I’d visited Surge’s office so often that I might as well have lived there. I could say the same for Manning’s cruiser, which I was sitting in as he drove us to Surge. When did my life become a circle? I looked out the window just in time to see Surge standing in front of his office. He gazed at us with a neutral expression as his cloak blew in the wind. It was creepy.

“Be careful,” Manning said as I gripped my door’s handle.

I nodded. “Tell Rebecca that she looks great today.”

Manning chuckled as I stepped outside. I shut the door behind me and waved to Manning as he glided away. Now it was just me and the guy who had been at my throat about a month ago. The same one who’d thought I was useless and nothing more than Frost’s pet. Now I was part of his organization. I guess I’d shown him?

“Did you count on my speeding over or did you plan on standing out here all day?” I crossed my arms.

“Yes,” he said…although I had no idea which question he was answering. “I appreciate your being patient. I wanted to give you some time to process your mission’s outcome. How are you feeling?”

“A whole lot better than Nessa.” I had the urge to wipe my eyes again. I’d made sure they were dry before we’d left, but then I had brought all the painful stuff up again. “Do you really think she won’t ever walk again?”

“Kid, nothing’s impossible. Technology can do just about anything nowadays. If someone wanted to invent something that could help Nessa walk again, then I’m sure they could.” He glanced at me, but it was so quick that I couldn’t tell if he meant to. I think he was trying to tell me something. “Now, follow me. It’s easier to show the truth than tell it.”

I was exhausted after my emotional experience, and I was sure my eyes were still red. Whatever he wanted to show me, I hoped it was blood-pumping.

The inside of Surge’s office still stunk of smoke, but it was worse this time. I looked at his desk, where an ashtray held a smoldering cigarette butt. Something told me he was more upset about Nessa than he let on.

Surge reached under his desk. He moved his arm around until something clicked. The floor rumbled as a square behind his desk slid open. The staircase I’d seen earlier lay underneath it. He actually had a button under his desk that opened the passage to his secret lair. It seemed I’d underestimated Surge.

“You saw this before, when you refused to steal the generator, right?” Surge asked.

“It was more like I ‘hesitated’ to steal it. Where does your secret staircase lead?”

“It’s not mine.” He stared down, into the darkness. I didn’t know what he was looking at since we couldn’t see anything. “The base was here long before we showed up. Same goes for these stairs and where they lead. Come on, I’ll show you.”

Surge marched into the dark. Unfortunately, that meant I had to follow him. Each step we took echoed around us, creating the illusion that we weren’t alone. I willed my wristlight to activate, which was when I inhaled a lungful of dust. I hacked it out, but then my ribs throbbed with pain. What was the point of medic bracelets if they barely helped Hybrids like me?

“I didn’t know about this staircase until a month after Kaela, Dylan, and I moved in.” Surge’s words echoed like he was speaking through a microphone. “I’ll never forget the day. I pressed the button under the desk, but I happened to have a foot on the square as it opened. Tumbling down these steps was the third most humiliating moment of my life, but it was worth it. Answers to every question on the base lie down here.”

“Who else knows about all this?”

“I don’t hide information like Frost. I told Kaela and Dylan as soon as I discovered it. I contemplated keeping it a secret from future members, but Nessa made me change my mind. She found this place while she was snooping around. After that, I had to come clean.”

That sounded like Nessa all right.

“Speaking of Kaela, have you apologized to her yet?”

He scoffed. “Stay focused, kid. Don’t worry about Kaela’s frustrations. They’ll pass.”

That was not how Kaela had been making it seem. After all this time, she was still upset, and Surge was still ignoring her. That was not what family did…

Surge summoned his wristlight as we reached the end of the stairs. We stepped onto a smooth marble floor, like the ones in hospitals. I flashed my light around to get a feel for our new environment. White walls, white ceiling, and they were all too close together. We were in a hallway, but it felt more claustrophobic than any other hallway I’d been in. I think being underground had something to do with it.

Every few feet, a steel door would break up the white. The doors had tiny windows that I had to stand on my toes to peer through. When I did, all I saw was dust. It was like looking inside was just a concept, not reality. I shone my light inside one to get a better look. The room was cluttered and dusty. The shapes inside were hard to make out, but they looked like machines. I could walk in and check it out, but Surge wasn’t waiting for me, and I didn’t want to get lost in this wannabe haunted house.

“So, what’s going on with this place?” I asked. “It’s dark and creepy, but you haven’t explained why yet. What is this base? Why does it have an underground portion?”

Surge pointed his light at a huge steel door. It was twice the size of all the others. I wondered what was inside. He grabbed its handle and pulled. The door squeaked as it opened up to reveal…a dark room. Surge shone his light toward the back as he walked in, and I did the same. We lit up a blackboard. Whoa! I’d never seen one in person before! There were words written on it in a white, messy substance.

FRONTIER PROJECT MEETING ROOM - MANAGEMENT ONLY

My knees buckled when I finished reading. I scanned the sentence a few more times to make sure I’d read it right. There was no way; Surge must have written this to trick me! He wanted me to believe that cruisers, ships, hand scanners, and countless more inventions had originated here? On the base that I’d been living on?

“I know you don’t believe it, but it’s true, kid.” Surge reached into his pocket. He pulled out a card and handed it to me. “This is the place.”

I took the card and examined it. A man stared up at me with green eyes. His white hair was pulled back into a bun. A white beard shrouded most of his face. The most interesting detail lay under his picture. Just four words that revealed the truth.

LN FROST

FN OMEN

“Ah!” I dropped the card. The ID. The anachronism. “How is this possible? None of the textbooks ever mentioned the Frontier Project originating on Earth. I thought there was a space station. Why would Frost abandon Earth if it had something this valuable on it?”

Surge picked up the ID. “Margaret got defensive whenever Omen was mentioned. Seems like she doesn’t appreciate her ancestor as much as everyone else. I’d love to know why. Her contempt for him may be why she’s fine with abandoning Earth. This is his territory in her eyes.”

I thought back to when I’d asked Kaela and Dylan why they hadn’t told Frost that the atmosphere tower could save Earth. Now I understood. Frost already knew, but she didn’t care. She’d rather let the Earth rot away than save the place that Omen Frost had called home. How selfish could one person be?

“What else is down here?” I looked around. “If this was where the Frontier Project began, then there has to be other crazy stuff around.”

Surge smirked. “I knew you’d ask that. Follow me again. This is nothing compared to what’s next.”

He led me out of the room and down the hall. I waved dust away from my face as we turned a corner. Then we came face to face with my worst enemy: an elevator. I groaned.

“I hate these things! Do you know how much time I spent in an elevator on New Earth?” I groaned again.

“Don’t complain. Our destination is worth the ride.” Surge hit the down arrow and stepped back.

Within seconds, the elevator opened up. I groaned yet again and followed Surge inside. I leaned against the cold metal wall as Surge hit a button on the panel. So Surge’s office had a staircase leading underground, and it also had an elevator that led further underground. The architects of this place had some explaining to do. The floor and wall buckled, which was a sign that we’d started moving. Surge stood beside me, as stoic as ever.

“Hey Surge, what’s the full deal with you and Frost?” I asked. “This is the first chance we’ve gotten to have an actual conversation, so I thought I’d ask.”

“I don’t see the harm in answering that.” Surge shut his eyes. “I grew up the same as you: surrounded by war. The members of the generation that came before me were so sick of the war that they encouraged us to enlist as soldiers. It didn’t seem to matter what we wanted as long as we fought for them. I hated that mentality, so I turned away from combat. I shifted my focus to more peaceful pursuits.”

“You designed and helped build tech for Frost, didn’t you?” I asked. “Although you also said that she wanted you to make weapons.”

“Keywords being ‘she wanted.’ I looked into building devices that would protect us and make everyday life easier. The Blue Barricade started out as a simple force field idea I had before Frost stole it because I refused to make a shield that would trap people inside it.”

I raised an eyebrow. “But then she had it made. You stole it so that you could use that exact feature. That’s kind of hypocritical.”

Surge’s face tightened with anger. “I had no choice. If Frost is going to use extreme measures with or without me, then I have to retaliate.”

“You just told me that you’re trying to beat a monster by becoming one. This is everything that Kaela is concerned about. What happens after your enemy is defeated? Even without them, the number of monsters in the galaxy stays the same.”

“Stop!” Surge rounded on me. “This isn’t up for discussion. I know what I’m doing.”

I turned away and lowered my voice. “I know a few people who would disagree with that.”

The awkward ride came to an abrupt end when the elevator opened up. I glanced outside and gasped. A huge laboratory lay below us. My heart beat out of my chest as I ran out. We were on the second floor (if you ignored how deep underground we were), but two criss-crossing sets of stairs led to the bottom of the room.

There were numerous monitors, desks, suspension tables, TVs plastered on walls, tools laid out in a messy arrangement—all the essentials of a cool lab. I sprinted down the stairs and ran up to a monitor. It was coated in dust, and it looked older than any model I’d ever seen. I tapped the keyboard in front of it, but nothing happened.

“These computers are difficult.” Surge walked up to me and tapped the monitor’s power button. The screen flickered to life. Half of it was black, and half of it was green. “They were damaged when the Earth was devastated…but we’ll learn more about that in a moment.”

Wait, what? Surge eyed all the monitors before he walked up to a computer on the other side of the room. I walked over just as he turned it on. This screen only flickered green rather than being partially stained. He must have known that it was the least damaged computer. I tapped my foot as he maneuvered through its various menus, right until he pulled up an interesting set of blueprints.

“Take a look at this.” Surge stepped back with a grin on his face. “Have a look at a real game changer…not Kaela’s gun.”

I peered at the prints. The diagram itself was insanely advanced. It seemed to be some sort of gun or cannon that would charge up a massive amount of energy and shoot it out like a beam. The prints labeled the device the “Planetary Devastation Cannon,” or PDC. A weapon big and powerful enough to devastate planets?

Devastation?

“They were damaged when the Earth was devastated…”

“No.” I stepped back until I tripped over myself and fell to the floor. My mind was racing almost as fast as my heart. “That’s it, isn’t it? That’s the weapon that ruined the Earth! But I thought—the AI were the ones who used it. So why are the prints on a computer in Omen Frost’s secret lab?”

“Wish I could tell you, kid.” Surge leaned over the computer. “I have a theory though. These things are hiding so many other secrets. Most are locked because we don’t have the proper clearance, but maybe your powers can—”

“Stop!” I said as I scrambled to my feet. “Which is it, Surge? Do you not care about my powers, or do you only care about them? Are you sure they’re not why I’m here? Because they sure come up a lot.”

“What? Kid, where is this coming from?”

“You think you can show me something like that and not expect me to be shaken up?” I glanced at my shaking hands. This new secret was too much to handle. “Forget dancing around issues, I can’t take it anymore. You need to talk to Kaela! I know you’re sorry about what happened, but you refuse to admit it!”

He crossed his arms. “And what makes you think that?”

“Because you care about your family! You didn’t punish Kaela after she ruined your whole Blue Barricade plan, you didn’t punish Dylan after he attacked her—”

“Don’t psychoanalyze me, kid.”

“It’s why you’ll never be like Frost. You care about your family, and you started to see that as a weakness. You don’t need to be heartless to win a war, Surge. If you want me to feel like I’m part of the Oppressed, then you need to be a better leader.”

I knew all about that because people criticized the heck out of my leadership skills.

Surge’s eyes went blank as he either mulled over my words or figured out how to ship me back to the First Division. I’d understand if he was upset that a kid was telling him how to lead, but I’d been thinking this over and needed to get it off my chest. I hoped he’d make up his mind quickly so we could leave. This abandoned lab was creeping me out. Everyone who used to inhabit it had been dead for centuries. It was like I was surrounded by ghosts.

“I haven’t told anyone about this…but the Blue Barricade went horribly wrong.” Surge shoved a hand through his hair as he lowered his head. “Once the ruabrum took back Red City, they were supposed to help us with the next phase: a coordinated raid…on Epsilon.”

My hands shook again. “So you do want to attack Epsilon. Why?”

“The only way to peacefully lessen Frost’s grip on the galaxy is to accomplish her goal before she can. Everything she does is for the war, kid. Imagine what she’ll do once it’s over. If that doesn’t throw her off, nothing will…but that’s not the point! The point is that none of that will happen now. I ruined our partnership with the ruabrum. They’re too caught up in the mess that is Red City to help with the attack. Thanks to my announcing our identity to the galaxy, we can’t even go help them. I endangered so many lives for nothing. It’s exactly something that Frost would have done…and I hate myself for it.”

Surge covered his eyes as he walked away. The leader of the child soldiers had feelings. What a surprise. He’d probably closed himself off to train them in the first place. I wondered when the last time he had gotten this emotional in front of them was.

“Dude, I’m the king of making mistakes.” I walked after him. “If I had a cruiser for every time I made one I’d be that CEO dude, Almas Pretiosus. All you have to do is show Kaela that you regret what you did. Show her that you still care. Just like you showed me.”

Surge’s only response was to look down at his arm. Was it more important than my excellent advice? I caught up to him and peered at his arm. There was a screen on it, or rather under it.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I glanced at him and then the screen. I couldn’t read it from where I stood.

“We have to go. Now.” Surge turned and marched toward the stairs.

“What? Why?”

“It’s Rebecca.” He looked at me, showcasing the fear in his eyes. “She’s awake…and she’s not happy.”