2.8.1

Walking a Line

“Okay, crazy idea, what if the Underground Railroad are the ones taking Channelers from the Sanctuaries?”

Astrid rolled her eyes. Dell proved as fascinated by the prospect of a rogue Channeler network as she, if not more. While Astrid grew increasingly wary her involvement could only poison any efforts at this point, Dell’s imagination waxed much more optimistic.

They sat at a corner table in the cargo hold while they worked out theories. Astrid jotted down every thought.

“They wouldn’t kill other Channelers to do it, though” she debated. “Besides, it sounds like whatever this ‘Underground” is doing has worked without resorting to violence.”

“You’ve got to admit, liberating the kids has a slightly more positive angle than kidnapping them for a sinister plot.”

Astrid sighed while her fingers keyed to delete a stray idea. Romo and Dell kept her company while they poured over their own files.

“And it really wasn’t you?” Romo pressed her after another moment.

“Romo, why would I lie? I trust you guys,” she defended. “Besides, why didn’t you come to me and ask? At least I wouldn’t have been blindsided.”

“Because I thought you knew!” Romo answered. “And I wasn’t going to blow your cover. I wouldn’t even have told captain if it hadn’t become pertinent. I get why you might try to get more of your people out.”

“Even if I’m sympathetic, something like that goes against the point of enlisting. I’m trying to find a legal path to integration. A formal, total open legislature,” she adamantly reasoned. “Breaking laws is not the way to do that.”

“You haven’t already forgotten how you were recruited have you?” Romo teased her.

Astrid relinquished an exasperated groan and laid her forehead on the tabletop.

“Remember when all I had to do was not accidently kill you?”

Dell snickered.

“Astrid,” Anders called from the stairs. “It’s time.”

With a sigh, Astrid shoved her device to Dell. “I’ve got everything I can think of. What kind of places would be considered safe, what they’d need, whatever might help you find Channelers out in the population. Rogue, captive, or otherwise.”

Dell collected her work and she bounded after Anders back up the stairs to weave through the halls to the captain’s quarters.

“You doing alright?” Anders asked brisky while he escorted her.

“At least there’s something to do. What about the others? Do we have any good guesses yet?”

“We’ve got a list of prospective targets. Tenya’s working them now.”

Anders stopped at the captain’s door and pressed a button to alert the inhabitant they arrived.

London appeared, but instead of inviting Astrid in, he traded places with her.

“You have ten minutes.”

The door closed behind the men, and Astrid found herself unaccompanied in the decorated room. It all remained as she remembered. Furniture. Books. Historical documents in mounted frames, and a small collection of spirits in decanters.

In the comm monitor mounted on the captain’s wall, however, waited a familiar face that looked surprised to see her.

The former Guardian at least appeared healthier than when she last saw him. Less malnourished and emotionally tortured. His light hair warmed from the pale color it showed upon their meeting. But he maintained a tamed scruff on his chin and jaw. She found it oddly gratifying to know he didn’t look mistreated.

“Astrid?”

“Walker,” she greeted. She subconsciously corrected her posture and gave him her full attention. “Are you alone?”

“Yeah, for the first time in months. What’s happening? My guard changed and then I was all but dragged into a comm studio.”

“We were bought some time to talk. I need to ask about something.”

Walker’s chiseled face grew wary at her introduction. “If you’re going about it this way, I take it my interrogation transcripts weren’t enough.”

“I need to ask about the Underground Railroad.”

Walker proved a cautious and tactful man. His face instantly went blank, and he pressed his lips tight.

“You know of it,” Astrid presumed. “At least, more than I did.”

“I’m not falling into this trap.” Walker leaned away from the camera.

“It’s not a trap, and I’m not going to tell anyone. I don’t even need to know if you’re involved. I just need to know if it exists.”

Walker drummed his fingers along the desk. “That would probably make sense.”

“Do you know who might be involved? Rahna?”

“Rahna wouldn’t support anything like that, you know it. She doesn’t know anything about it.”

Astrid could barely suppress a smirk. “How interesting then that you do.”

Walker frowned. He looked off camera, as though he wanted somewhere else to divert his attention. But alone, there was nothing to do but face the awkward silence that fell between them, laden with implications.

When his gaze came back to the specialist, his mouth contorted with a mix of distrust and suspicion.

“Look,” he finally said. “I anticipated something like this. But it would be impossible for me to be involved. Every message is monitored. This is the most I’ve been alone in months. I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

“I know why you wouldn’t want to, Walker, but things are happening out here. The aid of something like an underground network for Channelers could save a lot of lives.”

“What is it? What’s happening?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Astrid told him. “You know I’m under confidentiality. And so are you if you share anything. We need help.”

Her beseeching tone gave the man pause. His brown eyes peered behind a guarded expression.

She tried again. “It’s… It’s bad out here, okay?”

Through the camera, Walker’s eyes darted to see the subtle shift in her body language.

He finally let out a low breath and rubbed a hand over his blunt hair. “And you can’t tell me anything.”

The warning Admiral Mays delivered, to uphold discretion with anyone outside the team, let alone named criminals, rang in the Channeler’s ears. “No.”

Yet, Astrid took a moment to look around the room. Even knowing she stood alone, she feared betrayal, upon her, or by her.

“But I can ask…” she ventured. “Would the S.O. have any plans that would involve Channeler children? Any plots you can recall that would have included taking them?”

Walker tensed. He caught her meaning. Something resembling disgust flitted across his face.

“No. Never.”

“Do you know who might? Anyone close to the power structure that pervasive?”

“There’s enough hate going around. But I swear to you, this is not something Rahna or I would have endorsed. We sought the neutralization of Channeler abilities. Or a merciful, instantaneous end. If you’re saying kids are specifically being targeted…”

“I’m not saying that,” Astrid immediately rebuked. But her eyes pleaded with him. “I can’t.”

“Then I wish I could help you.”

“Please, Walker, do you know of anyone that can? Or anyone that can point me in the right direction?”

“If there is, I can’t reach them from here. I would’ve been out of the loop since I got here. On either front.”

Astrid cast her eyes downward. She knew their fragile entreaty wouldn’t survive being pushed.

It seemed unlikely he would know anything, anyway. But with so few leads, she discovered a void of hope she didn’t know she fostered. And she still found herself disappointed.

“Listen,” Walker added. He leaned closer to the camera and spoke with a hushed breath. “I’m telling you, Astrid, I have nothing to do with it. But I knew it was starting up. And if it were my network…”

He paused, as though to measure how much he would share.

“Something like the Underground Railroad, it would operate on the kindness of strangers. Statics. Maybe families of Channelers. But somewhere in that network there has to be at least one of your kind. There has to be.

“In or out of a Sanctuary, Channelers need something like those crystals to channel discharges into benign energy. Especially if they’re looking to stay hidden. Someone has to know what Channelers need, how to identify them, and how to keep them from getting identified in the future. Either someone they freed, or maybe the one who started it.”

“But we’re so documented. How would someone like that go unnoticed?”

“Maybe a Channeler that’s flown under the radar their whole lives into adulthood. But more likely, it’s one that escaped the Sanctuaries. Someone who knows how they, and the Guardians, work. It has to be someone no one is looking for anymore.

“And they’d need to be somewhere they can reach their contacts. Probably not a ship in distant space. They’d need a constant extranet link to coordinate. A hub somewhere. Where there’s a lot of traffic and strangers don’t get noticed. Maybe a gateway station. Probably more than one. Not too close to Earth, but not so far out that distance would be prohibitive to their mission. It’s what I’d do.”

“Thank you, Walker.” Astrid told him.

“Hey. While we’re helping each other… you think you can put in a good word for Rahna?”

“I did.”

His eyes widened a smidge, though he quickly covered his surprise.

“I guess I have you to thank, too.” On Walker’s end of the line, a knock came from off camera, and the man nodded to her, to signal the end of their conference. “Seems we’re out of time.”

“Thanks again,” she extended.

“Astrid. Do what you have to. Whatever it takes. I understand now that things are changing. But regardless of where you and I fall on this issue, the Channelers, they don’t deserve this.”

Astrid tried not to get emotional to see someone she once considered an enemy share such a sentiment. He cared what happened to them, and it felt heartbreaking to her that in the eyes of both of Astrid’s factions, Channelers and military alike, Walker would likely always be labeled a villain.

“Stay safe,” she muttered quickly before she closed the call from her end. “We’re going to need you.”

The line went dead, and Astrid pushed herself away from the captain’s desk. Determined, she stalked to the door and it flew open, only to reveal both her captain and her lieutenant-commander waiting expectantly.

“Productive meeting?” The captain asked.