ReDawn (Skyward, #2.2)

Motion through the window caught my eye. I looked down to see a Unity ship hovering just under the branch, outside the base’s landing bay. It would be dangerous to hyperjump again so soon, especially if I wanted to bring my brother or some of the other Independence pilots with me when I jumped out again. I’d never done many jumps so close together before—the more times I hyperjumped in quick succession, the more I would draw the attention of the eyes. Being a teleporter was considered one of the most hazardous of the cytonic skills, because we traveled physically through the negative realm.

We didn’t always come back. But the risk would be worth it if I could get us all to safety.

When I reached into the negative realm, the surface of that ship felt smooth and impenetrable—blank, like the inside of the ship that had taken Rinakin.

Another Superiority inhibitor.

Unity wasn’t going to turn us all over, were they?

Alanik, Quilan said in my mind. He’d found me again, though he was still near Industry and he couldn’t hyperjump after me. Come back so we can discuss this.

So they could capture me was more like it.

Rinakin was right. We needed allies who knew how to fight. If I could convince the humans to side with us instead of the Superiority, maybe we could remind my people of our heritage of resistance, remind them of what we were capable of.

    I reached through the negative realm toward the human planet, finding Jorgen again.

I need to speak with you, I sent to his mind. Can you give me the code to return to your planet?

Alanik? Jorgen said.

Yes, I answered. I would like to return to speak with you, though I need the code to your inhibitor.

Our what?

I closed my eyes. He didn’t even know he had the code. Those leaves were the same color as the ones I’d seen when I met him.

Boots marched down the hallway toward me. I might be able to hide here a bit longer—

Alanik, Quilan said. You’re not going to find any friends on Hollow today.

I took a deep breath. Quilan knew where I was. He could easily send a hypercommunication to the Unity officials here. They’d be looking for me. I reached into the negative realm, and sure enough I could hear his chatter.

—catch her— Quilan was saying. —convince the Superiority—worth more than all of them combined—

I shook my head. Quilan and the others were trying to prove their value to the Superiority. They’d accepted aid to contain us in the form of those ships, but if they didn’t do the work themselves, they wouldn’t earn any favor.

And I was the rebel cytonic, the biggest prize of all.

    I had to get out of here.

You have a code in your mind, I sent to Jorgen. It lets you use your cytonic powers on your planet. I can’t return unless you give it to me.

You used cytonics here before, he replied.

I did not have time for this. You have an inhibitor now, I said to Jorgen. And you know that code, even if you don’t know that you know it.

Um, I’m not sure how to give you that. Let me go talk to Command, see if they’ll—

I’m in kind of a bind here, I said. There’s no time for that. There’s an impression in your mind. Try to think about allowing me to come there. Try to will it to me.

I mean, I think you’re welcome to come back. I’m sure Command would like to speak with you again.

The words didn’t come with an impression. They were useless to me.

“Find her,” a voice said from down the hall.

The impression is in there, I said to Jorgen. How do you access your cytonics? Do you have exercises?

I meditate, Jorgen said.

Try that, I said. Do it fast.

Hang on, I’m trying. I could feel Jorgen’s cytonic resonance growing stronger as he deepened his connection with the negative realm. He was welcoming me into his mind, giving me access to his deeper thoughts.

More footsteps. One of the Unity pilots turned a corner, stepping into view.

Alanik? Jorgen said. Is it working?

I reached into his mind as he reached into mine.

    There. An impression, like a cytonic key. I copied it, embedding it in my own thoughts, and reached toward the human planet, which took shape again, feeling solid. Accessible. I focused on that place, forming the coordinates.

The Unity pilot’s bright eyes fixed on me. “She’s here!” he said.

Quilan’s voice filled my mind. This is a mistake, Alanik, he said. You can’t run from us forever.

We’re going to find out, I said.

And then I pulled myself into the negative realm and left my people behind.





Four


When I emerged from the negative realm, escaping from the ire of the eyes, I stood in the infirmary room I’d fled when I left the humans. It was empty, the overhead lights turned off.

The first time I’d hyperjumped to Detritus, I’d been shot down by the automated weapons that guarded their planet. My wounds had mostly healed while they kept me unconscious here—not that I was inclined to thank them for keeping me in a coma. I was still technically supposed to be taking it easy, and felt twinges in my abdomen if I overdid it.

Thankfully, hyperjumping wasn’t physically strenuous.

I pressed my back against the wall by the window so I wouldn’t be visible from the hall, then reached out, trying to find Jorgen. The building around me buzzed with a surprising amount of cytonic energy. At first I wondered if the humans had far more cytonics among them than I’d previously supposed, but no, these minds felt different, their energy more subtle—like the difference between a large fruit and a tiny seed.

Potential cytonics perhaps? If the humans had this many, they’d be formidable allies indeed.

I found Jorgen’s mind, with two of the smaller resonances hovering near him.

I made it, I said. Thank you for your help.

Oh, good, he said. I lost track of you, and I thought maybe something bad had happened.

Several bad things, in fact. I need to talk to you, I said. Can you come alone? He’d wanted to alert his commanders to my presence, and maybe he already had. But I wasn’t eager to speak with them again until I had someone on my side, given how poorly things had gone last time.

    Where are you?

He couldn’t locate me, then. That wasn’t a surprise. He was untrained, and of all the cytonics on ReDawn, I was by far the best at picking out locations and individual cytonics in the negative realm. I sent him a picture of the infirmary room.

Jorgen paused. Can I bring FM?

That human woman. I’d liked her. Yes, but only her.