Chapter 15

“So Ellis came up here to do...what?” Zark asked.

“To destroy the evidence,” Colin said.

“What evidence?”

“Her bike, you dingus!” Hauki chimed in. “All Fenix androids can communicate to each other via their Solomon network. But we got to it before he could get his hands on it. Pretty slow for a machine.”

Zark thought on the statements. His gaze met the marvel of the screen display. Wires snaked from the backs of the monitors to spill out onto the floor. They roped together and connected to a tower of antique processors, their light displays coated in dust.

“So your barrier...it can find androids?” Zark asked.

“Technically, no,” Colin said. “It detects the Solomon program, which is installed on all the latest Fenix creations.”

“You mean ‘except for the synth cells,’ though.” Zark added.

No acknowledgement of his claim came from them. They looked at him, unanswering.

“Hold up.” Zark closed his eyes. “Are you saying Fenix also installs the Solomon program to synthetics? But why? Why would they?” Zark found the claim to be impossible. Zedd was still Zedd. He was still his father. Surely he didn’t have a seperate operating system in him?

Colin spoke grimly. “The newest models of synths all have the Solomon operating system.” He paused, and spoke hopefully. “But it remains in a dormant state. Hidden. Zark, if you know any synths, they are still themselves. They are still people. But we don’t know how much time we have.”

Zark sat silent, holding his head in his hands, feeling sick to his stomach. “Before what?”

None of them found the words to answer Zark.

They had seemed to change their mind about his celltab’s disposal at his mention of Rift. What would they want with it? Zark suddenly felt protective of his property. He wouldn’t be responsible for furthering the motives of a human-supremacy group. After all, his own father was a synth, and would defend him.

Thoughts of Zedd came into his mind. What would Zedd do when he realized Zark was missing, too? He felt remorse at putting his father through the anguish. But Zark had been fruitful. Somewhat. Even if he couldn’t return to Zedd to tell him what he had found out about Lena and Ellis’ disappearance, Zark’s own mind was at least eased.

“You’re letting me keep my celltab?” Zark asked. “Can’t it be tracked?”

Colin answered, “It doesn’t matter anymore. Our hideout has already been mapped, thanks to Lena.”

So that’s what she was doing, Zark realized. What sort of people had she gotten involved with?

“So, you’re not even gonna try to remain hidden?” Zark asked.

“We’re gonna see if your little program doo-dad can help us first,” Hauki chimed.

“What do you want with Rift?” Zark asked, defensively.

Kenny spoke before the others could answer. “First, I think you need to see something.”

“What?”

“You said you came here on a ship, right? From Earth?”

“Yeah. Well, I never saw Earth. I was born on the ship.”

“I suppose that’s a good thing,” Hauki said.

“Huh? What’s a good thing?” Zark asked her.

Kenny added, “Perhaps this will help you understand what we are fighting for.”

Before Zark could ask what he meant, Colin approached him.

“When you think of Earth, what do you imagine?” he asked Zark.

Zark had seen plenty of videos and images of Earth in school. One of his favorite classes in school was history. He had actually just recently had a test over the scientific advancements beginning in the early 20th century. He was prepared to discuss whatever they wanted to ask him about Earth.

“I don’t really know. For one, there’s day and night. Something I don’t really get. Lots of green. But cities, too. Tons of ‘em.”

Colin and Hauki shared a glance.

“Maybe you should sit down,” Hauki suggested.