Illumination

“Coordinates set, Robin Amundsen,” a voice said, breaking the silence of Jack’s dream. She sat up and wearily shook the cobwebs from her mind. That’s the first good sleep I’ve had in a long while, she thought, marvelling at how it should come at such a strange time.

“Good morning, Jackie,” her older brother said from the front seat, glancing back at her through the buggy’s mirror. He had bags under his eyes, as he always did after spending a long night driving. Or maybe it was just the shadows from his helmet visor playing tricks on Jack’s eyes. “Did you sleep well?”

“I did,” she responded, quietly unbuckling so as not to disturb the others and shaking out her legs. “Where are we?” Certainly not outdoors. Through the mild dimness only a dark room can bring, Jack could discern walls around them, as well as another buggy, which was parked next to theirs.

“At a friend’s house,” Robin answered, his mouth twitching slightly behind the warped glass at the word friend. It seemed foreign to him; he turned and leaned around the seat to eye his sister carefully.

“What friend?” Jack asked suspiciously, pushing aside a stray lock of sand-colored hair and blinking innocently at him. “I didn’t realize that you had friends this far out.”

“Yeah, he’s from flight school,” her brother grimaced. “I haven’t seen him since he graduated and I...didn’t.”

“But didn’t you ask him if we could stay in his garage?”

“I mean, not really. Connor’s not the friendliest guy around. I let him know we were coming.” Robin added in an apologetic tone, “Oh, and by that, I mean I just got back from slipping a note under the garage door. He should find it soon.”

“My brother, the rebel,” Jack muttered with a slight smile. “Well, this place looks homey enough. But let’s not stay long. We’ll need to get on the road soon.”

“That’s my plan,” he said, pointing at the holographic map, where the route to Colony 186 had been set. “When the others wake up, we’ll eat and go. Hopefully before Connor finds us. We didn’t exactly end on the best terms.”

Jack turned to see that the other three were still asleep. Liam’s uniform was unbuttoned, exposing his chest, and his helmet lay cradled in his lap. Bailey had her head between her legs and was snoring softly, Sierra leaning against her shoulder. The latter’s eyelashes were still fluttering, almost involuntarily. Every now and then she twitched and shifted restlessly, caught in the web of a bad dream.

“I’m going to go stretch my legs,” Jack announced to no one in particular, putting her helmet back on and securing it. Robin nodded and pressed the button to open the buggy door next to her. “Be right back.”

“Don’t go through any doors. Stay in this room,” he warned, as if that wasn’t already obvious.

“I will.” She swung her legs to the side and climbed out of the buggy, rubbing her back. The buggy’s not the best place to sleep in, especially with those hard, ythafone seats. Her head was the only part of her that didn’t hurt all over.

Her Illuminator parted the dark curtains and lit up every corner of the strange, new garage. There was one other buggy in the room, parked up against a corner and coated in grime. A shelf of tools was mounted on one wall, a picture frame on the other. Jack strode around the buggy and to the other side of the room to examine it.

The picture featured a family of four standing in front of a roaring fire, clad in formal clothes. The mother and father stood a few feet from each other and both wore terrifying scowls on their faces. The father had a loose-fitting coat on and had coarse, brown hair that looked like it belonged on a hairy solfect and not a man. The woman beside him had long, golden curls that were pulled back and a sallow face that reminded Jack of herself. She had one hand on the shoulder of a little girl, no more than seven, who was wearing a dress and buckled boots. The girl, presumably her daughter, was holding hands with her much taller brother (who Jack assumed was Connor). He had cropped, caramel hair that was like Liam’s except straight and less shaggy. Connor’s eyes were a bright, beautiful blue, and he would look handsome if not for the forced smile that was plastered on his face. Like someone had told him to smile and he didn’t know how.

Jack stepped back from the photo and frowned. Connor, his sister, and his mother were all holding hands. It was only the father who stood apart, hands folded in front of him neatly, eyes staring straight ahead. She turned away from his face to avoid bringing back memories of her own parents, one helpless back at the colony, probably worried sick for her and her siblings. And only God knew where Jack’s father was, or if he was alive or dead. But then again, Jack didn’t even know if He did.

A crackle from the buggy radio floated across the garage and reached her ears. The girl spun around, absently taking off and putting on her gloves in agitation. Something else about the old photo of Connor and his family disturbed her, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Jack brushed those thoughts aside and headed back to the stationary buggy, where Robin was holding the radio and listening intently.

“This is General Byrne calling in. Our monitors have picked up your signal moving out and across the plains towards the Archives, and now you appear to be heading in a completely different direction. At a similar time, we received a report of a break-in at the Archives. I assume you were behind it all. Who is driving this buggy and where exactly do you intend to go?” a woman’s voice said through the radio, trying to maintain calm.

Robin turned and looked at his sister in helpless hesitation before setting the radio back in its cradle. It beeped angrily as the General began to repeat her message, but Robin shut it off and unplugged the cord entirely. “Hey, do you know where the signal tracker on this buggy would be? I’m not used to driving this model,” he asked, biting his lower lip.

Jack leaned over the dashboard and opened the main compartment to find a small, metal sphere attached to the side of the Illumination tank. A light pulsed green in steady waves. “That should be it.”

“Thanks.” Robin reached in and, in a sudden, deft motion, crushed the sphere into little pieces. The green light flickered and went out.

“What was that for?” Sierra asked confusedly from the back seat. The others were just starting to wake up from a deep slumber. “Why are we crushing things?”

“Good morning,” the two of them greeted the girl.

“Morning. You ignored my question,” Sierra said irritably, pushing her hair back.

“Oh, the General tried to call us. I just didn’t want her trying to track our buggy-we’re already criminals,” her brother answered. He unbuckled his seat belt and jumped out of the driver’s seat to stretch his legs. “Everybody up and moving! I want us out of here in fifteen minutes. Rations are in the glove compartment.”

“Hey, why does Connor have his own house? Shouldn’t he be in a colony?” Jack asked Robin as they split a ration packet between them. It was hot and soupy, yet still delicious. Warmth spread through her body to the very tips of her fingers at each bite.

“His mother is a member of the upper crust. Her older sister is the General of a colony and thus Connor’s family gets a lot of privileges.” Jack’s brother licked a stray dribble of soup off his finger and leaned against the buggy door. He turned and looked at the picture that was hanging on the wall of the garage with a dark expression twisted onto his face. The beam of his Illuminator shone off the photo’s faces and distorted them in unusual ways. Jack quickly finished off the ration packet and shredded it in her portable laser file, leaving no traces behind. She doubted that Connor would appreciate a bunch of ration wrappers suddenly appearing in his trash.

As soon as she shredded the packet there was a sudden thump from nearby that made everyone startle. There was a moment of silence as the five of them looked at each other, then there was a second thump soon after. Robin stood up and took a deep breath as the garage door leading to the house opened wide. A young man about Robin’s age stepped down, lugging a slimy sack behind him. It was Connor, only much older. He wore a non-traditional uniform with rolled up sleeves and baggy pants. His hair was much shorter and neater than the little boy’s in the picture; a faint wisp of a beard grew on his tight-set jaw. Every movement suggested and portrayed power, or at least the ambition to wield it. Jack gulped and took a step back. Only Robin stayed where he was, breathing heavily.

Connor looked up; his eyes caught theirs and he froze like a deer in headlights. His jaw twitched ever so slightly. “Robert? What is this? Why are you here?!” The man dropped the bag at his side and started forward in angry confusion.

“Connor.” Robin said it as a statement, not a greeting. He strode forward to take the hands of his old friend and looked him in the eyes. “You just gotta trust me on this one. I know it’s been a while, but there’s been some...trouble back at home and I’m leaving my colony. My siblings and friends are with me.” He pointed back at the buggy, where the other four sat and watched silently. They waved at him with nervous smiles; Connor simply stared. “I would’ve warned you, but it all happened very quickly and we were forced to flee. I promise you, we mean no harm. I have no plan to drag you into this.”

“But why stay here and not somewhere else?” the man finally managed to spit, pulling his hands out of Robin’s.

“We needed to stop and rest, and your place was the closest. We’ll be on our way now,” Robin told him, backing up against the buggy a few feet away. “I promise. It’ll be like we were never here.” He mimed a puff of smoke for extra effect.

Connor was not impressed. “Where are you going?” he sneered, picking the bag back up again with a glare. This won’t be pretty.

Instead of lying like Jack thought he would, her brother held up his hands in defeat. “Colony 186. You’ve probably never heard of it. And probably shouldn’t.”

“You’re right, I haven’t,” he said dryly, heaving the trash bag over his shoulder. “Thought I’m not surprised that you’re venturing out into the unknown—you always were a rebel in flight school. Guess that’s why you got kicked out.” Connor’s sneer twisted into a big, more-sincere smile that Robin still did not return.

“How does he know this guy?” Bailey whispered from the back seat, beckoning for Jack to come over. She sat back down in her spot and told the other three all that she’d learned from her brother while they’d been asleep.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Liam drawled, tilting his head back and inspecting a chipped tooth in the buggy mirror. “Robin always liked to hang out with a bunch of the cool, rich kids when he was in flight school with us. I just never paid attention to who was in the group, though.”

“Weren’t you a member of the ‘cool and rich’ clique?” Jack asked.

Liam turned and looked at her pointedly before telling her, “I was too stubborn to be drawn into their little social games. After three years at the school, I started to notice that those who let themselves be ordered around by others of the same standard ended up being less successful than those who were loners.” He shrugged, adding, “Besides, almost everyone thought I was snotty and well...rich. But the former trait cancelled out any ‘coolness’ that I might’ve had. I got by with respect, not appreciation.”

Jack frowned and looked away. She tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear Connor say, “—give you directions, will you leave me alone?”

“Wasn’t thinking about pestering you,” Robin answered, raising an eyebrow. “But yeah, that’d be great.” Her brother strode back to the front seat of the buggy and sat down, fingers hovering over the holographic map.

Connor told him a series of nonsensical numbers and letters that didn’t make any sense to Jack, but Robin seemed to understand. He reached out and tapped a spot on the map, right next to what looked like a cliff. Jack shivered, bad memories arising at the projection. An Apex sniffing just inches from her face, pure terror racing down her spine, mist fading in the dark, frigid air, a low growl behind her…

“Thank you. Really, thanks,” Robin said, reaching out a hand.

After a moment of hesitation, his friend took it and shook heartily. “Goodbye, Robin. I hope you can come back to flight school and see me sometime.” Connor smiled and shut the buggy door, leaving only the window open.

“Thanks but no thanks,” Jack’s brother said with an enigmatic frown. He rolled up the window and watched as Connor strode over to open the garage door manually.

Jack leaned back in her seat as the five of them drove out into the bright, winter afternoon. She turned around as the garage door closed behind them just in time to see Connor wave, still holding the bag tight in his hands. He stayed there by the door, standing and watching, until it was fully closed and they were far out of sight.