Luca (30 page)

“Unbelievable.” Ricky pulls up and kills his engine.

“What is it?” Jedd says.

“The Cloud.”

“How?”

“Ionization.” Ricky runs his hand through his hair. “Qaara said it would do strange things to the atmosphere the closer it got."

Jedd surveys the army. Everywhere, eyes gaze heavenward. Heads shake in wonder. Lips hang open. Here and there, hands stretch up.

In the middle of the mass of vehicles, Jedd spots a transport truck with a large blue dot on the hood. A side door opens.

Moses steps out, Qaara behind him.

Together, they work their way through the army vehicles to the place where Jedd and Ricky stand beside their g-pods.

Jedd can hardly restrain himself from running to throw his arms around Qaara.

A rough hand comes up onto Jedd’s shoulder. On the other side, Qaara’s fingers find his.

“So it’s true, Qaara.” Moses gazes to the sky. “Signs appear in the heavens. Exactly as you foretold.”

“Yes,” Qaara says. “Earth is close to the Cloud. The solar storm has begun. Communications within the City and beyond might be down. Their satellite monitors might not have detected you and your army.” She squeezes Jedd’s hand, a silent confirmation that she is OK. “Your timing is perfect, Moses. You might actually pull off an attack on the City."

Jedd notes the position of the sun. “We should be within sight of the City in a few hours, sometime after sundown.”

“We keep pushing.” Moses raises both arms to the army behind him. “Move forward. We attack as soon as the City is in sight." He walks to the truck with the blue dot, leaving Qaara standing next to Jedd.

“Moses isn’t such a bad guy, once you understand him.” Qaara mounts the gyropod and motions for Jedd to get on
behind
her.

Jedd slips his leg over the pod seat. “What did you tell him?”

“I made a deal.” Qaara presses the button on the glass com of the pod. “I promised him there would be strange lights in the sky in a few hours. He promised to let me stay with you when he saw them. And one other thing.”

“What?”

“I told Moses to destroy the smallpox. Told him it would only hurt him.”

Ricky shakes his head. “He didn’t listen, did he?”

“No,” Qaara says. “But all the containers were destroyed back in the minefield along with the trucks carrying them. He took it as another sign of my . . .
infallibility
.”

“Maybe he’s right,” Jedd says.

A mass of engines start up behind them. Qaara eases the pod forward, and the army follows.

“Anything else?” Jedd lets his hands slip down onto her hips.

“How’d you guess?” Qaara takes her hands off the handlebars and slips them into her pockets, producing a couple of jaxes. "Here’s yours, Ricky.” She tosses it to him, and Ricky grabs it out of the air, eyes wide. “And here's mine. All we have to do is find a Mesh-hub that works, if there are any left, and tell the world what’s coming.”

44

THE CORE

It’s dark outside.

The girls follow Giraffe and move away from Luca, leaving her sitting on the grass next to Zero’s dead body.

Once again, Rika leans her back against the trunk, taking on the pose of a casual observer.

“I didn’t kill Zero.” Luca scans the faces of the group, resting on Rika. “
She
did!” The muscles in her abdomen tighten. She looks to the other girls. “We have to stop her.”

“Zero used to beat her at the Institution, didn’t he?” Rika stretches out her legs, relaxing her shoulders into the tree. "He used to beat all of you. I heard it. I saw it.”

Giraffe looks at the ground.

Luca’s hands harden into fists. She glares at Rika.

Rika stands and takes a step forward. “People like Zero don’t understand us. They think we’re freaks because of the voices we hear. They think we're mentally ill. Handicapped. Human waste! So they put us in places like the Institution where they can study and experiment on our brains. They treat us like rats.”

Luca kneels down and lays a hand on Zero’s forehead. “When I helped Zero hear the voices, his heart changed.” Rivers of tears streak down her cheeks. "He never hurt me or any of us again.”

“People don’t change. Not deep down where it counts.” Rika steps closer to Luca. “Zero helped you for one reason. When you went into his mind, he sensed the
power
you have. That’s all people like him understand. Power. And when he felt your power, he got scared. He realized you could kill him if you wanted, so he tried to save his life by pretending to help you."

“No.” Luca shakes her head. “It’s not true."

“That’s how they are, the ones who are
deaf
, who can’t hear the voices. They’re cut off and alone. All they do is think of themselves. They are the ones who are handicapped. They are the ones who are freaks!”

Still gazing at the ground, Giraffe moves away from the group.

“Don’t listen to her.” Luca looks at the other girls. “Rika hears the voices, but she doesn’t
listen
to them.”

Giraffe walks ten paces across the grass.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Rika yells at Giraffe. “Trying to get away? Are you scared?”

He stops. “Please. I never meant to hurt Luca or the others. I only did what the Superintendent of the Institution told me. She said the voices were evil, that it was our job to beat them out of the girls. She said it was for their own good. She said we had to make them normal. So we could get money from Tokyo.”

Leaving Zero’s side, Luca places herself between Giraffe and Rika. “You’re not going to hurt him.”

“He’s like Zero.” Rika drops to the ground. “He doesn't deserve to live.”

“He doesn’t deserve to die.” Luca sits Japanese style, facing Rika.

Giraffe tumbles to the ground.

The other girls scream.

Sounds of the outside world are sucked away, leaving Luca in silence.

Rika’s voice pierces the void.

So this is it. The final battle.

Luca struggles to talk as an invisible weight presses on her chest.

I don’t want to hurt you. Just leave Giraffe alone, and we’ll all go away.

Rika laughs.

You know I can’t let you off that easy. You have to understand the power we have.

I understand.

Then use it.

Please, just let us go.

Searching in the darkness, Luca finds the familiar space in Giraffe’s mind, alive and well. She slips inside.

Rika is already there, waiting, taunting.

Are you willing to kill me, Luca?

Luca doesn’t know the answer.

But she knows Giraffe’s mind. She used to spend hours there, exploring, wandering through multiple levels, surveying his memories, sensing his longing and isolation. Like every mind, its structure is unique and delicate. She goes straight to the most inward partition.

A place she’s always called the
Core
.

A ribbon of light shimmers in the darkness.

And it must be protected. Luca positions herself between it and Rika.

So you found the Core. I knew I could count on you to lead me quickly to it.

Rika’s mind pushes against Luca, testing for weakness, probing for an opening.

You’re strong, Luca, but you have one very big weakness. You believe in love. It all started with your parents. I wonder why. I’m glad I killed mine.

A blurry image of Luca’s father opens up like a blooming flower in the dark. Luca can see his face and eyes. He walks closer to her and reaches down, lifting her from her crib. She senses the soft interior of his mind, a place she called Home as a small child.

Joy pours over and around her.

You think your father loved you, don’t you?

Luca doesn’t hesitate to give an answer.

Yes.

Are you ready for the truth, Luca? I’ll give it to you. His love was an illusion. For you and for him. Nothing more than a point of focus for a dying man whose life was draining away due to sickness and fatigue. You think it was love? It was a survival tactic. A convenient lie. A crutch. And it didn’t work. Your father still died young.

A surge of rage wells up in Luca. Trying to push it back, she’s caught off guard. Rika’s mind begins to slip past Luca, probing for the Core, intent on extinguishing the light.

And ending Giraffe’s life.

But Luca regains her balance. Her mind becomes a wall that pushes Rika back with surprising ease.

It’s not over, Luca. That was just a test. To see if you’re awake. I’m still not sure you are.

Rika’s mind makes a sudden exit, leaving Luca alone in the dark in front of the shimmering ribbon of light.

Do you really think you can protect them all from me?

A wall of panic slams into Luca. Slipping out of Giraffe’s mind, her eyes flip open.

The girls are still shrieking, this time staring down at one of their own sprawled unmoving on the grass.

She used to be one of us, but she believed the lies they taught her at the Institution and quit listening to the voices. She became like Zero and Giraffe.

“What have you done?” Luca yells, scanning the yard for any sign of Rika. “Where are you?”

I’ve relocated. Never mind where my body is. My mind could be anywhere. That’s the beauty of it. I killed her while you were trying to protect Giraffe. Which you’re not doing a very good job of.

Luca’s eyes flip shut. In the darkness, she finds her way back to Giraffe, back to his Core.

What have you done?

The shimmering light fades. Luca reaches out for it, but it melts away, slipping through her fingers. And then it’s gone.

For the third time, Luca has allowed Rika to kill one of her friends. Zero and Giraffe both gone. One of the girls dead. Where will it stop?

It’s not going to stop. It’s just going to get more fun. Now let’s play hide and seek. Just like when we were kids. Only this time, instead of hiding in the yard, I’ll hide in the minds of the girls. You’re It. Every time you fail to find me, one of them dies.

Luca opens her eyes. A tidal wave of panic crashes down. The girls are strangely quiet.

“Where is she?” Luca scans the group.

The ones who can still hear voices shake their heads, aware of the deadly game being played. The others look around, bewildered.

Bingo.

Another child falls to the ground.

Why are you doing this, Rika?

Luca hears a giggle inside her mind.

After all I’ve told you, need I say more?

It’s clear what Luca must do. Rika has turned into a monster. She must be stopped. There’s only one way to do it. It would be so much easier to walk away. Luca’s failure to face the truth until now has cost the lives of four of her friends.

Please don’t make me do this.

Another chuckle.
I don’t think you can.

In the lotus position, Luca draws in her breath and closes her eyes. She pushes back the horror of what she must do. The world falls away. Encased in quiet, she searches in the dark for movement, sending out feelers in all directions, listening for the sound of Rika’s mind, fearful of what she might find and what she must do when she finds it.

One more down.

Relaxing, Luca lets the voice of Rika pull on her mind. She goes in its direction but arrives at its source too late. Another girl is dead. Like an anchor, fear still hangs heavy in Luca’s mind.

Let it go
, Luca tells herself.

The terror leaves; the weight drains away. She is lighter than pure thought.

And she listens.

Movement draws her through the darkness. She follows the current of its path. She’s not far behind, and she’s getting closer. And then, reaching out, her mind closes on it, like fingers clinging to a thread.

A blast of black light pushes on her, but she holds fast, refusing to let go.

I’m surprised you’ve gotten this far, Luca. But you’ll never be able to do it. I'm the stronger one, remember?

Luca moves against a surge of opposing thought, inching her way forward, closer to the source, little by little. In the distance, through the storm, she catches a glimpse of the shimmering ribbon.

Rika’s Core.

You’ve forgotten something. The closer you get to me, the closer I get to you.

The voice is Rika’s, but it’s multiple octaves lower.

Luca pushes against it, focused only on the shimmering ribbon.

You have so much power. I never knew.

Digging deeper, the kiss of a thousand tiny blades slash, bite and cut against Luca. Her mind fills with sound. The shimmering ribbon is within reach.

And then all goes silent.

Please don’t.

Luca’s fingers touch the ribbon. It vibrates and tingles as a lifetime of memories, Rika’s memories, flood into Luca’s mind.

Where is your love?

Ignoring the voice, Luca’s hands curl around the ribbon, bringing it close. She stares down at the fragile life she holds.

And rips it apart.

When she opens her eyes, she’s lying on the grass, body wet with perspiration, staring up.

Streams of beautiful color fill the night sky.

45

ARMY

“What is it this time?”

“Good news,” the woman says.

Mercer sits in the dark, eyeshades on, and lifts a lemon slice from the tray. “Let’s hear it.” Plunging his teeth into the yellow flesh, he rips away a large piece and chews.

“All right.” The woman glances at her slate. “The first arrivals are already settling into the domes at the Fukushima facility. It seems that the light show in the heavens and the disruption in global communications has piqued their curiosity and prompted nearly all of them to accept your offer of lodging. Of course, they think they’re being invited to an international conference of experts on putting an end to environmental depredation. Here’s an updated list of the guests.”