Take Back the Skies (37 page)

‘I've only got two of each so, James, you're just going to have to keep your eyes and ears peeled and be our lookout while we're recording.'

‘We should find the main laboratory. The more footage we can get before the Mericans arrive to shut it down the better,' Cat said. They needed to get the faces of government workers on record, or they'd worm their way out of punishment.

‘But if the Mericans are coming, do we really need footage? Surely the experiments themselves are evidence enough?' James asked.

Cat shared a look with Fox.

‘The government lot are a sneaky bunch. If we don't have footage of them personally involved with the experiments, it's entirely likely that some of them will claim innocence and escape scot-free,' she explained.

‘Which we definitely don't want,' said James. ‘OK, so how do we find this main lab? I don't think we've got time to search every level of the ship methodically.'

Fox shouldered his satchel.

‘We follow the crowd,' he declared, looking quite excited.

‘We … follow the people who want to kill us,' James said slowly, checking he'd heard correctly. Both Cat and Fox nodded. ‘Right. Because in your world, that makes sense,' he muttered under his breath.

‘We do it without getting caught obviously,' Cat told him. ‘But the main lab is likely to have the most workers. So we need to go where most people seem to be heading.'

James's lips pursed in nervous disapproval, but he nodded regardless.

Fox looked through the window of the door, checking the corridor was clear. He ducked out of sight as two men walked past, then waited several long moments before nudging the heavy door open.

‘Quickly,' he breathed.

Cat led the group out of the room and they followed the two men at a distance, ducking around a corner when they entered a room. Before they could decide their next move, the door opened once more and the two men emerged with a metal stretcher on wheels, a sheet-covered body lying limply on it. Cat let out a silent gasp as she saw the unconscious teen; most of the body was covered by the white sheet, but there were large patches of blood soaking through, and the part of the body that was visible looked more machine than human.

‘Oh, that's disgusting,' James said under his breath.

They watched as the two men wheeled the stretcher down the corridor until they came to a gated room. One of the men pushed the gate aside, allowing the other to wheel the stretcher into the small room. Shutting the gate behind them, one of the men began to wind a large crank handle set in the wall. Cat's eyes widened as the room itself sank below the floor, until the two men were gone from view.

‘They've got a pulley-lift,' Fox breathed, sounding impressed. ‘That'll make it harder for us to follow. But presumably, there's a manhole around here somewhere too.'

Walking past the lift, they ignored the few doors along the corridor and turned a corner. Cat grinned when she saw the manhole at the end of a short corridor. Fox insisted
on going first, and lay flat on his belly to peer below, checking the corridor was clear before climbing down.

The corridor looked exactly the same as the one above it; plain steel walls and floors, spaced with numbered steel doors, each with a small window. Lamps hung from overhead, swinging with the motion of the ship.

‘How far do you think it goes down?' Cat asked in a whisper, and Fox shrugged.

‘I'd imagine three levels of labs and workshops, one of sleeping and communal quarters, and one of storage.'

Neither of them needed to voice aloud that in this case ‘storage' meant children.

‘The main lab is likely to be somewhere on this floor, then. It'll be in the middle of everything,' Cat reasoned.

James tugged on her sleeve, and she turned, eyes widening when she saw three mechanics in overalls and lab coats emerge from a room in front of them. Noticing, Fox held a finger to his lips, gesturing for Cat and James to follow him.

They stayed a good fifteen feet away from the men, and when the mechanics entered a door, it was Fox who rushed forward to peer through the window.

He ducked back down. ‘Bingo!' he whispered, beckoning Cat and James closer. He reached into his coat and removed his video recorder, lifting it to record through the window.

Curious, Cat stood on tiptoe to look into the room, and immediately wished she hadn't. The lab was tightly packed with machinery and the two children in the room were barely human any more. One of them – Cat thought it was a boy – had a green and brown camouflage-patterned mask
over his face, like a grotesque mecha. His enhancements didn't quite fit his skin, making Cat realise he must have grown a fair amount since having them implanted. She felt sick: how long had he been there?

There were eight mechanics, four for each child, and two aristocrats whom Cat recognised by face, but not name.

‘We need audio,' she said quietly.

‘We won't be able to get the door open without being noticed,' Fox said flatly.

‘I know. I just wish we could.' She kept watching, wincing as sparks flew from the chest plate as one of the mechanics lowered a drill to it. Suddenly, she squeaked in alarm, ducking down and pulling Fox with her.

Without explaining to James, she dragged both boys around the corner, then peeped round it as the door opened. A man walked out and thankfully turned the opposite way, but before she or Fox could hold him back, James flew round the corner, making straight for the slowly closing door. Cat held her breath as the prince reached out and stuck his fingers in the doorway, keeping it open just a fraction.

They crept back towards the lab, Cat removing her audio recorder from her coat, flicking it on and slipping it in the gap above James's fingers.

‘Thomas is coming to inspect the stock this afternoon,' said an aristocratic voice. ‘Wants to know if we're ready for war after what happened in the city.'

His companion snorted. ‘Ready for war? You've got to be joking! We've barely got enough for a single regiment! And we don't even know if they're fully functioning yet!
The man's mad. We would be better off not Collecting in Anglya for a while and kidnapping foreign kids instead. They'll find these saboteurs – there's been no more action since the explosions in the city so I doubt it's an uprising. We should let things calm down for a bit. We've taken too many children and people are getting suspicious, wondering why their kids never come home. It's war, I tell them. People don't come home from war! But I can see that they don't really believe me – they're not as stupid as they look!'

Both men laughed, making Cat feel sick to her stomach. On the upside, it sounded as if they had yet to catch wind of her little newscast appearance, or the danger they were in. She went over her mental list of names, thinking of all the possible men called Thomas who could be running the ship. One sprung to mind immediately.

‘Thomas said he wants to bring his younger son out here, soon,' the first speaker said, and the other man chuckled as Cat stood up to peer through the glass in the door.

‘To take over the family business?' he asked, but Cat saw his colleague shake his head.

‘No, to add to the test subjects, actually. He says he wants both of them involved in his masterpiece.'

This made the other man shudder.

‘Told you, the man's a nutcase. Wait, what do you think you're doing! Don't connect that, you'll wake it up!' he exclaimed suddenly, dragging one of the mechanics away from the child he was working on.

‘I can't check if it's worked unless I connect it,' the mechanic argued weakly, watching as the fair-haired
government man roughly pulled out a chain from the chest plate, tossing it carelessly to the ground.

‘I don't care, you can check another time! We've got strict orders not to wake any of them until absolutely necessary, you idiot!'

Duly chastised, the mechanic went back to work. Deciding that was probably all they were going to get out of that conversation, Cat bent down and turned off the audio recorder, attaching it once more to her coat and gesturing to James to close the door. Fox turned off his video recorder and crouched down to speak to them.

‘We should find somewhere to wait until this Thomas bloke turns up – it seems like he's running things here. Cat, any ideas who it might be?' he queried, and Cat sighed.

‘Definitely one at the top of my list.'

Fox nodded, peering around the narrow corridor.

‘How do you two fancy getting a bit cosy?' he asked, his gaze fixed on a storage cupboard opposite the entrance to the pulley-lift.

Cat groaned quietly, glaring at Fox. James looked like he didn't know whether to cheer or scream.

‘Come on, it's the best we can do,' Fox insisted. ‘We need to stay safe until the Mericans get here.' Opening the storage-cupboard door, Cat grimaced when she saw the dust inside. Still, she settled down in the corner closest to the door. Fox sat next to her, and a disgruntled James squished himself into the opposite corner, sitting on top of some boxes. Closing the door almost completely, Cat leaned her head against the side of the frame so she could see out into the corridor.

‘What if he walks in from the other end?' James asked in a whisper.

‘He won't, that's a dead end. Both manholes up and down are on the other side of us, and the pulley-lift is right in front,' Cat said quietly. Her mind was still reeling from the information; this Thomas would use his own son as an experiment? Even her father had spared her that fate! Though, she had to admit, he
had
tried to kill her.

Hearing a brief scuffle and a muffled yelp of pain, Cat looked back over her shoulder. She rolled her eyes when she saw Fox and James glaring at each other in the dim light.

‘Honestly, both of you, grow up!' she hissed.

‘He kicked me,' complained James, sounding far younger than his fifteen years.

‘I'm sure it was an accident. What are you – five? Just put up with each other, can't you? For my sake?' she requested in frustration. She didn't get an answer, and assumed that was the end of it – then James spoke again.

‘I was just wondering who Fox thinks he's fooling. When all this drama is over, he's likely to move on in search of something more … interesting. He
is
a commoner, after all, and too old for you. His baser instincts will lead him to stray, eventually.'

Cat wished she could reach over and strangle the young prince.

‘I would never find Cat uninteresting, and I have no want or need to stray from her. But even if I did, she wouldn't choose you! You don't realise how much of an arrogant brat you are, do you?' Fox spat in reply.

‘I'm right here, you know,' Cat pointed out sharply. ‘And
I can hear every word you're saying. James, for the last bloody time, stop trying to get between me and Fox. It will never happen, and I won't stop loving him.'

‘You love me?' Fox cut in, sounding surprised.

Cat blushed deeply; had she just admitted that out loud?

‘Well, I –' She never finished her sentence, because at that moment, the cupboard door was wrenched open, and Cat was left staring at a horribly familiar face.

‘Well, well, look who we have here. I was so terribly concerned when I thought my cupboard was talking to itself,' the dark-haired man sneered, his black-brown eyes alight in amusement. He grabbed Cat by her coat, dragging her forcefully from the cupboard.

‘Gentlemen,' he snapped curtly, prompting the two guards flanking him to reach for Fox and James.

‘Gale,' Cat gasped, glaring at the man she knew all too well.

His smirk widened, and he gripped her shoulder so tightly she thought he would break it. She reached up to her neck, as if trying to pull away from him, and discreetly flicked her audio and video recorders on – relieved when Thomas didn't notice a thing.

‘I did wonder where you'd run off to, little Catherine,' Thomas crowed. ‘Your father said you had died, but I never believed him. My poor Marcus was
devastated
when he heard the news. His little fiancée, lost to him forever!'

Cat shuddered at the thought of Marcus being
devastated
by her death. He was probably only angry that he couldn't get his grubby little hands on her money.

‘I bet he was,' she muttered under her breath, earning a sharp jab in the back. Thomas opened the door to the lab, startling the men inside, who went slack-jawed at the sight of the three struggling teenagers being forced into the room.

‘Gentlemen, we have visitors. Why don't you give them a guided tour of our most recent project, hmm?' He dragged Cat over to the table with the teenage boy on it, forcing her to stare at the perverse, twisted mound of flesh and bronze.

‘Isn't he beautiful?' Thomas murmured lovingly, stroking the cheek of the camouflage mask. ‘I'm bringing Marcus up here soon – he's awfully lonely without his brother. They'll both make wonderful soldiers, though. Both my boys are very strong.'

Cat gasped as she realised just who that boy had once been before the metal and gears.

‘Is that … Alexander?' she breathed in horror. She'd only met the eldest Gale boy a handful of times – he was three years older than her and deeply unpleasant – but nevertheless, no one deserved … that.

‘It is my beautiful boy,' Thomas breathed reverently. ‘He's ready for the final enhancement, so he can take his rightful place as commander of my army. They're almost ready, you know. My wonderful children are being born again.'

Cat stared at the man in front of her.
He
was the one in charge? She'd always thought that Thomas reported to her father, but obviously she'd been wrong.

‘Then, Nathaniel …' she murmured, making Thomas laugh harshly.

‘Nathaniel was never more than a convenient scapegoat.
Tell him the right words and he would believe my ideas were all his own. Insisted on doing all the work, bless him, leaving me free to watch my children grow! My reign will be glorious, Catherine, just you wait! My children and I will unite the six nations and rule like gods, as the Anglyan rulers once did!'