Confrontation (The Seamus Chronicles Book 4) Read online

  “I don’t do politics, but I also don’t like the way Mike is trying to run everything. My real concern is how we interface with the natives.” I still can’t commit to allying with someone other than my parents.

  “I am an explorer and a conservationist. I want to understand things, not conquer them or destroy them,” Sonjia says.

  “I know Jake says he saw a city, but I envision something on a smaller scale. Whatever it was, we have to find it before we make plans for what we do about it. We need to observe first and make contact later,” Luke says. He sounds very reasonable.

  I drift off mentally. When we were coming back from the space plane I could feel the difference when we entered the area under the containment field. Native plants have been impacted by the change in light spectrum since we put up the containment field. The creature that visited our camp probably noticed the change between the regular atmosphere and the containment field. That is why there were all the footprints out by the edge of the field. If our explorer encountered an alien and a containment field suddenly appeared above him—or should I call them it?—they would know we were close by.

  “So you were asking for the knob so you could make the portable containment field small. If you find the city, you need to be able to get close without giving away the fact that you’re there,” I explain my thoughts quickly.

  “True. But the first step is to convince Mike that Sonjia and I should be the ones to go,” Luke says, approaching the challenge from a different angle.

  “But I have the reactor.” I smile at them both and it does not take them long to catch on.

  “How soon will it be ready?” Sonjia asks.

  “It’s ready now. I’ve been stalling Mike so I could have a say in who gets to go. If I give it to you directly, it’s the ultimate in having a say,” I answer.

  “We need some time to discretely gather supplies. If we were to head out at the start of the next rest period, would the reactor be ready?” Luke wants to make sure we are on the same page.

  “Absolutely,” I say, and provide a few details. “I can’t do a knob in that timeframe, but I can make the space under the field about ten feet in diameter. That should give you room to walk side-by-side but not leave too much overhang if you need to hide.”

  “Plus, it’s not like we die if we step out of the field. There is a margin of error that’s tolerable,” Sonjia says, agreeing with my intentions.

  “You better get out of here, though. If anyone else comes along, they might get suspicious.” Luke says. He has no further questions.

  I step out of their cabin and walk quickly back to the main path. This feels like the plan I was crafting in the back of my mind, but I’m not sure. Unlike an invention, Luke and Sonjia could be tricking me. Their intentions could be more sinister than described, so I have to rely on my instincts to determine if they are trustworthy. What are the risks if they are not? What will be the impact of Mike finding out that I gave away the reactor without his knowledge?

  “Seamus.” Sofie’s call alerts me. She’s walking along the path toward me.

  “Hey, I was coming to find you,” I say, and it’s the truth.

  She thinks I’m lying. “From Luke and Sonjia’s cabin?”

  “It’s a long story, but I was wondering what you have been up to today.”

  I realize, suddenly, that I almost never ask her open-ended questions like that.

  She hesitates before speaking. I have to be careful not to tune out. It wasn’t asking the question that will help us restore our bond; listening to the answer is the source of strength.

  “More like a pulse,” Jane says as I approach the table.

  “But how would it impact the target?” David replies.

  “It’s a wave of energy. It would impact the target similarly to a shockwave. If you ever studied history, the blast and shockwaves were the principle destructive powers of a nuclear bomb,” Jane explains.

  “And you’re sure it’s possible?” he asks.

  “Possibly, yes. It may require Seamus’ knowledge of the device to make it real though,” Jane answers.

  “What exactly are we talking about?” I ask.

  “I think we should try and turn your reactor into a weapon. Hiding in a hole is not a good strategy for defending ourselves against the native creatures,” David says, quickly brings me up on the conversation.

  “Not going to happen,” I say, and turn and walk away.

  My reactor is not going to be turned into a weapon. I’ve destroyed enough things accidently to know just how powerful the energy can be. Jane is correct that it is possible, but I would rather destroy the reactor than see it used to cause harm.

  Dad and I had a conversation about this once. I was so disturbed at his ambivalence toward my decision that I stopped arguing. He accepted as fact the probability of my reactor being weaponized with no interest in preventing the occurrence.

  That was when I started focusing on security. I studied encryption and intrusion detection. I implemented physical security at the device level. I tried to put a lock on the door to my basement lab, but dad wouldn’t let me.

  For years I thought that I was completely secret with my work. I was a name in the dark energy research circles, but I didn’t think any of them knew exactly what I as working on.

  From what I know now, I was just a naïve little kid. The government was not only monitoring everything I did, but they had me vaccinated against a broad spectrum of biological weapons. I guess it was only a matter of time before the most powerful reactor ever invented was turned into a weapon.

  I’m walking down to the water so I can clear my head. If I see Sofie now, I’ll just unload on her, and I’m still working on being less selfish in her presence. Up ahead I see Henry staring out at the water, likely clearing his head as well.

  I don’t greet him formally. “Do you know why David is talking about hiding in a hole?”

  “Mike is moving all of our strategic resources to the cave. He believes it is more secure and will be easier to defend,” Henry says. He doesn’t take his eyes off the water.

  “He wants to turn my reactor into a weapon.” It feels like I’m talking to my dad.

  “Are you surprised? Weak leaders always look to weapons for strength. The question we face is how to respond.” Henry doesn’t treat me like a kid, but his words are those of a teacher.

  “I may have responded without even knowing it,” I say, thinking of the plans I’ve made with Luke and Sonjia.

  “If you’re not sure, you didn’t respond. If you know how you want to respond, you had better do it now. Mike is going to surprise everyone and make them move tonight,” he says.

  “Why surprise us?” I don’t understand the logic.

  “To prevent discussion. If he makes it a fire drill, no one will stop to ask questions until we’re all in the cave,” Henry says, looking several steps ahead.

  “We have so much stuff, though. We can’t get it all there tonight.” I’m not sure I can see the logic in Henry’s thought process.

  “Think about the priorities,” he says. “He’ll move those first, and then send people loyal to him back to the village on supply runs. It may not be the wrong move, Seamus. I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same thing in his shoes.” He shakes his head slowly.

  The spare reactor will be first. He’s not even going to ask; he’ll just walk into my cabin and take it. Would he dare send my brother to do it?

  “I gotta go,” I holler to Henry over my shoulder.

  Racing back to the cabin, my mind is scattered. I’m worried that Sofie will try and stop whoever comes to take my reactor. She doesn’t need to get hurt for me. Are Luke and Sonjia ready to go? How can I change Mike’s mind?

  My adrenaline is flowing and I’m ready to fight. I’m not going to hide in the cave and they are not taking my reactor; they can’t have any of them. I’m no longer the stiff, weak nerd I was a year ago. I have muscles and strength and I can stand up for myself.


  The cabin is quiet. Even Sofie is not there; she must still be at Grace’s cabin, taking care of the babies. Thinking of her with babies and not having one of her own sends a shock of pain through my heart. This is the first time I have felt this way, but once again my personal feelings are out of sync with what I need to do for the greater good.

  On the floor sits the spare reactor. It’s not quite ready to go. I left it in pseudo disarray so Mike would think I need more time to work if he stopped in for a surprise inspection.

  Quickly, I reconnect wires and perform a visual inspection. Intense focus leads me into a trance-like state. All I see are the next few steps I need to take and the work directly in front of me. My fingers have gained in dexterity since I have been working with my hands. Progress is fast and sure.

  A voice at the door startles me. “Seamus.”

  The cabin is not elaborate, just two simple rooms. Mike is not going to wait at the door for me to invite him in. I need to escape and bring the reactor with me. The wall gives a little when I push against it, and I may be able to squeeze through and get away.

  Using my feet, I push hard on the base of the wall and get my legs out and down to the ground. Using my butt and my back, I push harder and make room for my torso to slide out.

  As quietly as possible, I drag the reactor toward me. I’m half in the cabin and half out. A few more feet and I will be free.

  The reactor is fixed and rigid; I can’t squeeze it through the hole I’ve made with my body. I need another six inches of space, but the wall will not budge.

  Luke’s body fills the doorway. “What the hell are you doing?” he asks.

  “Mike is going to move us all to the cave and this reactor is the first thing he’s going to take,” I tell him, panic in my voice.

  “How do you know that?” Luke asks. He is not focusing on the right things.

  “I just do. If you want to go, you have to leave now,” I tell him, trying to emphasize the urgency.

  Luke is still confused. “Why are you trying to sneak out through the wall?”

  “So I could bring you the reactor and you could leave. Mike wants to turn it into a weapon, and I’m not going to let him. Would you please hurry?” I don’t understand how he can stand there and think.

  Chapter 8

  I’m scared. We’ve been here for a year and no one has been disciplined—I may be the first.

  Luke left with the reactor just before the last rest period. I have to assume that he and Sonjia went out of the village. If they can push hard through our rest period and a work period, they could open a large gap.

  I got almost no sleep, waiting for Mike or David to show up and take the reactor I didn’t have. They never came.

  What would the punishment be? Maybe they would force me to stand outside the containment field for a set amount of time? Or would they force me to skip a meal or two?

  Locking me in a cabin wouldn’t make much sense. While there is more down time and the buffer of supplies has been growing regularly, we still need every able body contributing. What is the worst job in the village? They would make me do that for days or weeks.

  “Good morning, Seamus.” Sofie’s presence startles me.

  “Hey,” I answer with a weak smile.

  She’s waiting for something. I need to compartmentalize my issues and think about her for a few minutes.

  “Do you have dreams about Earth?” I ask. I like my unplanned, spur-of-the-moment question.

  “Sometimes. Mostly I dream about floating? Weird, isn’t it?” she answers with a smile.

  I don’t answer immediately because I am crawling into my head, thinking about why floating would be the focus of her dreams. Sofie always knows when I am lost in thought. I’m not sure if she can see it on my face or how she can tell, but she does. For most of our relationship, she would call me out on it and I would apologize. Lately she doesn’t call me out; she just walks away.

  I need to break that cycle though. Pulling myself out of my thoughts for five minutes will help our relationship.

  “Floating, like in the water, or floating in space?” I ask. It’s a curious dream, and instead of theorizing on my own, I try to bring her into my thought process.

  “Not really sure,” she says. “I can’t remember being weightless during the space warp, so I’m not sure if that is what I was dreaming. I don’t know. Maybe it’s more like flying.” She shrugs.

  “I dream about the beach,” I say. I didn’t realize that was true until just now.

  Sofie searches my face for clues. “The beach here, or one from Earth?”

  “Actually, the one in San Francisco, where you took me when we were trying to figure out the database,” I tell her.

  “Really? And what are you doing on the beach? Or is it we?” She’s a little excited.

  “It’s us both, and I’m not sure I should say.” It’s dark and I’m surprised at myself.

  “Oh, now you have to say,” she insists. “Unless it’s perverted, then you should keep it to yourself.” Sofie and I don’t talk about sex.

  “Not perverted, in that sense. I dream that we are just sitting there holding hands and it’s sunny and warm and perfect. And then you start coughing.” I think about her mortality.

  “Like, ‘sore loser’ coughing?” she asks, even though she knows that answer has to be yes.

  “Yes, ‘sore loser’ coughing. But then I kiss you, and I start coughing, too. The weird part is that the sun never sets and we never fall asleep. We just cough and then I wake up.” The dream is real, but I have never thought about it while awake.

  “If spooky sweet wasn’t a thing before, it is now,” Sofie says. She leans in and kisses me deeply.

  After washing up and getting dressed, we walk together to the central cabin. The specter of being caught and punished has faded in my mind. I know they won’t put me to death, which means I can handle whatever it is they decide.

  Sofie and I are the last to arrive at the table with the exception of Luke and Sonjia, though the others don’t know they won’t be coming. I grab some fruit and a small chunk of unleavened grain loaf; it’s definitely not bread, since wheat doesn’t want to grow here. It’s unleavened because our yeast cultures don’t seem to work well on Locus.

  “David, would you run down to Luke’s cabin and let him know I’d like to address the village?” Mike asks.

  Now is the time. Dad always told me to be honest. He has always said honesty would mitigate anger and frustration when the truth came out. If I stop David, I can avoid Mike’s frustration of having waited to find out that Luke and Sonjia have left. That is, unless I can come up with a story that doesn’t associate me with giving them the reactor.

  I can feel my face grow white with fear. Manipulating people is not my strength.

  “Seamus and I were talking about dreams this morning. Is anyone else having weird dreams they think might be related to this planet?” Sofie breaks my trance and I feel her hand on my leg.

  Mike looks at her with annoyance. “Sofie, we have some business to take care of this morning.”

  “Well I assumed we were waiting for Luke and Sonjia, and I thought silence would be a little awkward.” Sofie is not a manipulator, but she knows how people think.

  “Whatever, but when they get here we’re down to business immediately,” Mike chides.

  Sofie keeps the conversation rolling. “I think a reasonable dream is escaping. We escaped from Earth, we escaped from the rising tide after we landed, and we escaped from the creature that destroyed the first containment field. You know?”

  “Do you dream of escaping from Seamus?” Liam teases.

  “Only when I’m awake!” Sofie jokes back.

  Sometimes the real adults here don’t know what to make of us. We are immature and can be a little flighty, but we can also take care of business.

  David has left and I’m still not sure what to do. Sofie has bought me some time and I wonder if she is trying to lead me to a solu
tion. I didn’t tell her about giving the reactor to Luke, but it feels like she knows.

  “I tried to escape last night. For real,” I say, a little more seriously than the current tone.

  “I was wondering where you went. You were mumbling something about the cave in your sleep.” Sofie’s hand moves on my leg but it doesn’t lose contact.

  She’s leading me somewhere. Somehow she has an idea of what I did with Luke. I need to play along and we’ll be okay together.

  “I kind of had a panic attack. I was afraid that spies were going to break into our cabin and steal the reactor and hurt Sofie.” I’m not sure what to say that I did with it.

  “You must have wanted to keep me safe. That’s why you took the reactor out of our cabin.” Sofie must have seen that the reactor wasn’t there when she woke up.

  “The cave. I heard someone talking about the cave yesterday and thought that it would be the safest place to keep the reactor. I took it there. The walking helped, and having it out of our cabin helped.” I lie about the cave, but not about how I feel.

  Mike is angry. “And you left it unattended?”

  “Well, who is going to take it? All the humans are on the same team, right?” I see the whole lie developing before me.

  “Is it working?” Mike asks.

  “Yes, I was up late finishing it.” I keep lying. “Then I couldn’t sleep, freaked out a little and took it to the cave.”

  David comes back to the table. “Luke and Sonjia are gone.”

  “Get to the cave! Protect that reactor; Luke is not allowed to recon,” Mike bellows.

  Only David reacts initially. Eventually Jane and Henry get to their feet and the three of them gather at the head of the trail that leads to the cave.

  I’m a little surprised that Henry is going with them. I suppose he is a rule-of-law kind of guy. Mike was elected fair and square, and Henry is going to respect that.

  “If that reactor is not in the cave, you are going to regret it,” Mike says, and jabs a finger in the air at me.

  “Mike,” my mom chimes in. “Technically speaking, I think we would all agree that the reactor is Seamus’. I think we could also agree that other than one of our cabins, the cave is the safest place for it. He should not have left it alone, and he should have told us he took it there. But if we’re honest, those acts alone are immature, not criminal.”