Convergence (17 page)

Arthur stepped back, whirling around, frantically looking about.

Seconds later, every human in the room vanished. Arthur’s eyes went wide in shock. Whatever he’d been expecting… it hadn’t been
that
.

Everyone’s attention was instantly drawn to Porthos. The Hunter, who’d been watching the dialogue with interest inside his nano cocoon, fell to the ground clutching his right arm, screaming in pain.

A crimson pool formed beneath him as he desperately sought to stop the blood flowing forth from the stump where his right hand used to be.

He could feel nothing but
a chilled set of emotions emanating from her and hovered behind her, uncertain how best to help her deal with the emotional blow he’d just inflicted. Adam reached his hand toward Gena to offer whatever comfort he could, then pulled it away.

How could he provide her comfort when he was the cause of her
discomfort
?

Gena wrapped her arms around herself and walked away, head down, emotions of confusion wafting behind her.

Adam trotted after her for a moment before he spoke. “Are you… okay?”

She said nothing.

His pace slowed and he fell further behind, sensing he was losing her, just as he’d always feared. It was the fear of this very loss that had kept him from getting too close, from telling her the truth. And now it seemed he was proved correct in that fear. But he knew he needed to offer something, anything, to maintain any wisp of a chance at redemption in her eyes. “I didn’t want to tell you, Gena. I knew the truth would be difficult to hear. But—”

She stopped moving, and he stopped talking. She lifted her head from the ground, then turned to face him. “How long have
you
known all of… that?”

He paused. “A long time. A very, very long time.” He spoke slowly, drawing out the words. “I’ve known some of it much longer than the rest.”

She looked at him, her face contorted with… anger? Hurt? Confusion? “Don’t you think there are other people who ought to know? Who
need
to know? Who perhaps need to know right
now
, hearing about it from you. Before someone else tells them and so emotionally imbalances them that it could lead to permanent harm? We’re in a war zone. News like that could literally lead to someone’s death.”

He shook his head. “But nobody else knows, Gena. Nobody else
could
tell them.”

Gena shook her head. “I don’t believe that.”

She turned and stormed off, leaving
him
confused.

Adam let her go.

He slumped against the nearest wall, letting himself slide to the ground against the rough, solid surface. A cool breeze, generated by the hidden fans above, whistled through his hair. He normally found comfort in those breezes, in the fresh scents they brought. But it brought him no comfort today.

He’d known how she’d react. He’d known the information would shock her. He’d wanted to protect her, as he always had, and didn’t want her to bear the burden he’d borne for so long.

In the end, he’d cared for her too much. He couldn’t continue to push her away because of this secret. He couldn’t be the one to make the final decision about how she’d take the news. And so he’d risked losing her forever on the slim chance that knowing the truth would melt that slim wall between them, a wall entirely of his own creation.

She’d known something held him back from a commitment; that he’d refused to let her associate with him because of whatever painful secrets he’d kept hidden. But her pain at his refusal to tell was his pain as well.

He’d finally relented.

He sighed. At least the information was out now, to at least one person, the one he trusted above all others. He didn’t have to wonder anymore, wonder how she’d react, what she’d say, what she’d do. He didn’t know how others would react either, and didn’t really care. Gena’s reaction was the only one that mattered.

He let his head slam against the wall as the tears flowed silently, a soundless mourning of what had never been and now could never be.

They’re free! They’ve gotten out! The Aliomenti are loose!

Adam bolted upright, his anguish pushed aside by more pressing matters of survival. Scott’s telepathic message startled him in its intensity. He felt the confusion in the tone as well.

How had the Aliomenti escaped their unescapable prison?

The noise erupted from the giant prison room as Athos and his men burst forth, swords in hand, firing bursts of Energy at anything or anyone that moved. Stunned at the sight of their prisoners moving freely among them, members of the Alliance reacted slowly. Too slowly. He watched as the first half dozen Alliance the invaders encountered were cut down in a near instant, including two children under the age of six. They fell to the ground, lifeless eyes staring up at the cloudless blue sky imaged upon the artificial ceiling of the Cavern.

Adam’s grief over the situation with Gena, combined with the sudden and shocking deaths of long-time friends, proved the kindling to stoke roaring flames of anger. He gathered his nanos and fired them at the nearest Aliomenti, willing the nanos to surround each fighter, suppressing the Energy inside as the cocoon formed.

The nanos reached the first several men, who went still, eyes wide. Adam gave a grim smile. Technology was a beautiful thing. He saw Athos stop his advance and turn back toward the trapped fighters. The Hunter pulled something from his pocket and threw it at the men.

They burst free from their nano cocoons and chased after Athos, prepared to resume fighting after the brief interruption.

Adam was stunned. The nanos had been their trump card, the technology that never failed in combat with Energy or with the Aliomenti. Athos had erased his nano hold on the fighters with something other than Energy. He realized that Athos had not only shattered the cocoon, he’d destroyed the devices. Adam could no longer sense the nanos used to surround the now-free fights.

He sucked in his breath. There was a pattern here, both to the manner in which they’d escaped the makeshift prison and in the way Athos freed those Adam had trapped.

Adam ran after them, shouting to the Aliomenti he passed already engaged in combat. Adam ducked Energy bolts and swinging swords, using his own Energy to amplify his voice. “The invaders are able to neutralize the nanos! Stick to physical weapons and Energy! Remember, first try to disable them, rather than kill them!” He added a telepathic repeat of the message throughout the Cavern.

He heard Athos laugh in the distance as the message arrived, and a mocking burst of emotion slammed into Athos. He knew that the Hunter would provide no such call for restraint to his own men.

With the reality of the full invasion now evident, and with the once-trapped Aliomenti now running free among them, swinging swords and firing blasts of Energy, the Alliance began to fight back and rally. Steel clanged against steel, and Energy bursts flashed as the air crackled around them. Many bursts of Energy were poorly aimed or deflected, and those hit the unsuspecting—often friend instead of enemy—and crashed into freestanding trees and structures. Several shops and residences crumbled under the assault. An errant burst of Energy ricocheted to the ceiling of the Cavern, shattering a water pipe used for the scheduled rainstorms. Water coursed down from above, drenching a pile of Aliomenti who’d not realized there were water pipes hidden in the ceiling above. The nearby Alliance members were able to render the men unconscious with well-placed Energy bursts to the control centers of their brains.

Adam raced into thickest and most intense portions of the fighting, leaping between two Aliomenti who snickered as they rained blows down upon two four-year-old girls. Adam’s blood boiled. How could they attack children? His fury ignited, his training took over, and he had both men disarmed and unconscious on the ground seconds later.

He turned to check on the girls. They seemed unhurt. “Are you okay?”

One giggled. “That was
so cool
, Mr. Adam!”

Adam sighed inwardly.

The other girl raised her hand. “Can I… kick them? Because they’re mean?”

Adam looked around to see if any other Aliomenti were nearby. He saw nothing. “Only once,” he whispered. “And then hide yourselves, okay? I think there a lot of mean people left running loose around here.”

The girls giggled and kicked their attackers in the shins before teleporting from his sight. He blinked, impressed. Few children could teleport at that age. But with the growing numbers of second- and third- generation Energy users, it was certainly inevitable. He suspected Fil ran the risk of teleporting from the womb.

He looked around and didn’t notice any additional Aliomenti. He listened intently, zeroing in on the loudest noises, before racing off in that direction.

The fighting had moved farther into the Cavern, away from the prison they’d built near the Beach. Adam sensed strengthening emotions and thoughts from the invaders as he moved further into the Cavern. That was understandable. Though the invaders had arrived with a mandate to kill all members of the Alliance—as evidenced by the thwarted attack on the two children—the men were curious. They’d never before known of the Cavern’s existence and had never experienced the marvel beneath the polar ice cap. It was a reaction similar to that he’d seen with each new Alliance recruit during their first visit to this space.

The Aliomenti intended to fulfill their mandate. But it might take just a bit longer than Arthur Lowell would prefer for them to finish the job. After all, they had no idea what portions of the Cavern would remain standing after their genocidal mission.

If Adam had
his
way, though, they’d fail to complete that mission in spectacular fashion.

Then he’d give the survivors a tour.

He followed the crackling sounds and sensations of Energy, the agonized screams as fiery bursts and sharp metal collided with flesh, and grimaced. His people weren’t trying to hurt the Aliomenti invaders, just render them unconscious.

That meant the odds were quite high that every scream he heard, every emotion of pain that shot through his empathic senses, came from somebody he knew.

He heard her voice surge above the din. “Everyone! Stop fighting!” Gena shouted. “There’s no need to fight!”

Nothing changed. Shouts continued, Energy bursts sizzled through the air, and metal clanged against metal. The coppery scent of blood filled his nose, and he looked around, taking out Aliomenti fighters with strategic bursts of Energy to sleep centers in the brain.

Gena switched to telepathic broadcasts.
The Aliomenti and Alliance need not fight. We need not slaughter each other here this day. We of the Alliance ask only to live in our own way, in peace, without the threat of Hunts or executions by Assassins.

“Don’t listen to her!” Athos shouted above the fray, as he slashed and hacked at his Alliance opponent. “We have our orders! We must do what the Leader commands us to do! Death to the Alliance!”

“Death to the Alliance!” the Aliomenti roared back.

It doesn’t have to be this way! You must resist the programming, you must learn to fight back against what you’ve been told to do. How can you possibly think it right to attack a young child? How—

Adam heard her scream from fifty yards away as he blasted the sword from his Aliomenti opponent and knocked the man unconscious. He looked over at her, his heart in his throat.

Scott stood behind her with his bloodied sword held high, smiling in a deranged manner as he watched Gena crumple to the ground.

Angel couldn’t take her eyes
off the woman, staring at her as if seeing a ghost.

She opened her mouth to speak as a loud beeping sound filled the enclosed space. Charlie tapped on his tablet computer, read the message, and nodded. He closed his eyes and transmitted a telepathic message to all in the area.

Pay attention, everyone! The human transfer has begun. You’ve got thirty seconds until you move. Be prepared. And everyone… make sure you get back here safely.

Charlie pocketed his computer and grabbed Angel’s arm. “We have to go.”

“But—”

The woman smiled. “See you soon, Angel.” She sheathed her swords as her face took on a look of stony determination.

Charlie teleported her outside the tent before Angel could respond.

They stood between the two tent-like enclosures, having departed the smaller after Charlie delivered his farewell message. They could hear the sounds of thousands of voices inside the larger one, and air hung heavy with the emotion of confusion and fear of the unknown. Several members of the Alliance scurried inside the larger tent.

Charlie held her by the shoulders and stared into her eyes, waving his hand and zapping her with a gentle jolt of Energy to regain her attention. “You’ve got to snap out of it, Angel,” Charlie told her. “I know that shocked you. It shocked me, too. But we have thousands of people relying on us right now, people who desperately need your help. You’ll have plenty of time when this is done to ask the questions in your mind. For now, though, we have a job to do.”

“Right. Right, I know,” Angel whispered. “But—” She shook her head to refocus her attention on the task at hand, pushing the sight she’d seen to the back of her mind. Charlie was right. Answers would come later. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

They moved to the flap door of the larger tent.

Behind them, the buzzing electricity inside the tent filled with Alliance warriors went instantly silent. They looked at each other, nodded, and then walked inside.

There were thousands of humans inside the tent, moving around in unabashed terror. They stared at the familiar faces in the unfamiliar environs, baffled and bewildered at how they had moved from various rooms and sections of the Island to a single place. The air inside this strange space smelled different than on the Island, and the sounds of the surf seemed too near for some, too far away for others. They looked at each other, each of them asking the same questions.

“Where are we? How did we get here?”

A few people asked if they’d all died at once.