The Deathless Trilogy

1.7. The Mission

"Isla, who is this on the recording?" Winston asks.

"It's my... it's Daniel. My Daniel," I manage to say. "I thought he was dead."

"This was from last month, so we can't be sure of his safety anymore. I'm not sure how he was able to record this, but we will be sure to look for him when we attack."

I'm no longer thinking. All I can do is imagine finding him. "Then I'll fight with you," I say, though the words make me nauseous. "I'll join the Deathless."

"You just said you weren't a fighter," Phoebe sneers.

"For my family, I am. I'll learn. I don't care what it takes, I need to be there when you attack."

Phoebe crosses her arms, and Winston's smile returns. Alexander stands from the table, and crosses toward the map, where a table with an assortment of liquors rests. He pours himself a glass of something honey-colored, like Daniel's eyes, vivid again in my mind now that I've heard his voice.

"We will arrange for combat training," Winston says, smiling again. "But I want you in the labs tomorrow. We lost a lot of good scientists to the government. I want you to start learning as soon as possible. How'd you like to train with me?"

I look to Declan, who smiles submissively, like it's his personal version of a white flag. "No, thanks. I'd like to train under Dr. Kunkle in botany."

Winston raises his brow. "Are you sure? With your knowledge, I think you'd be best utilized in another field."

"I'm positive. Botany is what I know best. I also need my mom with me, and once she's healed, she can train too. She's smart, and the best shot I know. Besides, our entire family was taken by the droids. She'll want to get them back too."

"This is getting ridiculous," Phoebe says. "We aren't attacking the bunker so you can have a family reunion, we are attacking to overthrow the government. Your mother is injured. Under no circumstance can she come."

"Once she's healed she'll be the best soldier you have," I plea. "You'll see. And she put together a lot of the machines we used in the house. Our blender, the stereo, the fans."

Winston bites his lip in thought, before nodding his head and saying, "We'll have her tested, and then we'll see."

"Thank you," I say, but as I calm down, my anxiety returns. "If the government is looking for me, will I be safe here?"

"It's the apocalypse," Alexander says, sitting back at the table with his glass of alcohol. "No one is ever safe."

Winston glares at Alexander. "Isla, your location will not be revealed to the government," he says. "However, should they discover you here, the Immortal was built to withstand attacks as well as nuclear radiation. It was built to be a mobile bunker for the President and his people in case of emergency evacuation. But even after we reach the refugee camp we've established out west, you will remain protected. We already have enough refugees for an army and a guard."

"Your life will not be the same," Alexander adds without looking away from the cubes of ice in his honey liquor. "Because you are the Isla Blume we were all asked to find, you will constantly be watched and targeted until we stop the government."

Phoebe tries to hide a smirk of disdain. Winston takes a deep breath and continues, "I don't want to mislead you, Isla. Of course there are dangers. Especially since we are attacking the bunker before Roberts' crew lands. In all your books, did you read anything about the space program before the world ended?"

"Just that President McCleary was criticized for spending too much money on it."

"He pumped billions of dollars into a program that was co-funded by an organization called Roberts and Cooper. Together, President McCleary and Roberts and Cooper arranged a space expedition to colonize an Earth-like planet called Janus. They left a few months before the nuclear holocaust. Their job was to create a sustainable colony on Janus, and then return to Earth to start bringing people over. The population had gotten out of hand, and it seemed like the expedition could be a solution. But then everything ended."

"Long story short," Phoebe says, and continues telling the story, "when the nuclear attacks started, all the government contracted scientists like us, as well as government employees were preserved in the bunker in cryogenic chambers. We were un-preserved when the President got news that the spacecraft was back within range, but none of the radio systems on board are working. We can't be sure why the crew is returning, but they are, way ahead of schedule. We were supposed to have at least ten more years before they even left Janus to return to Earth. So we got to work getting things ready, and when we finally found out that 'getting things ready' meant genetically engineering future populations to replace family units and creating slave-people to rebuild the world, we left. By now, the spacecraft is so close, it will be here within a few months."

The New Star. It must be the spacecraft. That's why it just became visible.

"We have to be in charge of the bunker by the time Roberts' spacecraft arrives," Phoebe continues. "Without the President and Roberts and Cooper, we have a shot at changing the minds of the scientists on board the spacecraft. Maybe then we can start this world over with us in charge."

My head is spinning from all I've just learned, but I somehow manage to ask, "And after that? What will happen to us?"

"We will to continue to develop technologies to better the planet and work to create homes and infrastructure for ourselves like the current government is trying to do, but we won't control or engineer people to do it," Winston says. There's a faraway look in his eyes, like Daniel used to get when he'd talk about us growing old together. "We have already begun to rebuild at the refugee camp. That's where we are heading now."

The clock on the table beside Declan begins to ring, and he lifts it to turn off the sound. Alexander gulps the rest of his honey liquor and excuses himself from the table. "It's time for Alexander's nightly command," Winston says, "which means you need to start settling in. Declan, please show Isla to her room."

"What about my mom?" I ask.

"She may also be shown to her room if Dr. Patel says she's clear to leave the infirmary. We will meet with her tomorrow to assess whether or not she can join us to the bunker." Declan begins helping me from the chair, but Winston continues, "Oh, and by the way, breakfast is served every morning at 7:30am. You'll want to be in the cafeteria at that time to avoid the morning rush. See you there."

I nod, and as Declan escorts me out of the room, Phoebe's vulture-like gaze follows me. Winston, of course, is smiling as he waves me away. All three leaders seem so strange. Alexander with his brooding demeanor, Phoebe with her determined distrust—so different from the version of her that pulled me from the Prowler—and Winston, with his optimism, which seemed the strangest of all. I wonder how much of the story they didn't tell me.

"You okay?" Declan asks. "They sprung a lot of information on you just then. Do you... I don't know... do you want to talk about anything? Daniel? Fighting? Training? Anything?"

I shake my head. "Not right now. I just want to see my mom. I need to tell her."

"Okay," he says, guiding me back to the infirmary.

All of this—the Immortal, the Deathless, the opportunity to be a scientist and make a difference, the attack on the bunker—seems like a dream, or some crazy pseudo nightmare or something. But at the same time, I feel like I'm finally waking up. I finally feel valued for exactly who I am, and this time, I'm going to be the one who protects everyone else.

Whether or not I can trust the leaders, I might belong here, where I can be a botanist. Here, I will be praised for my knowledge, not my ability to hunt like back home. Maybe this is where I was always meant to be.