RINAKIN KNELT, LOOKING up at Quilan, who remained in his ship. He’d been stunned by the bolt—a mindblade cut through physical material, but a concussion bolt passed right through it, bouncing around inside your skull. Quilan had surprised Rinakin, hit him dead on. He’d be stunned for a few minutes at least, and would probably have a headache for days.
Two security guards stepped up on either side of Rinakin, each taking him by an arm. They weren’t rough with him, but they placed their hands on him firmly and hustled him into the hold of the ship.
I thought this didn’t have to get aggressive, I sent to Quilan. He was going to come with you.
We welcome your cooperation, Quilan said.
I had to get out of here, but if they were going to hurt Rinakin, I was bringing him with me whether he liked it or not.
I couldn’t let them take him, not to hand over to the Superiority. I could hyperjump to him—one touch and I could take him with me as I escaped. I reached toward the ship, past Quilan, who stared at me with a hard look on his face. Into the back, where I could see the bone ridges of the top of Rinakin’s head, where he sat sandwiched between the two guards.
My mind hit a pocket of dead space.
No. They had a cytonic inhibitor on board, creating a space behind Quilan that I couldn’t reach with my powers, even though Quilan could obviously use his.
Cytonic inhibitors required cooperation from multiple cytonics, but if Quilan had brought everyone he would have surrounded the ship to keep me from escaping as well. Beyond Rinakin and the guards, I spotted two diones with bright blue skin. This was Superiority technology, run by those diones because the Superiority would never entrust something that powerful to a “lesser species.”
Unity was already working with the enemy, trading away ReDawn’s autonomy for the ability to destroy the Independence.
Alanik, Quilan said. Step out of the ship, if you would. He sounded so reasonable, which only made me angrier.
I wasn’t coming with him. I reached into the negative realm toward his mind, ready to tell him so, when I caught a bit of cytonic communication coming into his ship.
—have them yet? someone asked.
Not yet, Quilan responded. —picking them up—
—getting impatient… wants humans, but we don’t have them… they will have to do. We need to make the offer before—
I paused, my hands on the altitude control. Quilan’s ship hovered over my wing, but if I engaged my boosters, I could shoot out from under his wing and then ascend. I’d flown with Quilan in the junior leagues. I knew I was a better pilot.
But what was that? The Council was getting impatient. They didn’t have any harbored humans to turn over, so instead they were going to make an offer.
What were they offering?
Rinakin and me?
I wasn’t going to be their next bargaining piece. But Rinakin—they were going to give up the leader of the anti-Superiority movement as an offering to appease them.
You’re going to give us to them? I asked Quilan.
Your cooperation is appreciated, Quilan said.
This wasn’t happening.
I couldn’t hyperjump in there. I couldn’t save Rinakin.
The only thing I could do was run.
I twisted the dial that fired the boosters.
The ship roared to life, but it only jerked forward a few inches. I twisted around to look and found that Quilan had used a light hook to hold my ship in place. He climbed out of his ship, walking with a brisk step. He might want to convince me that he came in peace, but he also didn’t want to give me time to escape.
As long as I didn’t let him get me in the back of that ship, he couldn’t keep me here.
“Alanik,” Quilan called. He was no longer speaking to me cytonically, possibly trying to distract me from anything else I might hear. “Come with us, and we can get this all worked out.” He slowed as he approached the door to the ship.
I was going to have to leave this ship behind, but I might be able to get a new one at Hollow. I reached through the negative realm, forming the coordinates for the base on Hollow in my mind. If that base was the last holdout, I could take shelter there while I made contact with the humans. I’d also be better positioned to get my people out if things went wrong.
“I’m sorry, Alanik,” Quilan said. “I thought you might still see reason.” He sent a concussion bolt flying into the ship. I felt it coming and ducked just in time, missing most of it, though my ears rang and my vision swam.
I ripped into the negative realm, hanging there for a gut-dropping moment, staring out at thousands of white eyes that all focused on me. I felt lost here as I always did, slack and untethered like a streamer torn free of its post, floating for a moment before fluttering inevitably downward into the dark. The eyes regarded me as a trespasser—
And then I returned to myself. I stood in a vestibule in the Independence base on Hollow, a tree even larger than Industry, though far less populated. This tree was dead, and was now used mostly for lumber harvesting.
Through the enormous window comprising one wall of the vestibule, I could see Wandering Leaf—an abandoned military platform similar to the ones that had shot me down when I first visited the human planet—drifting in the miasma. The platform was slowly migrating closer to Hollow, though if it had to threaten any of our trees with its autoturrets, at least it was a sparsely populated one.
The base around me was silent, the hallways empty. That was odd—there were usually a hundred people in residence here helping with the lumber transportation, keeping an eye on Wandering Leaf, and monitoring the tree itself for signs that it was becoming unstable.
“Secure the area,” a voice said at the end of the hall, and I pivoted to see several people approaching. They were wearing Unity pilot uniforms, yellow leaves emblazoned on their shoulders.
They’d already taken the base. So where were the Independence pilots? I ducked back into the corner, hiding in a recess until the Unity pilots had passed me by.
Motion through the window caught my eye. I looked down to see a Unity ship hovering just under the branch, outside the base’s landing bay. It would be dangerous to hyperjump again so soon, especially if I wanted to bring my brother or some of the other Independence pilots with me when I jumped out again. I’d never done many jumps so close together before—the more times I hyperjumped in quick succession, the more I would draw the attention of the eyes. Being a teleporter was considered one of the most hazardous of the cytonic skills, because we traveled physically through the negative realm.
We didn’t always come back. But the risk would be worth it if I could get us all to safety.
When I reached into the negative realm, the surface of that ship felt smooth and impenetrable—blank, like the inside of the ship that had taken Rinakin.
Another Superiority inhibitor.
Unity wasn’t going to turn us all over, were they?
Alanik, Quilan said in my mind. He’d found me again, though he was still near Industry and he couldn’t hyperjump after me. Come back so we can discuss this.
So they could capture me was more like it.
Rinakin was right. We needed allies who knew how to fight. If I could convince the humans to side with us instead of the Superiority, maybe we could remind my people of our heritage of resistance, remind them of what we were capable of.
I reached through the negative realm toward the human planet, finding Jorgen again.
I need to speak with you, I sent to his mind. Can you give me the code to return to your planet?
Alanik? Jorgen said.
Yes, I answered. I would like to return to speak with you, though I need the code to your inhibitor.
Our what?
I closed my eyes. He didn’t even know he had the code. Those leaves were the same color as the ones I’d seen when I met him.
Boots marched down the hallway toward me. I might be able to hide here a bit longer—
Alanik, Quilan said. You’re not going to find any friends on Hollow today.
I took a deep breath. Quilan knew where I was. He could easily send a hypercommunication to the Unity officials here. They’d be looking for me. I reached into the negative realm, and sure enough I could hear his chatter.
—catch her— Quilan was saying. —convince the Superiority—worth more than all of them combined—
I shook my head. Quilan and the others were trying to prove their value to the Superiority. They’d accepted aid to contain us in the form of those ships, but if they didn’t do the work themselves, they wouldn’t earn any favor.
And I was the rebel cytonic, the biggest prize of all.
I had to get out of here.
You have a code in your mind, I sent to Jorgen. It lets you use your cytonic powers on your planet. I can’t return unless you give it to me.
You used cytonics here before, he replied.
I did not have time for this. You have an inhibitor now, I said to Jorgen. And you know that code, even if you don’t know that you know it.
Um, I’m not sure how to give you that. Let me go talk to Command, see if they’ll—
I’m in kind of a bind here, I said. There’s no time for that. There’s an impression in your mind. Try to think about allowing me to come there. Try to will it to me.
I mean, I think you’re welcome to come back. I’m sure Command would like to speak with you again.
The words didn’t come with an impression. They were useless to me.
“Find her,” a voice said from down the hall.
The impression is in there, I said to Jorgen. How do you access your cytonics? Do you have exercises?
I meditate, Jorgen said.
Try that, I said. Do it fast.
Hang on, I’m trying. I could feel Jorgen’s cytonic resonance growing stronger as he deepened his connection with the negative realm. He was welcoming me into his mind, giving me access to his deeper thoughts.
More footsteps. One of the Unity pilots turned a corner, stepping into view.
Alanik? Jorgen said. Is it working?
I reached into his mind as he reached into mine.
There. An impression, like a cytonic key. I copied it, embedding it in my own thoughts, and reached toward the human planet, which took shape again, feeling solid. Accessible. I focused on that place, forming the coordinates.
The Unity pilot’s bright eyes fixed on me. “She’s here!” he said.
Quilan’s voice filled my mind. This is a mistake, Alanik, he said. You can’t run from us forever.
We’re going to find out, I said.
And then I pulled myself into the negative realm and left my people behind.
