Illumination

They reached the main atrium and Liam and Bailey soon arrived as well, also dressed up in formal attire. The whole place had been converted into a meeting room. Around the Beacon was a series of podiums and hundreds of chairs were being filled with all sorts of colonists. Jack could tell who was who because the stripes down the sleeves of her colony were orange and they seemed to be violet for the other colony. What struck her were the large swathes of orange or violet clustered together; rarely mixing. Is it really that bad? Jack thought to herself as the five of them searched for a good spot to sit.

They found a row of five seats next to some purple-sleeves and sat down. Jack took the opportunity to message her parents on her holopad. Where are you? We are at the atrium.

We’re in the middle. No seats around us. Sit where you are—we’ll find you after, her mother, Dana, messaged back after a moment. Jack sighed and sat back. It had been almost several days since she’d seen her parents—they hadn’t been doing well lately. They haven’t even seen me since the trip!

Her thoughts were interrupted by clapping—the General of the other colony was climbing up to the podium, accompanied by a sign language interpreter. This woman was shorter, had a rosier complexion, and sparkling, olive eyes that reminded Jack of Liam.

The woman stood and waited while an assistant adjusted the microphone. Murmurs broke out among the impatient crowd. Jack noticed that the General of her colony was waiting by the sidelines for her chance to speak.

When the assistant was done and the interpreter signaled that he was ready, the other General began to speak in a lilting, sweet voice. “Good afternoon, everyone. For those of you who do not know me, my name is General Sharon Ilsbourne. I currently run this colony district and have for three years. I want to extend a warm welcome to everyone from the 382nd colony who will be staying here.” She paused and swept her arm over the crowd as if to scan them—no one clapped. “As you all know, this is a very unfortunate event that we were certainly not expecting. The 382nd colony was deliberately and dangerously attacked by creatures outside our own field of understanding; creatures we know nothing about.” Is she playing clueless to keep the colony calm or does she really not know? Jack wondered. By her companions’ expressions, they clearly had the same question.

General Ilsbourne cleared her throat, allowed the interpreter to catch up to her, then continued, “I’m certain that we all have questions about the future and exactly how we’re going to adapt to this lifestyle until it’s safe for the colonies to separate again. I want to let you all know that we are here for you. We are ready and willing to answer all of your questions. But first, General Byrne would like to address her colonists; please welcome her to the podium.”

There was enthusiastic clapping from most of the orange-stripes while the others remained mostly silent. The General of Jack’s colony stepped up and quickly dismissed the assistant who had stepped forward to lengthen the microphone. “Hello everyone. My name is Gianna Byrne and I am the General of the 382nd colony. In times like these, I find it necessary to assure my people that we are working hard to restore our original building. The creatures have moved on and have not been detected in that area or in any area near us. With a little more work and help from the other colonies, who have been kindly sending workers to the site, we should be able to relocate within three months.”

A cheer rose up through the crowd and Jack grinned, relaxing for the first time in a while. But then, her smile faded. But what if the solfects come back? Will we be ready? Will Ben’s plan work? She pushed that thought out of her mind as quickly as it came.

The General opened her mouth to continue her speech, but stopped as another assistant ran up to the podium from the side and whispered something in her ear. Jack watched the General’s expression morph from one of stern calmness to one of extreme concern. Her brows furrowed and she nodded at the assistant, who ran back off to the side to where General Ilsbourne was standing. “I’m sorry, you’ll have to excuse me. There has been an urgent development in the situation of the colony’s safety that I must address. Thank you for your patience,” she said into the microphone, eliciting murmurs of concern from the crowd as she rushed off the stage. There was a brief moment of silence punctuated by the clicking of the General’s heels on the heated linoleum floor, then the crowd began to resume their normal chatter, brushing it off as nothing. Hot coffee and beer was passed around by some teen, which seemed irresponsible to Jack. She couldn’t shake the words “urgent development” and “safety” from her mind. Is this something to do with the solfects?

Before she knew it, Jack was standing up and pushing her way down the aisle of colonists, muttering excuses and keeping her eyes on the General’s retreating form. She knew where the woman was headed—to the downstairs room that she’d shown her.

“Jack!” the others called, standing up and chasing after her. She broke free from the rows of seats and hurried after the General at a brisk walk, not wanting to seem out of place among the milling throng of people who couldn’t find seats.

The General didn’t even seem to notice Jack and her friends tramping down the stairs after her, she was so wrapped up in conversing with the assistant. When they all reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the mapping room, the two who were being pursued caught on and turned around to see Jack and the four others standing behind them. “What is the meaning of this?” the General asked. Her eyes shone dully, like she wanted to be angry but instead was tired and held down by the burden of the terrible news she’d received. “Head back to the main atrium...please.”

Jack realized just then how out of bounds she was, but was determined to finish what she’d started. “Ma’am, please, you brought us into this, now don’t leave us out. What’s going on?”

The General sighed and looked around, as if debating whether or not to tell them something. After a moment, she began with, “Do you remember the colony that I sent you all to that had a broken Illumination Beacon? We never got to fixing it and sent a message that we would be delayed because you went missing. Well, we were about to send another group of mechanics over there to assist the working crew today when a messenger from the other colony arrived, on foot, battered and bloody. He informed us that the Beacon had been sabotaged by at least four solfects, who then returned later to attack and kill the colonists.” She paused soberly, leaning over the holographic map table, then continued, “Their attempt was successful.” There was a collective moment of silence throughout the room. These were all people that Jack didn’t know; she felt detached and strangely calm despite the horror of this news.

“I’m sorry,” Liam finally muttered, bowing his head and swallowing the lump in his throat.

“Now is no time to mourn,” she chided. “Shortly after we received this news, we also received word from our monitors that the solfects have been spotted moving north in a group. It is likely that their destination is the cavern that’s the farthest away, the one that contains their alpha. If they successfully free him, they’ll unleash even more attacks upon our community. Thus, we have to beat them to the cavern and take our stand there, no matter the outcome. It’ll be much worse if we wait.” The General clicked her tongue and took out a stylus from her coat pocket. Deliberately and sadly, she drew a red X on the map, right where Jack’s colony had been. Then, she drew another one to the west, presumably where the other colony was. The two Xs stood out against the blue glow of the holographic map, flickering ever so slightly.

“So, where do we start?” Bailey asked, biting her lip. The General turned and pointed to a shadowy figure who was sitting in the corner.

“With lots of things. There is really no clear solution since we don’t have some miracle weapon that can stop the solfects. However, we do have something that can help—a new development, you might say,” the General informed them.

The figure in the corner stood up and revealed itself to be Benjamin, clad in formal uniform, hair brushed back behind his pointy ears. Jack frowned and remembered the light grenade that was now in her pack at home, just ripe for the stealing...again. “Hey, Jack,” Ben greeted, waving halfheartedly at the group.

“You know him?” the General asked her, somewhat confused.

Jack shrugged and nodded. “He’s shown me some of his gadgets. Ben’s quite the inventor.” The other stepped forward to shake everyone’s hands, his eyes flitting about the room like an animal.

“Well, I’ve made improvements to the light grenade,” the boy announced, pulling a metal cylinder out of his pocket. He bounced it in his palm lightly and Jack felt a nervous lump form in her throat at the casualness of the gesture. “Don’t worry, it’s much safer now. I installed another safety tab.”

“Mr. Benjamin has been showing me and the strategic board how to use these devices,” the General explained, procuring a light grenade of her own. “Using this technique, the board and I have devised a plan to potentially stop the solfects in their tracks, at least for the moment.”

Jack and the others gathered around the holographic map; the General switched to 2D mode and zoomed out so that the entire continent was visible. It looked almost exactly like Robin’s map, but without the scribbling and more red Xs. The General took out the stylus and began sketching red, curved lines that all faced the colony. She then drew another big, scarlet X on top of what looked like a cave formation and drew arrows outward, past the curves that surrounded it. She then switched the pen’s color to purple and drew arrows coming from all directions towards the big X.

“What is this?” Robin asked, wrinkling his nose.

The General stared for a moment then put the stylus away and explained, “The big X represents the simulator that houses the alpha solfect. The purple arrows represent projected solfect paths. They will band together here and then surround the cave in one collective attack. If we let that happen, we will not be able to control them. So I sent my scientists and scouts out to examine ice formations. There are seven pillars that we can topple in different locations that will essentially block the solfects’ path to their alpha. We can then barricade the monsters from the outside and set off light grenades in long chains, as indicated by the red arrows.”

“Are you sure this’ll work? Seems risky to me.” Liam then blanched and added quickly, “Not that I’m criticizing your plan or anything. It...it looks great, ma’am!”

“Suck-up,” Jack muttered under her breath, crossing her arms and leaning over the holographic map.

“Interesting question…” the General began, then looked at him expectantly. “I’m sorry, please remind me of your name.”

“Liam Griffiths,” the boy said, seemingly startled by the fact that his leader didn’t remember him.

“Yes, Mr. Griffiths, that’s right.” The General pointed at the purple arrows that she’d drawn on the map. “Unfortunately, not every plan is secure, and that is true of this plan.” She paused and gave him a scathing look. “If you are concerned about your safety you can always back out of the mission and choose not to go.”

“No, I’m coming,” he decided.

“Then I will add you and all your families all to the list.” The General walked around the side of the table and opened the door that led back up to the atrium, as if suggesting that they leave. “In order to preserve some level of secrecy, I’m going to ask that the five of you not listen in on this next conversation. I’ve already said too much.” Her expression grew serious as she blocked the entrance for a moment and said to them, “What you carry is a big secret that people like you don’t normally get to know. You have to promise me that you won’t tell anybody else about this.”

“We promise,” Sierra piped up firmly.

“Then go.” The General stepped out of the doorway and let them file out up the stairs and out of the mapping room. Jack took one look back down the stairway as the door closed behind them, leaving her and her companions alone with the terrible knowledge that they had.