Runan stood among the fifty other Lower Caldozzans in the tunnel to the royal residence. Artificial lights hummed overhead, allowing them to see each other without opening the door. A low voice buzzed in the back of his mind, and he rubbed the tender area of his head where he'd agreed to be chipped days ago for the good of their people. He and his Upper partner, Quino, had trained together in Lower Caldozza to get the Uppers used to the more powerful bodies and improve their coordination. They also practiced switching between controllers of the body, so they'd have the skills of those experienced in hard physical labour and the minds which understood the Upper Caldozzan landscape and technology.
Tunia stood on a crate and cleared her throat. The way she commanded the room's attention meant Messita was back in charge.
"Our first team has disabled the security and is slowly sedating and isolating the guard population. We need you to help them and report when this is done."
Runan breathed out a sigh of relief. Solara had left with that first team despite his protests they fight together. She'd argued they wouldn't be as effective together with him more concerned with her safety than the mission, and she was right.
The tunnel opened, and forty men ran into the royal residence, half targeting the servants' quarters and the others heading for the main building. Runan stayed with the ten people left, among them Kendros and Mr. Benito, a friend and client of Solara's who could take our guards with his bare hands.
Thirty long minutes passed before Messita called Runan forward.
"Ru, we will not stoop to their level and sentence deaths. The queen will be apprehended and stand trial for what she's done to these people. Eighty percent of the population want justice, and we'll prove we are fair leaders, true to our word."
Runan nodded and gave his sister a hug, careful to be gentler than he was with her true body. Having her at their fingertips had made the past two weeks bearable though it could turn in a heartbeat. In her own body, Messita stood a fighting chance, but in this one, commanding from the tunnel with a few trusted guards was best.
"Ready?" Messita asked and Runan nodded. She opened the tunnel doors to a calm mountainous plateau.
You know the route and the dangers. Keep us alive. My son is counting on it, Quino piped in.
I'll treat your life as my own.
With the royal guards subdued and security disabled, Runan's team took the pods up to the royal residence, following Messita's instructions to reach the private chambers. As they approached, an enormous ball of energy swallowed the pod to their left. The air exploded in shards of metal, oil, blood and flesh.
Give me the controls.
Runan loosened the control of his body, and Quino manoeuvred the ship out of the line of fire and under the building. He hovered there to relay a message to Messita. The attackers had looked like Lower Caldozzans. Quino muttered about traitors under his breath.
"I'll send reinforcements from the other sections that don't seem to be compromised," she replied.
The pods had no weapons as they were only for transport. Runan had a rifle, and Quino had brought an energy blaster, but they would harm the body of an ally with the mind of an enemy.
We'll stun them and get their minds right after this. I'll dock us close to an entrance and let you handle how to get in.
Runan's vision and senses sharpened as the top of the pod opened underneath the building. They were five meters from the edge with plenty of metal beams to scale to reach it. Standing on the seat, he tested the strength of one of the cars then clipped a lead on his harness to the rails. After pulling himself up, he scaled across the underbelly of the queen's balcony, the wind making his body shudder and sweat slowly lining his hands. He moved the clip along until he reached the end. Zipped in his pocket was a compact mirror which he held out to assess the danger.
Two Lowers Runan didn't recognize stood alongside the queen who sat on her throne with eyes scouring each direction. "We'll get these fighters first, then reclaim the others."
A third person entered the room, and Runan nearly dropped the mirror. Solara wore hardened glare he'd only seen when he really pissed her off. "We are at your service, your majesty."
That couldn't be her, or if it was her body, she couldn't be in control of her actions. Why hadn't they vetted the Uppers more thoroughly? Why he hadn't he extensively interviewed her partner to smoke out any hint of a traitor? His allies could shoot her with justification, and his life would be over.
"Find your Lower's lover. If we take him hostage, the leader will fall."
"He wasn't with the troops, and his Upper was a sympathizer."
"Then use the Lower's feelings against him."
Runan's stomach churned as he closed his eyes. He loved the Solara, but she wasn't her in control. He had to balance between protecting himself and not harming her.
Two more pods pulled up close to his, and the Lower soldiers joined him on the bar.
"What's wrong?" Kendros whispered.
"Solara's Upper turned her. She'd in great danger, and they want to use her to target me."
"Do they know you know?"
Runan shook his head.
"Return to your pod, disable the window tint, and when they prompt you to play along, do it until you can get her alone. Sedate her and get her away as fast as you can."
"But the queen."
"We'll take her," Mr. Benito said from behind Kendros. "Save Ms. Fumera."
Runan navigated around the two men and back into a pod. He approached the room from the opposite side to not give away his allies. When he popped up beside the balcony, the Lower bartender pointed a gun at him until a melodic voice yelled "stop".
Solara's face swelled with a frantic frown and overdone tears. She pulled Runan out of the pod the second he opened it and dragged him into her arms. He fought with his body, who couldn't detect a difference between the traitor and Solara.
She turned to the guard. "You will not harm this man. He's with me."
Runan took stock of the solitary man in the vicinity then gripped the needle tighter.
"Ru," the tone matched Solara's perfectly. "The queen is getting away."
Her warm honey eyes widened with long dark lashes. His heart raced. It's not really her.
She grabbed at his arms and sunk in her nails. Runan took the needle and pressed it into the side of her leg hidden from the guard. The prick was slow, resulting in nothing but a gasp easily mistaken for a joyful surprise.
Her nails broke his skin, and her other hand grabbed at his weapons. He restrained her in an awkward hug. As her body went limp, Runan aimed an electrical charge at the turned Lower. He tumbled to the ground and convulsed. Runan placed Solara's body in the pod and cuffed her wrists with a sigh. They would restore her mind once the situation was under control.
Shouting and electrical charges crackled in the adjacent room. His gaze shifted between Solara and the battle raging inside. If he left now, traitors could overwhelm Kendros and Mr. Benito, and they would lose the war. As much as his heart longed for Solara to be free of her invader this second, releasing her into a corrupt world that would hunt them down was just as dangerous. The Uppers had said sedatives lasted at least half an hour. He closed the pod and directed it to hide under the balcony. I'll be back for you, Sola.
Readying his blast gun, Runan entered the door to the hall next to the queen's chamber. "Eyes, Tunia," he whispered into his wrist, careful to look around him.
"Each side has a man down and one standing. The queen is conscious too."
After Runan opened the chamber door and hid behind it, a blast tore through the hall, electrifying the exterior wall. A cry echoed, and he dared to step in the room. Mr. Benito approached the queen with narrowed eyes. "It's over. You will stand trial for your actions."
The queen pulled out a revolver better suited to Lower Caldozza than a tech-savvy Upper. Runan fired his weapon before her shaking hands could pull the trigger. She fell to the side, slumping over in her chair.
"Is that everyone?" he asked.
"Yeah, is Solara okay?"
"Sedated. And Kendros?"
"He took a powerful hit. I'll take him and the queen down. Hopefully, no one else turned on us."
Runan nodded and returned to the pod. He had room to bring the turned Lower, but couldn't risk them both waking up with their Upper halves turning against him. The pod dropped beside the support beams holding the residences above the trees and followed a shaded path along the forest edge to return to the tunnels.
"We're approaching," Runan called into his communicator.
The tunnel opened slowly for his pod and let Mr. Benito clear it too. A few Lowers had returned from the first wave and gasped as Mr. Benito revealed the limp, captured queen.
"When she gets to the jail, only our trusted people will watch her," Messita declared.
Runan ran a hand along Solara's cheek and kissed her on the forehead. He hoped she'd forgive him for his actions. He lifted the pod cover and hopped out alongside his sister. She squeezed his shoulders and leaned her head against his chest. "Thanks, Ru. I'm sorry about what happened with Solara."
"It better be worth it," he said. "We can't trust anyone anymore."
"Tunia's known the people overseeing the trial for years. It's going to be okay. She also says we should wait to revive Solara until we can get the Upper back in its body otherwise it could be dangerous for her. It could be a few more hours since we need these pods."
As his sister left to speak with others, Runan carried Solara out of the pod and sat with her as more and more Lowers returned from the royal residence. Every time her body stirred, Runan had to stick Solara with another sedative and pray there was no side effect.
Two hours later, all their people were rescued from the royal residence, even those who'd been turned. They'd captured the Upper staff who still sided with the queen to await trial as well.
Kendros lay in the hospital with ten other Lowers who'd taken a high-voltage electric charge. Runan entered a room where hundreds of Upper bodies on grey mats lined the floor. Their supposed allies. With the help of a technician, he located Solara's counterpart, and they lay her at the woman's side. The upper had black, bluntly cut hair and a sharp hooked nose. Tunia placed cuffs on the woman before injecting Solara with a revival serum.
After a few minutes, her body twitched to life. Runan's breathing grew choppier as he expected the backstabbing woman inhabiting Solara's body to immerge. Tunia squeezed his shoulder.
"You want to welcome her."
Runan exhaled and nodded. Solara's eyes opened, and she slowly lifted herself from the ground. When her hand darted to her necklace, he engulfed her in a hug.
"Sola," he breathed in her ear.
She shook in his arms. "Ru, I'm so sorry."
"It wasn't you."
"But she deceived me."
"Solara, we'll get her out of your mind, okay?" Tunia smiled warmly.
The love of his life nodded with tears in her eyes. She pulled away from Runan and looked at the Upper's body.
"She'll stand trial like the others. Now you must bring her to the forefront of her mind, and then our machine will transfer her back to her body, okay?"
Solara nodded again. Her pleasant expression faded, her eyebrows formed a sharp V and her nose wrinkled as if they were in the sewers. "You have undone years of sacrifice and hard work, you traitor, you—"
The humming of the machine cut her off, and she jerked forward. The pendant in Solara's hands glowed, and the body on the floor beside her shook as the star faded. Solara fell into Runan's arms, energy all spent.
"What happened?" Runan asked.
"Give her five or ten minutes, and she'll be back. These jumps are hard on the hosts." Tunia left to help others return to their selves.
The next five minutes, he cradled Solara whispering all the things he wanted to do together once this was all over, take her out for a nice meal, lie together under the oak tree for hours, and most of all build a life together.
When she awoke again, she smiled weakly. "I can't wait for things to feel normal again."
"Normal will hopefully never be the same."
"I can handle that, as long as you're there."
Runan grinned. "Me too."