Alone in the Crowd (The Chronicles of Anna Foster Book 3) (17 page)

Jason leaned toward Anna. “What do you think it will do?”

Cooper snatched the pistol from Cary’s hand and, shoving him out of the way, aimed the weapon at the ball. “I’ll show you what it will do!”

Anna thrust her free hand in his direction. “No! Wait!”

Anna’s words came too late as a blast of energy left the muzzle of Cooper’s weapon and grazed the sphere’s smooth shell before impacting against the roof of the cave. A split second later, a blue glowing spot appeared on the shell, facing Cooper’s position. Before the soldier could react, a tight beam emanated from the spot and pierced the pistol in his hand. The pistol glowed red before exploding in his hands and propelling him into the wall behind.

“Cooper!” Tomomi screamed as she rushed to his side.

“Damn it!” Anna moved quickly toward Cooper. As she reached him and knelt, Tomomi turned away sobbing.

Anna assessed the damage while Cooper convulsed uncontrollably. His hand was gone, leaving a burned, bloody stump in its place. Shards of metal and plastic littered his arm, chest, belly, and face. Blood oozed from each wound.

“Tomomi,” Anna asked while trying to calm her voice. “Do you know any first aid?”

“Yes, a little.”

“Then, stop crying, get over here, and tend to his wounds.”

The scientist kneeled next to her and fished through Cooper’s gear, looking for medical supplies. Anna backed away and wheeled about to stare hard at the floating sphere, while Cary moved to assist Tomomi. Jason stood still and continued to gaze at the orb.

“Why?” muttered Anna while shaking her head at his unmoving body. “Why did you have to do this?”

As Anna watched, the sphere dropped several centimeters and began to glow with a soft, blue light, dim at first but quickly grew in intensity in a matter of seconds.

“Shield your eyes!” Anna gave her warning as she raised her arm over her eyes. She hoped the others did the same. An instant later, the light disappeared, plunging the tunnel in darkness.

Anna lowered her arm and opened her eyes, blinking to let them adjust to the low-light conditions again. She panned her gaze around after several seconds. Jason was doing the same. Another man stood near to where the sphere had been a moment before.

He appeared to be a young man in his early teens wearing a white T-shirt, blue jeans, and a letterman’s jacket with the same red, white, and blue colors as the high school she had attended in Seattle. Anna immediately recognized his short, blond hair, muscular figure, and charming good looks.

She gave him with a curious look. “Bryce?”

“Welcome back, Anna.” He gave a smug smile. “I missed you.”

Jason glanced between them. “Who is this guy? What’s going on, Anna?”

“What are you doing here?” She paid no attention to Jason’s question. “Aren’t you supposed to be on Earth?”

“The real Bryce is. You don’t remember, but you chose my presence the last time you were here.”

Anna’s eyes widened, and she and Jason
both asked, “The last time?”

“I’ll explain later. You have injured companions. Follow me.”

As Bryce turned and strode further down the tunnel, Jason and Anna looked at each other for a second in curious speculation. Then, she turned to the scientists behind them. “Cary, you and I will carry Anderson. Is Cooper stable for now?”

Cary nodded and moved toward the stretcher as Tomomi replied, “I’ve bound his arm and stopped some of the bleeding. But, I don’t think I have enough here to fully treat him. We need to get him back to the colony.”

“I don’t think we can get him back there in time. Jason, carry Cooper. We need to move, now.”

“Where are we going?” Jason asked as he reached Cooper’s side. “Are we following that guy?”

“For now. I have a good idea of where he’s taking us.”

“I’m not sure we can trust him. I mean, where did he come from? Is he actually that sphere that was with us before?”

“I think he is.” Anna positioned herself to help Cary move the stretcher.

“What if he’s leading us into a trap?”

“Jason, if he wanted to kill us, he would have done so by now. You see what he did to Cooper. Why stop there if he wants us dead? I think he merely defended himself when our fearless hero here fired on him. Besides, something tells me that I should trust him.”

“What do you mean?” Jason probed.

Anna smiled grimly. “I’m not sure yet. Something in the back of my mind tells me that he has our, or at least my, best interests at heart. I can’t explain it just yet.”

As they set off down the tunnel, Jason sighed. “I sure hope you’re right about this.”

“I don’t know about you guys,” Cary interjected. “But, this is the kind of discovery that I always dreamed I’d find!”

Anna cocked her head. “And, there you are. Let’s go!”

Jason sighed again as the group followed their new guide.

They arrived at the Altiki facility
several minutes later. As the entrance opened and allowed them to enter, Jason and the scientists gasped in awe.

“How did you know this was here?” Jason stepped through the doorway.

“I discovered this while I searched for the way out.”

“Can we get out through this place?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

Bryce pointed ahead. “Not much further.”

“Where are you taking us?” Cary asked.

“We have medical facilities to treat your wounded.”

Cary cocked an eyebrow while Tomomi glanced at him for a second. “Who are you?”

“You may call me Bryce.”

“That’s all well and good, but that doesn’t really answer my question. Who are you?”

“No more questions for now.”

Bryce stopped, turned to his right, and waved his hand at the blank, metal wall. A portal opened before him, and he walked through. Cary and Tomomi looked back at Anna, expectant.

“Well,
follow him.” Anna waved her fingers at them with a hint of impatience, urging them forward.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,”
Jason whispered to himself.

They carried Anderson and Cooper through the portal into a spacious, dimly-lit room in which six wide beds lined the far wall. Other furnishings, which resembled storage cabinets and tables, lined the other three walls. Bryce stood next to a semi-circular console positioned in the middle of the room.

“Place each of your companions on one of the beds.”

Tomomi squinted as she looked around the room. “Is it possible to turn up the lights in here?”

“They are already at maximum.”

Her eyes widened as she stopped next to one of the beds. “Interesting.”

“I’d love to look around this place for a few days,” Cary said to Tomomi as he and Anna lifted Anderson onto the bed.

“Me, too. Imagine what we could learn about the people that built this place.”

After Jason and Tomomi had set Cooper on the bed next to Anderson’s, Bryce waved a hand over the lone panel, activating a series of holographic displays. The light from the displays reflected off his face. Anna and the scientists walked over to him to watch him work, while Jason stood next to Cooper.

“I need to conduct an initial scan. It shouldn’t take too long, since we have your anatomical scans to use as a basis for comparison.” Bryce plunged his fingers into various images floating before his face.

In response, a blue light radiating from beneath the beds swept over the two reclining bodies, producing a full color, three-dimensional image of each of them within the displays.

Bryce examined the pictures. “Tomomi, Anna suggested that you have some medical training. Is that correct?”

She paused for but a second. “I have some first aid training.”

He pointed to the display of Cooper. “This one’s arms have an increased amount of blood in these areas, indicating injury. Is this correct?”

“Yes.” She pointed to each limb in turn with her good arm as she spoke. “This one has two broken bones. And, this arm lost its hand when you shot and destroyed his weapon.” Tomomi’s accusing tone could not be mistaken.

Without hesitation, Bryce answered, “I defended myself from his attacks and was just trying to disarm him. I did not intend to bring harm to him.”

“Well, you did! And now…”

“Tomomi,” Cary interrupted. “He’s trying to reverse the damage done. Help him.”

The anger faded from her eyes, and she turned back to their host. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can begin immediate treatment on the first patient. Current estimated time for completion of the healing process is two glasal, eleven nathal, and forty radal.”

“How long is that?” Cary looked confused.

“I do not have a basis for comparison to translate the time increments.”

Anna intervened, “I suspect that it’s less than a day, maybe a couple of hours.”

Bryce continued, almost talking over Anna. “As for the second patient, I show that he has perished and has begun decaying. Repairing his injuries will take a bit longer.”

“You can bring him back to life?” Jason exclaimed.

Bryce nodded. “It is possible, but it is something we have never done before with one of your kind. While we prepare for the procedure, I would ask that we scan each of you to help us determine how to best proceed in resuscitating him.”

“I’ll go first.” Anna casually raised her hand.

“Actually,” Bryce said. “We already have you on file. We need the others.”

Anna sensed the stares from her fellow humans and quickly looked at each of them with a bewildered look. “What? I had no idea that they had this information about me. I don’t know how they got it.”

“They had to get it somehow,” Cary suggested. “Do you recall any time in the past where you have no memory of what you did?”

“No, I remember everything…”

Anna probed through her memories, back to the time when she had first entered the pyramid, shortly after her arrival on the moon. Kate had told her she had been missing for over a month after her unplanned trip into the caverns. Maybe that was when they got the information about her!

“Bryce, when did you get all of this information about me?”

“I cannot answer that.”

Jason planted his hands on his hips. “And why not?”

“That information is classified.”

“I expected that,” Cary stated.

“What if I beat it out of you?” threatened Jason.

“Jason.” Anna stepped in. “That wouldn’t do any good. Remember the sphere?”

Jason shook his head and fell silent.

“So, what do you remember?” Cary asked. “Does anything come to mind now?”

“I do remember a period of time when I first arrived here on Paradise, when I…” Anna began.

“Paradise?” Cary asked, confused.

“Haven, sorry. I had called this moon Paradise when I first arrived. Anyway,” she continued before the scientist could interrupt again. “Shortly after I crashed here, I discovered the pyramid and fell into the same trap we did earlier. Sometime later, I woke up outside again and found that I had no memories of what happened over the previous month.”

Cary nodded. “That’s probably when it happened.”

“I’ll go first,” interjected Tomomi. “I’m still in a bit of pain myself.”

She stepped toward the bed next to Anderson. She glanced at Jason and gave a brief smile before lying down and placing her free hand atop her waist.

“Cary,” Anna muttered. “Are you still hurt from our fall earlier? Why don’t you join her?”

He frowned. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll wait to see what happens first.”

A few seconds later, a blue strip of light passed over Tomomi from head to toe, and her image appeared above the console. The image immediately indicated her broken arm.

“You have a broken arm, too.” Bryce’s comment carried an unemotional tone. “Beginning repairs.”

He gestured into the holographic interface, and a wire grid in the shape of a small tower composed of blue light formed at the foot of each bed. The towers developed a more solid appearance after another half-second. Once complete, they each beamed a stream of white light at Tomomi’s and Cooper’s arms.

Jason and Cary stared at the tower on Cooper’s bed, puzzled expressions on their faces. Jason stepped over to it and knelt to look at it at its level.

“Be careful, Jason,” warned the scientist. “We don’t know what it could do.”

“What can it do?” Jason continued to stare at the small tower. “It’s only a hologram.”

Jason reached out his hand with outstretched fingers toward the base of the tower, until his fingers touched its surface. Surprised, Jason looked back at Anna and Cary over his shoulder. “It’s solid!”

“What?” Cary moved with haste toward Cooper’s bed. “That can’t be!”

“It is! See for yourself!”

Jason stood and stepped back, letting Cary touch the tower.

“That’s impossible; a solid hologram?”

Watching the scene unfold with raised eyebrows, Anna turned to Bryce and rested her hand on what felt to her like the boiled wool of a high school letterman’s jacket.

Anna gasped. “Are you real?”