. He’s
thinking of his own dad, out there, in danger, just like ours. “I can run
twenty miles in less than two hours.”

“Not
inside the gorge. It’s going to be rough terrain. There might be flowing water
at the bottom. And there will be the sniper droids waiting for us at the end.”

Akaela
shakes her head. “This is crazy.”

“Are you
scared?” I challenge her.

“Of course
not. You know I never am. I’m just being rational about this.”

“Nobody’s
more rational than Lukas,” I say. “Right, dude?”

Lukas nods.
“I think we all agree we need to go at night. The snipers are probably equipped
with thermal imaging technology, but we can fool them by hiding in the
vegetation. The gorge itself will be at a higher temperature than the mesa, and
the boulders will release heat during the night, all to our advantage.”

I tap my
fingers and smile. He may be a geek, but boy, I love this kid.

“What if
we don’t make it in one night?” Akaela asks. “Mom will raise the alarm as soon
as she gets up in the morning and doesn’t see us in our beds.”

“We’ll
leave notes,” I reply. “Something like, ‘
We
went to
ride early this morning.’ Just to delay her.”

“Eventually
they’ll find out,” Wes says.

“By then
we’ll be back with our dads,” I say. Confidence is a virtue.

Lukas
picks up his data feeder and turns off the projector. “So now for the hard
part,” he says.

“Right.
Cuz what we discussed so far is easy peasy,” Akaela snorts.

Lukas
gives her his usual flat stare and resumes his speech. “I’ve got flashlights
for everyone but Athel, who doesn’t need them and who will be our look-out.
I’ll carry my emergency and first aid kits, but we need to bring along at least
one recharger.”

“A TBC? Those
things are too heavy to carry,” Akaela objects.

“A full,
solar powered TCB would be too big to carry along all those miles, but I can
make a small pulse charger just to bring along for emergencies. If the men are
in bad shape, they might need it.”

Can’t
object to that. Look at what happened to Skip. “What do you need to make it?”

Lukas
fumbles inside his satchel and shows us all the little treasures he’s collected
over many trips to the landfill. “I’ve got most of the stuff. However,” he
says, showing us a square piece of plastic with four metal flaps coming out at
each corner. “I need another one of these.”

Wes leans
forward and squints at it. “What is it?”

“A bridge
rectifier. Can’t make the charger without it.”

As if that
made it any clearer.

Akaela
scoffs. “I told you this is impossible.” She jumps to her feet and walks out of
the stable.

“What’s
wrong with her?” Lukas asks.

I shrug.
“Can’t handle too much tension.” I point to the black piece of plastic in his
hand. “Where would you go to find one of those?”

Lukas
sighs. “Other than the landfill?
In every TCB charger.
Except nobody’s allowed to touch those. We’re lucky to have the ones we have
and—”

“Guys!”
Akaela yanks the stable door open and storms back inside. “Did you hear
anything from the outside?”

I shake my
head. “No, why? Are the horses ok?”

She nods,
catching her breath. “They are. But Yuri and his brother were lurking out here.
I saw them running when I got out. I think they were spying on us.”

“Yuri and
Cal? Are you absolutely sure?”

She nods.
“Positive.”

Crap
.

*
 
*
 
*

I ride Maha back to the Tower and then
along the riverbanks looking for Yuri and Cal, but it’s as though they’ve
vanished in thin air. They’re not even by Skull Rock, where they usually like
to hang out. I begin to wonder if Akaela made the whole thing up. If they’ve
been eavesdropping on us, they could easily give us away. They’d get a kick out
of that. I bet they’d even tell their parents, who happen to be Kiva Members,
something the dorks never fail to brag about.

Darn it
.

I let Maha
amble along the riverbanks, too absorbed in my own thoughts to care about where
she’s going.
One night is all we have
,
I think. We need to be back by morning or else the adults will come looking for
us.

And what if they do
?

Maybe that
will alert them, at last. They’ll realize what’s going on.

Somebody
needs to get the ball rolling, and that somebody is
us
.

I hear a
whistle and see Akaela galloping toward me on Taeh. “Did you find them?” she
whispers, once she’s close enough not to be overheard.

I shake my
head.

The river
gargles down its path. A flock of blue herons lands a few hundred feet
downstream. They ogle us briefly then wade in the low water, looking for frogs
and small fish. I kick Maha’s flank, prompting her to a sprint, and gallop in
their direction. They screech and quickly take off again, etching the sky with
their elegant wings.

I keep the
fast gallop until we get back to the stables. Lukas and Wes have already left.
The plan is to meet again tomorrow to finalize the details of our expedition. I
dismount the horse and wish I could ignore Akaela’s nagging voice.

“It’s just
too dangerous,” she says, walking the horses back to their pens. “How are we
supposed to rescue Dad with zero chances of making it to the other side of the
gorge? If we tell Uli instead—”

“You’d
rather do nothing than risk your life, then?” I snap.

“Why are
you so convinced they won’t do anything about it?” She guides Taeh to her pen,
but Taeh, sensing our tension, stomps her feet and balks.

Akaela
sighs. “Oh, come on, now, Taeh.”

I offer
Taeh an apple and lure her inside the pen, petting her neck. “Skip’s not the
first one to die of battery failure,” I say. “There have been other deaths
before him, all swept under the rug by the Kiva Members. Lukas’s own mother
died of battery failure. And what are they doing about it? Absolutely nothing.”

“That’s
not true,” Akaela retorts. “They elected the Ambassadors. Dad and the other men
went to beg the Gaijins for technology to make new batteries!”

“Well, it was
too damn late, wasn’t it?”

She heaves
a deep breath and slams the pen closed. We finish our chores hastily, without
uttering another word. The horses sense our negative mood and bob their heads
nervously. Akaela kisses them good night and closes the stables.

We don’t
talk much on our way back to the Tower, either.

“I hope
Kael’s okay,” Akaela mumbles at one point.

“I’m sure
he’s fine,” I say.

“Really?
You’re always so sure about everything!” she scoffs.

I let it
ride, mostly because I don’t want to tell her how not true that is.

As it
turns out, I
am
right about Kael. We
find him perched on a stand in Uli’s workshop, his left foot wrapped in gauze. To
my relief, Uli’s nowhere to be seen, which reduces the chances of Akaela
spilling the beans.

As soon as
he sees us, Kael hops between the two ends of the stand and squawks. He doesn’t
like to be restrained, and it’s a relief to see that he has enough energy to
let us know. Akaela ruffles his neck feathers and unties his leash.

I look
around the room for signs that Uli had to rush for an emergency call, but all
the TCB chargers are neatly lined up on the carts against the wall. It’s almost
sunset
, and Uli should be back any minute now to close
the workshop.

I take
Kael’s hood and glove out of my pouch, a few ideas crossing my mind.

“Should we
wait until Uli comes back?” Akaela asks.

I rub Kael
under his beak and slide the hood over his head. He meekly complies, eager to
go home. “Why don’t you go ahead and take Kael home?” I say, handing her the
training glove. “I’ll wait for him here.”

She
frowns, unconvinced.

“Kael’s
probably hungry,” I add, trying to sound casual. It’s hard to deceive somebody
who’s known you since you were two.
Hard, but not impossible.

Akaela
lowers her voice. “Are you going to talk to Uli?”

I clench
my teeth. “No. And I’m not discussing this again.” I take her right hand and
slide Kael’s training glove on her arm. “Just take Kael home. Trust me. This
one time.”

She
flashes me one of her “don’t do anything stupid” looks and scuttles off, her
left hand around Kael’s chest to help him balance on her arm. I follow her to
the door, take a quick look down the hallway and then rush back inside.

How much time do I have? Five minutes? Fifteen
?

I go back
inside the office and open the cabinet doors under the countertop. Lukas needs
a piece of electronics to make a portable charger—a bridge rectifier,
that’s what he called it—and if there’s one place where such thing can be
found, it’s Uli’s workshop. I begin by searching for Skip’s faulty TBC charger.
I know Uli still has it in the shop somewhere, and I’m sure he wouldn’t notice
if a part went missing. But the broken TBC is not where I last saw it and a
quick look inside the various cabinets uncovers a hoard of wires, drills, and
toolboxes, but no TBC or TBC parts.

I exhale
in frustration and spin on my heels. There’s a narrow door at the very back of
the office. It’s gray and inconspicuous, with no handle or tag.

Could it be a closet
?

I push it,
but it doesn’t yield. Steps resonate down the hallway.
I duck
and hide behind the cabinets.
The one in the corner doesn’t have shelves.
I shove a tangle of robotic parts out of the way, slide inside, and close the
door.

“Yes.” I
hear Uli’s voice boom into the workshop. “Barium titanate and methanol
solution. I have them both in storage, I’ll bring them right away.”

Even
though it sounds like he’s talking to someone, I hear only one set of steps
rush across the floor. Through the thin gap between cabinet doors, I spot Uli’s
legs come right to the sink next to the cabinet I’m in. I hear him pry open a
glass bottle and fiddle with containers. Something drops in the sink with a loud
clonk.