The Defiant (28 page)

“At least tell us what this key is for,” I say.

“The key opens a box,” Dr. Urbancic replies. “A box that
contains a device that sends a signal to a nuclear bomb hidden on a satellite.”

I nod. “Okay. And from what we understand, the resulting electromagnetic pulse will bring a halt to the UNA's technological supremacy without irradiating us. Then we can have a chance at fighting them.”

“Exactly,” Gadya adds.

“No, no, think about what you're doing,” Dr. Urbancic says to us, looking agitated. “You don't realize what a high-altitude nuclear blast might do to the planet.”

“It could save everyone from tyranny,” Liam says. “In hand-to-hand combat with primitive weapons, I'm betting the rebels would be more than a match for the UNA soldiers.”

“A HANE could destroy the planet!” Dr. Urbancic says, slapping his hand down hard on the table. “You don't understand. You are children.”

“We might be young, but we're not children,” I tell him. “You don't know what we've seen or been through.”

At the same time, his words strike fear in my heart. Could he be right? I trust David's calculations and knowledge, and the other rebels, but there's a chance that Dr. Urbancic knows more than they do. I don't want to die.

“I feel sorry that you came all this way,” Dr. Urbancic says. “But this plan to detonate nuclear devices at high altitudes is not—and cannot—be the answer. The rebel scientists floated this by me once before, years ago, and I explained that it wouldn't work. It is a desperate plan. It's too risky.”

“It's our only plan,” I tell him.

“I can't believe David would resort to this,” Dr. Urbancic says.

“How well do you know him?” I ask.

“I knew David's father,” he replies. “David has a genius IQ—nearly off the charts. It's been that way since he was a little boy. His parents were radicals and they taught him revolutionary tactics and extreme ways of thinking. David is one of our true hopes for the future. I always thought he would grow up to be a great leader, and perhaps one of the few people who could take down the UNA, and replace its corrupt madness with something positive for humankind. That's why I'm so puzzled by his current plan.”

“Maybe there's no other choice,” Gadya points out.

Liam nods. “The UNA has staked everything on technological supremacy. This might be the only way to take them down. I don't even like David much, but I can't think of a better, faster solution.”

Dr. Urbancic leans forward, pressing his fingertips together. “Do you know what will happen if this plan goes wrong? You will destroy the earth's atmosphere. The planet will begin to die. Any discussion about whether the UNA is wrong or not will be a moot point. There will be no more countries and no more governments. There will just be radiation poisoning on a massive scale, and the death of every living thing. Your plan is worse than anything the UNA has done so far.” He pauses. “You must cease advocating for this plan. You must change directions, and find a new course. Your impulse to deconstruct the government is a good one, but this is not the right path.”

“What do you propose?” I ask Dr. Urbancic.

“I propose that you wait. Look around. You can see that the UNA doesn't have the strength that it once had. Eventually, perhaps just in a year or two, it may well find itself getting challenged from within. Like every other corrupt empire before it, such as Rome or Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia, it will ultimately fall as a victim of its own twisted agendas.”

“We don't have a year or two,” Liam says. “Think how many people will die before then. And the government is doing genetic experiments on kids and trying to create mutants.”

“Think how many people will die if your plan goes awry,” Dr. Urbancic counters. You must weigh the good of the few against the good of the many. Besides, if the UNA is destroyed, another country will come and take it over, and enslave the populace.”

“That won't happen,” Gadya says. “The rebels have a plan to work with the European Coalition.”

“You trust them?” Dr. Urbancic asks. “I've often felt there are hidden agendas within some of the rebels' plans. . . .”

“Maybe,” I tell him. “But the world is sick of the UNA. They view it like a global cancer.”

“A cancer needs to be cut out. But your plan essentially involves killing the patient,” Dr. Urbancic says.

“How do we know you're not in league with the government?” I ask. “You obviously work for them as a scientist, am I right? You could be saying this stuff now to stop us from taking action, but it might not be true.”

He nods. “Indeed. It might not be true. Perhaps the plan will work, and the electromagnetic pulse will serve your purposes without excessive radiation or atmospheric contamination. But there is less than a fifty percent chance of that. I can assure you that I am not in league with the UNA—I have spent my years working for them, but spying for, and advising, the rebels.”

“We need to talk about this in private,” I tell him. “Just the three of us.” Dr. Urbancic has certainly shaken my faith in David's plan a bit. And he's right—there's no point in bringing down the UNA if the cost is a nuclear holocaust.

On the other hand, I've doubted David so many times in the
past, and he's always turned out to be right. He might know more than this scientist does.

“There's nothing to talk about,” Gadya says. “We proceed with the plan. There's no time. We have to prepare.”

Liam and I look at her.

“Gadya, we need to talk,” Liam says.

She shakes her head. “No. We stick to the plan no matter what. That's the only way.”

“Why don't we talk to David?” Dr. Urbancic cuts in.

We fall silent for a second, in surprise.

“You can talk to him?” I ask.

He nods. “Over an encrypted satellite signal. But the connection doesn't always work.”

“Why didn't you say something earlier?” Liam asks.

Dr. Urbancic looks at him. “You didn't ask.” He gets up and wanders off to a corner of the basement and returns with a transmitter. It has a small video screen attached to it. He begins fiddling with it.

“Hurry up,” Gadya says, impatient as always.

He ignores her. Finally, the box comes to life. Electrical, crackling noises emanate from it. He turns a few dials, searching for a signal. The ancient video screen flashes with static and rolling lines.

Then he leans forward and says, “David? It's me. Are you there?”

Only static greets him. He keeps turning the dial.

“David?” I call out. The others chime in. But there's no response.

Then I hear a faint, distorted voice.

I can't understand the words, but I know that this is David.

“Got him!” Dr. Urbancic says. He spins another dial until the volume increases and the signal gets crisper.

“Hello, Doctor. I read you,” David's voice says, tinged with static.

I hear Gadya gasp. I don't understand for a second, until I realize that David's image has appeared on the screen. It's dimly lit, but his ravaged face is clear to see.

“What the hell happened to you . . . ,” I hear Gadya breathe.

Liam doesn't say anything, but I know that he must be surprised too.

David's electronic eye stares out at us, and even on the low-quality video screen, I can see the scars on his face.

“David, I have the rebels here,” Dr. Urbancic says. “Three of them. Alenna, Gadya, and Liam.”

“Hey, everyone,” David says to us.

“Hey,” I say back.

Liam echoes my greeting as well.

“What's wrong with your face?” Gadya asks, leaning forward and squinting at the image. “And your eye? Are you okay?”

David smiles. His image is fading in and out. He's harder to see now, but we can still hear him. “War wounds. Don't worry about it.” He pauses. “I wish I could be there myself, but I can't move very quickly anymore.”

Dr. Urbancic turns to us. “We don't have long. We can't risk transmitting the signal for more than a minute or two, or it might be traced. It's encrypted, so they can't discern the content, but they might be able to track our location. So let's wrap this up fast, shall we?”

I nod.

Dr. Urbancic says into the microphone, “David, these kids have
a key to nuclear device thirteen on satellite 9B. I recognize it. And they say that you've instructed them to detonate it by four p.m. today, as a means of creating an EMP? Is this true?”

“Yes.”

“You realize I can't do that, correct? The risk is far too great. I put it at forty percent likelihood for success, not in our favor. You need to come up with another plan.”

“I knew that you'd say that, Doctor,” David's voice replies. His image reappears faintly on the screen. He's not smiling anymore. “That's exactly why I sent Alenna, Gadya, and Liam to you, instead of just asking you to do it.”

“So far they've been unable to convince me to change my mind,” Dr. Urbancic says. “Perhaps their mission was in vain?”

David shakes his head. “No.” He looks past Dr. Urbancic. “You have the key, Alenna. You will tie Dr. Urbancic up—without hurting him—and you will then unlock the box that contains the trigger for the bomb. The box is sitting behind him on the bookshelf. It's black, and the size of a brick. Should be easy to spot. The device inside is simple to operate. It will send a signal up to the satellite. At four p.m. you will press the red button on it, which will begin the detonation process. Stay in the basement for shelter in case—”

“David, you can't be serious!” says Dr. Urbancic, interrupting him angrily. “Even if you trigger an electromagnetic pulse successfully, without dumping radiation onto our heads, think of everyone who will die—people in hospitals. People reliant on technology to live. You, yourself, David, might die.”

“Do it,” David says to us, ignoring him completely. “I'm in a safe zone. Do it before he runs off or tries to hide the box.”

I've been through enough with David to know that I should trust him. It seems like Gadya feels the same way.

“Got it,” Gadya says, swinging her rifle around. “I have my gun out.”

Dr. Urbancic stands up. “David, this is a terrible mistake—”

“Shoot the transmitter,” David's voice says. “Or else the UNA will be able to trace this signal. After you detonate the bomb, Dr. Urbancic will help you meet up with more rebels tomorrow, to begin the ground assault. Good luck. Now shoot!”

Gadya aims at the transmitter.

“No, please—” Dr. Urbancic begins.

But Gadya fires anyway.

The blast is devastatingly loud in the basement. The transmitter is blown off the table and against the wall. It falls into a broken heap of crumpled metal. My ears ring.

Dr. Urbancic looks at us. “I can't let you do this.”

“You can't stop us,” I tell him. “Everything David has told us so far has turned out to be true. If he thinks this is the only way to stop more deaths, then we need to take the risk—as crazy and awful as it sounds. I don't want to die or destroy the planet any more than you do. But if we don't take action, the UNA is going to accomplish those things anyway.”

“Exactly,” Gadya says, brandishing her rifle at the doctor. “Now move aside.”

“I'm not afraid of your gun,” he says.

And then, faster than I thought possible, he stands up and grabs the end of the weapon, yanking it forward as hard as he can. Gadya is caught off balance, and she struggles to keep her hands on the weapon. Liam and I move back, both afraid that she's going to accidentally shoot him.

“Get off me!” Gadya yells. “I don't want to hurt you!”

We only have a few seconds until something terrible happens.
I move around behind Dr. Urbancic with my knife raised. If I have to stab him, I will.
Just to make him let go of the gun.

Liam steps in and punches him in the back of his head, absolving me of having to do anything. Dr. Urbancic falls straight to the concrete floor, unconscious.

We stand there for a moment.

Gadya is panting, holding her weapon.

“I tried not to hit him too hard,” Liam says. “It sounds like we need him alive to give us directions to the rebel cells.”

I feel slightly sick, like we've crossed some kind of ethical line. We are becoming just as bad as the violent UNA thugs that we're trying to remove from power.

“Let's tie him up,” I say, scanning the room for anything we can use as rope. I don't see any rope, but I see some bales of coated electrical wire. I go over to them and start cutting off pieces with my knife. Liam joins me. Gadya crouches down and checks Dr. Urbancic's body.

“He'll be out for a while,” she says. “But I think he'll wake up. Maybe with a concussion.”

Liam nods.

“What about the things he said?” I ask. “Think he's right?”

“I don't know,” Gadya replies. “What choice do we have? If we do nothing, then the UNA wins.”

“Liam?” I ask.

He looks at me. “I don't know either. We've come this far. It's hard to tell what's right or wrong anymore.”

I nod. “Either way, I guess we need to tie up the doctor.”

A few minutes later, we have Dr. Urbancic sitting upright in an old wooden chair, with his arms and legs bound tightly with electrical wire. There is no way for him to escape. He
remains unconscious, his head lolling down to his chest.

We walk over to the bookshelf. As David said, the black metal box is easy to find. I take it from the bookshelf and place it on the table.

We stand around it.

I take the key out and insert it into the lock. The key turns, and the box opens up. I pull back its lid.

Inside the box, on a velvet base, sits a silver, palm-size object, with a lone red circular button on it covered with a snap-down glass top. We all gaze at it for a moment.