Transcendent (9781311909442) (9 page)

Palla cleared her throat. Her complexion was
still a little pale but she’d lifted her head back up and was
standing now. “Lily, have you read up on President Ondalla’s past?
He endured terrible hardships before he could be chosen as the man
who would fix our selfish and foolish ways. Not just endured, but
overcame. He learned from them and discovered that only in working
for the greater good and putting aside personal pride and greed
could we ever hope to evolve as a species.”

“What are you trying to say?” Lily
asked.

“Only that you might not understand why
things have happened the way they have, but you must trust the
people who are in charge. They have been around longer and they’ve
seen more than you have. If I had to shoot one of you right now so
that the other two could go on to survive and be better for it, I
would. I would hate it, but I would do it if I had to.”

“I’m not so sure you’d hate it if it were
me,” Lily snapped without thinking.

Palla jerked her head back. “Lily! That’s
not true at all! Why would you say that?”

Past the point of going back, Lily knew she
had to push forward. “Because you don’t like me. You feel
threatened by me. We used to have a girl in my colony we called the
Golden Child. She was my friend, but only because I never
challenged her. I let her think she was special because it didn’t
matter. I had all I wanted and I didn’t know there was any more I
could need out of life.”

Palla shook her head, not understanding.
“This girl, did she come to TLC-1 with you?”

“No, she got blown up by one of those
biomechs,” Lily said. Palla flinched at the news, allowing her to
drive her point home. “You’re the same as Pita was. You had all
this attention because you had something special, but as soon as
someone more special comes along, you don’t think you’re any good
anymore. Nobody cares, and that hurts you. You want people to care.
You want to be special again.”

“Lily! That’s not true! I—I’m here to help
you all. I’m here to—”

Kami stood up and slipped her pad in her
bag. She rushed past Lily and Trix on her way out the door, causing
everyone to follow her with her eyes. When the door shut, Trix
shook her head to warn Lily not to ask. Lily turned back and saw
Palla open her mouth to continue defending herself.

“Palla, stop,” Lily said. “I was mean to
you, too. I said things and I pushed you. Teased you, even. I’m
sorry.”

Palla’s eyes went from wide open to rounded
in confusion. “What are you doing?”

“I’m apologizing,” Lily said. “Because I
don’t want to end up like Pita or you.”

Palla snorted and lowered her head a few
degrees to affect a glare at Lily. “You don’t need to apologize.
I’m not a golden child and whether you’re some sort of prodigy or
not, I don’t think you have any idea what you’re talking
about!”

“You are special,” Lily said. “Maybe I’m
more special, maybe not. It doesn’t matter. We’re all special, in
different ways. We have to remember that, even if the president
doesn’t want us to.”

“Of course he wants us to!” Palla cried out.
“He met you and elevated your instruction! You’ll be in classes
with boys and girls now. Studying advanced subjects and able to
pick a path for your mastery training.”

“No, he wants everyone to be good little
cows while he’s the bull in the pasture,” Lily said. “We chew our
grain and do what he needs us for, when he needs us. Humanity stays
calm and quiet and he gets whatever he wants.”

“That’s rather harsh,” Palla said with an
edge to her voice. “You should focus on the part where our race
stops fighting and people learn to be nice to one another. We live
in peace and prosperity.”

Lily bit back the harsh laugh that was
trying to burst out of her chest. She could see Palla’s point, but
was Palla really so blind to think that was all Ondalla wanted?
He’d threatened her—to her face—that she was going to be an
example. What kind of example depended on whether she wanted to
play his game or not. She nodded to herself.

“What are you thinking?” Palla asked.

“I’m thinking that I know what I have to
do.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I’m going to play the game. I have to.”

“What game? Lily, for a smart girl, you’re
not making any sense.”

Lily ignored the question for the moment and
asked one of her own instead, “You’re ahead of your age bracket,
right, Palla?”

“What? Yes. Lily—”

“Then let’s stop fighting with each other.
I’m going to need your help jumping two years in my classes. And
you’re going to need my help to achieve your mastery status.
Friends?”

Palla sucked her lips together after a
moment and glanced at Lily’s outstretched hand. She smiled and
shook it, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“No more fighting,” Lily said. “Or next time
we have to hug it out.”

“Hug it—oh my. Do people hug where you came
from?”

Lily laughed. “They do. We’re farmers—we
know where babies come from.”

Palla shivered. “No thank you! That’s
barbaric! We have labs for fertilization and the safe growth of
fetuses for a reason. Venus is the only planet left in our solar
system where natural childbirth is still condoned. Far too risky
and such practices lead to population blooms that were the cause of
so many problems historically.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “It’s just a hug,
Palla. It’s not going to get you pregnant. Especially from another
girl!”

Palla shivered and looked away. “I’d better
go and see if Kami needs more help with her studies.”

Lily watched Palla leave the room and
shrugged. She still didn’t like her, but she was learning how to
deal with her. Liking her didn’t matter; she just needed her help.
If there’s one thing President Ondalla had taught her, it was that
the ends justified the means.

“Krys! Wake up!”

Krys rolled over and thrust his head up,
staring and trying to make sense of what he saw. Mr. Strain was
crouched at the front of his lean-to and behind him he saw everyone
else scrambling. “What’s wrong?”

“Fina spotted the soldiers. They’re looking
for us.”

“Oh,” Krys mumbled. He shook his head as the
words sunk in. “Oh! Um, crap! Are they coming? Do they know where
we are?”

“They’re searching, but it’s only a matter
of time.”

“What’s the plan?”

Mig frowned. “Grab what we can and run.
We’ll have to set up a new camp. We’ll need that picker more than
ever now, even if it’s what made them come find us.”

Krys nodded. “Mr. Strain, what if—”

“Krys, we don’t have time for what-ifs.
We’ve got to go now! I don’t know how much time we’ve got.”

Krys nodded and rolled over to start
gathering his things. While he worked, he glanced back and asked,
“But where are we going? We talked about setting up other camps,
but we never did. We were afraid they might find one.”

“We’ll improvise,” he said.

Krys shook his head. “We can’t. We have to
split up.”

“Split up? Why?”

“Eight of us? Too many tracks. We break up
and they’ll have a harder time following us all.”

Mig frowned. “Where’d you learn that?”

“The stories I used to read. Tried it a few
times playing hide-and-seek in the woods with my friends too.
Especially if we outnumber the soldiers looking for us.”

“We don’t!”

Krys nodded. “Yeah, probably not. Still,
it’ll work. Especially if we can distract them in case they get
close to one of us.”

“You want us all to go separate ways?”

“Not all, but a couple of us.”

“Krys, this is insane. We need to stick
together or—”

Krys shook his head. “Mr. Strain. I know
what you’re worried about but if we do and they catch us all? Then
they’ve got us all. If we split up, we make it harder and, if
somebody does get caught, the rest of us are still free.”

“But where are we going?” Mig asked while
staring into the forest. “We haven’t even decided what to do about
the night yet.”

“I’ve been thinking,” Krys said and stood up
with the tool satchel in his hands. It bulged with a spare infopad
and one of the spare power cells they had. “The Pyrus Mountains to
the northeast. They’re about two days’ hike, right? South of them
are the Shatterplates, where the ground’s broken up by the magma
before the planet was terraformed. Those mountains had tons of lava
flows and volcanoes in them before the planet was cooled down.
There has to be caves there. Caves we can hide in!”

Mig’s brow furrowed. “Caves keep the wind,
rain, and snow out.”

“And they stay warmer once you get deep
enough. Same as the core temperature of Venus, which is fifteen
degrees. Warm enough to survive in, with some clothing and staying
active.”

Mig nodded. “All right, we’ll make for it.
But together, not apart!”

Krys frowned. “Two groups? You go with one
and I’ll go with the other?”

“Why two?”

“Same reason I wanted us all to break
up.”

“Then you’re sticking with me!”

Krys shook his head again. “We can’t. What
if we tell everyone and say Stef gets caught? What if they torture
her to find out where we are?”

Mig tilted his head. “They would and she’d
break. These are good, solid people, but they’re farmers, not
soldiers.”

“You’re a soldier, or you were,” Krys
said.

Mig nodded. “Why you?”

Krys grinned. “It was my idea. We each take
a pad for the map on it and if we don’t find each other, we meet up
at the southern mountain of the range where they turn into the
Shatterplates.”

Mig grunted. “I don’t like it, but I’ll be
damned if that’s not a better idea than any I’ve had. Wish I knew
how you and Lily and the others got so smart!”

“Just great parents, I guess,” Krys
said.

“All right, pick your crew.”

“Janna, Angelo, and Fina,” Krys said without
thinking. “Keep Stef and Kerry together and then you get Gary.”

“Angelo and Janna?” Mig asked. “She’s not
too big on him.”

“She’s not too big on anybody,” Krys said.
Mig shrugged. “All right, grab what you can and go.”

“You too,” Krys said.

Mig offered up a salute that made Krys’s
chest swell with pride before he turned and strode over to tell the
others what the plan was. Krys focused on shoving some dried meat
in his satchel and finished it by over-packing two coconuts in it.
He turned and rose up, and then heard the sound of wood creaking
and breaking. His eyes widened. They’d brought the tanks?

“Janna, Angelo! We’ve got to go,” Krys
hissed. He’d seen the tanks in the distance one day doing some
practice maneuvers. They were fast in open ground. Not quite as
fast in a forest, but they had the power to push trees out of their
way or blow them up if they couldn’t.

“What’s going on?” Angelo asked. He turned
and glanced at Janna.

“Mr. Strain wants us to get Fina and get out
of here. Grab what you can—Angelo, can you get the picker?”

Janna saw the other three talking together
and turned back to Angelo and Krys. “We’re splitting up? Why?”

“We can move faster this way and if we get
caught, they can still get away.”

“This is stupid,” she growled.

Angelo frowned but didn’t offer his opinion.
“Where to?”

Krys turned to look at the growing sounds
from the west where the tanks were at. “East,” he said, glad they
couldn’t see him. “But we have to get Fina too.”

On cue, Fina and Gary burst from the
underbrush and rushed up to the camp. Both were gasping for air.
“They’re getting close!” Gary said while Fina panted and tried to
catch her breath.

“Did they find us?” Krys asked.

Fina shook her head while Gary answered.
“They’re searching the forest. Getting closer to us, though.”

“One tank or two?”

“Both.”

Krys grimaced and stared to the east. He
shook his head and turned back. “Gary, Mr. Strain wants you with
him. Fina, we’re going to go in a separate group.”

“What?” she gasped. “Wh—”

“Gary! Come over here,” Mig called.

Gary let his gaze pass over them before he
turned and jogged over. Krys nodded at how everyone recognized Mr.
Strain as their leader and did what he wanted without asking. He
wanted people to look up to him like that when he grew up. If he
grew up.

“That way at least one of us can get away,”
Angelo answered Fina’s question. “One group, I mean.”

“What, then we come back?”

“We go east for now,” Krys said. “Um, that’s
what Mr. Strain wanted us to do.”

Fina’s panting had stopped but she turned
and stared at the other group before shaking her head. “This is not
what I signed up for when I married Roger.”

“None of us expected this, sister,” Janna
growled at her. “But this is what it is, so quit whining. The kid
says we go east, we go east.”

A loud crack of a tree being knocked over
made them all wince. Krys nodded. “We have to go now! Grab whatever
you can, Fina. All of you, if you don’t have it already.”

Angelo pulled up a flap of the vison hide
he’d managed to sew into a crude bag. Janna grunted and went over
to her lean-to and grabbed a bag she’d made out of weaving layer
after layer of grass together. She held it up and turned. Fina
stared at them and then at Krys and his satchel. She frowned and
turned to her lean-to.

“I don’t have anything to carry stuff with,”
she complained.

“Got your hands,” Krys suggested.

She looked down at them and sighed. “Maybe I
should just let them take me. I can slow them down while you get
away.”

“You’d be captured and tortured,” Janna said
as she returned.

“Or killed,” Angelo pointed out. “Like they
done everyone else.”

“Not the kids,” Janna said, looking at
Krys.