The Energy Crusades (17 page)

"What do you think it is?" Derek answered, avoiding the question. Ajax cleared a space, and sat beside him on the couch. I shoved some books from a chair and sat facing them, trying to forget about the building and what it meant. There were other reasons I came here.

"Where have you been, Derek?" I asked, unable to hide the hurt in my voice. I reeled in my feelings as tightly as I could.

"I
'
ve been right here, Kaia."

"Why haven
'
t you come to visit me? I
'
m all alone here."

"You have Ajax. I knew he was with you. Plus, you know I like to stay under the radar. If I enter the University, they scan my wrist. My bike is always there," he smiled.

"You thought Ajax would be good company for me?" I asked, looking from one of them to the other. Ajax showed no emotion on his face. "He doesn
'
t even remember who I am."

Derek laughed. "Ajax is Ajax. I knew he
'
d take good care of you. Did he tell you Cadmus thinks he
'
s going to marry you?"

"He mentioned it," I admitted.

"How happy would Mother Baal be if you married one of her sons?" His grin got even wider.

"Maybe I
'
ll just marry you then," I told him, grinning back.

"Sure, that makes sense. Marry one of those tall, handsome Baal
'
s, or the fat kid from next door. Seems like the obvious choice." He and Ajax had a little chuckle over his joke, but I didn
'
t think it was funny.

"I
'
m not getting married at all. Especially not to Cadmus."

"Oh really? And The Reformation will just allow their top Athlete to remain childless? You are the epitome of what they want Kaia. And what they want is for you to breed." Heat spilled into my cheeks and I knew they were bright red.

"But not with an Unviable, right?" I reminded him. I met Ajax
'
s eyes and he didn
'
t look away, but still, he showed no emotion.

"That
'
s what they say but we all know they don
'
t tell the truth. Perhaps they are marking those they want the rest of the population to think are not suitable mates. Mother Baal is part of the Reformation, yet she thinks her sons are perfect mates for you. Why do you think that is? Don
'
t believe everything they tell you, Kaia. They want you, they always have, and they want to control you."

"So I shouldn
'
t trust Professor Baal? Come on Derek, you
'
re always so suspicious of the Reformation, like you think they have an evil plan."

"Don
'
t you think taking children and enslaving them, enslaving a whole race of people is evil?"

We
'
d had this argument before so I let it drop. Derek refused to believe the Descenders were peaceful beings, on Earth for the betterment of the human race. I needed to believe it. I needed to believe I was an Athlete and not a slave
…
but still, my mind drifted to the cave dwellers.

"Why are you watching our rooms?" I asked, shifting topics.

"I watch those who watch you."

"Nobody is
'
watching
'
me!" I protested. "Derek, please tell me the truth." He stayed quiet for several moments, thinking about things. I wanted to go into his mind, but I
'
d taught him how to block it, unfortunately.

"If they
'
re not watching you, then why do they try to hide you? Why do they keep your eyes covered up?"

"I don
'
t want to be a freak. I wear the glasses because I want to."

"You
'
re not a freak," Ajax spoke up for the first time. My heart leapt crazily in my chest.

"Neither are you," I answered, meeting his blue eyes.

"I kind of think you
'
re both freaks," Derek teased. "But you need to start growing up, Kaia. You need to think about things. Why does Coach Renier, brother to our dear Commander, keep you hidden? What is he worried about? And who does he serve?"

"Stop it. I love my Coach. He trained me, he trained Tiergan."

"For what? I
'
m not saying you shouldn
'
t love him; I
'
m saying you should start asking more questions."

"Okay. Why is it you have a camera on that building?" I pointed at the monitor with the image of it and the surrounding cliffs.

"Now that
'
s a good question," Ajax added.

"There
'
s another way to live," he answered, grinning like he always did. "Which team are you on?"

"Aren
'
t we all on the same team?" I answered, as Ajax
'
s mailbox began to ring. We watched as he removed it and looked at who was calling.

"Mother Baal?" Derek guessed, correctly.

"We have to go soon," Ajax answered.

"She
'
s calling you back. She knows where you are at all times, I guarantee you."

"We
'
re her Crusaders. Ajax is her son. Why wouldn
'
t she know?" I pointed this out to him, but he always saw hidden meaning in everything.

Instead of rushing back to the University, we ignored the summons and let our conversation fall away. We spent the evening reading to each other, playing games to try and guess the contents of the plethora of canned food Derek hoarded, and telling each other old stories from our childhood. We lovingly made fun of Tiergan and Cadmus, easy targets since they weren
'
t present, and only after several stern warnings from Professor Baal did we head back to campus. I tried to get Derek to promise he would come visit, but he would do no such thing. He said he was always with me, even if I couldn
'
t see him, and that he was on my team, whatever that meant. I left with more questions than answers.

Ajax and I walked quietly back to the University. My thoughts were troubled and he must have sensed it.

"Why do you think we
'
re different?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He stared straight ahead and didn
'
t look at me.

"Are we different, Ajax?" I dreaded the question but I knew the answer. There were a lot of things Derek was right about. When I was a little girl, it felt like I was different than everybody else. Everybody else except Ajax.

"I think so," he answered.

I
think
so
too
, I answered, unwilling to say the words aloud. What am I?

What
am
I
? He asked back. Neither of us had the answer. We continued on in silence. As we neared the campus, Ajax stopped and mad
e sure my glasses were firmly in place. The sun was gone by then, and my lenses were fairly clear, but they still masked the true color of my eyes.

Who
am
I
hiding
from
? I asked him.

"I don
'
t know," he answered out loud. There was nothing else to say.

Back at the dorms, standing in front of our doors, I was conscious of the fact that Derek could see us if he chose to look. He hadn
'
t mentioned me sleeping in Ajax
'
s room, but I felt sure he knew it, either from witnessing it or from Tiergan.

"Will Tory be back, do you think?" I whispered.

"She
'
s out of the Healing Rooms if that
'
s what you mean, but she won
'
t be in your room." He pushed my door open and headed for his own without
as
much as a
'
good night
'
.

Just as Ajax predicted, the room was empty. On the monitor, Tory had left a note letting me know she was with Malik. I sat for a while staring at it, trying to detangle the knot of emotions filling up my belly and pressing against my chest. Jealous was the word hovering inside my head. Malik and Tory had found each other so easily and didn
'
t seem to have a care about one of them being an Unviable. They didn
'
t have to worry about being watched. Most likely, Malik wouldn
'
t turn his back on Tory the way Ajax had with me. I didn
'
t want to think about it. Part of me felt defiant: I wouldn
'
t be told who to marry. Part of me felt like the Athlete they trained me to be, and I would do as expected. Why wouldn
'
t I? Only I wasn
'
t sure what was expected anymore.

I changed my clothes and washed for bed, then lay on top of my covers in the dark.

Kaia
, he called, and I got up and went to his room knowing it would bring me a restful sleep. I settled in the bed next to him, my back toward him, and his toward me. A multitude of thoughts swirled in my head.

Ajax
, I called before ei
ther of us could fall asleep.
I
don
'
t
want
to
marry
your
brother
, I admitted, sure it was true and always would be.

No
, was his simple reply, but he let his emotions go for a minute. They were red, angry. It made me smile. He did have some feelings after a
ll.

The Ruined City

The mornings were difficult. Waking up next to Ajax and then having to extricate myself from his room was an uncomfortable way to begin the day. It was lovely getting a restful night
'
s sleep, but walking out of the room and leaving him behind felt terrible and I couldn
'
t understand why. I wanted it to be easy, like when we were young children, but it wasn
'
t, so I did it quickly and without thinking on it too much.

For our first mission, the six of us gathered in the Weapons Room again. Tory and Balor had been healed and seemed as fit as ever. There was a much stronger sense of camaraderie between us since we
'
d completed our first challenge as a team. Even Ajax wasn
'
t nearly as gloomy as he
'
d been. Being well rested helped to lighten his mood, and we got along much easier even when not training.

Our packs and a small monitor sat atop a table in the middle of the room. I felt a little thrill of excitement to see all the gear they
'
d left for us: food, extra clothing, sleeping bags, and enough supplies for at least a week.

"Bring it on," Malik was smiling from ear to ear. We were all eager for our next adventure together. Ajax walked to the monitor and pulled up our instructions while the rest of us explored what was in the packs.

"Alright," Ajax said, motioning us over to the monitor. We fanned out around him. "They
'
re sending us to the ruins in the East. The city is not restored and remains a stronghold of the Resistance. This will be our first attempt to recover a cylindrical object that was stolen from the Reformation."

"Our first and last attempt," Balor grinned, confident as ever.

We studied the image of the object on the screen. It was about fifteen centimeters long and less than half that width. The silver case had markings all over it and contained what looked like a glass vessel. It looked familiar, but I couldn
'
t think where I
'
d seen it before. Perhaps Professor Baal had shown it to me the first day I arrived at the University, but I didn
'
t think so.

"What is it?" Caden asked.

"I don
'
t know," Ajax shrugged. "Some kind of information?"

Several images appeared on the monitor showcasing a few members of the Resistance, those believed to be leaders in the area. However, the images were taken from a distance and it was impossible to make out any distinguishing characteristics. One young man showed up in nearly all of them. He had a shock of white-blonde hair, which stood out starkly against his black clothing, but his face was hidden behind large solar glasses. I felt the beginnings of anger deep in my gut. The Resistance did not wear energy suits, nor did they provide energy for the grids and there was no reason for him to be dressed in black, the color for Athletes. My hands balled into fists at my sides and all the lighthearted happiness from moments ago slipped away. Ajax looked at me briefly but said nothing. Some of my feelings had leaked out and I quickly took control of them.

"I
'
ll get the case," I informed the others through clenched teeth. I wanted the chance to get my hands on the blond haired impostor before any of them did.

"I don
'
t think so, Kaia." Balor was oblivious to what was really bothering me. "This looks like a job for a man. I
'
ll take care of blondie." Of course we all wanted to be the one to retrieve the case. Tory surprised us all by speaking up.

"I guarantee you we
'
re on this assignment because of a man. I bet you it was a man who was supposed to guard the information, and it was a woman who stole it. You
'
ll need a woman to get it back." Tory and I exchanged a knowing look. She winked at me and I bowed my head at her. She didn
'
t speak up much, but when she did, she knew just what to say.

"That
'
s right, Bay," I picked up where she left off. "It
'
ll be a woman who gets the case back; I second that." I was determined to teach the resister a lesson.

Balor smiled but folded his arms across his chest, taking a determined stance. He was not going to give in. Before we could argue any further, Ajax continued with our instructions.

"The Teachers provided a portal for us to use. This will place us directly at the ruins; however, we
'
ll have our transporters to carry us around the city. We have climbing gel in case we need to scale any buildings and other equipment as you
'
ve all seen. We
'
re looking for the blonde young man," he continued, pointing at the screen. "They estimate his age at somewhere between nineteen and twenty-one years. He
'
s never worn an energy suit and isn
'
t registered with the Reformation. He uses the name Jason Paris, and he
'
s been indicated in several Resistance activities. If we can
'
t recover the information, we should try to find out anything we can about him, but we need to avoid violence, if possible."

"How will he feel about us?" Caden interrupted.

"I don
'
t know," Ajax answered honestly. "Their actions have been mainly non-violent, but they
'
re getting bolder and taking more chances. They
'
ve started carrying out missions on Danu. It is now believed they are far more advanced than they seem."

"Example?" Caden asked. Ajax looked him directly in the eyes.

"For instance, some of them dress in rags as if they are barely able to survive, yet they can pull off a highly complicated maneuver, like shutting down the solar cells of an entire grid.

Caden knew all too well the consequences of a failed power source. He saw firsthand the kind of chaos that ensued when all of the solar cells in a grid malfunctioned simultaneously. Perhaps when it happened in his grid, the Resistance was to blame. His jaw clenched in anger and I realized I wouldn
'
t be the only one with a grudge, except my irritation with the resisters and their lack of energy suits seemed small in comparison to what had happened with Caden.

"What kind of information did they steal?" Malik wanted to know.

Ajax shook his head. "They didn
'
t tell us. But you can be sure they think it
'
s valuable. Something has happened to escalate tensions between us and the Resistance."

"Let
'
s head out." Malik was anxious, so we gathered all of our gear and Ajax signaled to the Teachers to provide the portal. When it appeared, a shimmering wall of energy separated the room, the air swirling and heavy inside the portal. Stepping into it felt like walking through a wall of water. A portal was a wrinkle in the universe between two places, and portal crossings required permission from the Reformation. Generally, you could get anywhere on the planet with a transporter or fully enclosed solar vehicle, but we were going to the other side of the continent and the portal would put us there instantly. Also, we had earned enough energy as a team to be allowed such a luxury.

Ajax had us line up in pairs. He took me by the arm and we stepped through the portal together. As we crossed, the energy fell about us, thick and suffocating. The weight of it pressed on my chest and made me gasp for breath. Ajax made it to the other side first and tugged me along. Once through, I bent over, hands on knees while struggling to regain my breath. Malik and Tory, then Balor and Caden emerged from the portal, all of them gasping for breath as I had. It took several moments for us to get our bearings and take in our surroundings.

We had stepped into a bleak winter landscape. The sudden cold bit at our faces and stung our eyes. My energy suit registered the drop in temperature, and began to warm my body in reaction to the cold. We could see the ruined city less than a kilometer away, the terrain leading to it sparse and devoid of color. There were patches of snow in places, but otherwise no vegetation and not a whisper of life anywhere.

The only breaks in the monotony of the bare earth were the seemingly random objects rising from the ground. At first glance, they appeared unrelated: an ancient automobile, a metal pole, an extremely large rock, a pillar of bricks. Each of these, and many more we couldn
'
t make out, were buried in the earth, but interestingly they all seemed to be the same height, regardless of their dimensions. It was dumb luck we
'
d portaled in far enough away to notice how the objects were most likely equidistant from each other. They extended around the entire perimeter of the city as far as the eye could see. Had we arrived any closer, we might have missed observing the makeshift wall.

Beyond the city lay the ocean, and the city itself appeared to be partially submerged as if part of it had broken off and fallen right into the sea. What were once huge skyscrapers had long since fallen, and now stood destroyed and crumbling. The whole scene was eerie and disheartening. Why would anyone want to live like this?

I pulled my transporter from my pack and the others followed suit. Next to me, Ajax
'
s cheeks were slightly pink in the crisp air.

"First we get through the wall." I stated the obvious. We hopped on our transporters and flew toward it, staying low to the ground.

Caden led the way, bringing us to a stop between two of the objects. To our left was an upended automobile, circa 2010 by the looks of it, and to our right some type of metal pole.

"What do you think?" Ajax questioned Caden, who took out his orb and threw it toward the pole. The two objects were about as far apart as the length of three football fields and it took a few minutes for the orb to reach the pole, circle the top of it and return to its owner. Caden caught it, and immediately sent it flying toward the automobile to perform the same task. Just to be sure, he sent it farther on in each direction, measuring the distance between objects.

"Same height, same length," he stated, confirming our suspicions. "It
'
s an energy field. If we walk through the wall, I
'
m sure it will sound some kind of alarm in the city."

"Can we fly over the field?" Malik wanted to know, but Caden shook his head.

"This is a sophisticated wall system. They
'
ve tried to make it look haphazard, but it isn
'
t. This city is well guarded and the energy field extends higher than our transporters can rise. We would need an aircraft to fly in."

We all thought about the situation for a few minutes before Balor spoke up.

"I say we just fly through. I
'
m sure they already know we
'
re here anyway. If this wall is that sophisticated, they
'
re probably watching us too. Let
'
s just fly on through and see what
'
s what."

I nodded at Balor
'
s words, agreeing with his statement. The wall was for the unexpected, and they were expecting us.

"Yeah?" Ajax asked, looking at each of us to see if we all agreed. We nodded our consent and steeled ourselves for the crossing. "Ready?" he asked.

I was ready all right. We all were.

"On my count," Balor instructed. "One, two, three, then we all cross together." He gave the count and we flew through the barrier side by side. The change was barely perceptible as we crossed over. There was a little more weight to the air, and I felt the slightest of tingles brushing at my arms as we entered the realm of the city.

We were greeted immediately by the sound of barking dogs. They weren
'
t visible yet, but it only made the sound of their ferocious barking all the more frightening.

"Tory!" Ajax commanded and she flew forward. We fell back in a V-formation behind her. Caden and Balor were to her left, and Ajax and I on her right. Malik stood directly behind her. The dogs came charging at us from the depths of the city, bursting into our line of vision appearing huge and vicious. My heart pounded in my chest at the sight of them and my palms felt slick with sweat.

The closer the dogs came, the larger they appeared. They were mostly gray and looked bigger than German shepherds, more like huge wolves, actually. Ajax moved his body just a bit, blocking my view of the dogs. Maybe he wanted to protect me, I wasn
'
t sure, but if I were braver I would have balked at the gesture. Instead I was grateful for it.

"Stay calm." His voice was low and reassuring, but I could see the tension in his body. All of our bodies appeared tense, except for Tory
'
s.

Without a trace of worry, Tory flew out farther in front of us and threw her orb about a meter ahead of her body. It would project a calming influence over the dogs, or so I hoped. She hopped off her transporter and knelt on the ground, extending both fists in front of her as if waiting to greet a cherished pet. Both her face and demeanor were calm, and she seemed perfectly at ease. My own heart beat wildly in my chest as I clung to Ajax, my fingers digging into his arm. I stole a glance at Malik and though he appeared calm, I could see beads of sweat forming at his temples and rolling down his face. When he met my eyes, the worry was plain in the deep creases of his forehead and I tried to give him a reassuring look, but it wasn
'
t easy. Tory was such a little thing, yet she had the courage to stand in front of us and greet all of those enormous dogs while I feared they would trample her tiny body.