rise of the saviors Read online

Easy for you to say, I think before I rub my hands together closing my eyes.

  Muscles in my upper back and neck tighten, fearing what’s to come. The energy produced by my own cells feels like a mild electroshock that attacks every nerve inside of me. I become painfully aware of the kinetic rush beneath my skin. It’s not just muscles, bones and organs that suffer from the dull, persistent ache; it’s also connective tissues, hair and nails and all that I am.

  I can feel almost every part of me now. The assault of sensations caused by electric signals traveling up and down my body eventually synthesize at the tips of my fingers.

  My hands produce rays of blue energy that have a mind of their own. I struggle to keep them in line and just barely manage to direct them to the generators. The first step to enhancing the shields, and thus making sure they will hold in case of an aerial attack, has been achieved.

  It will take several minutes for the generators to be fully charged.

  “Take a break,” Damian tells me when he notices the redness across the palms of my hands. He knows I should be careful not to push myself for several minutes in a row.

  “Just in time,” I say, realizing how close I’ve come to getting nasty burns all over my hands again. It’s pretty hard to tell when the damage is happening as I lose all sensation in my extremities while I form the energy fields.

  “I wish this was easier on you,” Damian says, kissing my hands.

  “I think you might love me a little after all,” I tease him.

  “Yeah, somebody has to do it.”

  I punch his shoulder and I swear he likes it. “Do you remember trying to tickle me to death one day up on the mountain camp when I was trying to power up the generator with the receptor?”

  “No, what day was that? Tell me more.”

  “It was just the day everything changed for the Saviors,” I protest. “The day that three scary Sliman warriors came looking for us.”

  “Oh, that day.”

  “You’re infuriating,” I say as he opens the tube the nurse gave us and rubs some ointment all over my hands.

  “I still think we’d be better off if I had killed them that day,” he says.

  “Really? Cause you’re so bad and mean?”

  “A lot of things would have been different,” he says pensively. “Maybe I wouldn’t have been kidnapped and you wouldn’t have had to die a couple times.”

  “Maybe we wouldn’t have gotten together.”

  “Maybe. And that would have been a much better choice for you.”

  Maybe I should just kiss you to shut you up, I think, but then I get a jolt in my hands as the numbness goes away.

  “It’s time to try again,” I say.

  This time I am able to focus faster and in a more efficient manner. I can tell by the way I manage to retain some feeling in my hands while yielding the energy that powers up the generators. First step is finally accomplished.

  I switch off the blue energy field to listen to the familiar sounds of the humming generators. All that needs to be done now is to direct the new power at the shield.

  The control room in the HQ is equipped with two main consoles and a number of smaller control panels on tables. It all seems a little more complicated than necessary.

  “It makes you wish Theo was here, doesn’t it?” Damian says.

  “There’s a manual somewhere,” I say pointing at a cabinet. “I’ve done this a few times with Theo. I’m sure I can pull it off.”

  Damian finds the manual that Theo has written and illustrated. He leafs through it. “That kid’s a genius,” he says.

  I smile as I start to mess with the keys on the console until the shield graph is brought up on the glass screen.

  “Here,” Damian says pointing at a drawing in the manual.

  “Got it,” I say while scanning the three-dimensional mapping of the security field. I press the key as shown in the manual and watch the waves in the energy field get longer and stronger. A confirmation code on the screen lets us know that the enhancing process has begun.

  “I can’t believe it might work after all,” Damian says with a smile.

  “Let that be a lesson to you. Never lose faith in me ever again.”

  “Right. You were the one who was completely freaking out.”

  My reply never crosses my lips. A thunder cuts across the room and the sky outside the windows turns red. The drones have re-activated with a bang and a thud.

  Kroll rushes into the room alongside Malzod.

  “We have detected ships approaching,” Malzod says. “Fully armed according to our sensors.”

  I turn to the screen to check the progress of the shield.

  “Eighty-three percent,” I mutter.

  “It will finish in no time,” Damian says.

  Malzod looks at me respectfully. “Are you in control of this new power Kroll has been talking about?”

  It would be nice to have a good answer. I try to collect myself, show the kind of leadership that is expected of me. Even though Damian has reclaimed his place as leader of the Saviors, the people of Exodus and Spring Town depend on my so-called powers at times like these.

  The room falls silent. I choose to follow my instinct which has sustained me through several crises. It has also come near to destroying me and everyone I care about a few times. But since no one offers an alternative…

  “I don’t really have to be in control of the energy,” I say. “I just have to make the aliens believe that I am.”

  “How will you do that?” Damian says.

  I turn to Kroll. “Call Dom. He can’t sedate Ava just yet.”

  Kroll vacillates between obeying my orders and speaking out his mind.

  “What is it?” I say. “There’s no time to waste.”

  “I can make her do whatever it is that you need her to do,” he says slowly. “There is a deep fear planted in her soul. I know where it’s coming from.”

  “Well, that’s good then,” I say. “That you know how to get her to help us.”

  “You don’t understand,” he says. “I can put more fear in her. But the fear will drive her crazy in the end. Or kill her.”

  He says that last part indifferently, almost as if suggesting that I don’t worry about it too much. My blood freezes as his meaning sets in.

  “Enough with talking,” Malzod cuts in. “Do as Freya says.”

  Kroll’s dislike of Malzod takes over his face. “I take no orders from you.”

  “Kroll, enough,” I say. “First things first.”

  “I got Dom,” Damian says showing me his touchpad. “It’s done.”

  “Thank you,” I say, relieved that at least one thing has been resolved.

  Kroll grinds his teeth and bows his head slightly.

  “Oh, it will take a lot more effort than that on your part,” I tell him half-jokingly but he doesn’t seem to get the joke. His eyes stay glued on me in search for a sign that he has been forgiven. I nod because it’s impossible to hold that gaze for much longer. It reminds me how unfair this whole arrangement is to all of us – especially Kroll.

  The camp is up and about again with almost everyone over the age of sixteen gathered on the paths that lead to the fields. The younger children have supervisors who have been wise enough not to let them out.

  I spot the drones in the distance. They are lit up with red lights. Their engines are on hyperdrive.

  It’s no small comfort that the shield is as ready and strong as can be but when the ships sweep silently in next to the drones, I begin to fully understand the depth of our predicament.

  We’ve never seen anything like this before. These ships are twice the size of any spacecraft known to have entered the atmosphere and not depend on propelling systems. Instead, they feed on energy fields similar to what Ava and I generate. This makes them fast and agile like dolphins in water.

  They are round and fat, they can hover, they can come to a halt in a second, they can go up and down, back and forth, pretty much like a
space satellite not restricted by gravity, and they are armed to the teeth. With weapons we might never be able to understand.

  The aliens want Ava really bad. Probably me as well. Because, as dangerous as they are, if these ships don’t get back to their base on time, they’re running the risk of losing all energy. They would then drop to the ground like ripe apples. They’ve put everything on the line for her.

  Sunrise bleeds into the sky with slow, deliberate spurts of a peachy pink paint. Kroll and Dom walk up to me with Ava between them. Little, tired Ava whose soul, according to Kroll, has been injected with fear.

  If we push her, she will do whatever we want. But at what risk to her and, ultimately, to us?

  “Ava, you have to help me,” I tell her. “You and I have to send a message to the aliens.”

  She turns away from me for a second but then decides to face me. “I can’t help you,” she says. “They know what I do. They know what I think and what I feel. They know I’m captured.”

  “Trust me, they don’t know what you feel,” Damian says.

  “You are monitored,” I tell her.

  “Of course,” she says with her eyes locked on Kroll who has produced a small digital syringe in his hands.

  “Should we send everyone who can’t fight inside?” Dom says.

  I shake my head. “It makes no difference. The shield is either going to hold or not. In the latter case, there’s no taking cover.”

  The ships begin to move closer at a slow pace giving us time to contemplate the gloomy prospect of their attack. My focus is on Kroll, though, and the syringe in his hands that seems to contain some form of transparent liquid.

  “This is a dose of hallocic serum,” he tells Ava. “You’ve seen it in the plantation labs. You know what it does.”

  We all know what it does but how did Kroll get his hands on it? He must be bluffing although nothing about the severe expression on his face and the confidence in his voice would betray that.

  It’s lucky Ava doesn’t know Kroll like I do. Or at least I hope I know him as well as I think I do. At this moment, he’s unreadable.

  A sharp, wailing howl comes from the sky. The bombs begin to fall.

  Instinctively, Damian puts his arms around me. The shield holds easily and when the bombing stops, there’s not a single crack in sight.

  “That was only for exhibition purposes,” Ava says.

  Kroll sinks the needle into her arm. “You can just do as you’re asked or I can push the serum into your veins by pressing a small button on my controller.”

  His threat cannot be taken lightly. The serum can turn a brain into a hallucinating pulp filled with images of sheer terror and a diminishing will power. I’ve never seen this kind of drug in action but I’ve heard the stories from Gritu and Malzod.

  “You haven’t even told me what you want from me,” Ava yells at Kroll.

  “It’s easy enough,” I say. “We want you to use your energy to enhance mine.”

  “That’s your big plan?” she says with a dismissive tone.

  “I told you before you shouldn’t concern yourself with my plans. Stick to the part that involves you.”

  “How do you even suggest I do that?” Ava says looking at the controller in Kroll’s hands. If he so chooses, he can release the serum in her arm in an instant. There’s no telling if she would be able to produce any energy if that happened. But it would be worth a shot.

  “When I create my energy field,” I say slowly, “I need you to stimulate my nerve impulses by directing your energy field at my spinal cord.”

  Damian puts an urgent hand on my shoulder. I turn to face him and as we look into each other’s eyes, he begins to understand and accept that we’re running out of options. That’s good, I guess, as I myself don’t fully understand what I’m doing. But if he sees some logic to my plan, maybe I’m not completely off in my calculations.

  “That’s ridiculous,” Ava says. “I could kill you so easily.”

  “Yes, but you won’t,” Kroll says, “unless you want to die yourself after a series of blood-curdling nightmares that will make you wish you were dead. I know you already understand. The serum has been used on you before, hasn’t it?” Kroll stares into her eyes like a concerned father. “I can free you, Ava. I know how to reverse the control you’re under.”

  A second bombing session begins before Ava has a chance to respond. The blasts bounce off the shield in a multitude of colors and shapes just like they did back up on Exodus L21 when I watched the explosions with Finn. As soon as they hit the force field, the blasts turn into sparks and flames that fade away within seconds leaving a trail of smoky light behind.

  “It will not work,” Ava says.

  “We have to move fast,” Damian tells me. “It will be like that day at Plantation-8 when you used the energy from the alien receptors to bring down the doombirds.”

  I nod. “You’ll have to guide Ava’s energy. I can’t do it this time.”

  The bombing stops but the first crack in the shield is visible on our monitors. It’s about an inch wide and a few feet long but it’s only the beginning.

  “It’s now or never,” I say as I start rubbing my hands together. I can handle the feelings of pressure and tension that ripple throughout my body. What I can’t handle is not knowing what Ava is willing to do.

  Her power is far greater than mine and once her hands are free, all that will remain between her and the drones above will be Kroll’s little needle in her arm and Damian’s guidance.

  Add to that the fact I don’t believe there’s any hallocic serum in Kroll’s syringe. There’s no serum of any kind. Sugar water is my best guess.

  Damian releases Ava as a blue energy field starts forming in my hands like a crystal ball. He puts his hands over hers to stabilize them.

  I turn to Dom. “Go to control and open the shield just a crack.”

  Dom looks puzzled.

  “I can’t very well blast the ships from within the shield,” I tell him.

  Dom leaves but I begin to feel even more uncertain about my plan. I can keep the energy stable without too much effort but the idea of turning it into multiple offensive energy fields and direct them all at once at the huge ships above frightens me to my core.

  When Ava’s energy hits my spine, my head is filled with persistent static noise. The world turns blurry as a mist covers my eyes and I struggle to see through it. The shield opens up right above my head and my energy field explodes in several distinct rays that travel up toward the crack.

  Everything in me screams out. The mortal agony within urges me to stop depleting my body’s reserves. The steady electric impulses along my spine coming from Ava keep me going against my own will. It’s impossible to stop. My energy producing nerves are under constant stimulation.

  The energy field gets through the opening in the shield and hits a ship, blasting a hole in its body. It starts spinning out of control when a second ship stabilizes it by throwing a light-amplified electromagnetic net around it.

  I get ready to hit another ship but seconds later all the ships and drones veer suddenly away and begin to retreat to the west. Damian violently pulls Ava’s hands away from each other to interrupt her energy field.

  I lose my balance and fall heavily to the ground like a puppet whose strings got cut. Damian runs to me. “Freya,” he says taking me in his arms. “They are leaving. It looks like they were testing you.”

  “Did they get their answer?”

  “They did. They’re scared of you once again,” he says smiling. The next moment he’s yelling into his touchpad for Dom to seal the openings in the shield.

  It all feels a bit unreal, like the time when three Sliman showed up at my mother’s doorstep to collect me. I had an out-of-body experience then as I do now: it’s all a dream and I can watch myself trying to get out of it.

  I look over at Ava and realize she’s unconscious. “What happened?”

  “She collapsed,” Damian says. “She’s
not stronger than you after all.”

  Kroll’s nostrils take in the morning air noisily. “I don’t know,” he says. “I’ve seen enough experiments and mutations to know there’s always more to results than meets the eye. This girl… something’s off with her.”

  “Just take her back inside,” Damian commands.

  Kroll looks to me questioningly. When I nod my approval, he bows to me before he picks up Ava with one hand as if she were a kitten.

  “What now?” Damian says kissing my forehead. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m fine, all things considered. We have to get back on Exodus. Things have changed. We have to rethink our plans. Unless you have a better idea.”

  “No, I think you’re right.”

  He helps me to my feet and we take the path back to our room. I regain my strength slowly. I can breathe without too much effort, plus I don’t think my spine has suffered any serious injuries. Maybe a superficial burn or two.

  “Your hands look fine,” Damian says.

  I look down to verify his observation. I realize I haven’t thought of my poor hands at all. The new skin is intact. I smile. “Maybe I’m getting better at this.”

  We enter our room to find Tobi sleeping on the bed between his two adolescent baby-sitters. Seeing him sleep so peacefully makes my heart ache. His little fingers are coiled in his palms and there’s a smile on his lips. He is my absolute everything. He calms my ravaged soul.

  The girls look at us questioningly.

  “It’s all good,” I reassure them.

  Damian takes me by the hand and leads me into an adjoining room. This room is not occupied which explains why there are no covers on the bed.

  I start to mumble something about how we have to get in touch with Exodus as soon as possible but find myself in Damian’s arms instead.

  “It can wait for a little while,” he whispers in my ear.

  “We don’t have a little while,” I try to protest but his lips are on mine already, hot and impatient. He smells of the morning breeze and explosions.

  His weary tenderness is so honest and inviting. My body relaxes into his embrace. I am finally able to release some tension. My mind is drained of all the pestering thoughts of survival and strategy. He reduces me to a single impulse. I want to lose myself in him.