Ruptured spleens weren’t as cool as they sounded.

The pain in my torso and stomach concerned me long before a man draped in a black and white cloak showed up and told me what was causing them. That man was Surge N. Antant, and he had the galaxy’s dumbest name. Not that I hadn’t been expecting him: he’d been lurking around my hospital room every day. I’d seen him more often than I’d seen Laura and Manning. On this day, the dude strolled into my hospital room, stood illuminated by my window’s green light, looked me in the eyes (which I hated), and said, “Hold still.”

He grabbed a tube from the beeping machine beside me and jammed it into my side. He couldn’t blame me for screaming. Why was I even in this mess to begin with? The mission had been simple: retrieve President Frost’s shield generator, become an explorer, find my sister, and live peacefully with her in this insane war-torn galaxy. Too bad I hadn’t achieved a single one of those objectives as smoothly as I should have. We hadn’t gotten the generator back, but the dude who had stolen it had gone on to steal us. I couldn’t escape without my ship, so Surge had us right where he wanted us.

Name’s Wander Locke, by the way.

“Didn’t you say the body could only take so much vita-gel?” I tapped the green tube. Over the course of a month, I’d been filled with so much vita-gel that I’d surely gained five pounds. I’d also worn enough medic bracelets to start a collection. “By the way, am I ever going to heal? I thought one or two medic bracelets would do the trick, but I’m still here.”

“Maybe if you hadn’t used your abilities so much when you were disabling the Blue Barricade.” Surge turned knobs and hit buttons on the machine. “Your body can’t heal properly because it’s fatigued. Using your abilities like that seems to drain you so much that a mere bruise could turn deadly. Here’s a suggestion: don’t let your sister shoot you. If you weren’t wearing your suit, she’d have killed you.”

I’d realized that when I’d seen the dent in my space suit. A point-blank shot from an AI rifle was deadly. Despite that, I refused to believe that Beth had been trying to kill me. She had just gotten upset.

“Don’t worry, I doubt I’ll ever see her again. She hates me now. Blames me for our parents’ deaths. I know what that grief feels like; she isn’t thinking clearly, but if I do find her, I can change her mind.”

“I don’t know if that’s wishful thinking or self-pity, but I need you to knock it off.” Surge scowled as he leaned over me. “Your hostile sister is coming after you as we speak. She blames you for getting your parents offed, but that’s not true. You didn’t choose to become a Hybrid, but she doesn’t care. She’ll keep coming over and over until she brings you back to the AI. She can’t be reasoned with, and she won’t hold back. That’s why, the next time she comes, you need to stop her. Permanently.”

My side ached as I recoiled in shock. “What? I can’t kill Beth! I couldn’t be happier that she’s alive. Even if she’s sorta evil and working with even eviler robots. Why do you even care? Why are you trying so hard to make sure I’m okay? Aren’t we enemies?”

“This base is full of kids. Do you think I’m going to let one die even if it is Frost’s brat? Anyway, you’re being released today. Get into your suit and let’s head out.”

“Quit telling me what to do!” I said. “I’m not one of your sheep—wait. ‘Head out’? So I can leave now?”

“Depends on your definition of that word. I already know what your response will be, but I want you and your friends to join the Oppressed.”

“No.”

“Understandable, but you don’t know the first thing about us. If you disagree with our way of life after you’ve been here for a while, then I might allow you to leave.”

I sighed my frustration out. “I know you cast an impenetrable barrier over a city, trapping everyone inside. What else is there to know, dude?”

“The Blue Barricade was a low point, all right? Our next attempt will be better. Especially if we have people as valuable as you and Theodore.” He examined me like I was a priceless figurine. “Frost only keeps you around for your abilities, kid. She’s good at hiding it, but I know her. Going back to someone as toxic as that will be disastrous for you and the galaxy. Why not stay here and be so much more than a weapon?”

Sounded like he only wanted me around for my abilities too! Plus he was speaking nonsense about “next attempts” and how valuable I was. I didn’t believe that President Frost was pure evil, but, if he was right about her, I’d be stuck either way. The smartest move would be to go along with what Surge said. For now. I was stuck on his base, so what good would resisting do? However, if he tried to construct any more barricades, I would bolt.

“Just take me to my friends,” I said. “We’ll take your stupid free trial, but you need to understand that you’re the bad guy to us. Not Frost. It’ll take a lot to get us to betray her.”

He nodded like it was precisely the answer he had expected. “Convincing someone that Frost isn’t an angel? What a monumental task. It’s not like I have an entire base full of people I’ve already convinced or anything. You need a reason to hate her, kid? It’ll find you. Now come on. I have things to do.”

I couldn’t believe this was happening.

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Pain trickled through them as I stood up. I limped over to my space suit, which had been standing upright beside my bed for the entire month. I liked it. It felt like I’d had someone watching over me during my recovery.

I walked behind the space suit and hit the green, yellow, and red buttons on its neck. It hissed as its back burst open. I imagined it weeping for joy as I climbed into it. It had been so long. The front was smashed in because of Beth, and it pushed against my chest, but it still worked. Surge held the door open as I lumbered toward it.

The hospital didn’t have sliding doors. I guessed that made sense, seeing as we were on Earth… Even though this place didn’t have advanced technology, it did have breathable air. I wanted to solve that mystery before I left.

We marched down a white hallway. I sniffed but only caught a bare hint of the sickly stench I’d come to expect from hospitals. Its chipping white walls were enough to make my skin crawl. I’d never not hate these places.

“Do you guys own this place?” I poked at a porcelain portion of the wall. It was grainy, not smooth like I’d expected. “Or did you steal it? Kind of like ‘No one lives here, so we might as well’?”

“Yes, the second thing. Obviously, no building on Earth was occupied. And Frost had too much pride to search this place anyway.”

“Pride?”

“More on that after you’ve proven yourself trustworthy. Also, we’re here.” Surge motioned to a green-tinted glass door. I couldn’t see through the green, which meant I’d be stepping into the unknown. “Ready to see a world free of Frost? It’ll be the first you’ve ever seen.”

“Just open the doors.” I groaned and dragged my hands down my face. “I don’t need a whole speech about society first. I think I’d know if someone was messing with my life.”

“Right, because you could have gotten here without her.”

I was going to sock this guy. Surge pushed the door open. Green light flooded my eyes, washing out this “Frost-free society.” I rubbed my eyes and took my first real look at the place.

A cloudy sky shone green light down on a distant field of battered buildings. The road leading to them was filled with so many holes that it could have been classified as Swiss cheese. A road trailed behind the hospital, and that made me wonder what was behind us. A rotting stench hung in the air. The breeze was rough on my face, as if it was carrying grains of sand.

“This is your legendary free soci—ack!” I hacked into my arm because I could’ve sworn I’d just swallowed a bug. “What the heck just happened?!”

“Air quality is admittedly low,” Surge said casually, like the madman he was. “We all had to deal with it once, and now we’re used to it. You will be too.”

“You’re used to choking on oxygen?”

“Come with me. Now that you’re out of the hospital, I’ll show you to your living quarters.”

When Laura and Manning had visited me, they’d mentioned that they’d been assigned a house. This place had a hospital, a whole mess of buildings across from it, and houses? Where were we? An abandoned town or an actual base designed for a purpose? Every minute with these guys spawned a new mystery.

The hospital parking lot was filled with rusty cruisers that I would have gladly spent hours working on. Surge tapped his phone until a gray light burst out of it. The shape of keys formed in the light. Even the Oppressed had access to the cloud? It must have been their own version. There was no way they could have been paying phone bills.

Surge hopped into one of the disgusting cruisers and jammed the keys into the ignition. The poor vehicle shook and coughed before breaking into the standard cruiser hum. I found myself missing my Columbus more and more by the minute. I couldn’t believe we had left it and the Eachtra behind on New Earth. I would be going back the first chance I got. I couldn’t lose the last gift my family had given me. My stomach twisted as Beth forced her way back into my thoughts.

“Are you sure this thing runs?” I asked as I climbed into the passenger seat. It creaked as I sat in it. The brown interior smelled worse than the air outside. How could the Oppressed still have members? They basically lived in poverty. “As in it could reach our destination without exploding?”

Surge smirked as he steered us off the lot. “I made sure of it myself. We have two classes of cruisers here: public and private. This one’s public, meaning that anyone authorized to drive is free to pilot it somewhere and leave it there. The mechanics and I make sure the public cruisers are functional at all times. Your Columbus would have been private if you still had it. ”

Like I needed to be reminded of what I’d lost. Still, the job of maintaining these cruisers sounded like one I’d be interested in. Too bad I wasn’t staying long enough to get it.

We glided down the street that went behind the hospital. At least one mystery was about to be solved. As we turned the corner, a bundle of houses popped up in the distance. Neighborhoods? Their houses were behind the hospital? Not a terrible idea. At least they were close by in case of emergencies.

Surge turned the cruiser into a neighborhood block that seemed like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie. Most of the houses were as worn-out as the cruisers sitting in their driveways. The houses that still had color schemes gave off a vintage vibe. I think I’d seen them in one of my textbooks. If only I’d actually paid attention to those things.

“How do you like your neighborhood so far?” Surge asked. “Theodore said it felt familiar.”

“Yeah, but he’s a dinosaur. As battered as these old houses are. They’re also two-stories. All of them. How? These are one in a million back on the Moon!”

“Your injuries have healed, but I can’t cure your homesickness.”

I scoffed as loudly as I could. “I’m not homesick for the stupid Moon. That should be illegal. In fact, I’m ashamed of being a Lunalite. That’s the last place I’d ever want to go back to.”

A pang of guilt hit me. Why? I was telling the truth…

Surge drove up to a tan, two-story house. Laura’s house might have looked like it…if it had cost a few hundred thousand dollars less. Surge parked and climbed out. So this was the right house? This giant place with the half-dead lawn? This would be the fanciest house I’d ever lived in, and it belonged to rebels. I got out and followed him past the driveway, taking note of the two cruisers sitting there. One must have been Manning’s, but the other was a mystery. Someone else was there.

Surge knocked on the door with the back of his fist. Half a minute passed before it swung open. The person behind it wasn’t whom I’d expected. Not that I was surprised to see her.

“Wander! Long time no see.” Kaela wore a huge smile. It vanished when she looked up at Surge, her boss. “What are you doing here?”

Kaela Fire had long black hair with a blue streak running through it. Her ruby lips were redder than Laura’s hair. She was chubby, but part of that had to be muscle seeing as her signature weapon was both a metal staff and a rifle. Kaela served Surge as a high-ranking Oppressed member, but, despite her status, she had been a big help to us back on New Earth. She had betrayed her organization by helping us get onto their ship. Then she’d fended off another Oppressed member named Dylan, whom I hadn’t seen since.

I’d appreciated all of it, but Surge? Not so much. The feeling seemed to be mutual since she hadn’t appreciated how he’d almost enslaved Red City. I guessed they were fighting now, which was good for us?

“Someone’s got to drop the kid off.” Surge wore an equally displeased expression as he placed a hand on his hip. “What about you? Shouldn’t you be doing your job?”

“I’d be a bit nicer to someone with keys to every ship on the base.” Kaela placed both hands on her hips. What a power move. “Never know when they might go get some galactic milk, and never come back!”

Surge scowled. “If someone that impulsive is on the base, we’d be better off without them.”

Kaela scowled back. “Is that so?”

“Who the heck is arguing at my door?” said an unmistakably annoyed voice as it grew closer. Laura Genki butted into view. Her flaming red hair had gotten lighter, and the wound on her cheek had finished its transformation into a light scar. She gasped as her eyes fell on me. “Wander? I knew I’d heard Kaela shout your name! If I had known you were getting released today—” She glared at Surge, who didn’t flinch at all. “You should have told us he was getting released.”

Surge sighed. “Getting yelled at by teenagers is fun, but, surely, I have better things to do. Kid, if you have any questions, direct them to Kaela. Let’s hope she feels like doing her job. Dinner’s at twenty hundred hours.”

He headed back to that dump he called a cruiser and drove off. Dinner? On a base with this many people, I didn’t expect anything more than that vegetable paste they had given us at school.

Kaela huffed and crossed her arms. “The nerve of him. ‘Let’s hope she feels like doing her job.’ I feel like kicking his butt. Let’s see him say something after that. Anyway, would you like to come inside, Wander?”

Laura rolled her eyes. “This is his home. Just get in here, dummy. I’ll go get Instructor Manning. Kaela’s only here because she wanted to keep us company. I gave up on telling her to buzz off.”

“What? I thought I was an important member of you guys’ family now.”

“You already have a family, and they’re all criminals,” Laura said as she stomped off.

The inside of the house smelled better than the toxic air outside, so I loved it. We stepped past an entry space that had a couch and nothing more. The carpet crunched beneath my feet as I wandered through a short hall. It was stainless, free of the messes that came with raising children. The complete opposite of my old house.

A smooth linoleum floor greeted me as I stepped into the kitchen. The sink was empty, but the drying rack was filled with shining plates and cutlery. Manning’s work, no doubt. I couldn’t believe we’d all be living together again. It had been too long since we’d had the Eachtra. As if I needed to miss it more.

Across from the kitchen was the living room. Two couches and a giant TV. A few doors decorated the walls. They probably led to a bathroom and a bedroom.

“How is it so clean in here?” I asked Kaela. “I know some of it was Manning’s handiwork, but this place was clean when they got here, wasn’t it? It’s just weird because I’m sure these houses are hundreds of years old.”

“We’ve got a dedicated cleaning crew. Surge the Jerk likes to tidy up houses that are about to be occupied. He ordered that this one be made extra nice. They kept cleaning even after Laura and Mr. Manning had moved in.” Kaela smiled like she was recalling a fond memory. “Laura’s really funny when she’s mad.”

“To me it’s more like ‘entertaining,’ but same concept. So, why are you here, Kaela? Even if you’re avoiding Surge, don’t you have your own home to go to?”

Her cheeks went red. “I just…like your friends. They’re really cool. You guys are gonna fit right in.” Her face fell as sadness filled her eyes. “Plus I share my house with another jerk. I can’t go back.”

What jerk was she talking about? Before I could ask, the thumping of footsteps came to me from above. Two people moseyed down the stairs. Laura was one, and the other was a black man with glasses. His smoky eyes occasionally turned golden when he used his powers, and his wrinkles only showed when he smiled. For instance, at that precise moment. He had more gray in his hair than usual, but that was inevitable after what we’d been through. He was the only other Hybrid I knew. The only friendly Hybrid I knew. His powers were more passive than active, so he couldn’t instruct me too much in that field. The little advice he’d given me had been a big help, though.

“I knew it’d be a good day when I didn’t wake up coughing.” Manning extended his arms as he approached me. I extended mine too and we met in the middle for a hug. Manning and I hadn’t previously gotten along, but we had more in common than we’d realized. “That wasn’t an age joke, Mr. Locke, so do not start. It’s just that the air here is dreadful.”

“I know, right? I guess the Oppressed are used to it though.”

“You’ll build immunity in no time,” Kaela said as she opened our refrigerator. I’d just gotten here and she was already stealing my food. “I’m sure you guys want to catch up in peace, so I’ll see myself out.”

“Finally,” Laura whispered so loudly that it became a quiet shout.

“If you guys need me, I’ll probably be at the cafeteria.” Kaela pulled a can of soda from the fridge. “I like to show up early; you get a better selection that way. Anyway, the Wi-Fi password is ‘Frostsux420.’ We’ll let you guys download our messaging app if you stick around. Don’t wear your space suits unless you’re going into space. See you in a bit!”

Kaela shuffled out, leaving me, Laura, and Manning. Just like old times. Except now we were stranded in the very place that should have been inhabitable.

Laura flopped down on the couch and patted the cushion beside her. “Come on, the couch can’t feel anything. We’re due for a talk, right?”

“Not a talk. A ‘meeting.’ Sounds more official.” I sat at the spot she’d beckoned me to. I would have jumped on it like she had if I hadn’t been recovering. Was my spleen still ruptured? Was rupturing a process? “Where to start, where to start? We didn’t get the generator back, but we still have a chance to. It’s around here somewhere, so, once we locate it, we just have to steal it back. Easy. Thoughts?”

Laura nodded and leaned back toward the couch. “Right. We find the generator and steal it even though he’ll be expecting that. Then what? How are we supposed to get it back to Frost?”

My face fell. “We—we get Kaela to help. Again. She did it once, and she just said she had access to every key—”

“She specifically said she helped because of her loyalty to Surge. Letting us onto their ship was one thing. Helping us and, by implication, Frost steal the generator back? She likes us, but not that much.”

I groaned. “Her and Surge are fighting, aren’t they? This is the perfect opportunity to switch sides! If not, then we just steal a ship. Somehow.”

“What guarantees you that you can steal the generator in the first place?” Manning asked. “I can’t imagine that Mr. Antant would leave it unattended.”

My forehead burned as I grasped for more plans. Each one slipped between my fingers due to its improbability. Perhaps we could find an Oppressed member who was ready to betray Surge and have them help us. That seemed unlikely, though, and they’d be punished if we got caught. I speculated that I could wait until he’d relocated the generator then steal it. But how would I know that he’d done that? In addition, that plan didn’t make allowance for our getaway.

I growled and seized locks of my hair. “Change of plans. There is no plan. Happy now?”

“Not particularly. It seems we’re at a crossroads.” Manning held out his glasses. He pointed to one lens. “There’s a future where we continue resisting the Oppressed—ironic—which involves scheming against them at every turn and overall just making our lives difficult. Then there’s the second, easier future.” He tapped the other lens. “The one where we play rebel for a little while. Let’s convince Mr. Antant that we wish to join his cause, just long enough to obtain access to the tools that will make our escape possible. This will give us the time we need to create the perfect plan and execute it.”

Manning, the smartest man in the galaxy, had just suggested that we take Surge up on his offer of letting us join. Well, he had suggested that we pretend to, but it didn’t make much of a difference. I might have been wary of Frost due to her possible involvement in the ruabrum’s problem, but Surge was no better. Plus staying loyal to Frost would net me my explorer’s license. After I got that I could…go after Beth. Was that still possible?

“No offense, Instructor, but I don’t want to join forces with Psycho, Jerkbag, and Annoying,” Laura said, referring to Surge, Dylan, and Kaela. “These people may seem friendly, but they’re still after our government. If we helped them, we’d be traitors. Wanted criminals even! How can we be considering this?”

“I’m not suggesting we legitimately ally with the rebels, Ms. Genki. I want that generator back as much as you do, for Upton’s sake. I’m implying we play the part until all suspicions have been lowered. I estimate a week and a half until we’re back with Madam President and the rest of the First Division.”

“Great,” I said, desperate to contribute to the plan. “Manning’s plan is great, so it’s the one we’re going with. We’ll consider this a vacation. We deserve it.”

“We only worked for Frost for about three days,” Laura said. “All this time we spent waiting for you to get out of the hospital was vacation enough. I don’t want to get along with Kaela and Dylan, and—who knows who else is running around this place?”

“Want to find out?” I asked as I jumped up. “You guys got that old, disgusting cruiser outside, right? Let’s use it to drive around. We can stop by the cafeteria and see how the Oppressed really act.”

Laura sighed as she stood up. “I’ll consider this a scouting mission. Maybe we can figure out where Surge’s office is so we don’t have to be here forever.”

Manning grinned. “I’m fine with ‘scouting.’ The only facility I’ve been to is the library. We’ve spent the month getting used to our living arrangements. Fresh air sounds lovely…if only this place actually offered it.”

I didn’t trust the Oppressed, but I trusted that we wouldn’t put ourselves in immediate danger by hanging with them. If there was (legal) fun to be had on this base, then I was all for it. I headed to the front door, gripped the doorknob, and pulled it open.