2.24.1

A Preliminary Recovery

Through six comms, the team shared a tense breath to feel the pathway closed to them.

“I can’t tell you where your sister is,” Paulsen pushed on. “I don’t have that information. But, if you’re serious about learning more about what we do here, and maybe you want to help, talk to Serena Cordette. You’ll find her outside Septimus. Our outside supporters have to go through her.

“She’ll want to look into you a little, but we could sure use a few more of our people in uniform.”

“For what, exactly?” Tenya asked. Astrid could almost picture the peering glance and narrowed eyes of a woman who struggled with her poker face.

“Bringing reason to the conversation,” Paulsen answered, as good as any politician.

“I’ll think on what you’ve said,” Ramsey diverted. The sound of boots on the floor, and the sliding of a chair, indicated the soldier stood. “Thank you.”

“For what it’s worth,” Paulsen finished. “I truly hope you find Miss Owens.”

The group left, without incident, and the Channeler returned to the school-facing shuttle door to await the other half of the team.

The trio did well to keep silent as they walked. This time, Astrid could almost count the steps. She also, for a small second, caught the chilling tail end of a child’s laughter. She almost fingered the latch at the sound.

But soon, the men at the academy’s entrance turned to the opening doors, and the exit of the servicemen.

Then, out of nowhere, Dell engaged with the guard. Over-curious and ardent.

“Hey, were you two here when the Sanctuary went rogue? What happened, did you see anything?”

“What’s he doing?” Anders asked Astrid, as she kept her eyes on them.

She watched Tenya turned into the comm, away from the speaking men, to mutter quietly.

“Movement on the perimeter,” the chief breathed. “West side. Looks like a runner.”

Someone took advantage of the envoy’s arrival, and the distraction it brought.

Astrid nearly flipped her body to the far door, opposite the exposed front. She popped the side and clambered out as deftly as she could.

“Hale! If you go out there you could expose us!” Anders hissed after her.

“Tenya,” Astrid rasped back into their device. “Keep their attention!”

The chief and the others all but swarmed on the two men in chatter. Astrid crouched behind the front edge of the shuttle and hid, just outside.

In the piazza, she caught the sight of Dell’s long arm, pointing east.

“It was from that direction, right?” He asked inanely.

Astrid poked her head out to search. And there, beyond the west wall, bobbed a tail of crystalline blonde locks. Close to the ground. Astrid eagerly sought the well of recyclable energy that hummed within the Channeler body.

Only a few sparse bushes lay between them, but Astrid crept to the next so the girl could see her.

The young woman, Astrid recognized. Celeste, from Mercedes. The specialist checked the group at the school’s entrance. Tenya rotated to gesture to the school at large. Her voice rambled in Astrid’s ear about the damage endured.

And certain the guards were properly engaged and looking elsewhere, Astrid hooked her arm through the air in a wave that Celeste should hurry.

The teenager bolted.

The second she scrambled within reach, Astrid lashed her arm over the girl’s back and kept her down. She covered her body with her own, then all but threw Celeste inside the open door of the shuttle.

Anders pulled the teen to her feet while Astrid tugged the exit closed again. Quiet, so as to not make a slam.

“Oh, thank the stars!” The girl turned to the specialist while she panted. Her face looked bright, if flushed. “Astrid Hale, right? What are you doing here?!”

“Shh. We’ve got you. We’re going to get you out of here,” Anders told the runaway.

But Astrid pulled the young woman into a hug, overjoyed to recover even one of the taken.

“The others, Celeste! Is everyone alright? Menloh, the others from Mercedes?”

“Yeah.” Celeste swallowed air and nodded. “Yeah, but they’re all still in there.”

In the piazza, the team closed their faux business with the guards and headed for the shuttle.

Anders ordered the two Channelers down, lest they be seen. They dropped down to the floor, but still, Astrid couldn’t contain herself.

“What about my people?!” she asked next. “Endra, are there Channelers from Endra there? Maya? Finn? Did you see them?”

“Yeah, yeah, they’re all there,” Celeste promised.

Astrid almost cried. The relief she felt that they yet lived, that they existed within a short walk, broke a dam she’d carefully erected from the very first hour she returned to the Aldebaran.

She squeezed the Channeler girl again, overcome. Feeling the emotion rise she forced herself to calm and absently touched where her crystal lay hidden under her plain shirt.

The door opened to admit Tenya, Ramsey, and Dell once more.

Ramsey and Dell didn’t recognize the identity of their catch, but Tenya certainly did.

“Ballsy move, girl!”

“And now we need to get her back to the Aldebaran before they notice she’s gone,” Anders said to Romo. The agent took his cue to start up the shuttle, and the crew did their best to leave in a manner that suggested anything but fleeing with a fugitive.

Anders announced their incoming return to the Aldebaran, but Astrid couldn’t wait for debriefing to hurl questions at the poor girl. As far as she was concerned, the crew should just be content they’d managed to pull her away at all, once confirmed the rest of the Channelers still resided inside Maxwell’s walls.

“What are they doing? What have they done to you? Why have they kept you?” Astrid continued to look the younger Channeler over.

She looked tired. Worn from days of doubt and fear. But otherwise, unharmed.

“They weren’t treating us cruelly,” Celeste relayed. The girl clung to the grip bar above the window however, as though a lifeline. “It was our jobs, the older kids, to keep the younger ones from getting scared.”

“Why, what for?” Astrid continued her barrage of questions. The Statics gathered to listen as well. “Were they training you? Testing your powers?”

“Kind of. I think. They had us working as a group in some kind of exercise. It involved singing together. It’s like they were trying to synch us all up for something.”

“Okay, wait, slow down.” Astrid cautioned herself as much as their witness. After a steadying pause, she tried again. “What did they do exactly?”

“Well, during the day, we kind of just… hang out,” Celeste explained. “Spending time together. The people watching over us, they weren’t Guardians, but they have pulsar sticks. And they kept things from getting too rowdy. But they still wanted us to use our abilities. Not like in the Sanctuaries. They encouraged it. I thought, maybe at first, just to see what would happen.

“They kept bringing in these games. I thought it was just to keep us busy, but more and more often it required energy, or working together.

“But every evening,” she continued, “they bring us into this great hall of some kind. I don’t know what it’s called…. They called it an autumn-something?”

“Auditorium?” Tenya supplied. Celest nodded vigorously.

“They taught everyone a song. It sounds simple, but to us it’s- well, it’s exhilarating.” She looked to Astrid with her eyes bright. Like she needed her fellow Channeler to understand. “Everyone holds hands and sings together. And each night they bring in this… I guess it’s a musical instrument. It’s electric though and plays on its own.”

“A player piano?” Dell asked. “Does it have a keyboard?”

Celeste could only shrug, however.

“Maybe. They taught us all to draw from these plants they bring in. Each night, a different one. And we sing, as a group, and we channel the energy into this instrument until it plays. It lights up and everything! And the better we do, the faster it plays, or sometimes the brighter the lights shine.

“There’s lights. On the… Um, the keyboard…” Celeste mimicked her fingers over invisible keys to illustrate what she struggled to describe. “They treat it like a game, and the kids get really excited. Depending on how focused or rested we are, it’s thrilling. And it’s definitely getting stronger.”

“I don’t understand,” Astrid scowled. “Why would they be training Channelers?”