"Mia, can't we talk about this? What's going on?" I asked.
"She was sending a transmission to…you," Vikki said. "It went inside…oh, I see."
Julie clicked her pincers. "What is it talking about?"
"She has a name," I said. "Vikki. Mia, please?"
Mia unmelded. "See. You're one of them now."
"What, no I'm not!"
Mia pointed at Vikki. "Fraternizing with the enemy." She pointed at my eye. "You've been compromised."
Julie unmelded. She approached Mia cautiously. "You had orders."
Mia nodded. "Our original orders were to prevent the Mekanics from obtaining Dustin. At all costs." She shook her head sadly. "We failed."
"But we'll get him out of here," Julie said.
"No." Mia looked me in my remaining human eye. "If he turned into one of them like…like Staccato. Or worse. I had orders to kill him."
"What?" Julie whirled to look at me, then back at Mia. "Fuck orders. It's Dustin. It's obvious he's on our side."
I stared at Mia. "Who gave you those orders." But I already knew.
"Dr. Hill. Back at the Academy."
Fuck me.
Mia's eyes were red. A tear trickled down one of them. "I'm sorry, Dustin. I had to do this. I had to follow orders."
Something wasn't right. Why was Mia acting like she had killed me already?
Dustin. I have a bad feeling about this.
"She's armed the bomb," Vikki said. "I can sense it."
"Bomb?" I looked around. "Where?"
"Your belly," Vikki said, pointing at me with a broken finger.
Dr. Hill's tracker.
Shit. She lied to me. It wasn't a tracker. It was her insurance.
"Fuck!" I groped at my belly. "Get this out of me!"
"I don't believe it." Julie rushed Mia, sending her to the ground. "The fuck, Mia? How do we stop it? How much time does he have?"
Mia kept silent as Julie slapped her viciously.
"No, Julie," I said. "Don't. It's not her fault. She was following orders."
"Orders?" Julie glared at me. "I'm a soldier. I know what following orders means. But this is stupid."
Julie got off Mia and stood.
"Mia," I tossed her the phone. She caught it as she rose to her feet. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I am a threat now. I don't know."
Dustin, what're you doing?
They should be afraid. Look at what Staccato turned into. I have a piece of Mekanic tech in my head now. What if they can influence me? What if they can make me into one of them?
Then, we fight it! I could sense Zoe's doubts, too, though.
Mia held the phone in her hands. She opened it, then hesitated, uncertain. "Dustin…"
"Mia, Julie. I honestly don't know what we're doing. What I've learned since coming here—what if the War isn't real? What if the Chimerics are wrong? What if, what if…" I looked at Vikki's broken body. "What if we're not on the right side?"
Zoe was quiet.
"Come on, Dustin," Julie said. "I'm with you here, but the Mekanics killed tons of people. You can't deny that."
"What about Staccato? Or the wars we had before the Mekanics arrived? I don't think there's any right side. Only people who care about what's right. And those who don't."
"Then, what?" Julie asked.
"This all started when someone asked me to trust them. Mia. I trust you'll do what's right. If you really think I have to go, I'll leave it in your hands." I glanced at Julie. "No offense, but you're a bit hotheaded. Like me."
Julie frowned, but looked at Mia.
Mia, stoic Mia, stared into my eyes, one human, the other metal, with her own tear-stained dark brown eyes. "Dustin, this isn't about right and wrong. It's about…" She dropped the phone and ran to me. I caught her in my arms. "I had to follow orders. I had to."
Mia hugged me tightly. "I'd take it back if I could," Mia said.
If she could?
I broke the hug. "What do you mean?" I asked.
"I armed the explosive. Even if I don't trigger it manually, it will auto-trigger in ten minutes anyway. It's irreversible. I can't stop it."
If I could meld, would we survive? I tried to meld, but still nothing happened. Zoe!
We don't have the surgical tools to get it out of you safely. I can rip it from your gut, if we have to.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
"Jesus fucking Christ," Julie muttered.
"Um, excuse me?" Vikki asked. "Father's coming. He's bringing the big one."
I had forgotten about Vikki for a brief moment. "The big one?"
A set of thundering footsteps echoed further down the tunnel leading to the hangar. They sounded slow. And heavy. Very heavy.
CHAPTER 23
"Vikki!" I pointed to the flying saucer. "Can you fly that thing?"
"I can interface with it," Vikki said. "One second."
A ramp descended from center of the round ship.
I exchanged glances with the others. "It's our only way out. Let's go."
I picked up Vikki. Zoe grabbed Mia's phone. We raced towards the lowered ramp.
Julie ran up the ramp first.
She dove headfirst back down the ramp, melding and rolling to a stop with her eight legs spread out.
Garvek, in a new blocky body, calmly walked down the ramp.
He wagged a finger at us. "Trying to sneak out? It's useless."
I thought he was out there? He can be in two places at once?
I don't know, honestly. It's possible.
Mia melded and bit through his body, tossing his pieces to the side.
"I've disabled the vessel's navigation," Garvek said as his head clattered on the ground.
"Wait," Vikki said. A wall slid down the entrance to the hangar, blocking the connecting tunnel. "I managed to sneak that one by him. But it will only slow him down a little. Take me inside!"
Mia and Julie unmelded. We raced up the ramp again, ignoring Garvek.
The interior was spacious, a giant circular chamber. There were no obvious controls or screen, just smooth metal walls.
"What now?" Julie asked.
"Vikki?" I asked.
She closed her eyes for several seconds. They opened again, wide in alarm. "I…I can't access the ship. Father's removed the control interface."
"Fuck!" Julie raced to the ship's walls, examining them.
"Mia," I said. Give her the phone.
Zoe padded over to Mia, dropping the phone at her feet. Mia scooped it up. "Dustin, I thought…"
"No, not that. Can you contact anyone?" I asked.
Mia nodded, then typed on the phone. "No, I still can't get any signal."
"You can't," Vikki said. "The airbase hull blocks all signals." She closed her eyes briefly. "I can't open the exits. Father's blocked them, too."
"Can we breach the hull?" Mia asked.
Vikki nodded. "We're next to the base's surface. If we can cut through the door—"
Mia headed for the ramp. "I'm on it."
"Wait!" Vikki shouted. "There's no time. Father's shared his records with me. Neither of you would be able to break through in time."
The ship's floor rattled, as if something large had just stepped into the hangar. Something pounded on the hangar's entrance.
"He's at the wall," Vikki said.
"Any other ideas?" I asked in a rush.
Vikki gestured toward my belly. "You. That bomb. It's a quantum disrupter, isn't it?"
"What?" all three of us asked at once.
"Um," Vikki eye's darted between us. "You have portals. It's the same technology as a portal. It can cut through any matter."
"What! Dr. Hill put a portal inside me?" Shit, how much time do I have left, anyway?
About six minutes by my count.
"It would cut through the hull easily," Vikki said.
"But how do we get it out of Dustin," Julie asked.
Mia wrapped her arms around me from behind, trying to perform a Heimlich maneuver. After a few seconds of her squeezing my stomach and me trying to puke, we gave up.