The Faarian Chronicles: Exile (26 page)

Chapter 32: Masked Women

"Uh, Sunny? Maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all!
Maybe we should call for some help?” Thal yelled late that night over the
grinding, scraping noise of a four-foot square of stone wall being removed from
my old bedroom, as if cut all at once by a giant, glowing cookie cutter.

It had been super easy to come back to Mom’s apartment
unnoticed. Half the warriors were out in the desert dealing with the haratchi
den eruption, and the other half had been called away to the Pendergrast
Kindred to help with another eruption that had gotten out of hand. Thal had
been abuzz with excitement at the news that our reserves were being called out
and had made me race down to the train station to see them zip away at near
light speed in the emergency pods.

“Alten’s gone into labor, so you’ll stay with Nico while
we’re gone,” Teague had grunted as she and Sarosh got in the expanded pod with
the rest of the backup team. “Don’t give her any trouble.”

I’d just sighed and nodded as the pods took off at a speed
that made me feel a little sick. A holo-message from Great-Aunt Nico popped up
on my link.

“Report to the infirmary. My daughter’s in labor and I’m not
going to be traipsing around after you. If you’ve never seen a birth, it will
be an education for you.”

We were leaving the underground station when Thal noticed a
small package for me, that must have arrived by train, in my mother's mail
cubby. Thal “oohed” at me as I opened it and a little holo-John popped up with
a recorded message.

“Saw the trial coverage. What a mess,” he said. “You have my
whole family’s support, and we all signed the petitions for retrial. Anyway,
I’ve been working on making this more accurate and thought you might need
something other than your traditional blade weapons - John.” I opened up the
little box to find his miniscule taser weapon tucked inside. I slipped the
L-shaped, partial glove over my index finger and thumb and practiced aiming it
at the wall, careful not to touch the finger pads together.

“He must
like
you,” Thal teased. “And you have to
admit, he’s got good timing.”

The infirmary was bustling as they prepped for Alten’s
delivery and any injuries when the warriors returned. Nico pointed us to two
seats in the waiting room and told me not to go anywhere. With my usual
bodyguards gone and Nico “assisting” Alten in the delivery room, we didn’t even
have to sneak out. No one noticed us leave.

Back in my mother's apartment, I crossed to one side of the
small living room/kitchenette and surveyed my mother’s abandoned possessions
with mixed emotions. Even though nothing had been moved, Mom’s room – the whole
apartment – felt empty.

“Wow, there it is! I didn’t realize it was so close,”
exclaimed Thal, entering my old bedroom on the other side of the apartment

“What, who? They’re here already?” I ran to the window,
drawing my scy.

“No, not the Anakharu. The haratchi eruption. See?”

A swarm of winged creatures circled like enormous vultures
over the desert only a few hundred yards beyond the Kindred's dome fence. They
dive bombed in and out, backlit in the strange half-light of the setting white
dwarf sun.

Thal took out his link and zoomed in. “Ugh, can’t really see
the warriors at all over that ridge. Maybe we’ll get lucky and one of them will
record it for us,” he said. He watched as the white sun set to darkness and the
warriors' artificial spotlights lit up the seemingly never-ending fount of
ravenous giant birds streaming into the desert sky. I avoided looking, the
sight of haratchi making my instincts hum and my scy itch in my hand. I made
myself put it away and sit down where I couldn’t see the eruption to wait. That
wasn’t my fight this time.

“You know, I think Lyta and Otrere were right. No one’s
coming,” Thal said after a while.

“Oh yes they are,” I replied. “I can feel it.”

“Are you sure you can actually fight anything on that
ankle?” he asked.

“Yes, for the tenth time Thal. It’s much better. I took some
ibuprofen and it’s all taped up and ready to go. I could do just about anything
on it.”

We sat in the dark room on the cold stone floor, waiting till
our butts – and minds – went numb. I was starting to think Thal was right and
this stakeout was a bust when my link beeped with an incoming call.

“H-hi John,” I stammered when I answered and his little
two-inch hologram popped up in my hand, hoping he couldn’t see my blush.

“Hi, Sunny. I was just calling to make sure you got the
taser I sent. Um, did I link you at a bad time?" His deep voice sounded
confused. "Why are you sitting in the dark? Is that Thal with you?” John
asked.

 “Oh, uh yeah. Um, you know, we just didn’t want anyone
overhearing, cuz, you know, I haven’t told anyone besides Thal about the taser.
Thanks, by the way. That was really thoughtful of you.” Whew! That came out
semi-coherently, didn’t it?

“Um o-kaaay, you’re welcome. But why is it dark in there?
What’s going on?”

“Oh nothing,” Thal said brightly, elbowing me in the side to
be quiet, “just sitting in the dark. Say, is there anything we should know to
use this weapon?” he asked.

“Well, you just put it on, point, and press the pads
together. You remember, Sunny?” he asked.

I nodded, slipping the thin L-shaped weapon over the tips of
my thumb and first finger and pressing the finger pads together experimentally.
Nothing happened.

“Does it have a safety on it or something?” I asked.

“Yes, and good thing too, or you would’ve just shot Thal.”
He rolled his eyes at me and I grimaced at Thal in apology. “It works on the
same principle as your link, so you have to deliberately think “shoot” while
pressing the pads together for it to work. Also, it takes about an hour in the
suns to recharge, so you’ve only really got one shot. Hey, you’re not planning
on trying it out on yourselves, are you?” he asked with a squint at us.

“Nope,” we replied together, “not us.”

“Why do I not…” John began.

“Sunny!” hissed Thal, interrupting him and whacking me in
the arm. He pointed as a four-foot square started glowing blue on the stone
wall of my bedroom, around the window that had been sealed shut after the
attack.

“What is that? Is that a laser cutter?” John’s tiny hologram
turned to look where Thal was pointing.

“Uh, Sunny? Maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all!
Maybe we should call for some help?” Thal yelled over the grinding, scraping
noise of the four foot-square chunk of stone wall being removed, as if cut all
at once by a giant, glowing cookie cutter.

I jumped, dropping my link as I turned to look, sending it
skittering into a corner. John’s tiny hologram disappeared. Crap!

“Thal! Get on the other side of the door, now! Here take
this!” I pulled him around the doorframe into the living room and shoved the
taser into his hands. “Just don’t shoot me with it!” I hissed as I pushed him
behind me and crouched to peer back into the room. I’d been expecting someone
to maybe break the window, not take out most of the wall!

A second later, both of our links made a long chirruping
noise I’d never heard before.

“What’s that?” I asked, glad when it stopped and hoping
whoever was cutting the wall on the other side hadn’t heard.

“The perimeter alarm!” Thal exclaimed. “The Kindred’s under
attack!”

“Um, yeah Thal,” I replied, gesturing at what was left of
the wall in my old room. The stress must have been getting to him.

“No, by haratchi! The cutting noise must have attracted them
and they’ve breached the dome fence. All trainees and intermediates are being
called out to fight!” he exclaimed, looking at the message on his link. “We’ve
gotta go!”

I grabbed his arm as he got up. “No Thal, we have to stay
here!”

He started to protest.

“We can’t let haratchi into the Kindred through that giant
hole! You just said they’re attracted to the noise, so they’re coming right
here.” I pointed for emphasis. “Someone has to be
here
to fight them
off, and we’re the only ones who know what’s going on!”

“You’re right,” he said. “We have to tell someone.”

“Who?” I asked. “They’re all out fighting!”

Thal’s link buzzed with an incoming call. Thal looked
startled and then answered it.

“Sunny, Thal, what is going on?” demanded John.

“John, I’m sorry I hung up on you, but we’re a little busy.
The Anakharu are breaking in – like, literally – and the haratchi are
attacking.” I peeked around the doorframe to see what was happening.

“Sunny, stop! They’ll see you,” John said as the stone
scraped and the walls creaked around us. Dust sifted down from the mortar and I
held my breath, waiting for the rest of the wall to collapse, but it held – for
the time being. “You didn’t hang up on me, I minimized myself. I can be your
eyes and ears inside that room. Here, this is what I can see from your link.”
An image popped up of some unseen force pulling the wall outward. “They must be
using some sort of hover lift – either that or there’s a really strong
telekinetic aboard. Who are these people, Sunny?”

“Anakharu,” I repeated impatiently.

“This isn’t like any rogue Afflicted I’ve ever heard of,” he
replied.

“The last one, Drazen, mentioned his boss when I was
fighting him,” I said. “We think it has to be him.”

“Huh. They didn’t mention that in the news,” John mumbled.

The scraping sound stopped, and Thal and I peered intently
at the little image where the cut piece of wall floated outward from the rest
of the building.

“Wait, I don’t see anything out there. What’s doing this?”
Thal asked.

“An invisible ship,” John and I said at the same time.

“It has to be like the ship we traveled from Earth on,” John
said.

“At least that explains why no one on the ground has spotted
it. But I can’t believe no one’s noticed the giant hole in the wall yet,” I
said.

“They’re all looking at the hole in the fence, concentrating
on the haratchi coming through,” Thal said. “We’re on our own.”

“Good,” I growled. “Whoever it is, they’re mine this time.”
These vampires were through messing up my life.

“Did something weird just happen to her eyes?” John asked
Thal.

“Yeah. Her mom’s do the same thing.”

“Quiet you two,” I growled.

“Sheesh, she even sounds like the General now.” Thal’s link
now showed an open door in an invisible ship, like a rectangle of light
floating in the night sky. As we watched, two women phased in through the
gaping hole in the wall. I looked for some way to distinguish them if I had to
describe them later, but they were both so… average. They wore all black,
including goggles that covered the upper halves of their faces. They were both
average height and weight, their hair worn in standard buns. They didn’t have
the same skin tone, but neither was super pale or dark, or had distinguishing
marks that I could see.

“I don’t believe it!” John muttered.

“What?” Thal and I hissed at once.

“This.” The view on Thal’s link zoomed in to show their
hands. Each of them wore one of John’s tasers on their hand, but the design had
been modified to include a web of black, lacy, fluttering… something at the
wrist.

“That’s my taser! That’s my design! I’ve been sitting on it
because Dad said it wasn’t ready to sell yet. They stole my design and added an
ambient energy sponge! But how did they get past the bio-conductivity feedback
problem?” He paused to let the horror of an ambient energy sponge, whatever
that was, sink in.

“John,” Thal said, “we’re not techno geeks.”

“If they got it to work, they’ll be able to fire more than
once,” he explained grimly.

"Okay Thal, there are only two of them,” I whispered.
“I’ll take the first one through the door with my scy and I want you to shoot
the other one, okay?” He nodded and I turned to focus on the doorway, shifting
my weight over the balls of my feet and taking a better grip on my scy.

“Sunny Price,” a woman called in a saccharine sweet voice. I
grunted under my breath in surprise. How in the heck did they know my Earth
name? “We’re not here to harm you,” she continued. “Despite my colleague’s
over-zealous entry, there’s no cause for alarm.”

“The window wasn’t locked. It was sealed shut,” the other
one grumped, her mouth stiff and pursed like a fish. “What was your plan, sit
on our hands and hope she came out to us? We can put it back when we leave and
no one will notice.”

The first one shushed her and continued. “In fact, we’re
here to help you. We know you don’t belong here. We know you’ve been thinking
of running away, but probably haven’t figured how yet.”

What? How could they know that?

“Come with us, cooperate with our boss, and we’ll get you
back to your family on Earth. It’s as easy as that.” I had to admit, for a
moment it was tempting, until the other one opened her mouth again.

“Yeah,” said Fish Face. “If you come with us quietly now, we
promise no harm will come to you or your Kindred. There’s no reason to prove
how vulnerable the rest of your people are while their warriors are off playing
heroes.” So, they knew all the warriors were out. This kept getting better and
better.

“Shush!” Saccharine hissed at Fish Face. “Don’t threaten
her! Let her make her own choice.”

“We know you’re there, Sunny. These are heat vision
goggles,” Fish Face gloated, not listening to her partner. “We can see you
crouched on the other side of the doorway, hiding in the dark with your little
friend. You can’t get away this time.”

“Will you shut up?” Saccharine hissed. “Don’t listen to her,
Sunny. We’ll give you a little time to make the right choice,” Saccharine
offered.

“Come to us willingly and that ship outside won’t carve the
walls out of this Kindred, one by one,” Fish Face threatened.