Illumination

The tent was bigger than Jack had previously thought. There was a hallway with a plush carpet that divided the two rooms; an Illumination lantern swung from the tent canvas overhead. Several other tent flaps divided the separate rooms, and as the two of them walked down the hall, they came upon a kitchen and bathroom. Jack kept her boots on because the thin, carpeted floor still had jagged edges and bumps to it where pebbles of ice and rock lay underfoot. Liam left his boots in one of the rooms and went along in his bare feet, wincing as he went. Jack noticed that his right foot was still twisted from his hours walking around at the black market. Liam favored it slightly but, when he caught her looking, sped up and put more weight on the injured foot, as if embarrassed to admit to his injury.

The two of them entered the kitchen, which was dimly lit by another lantern, and sat down at the counter. Jack ran her fingers over the countertop and marvelled at the grainy, unsanded texture. Is this what the Sectors were like? Did the General use this tech to make the trees feel the way they did? She rested her elbows on the fake countertop and watched her companion’s expression morph into one of wonder as he waved his hand through the air. If Jack looked closely, she could see the color of the countertop fade when Liam used his hand to block the Illumination particles from hitting it. “That’s so cool.”

“Right?” Liam said excitedly, all thoughts of the toxic lupium in the air gone, at least for the moment. “See, science can be interesting.” His eye sparkled and Jack stared at it for a moment, her own face reflected in its green, glassy surface.

“I guess so.” She jumped off the stool and set her pack on the table. “We need to give it a power source, right? Otherwise the projection will collapse soon.”

“Yeah. Should we go outside and grow the tanker?”

Jack nodded and they left their stuff in the kitchen before heading back into the cavern.

“There’s a port and hose here for connecting a power source,” Liam called from the other side of the tent once they were outside.

Jack turned away from staring at the ominous haze of lupium and headed over to where the Brit was standing. “Where should I set it down?”

“How about...over here,” he decided, pointing to another flat patch a few feet away from the edge of the tent. “Set it down and we’ll see what happens.” As Jack walked over, Liam coughed into his arm, a casual movement that still sent shivers down Jack’s spine. What if his calculation is wrong and we don’t have two days? She shook her head fiercely. No, he’s right. He’s gotta be. Liam is never wrong.

The two of them stepped back and watched as the sides began to buckle and then expand. It almost looked like air was pressuring the sides of the bottle filled with fire juice, though Jack knew that the molecules were simply rearranging themselves under the command of the new node that Liam had activated. She watched with bated breath until the tanker was fully assembled, then pressed her hand up against the side. Jack could feel the fire juice sloshing around inside.

“I’ll hook this up, then I think we’re done for the day. Why don’t you head back inside? I’ll check in with you after I take my shower.”

“Sure,” Jack said numbly. Her companion let out a shaky breath and watched as she drew back the tent flap and headed inside.

***

Jack spent the evening making the most out of the materials that had come in the tent, even though she reminded herself that they weren’t real, just fabricated out of airy, artificial molecules. There was a stack of old notepads, a stylus to write with, and a remote to control the sleep pod. Out of boredom while waiting for Liam to finish his shower, she began to scribble drawings and sentence fragments in the notepads, filling up entire pages with her thoughts. It had been a long day and, according to the clock built into the sleep pod, it would be midnight soon.

Jack was just about to give in to the waves of sleep that were threatening to pull her under when there was a knock on the tent flap. She sat, legs crossed, leaning against the walls and surrounded by pages and pages of old notepads that she’d barely even scribbled in. Jack glanced around, unwilling to get up and disturb the peace and quiet of the room. It’s probably just room service. Then she remembered.

Jack rolled over onto her side and ran her fingers across the carpeting, trying to keep her eyes closed and ignore the persistent knocking on the door. Her hands ached so much from writing that she had a red mark down the side of her thumb from where she’d gripped the stylus. Jack rubbed the mark raw and rested her head on her arm, wishing that she had the energy to move back into bed. But it was no use. Her eyes grew too heavy to stop…

Her holopad lit up with a notification, washing the room in a bright, cyan glow. She groaned and sat up to check it. There was a new text from Liam. Hey, I’m ready. Let me in. Or are you not dressed? Jack sighed and pushed the holopad away, standing up. She crossed the room to the door and opened it wordlessly, gesturing for him to step inside.

Liam glanced around the room as he did so, apprehensive as to what he was getting into. “Hey, we did agree to meet here, right?” His hair was combed back and a tie loosely wrapped itself around his neck, which was flushed pink from the slight burns he’d sustained. He looked like he was going to prom.

“Yeah, sorry. Guess I got a little drowsy. You can come in,” Jack apologized, swallowing the lump in her throat and gesturing for him to come and sit. Liam shuffled over to the bed and sat on the edge, observing the chaos in the corner of the room. “I was, uh, taking notes. The old fashioned way,” Jack said. “So what did you find?”

Liam reached into a pack that had been slung over his shoulder and pulled out a mapping scroll. He turned and spread it out over the comforter of the sleep pod. The scroll lit up with a large projection of the cavern they were stuck in, including the two tents that they were using. “So here we are and here’s the wall of ice. I went out for an hour and used 3D mapping on the blockage. It’s not as bad as it seems, surprisingly.” He chuckled and his chest fell with a sudden breath.

“So how do we do it?” she asked, inching so close to him that she could almost hear his heartbeat, if she stopped to listen. “Both digging out the fragment and somehow transporting it, or getting near it, or somehow getting it away from there-” she pointed at the wreckage that was blocking their path “-and then get past all this wreckage—” she took a shaky breath “—within two days?”

“Calm down. It’s actually not that hard,” Liam explained, tugging at a stray thread on his sock. “The fragment’s about the size of a large ball. Except not spherical.” He laughed again and that’s when Jack noticed that his breath smelled like scotch. He’s more scared than I thought. “I’ve been studying Ben’s fire juice and looking at the properties of the primary compound. It’s curious how they match up with the compound samples that I took from the Sun fragment. Primarily, diazenylium.”

“Diazenylium? Sounds like diamonds. Skip the science, you handsome genius, and tell me the plan.”

Liam blushed, but seemingly brushed off Jack’s lack of knowledge about diazenylium. “I know it sounds dumb...but it’s all we’ve got.” He took a deep breath and revealed, “We’re going to slide the fragment out of here. We have one tanker of fire juice, which is acting as an Illumination substitute since we are woefully deprived of it. My plan is to spray the juice in a concentrated path from the fragment’s location all the way to the blockage. Robin, Sierra, and Bailey should be breaking through in about two hours (assuming they continue at this pace). What’s supposed to happen? The juice will burn down the hard packed ice, making it so we can slide the fragment down to where the others are waiting.”

“Okay,” Jack said, completely lost. “That’s supposed to happen. What if, hypothetically, it didn’t?”

“I can’t believe I’m the optimist here,” he muttered, his words running together. “If it doesn’t work, we run out of the juice and choke on lupium.” He mimed an explosion with his hands. “Anticlimactic and not very heroic of us either. But we have a choice. Almost guaranteed safety or a big risk for a greater cause.” Liam blinked his eye slowly, which was bloodshot at the edges.

“I love how you say ‘a greater cause’ like we’re superheroes or something.” Jack snorted a little and pushed Liam off the bed, hand hovering on his back before pulling away. “Go back to your room. You’ve been drinking, I can tell.”

“No,” he protested softly as she guided him to the door. “I need to do more work.”

“I get it. You always do,” she said, more to herself than to him. “Now go to sleep. You’ll have a massive hangover in the morning.”

“I never drink, Jackie. I don’t have a hangover.”

She froze and stared at him, heart hovering in her chest. The two of them held the gaze for a moment before breaking it, though the tension remained. Flexing her toes in the rough carpet, Jack leaned forward as if to say something, then stopped herself angrily. What are you doing, you idiot? We’re just friends. Not even that.

“Hmm...what?” Liam muttered, as if responding to her muddled thoughts. “What did you say?”

“Oh, nothing. I’ve got to go...uh...take notes!” Jack looked down at the floor then back up at him. He was at least a couple of inches taller than her. “Bye now!”

When he didn’t leave and the awkwardness swelled to a crescendo, she stepped past the threshold and reached up towards his face. Liam didn’t flinch away but dipped his head down to meet her. What. Are. You. Doing?!

Despite her brain’s frantic pleas to go back to her room, Jack held up the lock of hair that fell in front of Liam’s face and kissed his scarred, closed eye. She stepped back from the threshold and let out a gasp as the severity of what she’d done sank in. “I’m sorry! I just...we’re still friends, right? You said something in Doctor Alpin’s mansion about us being friends. Are we friends?”

“Yeah, we’re friends.” Liam gave a lopsided smile. “You’re—I mean, we’re cool. Friends. Yeah.” A blush crept up his neck, painfully obvious, and the Brit quickly turned and shuffled away, leaving his companion standing in her room alone.

Jack took a deep breath, brushed her toes against the fake carpet, and looked around helplessly. She felt detached from her own body. Why did I do that? Jack clenched her fists and tried to tell herself, Liam’s stubborn and mean and stuck up. But an image of his face, pink with the rush of alcohol and bearing a grin, flashed into her mind and she shivered.

With Liam gone, there was nothing to do but take notes and try for the thousandth time to fall asleep. I’m not gonna use sleep gas. The more the thought this, the more she felt the need. I need the energy tomorrow to pull this off.

Suddenly, she found tears bubbling to her eyes, too surprising to repress. If we don’t make it out, I’ll never be able to see Sierra, Robin, or Bailey again. I’ll die alone with stubborn Liam. He probably hates me for making fun of him all the time. Jack lay down in her sleep pod and curled up into a tight ball, eyes heavy with inaccessible sleep. She just felt so tired of always working and moving and fighting yet still losing. Trying to stop the Apexes was an uphill battle and Jack felt like she was losing her footing. I’m sick, she decided. Really sick. I mean, why else would I kiss Liam Griffiths? Must be demented. She frowned, closed the lid on the sleep pod and spent the rest of the night staring up at the ceiling she couldn’t see, swaddled in darkness. Please...let me sleep. Maybe when I wake up, things will have changed. Jack didn’t know who she was pleading to, if not herself, but she kept on pleading until she gave in and fell into a fitful sleep.

***

Jack woke up to the sound of the sleep pod’s alarm going off, low and steady in her ear. She felt as if she’d been drained of all her fluids; her throat was swollen and she felt like a shriveled up husk. Ugh. What time is it? She leaned out, pushing open the lid of the sleep pod, and checked the digital clock. It was 5:57 IT. What kind of person built this tent and then programmed the alarms to ring this early? Well, time to get up, she told herself, but her muscles felt like lead and her brain like mush. Maybe I’ll stay in bed a little longer...

Jack forced herself to slip out of the pod and crumple back down on the floor, her body aching. I didn’t even drink and I feel like I have a hangover. Wonder how Liam’s feeling. She shook her head to clear it and began to dress, keeping an eye on the clock at all times. She slipped on a padded uniform to protect against the cold and combed her hair back, wincing at the knots that the curls formed. When she felt more awake, she closed the lid of the sleep pod behind her and headed out of the room to the kitchen.

There wasn’t much except for an insulated table and a sack full of emergency rations. Liam was already sitting at the table, blinking slowly and running his fingers through his hair. His elbows rested on the table and his sleeves were rolled up, showing off his bare arms.

“Good morning,” Jack said nervously, drawing up a chair and rifling through the rations. Should I say something about what happened? “Hey, about last night—” she began before chickening out.

Liam grunted in response, turning towards her listlessly. At least he tried to brush his hair, Jack thought, eying his pitiful figure. “Uh, you’re in a terrible hangover. Are you sure you want to go through with the plan?”

“Yes, I’m sure. It’s our only chance,” Liam said, licking his lips and resting his forehead against his sweaty palms. “We should radio the other three to check in on them and see how they’re doing.” He handed her the radio and commenced eating a piece of toast that Jack had placed in front of him.

“Yeah, good idea.” She watched him eat as she dialed Robin’s number on the wrist monitor, which he’d taken off and set on the table. He seemed to perk up more after eating and drinking a glass of water. I’d better do the same, she thought, downing a cup and sighing as the pain in her throat ebbed away.

“Hey, Jack!” Robin’s voice came crackling over the radio after a brief pause. He sounded tired but cheerful. “Morning! How’re you doing on the other side?”

Jack glanced at Liam, who was slowly sliding off his stool, and replied, “Okay, I guess. We’ll be ready to slide the fragment through in about one hour. Right, Liam?”

“Right,” the other confirmed with a grin and a thumbs up. Jack sighed.

“We’re about, oh, eighty percent of the way there. We’ve just gotten started and we’re putting extra power into it. Give us about one hour. That lines up with you, so it’s perfect!” Robin informed her. Jack could just imagine a big smile spreading across his face at the sound of her voice, like the one he’d given her when they first met. “Let us know when you start to dig the channel.”

“Oh, um, Liam has an idea for something different that we’re going to start,” Jack said awkwardly. Before Robin could ask, she added, “It won’t interfere with your plans. Keep going and say hi to Sierra for me! Oh, and Bailey too.” She chuckled as she said this.

“I will,” her brother promised. There was a bzzt of static and then the line went dead.

“Come on, let’s head outside and unplug the fire juice generator...thing,” Jack said, not remembering the proper name.

“Okay,” Liam muttered, grabbing his helmet from off the table. Jack did the same with the standard helmet that had come with the tent, and they stepped back out into the frigid cavern.

She could hear the humming of the drill on the other side of the thin ice wall; Robin was hard at work. She thought about trying to talk to him, but decided against it and instead headed straight for the tanker of fire juice.

“Alright, I think I can cap off the flow for about thirty seconds at best. Which means we have thirty seconds to prepare and run over to the fragment before the juice starts flowing again,” Liam calculated, eying the ythafone hose and wrinkling his nose. He looked much more awake now.

“I’m ready,” Jack said, pulling on her protective gloves. Liam ran over to where the hose connected to the generator and twisted the nozzle around three times until it broke off. Immediately, foul-smelling, maroon liquid started dribbling from the open end, steaming as it hit the ground. Liam screwed on the cap and held it tight as Jack guided the hose around one side of the tanker and towards the fragment of the Sun, which was pulsing nearby.

“Ten seconds,” he warned, pushing the small tanker closer so Jack could reach with the tip of the hose. “Now!” Liam loosened the cap and fire juice spewed out, spraying onto the ground and sizzling upon contact with the ice. White, frigid smoke began to billow out from the ground as the two of them guided the nozzle towards the blockage. It was difficult to control the hose; the fast flow of the fire juice made the tip jerk and buck like a wild Apex. Liam pinned it underneath his arm to keep it steady as they reached the end of the path.

Almost on cue, the flow of juice began to slow as they approached the blockage and abruptly stopped, with just enough trickle to burn away a little of the ice wall. Jack dropped the hose to the ground and let out a sigh of relief, trying to keep her knees from buckling underneath her.

Once she’d collected her bearings, she pulled out the radio and called Robin.

“Hey, what is it?” he asked, the sound of the drill whirring in the background.

“We’re ready to slide the piece down, General knows how. Are you almost ready?”

“Yeah, almost. You should actually be able to break a hole near the center of the wall.” Jack reached out and pulled away some slick pieces of ice that were melting and breaking off. Almost instantly, she could see to the other side, where Sierra, Bailey, and Robin were manning the drill. Jack reached a hand through excitedly and the others grabbed it, not in any specific gesture, but just out of elation.

She pulled the hand back and said, now through the hole, “Keep widening the tunnel. Liam and I are gonna start sliding the fragment down. Once it touches the slide’s surface, who knows how fast it will go, so be ready with the sling.” Robin nodded and continued working on the drill as Sierra and Bailey manned the pump, sweat streaking down their foreheads. The latter looked in much better shape than when Jack had last seen her. Bailey’s hair was tied back using the white bandanna that would normally wrap around her neck. Her helmet lay on the ground next to her, and even though her skin was turning grey from frost, the girl seemed oblivious. Her burns, like Jack’s, had been reduced to mere shadows twisting across her face and arms.

Sierra, on the other hand, kept getting distracted from her work and looking back at her older sister. Her cheeks were red from the strain of manning an old, out-of-use pump and her eyes shimmered. “Hey Sie,” Jack called through the tunnel that Robin was making. She bent down so she was on eye level with her younger sister. “See you soon.” The other gave a half-hearted smile and turned back to her work. Jack bit her lip and turned away.

Liam was already at the top of the pile of wreckage that had been pushed aside, standing behind the Sun fragment and waving her over. Jack trudged up the side of the slope and took a good look at the Sun fragment. “Why can we look straight at it like this?” she asked the Brit, leaning up against him unconsciously.

“What do you mean?” Liam glanced at their shoulders, which were touching, cheeks flushing crimson.

“Well, people couldn’t even look at the Sun from light years away back when it was still in one piece,” she said, pulling away. “Why can we look at it when it’s a few feet away?” The question had never occurred to her before.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t have a core so the gasses are diminishing. Maybe that’s why the lupium gas is pouring out! Or maybe it’s what I said earlier.” He furrowed his brow in confusion at what he’d just said.

“That’s a lot of maybe and not a lot of certainty. Anyways, it doesn’t matter right now.” Jack dismissed her own thoughts and stepped up to the fragment. “Let’s get moving.” The path was clear ahead, still slick and sizzling away. She didn’t know the long-term effects of fire juice and didn’t want to find out.

“Alright. You push from the left and I’ll push from the right. And, Jack?”

“Yeah?”

Liam, his eyes startlingly glassy and wide, stepped towards her. “If for some reason this doesn’t work, it’ll all be my fault. The path to destruction is paved with good intentions, as the famous philoso—”

“No, I get it. Really, I do. It’ll work, I promise,” Jack comforted him.

Liam turned back to his work, making sure his gloves were securely attached as he picked up the chunk of ice that he’d selected. Jack did the same with her piece and together they set their blocks against the back of the Sun fragment. Immediately, Jack felt the pressure begin to ease as the debris started to melt. Cold water splashed at her feet, sending ice crystals everywhere. But she ignored the fact that her uniform was getting soaked and began to push on the piece of ice.

The Sun fragment started to slide forward, ever so slowly. Jack and Liam pushed with all their might, feet braced against the slippery ground. She could feel her hands sliding to each side and forced herself to focus and put in all your energy. I don’t need even more burns right now, Jack thought dryly as she worked.

Suddenly, there was a loud grating sound and a thud as the tip of the fragment tilted and landed on the sloped path the two of them had dug out for it. Jack could feel the ice starting to fall and she let the chunk drop to the ground and melt away. Liam did the same and they watched as the Sun fragment slid down part of the slick path at a rapid pace before catching on the ice and slowing down to a glide. The two of them ran side by side, guiding its slow progress down to the bottom.

“Robin, the fragment’s coming your way fast,” Liam radioed as they walked. “How’s it going?”

“Done!” a voice called, not on the radio comm, but from a few yards away. The tunnel had been hollowed out and Robin stood on the threshold. Sweat beaded on his forehead and he looked just as exhausted as the others. Jack’s brother waved up at her as she descended, wiping the sweat from his forehead and ruffling his own hair. “How are you guys faring?”

“We’re, uh...faring,” Jack answered, running down and giving him a hug. Robin smelled like sweat and wood shavings but she didn’t care. “Liam, tow the fragment over!”

“Whatever you say,” he muttered, too busy staring at its bright, swirling surface. Probably making calculations. Jack blushed and looked away.

Robin glanced back and forth from his sister to his best friend, but brushed it off. “Come on. Sierra and Bailey want to see you.”

“Probably just Sierra, but okay,” Jack joked for a second. Her brother blinked, his smile still wide, then gestured for her to follow. Liam joined them soon after, the fragment resting at the bottom of the path.

Sierra and Bailey stood at the entrance to the tunnel, chatting with each other. When they saw Jack and Liam approach, Bailey quickly stepped back, leaving Sierra standing alone. A frown was on her face but it faded to a misshapen smile as her sister came up to her. “Hi, Jack!” Sierra leaned forward and gave her a hug.

“Hey.” At this little word, Jack choked up and words fell away to an even tighter hug that almost lifted Sierra off the ground. “Things got pretty bad in there, but it’s okay, right?”

“Right. Bailey and I were just talking about you!”

“Uh, all good things, I assume?” Jack asked it in a joking manner, but from her sister’s reaction, that was not how it landed.

“Well…”

Before Sierra could continue, there was the sound of footsteps from behind the five of them and they turned to see a terrifying sight.

Ten Apexes stood, on their hind legs, blocking the tunnel’s exit. One of them growled, showing off several rows of teeth, and said in a formal, authoritative tone that reminded Jack of the night the Apex talked to her, “You are under arrest for trespassing on property of the 186th Apex Regime. You’re coming with us. And so is that Sun fragment.”