The Resisters (14 page)

“Yes,” Ethan said. “Please.”

He spared one last glance at the broken wasp
—his
broken wasp.

It felt wrong to leave it behind, but he let Dr. Irving escort him into the elevator.

Dr. Irving pushed a button. There must have been at least fifty other buttons in the elevator … fifty more levels to this place? It had to be huge.

The elevator doors shut, and they were whisked deeper into the earth.

“How long have you been here?” Ethan asked.

“Since the start,” Dr. Irving replied. “I was one of those rich men who decided to do something better with his money than buy stocks. One who thought the Seed Bank too important to leave in the care of anyone else.”

“And you haven’t been outside since …?”

“Not in over fifty years.” He sighed. “If I ever stepped outside, the Ch’zar would have my mind and learn everything I know. All the good we’ve done here would be lost.”

Ethan was quiet the rest of the elevator ride.

Dr. Irving had lived most of his life down here. Had he had children? And had they fought the Ch’zar? They must have gotten old and had to stop before they hit puberty. Maybe they’d had kids as well, like Felix and Madison—three generations of Resistance fighters living underground.

Funny how it was the last humans who had to burrow under the earth … and how the insects now ruled the world above.

Ethan felt a little claustrophobic.

The elevator halted and the doors opened.

They walked down a narrow concrete tunnel. Water dripped from the ceiling. There was a thick steel door at the end of the tunnel.

Dr. Irving went to knock on it, but the door clicked and opened before he did.

A middle-aged woman stood before them, hands on her hips. Her dark hair was streaked white down the center. She wore a blue military uniform and had a pistol strapped to her hip.

She looked down at Ethan. “Mr. Blackwood,” she said. “I don’t know if I should kiss you—or march you in front of a firing squad and have you shot!”

COLONEL WINTER’S OFFICE HAD A MAHOGANY
desk and bookshelves that crowded two of the walls. Ethan spotted the complete works of Shakespeare, army special operations manuals, and several well-worn volumes of something called
Foxfire
on those shelves.

There was a snow globe of Mount Fuji on her desk.

The colonel sat in a leather executive chair and examined Ethan, then Dr. Irving, before her gaze settled back on Ethan.

There were no chairs for visitors in her office, so they had to stand.

Ethan couldn’t stare too long into her steely eyes. Instead, he looked behind her.

On one wall hung pictures of Madison and Felix and a dozen other kids. Some stood in front of I.C.E. suits, some saluted adults, some had broken arms and missing teeth,
some were happy, others devastated with sorrow … but all of the kids looked strong and proud.

Most of the photos were of Felix.

Ethan gathered his nerve and looked back at Colonel Winter. She and Felix had the same flat nose, diamond-hard glare, and broad shoulders.

He would’ve bet a year’s allowance she and Felix were related.

Ethan swallowed the lump in his throat. He didn’t have an allowance anymore. He didn’t have a home … or parents, either. Now wasn’t the time to think of them.

But he couldn’t stop.

Ethan blinked away the tears welling in his eyes. He wouldn’t cry in front of Dr. Irving and the colonel like some little baby.

“Mr. Blackwood.” Colonel Winter closed the manila folder in front of her. It was the one Madison had stolen—Ethan’s school record. “You’re a fighter,” she said. “Your school counselor reports that other kids teased you, but you didn’t knuckle under. You fought back, won them over, and became the captain of their soccer team. You are a leader, too.”

Ethan shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. None of that was real.”

“It
was
real,” Dr. Irving said. “The Ch’zar very much wanted it to be real. They want the additions to their Collective to be the best and brightest … and that would have been you, young man.”

Ethan felt dizzy and wished there was a chair. “Are you
still
a fighter, Mr. Blackwood?” the colonel asked.

“Ma’am?”

She took down a picture of Felix when he was a little kid and looked at it. “I’m asking what you want to do.” The chiseled features of her face softened. “I can’t imagine what it feels like—to learn that everything you know—your mother and father—that
every
adult wasn’t what they seemed to be.” She shook her head, and the strength returned to her features. “But you have a decision to make. You can stay here underground with us, safe, and never have to face the Ch’zar again.”

She set the picture of Felix aside. “Or you can join the battle. I’ve seen the initial reports of your remarkable skills in the Infiltrator I.C.E. We can put you to good use.”

Ethan enjoyed flying, but the lasers and bombs and battling for his life … he wasn’t sure if he could do that again.

“I don’t know,” Ethan whispered.

“Really, Barbara,” Dr. Irving said. “Is it necessary that we do this
now
with him?”

“Mr. Blackwood needs to hear this, and the rest of the truth. He has talent, but he needs training before he hurts himself or his teammates.” The colonel looked him up and down with disapproval. “And most of all, he needs
discipline.
”

Dr. Irving tossed up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“Because,” Colonel Winter said, her tone darkening, “if you were under my command and went off on your own—I don’t care if you took out a legion of ant lion mobile artillery or a squadron of enemy interceptor wasps. I would’ve pinned a medal on your chest, and kept you under house arrest for the rest of your life!”

Ethan flinched. He was pretty sure she meant it.

Hadn’t she mentioned something about a firing squad, too? His gaze lingered on the pistol holstered on her hip. It had a carved ivory handle inlaid with silver stars.

“But I won,” he whispered. “I stopped that train.”

“So you did,” the colonel said, “but you did so with reckless abandon for your life, and placed your team in danger. The I.C.E. suits are designed to work
together
. One suit’s strength protects your teammates’ weaknesses. Working together is the only way to survive out there.”

She touched a button on her desk.

The wood pattern was replaced with a three-dimensional map, showing deserts and mountains and a serene valley. It was night, and stars sparkled overhead like a river of diamond dust.

Colonel Winter tapped another button, and the view took on a green glow. Now Ethan could see the contour lines of mountains, and clouds blowing by with tiny arrows indicating direction and speed.

“That’s Santa Blanca,” he said.

“Specifically, the Appalachian Sector of the Ch’zar’s
neighborhood network,” Dr. Irving told him. “There are six communities in the region.”

The map zoomed in on the Geo-Transit Tunnel. Both train tracks and highway were ruined. It looked real. Tiny ant lions cleared rubble from the tunnel mouth. As soon as they cleared one boulder, three more crumbled and fell off the slope overhead.

Dr. Irving snorted and smiled at this. “And, indeed, you’ve temporarily saved the children there from their respective fates. This places the Ch’zar in a bind. They have to get those older children out before they’re absorbed and the younger children notice.”

“That’s good, right?” Ethan asked. “We can go back and rescue them before they change!”

Emma was one of those kids … about to become part of the Ch’zar Collective.

Colonel Winter and Dr. Irving shared a quick look, the same one Felix and Madison had used to silently communicate with each other.

Dr. Irving’s smile vanished. “The Ch’zar have made up their minds to get the children out.”

Felix had told Ethan that once the aliens made up their minds, it was almost impossible for them to change.

“They’re not waiting to clear your well-demolished tunnel,” Colonel Winter said. She waved her hand. The display pulled back a mile over the landscape. A pair of silver clouds sat motionless in the air.

“We hacked into one of the enemy satellites,” she explained. “This is a live feed.”

The colonel stabbed at the two silver objects. They magnified and refocused.

They were tapering cylinders, engines mounted along their sides, and underneath hung a cabin that looked like it could hold a hundred passengers.

“Zeppelins?” Ethan asked. “That’s antique technology.”

“The Ch’zar re-created these from Earth’s historical records,” Dr. Irving said. “Why they aren’t using airplanes or helicopters is a mystery to us as well.”

Ethan reached toward the image and stretched his hands like the colonel had. The display’s view returned to high over the valley. He looked at the tiny houses nestled there.

His blood ran cold.

They were coming for Emma and the other students about to go off to high school.

“When?” he asked.

“Dawn,” Colonel Winter told him. “There’s more.”

In quick succession she highlighted sectors of airspace. Glowing dots appeared. “Seven Mirage-class dragonflies escort the zeppelins. Interceptor wasps and surveillance drones patrol the entire valley.”

She touched the outskirts of town, and six blobs lit blue. “A legion of bombardier beetles there.”

The colonel tapped Emerald Park next to Northside
Elementary. “The zeppelins will likely land here, as the four acres of grass have been mined with ant lion artillery. Rhinoceros beetles are scattered throughout the foothills. Squads of fast-strike Thunderbolt-class locusts are hidden in farmlands to blanket Santa Blanca with offensive capability.”

Ethan took it all in.

It was horrifying, but he understood their strategy. There was a goal, defenders, and strikers—like in a soccer match.

He wished he knew how fast his wasp could fly. How hard was it to detect in stealth mode? How tough were those Thunderbolt-class locusts?

He needed help from Felix and Madison.

Better yet … there were
hundreds
of fighting suits in the hangar.

A plan took shape in his head.

Ethan ran through it, speaking out loud. “We’ll use dragonfly Reconnaissance I.C.E.s to scout the enemies’ positions. They can draw fire, if necessary, and then get away quick. Rhinoceros beetles will engage the locusts at the edge of town. Meanwhile, a squadron of our wasps flies in and takes out the real targets. The zeppelins.”

He looked up from the map. “How many pilots do you have?”

The colonel’s lips pressed into a thin white line. “We have twenty-seven on the active-duty roster. Your plan
might
work only if you had twice that many.”

“But we have a chance to save those people.” Ethan’s face flushed. “Isn’t that worth any risk?”

“
Any
risk …?” The colonel’s face flushed too. “No.”

Dr. Irving cleared his throat and said, “Let me, Barbara.” He turned to Ethan. “Your plan is tactically sound and your bravery is admirable, young man. I know you’d risk your life to save your sister.”

Ethan crossed his arms.

Of course they knew about Emma. They had his school file.

They probably thought that was all Ethan cared about, but they were missing the bigger picture.

“This isn’t just about my sister,” he said. “There are half a dozen other kids who’ll be taken. Five more neighborhoods—thirty lives at stake!”

“But so are the lives of our pilots,” Dr. Irving told him.

Ethan frowned. “I’ll admit there’s some risk. We could win, though.”

Dr. Irving held up one finger. “I do not deny the possibility. But what if you lost even one pilot? The Ch’zar would dissect that I.C.E. suit and learn our secrets. What if the unthinkable happened … and you lost
all
our pilots?”

Ethan hadn’t thought about losing. That wasn’t how you went into a match. You focused on winning.

But this wasn’t a game of soccer with points and penalty flags. People might get hurt. Maybe killed.

He suddenly wasn’t so sure.

The colonel waved at the three-dimensional map, and her desk returned to normal.

“I know how you feel, Mr. Blackwood,” she whispered. “Every day we lose many more than thirty neighborhood children to the enemy. And every day I feel it. This is not just one battle, though. We fight for all of humanity.”

Ethan took a step back.

He took a deep breath.

He couldn’t let the Ch’zar take Emma.

But he wouldn’t risk
everything
and
everyone
here at the Seed Bank, either.

“I get it,” he whispered, and hung his head.

Ethan had never felt so helpless. So small.