Barren

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  The people in Town went on with their mornings as if it was like any other. Homes were being delivered their dismally small rations of water, the deliverers protected under armed guard. Just in case anyone decided to try and take more than they were given. Children too young for school played in the daycare center, while the older children sat inside, pretending to listen as the teacher droned on about Earth history.

  Ethan Renaud was in the shop, focusing intently on his work as he welded some contraption together. He barely even knew what he was working on. He had been distracted for the past two weeks.

  Joseph Miller stood on the balcony of the Town Hall, watching the Town move around him. He looked unwell, and seemed to have grayed considerably in a short amount of time. He was worried. For his daughter, for his Town, for everything. He looked forlornly at the people below, leaning on the balcony railing, wondering how long it would be before the Diviners returned.

  He was so deep in thought, Joseph didn't immediately hear the humming sound in the distance growing steadily louder. When he did notice it, he looked up from the balcony and began scanning the skies, a feeling of trepidation setting upon him.

  I know that sound, he thought.

  Joseph listened hard and recognized the sound of a VTOL engine. He reacted as though stung, then turned and raced back inside the building. He sprinted through the building and charged down the stairs, clearing the bottom four in a single leap. Joseph ran outside and looked to the LEOs that were stationed outside. The LEOs stared at him with puzzled expressions.

  "Get your guns ready!" Joseph ordered. "Get every officer not on vital duty and get them down here now!"

  As two of the LEOs ran off to follow these strange orders, the one nearest to Joseph stepped closer and asked, "What's wrong, sir?"

  Joseph wasn't sure how to reply, but then the need passed, because the humming of the VTOL had grown so loud and close that the LEO had noticed it and was looking around in confusion. A moment later, the VTOL itself appeared.

  It soared overhead, hovering low, disturbing the air and sending dirt swirling in all directions. The LEO, and everyone else who saw it, stared up at it in openmouthed amazement and fear. Children were pointing up at the flying machine excitedly, until parents fearfully plucked them off the ground and raced away to whatever place they thought might hide them from this monstrosity.

  The VTOL hovered low over the town center, where there was space enough to land. Everyone who had once been in that location sprinted away, many screaming, as though it was a dragon come to devour them. The huge aircraft set down on the ground, then the engines began to power down, the humming becoming gradually more quiet.

  Before the VTOL could fully power down, however, Joseph charged forward, carrying a pistol in his hand. LEOs ran beside him, armed with their rifles. The people who had not run away watched from nearby, crowding together to see what was happening.

  "Everyone, stay back!" Joseph yelled at the civilians. The worry that was evident in his voice was enough to make people listen, and also make them more afraid. Joseph Miller was never worried by anything.

  Joseph and the LEOs formed a line beside the VTOL, all raising their guns and aiming at what appeared to be a door in the side of the aircraft. Joseph wondered who was inside. There would only be a couple who would do something like this, something so brazen that it bordered on insanity. Neither one of which Joseph ever wanted to set foot in Town.

  The door in the aircraft began to open and Joseph tensed up. The LEOs around him did the same, none of them certain of what was about to happen. Joseph could feel beads of sweat on his forehead, but he made no attempt to wipe them away. He was completely focused on that door.

  Why are they here? he thought.

  The doors opened fully and the steps set gently down on the ground. A few tense heartbeats passed as everyone waited to see what would happen next.

  Finally, two figures appeared in the doorway, a male and a female. The male was being supported by the female, appearing to have some kind of injury to his leg. Joseph recognized them both at once, but it was the girl he locked his eyes on, lowering his gun.

  "Kenzie!" Joseph gasped.

  Mackenzie glared down at the line of armed LEOs without batting an eye, as if facing a firing squad was an everyday occurrence. Standing at the top of the stairs, Mackenzie glanced the length of the firing line with a look of disdain.

  Joseph waved his hands at the LEOs, shouting, "Lower your guns! Lower your guns!"

  The LEOs all did as they were ordered, staring up at the VTOL in stunned amazement, many with mouths hanging open. Mackenzie stared back at them and at the crowd of onlookers who had gathered to watch. In the middle of the crowd, Mackenzie saw a familiar face. Ethan was staring up at her with an expression of amazement on his face. Mackenzie considered running to him and telling him everything that had happened, but this was not the time for reunions.

  "We need a doctor!" Mackenzie shouted to the stunned crowd. "Jesse's been shot!"

  At first, nobody moved. The shock of this strange appearance in a flying machine, followed by the announcement that a Diviner had been shot was enough to render everyone motionless. As if time had frozen. But then Joseph snapped back to his senses and turned to the nearest LEO and grabbed his arm.

  "Get a doctor, now," Joseph said firmly, giving the LEO a gentle shake to bring him back to reality. "Hurry."

  The LEO nodded once, glanced back at the VTOL one last time, then ran off to find a doctor.

  Mackenzie and Jesse were slowly making their way down the stairs, Mackenzie struggling under Jesse's weight, but managing. Jesse hopped down the stairs, his teeth gritted and bared as each step sent a jolt of pain through his leg. Two more people followed behind them, but Joseph paid them no attention. His gaze was set on Mackenzie. He walked forwards to meet her at the bottom of the stairs.

  At the sight of her father approaching, Mackenzie didn't know what she should feel. She expected to be angry, to slap him, to completely lose her self-control and begin screaming at him for what he had done. Or else the emotional pain of his secrets and selfishness might make her cry, but neither of these things were what Mackenzie felt. Instead, she felt only a strange kind of emptiness. As if her insides had been hollowed out and the space left behind was large and crushing. Mackenzie stared blankly at her father for a moment as she and Jesse reached the ground, Bell and Min-Hee following close behind. Mackenzie turned away from her father to look at Bell.

  "Bell, can you take Jesse for me?" Mackenzie asked. "I need to talk to my father."

  "Sure thing," Bell nodded, then slid under Jesse's arm to take Mackenzie's place.

  "Can I help?" Min-Hee offered.

  At the sound of Min-Hee's voice, Joseph looked away from Mackenzie and to the newcomer. There was a moment where Joseph looked confused, as though he recognized Min-Hee but couldn't place where her knew her from, but then he remembered. His eyes widened in shock and he instinctively raised his gun and aimed it directly at Min-Hee's face.

  "Don't move!" Joseph roared at her.

  Min-Hee froze, keeping her hands in plain sight, but Mackenzie quickly stepped between Min-Hee and Joseph, scowling at her father.

  "Dad, stop!" Mackenzie snapped. "This is Min-Hee. She just saved our lives!"

  Joseph glanced between Min-Hee and Mackenzie in confusion. Then he slowly lowered his gun.

  "I'm sorry," Joseph muttered, though he still regarded Min-Hee with some suspicion. "I didn't..."

  "Dad, we need to talk," Mackenzie interrupted.

  "Not yet," Joseph countered, regaining his composure. "What does this woman want?"

  "This woman," Jesse began scathingly, "just saved our lives and the lives of every person in this town."

  "She wants asylum," Mackenzie said. "She can't go back where she came from, so I told her she can stay with us."

  "It's the least she deserves," Bell nodded.

  "Out of the ques
tion," Joseph snapped before he could stop himself. Then, lowering his voice, he whispered to Mackenzie, "Do you know who she is? Who her sister is?"

  "Yes," Mackenzie said firmly. "I do. And I trust her more than most other people right now."

  Joseph blanched at the thinly veiled insult, wondering just how much Mackenzie knew. The arrival in the VTOL and Min-Hee's presence suggested she knew plenty, but how much exactly?

  Min-Hee suddenly cleared her throat and spoke, a little nervously.

  "I don't expect you to take me in without compensation," Min-Hee said. "This aircraft currently has stored thirty thousand litres of water. You are welcome to it."

  The watching crowd began to murmur excitedly, staring up at the VTOL as if it carried some priceless treasure.

  "I am also willing to earn my keep," Min-Hee added. "I can pilot the VTOL and assist in gathering more water for your supplies."

  "It's only fair, Dad," Mackenzie said firmly. "She saved our lives."

  "She can't be trusted, Kenzie," Joseph argued, keeping his voice down.

  "Don't you call me that," Mackenzie suddenly said. She spoke with little more than a whisper so that only her father could hear, but her voice shook with a powerful rage. "You don't get to call me that anymore."

  Joseph felt a cold dread sink into the pit of his stomach. The look on Mackenzie's face was not one he recognized in her. The way she looked at him now was not the same as when she left.

  She knows, Joseph thought despairingly.

  "Where are the others?" Joseph asked Mackenzie. "Vasseur? Lowe? Abbas?"

  "Dead," Mackenzie replied curtly. "They're all dead."

  At that moment, a doctor arrived with the LEO that had run to fetch her. As the doctor began tending to Jesse's wound, Mackenzie fixed her father with a steely glare.

  "We should really talk in private," Mackenzie said coldly.

  Joseph had only just sat down at his desk in his office when Mackenzie slammed the hard drive down on the surface. She glared at him with narrowed eyes, waiting for him to respond.

  "What's that?" Joseph asked.

  "That," Mackenzie began, pointing at the hard drive, "is the captain's hard drive from the bridge of the Panspermia."

  Joseph kept his face impassive, but Mackenzie saw his hand twitch on the surface of the table.

  "How did-" Joseph began, but Mackenzie interrupted him.

  "You knew," Mackenzie accused. "You knew those people were out there. You knew about Scylla and Boroslav and all of it. You supplied Scylla with whatever she wanted and you made Vasseur take it to her."

  "Mackenzie, I don't know what you heard out there," Joseph said. "But you can't believe any of it. My primary concern has always been the safety of our people. I have never lied to anyone or set up any secret deals."

  "I saw you and Vasseur arguing," Mackenzie continued as though her father hadn't spoken. "Right after I was voted to join the team. What was that about?"

  Joseph faltered for a moment before answering. "Vasseur had some reckless ideas about the mission. Once I knew you were going with him, I had to be firm and tell him to not take any chances that would risk your life."

  "Bull," Mackenzie spat. "I know you offered Ethan to Scylla. You were going to trade him for information on where to find water, because Ethan knows how to build things. So what were you arguing about? The vote didn't go the way you wanted it to, and I was going instead of Ethan. What did you tell Vasseur? To change the outcome? Force Jesse to change his vote? He didn't look happy about what you were saying. Let me guess... dropping the occasional supply of tools and equipment was one thing, but then you told him to deliver a person and that was crossing a line. One that you had made him cross before, which he didn't want to cross again."

  "Mackenzie, I don't know-"

  "Ileana Rivera," Mackenzie blurted out, her hands shaking. "I met her."

  Joseph fell silent at the name. It was a name he had not heard in many years, but one that he thought of every day.

  "Rivera?" Joseph repeated in awe. "She's... she's alive?"

  "Not anymore," Mackenzie replied softly, looking away from her father, unable to look at him for more reasons than one. Mackenzie closed her eyes for a moment and saw Ileana's face burned on the inside of her eyelids. Then Mackenzie opened her eyes and slowly looked back at her father's face. The look of horror and his pale complexion at what he had just heard gave her no satisfaction, but only served to fuel her incense.

  "It's your fault," Mackenzie said scathingly. "You did that to her."

  "Kenzie, please," Joseph began.

  "Don't you call me that!" Mackenzie screamed, slamming her hands down on Joseph's desk, standing over him and glaring down at his shocked face. "I know what you did, it was the same as what you planned on doing to Ethan! You traded her to save yourself! Scylla needed her skills, so you let her have her. It's disgusting! Do you know what they did to her? Do you!?"

  "Mackenzie, please, I don't know what she told you, but you're mistaken, confused," Joseph pleaded. "I don't know what you're talking about."

  "Stop lying to me!" Mackenzie shouted. "You've been lying so long you don't even know what's true anymore! You sold a human being! You were going to sell Ethan! You knew. You knew about Scylla all this time and you never told anyone, just to hide what you did."

  "Mackenzie-"

  "We could have been more prepared," Mackenzie interrupted, now speaking in almost a whisper, as though she was pleading. "If we knew what was really out there, we could have been ready. We could have been more careful. Lowe died because of you. So did Abbas. And Ileana. Do you know what they died for?"

  Without waiting for an answer, Mackenzie snatched up the hard drive from Joseph's desk and waved it in his face, making him cringe backwards in surprise.

  "They died for this! I downloaded Scylla's data and coordinates of every known water deposit within ten thousand miles. They died to make sure our people survived. But you? You just save your own skin from the fire. And let everyone else feel the burn."

  Joseph and Mackenzie were both silent, their gazes locked; Joseph looking desperate and pleading while Mackenzie's expression told only of her fury and feeling of betrayal.

  "You know what else is on this hard drive?" Mackenzie asked. "Some really technical data. Schematics and equations and God-knows what else. Scylla's building something, isn't she? And you know what it is. Tell me, Dad. Tell me what you know and don't lie to me, I can't take any more lies from you."

  As Mackenzie's voice broke, Joseph felt as if his own heart was about to break at the same time. He raised a hand as if to reach out across the desk to Mackenzie, but she stood beyond his reach. So instead, he kept his hands on the desk and lowered his gaze, sighing heavily down at his hands.

  "Okay," Joseph finally whispered. "Okay. It's true. I met Scylla once. She used me. But then I used her, too. I did... unforgivable things to survive. I betrayed my own crew. It's just... I had to make it back. I had to. For you and your mother."

  "Don't put that on us," Mackenzie interrupted furiously. "Don't you dare."

  Joseph couldn't look at his daughter. He nodded at his desk, feeling her glare upon him like the heat from the sun.

  "I don't know what she's building," Joseph finally said.

  "I said don't lie to me!" Mackenzie snapped.

  "I'm telling the truth, I swear!" Joseph said pleadingly. "I only know that she is building something, I just don't know what. She didn't tell me everything, she didn't trust me enough. But whatever it is, she's desperate to finish it. And I know why she's desperate."

  "Why, then?" Mackenzie demanded.

  Joseph looked down at his desk despairingly, hanging his head. The only other time Mackenzie had ever seen him look this way was the day his mother, Harriet, had died from heat stroke, many years ago.

  "This planet," Joseph began slowly, directing his speech down at his desk. "It has an expiration date."

  Mackenzie frowned in confusion. "What
do you mean?"

  "I mean, no matter how much water we find, we are all going to die," Joseph said, almost angrily. "An event is coming, something big. And it's going to completely wipe out everything in its path. This thing that's coming? Scylla knows about it, she discovered it. And whatever she's building is somehow supposed to save everyone from dying with this planet. The only hope humanity has left of surviving, of making sure our species continues to exist, lies under Scylla's control. She is the only one who can save us!"

  Mackenzie wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel, but the news seemed to wash over her like the air in the room. It was surreal to hear your planet was doomed. Even more so to think of Scylla as the potential savior of mankind. For a moment, Mackenzie wondered if this was how most people felt when they were told Earth was dying. Just this stunned disbelief, the feeling that nothing was real. But the look on her father's face was enough to convince her it was true.

  "What is it?" Mackenzie asked, finally sitting down opposite her father. "What's going to happen?"

  "I don't know," Joseph admitted. "She never told me what exactly. But Scylla was certain."

  "Could she have been lying?" Mackenzie asked hopefully.

  "She's obsessed with completing whatever she's building," Joseph shrugged. "If she was lying, she certainly wouldn't be so desperate."

  Mackenzie recalled with a flash of sudden clarity what Scylla had said to her in the desert during her escape.

  "If you don't give me that metric then you might as well shoot me now. Because without it, we're all dead."

  "People need to know," Mackenzie blurted out.

  "No!" Joseph said loudly, looking horrified. "No, you can't tell anyone, Mackenzie. If people knew, it would instil a panic. Our society is so fragile as it is, if people knew about this, everything would break down."

  "People have a right to know!" Mackenzie insisted.

  "You might be right," Joseph began, "but so am I. You know you can't tell anyone."

  "This affects everyone," Mackenzie argued.

  "And telling them will only cause them to panic," Joseph countered. "Please, Mackenzie, listen to me. You've seen the worst in humanity now. Do you know why Scylla and her people are so ruthless? It's because they know. They know what's coming and they do whatever they have to do to survive. Do you want to make our own people that ruthless?"

  Mackenzie didn't reply, but she knew her answer. Of course not. She could never allow such evil to come over her friends, her neighbors, her family.

  "Fine," Mackenzie agreed at last, though begrudgingly. "I won't tell anyone."

  "Good," Joseph sighed in relief. "That includes the other Diviners."

  "I can't do that!" Mackenzie shouted. "There are no secrets between Diviners! You know that, you used to be one!"

  "This has to be kept a secret," Joseph insisted. "Only Vasseur and I knew, now only you and I know. Promise me, Mackenzie. Promise."

  Mackenzie was silent for a long time as she thought. She stared down at her hands, considering everything she had just learned. Finally, after a long while, Mackenzie looked back into her father's eyes.

  "Okay," she said flatly. "I promise."

  Before Joseph had a chance to say anything else, Mackenzie rose to her feet and leaned over the desk, putting her weight on her knuckles. She knew the steel on her bionic hand was scratching the wooden desk, but she didn't care. She stood over her father and fixed him with the coldest stare she could manage, feeling her numb fury building inside of her.

  "But I can't forget everything you've done," Mackenzie said coldly. "And I definitely can't forgive you. I won't tell anyone what I know about you, because people still need you to lead them. They trust you. Like I used to trust you. So you keep leading them, you keep them safe like you always did before. But if you do anything, and I mean anything, that looks like you're going to betray us... I will tell everyone everything I know. About you, about Icarus, everything. Do you understand?"

  Joseph looked small and pathetic to Mackenzie in that moment. He was staring up at her with wide eyes, silently pleading. Mackenzie had never spoken that way to him before and she had to drive her knuckles deeper into the wooden desk just to keep her hands from shaking.

  Taking her father's silence as a sign of his understanding, Mackenzie picked up the hard drive and stood upright once more.

  "I'm taking this back," Mackenzie said, holding up the hard drive as she spoke. "I'm going to have Ethan take a look at it. And I'm going to have the water map downloaded into the VTOL's nav-system. Min-Hee gets asylum. We keep getting water. And you stay away from me."

  With that, Mackenzie turned on her heel and marched out of the room, slamming the door wide open on her way out, leaving Joseph sitting completely alone at his desk. He watched Mackenzie leave, his face etched with the hurt of her words, but she never looked back.