Nari walked into Andrew’s office.
“Here to report on my mission, sir.” She stared at the walls, heart thudding in her chest as she waited for him to acknowledge her.
He looked up and smiled. “Nari! You made it back.” His shoulders slumped, and his eyes seemed to become a little less weary as he motioned for her to sit down.
“Yeah, I did. And I only had a little bit of danger too.” She settled into one of the grey cushioned chairs in front of the desk, staring at the blue sculpture, exhaustion creeping in on her. The monotony of the grey room was not helping her stay awake either.
He grinned. “Good. That’s what I was hoping. Of course, a little bit of danger might also mean very little information.” He pushed aside his papers, leaning on the desk as he always did.
“I took the risks I needed to in order to get information. I found out what they were up to, but your brother never gave specifics. I had to get the information to you that I did gather quickly though, so I couldn’t stay with them another day.” Nari shrugged, smiling at him for a moment before going back to fiddling with the grey shirt she wore. Grey... Like everything else here. It was such a boring color.
Andrew nodded. “What information did you get?”
“First could you bring me up to date on what’s happened during the three days it took me to get back to West Base?” Nari shifted in her seat, tingles erupting up her spine.
She had a terrible feeling about what had happened while she was gone.
Andrew made a sour face, then confirmed her suspicions. “East Base fell. Amory and his crew took it two days ago. They had far more agents than we realized working to bring East Base down.
"We didn’t do anything to help by informing East Base. I think Amory counted on the message getting sent to East Base about his escape. I should have thought of it, but…” He dropped the thought.
He sighed, shaking his head and fiddling with the pen sitting on his desk. “Anyway… The only other thing that makes this situation impossible is that Indri discovered that Amory took our half of the Book, and he took the Wand of Winds. Without either of those, we have almost no hope of defeating him."
Rifling through a stack of papers on his desk, he pulled out scrap paper for notes in case he needed it. "What news did you get from Amory’s group? Please tell me you have good news. Anything to fix this grim situation?”
“Nothing to fix the situation, I’m afraid. I knew they were planning an attack, but my communication equipment got wet because it rained unexpectedly, and it wasn’t working. It still isn’t working. But you couldn’t have gotten reinforcements there quickly enough anyway.
"By the time I caught up to Amory and found out what he was planning they were just a day’s travel from East Base, and I had no way of slowing them down. If I burned their supplies or something, they’d just keep going because they would starve if they didn’t…"
She hesitated, staring at his desk's glass surface and her reflection in it for a moment before continuing. "So nothing I did would help. Besides that, you told me to remain hidden.” She folded her hands in her lap, looking down at them.
If she had done something - come out of hiding and intervened - would she have been able to stop the take-over?
Andrew nodded. “You did fine, Nari. You did everything you could. It isn’t your fault that East Base fell. Do you have any other news?”
“Yes. Amory is planning on overthrowing you and creating a whole new system for the MBC. He didn’t say what or how he would do it. Everything he said was vague. So you probably know more than I do about what he’ll do.” Nari muttered, a blush flooding her cheeks as she realized just how useless her information was to Andrew.
The sculpture on his desk suddenly became far more interesting than anything else in the room, and she stared at it, avoiding his gaze. The blue was a nice bright spot in the rest of the room, but it was making her sleepy again. She looked away, opting to stare at her lap instead.
Andrew grimaced. “I don’t know about that. I can guess that Amory is planning on setting himself up as dictator of the MBC and Earth. He told me he wanted to rule the world the day before he left.”
Nari nodded, understanding. “That’s what I thought too.”
Andrew sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Go get some rest, Nari. I’m sure you need it after that episode. I’ll figure out this mess from here.”
She gave him a concerned look, but he brushed it off. “Go on. I’ll be fine.”
“Yes, sir!” Nari walked to the lightweight, metal door, pushing it open and walking out of the office, leaving Andrew to contemplate what to do about the problem.
***
Chenn sat on his bunk at East Base tapping out a steady rhythm with his fingers against his book. The grey steel and white walls. The steel framed bunks with a single grey blanket and sparse white pillow. All of it reminded him of the prison where he’d spent ten years of life.
He closed his eyes. It was too much. Those ten years had been a nightmare, only he hadn’t been able to wake up and stop living it. It was what had made him so reclusive and afraid of people.
I spent all those years in jail for that little girl's death. He buried his face in his hands. It was all my fault too. If I hadn't moved out of the way just as that man pulled the trigger, she would still be alive. I might as well have pulled the trigger myself. She died just as surely as if I had. Moaning, he tried to stop the thought train before it got to close and hurtful. These things were not memories he wanted to dredge up.
"Get up, you lousy killer! You oughta be ashamed o' yourself killin' little girls!"
"It was an accident. I didn't pull the trigger."
"What you here for, runt?"
He resisted the urge to wail. He'd had enough living through all of it once. He didn't need to live through it again. But snatches of conversations and memories he had continued to jumble in his mind.
"You killed a little kid? Man, that's worse than what I done. You oughta die for it. Why haven't they killed you yet?"
"I know. I'm awful. I should die for not stopping the bullet that killed her."
"What kind of person kills a defenseless little girl?"
"I didn't kill her."
"The police found you holding the smoking gun, you lousy liar."
And so it went.
He wished he had something else to do. Anything, really. Just so long as it distracted him from the claustrophobic feelings this place created.
Someone walked in. He opened his eyes to see Vanessa staring at him, a pouty snarl twisting her face. He almost welcomed her ornery presence. It was a distraction from the awful memories he held within him.
That time in prison had sobered him. It had taken much of the life out of him, and he was burdened with guilt for what had happened. Once he had been a spunky kid, full of fun. He'd been a happy kid too. Or at least, mostly happy. He'd lived in an orphanage for nearly four years after his mother died, but the people who ran it had been kind to him. Even when the other orphans weren't kind. Which was most of the time.
Vanessa's sharp voice cut through his painful reveries.
He glared at her, cutting her stream of annoyed words off lest he be forced to listen to her indefinitely. “What did I do now? I would think that after I embarrassed you several days ago you would avoid me.”
“No such luck, you evil, conniving fox." She jabbed a finger at him, glaring back. "I can’t think of enough bad names to describe you, but I’d need even more to describe Amory at this point in time! Of all the nerve! He put me in here with you and your stupid little twit of a friend, Ali.”
He frowned. “I wasn’t aware I was friends with Ali.”
“Of course not. He talks incessantly about you, but you wouldn’t pay any heed to him. It’s not even a consolation that there's one other girl rooming here because it's Kallie, the little nincompoop owlet you treat so nicely. Since when does anyone room the girls with the boys, anyway? Amory must be nuts. Andrew never put any of the girls with the boys. It was always boys in one barrack room, girls in another. That's one thing out of a string of failures that man did manage to do right.”
Chenn just kept quiet and listened to her rage.
“I mean, it wasn’t like I enjoyed being in a room with that arrogant pig of a girl, Nari! She acted as if she was better, and she stopped hanging out with me as soon as Andrew suggested I wasn’t a good influence. She even told me so in as many words. But it sure beats sharing with a jerk like you!”
“Do you ever have anything nice to say about anyone, Vanessa?”
She glared at him. “Ooo! You…” She pointed her finger at him. “Just shut up! I hate you!”
“Yeah, I can tell.” Chenn grumbled.
Ali walked in then. He was a dark haired boy with olive skin and a slight but wiry build. Chenn remembered him now that he saw whom Vanessa was talking about.
“Oh, wonderful. We’re sharing with snot-nosed Vanessa.”
Chenn smiled. Apparently, Ali was quite willing to be rude to Vanessa.
No one liked her. Most weren't outspoken about it in front of her, but even the girls had bad things to say about her, and Kallie was scared to death of her. Of course, the way she behaved, it was no wonder.
Ali’s gaze landed on Chenn. His face split into a broad grin. “Chenn! Amory didn’t tell me that I was sharing with you!”
“Amory doesn’t like me much either.” Chenn shrugged.
“Yeah, I noticed. He was nearly apocalyptic with rage when you started asking questions.” Ali laughed.
Chenn smirked. “Not like I didn’t notice.”
“You two are idiots! You make Amory mad, then joke about it like there’s no possibility he’ll kill you for it.” Vanessa said.
Ali grimaced.
Chenn just laughed. “Vanessa, if he wants to kill us, let him try.”
She rolled her eyes. “You two are such morons!”
“You never stop with the insults, do you, Vanessa?”
“No. I don't!” She snapped.
Chenn stopped smiling and climbed off the bed. “Ali, you want to go get some lunch?”
Ali grinned. “Sure!”
Chenn didn’t want to offer, but he figured he should try to patch things up a bit with Vanessa. “Vanessa, you want to join us?”
Ali gave him a brief, annoyed glance. It turned out it didn’t matter that he’d offered.
“Eat with you two jerks? Never! Get lost.” She tossed her head, sending golden waves of silky hair shimmering down her back.
When they were out of her earshot, Ali remarked, “For being twenty-nine, Vanessa sure does act like a stuck up teen.”
Chenn grinned at him. “Guess she never learned to grow up.”
Ali cocked an eyebrow. “That’s what I was thinking.”
“You don’t say?”
Ali gave Chenn a gentle shove, laughing.
The two boys continued to banter all through lunch. It helped Chenn to come out of his shell and spend time with Ali. He needed to keep his mind off the prison-like qualities of East Base.
***
Nari stood in front of Andrew’s desk. It was her second mission. She had to get the Book of Spells and the Wand of Winds.
East Base had been silent for several months now building their forces, and Andrew wanted her to go in and find out what they were planning. She was going to stay a lot longer this time, and she would convey information secretly via a tiny communication chip implanted in one of her molars. She would be getting instructions from Andrew through a tiny hand-held game that she could carry everywhere.
“So, provided that they give me trouble about joining, like I think they will, what should I say?”
Andrew smiled. “Always one step ahead, aren’t you, Nari?”
“That’s me… I view everything like chess.” She quipped back.
“Well, you can tell them that you have important information about West Base’s activities. Say that we are secretly moving troops into position to attack East Base. You can’t tell them where these supposed troops are though because if you do they can easily prove that you’re lying. So just say that you didn’t find out where the troops were, just that they were coming.” He waved a hand at her.
“And if they ask why I want to join?”
“Say that you saw me doing things that were against the code of the MBC. You can tell them as many falsehoods and atrocities about me as you like. You can say that I abused you if you want. I don’t care. Just make sure they believe you. It shouldn’t be hard to convince most of them that I’m evil since my brother already told them that.” He grimaced.
Nari nodded. “When do I head out?”
“Tonight. Indri is taking time off to drive you halfway there. It’ll be about half a day’s drive to get halfway. You’ll have to go the rest of the way on foot. We can’t risk them seeing Indri or the car. They have to believe you came on your own, desperate to get away from me and Indri.” He stared at her, waiting to be sure she understood.
“Understood, sir!”
He grinned. “Good. Go meet Indri at the Gate. He’s waiting with your gear.”
She smiled back, giving him a sharp salute and headed out the door.
***
Indri was waiting for her at the Gate when she showed up. He was sitting in the jeep, impatient, keeping an eye out for her. When he saw her, he gave her a brisk wave. “Climb in, and hurry up. We don’t have time to waste. It’s going to be dangerous getting you to the halfway point as it is because the magical creatures are getting more powerful and more dangerous." He paused, scowling at her.
She climbed into the seat beside him, her nerves a wreck. "I know."
He sighed. "Many people are dying, and it’s getting harder to get out of West Gate. If you aren’t back at our meeting point the third day of the fifth month that you’re gone, we’ll assume that you’re lost.”
She nodded her understanding. Settling down into a comfortable position, she buckled her seatbelt as she asked, “Indri, do you think I can do it?”
She needed reassurance that she could, but on the other hand, she knew Indri would be honest.
His voice was grim as he replied, “I don’t know, Nari. Things look bad. But Andrew and I wouldn’t send you unless we had no other options. You’re our last hope.”
“Great… No pressure, I’m sure.” She deadpanned.
His voice was dead serious as he replied, “Nari, there is a huge amount of pressure on you with this mission. The lives of millions hang in the balance, not to mention the Balance itself and good and evil. If Amory succeeds, Earth will fall. We cannot fail. You cannot fail.”
She nodded, serious again. “I know.”
“I hope you do.” Indri whispered as he started the car.