CHAPTER TWO
Lem
Now? Right now? Really?
Lem strode over to the boy who’d blown up her secret door with a low growl, her own surprise lessened under the insistent need to act to cover her tunnel back up. The guy stood stiff, his hand outstretched, as if still leaning on the rock that was no longer there. Decorative cloth wristbands dangled and danced as he trembled, tracing tiny circles in the air, the only motion around his frozen form. Lem recognized him from the class a year below hers: Laaru, his name was. Not insufferable—actually a really sweet kid. Lem ate lunch with his crew sometimes.
“Anyone else with you?” Lem called; mostly she didn’t want to deal with any soft chicks just itching to report unauthorized mining to the Administration. Like Kym.
“I—what just—am I dying?” the civilian stammered, gripping his own wrist with his other hand.
“No, but you’re killing me,” Lem muttered, trotting to clamber over the rubble to reach him. She wasn’t too surprised about the explosion; back in the Stygge training center, where the Growen tried to create super-soldiers, Lem had heard of a trainee who could blow up rocks with his mind. This was different, but close enough: powerful em-chemistry could manifest anywhere, in almost any species.
But it sure was filking inconvenient for this little shaggy dude to suddenly discover his talent the day she needed to escape. She’d reached the opening now where her once-hidden mineshaft joined the main hallway, and Laaru wasn’t alone. His two best buddies were trotting over, and it wouldn’t be long before others further down the tunnel looked up and saw them gathering here.
Oh, how Lem missed just knocking people out. Not his fault, just a civilian …
“Get in here, now,” Lem ordered. “I need this to stay hidden. Yeah, you two, also.” The three humans looked at her, stiffened by her tone. Lem forced herself to smile. “Please.”
“I—I think I need to go to the medic’s office!” Laaru stammered.
“No, you super definitely don’t.” Lem could see shadows further down the lit hallway starting to stir. “You do that, and they’ll round you up.”
“Round me—what?”
Lem didn’t want to grab a person just discovering his abilities—wouldn’t really do to scare him and then explode—but a sudden silence threw her heart into palpitations: someone had shut off the automated mining equipment down the hall. They’re coming this way.
“We’ve had a good school-year, right, guys?” Lem asked through a strained voice. “Like you all don’t hate me, right?”
Xunst, the almond-eyed black-haired human who didn’t say much, shook his head. “What? No, we’re cool. We’re friends.”
“Okay then friends, check out this completely unauthorized tunnel I made!” Lem stepped back with a stiff flourish and a tense laugh. “Please come in. Watch the carpet.”
“Should you be joking around right now?” Curly-haired ever “practical” pale boy Nevik pointed at Laaru’s trembling hands. “We heard the cave-in—is he okay?”
Footsteps approached, boots and skittering claws on stone. Aaaaaaaah. “Laaru,” Lem stepped one leg back, down into her hidden tunnel with her elbows on her front knee so she could meet the guy’s downward stare without bending. “Laaru, you are more than okay. Just don’t touch anything and I will explain what is happening to you. But you gotta listen to me and hide in here right now or they will ship you off.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Nevik asked. “What happened?”
Xunst was already in the shaft, admiring Lem’s handiwork—he didn’t need a second invitation to adventure. Laaru looked up into Lem’s eyes through the hair falling over his face. “How do you know?”
Lem threw her fingers in the air and let sparks fly. “I know.”
Everyone’s eyes widened.
And that was how a disgraced ex-military freedom fighter lured three civilians into a dark hole, and then had to figure out what to do with them.
First things first: hide. It took Lem seconds to carve out a rough chunk of rock wall with her mace; with a grunt, she shoved it over the cave entrance atop the rubble of the exploded boulder.
“Hold on, how can you lift that thing?” Nevik asked. Despite his small stature and youth, his ultra-deep voice brought a sense of authority, almost accusation, to the question. “And where’d you get the laser staff?”
I’m one of those Contaminated monsters you keep hearing about, Lem wanted to snark, but her brain stopped her from blurting things these days. Some things, anyway. “One question at a time,” she said. “Laaru, you’re electromagnetic, and—follow me this way, please, everybody—and if you tell anyone, you’ll get scouted by the Growen.”
Xunst kept up with Lem, but Nevik and Laaru picked their way over the rough rocks with such tenderness she wanted to beat them both. Hurry up, I need to meet Jei!
“I’m electromagnetic? That’s—that’s impossible,” Laaru protested, hands up in the air. He shied away from his friends, who still didn’t know why. “None of my parents—hey but wait, how—” His voice squeezed into a near-squeak. “Blowing up rocks has nothing to do with magnets.”
“You blew up a rock?” Xunst paused and looked up from his tunnel inspection.
“It’s not always hereditary,” Lem answered Laaru, “and without some kinda tissue analysis, you kinda gotta assume it’s controlled by some alteration in your nervous system. You did it with your hands, right? I knew of a guy who did it using intense ultrasonic waves at some frequency we can’t hear. He was probably a chemosynth, of course, with some kind of calcium-build-up-organ-thing or something but …” Lem tilted her head, listening for voices outside as she raced to her dig site at the end of the tunnel—as much “racing” as you could do trailed by someone who’d just discovered they’re living dynamite—hurry, hurry—
“That’s impossible,” Nevik protested. “Humans can’t generate that kind of biochemical energy.”
“Just like blind people can’t develop the ability to echolocate?” Lem smirked, flickering sparks around her fingers again to emphasize her point. Her brain danced through escape scenarios. If someone opened the tunnel … it was dark here, at the end, so maybe … “The nervous system is strangely adaptable,” she added.
“Adapting what’s there is one thing—suddenly growing new systems out of nowhere is something else,” Nevik panted. “You’re comparing a firefly to an atom bomb. There’s a reason no one believes in punctuated equilibrium or abiogenesis anymore.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, guy,” Lem said, trying to estimate how much further before she would’ve reached soil uninterrupted. “Ain’t science supposed to be about understanding the world as it is, not trying to make it fit what already makes sense?”
She laid her hands on the rock. Was it realistic, to try to—
“Okay, playing along here, and not trying to challenge you—you clearly know something we don’t—but how do you know he’ll get scouted by the Growen? And I mean, is military service even a bad thing?” Nevik asked.
Lem scowled, glad the kid couldn’t really see her face by the light of her mace. “I was tracking them a couple years ago when they were actively hunting people with electromagnetic abilities for their Stygge Army. Things have cooled since we shut down their training center, but they still keep an eye out for new abilities.”
“Oh come on, that’s a conspiracy,” Nevik laughed. “Some hidden mountain prison in the middle of a Revelonian national forest? No way. You must have misunderstood the situation.”
“Must have. Guess I misunderstood the months I spent getting tortured there. Just some miscommunication.” Lem managed an angry smile as she waved Xunst back a few steps from the wall. “Laaru, come here and put your hands on this rock.”
“O-okay.” Laaru obeyed, holding his hands up like they were dirty. He placed his palms, and Lem stepped close to his shoulder.
“Whatever anyone tells you,” she said in a low voice. “Don’t let them show you to anyone until you’re ready. You can’t take the risk that I’m telling the truth.”
“How do I—how do I make sure I don’t hurt someone?” he whispered back. Poor guy—sounded like he was whispering to hide the fact that his voice might break otherwise.
“What were you thinking about when the rock exploded?” Lem asked.
He dropped his head. “I—don’t want to talk about that.”
“Cool.” Lem waved Xunst and Nevik behind her, and powered up her body’s energy field to protect them. “Do it again. You gotta learn what triggers it.”
Before Laaru could even answer, shards of rock exploded past Lem again. Xunst hit the deck; Nevik yelped, a low cry like a choking sabertooth cat.
“Everyone okay?” Lem asked, grinning wide. She’d found a faster way to tunnel.
Laaru panted. Nevik stood jaw agape, and Xunst’s eyebrows raised, but neither was hurt. Lem kind of wished she could’ve prevented them from seeing what their companion could do, but after a year here, getting back to Jei mattered more to her right now. The main hall outside rumbled as the mining equipment started back up again. No alarms yet …
“Keep going, Laaru,” she said. “Just straight forward and up. You’ll want to learn how to control it, but for now just focus on firing it again and again. Learn the ‘on’ button. Wear it out.” To the other two: “While he works off that energy, I’ll answer your questions.”
But Nevik had lost his ability to ask anything. He shook his head and blew his breath out with an overwhelmed whistle, both hands in the pockets of his baggy work pants.
Xunst tilted his head, rising, and brushing himself off. He was calmer than Lem would’ve expected. “So you’re Frelsi,” he said. Lem was astonished by the lack of judgment in his voice—just friendly curiosity. I’d bet money he’s secretly Contaminated, she thought.
“Yeah,” she said aloud, forgetting that she actually wasn’t Frelsi anymore. “But that’s not important right now. I know you guys are all pretty good friends. It’s pretty filking crucial that you don’t out him. It’ll start as what looks like some kind of scholarship opportunity. Sometimes they’ll pretend to get you out of a bad situation. But once they know you’ve got the thing they’re looking for, they will try to turn you into a weapon.”
Nevik found his tongue. “Isn’t that—what you are? If you’re Frelsi, and electromagnetic, then you’re like—like that guerrilla fighter who tore up an entire Growen supply center with his bare hands. On Luna Guetala, I think it was? Bloodseas, I thought that monster shyte was fake, but—”
“Aw, that? He was just worried about me, that’s all,” Lem joked, dismissing Jei’s infamy with a flippant wave of her hand.
It wasn’t at all like her, and she almost laughed out loud, tickled by the stiff, awkward silence as the other two tried to process what she’d implied. She sobered: “I’m kidding. What’s important is that you understand a lot of the information we get out here is pretty twisted. The people with money make the news—that’s just how it is. There’s a difference between being enslaved as a super-soldier to kill kids, and using your powers to defend the people you care about. And until you know the difference, it’s best to keep all this shyte hidden. Oh—Laaru stop, stop right there—”
Pebbles were starting to fall into the tunnel. Laaru would break into the meeting cave up in the upper crust any moment. “Laaru, I’m gonna touch your shoulder, okay? Don’t freak,” Lem said. She pulled him back and set him by his friends, guiding him with her touch so she could look him in the face. “How do you feel?”
“Crazy,” he said. But he was speaking, not whispering, and his voice didn’t break. He took a deep breath. “What if I think of it when I’m not paying attention?”
“Then either you’ll blow up whatever you’re touching, or this only works on certain materials. Let’s not test that right now.” Lem patted the side of his arm, steering clear of his hands but trying not to look like she was. “You should see if gloves protect you, man.”
“Okay,” he said. Lem gave him another pat and turned toward his work. The faintest blue glow flickered through the red silt and small rocks now trickling down into the shaft: the meeting place with Jei lay just through there. A twinge of guilt tugged at Lem—poor Laaru. He was just discovering this whole new universe without anyone to guide him, and she’d immediately used his emotional distress as a shovel. Very practical. Very Growen.
She’d gotten used to feeling that background shame; she swallowed it, and threw on a cocky grin. “You guys need to get out of here,” she said. “You got classes still, right? The rock slab at the door isn’t as heavy as it looks—the three of you should be able to pull it back without exploding it or knocking it down on yourselves.”
“Wait, where are you going?” Nevik asked.
“I’m graduating,” Lem grinned. She gave Laaru what she hoped was an encouraging last nod, and scrambled through the loosened dirt to the cave above.