Amaranth: Amaranth #1, page 26
“You sound so weird,” Skyler says, smiling.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me. Look at the mess you got yourself into.”
“I’m glad to see you too.” Skyler can’t hold a grudge against her for what happened. Knowing she’s safe is all that matters now.
“The girl,” mutters Tessa, who does not join the conversation. Instead, she grabs the extra mask Chris hands her and thanks him.
“It’s Emily. Not the girl,” points out Emy. “And you’re the infamous Tessa.” Skyler’s gaze shifts from Tessa to Emily.
“I don’t want to spoil your reunion,” Chris interjects, “but we must hurry.”
“How do you plan to get them out of there?” asks Emy, arms crossed.
“With this.” He throws a tool to her, and she barely catches it. “We’re going to dismantle the gate from the outside. Look, I’ll show you.”
After a few minutes of shaking the grate back and forth, Chris and Emy clear the opening. They help them out, and Skyler struggles to keep his balance, his legs sleepy. He tells them about Tessa’s condition and the fact that she needs to go to Med Bay.
“No,” objects Tessa. “It will have to wait. There’s no time.”
“I agree,” Chris immediately adds. “We need to get off the Ark as soon as possible.”
“I’m not going back,” says Emy. “I think I’ve made that clear enough.”
“You got Sky back like you wanted,” Chris retorts, clearly irritated. “As for your family—”
“That’s not the point,” Emily cuts him off. “I don’t see why we should run away with a bunch of cowards who don’t even deserve to command the Ark when our families and friends are still here.”
“It’s not a simple choice, but—”
“Our life is here. Everything is.” Skyler recoils at the way these two talk to each other.
“Sky are you coming?” asks Tessa, who can read his mind. “Now’s our chance.”
“I—”
“If the Command Center detaches from the Ark, this ship will sink to the bottom of the ocean. No one will survive.”
“That’s why you guys have to follow me now!” Chris sighs as he heads to the trail. “It’s the only way.”
“Sky, can I talk to you alone first?” asks Emy, who exchanges a furtive glance with Chris. Skyler nods, and they move far enough so that Tessa and Chris are a shadow in the fog, so their voices are a mere whisper that could be mistaken for the rustle of leaves.
“What’s the matter, Emy?” His heart speeds up for no reason.
“I … I wanted to apologize for what happened. I shouldn’t have said what I said to you. My words went over my head.” Emily isn’t one to admit when she’s wrong, but he never doubted the sincerity of their friendship. He smiles under his mask, relieved.
“I’ve forgotten already.” The next moment, they are in each other’s arms, not knowing who made the first move. Both of them say at the same time, “I thought you were dead.”
“I thought you would never forgive me.” They burst out laughing and finally break their embrace. He had sorely missed this.
“Skyler.” A strange emotion crosses Emy’s voice and he waits expectantly. “There’s something else I need to tell you before you find out for yourself. It’s about your parents.”
“What do you mean, my parents?” The way she looks at him, he knows it’s bad.
“I saw them while I was locked up in the warehouse.” Locked up? In a warehouse?
“Are they okay?” he says, panic in his throat. “Which warehouse? Where are they now? Why aren’t they with you?”
“Sky, I tried, but…” What are they doing here? He must go see them. Mom has probably been off her medication for too long, and her seizures must plague her. Dylan is not fit to take care of her properly.
“I’ll go get them. I won’t leave them here.” He heads into the fog, but Emily grabs his arm and forces him to look at her.
“You can’t,” she says in a strange voice. “The Paragon will put you in solitary confinement like they did to me.”
“Why didn’t you bring them with you?”
“They were a mess when they arrived. Chris freed me, but it was already too late for your father. He’s … he died in the warehouse.”
“How did you...?” Dead. Dead. Dead? Words fail him.
“I don’t have your medical expertise, but he took a big blow to the head. All I could find out was that he got into a violent fight when the Paragon dragged him here.”
“And Mom? How is she?”
“Passed out from the gas, but…” Emily lowers her voice into a whisper, “Sky, you can’t pretend nothing’s happened. Your mother. The Paragon will find out, and they won’t spare your family.”
“What are you talking about? Her depression is severe, but nothing that can’t be undone.” Emily stares at him, looking hurt.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. You can’t hide her pregnancy forever.”
“What?” The events of the last few days come flooding back to him. Her nausea. What Dylan wanted to tell him.
Dylan. Dylan is dead.
“How long?” says Skyler, confused.
“What?”
“How long since he died?” he urges her, raising his voice. “I need to know.” He needs to focus on the only thing he has left and what he knows for sure: the window of opportunity.
“A little over an hour.”
“Wait for me here. I have to go see him.”
“Sky, I told you. You can’t! You won’t come back from there alive, believe me. He’s gone. I’m sorry to tell you this, but you have to move on even if it’s hard to accept.” She doesn’t understand. Dylan is dead! His memories, his life, his soul.
“I can’t. Not when I know I can preserve a part of him. And Mom.” He still has a memory sphere from Mrs. Farrell’s transfer. He always brings an extra one just in case. His memories are gradually disintegrating, yet it is still possible to recover something.
“You mean the spheres? Do they really work?” she asks.
“I hope so.” Emily nods silently even though he suspects she doesn’t approve of the risks involved. She would do the same in his place. That’s why Emily is precious to him. She remains genuine, no matter the circumstances, and some misunderstanding won’t change that.
“I’ll do what I can,” she says.
Under her mask, he can hear her smile.
Chris holds the Paragon soldiers’ attention long enough for Emily and Skyler to infiltrate the vast warehouse.
Skyler has walked here so many times to find peace when his world was falling apart, to remember that there are beautiful things—unattainable for now, but maybe not forever.
Life has left this now poisoned place, a decaying tomb. A resting place turned into a sacked sanctuary because of the Brotherhood.
There’s that smell again, a mixture of solvent and decay impossible to forget. So many patients have died at the clinic, especially in the last few weeks, but this time it’s not a victim he doesn’t know about. Dad.
They dumped his remains like an animal carcass, stuck in a corner of the warehouse where the other corpses are piled up. A deep disgust burns in his throat with every blank stare he catches. Chris said that most of them are victims of the explosion that blew up the upper levels, while a fraction died from an overdose of the hallucinogenic gas.
What prompted Duke to take such action? Isn’t he supposed to protect the Archeans? It doesn’t make sense.
Emily helps Skyler move Dylan’s body without a word. He mechanically installs the equipment they picked up in his cabin, to begin the transfer to the memory sphere. A series of worst-case scenarios about his mother having a baby flash before his eyes. How could his parents have kept such a thing from him? They could be convicted for breaking the law.
The sphere is slow to light up. Way too slow. The electric shafts of light expand until they become a small cloud, tiny compared to the other patients Skyler has treated before.
“We have to go,” Tessa urges them as she stands in the doorway. “Chris is already on his way.”
“Hold on.” Skyler stares at the sphere hoping it will light up more, but it doesn’t. The rest of his father’s memories are lost forever.
29
SKYLER
The sphere is still warm in its case when they emerge from the Gardens’ mist. While the others are chatting, Skyler’s mind is elsewhere. Why does his misfortune always have something to do with Chris? How can one person bring so much destruction?
It would be so easy to get rid of Chris. He looks so harmless. But would that do Allen and Dylan justice? Truth be told, the more Skyler looks at him, the more he pities him. What is there to hold on to when your bloodline is responsible for the slaughter of a family?
Forgiveness. Is it necessary?
Chris is not his father. Chris rescued them while he didn’t have to. Perhaps to redeem himself?
Skyler struggles with the strange feeling that gnaws at his guts, scaring him even—a hodgepodge of contradictions. Should he trust Chris now? He openly decries his father and shows his good will by playing the hero. Isn’t that proof enough that he has changed?
The fact remains that Chris let Allen fall when he had a choice.
Chris could have … done what, exactly? He had arrived too late and was just as distraught as Skyler had been. Did Chris really cause Allen’s death? That thought alone threatens to send Skyler reeling. They were young, only fifteen, and it wasn’t a situation they could have prepared for. Had emotions blinded Skyler? Wouldn’t he have toppled over if not for Chris?
As for Dylan, Chris is not the issue. The Paragon is. Duke.
Skyler stares at the overlapping boot prints on the trail that look like a muddy mosaic with sordid charm. Perhaps even the language of an unsuspected beauty: earth, water, angles, and curves that intertwine, solidified by air.
Putting Chris’s mistakes behind him is not so simple when the past becomes the present, a frantic race with no way to win.
Skyler tightens his hand around the box. All he has left is his mother, detained by the Paragon. He wanted to go and find her, but the others stopped him for his own good. Skyler obeyed them because of Emily.
“Now what do we do?” she asks once they are out.
“Do you really need to ask?” Chris replies scathingly, glancing at his wristband. “We only have an hour left before the Command Center comes off thanks to Emily for screwing up the internal pressurizer.”
“They would have been gone by now, and Sky and Tessa would have died in a ventilation duct.”
“The more likely it is for the Brotherhood to break into the Command Center, especially if the door is not airtight.”
Tessa sends a subtle smile to Skyler and says, “What are we waiting for?”
“The Mavericks are on the run with rebel soldiers from the Paragon,” Emily points out. “What do we do about them?”
Skyler asks them to explain the current situation, but Chris cuts it short.
“The Ark has become hell with the Brotherhood calling the shots. Even if we all make it out alive, controlling this chaos may be difficult. We expected it to happen, eventually. No matter how a crisis is handled, some people will always be dissatisfied.”
“Is that what your new mentor taught you?” Emily says snidely.
“This is the history of our civilization. Justice for some does not equal happiness for everyone.”
Skyler is about to say something, but Emily beats him to it, “What do you know about justice? You always got what you wanted from your father. If you were born into a family with less privilege, your definition of justice would take on a whole new meaning.”
“Probably,” says Chris calmly. “But it’s not all about family and privilege.”
“What about the explosion?” cuts in Skyler to bring the conversation back. “Who is behind it?” Knowing their identity could turn the tables. What if it was the Paragon and not the Brotherhood?
“I don’t have that information. Anyway, what matters is to stay alive. If we die, all will be for nothing.”
“It’s a detail that could change everything,” insists Skyler.
“Is there a way to access the Ark’s surveillance cameras?” asks Tessa. “To get to the Command Center safely, we should first make sure the coast is clear, or at least prepare for any run-ins. I know the Paragon, and they are well organized. They must have devised a plan to control the ship.”
“They’ll let us through, but it’ll take time,” says Chris.
“I wouldn’t count on that. We need to learn more or else it’s a suicide mission.”
“I agree,” adds Emily. “I want to know more about this Brotherhood first.”
“Why?” asks Skyler.
“I have my reasons.” Chris waves his hands in submission, clearly annoyed. “We will make a stop at the Archives, but then we won’t have time for another detour. Any objections?”
“Since when do you call yourself the leader of this group?” points out Emily. “I hope you realize everyone makes their own choices, whether you like it or not.”
“You’ll thank me when you live long enough to remember what I did to save us all.”
Skyler and Emily walk side by side as Tessa leads the way, gun in hand. Pretty handy to have Tessa who used to work for the Paragon before she switched loyalties. The Brotherhood has planted its seeds in the right places under Duke’s scrutinizing gaze, proving that he is not flawless.
Chris also has his weaknesses.
Tessa’s condition has improved greatly; her gait is no longer clumsy, so her wound may only be superficial, or this ointment exclusive to the Paragon has powerful healing properties.
As they walk through the corridors barely lit by the Ark’s emergency lights, it almost feels like a foray into an alien world. Skyler thought he knew everything about this place, but the secrets are as considerable as the number of Archeans. When Allen introduced him to the in betweens, he should have known that it was just the beginning.
On their way to the Archives, Skyler whispers to Emily.
“What do you really have in mind?” She does not answer immediately, a shadow of melancholy in her face.
“It was during the last simulation. That man on the balcony of that huge building.”
The Paragon prepared them for repopulating, sharpening their senses, and fortifying their mental abilities. They warned them that their perceptions and experiences could influence the environment they navigate in the simulation. This is what makes this technology so effective: It has the ability to make them believe.
Isn’t it the Paragon who manages the simulations?
“He told me about my mother and the Brotherhood,” she explains, her eyes glistening. “The Brotherhood killed her, Sky. Those assholes got her convicted. I can’t run away from the Ark until justice is served.”
The Paragon and the Brotherhood. The two seem connected, but something is missing. How does the Syndrome fit into all of this?
Skyler feels bad for Emily, but her past is hers only. He knows the pain that comes with it.
“I’m not leaving without you,” he says. “I don’t even know if I’ll be able to see my mother again when this is over. You’re all I have left.”
“This is not the point, Sky.” Emily watches him as if trying to read his mind. “You, of all people, should understand what it’s like to know your family’s killer is still out there.” She says the right thing as usual. Even if he can’t stand the methods used by the Brotherhood, their ideal remains the same: what he has always wanted. Some would call it opportunism, but he needs something to keep him going.
He does not care about what happens to the Brotherhood. But Emily…
“You know me,” she adds in a lighter tone. “I have to deal with this in my own way. I never intended to run away.”
An unspoken agreement. His plans are no secret to her, even if he wanted.
“At least promise me that when you’re done, you’ll come and join us. I’ll try to slow them down on my end so they can’t escape, but I’m going to need you for the rest.”
When he and Tessa have decision-making power on this ship, Emily will be invaluable to them. She has the charisma he does not have. Although Tessa believes he could lead the Ark to the Promised Land, he knows he’s just a pawn in the Brotherhood’s plans.
But what will Emily think when she finds out what he is doing? Will she forgive him?
“Anything you want.” Emily’s tone is so light that Skyler lets out a laugh to hide his discomfort. She squints for a split second, but Chris waves them off as Tessa halts to a stop.
They are not that far from the Archives, far enough from the Gardens to be preserved in case of an accident.
Because of the power outage, it’s hard to see if anyone followed them. The gas from the Gardens has seeped out, and the rare bluish lights reflect off it.
Two Paragon agents leap out of the mist, but Tessa is faster and shoots them down with only two shots. Skyler is speechless.
Tessa beckons them forward and steps over the two corpses that lie in a pool of blood without paying them any attention. No one dares say anything until they get into the empty hall of the Archives. Once the automatic doors slide shut behind them, the independent generator starts up and the lights come on and they all take off their masks. A smell of heated plastic hangs in the air and Skyler wipes away the sweat around his mouth, scratching the itch on his face.
“I’ll find you a place in the Command Center,” Chris says to Tessa. “We need people like you.”
“To do what exactly?” asks Tessa, who raises an eyebrow.
“There is a lot to do, believe me.” Chris’s eyes glint, which turns Skyler’s stomach.
“You killed those men as if nothing had happened,” Emy says suspiciously. “Is that what the Paragon taught you or is it just you?”
“Emy please,” says Skyler. “She saved our lives. You could at least thank her.”
