Azarias turned to face the group. “A good strategy when you’re underpowered is to create as much confusion as possible. We need to create a distraction. And even once the distraction is in effect, we can’t simply grab the four people and run off; we have to create a pretense for taking them. It might only take a few minutes before people realize the reason is made up, but those minutes will be valuable. The easiest way would be to use the door to Tuonela. But we agreed we wanted to preserve the disclosure of that for a later date, especially if we’re going to have four of our own gone. The door to Tuonela will definitely create a disturbance once it’s revealed, and we need to make use of that at the right time.”
“Why don’t we ask the spider?”
Azarias shook his head. “No, it seems to be in a more unstable state than ever. We can’t use Germinate if all the explorers are dead. I have a better idea, though, and you’ll have to bear with me for a moment, as this might seem ridiculous. You know how we’re physically stronger than humans are supposed to be? I think that applies in more ways than we’ve considered. It isn’t just pushing and pulling that’s affected; it’s the strength of all our muscles. One of those muscles is the diaphragm, which allows you to talk. Our speaking volumes have generally been normal, which I assume is from the traces in our brains; speech is wired pretty deep. However, on the first day we arrived, don’t you remember how loud those screams were? My ears were ringing afterwards. With intent, I believe we can produce superhuman levels of loud noise with just our voices.
“All of this is for the purpose of making ear-piercing high-frequency noise. Not only will they raise their hands to cover their ears, therefore disarming themselves, but they’ll be entirely focused on stopping the source of the noise rather than considering anything else that might be going on. I’m going to make the executive decision of choosing the people who will perform the kidnappings in the interest of time. None of those four people will be the friends of those who will be kidnapped, as their being recognized would create more immediate problems. Enza, myself, Flox, and Aleksi will do it, and we’ll probably be the first group of Explorers, too. Now, all of you watch closely. I’m going to teach you how to engage your diaphragm.”
He pressed a finger to his stomach. “Hold right here to track the muscle’s engagement, then make a noise like this, using all your vocal power. Cover your ears for a second.”
An astonishingly loud and painful screech cut through my ears. “I’m confident all of you can do it too if you try. Now, everyone leave the cave and head for the plateau. Aleksi, Enza, and Flox will draw the targets to the left, and everyone else will make a wide circle to the right and make noise. Fince will go straight to the bridge ahead of everyone and make it to the tram. Go!”
My heart thumped as the four of us raced up the stairs first, and down the hill of boulders. “Azarias, who’s my target?” I asked.
“It’s Caroline, remember?”
My heart skipped a beat. My ears must have glossed over this detail when the names were said earlier. This was somebody I knew; this was somebody I had tried to befriend. I felt my heart sink into my stomach, but even as it did, my feet kept moving. I kept moving because it would be hypocritical to do anything else. I considered this move optimal, so who would I be if I wasn’t able to carry it out myself?
I spotted her black hair in the crowd. She was talking to one of her friends, smiling and laughing. Luckily, she was already near the left side of the plateau, so I wouldn’t have to draw her away very far. Right then, I heard rushing footsteps from behind me. The other group had made it out. They sprinted off to our right, and the first loud scream cut through the air. I covered my ears as I kept running towards Caroline. Everyone looked towards the source of the noise, covering their ears and wrinkling their faces in pain as more noise kept being added. Caroline must have had especially sensitive ears, as she wasn’t only covering them but was on the ground sobbing in pain.
I grabbed her by the shoulders and made her face me. I pulled one of her hands off her ears and pressed my mouth to it, speaking loudly over the ear-piercing frequencies. “There’s been a major event underground involving the spider. The Explorers are using our voices to create a distraction so we can save people one by one. You have to come with me; I have a safe place to take you.”
Since we barely knew each other, I expected her to argue with me somewhat, but instead, she nodded frantically with thankful eyes as she pressed her hand over her ear again.
My heart felt like it was beating in reverse, or maybe upside down. Everything inside me was all screwed up, but I couldn’t think about it yet. I gently picked up Caroline and ran toward the edge of the canyon. Azarias and Flox were already there, each of them with another person in tow. The only one who wasn’t there was Aleksi. I whipped my head around until I spotted him. The person he was trying to carry was much larger than he was. This person happened to be the only obese person in Alavieska. It wasn’t the weight that was giving Aleksi trouble, but the mere task of fitting his arms around the man’s body. Azarias shouted, “Just drag him if you have to. Come on, the distraction can’t last forever. They’ve had no real training; their voices will get burnt out.”
Azarias ran over to help Aleksi bring this person; meanwhile, I was seeing the problem with their situation. Caroline was very willing to come along, but it didn’t appear to be the same for this large man. His expression was confused and angry as he fought against the grasp of Azarias and Aleksi. Azarias jumped up, wrapped his legs around the man’s neck, and covered his mouth with his hand. Meanwhile, Aleksi held the man’s hands tightly against his back. Azarias shifted his weight to drive where the man went, and the three of them stumbled onto the spider’s bridge. I watched carefully at the point where the web met the cliff to make sure the bond didn’t break.
I suddenly realized that we would have to think of an explanation for other captives as to why someone was fighting back, as we needed them to not figure it out yet. I told Caroline and the other two that the large man had been specially afflicted by the spider’s venom and needed urgent help.
As we embarked across the bridge, I heard my name called from behind me. It came from another explorer, Teresa. Behind her was the entire crowd. The screeches had gone silent; the distraction had stopped. Everyone was standing still and looking at me.
I urged Caroline and the other captives to keep walking without me. I faced the crowd and said, “What do you all want to know?”
“What’s really going on? What are you trying to do?”
With the force of hundreds bearing down on me, I had no choice but to tell the truth. “We have to kill them to save everyone else.”
The crowd sighed in relief. “Oh, you should have just said that in the first place. And here we were, scared you were trying to hurt everybody… Thank you, Explorers.”
My mouth dropped open in surprise. Then I started laughing too. I should have expected this reaction all along; this was human nature.
I raced along the bridge back to our captives. I made up another excuse for my strange behavior, but I was probably overthinking it. The three of them were all scared enough for this to go smoothly.
We all made it to the hangar, where Azarias and Aleksi had knocked the larger captive unconscious.
Happy to be away from the noise, Caroline looked around the dimly lit building in awe. “Who built this place? It feels so old and so special.”
I shrugged. “Maybe it was us who built it, and we just forgot about it.”
She laughed, “If we were the ones who built it, our robes would have been dirty from the start.”
Her words reminded me of another matter. We did indeed need to get new clothes; our white robes were far too worn out and were beginning to fall apart at the seams. Then, my mind snapped back to the present. How could I be thinking about something so inconsequential? I need to focus.
But then my mind drifted to the first time I tried to talk to Caroline, when I was nervous and struggled to get any words out at all. I had failed at my first attempt to make friends with this person. Perhaps I wouldn’t have failed if I had tried harder; perhaps it was a failure of myself. But as I spoke with her back and forth right now, the words somehow flowed like water. I comforted her about the present and encouraged her to tell me her thoughts on the past. As we leaned against a wall, I felt glad to watch the nervous expression disappear from her face.
Then, I heard noise from outside the building—footsteps. Even before I went outside, I knew who it would be: the other explorers. Now that the situation on the plateau had resolved itself, the rest of them coming here would be the ideal safety precaution against any plan the captives could concoct to save themselves.
However, for now, it would be best if the others stayed outside. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Fince was leaving the hangar, likely to tell them that. I nodded at him to confirm we were on the same page.
A few minutes later, my comfortable chat with Caroline began to turn into her asking me questions, which was something I didn’t like. She wanted specifics about the underground event involving the spider I had mentioned. As a story concocted on the spot, it wouldn’t be easy to flesh out with details that connected coherently.
As I searched for a reply, Azarias walked over to us and smiled at Caroline apologetically. “Can I talk to Enza for a second?” He pulled me to a corner. “Fince said he’s ready. I had him perform a short test run, and he reported feeling something similar to the confirmation you felt while going through the motions. Everything is ready for us to begin; we’re just waiting on you and her.”
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