Illumination

“When was the first time an Apex was seen on New Earth?” Ben asked, catching them all off guard.

Liam didn’t hesitate to answer with, “Approximately two hundred and sixty years ago. Not a certain date.”

“Okay,” Ben continued pointedly. “When was the first time a solfect was seen on New Earth?”

The Brit hesitated for a moment, glancing around at his companions, before admitting, “Two hundred and sixty years ago. Around the same time.” That close together?

Ben took a deep breath and recited the following story. “The Apexes and solfects came to New Earth at the same time, and we’d had a history of fighting even before that. We—the solfects—were the guardians of the Sun, except you humans below didn’t know that. In fact, you didn’t even know we existed, fighting off the enemies who sought to destroy the Sun and harvest fragments for their own monetary gain.”

“But one day, the Apexes came to the Sun with a new weapon—a light gun charged up with the pieces they’d managed to harvest thus far. I remember when the Sun got hit. Solfects around me wailed as chunks of the protective outer layer above went spraying off in bursts of light and heat. Then, I remember waking up feeling very cold; unusually cold. I was on New Earth with about a dozen solfects around me. My new companions for the rest of my days. My new friends. But then, the Apexes came down with us. They captured all but ten of us and took them here, to 186. Using a pigment in the fragments of the Sun that they harvested, the Apexes started manufacturing ‘Sun dust’. It can control solfects for a brief period of time. So now my friends are working for them. All except the nine that soon attracted humanity’s attention.”

“So you’re claiming that the solfects that attacked and killed eight colonists were simply under the control of the Apexes??” Jack asked, confused and insulted. She slung an arm over Sierra’s shoulder as she added, “Some of Sierra’s friends died because of them.”

Ben’s eyes widened at this and he bowed his head. “I’m sorry. If I’d known...but now you know why I took your father. Us solfects need Sun fragments to live. The Apexes polluted them so that they could control us.”

“Keep going,” Robin prompted with a strange glint in his eyes. Does he really believe this rubbish? Jack thought to herself, staring at her brother out of the corner of her eyes.

“Well,” Ben resumed, folding his legs underneath him and drawing patterns in the ice. “The ten of us—the solfects—decided to go warn the humans that the Apexes were invading and taking over. It was a slow process, this invasion, but they continued to plug away at such a slight pace that humans never suspected any serious motives behind these new species. They brushed it aside since they were already used to living in quarantine, and humans had the technology to fight the Apexes off. Or so they thought. But the monsters began harvesting the Sun fragments that had fallen to New Earth after the original Sun was blown up by the weapon. They planned to build a new weapon, this one so strong that it would get them back into space and obliterate the last of the solfects. In fact, they’re still planning. I’ve seen this weapon myself. It’s almost complete.” He pointed down to 186, which suddenly seemed much more ominous than before.

“So? What do we do then?” Bailey put her gun back in her satchel and set it down on the ground.

At this, Ben got back up and walked over to where the six of them were sitting on the ground, leaning against the frame of the buggy. He pointed at Jack’s pack and for a moment she thought he was looking for more light grenades. “May I see your holopad?” he finally asked after a moment of awkward silence that filled the gap between her hand and his.

“Oh. Sure...” Jack pulled it out and handed it to him somewhat reluctantly, watching Ben as he handled the fragile technology. “What do you want with it?”

Instead of answering, he crouched down and forced the others to gather around in a circle. He placed the holopad in the center of this circle and brought up a projection map of their area. “This is where we are now.” Ben pointed to a blinking, red dot in the center. He then zoomed out and pointed to a building at the bottom of the holographic canyon. “This is 186.” Finally, he moused the projection over even further so that it showed a mountain range that was past the lost colony. Ben zoomed back in so that more detail could be seen. This revealed an entrance to a cave system, similar to the tunnels that Jack and her friends had chased her dad down. The ones that led to another Sector. “My readers have been detecting an unusually large heat signature coming from deep inside this cave.”

“Your readers?” Bailey wrinkled her nose.

“The, uh, readers that I stole from your colony.”

“That’s my kind of style,” the girl said, clucking approvingly.

“Anyways, I think this could be something big. A fragment of the Sun, perhaps. One big enough to complete the Apexes’ superweapon. If they get to it before we do, it’s all over. Everything.” He mimed an explosion, which seemed to excite Bailey.

“Is this true?” Jack heard her little sister whisper to their dad. She turned just in time to see the latter give a solemn, wordless nod.

“What do you need our help for, then?” Liam asked. Ben closed down the holopad and reached out one, gloved hand for Jack to take it. She looked down to avoid staring right into the beam of his Illuminator and put the device back in her satchel. “You have a bunch of solfects with incredible capabilities both mentally and physically. You’ve outfoxed our colony hundreds of times, so why are you running back to us now?”

At this Ben sighed and took back the holopad from Jack, bringing up the projection for the second time. The others waited in anticipation as he scrolled past the 186 complex and towards the mountains. This time, he zoomed in closer to the cave entrance and levelled out the camera’s view so it was staring straight at the mouth. Now, Jack and the others could see a huge, metal plate bolted over the entrance, sealing the cave’s contents inside. There seemed to be a control panel to the right, hidden behind a small pile of rubble. “This is colony-made. If anyone can get past the security door, it’s you guys.”

“What’s the number painted on the door?” Liam asked curiously, leaning in. He’s onto something!

“Looks like...583. Why?” Jack’s dad asked.

“I think I have an idea as to the code. Or codes. Looks like a hololock on the control panel.”

“Your brain works too well for its own good,” Robin muttered in awe. “But it doesn’t matter. We’re not going.”

“What?” Everyone, still sitting on the ground, watched as the buggy driver stood up. Folding his arms across his chest, he looked down at the others with a decisive and stern air. Something Jack had never seen from him before.

“No, I’m serious.” Robin began pacing back and forth, in and out of the beams of the others’ Illuminators. Shadows crossed his face in an almost pensive manner. “This guy kidnapped our dad, dragged us on a wild Apex chase across the empty plains, attacked us with solfects for seemingly no reason, stalked Jack, and now he claims that he’s been on our side the whole time? I don’t buy it.” Robin frowned and glared at the solfect boy with one eyebrow raised. “You aren’t touching my family one more time. Life’s bad enough without you.” At these words, he dropped down to his knees and gazed into the accused’s eyes.

“I…” Ben seemed at a loss for words. “Some of my motives may have been unclear, but I swear, I didn’t harm your dad in any way. Right?” He turned to his former captive pleadingly.

“He’s right,” Jack’s father said. “But still, you need to explain to them. My kids deserve to know, and I’m not going to be the one to mediate for you.” He grumbled these words with a paternal air and backed away from the group, essentially stepping out.

“I kinda—I took your father to get you to come. I never planned to hurt him. I just knew you wouldn’t listen to me otherwise. You wouldn’t leave the comfort of the colony without a little...guidance.”

“You live in a world of your own, don’t you?” Sierra said skeptically. “You can’t bear to think of anyone living peacefully while you’re not in their lives, so you came and burst our bubble.” She let out a sigh and rested her head in her gloved hands.

There was another moment of silence in which no one could think of or dare to say anything. Then Ben stood up and gestured for the others to follow him. They went over to the edge of the canyon and looked down at 186, which still seemed to tower over them even though it was far below. Jack grabbed Sierra’s hand and held it tightly as they approached the precipice.

“Look down there. Look!” Ben growled. He ground his teeth together and made a hissing sound like a deflating buggy tire. His red hair bristled. “My friends, my fellow guardians, are trapped down there. They are trapped and quite possibly being tortured. Alone. Scared. They’re younger.” His mouth moved silently, forming names. One seemed to form itself on the tip of his tongue and tripped off. A name that made Jack shiver. “Saemenstoff. Saemenstoff is down there.” Tears beaded at Ben’s eyes and he swiped at them, only to stare at his wet-streaked hand confusedly. “Hazel’s down there,” he finally translated, falling to his knees. “My Hazel. And Izzy and Victor and Kai and Bella…”

He paused then continued, “Look! Look! I’m not being greedy or jealous like people say I am. They’re my friends. And…” he took a deep breath “...and...it’s not all about me. If the Apexes get the fragment, nobody will survive. Nobody.” His eyes were wide, desperate. “Don’t you get it? It’s not all just about me…”

He got up after some time staring blankly into the void and dashed over to Jack’s father. He grabbed the much-older man by the wrist and pulled him back a bit, turning the others’ gazes back on him instead of on 186. “I might’ve been the solution. I might’ve been everything you wanted me to be. Playing the answer up just so I could worm my way into your hearts. But I’m not afraid to play the villain in order to stop the real villain!” Ben took a deep, rattling breath and held out a hand as warning, his other hand clenching his captive’s wrist tightly. “Stay back!”

“You’re only human,” Bailey warned, pulling out her gun and aiming it at him.

“Not for much longer,” Ben rasped in a deeper voice, his features distorting slightly in a menacing manner before reverting back to human form. He stepped behind his captive, holding Jack’s father out like a shield. The man surprisingly did not struggle but instead nodded at Bailey to lower her gun.

“No,” she whispered angrily, but after much goading from the others, finally stepped down. There was a click as the gun switched back to its compact form. Bailey dropped it in her uniform pocket instead of her packet, quite possibly for future use later. “C’mon, Ben, give up the prisoner.” She said this in an unusually brisk tone, extending her hand.

“Do as he says, Bailey,” Jack’s dad said helplessly. He raised his one free hand in a “forget it” gesture and pointed towards the buggy, which stood just a few feet away, wasting Illumination, headlights peering through the dark aimlessly.

“Come on. He’s dangerous to be around.” Liam grabbed Jack’s wrist gently and started tugging her back to the buggy, but she couldn’t move.

“No, I can’t. We’ve gotta bring Dad with us. We can’t just leave him with this psychopath!” Jack cried, struggling against his iron grasp.

“Come on, Jack,” Robin muttered unhappily, joining the Brit in pulling his sister back. “He’ll hurt Dad if we get too close,” he whispered into Jack’s ear, staring straight ahead at the solfect boy. “We’ve got to do what he says.”

“No, we don’t,” Jack whispered in return, but let herself be guided back into the buggy. Ben stood just a few yards away from her and Jack almost got out to attack him. Think rationally, she told herself, shaking her head. Well, no, there’s no rational answer to this. I can’t believe we’re just leaving Father there with Ben. She stared miserably out of the buggy window, over Sierra’s shoulder. Her father was just a faint silhouette now that there was no light trained on him. He practically blended in with the darkness. “Hey, Ben!” she cried, rolling down the buggy window in one last act of defiance. “We may be working together for now, but you’re a monster and will get everything that’s coming to you!”

If Ben replied, she didn’t hear, for Robin quickly silenced the conversation by rolling the window back up and turning the buggy’s engine on to full blast. A loud rumble echoed through the carriage as they pulled away from Ben and Jack’s father. Liam took her holopad and programmed the coordinates of the cave into the map. There was a beep as the route to the cave appeared in red light patterns that streaked across the map. Jack watched the route form, head bobbing back and forth. She suddenly felt extremely tired and just wanted to sleep. But she forced herself to stay awake. Dad’s counting on you. Again. She leaned her head on Sierra’s shoulder and was surprised to see her sister pull away and rest against the buggy door. Her eyes stared off into the distance, focused on both something and nothing; Jack didn’t know what. It was hard to look into darkness—you never knew what to look at.

“I’m going to take us a little farther down the side of the canyon,” Robin announced unceremoniously. No one said anything in an effort to maintain the angry silence. “Just so we can avoid driving too close to Colony 186.” His shoulders stiffened and they lapsed into silence again. “Just a little farther.”

But how far should we go before it gets to be too far?