Opposite Operators

Shay and Tranla left B-19 with the new boy, who Shay didn't know. She knew a handful of people in other B classes, but she'd only call Sumiru her friend out of all of them. It was really disappointing when Shay, Delo, and Annily all ended up in B-19 and poor Sumiru was all by themself in B-18. She would trade the snippy, rude Pluto twins or any of the useless towerlings for them any day.

At least she was in the same class as Delo. If anyone had tried to separate them, she would riot.

B-18 was a total mess. The door was half crumpled and stuck partially open, thankfully with enough room for them both to fit through. 

“We need– oh shit, it's just you.” Sumiru had jumped to their feet when they heard people coming in, but their face fell at seeing Shay and Tranla. 

Sumiru was very tall, as tall as Shay's father even though Sumiru was only fifteen, like her. They had whiteish hair and black eyes and skin that was unevenly splotched in pale and tan. None of the splotches were on their face, but there was a large one on their neck. One of the reasons Shay decided to make friends with them in the first place was because she knew people would be vicious about it, and they were so clueless about how people worked that they'd stumble into getting hurt if someone didn't look out for them.

“Is your cephalon working?” they asked. 

Shay shook her head. “Power surge or something. Knocked it out. We didn't have…” she gestured at the caved in ceiling. “That, though.”

“Shay!” 

A tiny streak of floofy ash brown hair collided with Shay's side and wrapped her arms tightly around her waist. 

“Sharabi!” Shay threw her arms around her little sister. “What are you doing here?”

Sharabi pointed up. “We fell.” 

Fucking hell. Of course D-18 was right on top of B-18. Why wouldn't it be. 

“Are you hurt?” Shay dropped to her knees to check her sister over. 

“Just some bruises. I think I'm okay.” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “I was lucky since I sit by the wall.” 

Shay got back up and squeezed her tightly, then went to squeeze Sumiru next. Sumiru liked hugs, that was the second thing Shay learned about them, and right now they looked like they really needed one. “I'm glad you're okay.”

Sumiru squeezed her back, their long arms more than enough to envelope her. “I got tourniquets on Chaliez’s legs, but she needs an actual lorist. She bled a lot. It's bad.” 

“Is it safe to move her?” A girl with bright blue hair asked. “We could take her to the lorists.” 

Sumiru shrugged as they finally let go of the hug, their eyes slightly frantic. “If we had, like, a stretcher, we could move her.” 

Sharabi jumped up. “We could make one. With the curtains.” She pointed at the long, golden drapes that decorated the far wall of the classroom. “Like in that book you were reading me, Shay!”

“That's actually a really good idea,” Sumiru said. “If we got four strong people to carry her we could probably make it.” 

“I'll run back to B-19 and get Delo. Maybe a couple other people would be willing to help too.” Shay cast a critical eye on the curtains. She hadn't gotten far enough in reading the story out loud to Sharabi, but she had read it once herself, and she knew that the main characters in the story ran into a problem where their makeshift stretcher broke because the fabric wasn't strong enough. “It looks like good fabric at least.” 

Back in B-19, Sirafin and Saurlin were arguing, Annily was curled up in the corner rocking and whispering to herself, and Delo was wedged into a small ball next to her, talking quietly. Probably trying to calm her down. 

“I need two strong people to help some of the students from B-18 carry a girl who got really badly hurt to the lorists,” Shay said. “Actually, more than two would be good. So we can trade off.”

Delo put his hand on Annily's shoulder. “C'mon, we gotta help,” he whispered. 

Slowly, Annily stood up. Her fluffy, short brown hair was a mess from her pulling on it, and her cheeks were teary, but Shay knew Annily pretty well at this point. Better than Sumiru. Annily would calm down quicker if she had something to do, instead of curling up in the corner to cry.

Saurlin also jumped to his feet. "I can help."

“I thought we were supposed to stay here?” Sirafin snarked. 

“If somebody is gonna bleed out then we have to help get them to the lorists,” Therine argued. The broad girl put her hands on her hips and stared Sirafin down. “You can stay here if you want. I'm going to help.”

“I'll take Delo and Annily and Saurlin and Therine,” Shay said. Saurlin was tall and strong-looking, with moon-pale skin and almost white eyes. Even though she didn't like him very much, he'd be helpful. Therine was from a factory city on Lua and built similarly to Delo, which meant she could probably help carry too. “Everybody else stay here and stay calm, okay?” 

“Okay,” Railin said. “I poked at the cephalon terminal some more and I would bet whatever knocked out ours did the same to the whole rest of the section. So go fast because none of the cephalons are going to be able to help you.”

Back in B-18, Sumiru, Sharabi, and that other girl had the golden drapes torn down and the injured girl dragged on top of them. 

“Oh good,” Sumiru said, looking at Shay and her group of volunteers. “I think this is enough.” They grabbed one corner of the drape, wrapped it around their wrists several times, and nodded at the other corners. “Come on, grab a corner!” 

“If someone gets tired they can trade off,” Shay said. 

Sharabi moved to grab one corner, but Delo batted her aside. “I'm taller and I'll have less trouble,” he said. “If I get too tired you can help me, yeah?” 

“Fine,” Sharabi grumbled. 

Delo, Sumiru, Annily, and the girl Shay didn't know from B-18 each took a corner. They lifted, straining their arms, and once they had the girl off the ground and held between the four of them, Saurlin and Therine each grabbed one of the long sides. 

“Okay,” Shay said, looking it over. “How does that feel? Like you're going to drop her?” 

“I feel pretty good,” Delo said. The others all nodded in agreement. 

“Okay then, let's get going.” 

Sharabi grabbed Shay’s hand and squeezed. “I'm coming too.” 

“Okay, okay,” Shay said. Safety in numbers wasn't a bad idea. 

They ran into their first problem when they reached the north exit of the B-class wing and found it was completely collapsed. 

“Fuck,” Delo hissed, wrapping his corner of the drape more tightly around his wrists. 

“We’re going to have to go all the way to the south exit,” Therine despaired. 

“Let's not waste time doing it then,” Shay said. 

The corridor was a mess the closer they got to the south exit. It was a good thing they had Shay and Sharabi, actually, so that Sharabi could clear away some small debris and Shay could help them navigate the larger pieces without anyone falling. 

“Sharabi, run ahead and make sure the south exit isn't also collapsed,” Shay said after they spent a good five minutes maneuvering over an enormous piece of fallen metal that had the corridor almost completely blocked. Sumiru and Delo had to walk backwards while doing it, which was tricky. 

Sharabi took off like a shot. Shay might be shaky and have terrible stamina, but her little sister was cut from the better cloth their parents had to offer. She was tough, fast, and sneaky, even if she did get cocky sometimes.

“Okay, we have another big ish piece of rubble,” Shay reported. “Not as big as the last one. Sumiru, Delo, step up– yeah, like that.” She scrambled over the rubble herself and skidded to a halt. “You've gotta take maybe two smallish steps back and then you'll be ready to step back down.” She put one hand on Sumiru's back and one on Delo’s. 

They slowly, cautiously stepped, casting looks over their shoulders. But they managed to get over this one too without dropping the girl. 

“The south entrance is open!” Sharabi yelled, rushing back. “Well, it's got some little chunks of the ship in it but nothing like this.”

“Thank the Golden Lords,” Delo murmured. 

They managed to make it all the way out of the B-class wing without incident. Outside they were in the large ath-ed room of Halakko Perimeter, with the running track and the dozens upon dozens of halls that led to the different class wings. 

“I need a break,” Saurlin gasped. 

“So do I,” the girl from B-18 agreed. Everyone's hands were going bloodless from where they had the drape wrapped around them, except Saurlin and Therine, who had white knuckles from how hard they gripped the two sides of the drape. 

“Okay,” Shay said. “We can take a break on the track where it's flat. Set her down nice and slow. Three, two, one, there we go.”

Delo shook out his hands, grimacing, while Sumiru and Annily rubbed their wrists. Saurlin flopped down on the ground, groaning. 

Somewhere off in the distance, towards the port side of the ship, something screeched. It was a loud and almost human scream that echoed throughout Halakko Perimeter. 

“What in Lua’s name is that?” Therine gasped. 

“It sounds like somebody who’s hurt,” Sharabi said. “I'm gonna climb up onto the second level and see if I can see anything. They probably need help.”

“There's nothing we can do to help them,” Therine pointed out. “We have our hands full!” 

“We could tell the lorists where they are!” Shay argued. “Be fast, ‘rabi.”

Sharabi darted up the ramp that led to the second level of the ath-ed room, somewhere between a run and a fast jog. The others watched her go. 

That scream echoed down to the room again. 

“It sounds like it's closer,” Sumiru murmured. “A hurt person wouldn't be coming closer.”

“It doesn't sound like a person,” Delo added, wringing his hands. “It sounds like… a monster.” 

“Holy shit!” Sharabi's shout from the level above came with yet another shriek right on its heels. 

“What?!” Shay yelled, looking around frantically. 

Sharabi came sliding down the ramp to the mid-level on her side, like she and her kid friends used to do back when they would run up and down the decrepit buildings of the Zinruil slums. Too many times Shay or Delo or both of them ended up on guard duty, keeping an eye out for the roving gangs who would love to catch a handful of children without any armed adult supervision. 

Shay had never seen her sister look so scared or run so fast, even when they were running from armed thugs. 

“There's– there's something!” She shouted, scrambling to her feet and practically diving down the second ramp that would take her to the base level. “It's coming, we've got to run!” 

The shriek came yet again. It sounded like whatever it was was right in the huge room with them. 

“Sharabi, what is it?!” Annily asked urgently. 

Sharabi's feet hit the track. She stumbled, threw herself back to her feet, and sprinted to them. “I don't know, but we have to run!” 

“We can't run while carrying Chaliez,” Delo hissed, grabbing his corner of the drape. 

A sub-audible sound thrummed through the air, like a dropped coin banging against non-dimensional walls. The ground around them went red, bleeding wisps of something that cut like knives when it touched Shay’s skin. 

“Run!” Sharabi shouted. She was almost to them, saw the floaty red stuff, and stopped, falling hard onto her knees. 

The seven of them dashed backwards, trying to get out of the swirl of red. Shay, Delo, Sumiru, and Saurlin grabbed the drape and drug it with them, just barely getting Chaliez out of the circle before–

It came out of nothing and hit the ground, stabbing it with enormous, swirled metal fingers. 

It was huge. It had no face, just a blue glowing void, and it was covered in swooping metal spines and half circles and thorns. 

It shrieked, swung its too-long hands.

Saurlin grabbed Chaliez under the arms, Therine grabbed her mutilated legs, and they heaved her between them, tripping and falling a second later into a huge heap. 

The metal thing’s clawed scythe-hand came down right in the middle of the heap. Shay was already moving, her brain numb but her body on fire, and she grabbed Chaliez and drug her backwards, just barely out of the way. 

Saurlin wasn't so lucky. The scythe hit him right in the chest, pinning him to the spongy material of the running track. 

Someone screamed. Everyone screamed. Someone grabbed Shay and pulled her, and she was already pulling Chaliez. 

“Shay!” Sharabi dodged around the monster’s side, trying to catch up to the rest of them. 

The monster’s right scythe-hand was embedded into the ground through Saurlin’s chest, but the left one was free. It swiped through the air and right through Sharabi’s torso. 

She hit the track in two pieces. 

“Shay!” 

Someone was pulling her backwards, but she barely felt it. Someone yanked Chaliez out of her hands, and someone grabbed her, and pulled her. They stumbled. Therine caught her and Sumiru kept pulling and Delo was carrying Chaliez and Sharabi had been cut in half. 

“Come on!” Sumiru wrapped one arm around Shay’s waist. “Shay, you have to move!” 

She moved. She didn't know she could even move like that, could run so fast. 

They ran all the way back to class B-19 with the screaming of the monster chasing them.