Chapter 8

“Tarrans?” Microchip said. “What would they want to hack us for?”

“A group of Tarrans contacted us a while ago,” Oliver said. “They said they wanted to help us find the medallions, but we’re pretty sure they were lying.” He turned to Conner. “What makes you think it’s them this time?”

“I saw one,” Conner said. “He had black skin. Not brown like Electrobolt’s, but black like outer space between the stars. He was right here, and vanished as soon as he saw me.”

“An intruder in the virtual matrix?” Microchip said, quivering. “Maybe it was a coincidence, but this might be more serious than we thought. I’ll go check with Electrobolt to see if we have any Tantalians in the engagement room.” He buzzed out the door in search of a monitor.

“That reminds me,” Oliver said, “Tarr is one of several nations on the planet Tantalus. Are you sure the intruder you saw was Tarran specifically, and not just Tantalian?”

“He had the same helmet as that guy we saw,” Conner said.

“Durgna?”

“Yeah, him. His helmet was different color, but definitely the same kind.”

“Hmm.” There was a somber silence in the room. Then, Oliver snapped his fingers and turned around. “Well, it’s clear as a bell what they want.”

“The medallion,” Mara said.

“Yeah,” Conner said, “but how did they know to look here? I thought we’d lost them.”

“Maybe it’s just a coincidence,” Oliver said. “If you want to know something, the database on Echinea is the best place in the galaxy to look.”

Microchip flew back into the room. “Electrobolt confirmed it. There have not been any Tantalians in the engagement room today. We have indeed had a break-in.”

“So what are we doing standing around?” Conner said. “We’ve got to beat them to the medallion!”

“Right,” Oliver said, looking at the wooden candle sculpture, and then around the room. “Hey Microchip, what exactly are we looking for?”

“Some kind of symbolic pattern, probably,” Microchip said. “I must say I am not very good at that kind of thing, being an AI and all.”

“Okay, symbolism,” Oliver said. “There’s a giant candle in the middle of the room. What else is there?”

Conner looked around. There were some tables, with items on them. A shark fin. A flat chunk of wood cut in the shape of a dragon’s mouth, or maybe it was a crocodile. A life-sized crystal grumpoy, with its characteristically angry-looking mouth open wide. There were also some circles on the walls, connected by lines, though those were probably just decoration.

“What about up here?” Oliver said, looking up the ladder. “Did you see anything while you were up there, Conner?”

“No, but I didn’t really look.”

The two of them climbed the ladder to the catwalk, Mara electing to stay below. Up on the second floor, there were two things of note, a spotlight shining through the hole in the candle flame, and a button next to where the light hit the wall.

“Well look what we have here,” Oliver said. “A button that is just shouting, ‘press me!’” He walked up to it and pushed it, and a rectangular segment of the wall around where the light beam hit flipped up on a hinge. Now the beam hit a mirror, which bounced it down through the metal grating of the floor.

“Whoa,” Mara’s voice called from below. “Something just changed, you guys.”

“What is it?” Oliver said, lying down on his stomach and peering over the edge. Conner did the same. Mara pointed toward the carving of the dragon’s mouth just below them where the light beam struck. The mirror had turned it from an oval to a circle, and the metal of the catwalk blocked just the right part of it so that the shadow formed the shape of a lightning bolt.

“Do you see something?” Microchip asked, excitedly. “Does the light hitting that carving mean something?”

“Are you kidding?” Oliver said. “It’s the shape of the medallion!”

“Hmm,” Microchip mused. “I don’t see it. But then again, I’m not yuman. Are you sure you’re not just imagining it?”

“It’s pretty obvious,” Conner said, climbing down the ladder. “The only question is, what does it mean?”

“The whole point of this room is to show us where Chakrov is on Echinea,” Oliver said. “Microchip, is it possible for you to do a search of maps and locations?”

“Yes I can,” Microchip said. “What do you want me to search for?”

“Let’s see,” Oliver said. “Search for a place that looks like or is named after a dragon’s or some kind of creature’s mouth. Maybe with a lighthouse nearby, or a tall skinny rock formation. The fin could suggest it is by a coastline. And maybe there are grumpoys nearby.”

“Searching,” Microchip said. He swayed from side to side, making a humming sound. “All right. I have come up with two hundred ninety-seven good matches, and several hundred thousand that have one or more characteristics that come close.”

“Whoo,” Oliver said. “That’s way too many.”

“Shall I discard the results that are not good matches?” Microchip asked.

“Let’s start with that,” Oliver replied. “But if we’re racing the Tarrans, we need an edge. Can you rank the good matches from best to worst?”

“Yes, I can,” Microchip said. “I should also mention that if you are going to look at these results, we’ll need a monitor.”

“Let’s go,” Oliver said.

A minute later, they stood in front of a three foot wide screen displaying a beach with hundreds of people standing or lying down on it. “Dragonmouth beach,” Microchip said. “The number one search result. It has a lighthouse and rock formations, and there are grumpoys in the nearby woods.”

“I don’t think that’s it,” Mara said.

“Nah,” Oliver agreed.

“Wouldn’t the medallion be hidden in a place where there aren’t a lot of people?” Conner asked.

“Maybe at first,” Oliver said, “but places change. Towns and cities get built. People find new spots they like to go, and once-lonely places become popular.”

“But, uh,” Conner struggled find the words to say what he was thinking.

“Some geological features are more suited for urbanization,” Mara said, coming to the rescue.

“Yeah, that.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Oliver said. “Microchip, what happens when you remove the word, ‘vacation’ from the search parameters?”

“Checking,” Microchip said. “The list has shrunk to twenty-seven.”

“That’s a little frightening,” Mara said.

“Yeah,” Oliver agreed, “let’s hope the right one hasn’t gone away.”

“The number one match, Sundial Rock, is now twenty percent above all the others,” Microchip said. “I’d say that’s pretty good odds that it’s the right one.”

The screen showed an image of a tall rock pillar, its top cracked down the middle. Another picture showed its shadow falling across the mouth of a coastal cave, with stalactites hanging over the water.

“That’s definitely it,” Conner said. Oliver and Mara voiced their agreement.

“I’m not so sure,” Microchip said. “I mean, I can see the tall rock formation with light shining through, but there wasn’t anything about a cave in the room.”

Conner put his hand over his face. “Just trust us yumans. The medallion is in the cave by Sundial Rock.”

“If you say so,” Microchip said. “But I’ll save the rest of the results just in case.”

“Thank you,” Mara said.

“All right,” Oliver said, clapping his hands together. “I think we’re ready to disengage.”

“Right this way,” Microchip said, leading them down the hall. He turned into a room on the side, which had five chairs just like the ones their real bodies were resting in. “If you would each take a seat, and push the button on the side of the armrest when you are ready.”

“Thank you for all of your help,” Oliver said, as they got into their chairs. “It’s been fun working with you.”

“Aw,” Microchip said, tilting to the side. “Thank you so much.”

“Bye,” Mara said.

Conner pressed the button on his chair, and felt his body locking into position, like when one is about to wake from a dream. The room around him faded to white, and then he opened his eyes back in the engagement room in HiTeq headquarters. A girl stood over him, disconnecting the apparatus from his head. He rolled his neck and his shoulders, and tensed his legs, getting the circulation back into them.

“How are you feeling?” the girl said with a smile.

“Fine,” Conner said.

She stepped aside, and he stood up, Mara and Oliver doing the same nearby.

“Did you find what you were looking for?”

Conner turned to see Electrobolt stepping through the doorway.

“Yes,” Oliver said, “we’re pretty sure we did. But we have bad news.” He told Electrobolt what they had found, and also about the Tarrans.

“So someone else is searching for the medallions too,” Electrobolt mused. “Well, you have my full support. Anyone who hacks into the virtual matrix is a bad guy in my book.”

“We should get back to our ship, so that we can fly to Sundial Rock,” Oliver said.

“I’ll let you fly there in a company jet,” Electrobolt said, “free of charge. The faster you can get there, the better chance you have.” He beckoned them to follow, and then walked out of the room, toward his office.

“Wait, really?” Oliver said.

“It’s no bother,” Electrobolt said, scanning both an ID card and his handprint on the office door, which clicked open. He went in and started pushing buttons on his computer.

“But we should go to our ship,” Oliver said, “because the medallions we have could help us with that water cavern.”

“Then I’ll have them fly you to your ship,” Electrobolt said. “It will still be faster than a taxi.”

He was not kidding. What had taken half an hour by car took only two minutes by flight, and almost as soon as they could blink, Conner, Mara, and Oliver were back at the Black Fire. Oliver put the latitude and longitude for Sundial Rock into the computer, and they took off.

“We still need to get a third chair,” Conner said, from where he squatted between Oliver in the pilot seat and Mara in the copilot seat.

As soon as they rose above the atmosphere, they accelerated to supersonic speeds, the ground far below them rushing past, even at this height. They passed mountains and coastlines, and then cruised over the ocean, which extended all the way to the horizon even at this altitude. The land receded behind them, until the entire surface was blue in every direction. It was almost like being in the virtual matrix again.

Not much time later, another continent appeared in front of them. They nosed back down into the atmosphere, the friction of reentry throwing flames around them and slowing them to a socially acceptable sub-sonic atmospheric speed. Features of the coast became clearer as they approached; what appeared straight at first was shown to have curves, which had zig-zags, which had peninsulas and inlets. The closer they got, the more intricate the coastline appeared.

“There it is!” Mara cried, pointing. Sure enough, a tall rock stuck out of the water near the shore. They continued to slow as they passed it, and then circled, looking for a place to land. There was a road nearby, with a long straight stretch, and no cars in sight. Oliver angled the Black Fire toward it, and they touched down. He took them off the road to park, so that people would be able to drive by.

“I’d better make extra sure to lock the door,” Oliver said as they walked down the hatch stairs.

“Yeah,” Conner said, “and we should be extra careful.” It was quite possible that the Tarrans had deciphered the matrix’s code, and Conner and his friends were not the only ones out here.

Oliver offered Mara the medallion of air, but she declined, so he gave it to Conner. He kept the medallion of water for himself, and the other two medallions were left on the ship, both because they didn’t think they would need them, and for safekeeping.

“Won’t we need a boat?” Mara asked.

“I was thinking we’d swim,” Oliver replied. “With the combination of air and water medallions, we should be fine. Migrandir can even dry us once we’re done, no towels or stripping required.”

Conner felt his face blush, and he saw Mara’s do the same. Oliver could have put that differently. Although, now that he thought about it, skinny dipping with a girl was something he wouldn’t mind very much.

“Here we are,” Oliver said, as they stepped out of the trees to a grassy area that transitioned between a narrow beach and a cliff that dropped into the water. The rock of Sundial Rock stood out in the water, at least fifty feet tall. Oliver hopped toward the end of the beach. “The cave should be right around this corner.”

The three of them waded into the surf, Oliver using Migrandir to make the water push gently on their legs, to make moving easier. The beach dropped off quickly though, and they found themselves swimming. Oliver kicked out, and gasped, looking at the cliff from the seaward side. When Conner reached the same spot, he saw the cave opening, full of stalactites like a giant mouth.

“Come on,” Oliver said. “Chakrov is in there somewhere.” He held up the shining blue disk of Migrandir in his hands, and the water from the cave bulged up around them, flowing away into the ocean. But instead of the floor of the cave becoming visible, more water gushed out from under the back wall, which was actually a submerged tunnel. Oliver looked at Conner. “I guess it’s up to you.”

“Right,” Conner said. He gripped Loriah tightly in his hand as they swam into the cave, rubbing his thumb over its smooth green face. Pockets of air collected around each of their heads, dipping into the water. When they dove, the air would remain around them so that they could breathe. “Follow me,” he said, diving into the water to show what he had done.

It was odd, swimming underwater with an air bubble around his head. It made the cave floor and tunnel look strange, as if they were closer than they actually were. The odd ripples that he couldn’t completely control made the image wobble. A beam of light shone into the tunnel, and Conner looked to see Oliver holding a flashlight, which was apparently waterproof. He looked to his other side to make sure Mara was okay. She was, swimming along just fine like a frog.

The tunnel curved upward, to Conner’s relief. He was not sure how much longer he could keep the air around them. The medallions’ powers had limits; the more you tried to do with them, and the longer you tried to do it, the harder it was to keep control. He pointed up, making sure the others saw him, and kicked for the surface.

What he saw, he had not been expecting. Just after where the tunnel rose up onto dry land, it was crossed back and forth, up and down, by giant crystal beams. Oliver and Mara broke the surface next to him, both gasping at the sight.

“This is amazing!” Oliver exclaimed, stroking furiously toward the shore. Mara was nearly as fast, and Conner hurried to catch up. They gazed at the smooth mineral formations. Oliver walked up to one and pressed his light against it. The whole thing lit up in a glow, and they all gave a collective “ooh!”

In the light of the crystal, Conner noticed how tightly Mara’s clothes were clinging to her body. “Um, Oliver,” he said, “why haven’t you dried us off yet?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry.” There was a quiet rustling noise and tickling sensation as the dampness left Conner’s shirt, pants, and shoes. However, that left them crusted with salt. After trying unsuccessfully to shake out his shirt, he gave up.

Oliver scanned the flashlight around the room. “The medallion is here somewhere. We should keep on the lookout.”

They walked further in, Oliver’s light darting all around. It landed on a many-legged critter, which scuttled into a crack, making Mara screech.

After ducking under one crystal and stepping around another that jutted out of the floor, Conner noticed that Mara was keeping close to Oliver, and found himself wishing she would walk that close to him instead. But he remembered what Oliver had said to her in the virtual matrix, and he supposed he had missed his chance. Still though, just walking close wasn’t too much to wish for, was it?

Oliver looked upward and squinted, shining his light. He took a couple of steps to the side, and then his face lit up. “Aha!” he cried.

Conner looked to where he was pointing, and saw a golden glimmer on top of one of the crystals near the ceiling. There it was.

“All right,” a strange voice said, making Conner jump, “we’ll take that.” He looked around to see a girl step out from behind a crystal. She was dressed in a wetsuit, and had goggles on her forehead, her face the color of the paint on the Black Fire. The non-orange, paint, to be precise. She was joined by a boy, similarly dressed, blocking their retreat. “The name’s Senna,” the girl said, “and this is Bloar. We know who you are, Mara, Oliver, and Conner. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Oh yeah?” Oliver said, raising the medallion of water and collecting the moisture off of the ground to form a bubble of water hovering in front of him. “We’ve got powers.” Conner joined in, holding up the medallion of air.

“Is that so?” Senna said. “Well we have guns.” She and her companion each leveled a pistol at the trio.

“Well now,” Oliver said, his eyebrows shooting up into his hair. “That does change things.”

Conner tried desperately to think of something to say that would give them back the advantage. There wasn’t much they could do with command over air or water that would slow a bullet. These people also didn’t appear to have the Disease, so that would not save them this time. Then, an idea came to him, and he grinned. “You won’t use your guns here.”

Senna laughed. “And why do you say that?”

“Because what happens if you miss?” He paused for effect. “If you break these crystals, the whole tunnel will come crashing down.”

Senna and her companions laughed. “We scanned this place for its structural integrity before coming. Short of explosives, the risk of causing a cave-in is zero.”

“Bullets bounce,” Mara said timidly.

“We’re good shots,” Senna said.

“But do you want to risk it if we’re moving?” Conner asked.

“The better question is do you want to risk getting hit? Because face it, we’re much more likely to hit you, whom we’re aiming at, than to accidentally bounce the bullet in such a way as to hit one of us. So be good boys and girl and---blbhg!”

She was cut off as a ball of water surrounded her head. Oliver ran toward the boy, who was in the same situation. “Mara, get the medallion!” he cried, tossing the flashlight toward her and punching a fist into Bloar’s gut.

Conner rushed Senna, who was stumbling backward, sputtering and coughing, the water bubble splashing to the ground as Oliver focused his concentration on his battle. Conner kicked her in the stomach, and she tripped over a crystal, falling onto her back on the floor. Conner leaped on top of her, holding her gun hand to the floor with his left hand, and pushing his knee on her abdomen.

Two instincts warred within him as she twisted and thrashed beneath him. The first was the instinct of the fight. The person before him was his enemy. He had the upper hand, and he needed to do whatever it took to keep it that way. The second was the instinct of honor. The person beneath him was a girl, and he had always been taught he was not supposed to fight with girls.

As Conner struggled to maintain control, the second instinct caused him to weaken. Holding her down like this felt wrong. When she tried to throw him off by gripping his leg between her thighs, it was all he could do to remain solidly in place and keep his trembling hands clamped on her wrists.

If he wanted to win this fight, he would have to change tactics. He had dropped the medallion of air, the realization of which shocked him. But it was within grabbing distance of his right hand, which held down Senna’s gun-free hand. With a quick motion, he let her go and grabbed the medallion.

Of course, the moment Senna had one arm free, she grabbed the back of Conner’s head and jammed his nose into her forehead. The pain shook his grip free, and he fell over. Senna tried to scurry out from under him, but he landed on her gun wrist, making her cry out in pain. Before she could yank it free, he wound his left arm tightly around her right in a lock.

Grasping the medallion with his other hand, he moved the air so that her head was in a bubble of vacuum. Her mouth and chest moved in gasping motions, eerie without sound. Her arm went weak beneath him, and he smiled in relief. He had her now.

Or so he thought. A moment later, Senna flopped over on top of him, pressing her face against his cheek. The air raced from his lungs as the vacuum bubble around her head now encompassed his as well. His eyes bulged wide in shock, tingling as his tears boiled away. She was almost kissing him---the corner of her mouth overlapped with his---and he could feel her wetsuit curving over her chest.

Despite all this, he managed to keep the air away. Now if he could just hold on, just cling to consciousness long enough, so that once this final stage of the battle was over, he would be the one still awake. He had an advantage, because she had lost her breath before he had, and before that she’d been recovering from water in her lungs. He clutched at awareness with all of his mental strength. Just a little longer. . . .

Conner awoke with a light shining into his eyes. He squinted and looked away, the middle of his face throbbing with pain. The light moved, revealing Mara’s and Oliver’s concerned expressions in its reflective glow.

“What happened?” he said.

“They took them,” Oliver replied, his face sorrowful. “All three of the medallions. They have them now.”

“We’re sorry that you had to wake up to such bad news,” Mara said.

Conner groaned, holding his right hand before his face. He could almost feel the weight of the medallion of air on his fingers and palm. What would happen, now that some of the medallions had been stolen? “What do we do now?” he asked.

“First, we have to get out of here,” Oliver said. “We can worry about the medallions once we’re back on the surface.”

“Says you,” Mara said, “who spent the last twenty minutes whimpering about how the mission is doomed.”

“When did you become so savage?” Conner asked.

Mara smiled and blushed, and Conner wondered if he had missed something while he was out.

He stood, and they started walking back in the direction of the cave entrance. Luckily, the Tarrans had not taken Oliver’s flashlight. They picked their way over and around crystals, until the tunnel went down into the water.

“This is going to be the swim of courage,” Oliver said. “We don’t have control over the air and the water this time.” He looked intently at Mara and Conner in turn. “Once we start, we go through. All the way.”

“Yeah,” Conner said.

“I’m serious,” Oliver said. “There’s no getting scared and turning back. We have about ten feet of rock to get under before we can surface on the other side.”

Conner and Mara nodded solemnly. Swimming through an underwater tunnel would be a frightening experience. There was only one light between them as well, so they would all have to go at once.

“Ready?” Oliver said. “Three, two, one, go!”

They dove into the water. Conner focused on the blue light from the sun filtering through the water ahead. He kicked and stroked, adrenaline keeping him full of energy. His chest started to burn. Almost there. He looked up at where the surface began, and went a few feet farther to make sure there would be room for his head when he broke it. Finally, air met his face again, and he took in a deep breath.

Oliver and Mara surfaced nearby. “Yeah!” Oliver said, “we did it!”

They swam out of the cave entrance, and around the cliff to the beach. “Do you think we’ll be safe going back to our ship?” Conner asked. “I mean, we didn’t exactly hide it, and the Tarrans will probably want our other medallions too.”

“Don’t worry,” a new voice said, “we took care of that.” A boy stepped onto the beach, wearing a long tan coat and a wide-brimmed hat. He offered Conner his hand. “Jed Zimmer, Alabaska police, cooperating with HiTeq security.” He showed them an official-looking badge. “You’ve made some resourceful friends.”

Conner shook his hand, blatantly aware that he was dripping wet, and they couldn’t just magically dry themselves this time.

Jed waved a hand behind him. “Hey Bob. Bring the towels.”

Another boy in similar attire brought three towels, and gave one each to Conner, Mara, and Oliver.

“Is our ship safe?” Conner asked. He described the Black Fire, and the Tarrans who had assaulted them.

“Safe as can be,” Jed said. “Nobody’s touched it since we arrived. Speaking of which, Electrobolt said to tell you to call him when you get back. He’s got something to tell you.”

They thanked him, and made their way back to the Black Fire, where they took turns changing in the bunk room into dry clothes. Conner still felt gross from the sea brine. Then, they rang up Electrobolt, who appeared on the windshield screen.

“How did it go?” Electrobolt asked.

“Terrible,” Oliver said. He told Electrobolt about the cave, how they had found the medallion, and about the ambush by the Tarrans, and how the three medallions had been stolen.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Electrobolt said, “and I will aid you in any way I can. Did you meet Jed?”

“Yes, we did. Thanks for sending him after us.”

“It’s the least I could do. But I have something else to tell you about. After you left, I got in contact with the Tarran government on Tantalus. They deny any knowledge of a Lieutenant Durgna, or of the elemental medallions in general.”

“So who do you think is lying?” Oliver asked. “Durgna, or the government?”

“I’d put my money on Durgna,” Electrobolt said. “If he really was working for the government, and the government didn’t want people to know, then he wouldn’t go around advertising it.”

“So then who are these Tantalians who are chasing us?” Mara said.

“A question of paramount importance,” Electrobolt said. “I will keep investigating. In the meantime, you three keep hunting down those medallions. If those Tantalians are after them for secretive purposes, you have to get there first.”

“All right,” Oliver said. “We should be able to do that. After all, they’ve given signs that they don’t know where the rest of the medallions are.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Jed said from behind them. They turned around to see him holding up a thimble-sized piece of metal. “We found this under one of your wings. Transmitter plus microphone. High quality one too, made for picking up sound vibrations through the material of the ship. With good enough noise reduction software, the receivers probably could have heard every word you said inside.”

Conner exchanged worried glances with Oliver and Mara. “Did we ever say where the other medallions are in here?”

“I’m sure we talked about the planets,” Oliver said nervously. “Hopefully we didn’t say where on the planets, because just knowing the planets doesn’t help much.”

“At least now you know you can talk freely,” Electrobolt said. “I’ll keep investigating on my end. Best of luck. Oh, and feel free to stop by the company gym for a shower and laundry.” He chuckled. “You look like you could use it.”