Rebellion (30 page)

—
N
APOLEON
B
ONAPARTE

Gavin

My heart really does feel like Evie took it with her when she left. Despite my confidence and trust in her that she's making the smart move, I'm terrified for her. I don't know how many times in the past hour I've walked to where I watched Evie disappear only to stand there for a few minutes, then pace back to the center area of the Caverns again.

It's on one of these trips back from the entrance that Asher rushes out from the direction of the War Room and barrels into me. “Gavin!” He grasps my shoulder.

His expression makes hope flutter in my chest. “Lenore figured it out?”

He beams. “We think so. Yes. Come on!” He drags me by the arm back into the War Room.

Lenore is slouched over the table, staring at something on the table with a giant table top magnifying glass. Asher and I cross to the other side and Asher gestures toward her when I frown at him. Her fingers are deftly fiddling with the silver device Evie recovered from Dr. Moreau.

“What's going on?” I ask. “Asher says you might have found a way to neutralize the nanites?”

“Yes,” she mumbles barely loud enough for me to hear, her fingers still tinkering. “This device is used to control everything the nanites do. It would stand to reason that if they can control them, they can also power them off.”

“Is that smart?” I peer down at the remote. “Won't turning them off do what happened to Evie?”

“No. According to Dr. Friar's notes, the nanites are programmed to destroy the neuro-pathways of the subject only if the proper shutdown sequence isn't activated. So, if I can
properly
shut them down, I should be able to negate that consequence.”

I blink as I stare at her. Then turn my attention to Asher, who's grinning from ear to ear. Apparently what she just said was supposed to make sense to me. Unfortunately, speaking geek isn't one of my many talents.

“Would you mind saying that in a way I can understand?” I ask.

She frowns as she peers up at me over the top of the glasses that have slipped down her nose. “Pardon?”

“I didn't understand what you said,” I repeat. She still looks puzzled, so I tap the machine.

The light bulb goes off above her head and she nods quickly. “Ah! Sorry. Basically the nanites are programmed to ‘erase' someone's memory if they're not shut down properly. Like what happened with Evie.”

“But you can turn them off properly?”

She puts the remote back together as she talks. “I think so. Yes. Dr. Friar has lots and lots of notes on his experimentations and a few of those experiments were testing the efficacy of the field on the nanites. He had to know how to properly turn them off to test it, so it's all here in his notes.”

A spark of excitement singes my nerve endings, but I squash it down with logic. “We're going to have to test this to make sure it works before we send a whole city of people away.”

“Yes. I know.” Her voice is quiet again, but it's not because she's focused on her task. She's staring at her hands as if questioning how to work them. “We already have a volunteer.”

“Who are you—” I start to ask, but when she looks at me with so much pain in her eyes,
I
almost crush under the weight of it, I realize exactly who would do such a thing.

I turn my attention to Asher, who returns my gaze without wavering.

“Me,” he says, confirming my suspicion. He splays his hands out in front of him on the table. “I'm willing and able to do it.”

I shake my head, even though I know the fruitlessness of my protest. “Let's wait until Evie gets back. She'll know how to best proceed from here.”

He shakes his head. “We don't have time to wait. Mother's assembly is happening in four hours. We don't know what she's planning, but it's not going to be good.”

“We don't know that—”

“Evie thought so. That's why she went to get the Enforcers now instead of waiting.”

I can't argue with that so I don't. “But Evie—” I start to say again.

“Evie's not here. I am. She trusted me enough while you were gone to put me in charge whenever she was out. You need to trust me, too.”

I open my mouth to protest again, but the look he gives me tells me that he's not going to listen to any of my arguments and I'll be wasting time we already don't have. “I don't like this, but—” I say finally.

He purses his lips. “You don't have to.”

“
But
,” I continue as if he hadn't interrupted. “I trust you. So … how can I help?”

His mouth is open as if to argue with me, but apparently shock has robbed him of his voice. Lenore is the one who says, “The only thing you can do, is once I've turned them off and we're sure he's all right, you'll need to help him get to the Surface and back again. If it doesn't work, he'll need your help to get back.”

I swallow and nod my understanding. “I can do that.”

She pushes her glasses back up her nose and reaches for one of the Slates. “I'm ready whenever you are.” She holds the machine in one hand and her Slate in the other.

Asher opens his mouth to tell her to go ahead, but I interrupt him. “Wait. Before you do this, I need to say something. Something I should have said a long time ago.”

He frowns up at me, but gestures for me to continue.

I shove a hand through my hair, but keep my eyes steady on his. “Look. I … I just want to say I'm sorry. About everything. When my dad died, I thought I knew what was going on. But, obviously, I didn't have a clue. You had my back this whole time and I was so stuck in the pain of losing my dad I couldn't see it. I should have known you wouldn't have betrayed me like that. I should've asked what your side was.
You
should have forced me to see your side of it.” I glare at him.

The shock on his face gives way to amusement. “You always find a way to turn this back around to me, don't you?” He laughs. “But when you're right, you're right. I should have told you my side. But would you have listened?” He lifts an eyebrow.

I shake my head with my own chuckle. “Probably not.” I let out a sigh. “Man, your dad's a
dick
!”

Lenore snorts. “Now
that
I agree with.”

“Grandma!”

“What?” she demands with a shrug. “Sometimes the truth is vulgar.”

Asher and I exchange a look and start laughing for a few stress-relieving minutes, before he stops and holds out his hand. “Friends?”

I grip his hand and return the shake with a nod and a bro hug.

“Well, that was lovely,” Lenore says, her tone as dry as the dirt under my feet. “But we have work to do. Are we ready?”

Asher swallows, but nods and sits back next to Lenore. I move to his other side just as Lenore presses a button on the remote. I quickly look up at Asher, who has his eyes closed, but nothing happened.

“Did you do it?” I ask.

“Yes.” Her voice cracks and she clears it quickly. “I turned them off. See?” She gestures to the Slate where a bunch of random letters and words are scrolling over the screen.

“What's that?”

“The shutdown sequence.” The screen goes blank and her eyes jerk up to Asher, who's still sitting completely still in his chair. I can hear his slightly faster than normal breathing, but that's it.

I touch his shoulder. “You okay, man?”

His eyes open and he blinks a few times before he nods. “I don't feel any different.” He glances at Lenore. “Is that what's supposed to happen?”

“Yes.” She lifts a shoulder, but she's paler than she was a few minutes ago and I have the feeling she expected something different as well.

Asher pushes to his feet with a shrug. “Well, then, let's see if it worked.” He saunters out of the room, leaving Lenore and me to follow in his wake.

When we get to the area where the start of the EM field ends, we all pause and stare into the dark abyss. After a few seconds, Lenore clears her throat and hands me a flashlight, which I promptly turn on. I didn't much like the tunnels the first time I went through them and I don't care for them now. But it's a way to the Surface and if what Lenore did to Asher worked, it's the best chance we've got of saving the people in Elysium.

Lenore hugs Asher tightly before she pushes him away. “Godspeed,” she says quietly and then steps back and gestures for us to go ahead.

I clap Asher on the shoulder. “Good luck,” I say, then lead the way.

For the next hour, we follow the wire I'd left to the Surface. Neither of us say anything, but I'm constantly turning back to make sure he's okay. I don't know what to expect. Evie passed out when her nanos stopped working, but I don't know if that was from blood loss or from the nanos.

We wander in the dark, the path in front of us only illuminated as far as the light from the flashlight beam goes. But finally I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Literally. Fresh air blows in our faces and when we exit the mouth of the cave, I take a huge breath of the sweet air.

Asher and I just stand there, watching and waiting for something to happen to him. But after a few minutes, I wander to the edge of the cliff beyond the cave opening and sit, looking out over the whole area. I can just barely see my town and the cove from up here.

Asher joins me and for a while we just sit there without talking.

Finally Asher says, “I guess it worked.”

I nod, as the pressure that had been squeezing my heart lets up a little. “Yep.”

“Now what?”

“Now we figure out how to get over two hundred people who've never seen the sun before out of the Caverns and into a safe place here.”

He shoves to his feet, then holds out his hand for me. “Let's get the party started.”

Evie

Mother has the maintenance tunnels so full of Guards that I don't even risk using them. Not today when no one knows what Mother has up her sleeve. Instead I decide to slip in by way of Sector Three. It'll give me the added benefit of checking on the damage to Three and seeing what the green blobs are up to.

I slide the airlock door up just enough to allow me to peek under it and make sure everything is safe, before wedging it open with a large piece of rock from the cave-in, I crawl through the gap, then remove the rock and let the door drop into place.

Lights buzz and flicker, casting eerie shadows on the wall next to me. The building creaks and groans, causing the hairs all over my body to stand on end. I shudder. I thought this place was creepy the first time I came through, but that's nothing compared to how it is now.

The stench here is so bad I have to bring my shirt up to cover my nose, but that doesn't help much and I'm constantly swallowing at the lump of bile in my throat. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come this way. But I had to see if Three was as bad as Father said. I have to admit I think it's worse.

The exit to Sector Two is on the complete opposite side of the building from where I am. Memories from the first time I was here echo in my head. I
really
don't want to cut through the building, but unless I feel like taking on all the Guards in the maintenance tunnels single-handedly, I have no choice. So I straighten my shoulders and walk as quickly as I dare without running down the corridors.

Every so often I hear what sounds like feet sliding across the floor, and I stop immediately to do a quick visual to make sure I'm alone. When I'm sure there's no one there, I continue, my heart hammering away at my rib cage.

Finally, I see the dark glass of the corridor and staging area for the Tube leading to Sector Two. I let out a large breath I hadn't been aware I'd been holding until just now. I have to force myself to slow down as even my body tries to rush me toward the airlock door of the Tube.

But it's the goo that stops me in my tracks. It's definitely moved since the last time I was here. It's now in a big puddle by the glass wall. Part of it is reaching up the metal beams toward the ceiling, stretching out across it in a pattern not too different from that of a spider web.

Despite myself, I give in to my curiosity and shove down my misgivings to cross to where it is. Carefully, I steer clear of the massive puddle and narrow my eyes at the stuff strung across the girders. It's unusual to say the least. The parts not touched by the green stuff are completely intact. The areas that have been touched are rusting. And not just a little—some places are so pockmarked and filled with holes they look like Swiss cheese.

That can't be good for the building. That must be what Father was talking about when he said the structural integrity of the building was compromised. I make a mental note to make sure no one goes this way anymore. This Sector has to be officially off limits to everyone. Including Father. I'll have to figure out a way to keep him from here. I don't care about the green junk anymore. It's not worth dying over. I'm just about to step away from it, and the window beyond, when a dark shadow passes by on the other side of the glass.

The water's so murky here, I'm not exactly sure what it is I saw, until a shark rams the glass with its jaws fully open, showing off all the rows of its super sharp teeth. I jump back with a yelp. My feet slip out from underneath me, and I fall mere centimeters from the puddle.

“What in the…” I mutter. Why did it do that? That's not normal, is it?

I shove myself away from the puddle, but don't stand just yet. With my heart going a kilometer a minute and my legs shaking, there's no way I'd be able to even if I wanted to. So I press my forehead to my knees and count to twenty.

I've just reached nineteen when I hear someone running down the corridor to my right. Not caring if my legs will hold me or not, I jump up to my feet and press myself as tightly as I can to the wall. Whoever it is, it probably isn't someone who's on my side.