Illumination

As soon as they made it back to the cell, four Apexes arrived and stood outside . With them was the one who’d captured them at the cavern.

“The Boss Apex has ordered you to be executed in our toxic gas chamber today. These orders will be carried out starting now,” the Apex instructed, opening the cell door and standing in the threshold. “The execution shall take place in two parts. The humans are up first. The solfects will stay in the cell until their turn has come.” One of the guards pushed past the leading Apex and held out what looked like a bundle of cloth. Jack realized that they were white robes that they were all supposed to wear over their uniforms.

No one approached to take the cloth. The guard hissed and threw down the bundle in front of the five of them. Jack reached out and pulled the cloth robe over her head. It was difficult to move her arms and the collar was just a little too tight on her neck. Probably for a reason. She folded her arms across her chest self-consciously and looked at her companions. Is it really going to end here? After all we’ve been through!

Jack studied their expressions as they were led out of the cell. Sierra was crying but trying hard to hold back the sound of her sobs. Robin and Bailey both stared straight ahead, trembling from head to foot, refusing to acknowledge anyone else. Liam had brushed a lock of hair out of his face, revealing his bad eye, and was now rubbing it. He reached around his friend towards Jack. She took his hand and nodded with a grave smile that he couldn’t reciprocate.

“Tamas ell kufera pas c’tombre,” the Apex instructed the other four guards, who stationed themselves on either side of the procession and guided them down the hall.

As Jack walked, she tried to force herself to break free and run. Several times a stairwell or an open door presented itself., yet her feet just kept marching forward, keeping time to a terrifying beat. She let go of Liam’s hand and held onto Sierra’s shoulders, giving them a reassuring squeeze. Her sister kept walking forward, her feet shuffling in irregular, plodding steps. The colony was silent as a tomb.

“Stop here,” one of the guards said after what felt like an eternity (but was probably a few minutes). The other three guards closed in on the group in the absence of their companion. Jack could see past the Apex blockade; there was a small chamber ahead painted in white. It stood out from the rest of the grey-walled rooms in the building. A set of ivory doors led into the room and there was a red switch mounted on the outside wall. To turn on the gas. Jack felt strangely detached from the rest of her body. Not calm, but almost bored.

The Apex guard came back, holding a holopad and scrolling through the contents. “Sierra Amundsen. Step forward.” No, not her first!

Jack’s sister broke free from her grasp and took a few, experimental steps forward. The Apexes grunted as she walked past them, approaching the gas chamber. She can’t be the first one to die. She just can’t.

“I’ll go with her,” Jack broke out. When everyone else turned to stare at her, she blurted out, “Please.”

“Very well,” said the guard, waving one of his paws in the air. “Go.” It was a command. Jack, feeling a twinge of regret, joined her sister in front of the execution chamber.

“Hold up. If Jack and Sierra go, so do I. I’m their older brother,” Robin argued, snapping out of his trance.

“And If Robin goes, I’m coming too. He’s my best friend,” Liam said. The Brit stepped up and stared into the eyes of the Apex guard.

“I don’t want to die alone.” Bailey broke past all of them and stood next to Jack and Sierra.

“Fine. Faster deaths is not problem,” grunted one of the Apexes. He pressed a button next to the lever and the doors swung open, releasing the smell of chemicals upon them all, sharp and pungent. The five of them were shepherded inside the execution chamber and the doors slammed shut behind them.

All was quiet. Jack could see through a tinted window next to the door that the Apexes were securing the chamber and talking to each other. One of them pointed at the holopad and barked something to another Apex, who stepped up to the lever. Jack backed up in fright, looking around and expecting to see gas pour into the room. But the creature held back, giving her a moment to return to the center of the room.

“This is it, huh?” Robin muttered. There was no place for them to sit or lie down. The room was devoid of anything except cold, hard tile. Jack looked up and saw vents lining the top of the walls, ready to unleash the toxic gas. “No last rites, no reading from the Bible, no goodbyes?”

“We can still say goodbye,” Bailey said, but no one chipped in. The Apexes’ talking had faded away into silence. “Uh, I’m glad we did this.”

“Did what?” Liam asked.

“Did...everything.” She tried to smile but it came out as a frown instead. “Went on the journey. It was an adventure. I’ve always wanted to go on an adventure.”

“Me too.” As Jack said this, there was a loud beep that echoed through the chamber. The Apex had pulled the lever, triggering a whirring sound that sounded like a laundry machine starting up. It roared to a climax and the air grew misty around the five of them, all huddled together in a giant hug.

Sierra’s sobs echoed through the air but were swallowed up by the ebony gas that was pouring into the room in thick clouds. Jack tried to shake her head to clear it, but couldn’t hold her breath for much longer. “It’ll be okay, Sie. It’s gonna be okay…” she choked.

Someone whispered a goodbye and Jack, eyes closed, heard a thud from nearby. Bodies hitting the ground, her mind registered. Maybe my own. She tried to open her eyes and look around one last time, but she couldn’t. The gas was flooding into her lungs; Jack tried to hold herself steady but she felt herself going under a tidal wave of spasms. Someone else pulled her into a hug and her eyes stung even though they were closed and there was a strange yelp from outside but it didn’t matter because she was dying...and suddenly she wasn’t.

Light, beautiful light, flooded into her vision once again. Am I in heaven? Feeling the tile underneath her confirmed that she was not. Jack was still on New Earth, woozy, but alive.

Everything around her was fuzzy one second and the next it was as sharp as a razor blade. Jack realized she was lying on her side; the others were next to her, all of them breathing. The gas was gone and was being sucked back up into the vents. What’s going on? Why did they stop the execution? She groaned and was about to check on the others when the doors to her left swung open wildly, admitting a tall, dark-haired figure.

“Dad?” The nineteen-year-old sat up and reached out her arms. Her dad bent down and helped her up, then pulled her into a bear hug. “It is you.”

“I’m here, I’m here. Sorry I couldn’t come sooner.” He held the embrace for a while before breaking free and helping up the others. “Sierra, Robin, are you okay?”

“Dad,” the former muttered into his uniform, dry tear streaks decorating her face. She stood there wheezing in fright until she broke from her trance and said, “How did you get past the Apexes?”

Their father revealed a rifle strapped onto his back—a Quicksilver. “Don’t worry, I just used the hilt,” he added quickly after seeing their stunned expressions. That was why I heard the thuds and yelps! Jack thought to herself, leaning against her dad for support. Her legs still felt like jelly and she felt like her lungs were shrivelled up. Every breath took up her energy. “Come on, we’ve got to hurry.”

“Hurry?” Liam asked drowsily. “What do you mean?” He staggered forward before slumping against the wall.

“I’m here to break you out.”

“Is Ben here too?” Robin asked.

Their father led them out into the hall, where the Apex guards were lying in a crumpled heap, chests rising and falling slowly. “He’s heading to the prison to free the solfects. Come on.” He supported Jack, Sierra, and Robin while Liam and Bailey stumbled behind him as he led the way down a hall to the left. Jack’s feet felt like they were moving of their own accord. She couldn’t shake the new memory of darkness invading her vision...darkness unlike any she’d seen before...and the silence that filled the room save for her sister’s dying sobs…

The six of them descended a series of stairs until the windows stopped lining the walls and all was blackness save for lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Jack forced the cobwebs out of her mind and made herself focus as they sneaked down a dimly-lit corridor. Surprisingly, no guards were patrolling the halls and no one had noticed that the Apexes in charge of the execution had never reported back. I guess we’re just lucky, Jack thought, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something more ominous was the cause of this.

“The light ray is in this room, according to the mapping Benjamin was doing earlier,” their father mused. Wait, what ray?

“Do you mean the Sun fragment ray?” she asked as they rapidly approached a grey, unmarked door at the end of the hall. Strange buzzing sounds were coming from behind it.

“I think so. I must say, he’s a strange boy.” Jack’s father frowned and placed his hand on the knob. “I believe this is it.”

“Then let’s go.” Bailey nodded as their leader opened the door a crack and peered out, alongside the red-haired girl. “Looks safe to me.” The six of them stepped inside, heads low, ready to bolt to the door again.

Jack couldn’t help but stare at the huge ray in the middle of the room. It looked like a giant, metal tube with transparent, glass sides and what looked like bubbling, white-hot liquid inside. The tube was facing away from where the six of them were standing and pointed out through a slot in the domed ceiling. It was mounted onto a base that stood on a platform just a few yards away from where Jack and the others were crouching, behind a desk. What is that thing? It’s huge!

Jack took a chance by peering around the edge of the desk and watching. There were at least ten Apexes crowded around the ray, handling a series of buttons and knobs. Another chute extended out from the wall and molten hot liquid was dripping from it into the main tube. They’re melting down the last Sun fragment to fill up the light ray, she realized. We’ve got to stop them! She voiced this concern to the others in a whisper.

“But how? Do we just break the ray? Smash the glass? Destroy the...control panel?” Robin asked, standing up. The Apexes’ backs were turned and the six of them were able to sneak up and hide behind another desk, this one just a foot away from the stairs that led up to the raised platform.

“I guess do everything,” their dad whispered. “They have teeth and claws and we don’t. How are we going to get past them?”

“Using a distraction,” a voice, still hoarse from shock and the gas, said. Jack, knowing who it was from the back of her mind, reached out a hand to stop Bailey, but it was too late.

The girl ran out from behind the desk and stood at the bottom of the steps. Feet grounded firmly, she stared up at the Apexes, who now turned to face her in surprise. For a moment, there was silence. “Hey, over here!”

“Taraka khut! Bas demat ol!” one of the Apexes roared, sending all the others leaping down the steps after her. Bailey stood her ground for a moment before her face turned white and she ran for her life. Jack watched with wide eyes as the girl leaped up onto a desk and vaulted over the heads of her pursuers, drawing their attention in another direction.

“Now’s our chance,” Robin said. Heart pounding in her chest, Jack led the way out from under the desk and up the steps. She didn’t even try to be quiet; the Apexes were distracted with trying to knock Bailey down from her perch on a stack of crates.

“How does this thing work?” Sierra asked. All the labels on the buttons and levers were in the Apex language.

“None of it matters, just break it at all costs.” Liam pushed past them, grabbed a lever, and pulled with all his might. After a pause of surprise at the Brit’s boldness, Jack and her father joined in until the lever ripped off with a sickening snap. A tiny cluster of sparks flew from the gash in the console and an alarm rattled through the room.

The Apexes whirled around and saw Jack and the others wrecking the console. One of them, the one who’d ordered his fellow guards to chase Bailey, let out a howl of fury and all fifteen of them dashed back. “Wait, come back! I’m more dangerous than all of them combined!” she cried, but none of the monsters listened.

“Work faster!” Robin cried. Jack ran forward, picked up the broken lever handle, and smashed it against the base of the tube. Cracks formed and spread out in a spiderweb pattern. The alarm continued to go off, growing louder and louder in a crescendo until it reached its peak.

As she ripped out a wire from the left side of the control panel, a robotic voice echoed through the room. “Error, please evacuate the building immediately. Self-destruction of ray in 10, 9, 8…”

A thrill ran down Jack’s spine and she called out, in case the solfects hadn’t heard, “Everyone run! This place is about to blow!”

The others sprinted towards the door, but the Apexes jumped in front of them, blocking their path. The alarm swelled until Jack couldn’t hear anything else. She had to get out. Her life depended on it. Snap out of it! Her mouth moved but nothing was coming out. 5...4…

“Jack!” Ben grabbed her arm and flung her at the door before tripping over a wire that ran between two desks. Jack turned back in the threshold and screamed, but there was a plume of fire spitting out and it was growing and growing into a fireball...searing heat like she’d never felt before…

She abandoned all thoughts of the others and turned to run down the hall. But it was too late. There was a terrible roar and a burst of fire all around her. Jack heard a snap—she fell to the ground and all went to black.