The Softwire: Betrayal on Orbis 2 (21 page)

Switzer’s mind now seemed focused on bigger and better things. Nugget and the tiny crystal were no longer on his agenda.

“Do you really think you should do that, Switzer?” Theodore asked.

“Do you really think you should do that, Switzer?”
Switzer repeated mockingly. “Why do you act like such a little one? What’s gonna happen to us if we get caught doing something they don’t like? Look around you, knudnik. We’re already in prison.”

“It could be worse,” I told him.

Switzer turned on me. “What? They’ll
kill
us? Do you really think they would do that? Not with you here. You’re their little favorite, always fixing things for them. As much as I figure, we’ve got a clean ticket thanks to you.” Dalton handed Switzer a metal tube, which he immediately swung at the glass. It shattered into a million pieces. “Oh, and by the way, in case I’ve never said it, thanks. Now get out of the way if you’re not going to help. This stuff has to be worth something.”

“Here’s your crystal back,” Ketheria said. Nugget stood behind her, eyeing the crystal in her open hand.

Switzer pulled out a crystalline orb that pulsed in his hands. “You can keep it now. A gift for that little freak leading us here.”

“JT, look at this,” Theodore called out. I looked across the room to see Theodore pluck a thick, leathery belt out of a drawer.

I watched Theodore’s eyes widen as he slipped the discarded treasure around his waist.

“This is one, isn’t it, JT?” Theodore whispered, running his fingers along the tiny little compartments embedded in the belt.

I knew what it was; so did Max. We’d both seen one before. Theodore wished for one once, when Weegin received the fake replicator. He fantasized about using it to get off the ring.

“I think it is,” I told him.

“Do you know how it works?” Theodore asked me, as if he was talking in his sleep. “It feels like it’s alive.”

I walked over to him. “Theodore, be careful.”

The warning snapped Theodore out of his trance. He slipped the belt off and held it out for me.

“You’re right,” he said.

I cradled the Space Jumper’s belt. Up close it looked like stone but felt as supple as water. The device was damp to the touch.

“Try it, JT. Use it to jump away from here and then come back and take us with you.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Switzer growled. He walked over and snatched the belt away.

“Be careful with that thing,” Max warned as Switzer tried it on.

“Shut up,” he snapped, and we all backed away from Switzer. Even Dalton moved away.

“Switzer, listen,” I said.

“No, you listen. This is the fastest way. This is my chance to get off this stupid ring,” he said, pushing at anything he could find on the belt.

“Switzer, don’t!” I shouted.

“Don’t what?” he spat. “You only want the thing for yourself. Well, I’m the one getting out of here.”

“What about me?” Dalton asked.

“Here,” he said, and tossed the sack to Dalton. He didn’t even hesitate to sell Dalton out. “Sorry, I might need the crystal where I’m going.” And he snatched the crystal back from Ketheria.

“You don’t know how to work it,” Max said.

“Can’t be that hard,” he replied, caressing the belt.

Dalton stared at the sack Switzer tossed him. His hands shook. Dalton took Switzer’s side even when he knew the malf was wrong. Switzer had used him. He looked up and tossed the sack back to Switzer. “Keep it,” he mumbled.

“Suit yourself,” Switzer replied.

Something inside me told me to make him stop. I
needed
him to stop. It felt wrong; it felt bad. But I didn’t know what to say. I thought of Toll Town. I thought of all the aliens, who just like us, wanted away from Orbis. But I also thought of my promise — my promise not to tell anyone. Wouldn’t Toll understand if I told them? I had to take that chance.

“There’s another way, Switzer,” I blurted.

“What other way?” he scoffed.

“What are you talking about? Another way for what?” Max said.

“To get off this ring,” I told her. “I know how we can all leave. Right now. Together. And without that thing,” I said, pointing to the Space Jumper’s belt around Switzer’s waist.

“You’re lying,” he said.

“I’m not. I’ve seen it. I’ve been there. Toll took me. He runs this place in the tank where other knudniks can go to escape.”

There, I’d said it. I broke my promise.

“What are you talking about?” Max said.

I looked at Ketheria. She stared at me.
What are you saying?
Her eyes seemed to say.

I couldn’t take it back now. I had betrayed Toll’s trust. Something inside me hardened.

“Where did Toll take you?” Theodore asked.

“How?” Max added.

“But that water almost killed you,” Dalton reminded me.

“And now you want us to believe you’ve been swimming in it? Get out of here. You’re just afraid to use this thing,” Switzer sneered. “Or maybe you like it here.”

Switzer pulled at the belt and pried at its small compartments.

“Switzer, don’t. I’m telling you the truth. Toll gave me a special suit to protect me. He took me there, I swear. Look!” I told him, and pulled out the bag of toonbas I’d gotten in Toll Town. “I got these there. Have you ever seen toonbas on Orbis 2?”

“Where did you get those?” Max exclaimed.

“Isn’t anyone listening? In the tank.
In Toll Town.
This alien, Tang, already invited me to stay there. He couldn’t let everyone come, but maybe we can convince him.”

“He’s not gonna do it for free,” Switzer said. “Why do you think we’ve been trading for stuff? No one does anything on this ring for free, dumbwire. Look around you.” Switzer tapped his finger to his forehead. “Start using it.”

Then Switzer found something on the belt — a small blue crystal that glowed when his finger went near it. I froze, staring at him.

“Don’t, Switzer,” I whispered.

“All Space Jumpers are softwires,” Theodore warned him. “You’re not a softwire. Let JT try it first.”

“You would like that, wouldn’t you? Then your friend here can come back and get each of you,” Switzer said. “I know you don’t like me, Turnbull. I don’t like you either, and I’m never going to trust you to come back for me.”

Switzer tugged on the belt and went for the crystal imbedded in the alien material.

“Stop!” I yelled, and reached for Switzer with my right arm.

Everything happened very slowly. It was as if time stopped. Even the air ceased moving. The crystal on Switzer’s belt sparkled and flashed a bright blue. The light spread out from the crystal and completely surrounded Switzer. My arm was now inside the glowing blue sphere. It went cold and I looked at Switzer. His pupils were dilated, and his mouth was frozen in a scream. For once Switzer really knew he’d done something wrong.

The white from his eyeballs clouded over his pupils, and his neck stiffened. His hair shot straight out and turned gray right before my eyes. I could see my arm, but I could no longer feel it.

Max screamed. Or maybe it was Ketheria. It was a slow-building scream, as if the sound waves took an eternity to reach my ears.

Then Switzer was gone. Completely. Vanished. There wasn’t a trace of him. He got his wish. I don’t know where he went, but he wasn’t here anymore.

And my right arm was gone, too.

There was no pain — at first. Actually, I was shocked to look down my shoulder and not see my elbow or my hand. It was just gone — a perfectly neat slice just below my shoulder.

Then blood.

Then another scream, this time much quicker, much louder. Time rushed back like a rocket.

And then the pain.
Lots
and
lots
of pain. First I thought it couldn’t get any worse, but the pain just kept coming.

That familiar blackness rushed forward. It started behind my eyeballs, creeping around the edges. I felt the toonbas slip from my left hand, and my knees went weak as the darkness shut down my brain.

Again?

“You can’t begin to imagine the severity of this situation.”

“None of this is my fault.”

“Everything is your fault. They are your responsibility. Do I need to remind you where my orders come from?”

“We have had this argument before. This is where I remind you whom you are talking to.”

“And this is where I tell you I don’t care!”

“So the rumors are true?”

“Yes. The tunnels led to a refugee camp inside the crystal-cooling tank. It was quite impressive actually.”

“The Council will be pleased.”

“The children will have to be put down. They have broken Keeper decree.”

“Before the Festival of the Harvest?”

“They were obviously trying to escape. The Council will want to use them as examples. The humans must be destroyed.”

“The Softwire, too?”

“I know. It seems like such a waste.”

“The big one won’t like it.”

“Despite what he thinks, it’s not for him to like.”

“The Softwire was at the camp. Where else would he have gotten these?”

“Candies? You’re going to kill them over candies?”

“Keeper decree gives the Citizens full authority for this.”

“They’re children. And they’re humans.”

“Humans have yet to be proven useful. Contrary to what some may think, they are workers. Workers on Orbis under Keeper decree, nothing more.”

“Are you kidding me? You? What if the Ancients are right? You more than anyone should understand this.”

“The children have been questioned. They are the ones who are lying. None of them will explain the tear in the time stream before they were found. I see no alternative.”

“The alternative is to fix the Softwire, destroy the camp, and get ready for the Harvest. Those tunnels need to be cleared anyway. Am I not right? . . . Am I not right?”

“The flow . . .”

“You have no intention of releasing the Samirans, do you?”

“We have every —”

“That bucket of bolts has deceived you. You’re as bad as the Council.”

Johnny Turnbull? Can you hear me?

Vairocina?

Yes.

Where am I?

Sleep now. It will be over soon.