To Touch the Stars                 Tamsin crept into the guard booth and
                                   grabbed the soldier on duty from
Part 3: `Burning the Ground'       behind. She wrapped one hand around
                                   the corporal's mouth, and with the
Nicole Gustas                      other pressed on the woman's throat
                                   to cut the flow of blood through the
                                   carotid artery.

Tamsin and Kalin squatted in the bushes near the gates of the Killian Research Facility. As Tamsin pulled on her black gloves and adjusted the hood of her black jumpsuit, tucking her copper hair into it to make sure it wouldn't give her away, she was thankful for the Naridian love of shrubbery and ornamentation.

Kalin touched Tamsin's knee and counted under her breath. "Five, four, three, two, one." As they watched, the gate of the facility opened slightly, then the lights flickered and went out. The compound soon came into focus for the two women, who had used eyedrops that briefly increased their ability to see in the dark. Tamsin crept into the guard booth and grabbed the soldier on duty from behind. She wrapped one hand around the corporal's mouth, and with the other, pressed on the woman's throat to cut the flow of blood through the carotid artery. In a few seconds, the woman passed out, and Tamsin stuffed her behind the bushes, trussed with a gag stuffed in her mouth.

She quietly ran up to Kalin, who was almost at the entrance to the research facility. "We have thirteen minutes," Kalin subvocalized. They were both wearing throatmikes and earphones so they could speak to each other without anyone overhearing.

"I know. I took too long. But I don't want to kill anyone if I don't have to," said Tamsin just before she slipped inside the open double doors. She spun as she entered and kicked the guard waiting behind the door in the stomach, then grabbed his gun and cracked him on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious before he had a chance to cry out. She waved Kalin inside. "Remember to thank Layten for opening all the doors for us."

"I already have," said Kalin. "Take a right, here." They jogged down the hall silently, Kalin leading the way. The faint emergency lighting gave an eerie glow to the halls. They took another right, then jogged down a flight of stairs. Kalin flattened herself against a wall, and Tamsin followed suit. They listened to the voice around the corner. "Wir muss'n wirschaff hab'n," he shouted into a wrist communicator, in Staatsprache.

Tamsin translated for Kalin. "He's trying to find out what's wrong with the power. He's alarmed. He says all the doors are open."

"Well, all the prisoners are being held two floors below," said Kalin. "It's only a matter of time before they realize what's going on and come up here."

They continued down several flights of stairs and entered the corridor. Tamsin skidded on the floor and nearly fell. She smelled the coppery scent of blood. She turned and saw Kalin squatting near the body, now a bloody, unrecognizable mass inside a uniform. "Looks like they're out," Kalin said grimly. "Come on ... Jaysen's this way."

They ran quickly down the eerily deserted halls, turning left, then right, then left again. Tamsin picked up the lead as they neared Jaysen's cell, skidding inside seconds ahead of Kalin.

She could see him clearly. He was gaunt and pale, curled up asleep on his side in a corner of the cell, wearing nothing. Tamsin knelt beside him and shook him. "Jaysen, wake up! We've come to get you out."

He sat up and backed further into the corner. She could see him shaking. "Get away from me. Don't touch me." His voice was filled with loathing.

"Jayce, it's me, Tamsin." She reached toward him and he shrank back. What was wrong with him? Her stomach clenched tightly. "Come on. We have to hurry."

She watched his hands clench into fists. "You'll have to drag me out of here. I'm not walking willingly into your trap."

Tamsin stared at him in consternation for a moment, then heard movement. She and Jaysen turned as Kalin came through the door. "Hurry up! We only have nine minutes left."

"Kalin?" Jaysen said, startled. He stood up hesitantly, wincing.

"Are you hurt?" asked Tamsin, reaching to help him. He twitched away from her and nearly fell.

"No, I'm fine, just sore. Just get me out of here," he said.

Tamsin could see him pale as he began to move, but was afraid to try to touch him again. "I'll take point and clear out anyone in your path. Kalin, stay with Jaysen." Kalin pulled a dark shirt and pants out of her shouldersac and quickly handed them to Jaysen.

She hurried down the hall and paused. Kalin and Jaysen followed soon after, Jaysen now clad in black from neck to toe. Tamsin waved them around the corner. The dim halls were frighteningly quiet. She jogged up the stairs and slammed through the doors at the top of the landing, to find a gun pointed straight at her head.

Tamsin stared at the face behind the muzzle of the gun as a delicate white hand ripped the throatmike off her neck. She shuddered as she looked into her own green eyes.

"So," said her twin holding the gun, dropping the throatmike to the ground and crushing it under her heel. "You're the illustrious Tamsin."

Kalin put one arm around Jaysen's waist, supporting him as he limped down the hall. She let her consciousness drift lightly across the surface of his mind, with a feathery, nearly invisible touch, testing the walls that normally held him together. It was like skipping across a broken bridge after a bad earthquake; she could feel holes and gaps, with Jaysen's strong force of will barely holding it all together. She felt the surface shiver and begin to fall.

Her light touch became an iron grip as she threw up her own wall around his, shoring up his disintegrating protection in an attempt to keep him from complete collapse. He was stable on the surface, but she could feel the fierce storm roiling beneath, and knew she had only bought him time. She also knew her control was being bought at a high future cost to him, but knew she couldn't get him out if not under his own power. She did a quick check on his physical injuries and was relieved to find they weren't as bad as his mental damages.

She looked up at him and he gave her a weak, shaky smile. "Thanks," he said.

"Don't say that until we get you out of here," Kalin said, as they walked toward the stairs. She watched Tamsin barrel through the doors at the top of the stairs, and could feel some of the tension in Jaysen's mind ease as she left his field of vision. She couldn't quite grasp the tangled, contradictory emotions his copper-haired friend inspired, but knew Tamsin was a flashpoint that should, for now, be avoided in discussion. "I think you're going to be spending a lot of time with me after we get out."

"I'm supposed to object at the prospect of spending a lot of time with a beautiful woman?" asked Jaysen, with his former flirtatious humor. From inside his mind, she could feel how forced it was.

"I'm afraid I'll be sharing you with Chas," she said, keeping up the illusion. She narrowed her eyes at the doors and pulled Jaysen to a stop at the bottom of the stairs as she listened to the empty hiss in her ear where Tamsin's voice should have been. She quickly switched to mental speech. Wait. We need to take another route.

Why? asked Jaysen. It was more of a feeling than the word; Jaysen had never mastered the art of speaking mind-to-mind.

Tamsin should have waved us through by now. She must have walked into a trap. She felt waves of concern from him, but didn't bother to spend the energy to soothe them as they walked in another direction. She looked at her wrist. They had seven minutes.

Tamsin looked desperately for an opening, knowing that every second she waited gave the woman standing across from her an advantage. She watched her own face break into an icy smile. "Here for Jaysen, are you?" asked the woman.

Immediately Tamsin knew what had been going on, knew why Jaysen had reacted with such hatred for her. "I tried. He refused to leave with me. I had to leave him behind," she lied, as she tried to adopt a defeated pose. She tasted bile at the back of her throat, and tried to control and channel her fury.

"Now he won't be the only one stuck here," said her counterpart. "Up against the wall; I want to check you for weapons."

Tamsin stood spreadeagled against the wall, hands above her head. She heard the rustle of fabric as the woman stuck the gun into a holster. Tamsin held her breath steady and waited. Not yet, not yetÉdon't give anything awayÉ

Her flesh crawled as she felt the woman's hands pat her down, starting at her collar. The hands moved down, toward her waist. Not yetÉ

An explosion quietly echoed down the corridor from the distance. She felt the woman behind her start slightly, and took her chance. Tamsin pushed off from the wall as much as she could manage and twisted as she kicked out with her right leg. She felt her foot connect with something solid, and heard a crunch as she began falling. Time began to slow with the adrenaline rush.

"A fall does not have to be a bad thing," her combat instructor had told her, "as long as you know where you will land, and your enemy does not." As she began to fall, she snapped her right wrist back. The blade shot out, and she felt it score. As she fell to the floor, she saw the cut across the other woman's face, and saw drops of blood spatter. The woman was falling; the kick had landed on one of her knees. Tamsin pulled her knees toward her chest and used the momentum of her fall to roll backward over her right shoulder. She sprang up as her feet touched the floor.

Her double had fallen to her hands and knees and looked up at Tamsin through blood and copper hair. "They forgot to tell us about the knives," she said. She tried to push herself up, but fell as the right knee gave out. Tamsin saw her reach for the gun and kicked her in the head. The blow cracked her counterpart's skull against the wall and she fell, unconscious. Tamsin stripped off the woman's gun and holster and quickly strapped them onto her leg. She began running down the corridor as she looked at her chrono.

She had five minutes.

Kalin and Jaysen had climbed to the top of the staircase. For security reasons, no staircase went all the way up or down the complex, and now, Kalin remembered, they had to cross several corridors before they would reach a stairway which would take them to the entrance. She tried to reach out and feel whether anyone was in the corridor, but her mind was too involved in holding Jaysen together and finding their way out to be able to take on another task. All she felt was a wash of many people's emotions ... mostly anger and fear. Many of the sensations were highly controlled, the feeling of a well-trained Gifted mind. She pushed open the door slightly, hoping to peer out and see whether anyone was in the corridor before they crossed. The door handle was suddenly ripped from her grasp as the door was flung open, and a gun was aimed at her head.

The gun muzzle dropped as soon as the short woman behind it saw she wasn't wearing a uniform. Kalin looked around at the crowd of people, some armed, dressed in light blue cotton ... the garb of a patient.

Or, in these strange times, of a prisoner.

Next to the woman with the gun, a man with red hair and a mustache stepped forward. "You're not one of us," he said. "Have you come to get us out?"

A wave of helplessness washed over Kalin. Jaysen felt it and squeezed her shoulder. She took a deep breath. "We don't have enough people to get you out. But we can help you take over this place."

"How?" exclaimed the man as the fifteen or twenty people behind him murmured in surprise.

"There's a central control room one floor up. From there you can control the power, the doors, the lights, the intruder control systems, everything. And the armory's right next to it." The map of the building had been burned into Kalin's mind. "But we'll have to move quickly. The power comes on in ..." she looked at her chrono and winced ..."five minutes, and when it does, you'll lose your only advantage."

The woman with the gun, curly blond hair cropped short, stared at her with hard blue eyes. "How do we know we can trust you?"

Kalin took a deep breath to calm herself and held out her hand, palm up. "Look and see."

The man with the mustache put his hand on top of hers. She felt his mind probe quickly through hers, and felt him turn over her memories of her own stay with the government. His eyes locked with hers and she felt understanding ripple through the link. "I don't think there's anyone we could trust more, Talia," Tomas ... for she had read his name in the link ... said to the short woman. "Let's move ... follow Kalin."

Kalin led them down the corridors and up the stairs, still helping Jaysen, the focused energy behind her supporting her. Before they went through the doors at the top of the stairs, Kalin said to Tomas, "Do you sense anyone in the corridor?"

He concentrated for a second. "Not right in front of the doors," he said. "Further away, two, maybe three people." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, I'm not good enough to tell where they are."

"I'm fairly sure I know where they are," she said. She turned and spoke to the group, reinforcing her speech by sending out images to those who could receive them. "About halfway down this corridor, just after the first juncture, there's a door on the left. Behind that door is the control room. There are probably two or three people in it. If you go right at the first juncture, the armory is the first door on your left. It should be unlocked."

The group looked grimly determined. "People with weapons should hit the control room," said Tomas. "The rest of us will hit the armory. When the power comes back on, we'll clean this place out." Then he said four words Kalin knew very well from her work in the underground. "Now is the time." He looked at them once more. "Let's go."

Now is the time. The words known through the underground as the signal for full-scale revolt. Kalin shivered, trying to shut out a sudden mental flash of blood and fire. The people ran out into the corridor and split at the juncture. Talia was the first at the door to the control room, and opened fire as soon as she reached it. Tomas, even though he was unarmed, was right behind her. Through the fading link, Kalin glimpsed the control room. Three soldiers were dead in the room, one sprawled on the floor in a pool of blood, one face down on a console, the third staring at the door with a surprised expression still lingering in his dead eyes, his face slowly turning red from the blood running down. She sensed no regret from Tomas or Talia.

She understood why they felt they had to strike first, but was still ashamed. If we don't offer them mercy, she thought, carefully shielding herself from Jaysen, who was again semiconscious, how are we any better than them? She continued up the stairs, leading Jaysen, looking quickly at her chrono.

They had three minutes.

Tamsin vaulted up the final flight of stairs and pushed the door slightly ajar, not wanting to make the same mistake twice. She saw a tall, thin figure standing near the exit, holding a gun, and wished they'd planned to leave by the same doors they'd arrived by. Then she remembered her double downstairs, and smiled.

She pulled the hood off her head, shaking her hair out, entered the corridor and walked toward the exit quickly as if she had every right to be there. The man at the door looked at her, registering the copper hair and relaxing slightly. Then he saw her black clothing and began to stiffen, but it was too late. Tamsin grabbed his hand and gave his wrist a vicious twist. He dropped the gun and she kicked it down the hall. He recovered more quickly than Tamsin, throwing her hard into the opposite wall. She felt the concussion reverberate through her whole body, and barely kept on her feet. She had badly underestimated the man. He might be thin, but he was strong, and he was almost half a meter taller than she. She nearly laughed. Gentle Goddess, this man could kill meÉ

They stood face to face in the corridor, a few feet from the door. She eyed him carefully, trying to find a weak spot. Even his knees are a pretty high kick for me. No way can I aim for his throat. She looked at her face and her breath caught in her throat.

His face belied his height. He looked young --- far too young to be there. And those intense blue eyes; surely she'd seen them before. But where?

He spoke, and everything fell into place. "What are you trying to do here?" he asked, speaking in the soft, blurred tones of the city she'd grown up in. She could almost see him, younger, playing in the streets with the other children.

"I'm trying to fix a terrible wrong that's been done here," she said. She saw him flinch as he recognized her accent.

"How can you do this?" he asked, angry and bewildered. "You come from the West, from the same place I do. You know how bad it was for us. People were starving. They killed each other on the streets for drugs or a few credits. You go there now and it's changed. The streets are clean. People have jobs. They have hope! How can you try to destroy everything we worked for?"

Tamsin felt as if she'd been slapped. His words brought her most buried feelings to the fore, the thoughts she held back when she listened to her friends in Ground Zero talk. She remembered what it had been like growing up, remembered walking by burnt-out buildings, remembered running away from the gangs. When she was lucky, she'd managed to run away from the gangs. She still bore the scars from when she'd been unlucky. And the government had done nothing about it. How could she work for the old one that had done nothing to help them? Even if the desire was to form a new coalition, some of the strongest supporters of Ground Zero were powerful members of the old, deposed government who had escaped Narid.

The desire to believe in a government that could make such improvements in the West was almost overpowering. But how could she not try to bring down a new one that had done such violence to her friends? "The things that you've worked for have been built on a lie!" she shouted, as much to herself as to him. "Look at what's been done to the people here! They've been tortured, forced to betray their friends and family."

His fierce blue eyes snapped fire down at her. "What did they do for us when we were in need? They ignored us. They just sapped our resources to improve their lives, then restricted us so we couldn't better ourselves."

Tamsin saw two figures dressed in black moving toward the doors from behind the guard. She had to keep him occupied until Jaysen and Kalin got through the door. She had to keep him talking. She didn't want to kill him.

"Those laws were made to protect the environment! Or would you have us be a planet of desert and sewage, like Old Earth?" she said.

"If the laws were to protect the environment, why was only the West subject to them? Why was the East free to do as they would with their resources? The laws were made to keep us down!"

Tamsin clenched her fists. He was voicing many of her own thoughts, thoughts she had rationalized away again and again. Worse, she was beginning, in some small corner of her mind, to believe in him. Kalin and Jaysen were almost through the door. She had to keep him talking, and came back to the one point that had kept her fighting against the new government. "None of that excuses what is being done here! How can you support the way these people are treated. They aren't being treated this way for what they've done, but what they are. If you'd been born Gifted, you'd be down there instead of up here."

She saw him flinch, saw his jaw clench, and saw those intense blue eyes grow opaque. Suddenly she knew. "You are Gifted. You hid it all your life to keep yourself safe, and now you're helping them hurt people just like you." Jaysen and Kalin were right behind him, about to go through the door. "How can you not hate yourself for that?"

She knew how he loathed himself for turning against people like him. She knew quite well. She felt the same way, because she'd done the same thing. She saw him begin to turn, and saw his eyes catch the motion behind him.

She reacted before she could think, before she could let him hurt her friends. She rushed him, and her right wrist snapped back just before it hit his chest. The blade slid between the ribs, through several inches of flesh. She felt the warm blood gush out over her hand and body as her other arm wrapped around him. She held him as he began to crumple to the floor, met his eyes and saw the shock and despair there. He tried to speak, but blood dripped out of his mouth.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to him, tears threatening to spill out. "I'm so sorry." She held his hand as he died a few seconds later, and closed his eyes. Then she ran out the doors, covered in blood. She stopped, stone-still, as light exploded all around her, momentarily blinding her.

Their time was up.

Kalin saw Tamsin rush the tall guard, but didn't wait to see the results. She moved Jaysen out as fast as she could, aware that she couldn't maintain his barriers much longer. She had seconds, a minute at best.

She got him into the courtyard, but stopped for a moment when she saw the two military aircars sitting there, with Layten between them. She rushed forward. What the hell are you DOING here? she sent, as forcefully as she could.

He gave a little shrug, the one she found most infuriating. I believe it's called hijacking. Get in.

She shoved Jaysen into the rear of one car, sitting down beside him and fastening the safety harnesses, and took his hands. She knew Layten was waiting until the last possible second to take off. Do you know how to fly these things?

No, not really, he replied. But I'm interfaced with a computer that does.

Kalin sighed, then put it out of her mind. She would not worry about things she had no control over. Suddenly, the lights flashed on around them. She heard Layten call Tamsin's name. Beneath her hands, she felt a twitch, and felt something crumble in his mind. His body went limp as she felt his mind collapse.

She began probing his mind, trying to patch him together as she dimly heard the engines roar beneath them. She touched a recent memory, a painful one, and probed deeper. The whole event was flung into her mind, as strong as if it had happened to her.

He tried to take a deep breath and couldn't. "What do you want from me?"

Tamsin's damp, warm voice whispered in his ear again. "Only the answers to a few questions." He heard tearing cloth as the knife traced down his spine, felt the blood following it. He didn't dare move, feeling burning where the blade cut him, on his arms, then again across his back and down, knowing even the slightest shift could mean worse damage. He knew the woman wasn't Tamsin, but it didn't matter. The shock of the image of his best friend hurting him held him frozen to the spot, paralyzed with fear and betrayal. He felt the tickle of her tongue again on his ear as he tried to lose himself in the pain, and ignore the knife. "There's no reason I can't have fun while I ask," the voice laughed, as the knife traced down his spine, then lower.

Kalin traced one hand over her friend's brow, moving the hair out of his still-closed eyes. "Oh, Jaysen," she whispered.

"You're hurt!" Layten exclaimed.

Tamsin was aware that the grin on her face was probably maniacal at best. At some point in the past minute, she'd become very detached. She didn't really care what happened next. "Don't worry, it's not mine. Can you cover us?"

Layten nodded. "We're going to Kerna N'tali's compound. Once we get within those walls, the military won't dare touch us."

Tamsin felt the smile grow broader across her face. Someone inside her was screaming ... she told it to shut up. "But first we have to get there. Leave your radio at 1430 megahertz - they don't usually monitor that channel. Good luck." She flung herself into the aircar, glancing quickly at Jaysen and Kalin in the back before she started it up. The car lifted quickly, and she brought it as high as she was willing to push it.

A bass voice came over the radio. "These are aircars, not suborbital vehicles."

"Yeah, I know, Layten. I'm just pushing it a little high."

She heard a hiss, then Layten spoke again. "The records say it's not rated to go this high."

"Well, the records lie. They'll safely go a lot higher than the manufacturers say they will. It's a safety precaution against people like me." Tamsin banked sharply and made a beeline for the N'tali compound. Layten followed behind and at a somewhat lower altitude. Only one of the five moons were full, making them harder to spot.

There was silence for the next few minutes as both pilots concentrated on reaching their goal. Then Layten's voice crackled over the intercom. "A car is coming at us from Capus. It'll be intersecting our path in two minutes." He paused, and Tamsin could almost hear the computer he'd interfaced with whirring. "It's not hostile yet. It's coming to check out why we're traveling on an unscheduled flight path."

Tamsin let out a hiss of air between her teeth. Even though those back at the Killian Research Facility who were capable of warning the military of their theft probably weren't inclined to do so, transponders were placed on each car to make them traceable. She'd been hoping that, by the time they were noticed, they'd be in the N'tali compound. "Layten, you do the talking. Audio only, if you can manage it. Find out the most plausible excuse from that computer, and use it. I'll be listening."

A few seconds later, the radio shifted to the standard military frequency as the other car matched course with theirs. "Ships S93-0760 and S93-0931, please state your course."

Layten's voice sounded, deep and authoritative, over the radio. "We're traveling to the N'tali compound."

"For what purpose?" asked the other voice sharply.

"Our flight path and details of our mission are contained in memo dated 13/12/28, timecode 16:32."

The radio hissed. "I can't access that file. It's protected ... Code Indigo," said the other car.

"Exactly. Your superior officer can check our orders."

There was another pause. The voice came again, less sure. "I'd like a visual, please."

"I can't do that. Check Code Indigo procedures. No visual allowed."

"What are ---"

Layten's voice interrupted. "I can't give you more information. I suggest you return to your base. And, soldier, I suggest you check Code Indigo procedures. If I wanted to, I could shoot you out of the sky right now for interfering."

Tamsin's finger itched over the trigger for the car's guns, but she held her fire. After a few seconds, the car banked and turned south. She spoke to Layten over their low frequency. "That was close."

"Hopefully I intimidated him enough that he won't check that order."

"Why?" asked Tamsin.

"Code Indigo orders come from a general. I could forge an audiovisual message with retina prints in two days, but not in thirty seconds. It's an empty message."

"ETA to N'tali compound is twelve minutes. Keep your fingers crossed."

Tamsin took a moment to look over her shoulder at Jaysen and Kalin. Jaysen sprawled, comatose, on the seat, his head on Kalin's shoulder. Kalin's ebony hair had fallen forward, obscuring both their faces.

Tamsin turned back to the console, and tried to quiet the thoughts that were filling her mind. How can you try to destroy everything we worked for? The guard's voice rang through her head.

They were within three minutes of the compound when she heard Layten's voice again. "Our luck just ran out. There are three cars coming at us. They're big, they're armed to the teeth, and they'll get to us in forty-eight seconds."

"Scheiss'n," said Tamsin shortly. She checked her sensors. "They're Enigma-class. Aim two meters ahead of the engine at the top of the car. The shielding's weak there, and the fuel line goes through it. One good hit, and it'll blow." She paused, and only heard static from the other end. "Layten, please acknowledge." She switched bands, but still heard nothing but static. "So they're jamming us," she said to herself. "Well, they won't be able to hear each other, either." She hoped he'd heard her last message.

She put the car in a steep, fast dive and came at the lead car from above, feeling gravity tug against the safety harness. As the other car began to bank, she targeted ahead of the engine, fired and continued to dive below the wedge-shaped Enigma, plotting her course to come up behind the other two cars. Her shot hit dead on. The first car began losing altitude quickly, spitting a trail of smoke that quickly became flame. It exploded about four hundred meters from the ground. Tamsin tried to hold her car steady against the concussion waves buffeting it. She saw the forest below burst into flame.

One of the two remaining cars went briefly into a spin, then recovered. The other, further away from the blast, stayed steady and turned to intercept her. Tamsin looked at her sensors for Layten's car. The boxy vehicle was bobbing and weaving erratically. "Layten, what the hell is wrong?" she shouted, without hope of a response. She'd been lucky against the first car; they hadn't expected her to attack so quickly. She wasn't too sanguine about her chances against the other two.

She sent the car up as fast as she could, knowing the only way she could damage either of the other two cars was by an attack from above, where they were less heavily shielded. She also knew the cars would be expecting such an attack. She dove again, firing. This time the Enigmas moved quickly, dodging her shots. She scored a glancing shot against one of them, and completely missed the other. The fight was drifting, she noticed, coming closer and closer to the N'tali compound. If she was lucky, she'd soon be close enough to make a run for it.

Layten was firing, too, with less luck than she was having, staying barely in range to do any damage. Tamsin pushed the car up again, tearing in a steep left-hand turn around and above the two cars. Both began firing at her, and her car bounced in response. She began to lose thrust. She swore loudly as she arced back toward them, preparing to fire once again.

Through talent or sheer blind luck, she didn't know which, Layten fired a shot which passed perhaps a meter below her car and hit one of the two remaining Enigmas. The car immediately began to list to one side. After a few seconds, it banked away, turning back toward its base.

Tamsin was jolted as another shot hit her from the remaining Enigma. She heard the engine hesitate, then continue, but with an underlying disonant hum. Her sensors were down; she was relying strictly on visual. She tried to gain altitude but didn't have the power. She braked sharply and the Enigma shot by her. She slammed her finger on the trigger as her car began to drop from the lack of momentum.

Nothing happened.

She slammed her hand against the console hard in frustration, and cursed the makers of the car as she accelerated quickly, making a beeline for the N'tali compound. The car responded jerkily, accelerating in fits and starts, slowly losing altitude. She had no idea where Layten was. The Enigma dropped out of sight in front of her. When she looked over her shoulder through the back window, she saw it coming up from below. It loomed behind her. She saw it shake, and shake again. Layten was firing, without much lasting effect. The N'tali compound was within sight, but she knew she didn't have a chance of reaching it. She braced herself for the Enigma's final shot.

She saw a bloom of fire come from the rear of the Enigma, then another. It crawled up the car, turning the black hull to red and gold. Then it exploded.

Tamsin's car tumbled forward end over end. She tried to adjust the spin, turning it into a side roll that was bringing her directly toward the compound. The ground below her revolved more and more slowly as she stabilized the car. The blue-green blur below her resolved itself into the lake and trees within the N'tali compound. As she pulled the car back to a stable, slow descent, she heard the engines sputter.

"Don't you dare stall yet!" she shouted at the engines. Unlike the Enigmas, which could glide for quite a distance without power, her car was not very aerodynamic, and would drop like a stone when the engines cut out.

She was ten meters above the ground when the engines cut out. The car continued its gentle downward glide for a few seconds, then dropped. Tamsin heard a crash as the dark closed around her.

She woke to hands brushing her body. She instinctively grabbed for them.

"Tamsin, it's Chas! Don't hurt me!" he exclaimed. "I'm just brushing the glass off you."

She opened her eyes. Everything was blurry, and her stomach began to heave. Chas moved to the side and pulled her head forward as she began to vomit all over the shattered console. When she was done, he gave her a sip of water. She noticed, in a detached way, that the cloth he was wiping her face with came away red. She also saw three of them. "How are Kalin and Jaysen?" she asked.

"They're fine ... a lot better than you, as a matter of fact. They're being brought inside now. You destroyed Kerna's flower garden."

She could smell gardenias, roses and violets all around her. "Whoops. I was aiming for the landing pad."

"You missed," said Chas. "But the trees to the side of the garden broke your fall. You were lucky."

Tamsin felt very remote, as if she were dreaming. Her eyes began to sag shut. She felt a sting against her cheek and realized Chas had slapped her. "Don't you dare go to sleep," he said. "You've got a bad concussion."

"What happened to Layten?" she asked.

"I lost contact with the computer when they jammed the radio signals," a bass voice said. "And I really have no idea how to fly those things."

"So we threw you in the water and you learned how to swim. Great," she said, closing her eyes.

"Don't shut your eyes!" Chas yelled at her, and her eyes snapped back open. She stared at the green shadows above her and heard voices rumbling in the background.

"No, she can't be moved, it's too dangerous. We'll have to do it here," she heard as the green patterns in front of her began to swell and change shape. She felt herself slide down a tunnel.

A few days later, Chas walked on the green path by the lake, escaping momentarily the visuals of the standoff at the Killian Research Institute. A copper-haired figure stood at the edge of the water, throwing rocks at the glassy surface. She tossed him a wave as he came closer.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"I feel fine," she said. "The upper third of my vision is still gone, though. It's like I'm wearing a hat all the time."

"There isn't any permanent damage. It'll come back soon," he said.

She stared at him. "What?" he asked.

"You saw me just this morning. What do you really want to talk to me about?" she asked.

He stared out at the water and tried to form his words carefully. "It's about Jaysen."

She walked away from him a few steps, keeping her back to him. "I don't think I want to hear what you're going to tell me."

"Kalin's been working with him steadily. He's holding together now."

"So why can't I see him?" asked Tamsin angrily, turning around.

Chas hesitated. "How much do you know about what they did to him?"

"Enough," she snapped. "I had a run-in with her."

"Kalin feels that it would be best if Jaysen didn't see you for a while," said Chas.

"How long do you mean?"

"We don't know. But she thinks that if he saw you right now, it could do a lot of damage."

"You mean it would send him over the edge again." She laughed bitterly and threw a rock into the lake. "It's like he's still locked up there. Sometimes I wish he was dead. Then I'd have a reason to grieve, to miss him. Even if I do get to see him again, it won't beÉhim."

Chas walked toward her and put a hand on her arm. He hesitated, then decided to tell her. "Tamsin, Jaysen was in love with you."

She shook his arm off. He looked at her face. Her jaw was clenched and her eyes were burning. Her breath came fast. "Chas, please go away."

"Tamsin ---"

"Chas, I have an overwhelming desire to hit something repeatedly," she said. Her voice was like brittle glass shards. "I'd rather it wasn't you."

Chas walked back up the path. Before he went between the trees, he looked back toward the lake. Tamsin still stared at the water, an alarming lack of expression on her face.

Chas went to the house, intending to ask Kalin to check on Tamsin, not sure what she might do next. Layten was sitting in the middle of the room, holograms all around him.

Chas stared at the flickering images of fire and blood. The research facility wasn't the only building in dispute now. "What's happening?" he asked.

Layten's voice was triumphant, yet bleak. "Revolution."

Nicole Gustas (ngustas@hamp.hampshire.edu) just got accepted to American University and is now frantically searching for a job and housing in Washington DC. She has so far successfully avoided the flesh-eating virus that has invaded southwestern Connecticut. She highly recommends the TV show Animaniacs. "Badda-bing!"