Wormhole Pirates on Orbis (35 page)

“Stop doing that to me! What’s happening?”

“Quiet, Vairocina,” I whispered to her. “I think we’re about to find out.”

I paused for a moment, my hands and knees connected firmly with the cold, damp floor. Its rough texture sparkled from a shivery blue light glowing all around me. I would not look up. Some part of me was waiting for Ketheria to call out my name, waiting for her to rush over and tell me not to worry, that they had grabbed her, too.

“Get up,” ordered a frigid and passionless voice.

I waited one more second for Ketheria, and then I looked up in the direction of the voice.

“Oh!” Vairocina gasped.

I was kneeling at the center of a vast, cavernous room. I think the entire room was constructed from stone, but I could also see metal, glass, and
flesh.
Directly in front of me, about three meters above the ground, were five glowing alcoves carved from the rock. Four of the chambers were occupied. The center one was empty and casting most of the icy blue light that filled the room. The
creatures
inside each chamber looked almost human, except that parts of their bodies were indistinguishable from the rocky surroundings. An arm would disappear into the wall and surface a meter away at an unnatural angle. Piping of all sizes emanated from the rock, into the chamber, and right through its occupant. It was as if these things were part of the room, each highlighted by the glowing light inside their chambers. That’s when I noticed more people in the rock; I counted fourteen altogether, except the lights in their chambers were turned off. Only the center chamber was lit and empty.

“Who are you people?” I croaked softly.

“We are the Trust.”

I stood up. My eyes darted across the four glowing members of the Trust. I did not see any lips move, but it was as if each of them were speaking to me.

“I have heard of you, but you have to let me go. I have to get back to my sister.”

“There are matters that need to be discussed.”

“I have to get back!”

Every bone in my body flexed at once, igniting a pyre of pain. It was short but effective.
Okay, so don’t yell at them.

“Yes, please don’t do that again,” Vairocina breathed in my ear.

“Listen to me,” I told them. “I know you think I’m some sort of savior, this Scion thing of yours, but I’m not. I’m just a kid. I just want to
be
a kid. I want to take care of my sister and figure out how to live on those stupid rings. My sister needs me right now. For all I know, it might be too late. Please just put me back —”

“You are not the Scion,” the Trust interrupted.

“What?”

“You are not the Scion.”

It felt like someone had slapped me across the face.

I recalled snippets of conversation I had heard on Orbis 2 when they had replaced my arm: talk of the Scion and the Trust and their fear of my death. I should have felt relief, but a tiny part of me felt disappointed.

“Then why am I here?” I mumbled.

“Your jump.”

“It was an unauthorized space jump.”

“Where is the
burak
?”

“Yes, where is the belt?”

They all seemed to be talking to me at once. Their different body parts flinched as their eyes darted about. Even the ones in the dark seemed to be listening, as if waiting for my answer.

I did jump, didn’t I?
One moment I was standing in front of Banar’s bait, and the very next instant I was on the other side, thrusting my fist into his back.

“How
did
you do that?” Vairocina asked.

“Quiet,” I replied. “I don’t have a Space Jumper’s belt,” I told them.

One member of the Trust twitched so hard that she dislodged her right arm from the rock with a sickening snap.

“That’s impossible!” she cried out (or one of them did, anyway). Her arm shriveled like dead moss on a rock while tubes and wires slipped through the black stone and attended to the fresh wound. The improbable combination of rock, metal, and flesh made it difficult for me to understand what was happening.

“He hit my sister. I don’t know how it happened. One moment I was here, and the next moment I was there.”

The lights that illuminated each berth flickered in response like some broken control panel button. Their eyes, black and vacant, darted back and forth but never rested on anything. It seemed to me that they were talking to each other, but I wasn’t sure. The silence was unnerving and painfully long. Another member shifted in the rock, and I flinched at the obscene sound of mutilating flesh and bone that cracked the dead air.

“Space Jumpers cannot jump without a belt,” Vairocina whispered. “It’s never been done. The belt works with the jumper’s softwire ability to bend space and time, but the way I understand it, the belt does most of the work.”

“This has set a new precedent,” one of them interrupted.

“You must be observed.”

“This is another augury.”

“Can you demonstrate this ability now?” they asked me.

“No . . .”

My bones ignited as a fiery bolt of pain convulsed my body once again.

“I’m telling you the truth! Please!”

The pain stopped as quickly as it had come.

“Please. Can I go back? I won’t do it again. I know things have happened in the past, things like this, that make people think I’m the Scion guy, but —”

“You are not the Scion.”

“Tell me who he is so the next time I see him I can thank him,” I said.

“That knowledge must be restricted.”

“Forbidden.”

“Why?” I asked them.

“History has recorded its most tumultuous events upon the awakening of a Scion.”

“I’m taking that to mean that bad things are going to happen, then. So where are the other Scions?”

“There are no others. Throughout the history of the universe, every last Scion has been killed by the very people who seek its enlightenment.”

“Or so they claim,” one of them mumbled. This set off a flurry of assertions by the rest of the Trust.

“They know not what they ask.”

“That’s why no one can know the identity of the Scion.”

“If the Scion’s identity is revealed . . .”

“If the Scion blossoms before the revelation . . .”

“The Scion will surely be killed.”

Suddenly I felt very relieved that I wasn’t the Scion.

“Your home planet has murdered several Scions.”

“If the Scion does not succeed, then the universe will succumb to forces that feed on the fear and negativity generated by its masses.”

“Then why aren’t you protecting the Scion?” I asked them.

“We cannot intervene. The auguries have warned us not to interfere. Free will must choose the path of enlightenment, not force.”

“But you,” the Trust whispered, every member hanging on the last word, as still as the stone that encased them.

“What about me?”

For the first time, the eyes of the Trust focused on mine. Their stares linked to something inside me, something so deep I couldn’t breathe.

“You can be trained to protect the Scion, for you are the Tonat.”

“I’m the what?”

“The Protector.”

“A champion.”

“Some will worship you.”

“A seraph.”

“Others will fear you.”

“A devil.”

“Stop! You’re all talking too fast.”

My head felt heavy, crammed full with information that I could not decipher.
Vairocina, are you getting all of this?
I whispered inside my head.

Most of it,
she replied.

“Does anyone know about this? Do they know about this Tonat thing?” I asked.

“Several Keepers have had suspicions since your staining.”

“The event was seen as a favorable augury.”

“An omen outlined by the prophecy.”

“The genetic identity of the Scion is hidden.”

“Until you are trained.”

“It is safe.”

“No one will look where we hid it.”

“They will protect it with their lives.”

“Who will?” I asked.

“The Citizens.”

“Greed serves them well for this task.”

“Everyone protects a treasure.”

I held my hands up. “Please stop with this double-talk. It’s too confusing. What do you mean a
treasure
? The Ancients’ Treasure? What does that have to do with it?”

“You know of the Ancients’ Treasure?” one asked me.

“Unnecessary information.”

“The identity is safe.”

Did the Trust hide the identity of the Scion near the Ancients’ Treasure? Switzer was going after the treasure. I didn’t care about the treasure. I told him to have it. Did he know? But I didn’t care about the identity of the Scion. At least it wasn’t me. Some poor split-screen was going to have the destiny of the universe thrust upon him.
Does
anyone
get to pick what they want to be around here?

The Trust was waiting, but for what, I didn’t know. I did, however, see an opportunity to get back to my sister. If I told them I would help, maybe they would let me go.

“Send me back now and I’ll help protect this guy,” I said.

“He knows too much,” one of them replied.

“He has not yet chosen.”

“Just tell me where it’s hidden,” I asked them.

“You do not need this information.”

“If I’m going to protect this Scion guy, I will.”

“You have not chosen.”

“Chosen what?” This was frustrating. Every second I was here was one more second Ketheria was left with Banar.

“To become what you were created to do.”

“Created? What do you mean
created
?” I asked.

“You are special.”

“You are a success.”

“You can be a Space Jumper.”

“What if I don’t want to be a Space Jumper?”

“That choice is also yours,” they replied.

“But I doubt you can make that choice,” someone whispered, close to me. I spun around, but no one was there.

“What do you mean? You said it’s my choice.”

“Technically.”

I held my head in my hands. I didn’t even try to figure out what that meant. What was happening to Ketheria? I thought about my promise to Max. I told her I would never become a Space Jumper. Would she understand? Would she accept the responsibility if she were in my shoes? I told her we would all stay together. Could I keep my promise to Max if I chose to be the Tonat — to be a Space Jumper?

“What if I say no?” I asked them.

“The fate of the Scion lies in the cosmic streams that flow through this universe.”

The universe? That only means he’ll be left to deal with the likes of Weegin or Odran, or Madame Lee. Even the Switzers of the universe!

“You would just let him die, then?” I said.

“We cannot interfere with the prophecy,” they argued.

“I think you broke that rule a long time ago.”

“The Universe will decide,” they replied matter-of-factly.

“I can’t believe you’re willing to take that chance,” I said.

“Then you accept.”

“You choose your destiny.”

“Your fate.”

“No, I will not be a Space Jumper,” I told them. I had made a promise to Max. I was not going to break it.

“An unwise decision,” replied the Trust.

“It is not honorable.”

“Quirin was wrong.”

“This is a bad augury.”

“Take him back to his cell.”

“Maybe he will change his mind.”

“Wait! Who is this Quirin guy? I’ve heard his name before. You have to put me back.”

“No, we must understand your gift.”

“To jump without a belt.”

“Extraordinary!”

“Look,” I pleaded. “My sister is in danger right now. Let me help her, and then I’ll think about it. She’s playing in the Chancellor’s Challenge! You have to put me back!”

I crumpled to the floor, not because I was pleading with them but because my body had exploded with pain.

“You will obey us!” their collective voices rang out. It was more than sound; their voices were the very air I struggled to pull into my lungs.

“Put me back!”

More pain. I clutched my arms in fear that my bones were about to rip from my body. I thought about Ketheria lying on the ground — her broken body vulnerable to Banar. I was so tired of this. Tired of playing
their
games, following
their
rules. I was tired of being a knudnik.

“Put me back!”

JT, stop this. They’re going to break every bone in your body,
Vairocina pleaded in my head.

“I don’t care. Put me back. I demand it!”

I pictured Banar standing over my sister while the Trust tried to snap my spine.

“Now!” I screamed at them.

And then I was gone. Wherever I had been, I wasn’t there anymore. The pain was gone, too, and I was kneeling on the floor inside the labyrinth. Just like I had pictured, Banar was standing in front me, looming over Ketheria, his arm raised to strike. The faint smell of sweaty feet lingered in the air.

“Banar!”

The alien spun around and laughed when he saw me.

“Wait your turn!” he cried.

I stood up. “There won’t be any more turns,” I said. “This is enough. The game ends now.”

A champion? A seraph? A devil? I’ll show them.
From where I stood, I pushed into the Labyrinth’s computer through the escape button to my left. I willed my mind through the massive computer simply by thinking about where I wanted to go, almost as if I were
jumping
through it. I settled over the programs controlling the stadium. The data flashed through the virtual metropolis, exposed and vulnerable. I reached out with my mind and trashed whatever was in my path, without discretion.

“What are you doing, JT?” Vairocina questioned.

“I’m
choosing
— that’s what I’m doing. I’m choosing not to play their game anymore. I’m choosing to protect my sister. I’m choosing . . . I’m choosing for
me
now.”

“Oh.”

I pulled out of the computer to find the labyrinth exposed and barren. Gone were the holographic walls, the obstacles, and even the lights. Banar and I stood at the center of an enormous circular pad comprised of concrete, circuits, and metal. It oddly reminded me of the Trust. Ketheria was still unconscious on the floor.