Hero Born: Project Solaris (18 page)

My head began to throb, but I kept looking. I couldn't make sense of most of it, but eventually I found a map of holding cells. I tried to hold onto it, but it went swirling away. Thankfully I'd seen enough to trace a path from my location. There were at least two people being held there, and once they were free the three of us could try to find everyone else.

Chapter 29- Round Up

I padded quietly down the dark stone. Odd sounds echoed through the craft: the occasional ping of metal, and something that sounded like grinding gears. I had no idea what either was, and right then I didn't care. The only sounds I strained to hear were footsteps or the grey men's odd chittering language. Fortunately I didn't hear either as I made my way farther from the control crystal. Sooner or later they'd figure out I was loose. They had four bodies to stumble across, after all. I quickened my pace, hurrying in what I hoped was the right direction.

I heard the steady drip of water as I finally rounded another bend, and found the cells I'd seen in the control crystal. The first held an unconscious Jillian, slowly rotating with her head lolling on one shoulder. The other held a very awake, very irritated-looking Summers. Frosty blue eyes glared at me as she rotated around.

I was about to take a step into the clearing when a pair of grey men entered from another direction. One of them wiped a hand across its mouth, smearing away something red and sticky. It didn't look like blood; it was too bright for that. Maybe it was whatever passed for food to them.

I ducked between a pair of obelisks as they approached. They chittered back and forth, one holding a golden boomerang in one hand. It used the device to scan Summers, then moved towards Jillian. As it passed my hiding spot, I aimed my boomerang. I concentrated on making the beam wider and stronger, and the grey man simply ceased to exist. The scanning device clattered to the ground, drawing the attention of the other grey man.

I darted from my hiding place, firing another blast. The grey man's boomerang was still pooling in its palm when the shot hit. The creature had enough time to give a brief cry as it too disintegrated.
 

A quick scan of the clearing revealed the cells' control obelisk, and I reached out with my senses to access it. A moment later the bars surrounding both cages melted back into the floor. I moved to Jillian, catching her as the field deactivated. She was breathing, and I couldn't find any obvious injury. I had exactly zero medical training though, and I didn't have any clue how to wake her.

"A little help, please," came Summers' irritated voice.

I gestured towards the control obelisk again, releasing Summers from the levitation field. My attention stayed on Jillian. That was probably why I missed the grey man coming up behind me.

"David, move!" Summers shouted.
 

I started to spin, but it was too late. The grey man had a boomerang raised, and it unleashed a wave of green energy that caught me full in the chest. I was flung backwards. Every muscle in my body was on fire. My shirt and the skin on my chest had been burned away, exposing bloody muscle and a few ribs. I could do nothing but stare at the hideous injury. My breathing came in rapid, shallow gasps, and I was dimly aware of Summers gliding forward. She scooped up one of the fallen boomerangs and fired a trio of pulses at the newly arrived grey man. It had time to give a shriek, then its smoking body tumbled to the floor at Summers' feet.

She stalked over to me like a tiger, kneeling next to me to study the wound. "Walk it off, princess. You'll be fine."

A surge of rage rushed through me. I could
see my frigging ribs
. I was not going to be fine. Unfortunately, I was in too much pain to speak, or even to glare.

"I know it hurts," Summers said, giving me a wicked smile. "And yes, I may be enjoying this a little too much. Remember that you killed four of my friends. Consider this payback. Besides, like I said, you'll be fine. Look."

I glanced down at my chest. The bleeding had stopped, and the wound was beginning to scab over.
 

"See? Quit your pouting. Most supers have different powers, but there are some commonalities. Regeneration is one of them," Summers explained. She stood and started gathering boomerangs and scanning devices. "Usir thinks it's a prerequisite to surviving the testing. Anyone who doesn't manifest regeneration dies from the intense radiation. If you survive, you have the ability to heal most wounds, though don't expect to grow back a limb or anything. You're not a starfish."

My skin itched and burned as the wound continued to scab. Each breath was a little easier than the last, and I was healing more rapidly than Jillian's bullet wound had. That raised a whole host of questions. I didn't think my regeneration was any stronger than hers, so why was it more effective? It had to be the place. Healing, like all our powers, required energy. It was all around us, infusing the ship.

Summers knelt next to Jillian, delivering a series of sharp slaps until Jillian awoke and started scrambling backwards. "Good, you're awake too. Take a moment to get your bearings, then help medium-rare over there. We need to get moving before more of them show up." She had a boomerang in each hand, and had tucked one of the scanning devices into her jeans pocket.

Jillian knelt next to me, taking me by the shoulder and helping me to my feet. I bit back a cry of pain as the scabs on my chest tore. I teared up and felt more than a little light-headed, but the feeling passed after a few moments.

"Thanks," I mumbled. I pointed at one of the boomerangs on the floor near Summers. "Can you hand me one of those? I don't think I can bend over."

Summers obliged, handing across the one in her left hand then picking up a replacement. "You and I are the only ones who can fire these, and I can only do it as long as you're awake. We have to keep you on your feet."

"I'll do my best," I replied through gritted teeth. Every movement was agonizing. "Remember that they can still control you through your sliver. They can't do that to Jillian or I, which gives us an edge."

"They can't control you?" Summers asked, eyeing me skeptically. "How the hell did you pull that off?"

"It happened when we used Object 3," Jillian said. I leaned heavily on her as we limped down a path in what I hoped was the right direction. "We met a guardian of some kind. It called itself Ka, and it did something to deactivate the slivers."

"I might be able to duplicate it," I said. The words hurt. Breathing hurt. "Need some time to study it, though. Maybe if we survive this."

"In the meantime, I'm going to keep out of sight," Summers said, shimmering out of existence. What must it be like to have access to so many powers?

We continued up the path, eventually reaching another clearing. This one was mercifully clear of grey men, though it did contain three cells, each occupied.
 

The first held a slowly rotating Usir, his cold eyes scanning us as they passed. The next held a guard I didn't recognize, but it was the last one I was most interested in. Kali was inside.

Her hair had been shaved, leaving a completely smooth scalp white enough to shine in the soft white light coming from above. That might grow back, but the rest of what they'd done to her was more permanent. The whites of Kali's eyes were just gone. In their place were the flat, black eyes of a grey man. The rest of her face was normal, jaw working soundlessly as she stared at us. If she'd been able to run and hide from us, I think she would have.

"Oh my god," Jillian whispered, stiffening next to me. "What did they do to you?"

"I don't know," Kali sobbed, though no tears came from those horrible eyes. "They're in my head. I can feel them, slithering around."

"You're going to be all right. We'll find a way to fix this," I said, though I wasn't confident there was anything we could really do.

"How do we open them?" Summers' disembodied voice asked.

I concentrated on the control obelisk, and the bars melted into the floor. A moment later, the fields followed, and the prisoners abruptly dropped.
 

Usir landed in a graceful crouch that belied his age; the others simply thudded to the ground. I'd missed it while focused on Kali, but I could have sworn Usir look a few years younger than he had when we'd arrived at the ship. That, too, made sense. He was feeding on the energy.

"Well done," Usir said, rubbing the back of his neck as he approached. "How did you escape?" He eyed my charred shirt and scab-covered chest.

"Our slivers have been deactivated," I explained. The pain was finally receding, but my chest still ached. "I broke loose and overpowered the grey man guarding me. They're powerful, but they tend to underestimate us."

"How many have you killed getting here?" Usir asked.

Jillian released me and moved to comfort Kali. The teen sobbed into her shoulder, arms wrapped around Jillian in a death grip. I knew what it was like to be ripped away by the grey men when you didn't understand what was happening.

"Eight," I said, counting quickly. "That means there are at least sixteen left. More than enough to overwhelm us if they get the drop again."

"Let's not let that happen," Summers said, shimmering into existence next to Usir. "Are there any other prisoners?"

The last guard was a wiry man with grey stubble and a strong jaw. He cleared his throat. "I saw at least four more people led off in that direction. They were being escorted by Marcus and a few other supers."

"We have to rescue them," Summers demanded, rounding on Usir. "I already know what you're going to say. It's too risky. Fuck you. I owe Marcus."

"Be practical," Usir snapped, his eyes flaring a very unnatural green. I'd never seen anything like it, not among any of the supers. What the hell
was
he? "Our emotions are the reason they have the advantage. Logic is what will save us here. If you try to rescue Marcus, you'll end up captured, and they'll use you to kill the rest of us."

"I hate to say it, but he's right," I said, squeezing Kali's shoulder in a show of support. The teen avoided eye contact with everyone, moving to stand behind Jillian. I wanted to comfort her, but now wasn't the time. "We need to seize control of the ship and do what we came here to do. That might mean we all die, but if we can shut down the beacon thousands of people will be free of the grey men. That's worth my life. It's worth all our lives."

"I'm with David," Jillian said, turning to Summers. "I want to save Marcus and the other supers. It's even possible we can do that, but the best way is using the control crystal at the center of the ship. David might be able to shut down their slivers, but whether he can or can't, he needs to deal with that beacon first."

"
We
need to deal with it," I corrected. "Summers has my powers, so she can help. We hack this control crystal. Deal with the beacon, then we free the supers. I'm not open to negotiation, so don't try. Let's move."

So we moved.

Chapter 30- Running Battle

We headed toward the center of the ship, using the vaulted ceiling for navigation. We could easily see where we were in relation to the center, which meant we could always orient ourselves towards the control crystal. It was a simple and very practical design--a hallmark of the grey men, it seemed.

I plunged to the front of the group, next to Summers, despite the pain each breath caused. It was manageable, but only just. I grabbed Summers by the shoulder. "If we're going to move, let's move smart. You and Jillian should cloak us. We can't afford to let them get the drop on us."

She spun to face me, raising a boomerang to my face. Her eyes were wild, and her lip curled up in a snarl. "Don't ever touch me. Ever."

I didn't even see Jillian fade out, but I definitely saw her reappear. Right behind Summers. She seized Summers' wrist in one hand, and the back of her neck in the other.
 

"Don't," she breathed into Summers' ear. Her entire body was coiled, waiting to strike if Summers resisted. Summers didn't move.

"Look, you're pissed. I get it. But this isn't going to get Marcus back," I said, stepping around her and into the lead. "Take it out on the grey men. They'll be after us soon."

As if to punctuate my words, we heard the chittering calls of our enemies. Several sounded in rapid succession, from all around us. Everywhere except for the direction we were going, thankfully.
 

"They're herding us," Usir said, joining me at the front of our little column.
 

"How do you figure?" Summers asked, starting back up the path towards the control crystal.

"That's the only reason they'd have let loose those calls," Usir replied, matching my pace with the easy gait of a lifelong athlete. This place was definitely changing him. "They want us to know where they are, or, more importantly, where they aren't. They'll have an ambush waiting at the crystal."

It made sense. Hell, I'd read about being herded like this in everything from
The Wheel of Time
to
The
Fox and the Hound
. You harry your prey, and get them to run face first into whatever you have waiting. They're too focused on what's behind them to even notice.

"So what do we do about it?" Jillian asked.

"We use the only advantage we have. Right now they underestimate us," I said, pausing to let Jillian and Kali catch up. Kali still wasn't meeting anyone's gaze. "Summers, you want to save Marcus? This is how we do it. You'll sustain invisibility on the entire group. Stay in the rear. Our only real weapons are the supers they can't control. That means me, Jillian, and Kali. The three of us unleash hell the instant we see anything worth killing."
 

"An excellent plan, David. Does everyone understand their role?" Usir asked, giving me an approving nod.

There were some tense glances, but all of us nodded. Usir gestured up the obelisk-lined pathway, and Jillian took the lead. Kali and I followed after. The teen took several deep breaths, but looked like she was ready. More ready than I was, in all likelihood. I gave her a smile as cool energy washed over us and we faded from sight.