Twell and the Rebellion (31 page)

So caught up in their anger,
their eyes locked as they stared each other out, they didn’t even
notice as I pushed noiselessly up onto my hands and scuttled slowly
backwards into the darkness of the hanger.

They were shouting, but I was no
longer listening. All I could think about was getting away, as far
away as physically possible and suddenly I had a terrifying but
plausible idea. Flipping over and stumbling to my feet, I ran, my
feet smacking loudly against the hard ground as I darted blindly
around the various air craft. By the time I reached the centre of
the room, I heard them calling my name, but adrenalin blocked my
ears and urged me forward, until all I could hear was my own heart
banging in my chest.

Randomly choosing a craft I
threw my powers at the door, pushing it open in one move as I
boarded and pulling it shut again with my mind as I moved to the
flyers seat. Buckling in, I quickly scanned the flight system and
saw it was exactly the same as the test programme. Every cell in me
lit up with nerves as I hit the flight button, rising up off the
landing base before I could talk myself out of it.

By the time Avin and Jonaz
caught up with me, it was too late. I hovered above them, staring
through the glass at first one and then the other. Avin’s face was
shocked and he was shouting something at me. However, being in such
a state, as well as a hopeless lip reader, it failed to compute. It
was Jonaz’s face that nearly destroyed me. The devastation on his
face was something I knew would feature in many future nightmares.
I wanted to bawl. I wanted to be sick as I wrenched my eyes from
his and shot upward, straight towards the glass ceiling at full
acceleration. Smashing through the fine glass ceiling was easy.
Looking back was harder as I saw the others run into the clearing,
open mouthed and speechless as they gawked up at me. Then they
simultaneously dove backwards, as the sharp shards of glass rained
down over them.

Guilt and panic hammered in my
chest mercilessly as I pushed the pod to full throttle and shot
away into the night sky, one destination in my frantic mind. Avin
was right. I couldn’t wait for my people to help me. Trying to obey
their laws had brought others and myself nothing but misery. I
couldn’t stay. I also couldn’t live with myself another day
wondering if Shay was alive. I shakily punched in the co-ordinates
I’d carefully watched the officer place on my first flight and
headed at almost the speed of light towards Station S3.

Chapter
Fourteen

Flying a large army craft
all by myself through space, with hardly any experience, was quite
simply terrifying. I hardly dared to trust they’d really take me
where I wanted to go,
yet there was no turning
back
. I flew swiftly through the lonely night
sky, trying to stay calm. There was only one thing more terrifying
than the endless black space, and that was the fear my guardian was
already dead. A flutter of dread beat frantically inside me, the
sensation pulling at me more urgently than ever before. It was a
race against time, and I prayed to the heavenly realms it wasn’t
too late to make up for the time I’d already gambled her life
on.

I knew it wouldn’t be long
until they came after me. What would happen then I didn’t know,
because I’d never heard of anyone disobeying the Governing Body the
way I just had. I was a deserter. A thief. The face of an infant
rebellion. In their eyes, I was a
dangerous threat to the
thinking of our society
. What if my actions
infected others like a plague, like Maza had said? What if they
started to think? What if they began to question what was really
right or wrong on their own? It was startlingly easy to see why
they wanted to silence me because I wasn’t alone.
I wasn’t
the only one wanting to swim against the current Comains had always
allowed themselves to be towed along, but I’d encouraged my peers
to swim in a different direction, and that made me a traitor, as
well as a deserter.

I stopped myself from questioning the
probable punishment before I could work myself into a state of
hysteria.
I was pretty much at my maximum
capacity for stress, desperately trying to hold onto myself with
hope.

It was the only thing I
had left at this point.
The flight seemed
to take ten times longer than it had the first time, dragging on
long enough to slow my heartbeat and eventually I grew impatient,
although I was already flying at full throttle.

As I moved forward through
space, I allowed myself one last glimpse back at my old life. I saw
Jonaz’s face before I’d etched it with hurt and betrayal. His rich,
deep eyes sparkled with humour, and I ached for the
familiar
comfort of his arms.
I yearned for him by my
side, helping me and fighting alongside me. With me. But those
desires were just a dream now, intangible and impossible, because
of what I’d done. Stinging tears blurred my vision as I took hold
of my anguish and buried it deep into a place that was dark and
smothering.

Then I made a vow. If I got out of this
alive, I would find a way to earn his forgiveness. I didn’t expect
him to ever want me again, and I knew I would never be matched
again. A life in solitary confinement was my most likely destiny.
But his forgiveness seemed like the only thing I could hope for in
such a bleak future. For a moment, death by Abwarzians seemed
preferable as the agony of heartbreak crashed over me. I shook
uncontrollably as tears slid down my face, and I looked out into
the endless universe. I had no one to protect me now, only my own
powers. I was alone, and I’d chosen it to be this way.

Finally, S3 became more
than a dot on my navigator screen, as it appeared faintly through
the window of the pad. There was no light this time; it did not
glow with fire, as it had before. It was like a burnt out star,
hanging forlornly in the desolate space; a blackened, twisted
carcass without purpose, but I had a purpose;
to find
something—anything—that could tell me if Shay was still alive.

My landing was perilous. I
shuddered down onto the runway with a screech of sparks that jolted
my nerves as much as my bones. My heart beginning to pound again, I
moved fast, a sense of limited time urging me on as I climbed into
a heavy space suit. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door to the
craft and moved heavily onto the landing.

I felt like the only
person in the universe the moment my booted feet hit the ground.
Beads of sweat rolled down my back as I crossed the landing to the
remains of the space centre, an uneasy sensation of exposure
pressing heavier and heavier with each step.

Only as I reached the imagined safety of the
centre’s entrance did I realize I was gasping as if I’d just
resurfaced from the deepest water. Inside I moved like a
sleepwalker, the worst sense of dejavu washing over me as I
retraced the steps of my first visit.

Some things had changed; the bodies which had
littered the halls and rooms were gone, only their ashes remaining.
The smell of their death seemed to have dissipated as well, yet the
presence of it had not. It lurked in every shadow and there was
plenty of shadow, most of the lights blown out or obliterated from
the attack.

I shuddered at the phantoms in my mind as I
crept along the halls, breathing deeply to stifle my rising panic.
Locating the remains of the offices and I set to work, my eyes
searching quickly for any remains, any clues as to which office was
Shay’s.
It wasn’t long until I found something,
and I cried out as if there was someone to share my find
with.
But all that answered me was my own
frightened echo as I stared at the item with sickening
dread.
Shay’s wristband. I picked it up
as if it could burn me, not daring to touch it for fear it might
mean something worse.

I knew it was hers by
heart. How many times had I watched her rub her hand over it in the
evenings when w
e were at home, the
permanent and mandatory accessory every dutiful and law-abiding
Comain never took off?



The tiny scratch on the
face of the screen was identical. It was hers. It was also broken,
the band that fastened it to the wrist pulled apart. My
breath caught in my throat as I saw the streak
of blood on the jagged edge where it had torn off.
My mind raced at the same pace as my heart. Why
would they take it off her? They wouldn’t bother if they meant to
kill her; they would have killed her where she stood. So they must
have taken it off to make sure she wouldn’t be traced.

I swore violently inside
my suit.
Idiot.
If they hadn’t known where I was going before,
they did now.

Wrenching
my
own wristband off,
I dropped it on the ground and
stomped on
it with the full weight of my boot. It made a satisfying
crunch
as
the
glass smashed and I kicked it into the corner of the room. Then I
swore again. The microchip. They probably knew exactly where I’d
gone and would be here any minute. I should have dug it from my
skin before I left Como.
Stupid!
When I got back to the
craft, I’d get it out of me and eject it into space once I took
off. Then I began to focus again. I had to think fast if I was
going to get any further.

If they hadn’t wanted her
tracked, then she must be alive. Why? Why did they want her alive?
Because they knew. Somehow they knew she held the knowledge of
their world and many others. And ours. She was of value to them.
Surely, that value could keep her alive long enough for me to find
her. I knew Shay. She was strong. She wouldn’t reveal her
secrets
easily. But I knew they would
torture her to extract information; and at the thought of what they
might do to her, my heart lurched with terror, my legs beginning to
tremble violently.

I knew it was suicide to
try to approach them. I knew they would probably shoot me out of
the sky before I even got anywhere near Abwarz. But I had no
choice. I had to try and there was no turning back now anyway.
So
, only one problem remained. What could
I possibly have to offer them to bargain for the life of my
guardian;
in the tiniest and highly
improbable likelihood they’d let me speak a word before they killed
me on the spot.

The answer came upon me
with a dreadful heart squeezing clarity. Myself. My powers. The
secret weapon the Comains had been so carefull
y cultivating, and concealing. It was all I had to offer,
but I would offer it anyway to try and save her.

I made my way back towards
the exit of the building on shaky but determined legs, relieved I
had a plan, a decision overriding my frantic heartbeat. Then I
realized something very important; I’d made this decision for
myself
.
It would most undoubtedly
get me killed, but that wasn’t the point. It was still my decision
and no one had made it for me. I’d chosen my path, and I would
follow it through, all the way to my death, if that was my destiny.
But it would be my own choice—my own free will.

I began to smile
at the irony of my fleeting independence, but it froze on my face,
sliding away as I came to an abrupt halt.
Three
Abwarzians, in ghostly grey suits,
stood very still at the end of the hall, gazing calmly at me, with
eyes that betrayed nothing. I wasn’t armed, not like they were. I
didn’t know what the
weapons in their
hands could do to me. I didn’t want to know. But I had my powers.
Something they didn’t know.

Time stood still as I stared
back at them unmoving, deliberating my options. I could use my
powers, but what then? Either I died here now, or they died and
then I had no idea how to get to their planet…and that would just
be inconvenient.

The voice inside me was
small but strong. “Not yet”, it whispered. “Not yet”.
Very
slowly and carefully, I bought my hands up, palms out, in a gesture
of submission. For a moment they stared at me as if undecided.
Their weapons were raised, pointed at me and there was no reason to
let me live. It was now or never, only one chance to do it right.
Gently, but firmly, I wrapped my mind around their weapons and
pushed so they were forced down to the ground, away from me. I
watched their eyes widen in surprise and fear at first, then click
with understanding. They stared at me with a new look, one still
laced with fear and uncertainty, but also something new and
crucial. It was the look one gets when they’ve found something new
and exciting, or in their case, rewarding. Sinking to my knees, I
raised my hands and placed them on my head, fervently hoping it was
the universal sign for surrender. They came for me with their guns
still lowered, their black eyes glittering coldly. I raised my chin
and stared boldly back, the smallest hope smouldering in my
heart.

About the
Author

Kate O’Leary,
has loved reading and
writing ever since she was young enough to try and get through the
back of her cupboard into Narnia, or through her mirror into
Wonderland! In high school she entertained her homeroom reading out
chapters of her first novel ‘Miranda’ about a teenage girls
adventures with her horse Rusty.

After school Kate studied Children's
Literature, and her first drafts of Twell were awarded in writing
competitions. Kate’s writing interest is firmly embedded in
dystopian fantasy, being continually fascinated with the future
direction of our world and the concepts of free will and moral vs.
lawful obligations. Twell’s adventures will continue to explore
these ideas in the Como Chronicles Trilogy.