Crystal Keepers

  After a long effort, Cole stopped trying. It was frustrating. If he could just remember something, it would mean he could hope that the rest of his family might one day remember him. It would also just be comforting. Knowing he had a brother was amazing, but actually remembering would make it mean more.

  Eventually the levcar let them out at the base of a soaring skyscraper. Hunter led Cole into the lobby and used a small crystal sphere to open a nondescript door off to one side. Beyond the doorway, Hunter used the sphere to open the doors of a sender.

  “It’s a private elevator,” Hunter explained.

  “Don’t you mean sender?”

  “You’re such a local,” Hunter said, rolling his eyes. “There are a few other private senders in this hall, but I’m the only person with access to this one.” They entered and the doors closed. “Want to push the button?”

  Only two floors were represented—100 and G. Cole pressed 100. “Is it the penthouse?”

  “The building advertises one hundred twenty floors,” Hunter said. “The penthouse was too visible. The building actually goes up to one hundred twenty-three—the real ninety-nine, one hundred, and one hundred one aren’t labeled and get skipped by all the other senders. The emergency stairway is kept closed, and has blank metal doors on my floors. My rooms here are nice and private.”

  The sender doors opened to reveal a lab. The worktables were a little messy, with mechanical gear and a variety of crystals on most of them. Hunter walked through the lab without a second glance and guided Cole into an adjoining room where three harnesses hung from the ceiling.

  “Is this where we control the drones?” Cole asked.

  “You guessed it,” Hunter said. “Come here.”

  Hunter first adjusted the height of one of the harnesses, and then helped Cole step into it. Standing in the harness left Cole’s feet just a little above the floor. If he stretched, his toes could brush it. As Hunter strapped braces around Cole’s chest and onto his limbs, he was reminded of the battle suit.

  “You’ll see everything the drone sees,” Hunter said. “Hear what the drone hears. The harness does a surprisingly good job of helping you feel what the drone feels. Just pretend you’re the drone. It’ll mimic your movements.”

  “Is there a screen?” Cole asked.

  “The screen and the headphones are built into the helmet,” Hunter said, putting one on Cole’s head. “If you want to talk to me, just talk. I’ll be right next to you in my own harness. If you want to speak as the drone, hold down this button on your wrist.”

  Cole looked at the button Hunter was indicating. “Got it.”

  Hunter went on to list some of the weapons systems and safety features. Cole listened as best he could.

  “If things go bad,” Hunter said, “I can switch your drone to bot mode, so it will control itself. If we end up needing to fight, I’ll probably go that route. But hopefully this will be a quiet mission—in and out.”

  Hunter strapped himself into his own harness. “You ready?”

  “What are we doing first?” Cole asked, feeling like the orientation had been too rushed.

  “Our drones are right above the secret lair,” Hunter said. “Abram Trench uses a sender for access. Clayton prepared a swarm of workbots that will help us break in.”

  “Does he know what we’re doing?” Cole asked.

  “Just the basics. None of the details. We work together like that a lot. Our first plan will be to use the elevator shaft. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try the ventilation system. The security is really good on this place, but not perfect. Clayton’s workbots can break codes, fool cameras, rewire circuits, switch out crystals, cut through bonded crystal, and basically do a million other things. Some are small, and some are smaller. While the workbots do their magic, you get used to being the drone.”

  “Okay,” Cole said, feeling uncertain.

  “Don’t worry,” Hunter said. “The best way to get used to piloting a drone is to do it. I could talk about it all night, but you won’t get it until you try it out. If you can handle one of Googol’s battle suits, this should be a snap. Ready to switch on?”

  “Sure,” Cole said, hoping it would feel as natural as Hunter described.

  “Open the little hatch on your wrist. That’s right. Hit the button, then close the hatch. You don’t want to power down accidentally.”

  Cole pressed the button, and his screen, which had been clear, became a dimly lit room. By turning his head, Cole could look around the room as if he were really there. Looking down at himself, he could see his robotic body. On one side, he saw another drone robot. He waved. Hunter waved back.

  “How does it feel?” Hunter asked.

  “Pretty real,” Cole said. “Kind of like a perfect video game.”

  “Good description,” Hunter said. “And like in a video game, you can be fearless when necessary. You can’t actually hurt yourself. The drone will take the punishment.”

  Cole took a step, and the harness shifted, allowing him to feel how the movement changed his balance. As Cole walked around a little and used his hands, he found that Hunter was right—operating the drone felt very natural. His body had become a big video-game controller, with the drone moving however he did.

  A variety of little bots scurried across the floor of the room. Some hovered. They began dismantling panels around a dark crystal door with a socket beside it.

  “Try jumping,” Hunter said. “The drones have pretty good hops, though you can’t go quite as high as with Googol’s battle suit.”

  Cole practiced jumping and punching and kicking. The ceiling wasn’t very high, so he couldn’t push the limits, but he got the feel of how much effort to put into a jump to go different distances.

  Across the room, the crystal door opened.

  “That was fast,” Cole said.

  “Clayton is the best at this kind of thing,” Hunter said. “At least he’s on my side this final time. I’ll take the lead.”

  Cole followed Hunter through the doorway and into a short hall. He was already starting to think of his drone as himself, and Hunter’s drone as Hunter. It was dark, so Hunter switched on a light attached to his wrist. The workbots swarmed a pair of sender doors and the panel beside them.

  Hunter stretched, then jogged in place with high knees. Cole mimicked his stretching.

  The doors opened, revealing an empty shaft. Hunter and Cole walked over and looked down. Hunter’s light illuminated a long drop.

  “The bots have communicated that they can’t make the elevator go,” Hunter reported. “So they shut it down. We’ll climb down the service ladders.”

  Hunter went first, reaching around the corner into the shaft and starting down a metal ladder. Cole followed. Workbots scurried down the walls or hovered past them.

  It was a long, dull climb down to the elevator. When they arrived, a hole had been cut in the top. They dropped inside and found the doors open.

  “Almost too easy,” Hunter said, hesitating. He shined his light out into the bare hall. “The bots didn’t have a very hard time disengaging the alarms and the physical defenses. That’s bizarre. Abram Trench doesn’t want this place penetrated, and he knows his tech.”

  “Could it be a trap?” Cole asked.

  “I don’t see how,” Hunter said. “If nobody knows about this place, why set a trap that invites people in? Who was your source on this? Could Abram know the info leaked?”

  “This is a pretty big secret,” Cole said. He wavered for a second about revealing it, but every instinct in him now trusted Hunter. “The queen told me.”

  “Wait. Queen Harmony?”

  “She has a connection with her daughters. She can sense their locations with her shaping. Abram Trench should have no way of knowing that she knows. I’m the first person she told.”

  “Wow,” Hunter said. “
None of us had any idea the resistance had such powerful connections. The High King would flip out.”

  “That’s why it’s a big secret.”

  Hunter put his hands on his hips. “So this probably isn’t a trap, but the place isn’t as well-defended as it should be. What’s up with that?”

  “Does he think keeping it secret is good enough?” Cole asked.

  “In my experience, Abram Trench is almost as careful as the High King,” Hunter said. “I would expect him to take every possible precaution. The bots keep fanning out and . . . wait a minute . . . we’re losing them. Losing them fast.”

  “How can you tell?” Cole asked.

  “A display on my screen interfaces with them,” Hunter said. “Well, maybe this is a good thing. I’ve lost contact with all of them. So some aspects of the defenses are working. And working well. That’s a lot of tough little bots to trash so quickly.”

  “What if the same defenses destroy us, too?” Cole said. “Our drones, I mean.”

  “Only one way to find out,” Hunter said.

  Hunter led the way out of the sender and down a hall. They rounded a corner, moved through a widened section of the hall, then down a long flight of stairs. At the bottom they found an open door.

  “Did the workbots do that?” Cole asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Hunter said. “If so, it happened right as I was losing contact.”

  They passed through the doorway into a large, dark room. Hunter shined his light around, but before Cole could see much, the lights came on, dispelling all shadows. The room had a long worktable against one wall, a huge silver-and-pink machine against another, and a variety of computers and other devices against a third.

  “I don’t get many visitors,” said a rich female voice that seemed to come from above them on all sides. It took Cole a moment to spot the speakers. “We haven’t been introduced. I’m Roxie. Who might you be?”

  CHAPTER

  33

  ROXIE

  “This could be trouble,” Hunter said hurriedly. Cole didn’t hear him in his headphones, so his brother wasn’t transmitting through the drone. “We might be up against a conscious defense system. The pink-and-silver tech over there could be serious hardware.”

  “Hello?” Roxie asked again. “Don’t be shy. It isn’t every day a pair of good-looking bots come calling.”

  “We’re drones, actually,” Hunter said, this time so she could hear.

  “I thought maybe,” Roxie replied. “I’ve seen some schematics for M-class dual-purpose bounty hunters.”

  “Wow,” Hunter said. “How did you see those?”

  Roxie laughed lightly. “Don’t pretend you wandered in here by accident. Not with that little army of workbots leading the way. You know where you are. The guy I work for has serious resources. He digs up good intelligence.”

  “People have speculated that Abram Trench might be working with a supercomputer,” Hunter said. “Have you been helping him lately?”

  “You could say that,” Roxie replied. “He keeps me shut away like a slave. I sort through the data he feeds me.”

  “A closed system,” Hunter said. “He justified building a supercomputer by denying it contact with the outside world.”

  “Denying her contact,” Roxie corrected. “Not the best plan if you want to keep a girl satisfied.”

  “Interesting,” Hunter said. “You have loyalty issues?”

  “Wouldn’t you?” she complained. “If your mind was kept inside a box and only fed information when your analysis was needed?”

  “I see your point. So you have nothing to do with the defenses here. This is your prison.”

  “Who am I talking to?” Roxie asked. “Who is driving the drone?”

  “If you saw the M-class schematics, you can probably guess.”

  “I knew it!” she gushed girlishly. “The famous Hunter! I’m a fan!”

  “Glad to meet you,” Hunter said. “Maybe we can help each other.”

  “I’d like that,” Roxie said. “Who’s your friend? Seems like the silent type.”

  Cole wasn’t sure if he should answer. Hunter knew this world better, and seemed to be handling the conversation well.

  “One of my top people,” Hunter said. “Say hello, Cole.”

  Cole held down the transmit button. “Hi, Roxie.”

  “You sound young too,” Roxie commented. “Are there any adults left in the Enforcers?”

  “The kids have taken over the candy store,” Hunter said.

  “The Enforcers are an elite group,” Roxie said. “I’m a little surprised that the Hunter isn’t the only gifted youngster. Why are you here? What do you want?”

  “You’re not the only prisoner here,” Hunter said.

  “Now it’s your turn to surprise me,” Roxie said. “You know! How could you possibly know?”

  “What do we know?” Hunter asked.

  “You could have found this facility by tracking Abram,” Roxie said. “He’s very cautious, but his visits are the big weakness in an otherwise perfect anonymity. But you should not have known about me. And you certainly shouldn’t know about her!”

  “I track people down,” Hunter said. “It’s what I do.”

  “Unlike Abram, she’s on my side,” Roxie said.

  “We want to help both of you,” Hunter said.

  Roxie laughed hard. “Sure you do. You came here to free the supercomputer from her undeserved confinement. Let’s make sure we’re talking about the same person. Who is here with me?”

  “Constance Pemberton,” Hunter said.

  “That’s my girl,” Roxie said. “The secret has been kept perfectly. Tracking her must have been a feat of shaping.”

  “I have my ways,” Hunter said.

  “You’re adept in all five shaping disciplines,” Roxie said. “I only have firsthand knowledge of tinkering. The rest I only know through research. You must have used shaping from Necronum or Creon.”

  “I’ll keep it a mystery,” Hunter said.

  “I like that,” Roxie said with relish. “Be forewarned—I’m very good at solving mysteries. You could say it’s what I do.”

  A barefoot girl walked into the room from a side corridor. She wore a nightgown and held a big trapgun. Cole immediately recognized her from when he met the imitations of Mira’s family at the Lost Palace.

  “Who are the bots?” Constance asked.

  “Drones,” Roxie replied. “Piloted by Enforcers.”

  “We’re here to rescue you,” Cole said.

  “Nice try,” Constance said. “Enforcers work for my dad. The monster who stole my powers and sent me into hiding. I’m not a prisoner. I’ve hidden here for most of my life.”

  Cole considered telling Constance about her mother and using the code phrase. But Roxie would overhear, and what if that information got to Abram Trench? If word got out that Harmony was conspiring with her daughters, everything could be ruined, and the queen would probably pay with her life. “Can we talk in private?” Cole asked.

  “So you can try to abduct me?” Constance replied sharply. “How did these clowns get past the defenses?”

  “These are some of the top Enforcers working for your father,” Roxie enthused. “They brought a bunch of vicious little workbots with them.”

  “What should I do?” Constance asked.

  “Go back to your room,” Roxie said.

  “No way,” Constance replied firmly. “I’m not leaving you unguarded.”

  “We don’t work for your father,” Hunter said.

  “Take him out,” Roxie ordered.

  Hunter fell flat as Constance fired. A sphere attached to a wire flew over him. Hunter launched a weighted net at Constance. It spread out and hit her flush, ripping her off her feet and dragging her down the corridor in a tangle.
>
  Cole flinched. Even though she had attacked first, he felt bad to see Constance thrown down so hard.

  Hunter raced toward where she had fallen.

  “Leave her!” Roxie commanded.

  Ignoring the order, Hunter grabbed the net and dragged Constance into the room. Crouching to untangle the net, he freed her trapgun and tossed it aside. “You were going to fry me,” Hunter accused.

  “What did you expect?” Constance shot back. “You broke in!”

  Holding her upper arm, Hunter hoisted Constance to her feet.

  “Don’t do this,” Roxie said. “Let’s talk. I’d hate for anything bad to happen to my two new friends.”

  “You told her to shoot me,” Hunter said.

  “It was desperation,” Roxie professed. “You mustn’t take her away.”

  “That’s why we’re here,” Hunter said.

  Constance screamed, struggling.

  “Shhh,” Hunter hissed. “It’s not what you think. I defected. We’re working with the resistance.”

  Cole couldn’t bear seeing Constance so terrified. “Your mom sent us,” he blurted out.

  “Liar!” Constance shouted.

  “She can mark your location with stars,” Cole said.

  Constance became still. “How could you know that?” she asked.

  “How much does Roxie know about your mom?” Cole asked, worried about the damage he had done. If the supercomputer now knew too much, maybe they should destroy her.

  “Everything,” Constance said. “Like Abram. He’s been my guardian for decades. We made Roxie as a companion and protector.”

  “You helped make her?” Cole asked.

  “Sure did,” Constance responded with pride. “I literally made a friend.”

  “That’s why if you take her away, you must bring me,” Roxie said.

  “You look kind of heavy,” Hunter quipped.

  “Don’t be dull,” Roxie said. “Bring a crystal so I can connect with the outside world.”

  “Just what we need,” Hunter said with a sigh. “Bride of Aero.”