Chapter 19: Under attack, Part 1

Alex woke to an internal banging drum that made her ears ring and sent blood pounding to her head. She rubbed her temples until it subsided slightly. Her right hand ached. The whole train rumbled as it ran down the track, rattling the windows in their panes, irking her headache more. The failing sunlight streamed through the cracks in the blinds as they shuddered with the lively train.

She pushed out of the chair. Jack lay sprawled across the bed, shoes still on. How terribly uncomfortable that must be. Alex checked that her knives were secure in her belt and pulled her maroon jacket closed. She lurched forward as the train started to slow. What was it now? They needed to keep moving if she was ever going to make it to Lexi.

Alex made her way to the cabin. Weylin lay napping in the conductor's seat. She slapped his shoulder and he jumped violently. "Why are we slowing?" she growled.

He looked around with his big eyes. "We must be out of power," he stuttered, wiping his face with his hands.

"How'd you get it moving before?"

"At first, I used an Electra device charged from the lava pits and then, this morning, Jack charged it up before the sun came up."

That explained why he was still out cold. "What are our options?"

"Unless we can use Jack again, we will have to spend the night where ever we stop, which is going to be very soon, like five minutes."

"If we get in another fight, we're going to need him to have as much energy as possible." Alex's lips twisted. "I'm going to need to take a look out back."

Weylin led her to the back of the train and unlocked the back door. It led to an outdoor platform. The desert lay out to either side. The metal tracks ran out from beneath the hovering train car. Solar towers dotted the landscape under the bright aurora covered night sky.

Weylin tapped his foot against the metal floor. "If we collect some rocks and maybe some of those tumble weeds we may be able to start a little fire and heat the Electra device."

"Do you have to take the device out for that?" she asked.

"Yeah. We can heat it for a couple of hours and then put it back in."

"No. That will be too long. We need to keep moving. I'm going to break open one of these solar towers and steal its battery. Then we can hook it up and get this thing moving up to speed again for at least a little while before the electron leak drains it, like it did your Electra device."

"Do you know how to do that?" Weylin's green cat-eyes widened.

"Not the details, but we'll just bust open a solar tower and look for a black box that looks like a battery. Then we can wake Jack up and make him fix it. Do you have any tools?"

He nodded and ducked back inside. Alex waited. The cold wind whipped through her hair. The auroras sparkled across the darkened sky, emanating from a nearby magnetic pole. She didn't see anyone throughout the desert. It should be safe enough. The train was mostly hidden behind these solar towers; no one would see them unless they were looking for them. Although, right now her husband's men probably had their satellite pointed directly at them and it wouldn't be long before someone showed up.

Weylin returned with the tools and her crowbar. Alex accepted them and waited until the train came to a complete stop. It lowered down and touched the rails. Together, they jumped off the back and headed for the nearest solar tower.

It stood three meters tall. The slick black surface twisted around at sharp angles. The towers covered the whole of the desert, probably covered every desert on the surface. Part of her training had been circuitry when she was growing up, how different could the inside of a solar tower be? At least the private tutors her parents had paid for would come in useful. Somewhere inside that tower would be a battery that stored charge and it would help them to get moving, moving towards Lexi.

Alex peered through the darkness until she found the panel. She crammed her crowbar into the thin outline of the door. The towers were definitely created to keep people from tampering with the power. She leaned against the bar.

"Help me," she demanded.

Weylin grabbed the crowbar and pulled. The metal creaked and gave way, sending him staggering backward. Alex let go of the bar as he fell. A red light blinked from the inside of the panel.

She flipped the touch powered flashlight from out of her pocket and handed it to the kid. "Hold this right here."

Weylin obeyed. The light shook under his nervous fingers.

Alex poked around in the panel with some pliers from the tool bag. She unhooked the main wire that took the charge from the battery into the main line. Next, she clipped the wire from the tower to the battery. After dropping the pliers back into the tool bag, she pulled out a screwdriver and unscrewed four bolts to free the battery.

Her ears twitched. Footsteps. They were faint and hard to pinpoint. The pounding still sounded in her head and the echo of the footsteps bounced off the surrounding towers, making it even harder to determine their location. Alex looked into the darkness, letting her eyes adjust.

"Do you see anyone?" she asked in a hushed tone.

He peered around the near darkness. "Vestarians," he whispered.

"How far off?"

"Hard to say with the echo, maybe two minutes."

Alex twisted the screws frantically. Why did they have to be so damn tight? It's not like people made a habit of stealing these things. But maybe they did. Maybe the surface was actually riddled with people.

She ripped the battery out of its holder and took off towards the train. Weylin trotted at her heel with the tool bag and crowbar in hand. Alex leapt on to the back of the train and pushed him ahead of her through the door. She traded the battery for the crowbar and slammed the door between them.?

"Wake Jack and have him hook it up. Hurry," she said through the door.

"I thought you were,"

"Just do it," she said and slammed the door.

From the other side of the door, she heard the tools clatter to the ground as the kid scrambled away. She waited patiently outside, crowbar at the ready. Alex was ready for a fight, up for the challenge. Before had been exhilarating, killing all those Antarians. It had been a letdown that they died so easily. She shook her head to clear it. Why wasn't she locked behind the train door? And exhilarating, really? Was she a killer now? She should be helping Weylin hook up the battery, but instead she was looking for a fight. Her vision blurred for a moment. Alex pushed the absurd thoughts from her mind. She was protecting them, of course. She had to do this, she had to fight. She wanted to fight.

The aurora cast strange shadows on the desert. It's constant movement playing tricks with her mind, showing people where there were none. The pain in her right hand had become a dull throb. She closed her eyes and listened. The echoes were getting closer, or at least she thought so. It was hard to tell with the faces of the tower reflecting noises in all directions. She felt blind and deaf, like a house of mirrors, but with sound.