The Covert Academy (23 page)

She dragged her eyes away up to the inside of the hold. The seven young students had formed a human chain, and were swaying in her direction. She grabbed hold of little Elayne’s outstretched arm, and
was pulled back inside. They clutched at the handholds around the cargo bay, while G-forces tried to pull them back outside through the gaping maw. Without warning they slumped against the wall. The blaring noise of the sirens still drowned everything out, until Richard’s voice came over the comm.

‘Hold on to something!’ he yelled.

Sarah tightened her grip on the handhold, as she saw Joshua climbing over the lip of the ramp, back into the ship.

Then the Nyctalopia pitched head first into the dirt, throwing everyone against the walls. Something solid hit Sarah over the head, and she fell into darkness.

Joshua blinked and everything slowly came into focus. He was looking up the boarding ramp. A tree’s branches swayed in the wind outside. The top of the tree. He was looking up at the sky out of the ship, which meant the Nyctalopia must have buried itself face first in the dirt.

A movement slightly above him caught his attention. It was big Eddie from the Midwest, hauling Kayla over his shoulder. She wasn’t a lightweight herself, having
made regular use of the boxing ring at the Academy. Yet Eddie was carrying her and climbing one-handed up the side of the ship to daylight. The added strength of his suit would have helped, but Joshua was impressed nonetheless.

He
looked around. Only Sarah was still here. He had his legs draped over her and she was unconscious.

‘Where are the others?’ he asked.

‘I’ve got them outside already,’ Eddie managed between grunts of exertion.

‘And Richard?’

Eddie paused at the top, one leg on either side as he shifted Kayla’s weight over. ‘You’d better see for yourself.’

Joshua
rolled off Sarah and edged up to her. He gently tapped her cheek with the back of one hand. She didn’t budge, but Joshua could feel her breath on his hand. She should snap out of it soon enough with her jumpsuit pumping her full of meds. He scooped her up, activated his suit’s strength, and climbed up after Eddie.

The other students were stretched out on the grass. Eddie had done well to get them all out of the ship, though they weren’t in as much danger from blunt impacts with their jumpsuits on. The auto-meds would be firing through their systems even now.

Joshua clambered over the ramp of the ship and dropped down to the ground.

‘Hey let me down!’ Sarah said from over his shoulder.

‘I knew you wouldn’t leave me so soon.’ Joshua smiled and placed her gently on her feet. Sarah brushed her hair back out of her face and looked him in the face.

‘Yeah about that...’ Sarah began.

He
stared back into her eyes like a lovesick puppy.

Sarah
glanced around at the others. One by one they began to sit up and shake their heads. Eddie just stood there, his earlier initiative seemingly evaporated. They needed someone to lead them, quick.

Sarah pulled in close to Joshua. His grin widened at first but dropped when Sarah
whispered fiercely in his ear. ‘These kids need instructions. Look at them,’ Sarah waved a hand around behind her. ‘Did you see what happened to Ichiro? That’s on you. So get your mind off me and on task!’

Her voice had risen to a yell. Sarah turned around to see the kids watching her. She blushed, pushed her hair back, and left them staring in her wake as she stomped off to the front section of the buried ship.

Joshua didn’t know whether to cough or gulp. He knew she was right, he had got distracted, made a bad call. He surveyed the smoking wreck of the Nyctalopia. A
disastrous call.

He went around each of the kids to check on how they had handled the crash landing. Eddie was waiting
, with the eternal patience of a farmhand, for a new chore. Elayne and William were still out cold, but their eyes flickered as though they were dreaming. It wouldn’t be long before they woke up. Marcas was rubbing a bump on his head and muttering in Portuguese. Kayla was talking animatedly in her high-pitched voice to Alara, stoically taking the aural assault.

Joshua suddenly realised this was the first real action they had seen outside of the Academy training grounds and whatever trials they had endured before being recruited. They must have stories as affecting as Joshua’s own sordid tale, and as diverse as each of their lineages. He would make sure to get know them one day, but for now he would be content with just keeping them alive.

‘Eddie, you seem to have a knack for climbing,’ Joshua said. ‘Get back up to the ramp and keep a lookout. If there’s anyone left on the island, they know we’re here.’

Eddie bounded into action, and took up a perch on highest point of the Nyctalopia.

‘Kayla,’ Joshua said. She was explaining the finer points of the bio-ID’s mind-reading ability to Alara, who still wasn’t quite sure how it worked. ‘Kayla, quit your yakkin’. You spent the most time in the Academy infirmary yes?’

‘Oh yea, I was there all time, Dr. Edwards used to tell me-’

‘Never mind that,’ Joshua cut her off. ‘You’re our medic. See to Elayne and Will please.’

Kayla stared back dumbly.

‘Now!’ Joshua finished.

She snapped out of it and went over t
o check on the two youngest kids’ jumpsuit med settings. That just left Marcas and Alara. They were very nearly standing at attention as if they were on a parade ground.

‘Alara, see if you can find water. There might be some fresh-water springs nearby, we’ll need it. Tell Eddie which way you’re going, but don’t wander far.’

Alara nodded, fixed on her task. Marcas winced though, he knew that instruction meant they were in for a hike through the jungle.

Joshua pointed a
t him. ‘You, find any weapons you can.’

Marcas nodded and trotted off with a “
se desejar
”. The wide stride of his muscled Latin-American frame pushed the foliage aside with ease. Now that everyone was finally busy, Joshua went to find Sarah.

The sound of frantic digging caught his attention as he made his way round the buried ship. He could hear Sarah’s voice.

‘But you have no idea what damage has been done!’ she was saying.

Joshua popped his head around the corner. ‘You’re not talking about us, I hope,’ meaning their relationship.

‘Oh grow up, you’re the
last thing on my mind right now,’ Sarah shot back.

Joshua was taken aback for a second, but was saved from having to think of a witty response by the distraction Richard was providing. He had found a shovel and was digging around one of the Nyctalopia’s buried jet intakes. It looked about as fruitless as the notion of the ship ever flying again.

Richard was manic. ‘I can do it! I won’t leave my ship behind. There are more shovels, lend a hand. If we all-’

‘That’s enough Richie.’ Joshua grabbed the shovel. Richard seemed to deflate, but he let Joshua take the shovel. ‘Get Casey on the line.’

‘Yeah... yeah okay I can do that.’

‘Good, now Sarah-’ Joshua began.

‘Wait a tick,’ Richard cut in. ‘Why don’t
you
just call him? Have you still not got an iPC?’

‘Yeah. I mean no, I haven’t got one.’

Richard gawked. ‘Mate, how can you even see anything without one?’

‘Call me crazy,’ Joshua said, ‘b
ut the thought of one of those things inside me just-’

Before he could finish his sentence, Alara’s youthful girlish scream came pouring through the jungle growth. They didn’t need a computer to tell
that she was in trouble.

‘Stay with the ship!’ Joshua bellowed up at Eddie. Up on the aircraft’s tail, Eddie gave a smart salute, then pointed into the brush.

‘Allie went that way!’ he called back down. Joshua veered off in the direction he indicated, Richard and Sarah right behind him.

‘No you two stay here as well,’ Joshua said. ‘It’s the best position to defend. Besides if we fail you’ll have to blow it up.’

Richard almost fainted.

Sarah stopped short and put a hand on Richard’s shoulder. ‘He’s right, we can’t let the Fletchers get their hands on the
Nicky
. Come on, they can handle it.’

As
she led Richard back, Joshua pointed at Will and Elayne. They were still groggy from the fall.

‘You two stay
as well, back them up,’ he ordered. To Kayla and Marcas he said, ‘You two, with me. Let’s go!’

Marcas tossed him one of the elongated weapons that Joshua had found earlier in the crates they had brought on board.

‘This was all I had time to find!’ Marcas said.

‘Don’t worry, it’ll do,’ Joshua assured him as he strapped it to his forearm. They still had no idea what this weapon even did. The gun hung from the strap on the outside of his arm. Joshua tapped the button on the outer edge with his other hand. To his surprise, a blast of yellow energy instantly streamed out of the tip of the gun and hit a tree. It seemed to shudder and strain, the roots pulling up at the dirt around it, but was otherwise unharmed.

He looked at Marcas, they both had the same sinking suspicion:
Hope it’s not as useless against a real target
.

The three would-be rescuers tore through the jungle, heedless of any noise they made. Alara couldn’t have gone far in such a short time.

They burst out into a small clearing. Joshua took in the scene in an instant. Alara stood to one side of a bubbling freshwater spring, holding a large metal canteen covered in blood. A hugely muscled man towered over her, dressed in high visibility overalls like a maintenance worker, complete with a tool-belt around his waist. He had taken a nasty gash in the head but somehow had the strength to grapple with Alara in an attempt to break her by the shoulders. It was an absurd attack posture. Perhaps the man was a bit simpleminded?

Joshua raised an arm and pointed his strange weapon at the man. Still cautious of
its unknown effect, he held his fire.

‘Release her!’ he ordered the man.

‘What are you doing? Shoot him!’ Kayla cried.

Joshua gritted his teeth. The man was crushing Alara, but he couldn’t shoot him without hitting her. Before he could react, Marcas rushed the man and tackled him, despite being at least two heads shorter. They fell to the ground in a heap, Marcas crushing him with his beefy torso. He rolled quickly away, leaving the man exposed.

‘Fire!’ Marcas yelled.

Joshua obliged.

The yellow energy from Joshua’s forearm weapon zapped the man dead centre in his back. The next instant, he was flung skyward as though pulled by some invisible string. Joshua, Kayla, Marcas and Alara stared up after him as he was whisked above the treetops.

‘Whoa. Cool!’ Marcas said from his position on the ground. He jumped up and examined t
he weapon on Joshua’s arm. ‘What do you call it?’

Kayla made a
tsk sound with her tongue. Joshua let Marcas turn his arm over while he cast an eye over Alara. Her breathing was shallow and raspy.

‘You okay?’ he asked. Alara nodded. She was still alert, her jumpsuit would fix any internal bleeding or broken ribs within a day. Kayla moved to check on her anyway.

Then, without warning the man came back, floating down belly first through the tree canopy, on the invisible string. His arms and legs dangled down from his torso, as if something held him by the mid-section. When he reached a height two metres above the ground, his speed decelerated to a crawl. He seemed to just hang there, completely unconscious.

Joshua crept up to him. If he had a stick, he would have liked to prod the man with it, like a kid with a dead cat. Except this cat wasn’t dead, and it was floating in mid air just above his head. Joshua walked around him to see his face. His eyes widened in horror at the sight and he spun away, revolted.

‘What is it?’ Kayla asked. She and Alara crowded around
Joshua, worried looks cast over their faces.

Marcas however, looked at the unconscious man. His head hung slack from his neck. But it was the eyes that captured Marcas.
One had no visible pupil. The eyeball had a single, flat, blood-red colour filling the tiny gap between the cornea and the iris. The man looked like some kind of cruel demon. Marcas froze. He couldn’t turn away from the sight.

Joshua, hands on knees, took a moment to compose himself. He stood straight and gently brushed off the reassuring hands of the girls. He tapped Marcas on the shoulder, who slowly turned on the spot.

Joshua gasped.

One eye was normal and healthy, but Marcas had developed the same blood-red layer over his left eye. It was the one in which he’d had his iPC installed. He had somehow become infected just by
looking in the man’s red eye.