Shutdown (Glitch) (11 page)

I was tired, more in soul than in body, as I walked down the east corridor. Imagining myself as steel had gotten me through the past couple hours, but now that I was finally alone again, the reality of what had happened, and what it meant, came crashing back in.

As I passed the Caf, I saw a section of the east hallway that was almost completely caved in. I knew if I backtracked a little, I could go around and enter the Med Center from the west corridor entrance, but I went closer to inspect the damage anyway. This was because of me. The least I could do was start cleaning it up. It was four in the morning, but I certainly wasn’t going to risk sleeping any more tonight. I sighed and started pulling away the collapsed steel beams with my telek.

*   *   *

The next day we continued cleaning up. The whole east wing was trashed. After we’d made it out last night, the other support struts had failed and caved in a long portion of hallway.

“But all my things!” Ginni cried when Jilia told us. “I was starting this new dress design; it was really going to be something special. I can’t just leave it—”

“I’m sure we’ll be able to get through to get your things,” Jilia said, then paused. “Eventually. But in the meantime, we’ll have to triple up in the dorms that are cleared. All boys in one dorm room, girls in the other.”

“Max Jr. and I will not share a room with
her
.”

I didn’t look up. I was tired of Molla’s accusing eyes, and frankly, I was afraid I’d say something I regretted if I looked back at her. It wasn’t like I’d meant to bring the shunting mountain down on us! Guilt followed. It didn’t matter if I meant to. I’d done it anyway.

“You and the baby can sleep in the Med Center,” Jilia said, always conciliatory. I didn’t know how she managed sometimes, putting up with all of us. While I was officially in charge, she was the one people looked to for internal disputes.

“Eli, Wytt, and I will start clearing the debris,” said Cole.

I jumped up. “I’ll help you.”

“Me too,” Xona said.

We both followed the three ex-Regs out of the training center and back toward the east wing. Jilia was right. About five feet in, rubble completely blocked the hallway. The ex-Regs were surprisingly nimble in spite of their heavy metal exoskeletons. Eli and Wytt climbed up to the top of the rubble and started handing down heavy pieces of concrete and metal. Xona was about to join them when I held up a hand.

“Wait,” I said. “I think I have a faster way to do this. Just tell me where we’re putting the debris.”

“We’ll have to get it out of here,” Wytt said, jumping back down, his metal feet bracings resounding with a loud
clang
as he hit the ground. “There’s an unpaved dump site along the side of the transport bay, all still underground. It should be a safe place for disposal.”

“Has anyone checked on it yet?” I asked. “Made sure it’s still stable up there?”

“Jilia checked last night,” Xona said. “All the transports are fine and elevator’s operational too.”

I breathed out. “Good.”

I turned toward the debris blocking the hallway in front of us and let my telek buzz and expand under my skin. I imagined the energy passing through the bridge of my pores and out into the hallway. I could feel the whole space now, in that peculiar way that happened when I focused my telek. It was as if the hall was inside me, rotating in the space of my head like a 3-D projection cube. And in this space, little things like weight and gravity didn’t apply.

I easily lifted a large five-foot-diameter chunk of steel and rock, carefully dislodging it as best I could from the surrounding wall and ceiling pieces. I brought it out, easily catching the rest of the debris that threatened to tumble down now that a supporting piece had been taken away. It was as easy as untangling a pile of fallen children’s blocks.

Xona whistled. “Well, if you can clear it away this quick, I bet repairs won’t be as hard as we thought. Rand can help us melt down the steel to mold new struts and you can keep the space stable while we rebuild.” Her eyes were sharp as she calculated in her head.

I nodded. Yes. I would help them rebuild. But then I would leave. I was sure the news would make Molla and City happy, at least.

“Come on,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t betray any of the emotion I felt inside. “Let’s get this junk out of here.”

Xona and Cole walked with me while the other two ex-Regs stayed behind to keep clearing. They were chatting, but I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts to listen.

How would I leave? I’d have to tell Jilia or the Professor, at least, and the techer boy, so he could give me a safe device to communicate in case they needed me. As long as I had a med container to sleep in, I could go anywhere. The Chancellor wouldn’t expect that. She still didn’t know I could control my allergy now.

But Adrien. How could I leave
him
? I missed a step at the thought, barely managing to keep myself upright and not lose hold of the load that was floating along behind us. I clenched my jaw. Steel. I would be steel.

I was only able to fit half the load in the elevator at a time, so Xona and Wytt stayed up with the rest of the debris while I took a trip up to the transport bay. I tugged the load out of the elevator, glad to see that Jilia had been right: there was no damage here at all. The wide paved runway and three transports were clear of rubble. The walls of the low bay were unfinished rock, machine marks from where they’d been carved out still visible. I squinted a little at the light coming through the windows of the retractable bay door that opened to the Surface at the end of the runway. I dropped the load of twisted metal and rock in the unpaved pit we’d dug out by the far wall.

When I turned to walk back to the elevator, I paused. What was that strange high-pitched whine? It had been getting louder over the last minute. I frowned and tried to listen closer. Maybe the quake had busted a pipe nearby.

I followed the noise, walking down the runway to the wide door that opened to the Surface.
It must be coming from outside
. I looked out the small window.

Three troop transports circled above the top of the canyon, and they weren’t ours. One broke out of formation.

It headed straight toward the transport bay where I stood.

Chapter 8

I BACKED AWAY FROM THE
window as if, if I couldn’t see it, I could pretend it wasn’t real. It was impossible. Everyone had seemed so confident the quake wouldn’t be a problem, and the techer had assured us he’d be able to track anything coming. Obviously we’d all been wrong.

I felt sick as I frantically touched my wrist com. “There are fliers above the canyon!” I couldn’t keep the panic out of my voice. “Enact plan Emergency Exodus. Everyone get to the escape pods now!”

I ran to the elevator and rode it down, pacing in the small space. Every second counted. Why was this elevator so slow? I bypassed the allergen shower and hit the button to open the door directly into the entry hall.

When the doors opened, the small open foyer was crowded with confused people. Some of my team were there, along with Tyryn, Jilia, and the Professor. Max Jr. was crying again, but I was glad that Molla and the baby had made it here first. There were three escape pods in this room. They’d be able to get in one.

The internal alarm started going off, a loud beeping that should alert everyone to get to the pod nearest to them.

Xona ran up to me. “What’s going on? Ginni just com’d the techer and he said he hasn’t seen anything on the Sat Imagery.”

“Then they’re cloaked somehow.” I strode forward. “I saw them with my own eyes. Three fliers, circling.”

She swore.

I let my telek expand out beyond my body, beyond the hallway, beyond the mountain and into the air. Yes, there they were. One was landing on a small ledge right near the transport bay where I’d been standing moments ago.

“Shunt, they’re landing!” I looked at Jilia, Tyryn, and the Professor. “Get to your pods and start loading people in, quick as you can.” The pods would shuttle underground through to the other side of the mountain range before launching and turning into normal air transports. “Launch them as soon as they’re at capacity, there’s not much time.”

They nodded, hearing what I didn’t say. Each pod could only seat up to fifteen. There were only ten working pods, and over three hundred people crammed in the Foundation at the moment. There wouldn’t be enough for everyone, but we still had to try to get as many people out of here as we could. I looked around for Henk but didn’t see him. Hopefully he was helping people into pods wherever he was.

For a moment panic swallowed me. I’d failed everyone again. So many people would be left behind. But the next second, I realized there was no time for those thoughts now. I just needed to do what must be done.

More and more refugees came in, shouting to know what was going on. Tyryn and Jilia started directing them into the pods on both sides of the entryway. One pod quickly filled up. They were supposed to be filled half with refugees, half with Rez fighters, but in the chaos, the scared refugees had filled all the seats in the shuttle.

“Tyryn, get on board, then launch!” I called. Tyryn nodded. We needed at least one head Rez operative who knew the launch protocol on board each pod. He entered, taking a couple of extra people with him even though they wouldn’t have harnesses to belt themselves in with. Rez fighters held back the surging crowd so he could slide the door shut behind him. Good, at least one pod was off safely.

I’d been keeping my mind’s eye on the transport that landed. A flood of large bodies poured out of it, followed by a very small one. I felt the contours of the small figure. It felt like a little girl. They were approaching the entrance gate at the transport bay.

“I’ve got to get Adrien out,” I shouted to Xona. “We’ll try to get in Pod 5 by the Med Center. I’ll get it filled and launched.”

She nodded, grabbing Cole’s hand and sprinting down the hallway to help with the other pods.

Suddenly, I couldn’t see anything with my telek at all. All my energy slammed back into my body, making me stagger backward a few steps. The next second, my power was gone completely. I tried to project outward again, but there was no buzzing, no rush of power.

Rand had been rubbing his palms together, no doubt preparing to unleash his power on the intruders, but suddenly he stood up and frowned.

My blood seemed to freeze in my veins. “Rand, what is it?”

“My power,” he said, staring down at his hands. “It’s not working.”

I turned to City. “Does yours work?”

She raised her hand, then frowned when nothing happened.

I swore. “They must have a glitcher with them who can somehow, I don’t know, negate our abilities. Just get to the pods before they blast their way in!” We were no match for Regs without our powers.

“We’ll go get everyone out of the Caf,” Rand said, pulling City along behind him.

They took off sprinting, and I looked around at the crowd. There were only three pods in this bay and far too many people.

“The pods are filling here,” I shouted into the crowd. “Head toward the other pods!” But the noise was so loud, barely anyone heard me.

A loud banging noise sounded above us, shaking the walls. The lights flickered several times and people started screaming.

When the lights came back on, I grabbed a tall refugee man holding his young daughter in his arms. “Follow me!” I shouted. I pulled on the arms of several others who were closest to me, then I took off down the west corridor toward the Med Center. We’d had compound-wide practice routes to the pods before, but the compound hadn’t been nearly so full the last time we ran a drill. I passed more people crowding around pod sites. I slowed for a moment outside Pod 5. It was already stuffed to the brim.

I stopped at the Med Center, but waved the group behind me onward. “There are two more pods at the end of this hall,” I shouted at them. “If those are full, the rubble’s cleared enough, you should be able to follow the switchback around the Caf to get to the pods in the east corridor.”

I turned back to the Med Center. Adrien’s mom, Sophia, had already started draining the tank and was reaching into the gel to pull the electrode patches from his skin. I hurried over to help her. The blue gel was warm to the touch, and I focused on ripping the nodes off Adrien’s forehead.

Jilia’s frantic voice came shouting over my com. Screams filled the background. “They’ve breeched, they’re inside! Pods one and two have launched, we’re a minute away from launching the third. I’m enacting the emergency protocol to slow them down.”

“Stay safe,” I said back, my heart thumping with fear for Jilia, for all of us.

The beeping alert overhead switched to one long ear-splitting tone. The emergency protocol was triggered. The blast doors would shut every thirty seconds now. Once they closed, there was no opening them again.

“Help me lift him,” Sophia shouted. We each reached under one of Adrien’s arms and hefted his slim body over the side of the tank. His foot caught the side and the whole tank tipped over sideways, shattering glass and blue goo all over the floor.

“You need to stand up, honey.” Sophia bent over to help him up.

Adrien tried to obey, but his legs buckled and he fell. We only barely managed to catch him before he crumpled to the ground.

“It always takes half an hour or more for him to be able to walk after he gets out of the tank,” Sophia said.

Laser fire shot past the door opened to the west corridor. They were already here. Sophia’s terrified eyes locked onto mine. I knew it wasn’t herself she was afraid for. It was for her son.

“Drag him!” I shouted to her. “My power isn’t working. We’ll have to take our chances with the east corridor.”

There were two entrances to the Med Center, and we grabbed Adrien by his arms and hauled him toward the far door that opened to the east corridor. It was still partially obstructed by rubble, but we should still be able to get through. The floor was slippery with gel. While it made it harder to stay on my feet, Adrien’s body slid easily across the floor.