The Lying Planet Read online

  At the fence, two more guards appear to escort us. This is serious, really bad. There wasn’t enough time to plan this well. We shouldn’t have left without taking a pistol or two, because along with protection, we’ll need weapons to hunt for food. Even Peyton didn’t think of that. Next time—assuming there is a next time—we’ll have to prepare better.

  The sleek black shape of the commander’s UHV meets us at the zone gates. Commander Farrow emerges as we approach, his face grim.

  I halt with Peyton and Leonard in a line. How has Farrow learned of our breach already? We have no wristcomms, no wireless communication like Dad says they have in Promise City. Do the aliens have some sort of advanced messaging—a telepathic kind of bond? Now that I think of it, Mom knew about Mick’s body awfully fast, and yesterday she knew Peyton wasn’t in classes.

  Creepy.

  Commander Farrow surveys us while we stand at attention between the guards. “This is a true disappointment,” he says after a moment. “The three of you have skipped sessions, violated the protection of the perimeter fence, and fled when you were told to halt. I’m especially disappointed in you, Mr. Lawton. Your parents will be crushed to learn what you’ve been up to this morning.”

  I concentrate on the toes of my boots. He’s never talked to me this way before, like I’m some kind of vermin. And he’s right—my fake parents will be stunned I’ve done something like this. I cringe to think of what they’ll say to me when I see them next.

  “Do you have anything to say for yourself, Miss Rainey?”

  “Yes, sir. We panicked and ran. We’re sorry, and we won’t go outside the fence again. We’d forgotten about the danger from wild animals. But Jay was feeling out of it after Blake’s banishment, and Leonard and I wanted to cheer him up. Take him to a new, exciting place.”

  The commander lifts his eyebrows. “Mr. Wright?”

  “Yeah, what she said,” Leonard mumbles. “Jay’s bummed. Along with the banishment, Aubrie hasn’t been talking to him, and he’s all stressed out. Guess we weren’t too helpful, since we got him in trouble.”

  Commander Farrow turns to me. “What do you have to say, Mr. Lawton?”

  With an effort, I meet his steely gaze. “It’s true, sir. Blake’s banishment freaked me out, and I miss Aubrie. Please don’t punish Peyton and Leonard for being good friends and trying to help. They didn’t force me. It’s my fault for moping around so much they thought they had to cheer me up.”

  “I see.” The commander strokes the hard angle of his chin. “I’m curious as to how you three got outside the fence in the first place. You weren’t reported near the north gap.”

  “Uh, Peyton knows of a removable board, and we slipped through that. She can show you where it is so the guards can nail it up.” I cringe. Man, I’m a bad liar. I just hope he doesn’t find out the real reason we tried to leave.

  “Miss Rainey. How did you find out about this breach?”

  Out the corner of my eye, I see Peyton twine her fingers together.

  “Miss Rainey?”

  She blasts out a sharp exhale. “Um…from Blake, sir. He took out the nails and messed with the board to make a doorway.”

  A strangled noise comes from the commander. “Why did he tell you about it?”

  Peyton scuffs the toe of her boot on the roadway. “He was bragging one day while we were working at the Nebula. I tried it out a couple of times for fun. Strolled around in the woods, had a little picnic one afternoon. I didn’t need to use it again until today.”

  “Think carefully before you answer this,” Commander Farrow says. “Does this fence board have anything to do with the alcohol source that you refused to reveal to Jay’s mother yesterday?”

  “Well…I guess I can tell you, since it doesn’t matter anymore. Blake said he and Shelly were making brew somewhere in the woods. They used the removable board to get in and out. Since they’re gone, they can’t make more of it.”

  “Do you have any left?”

  “A little,” Peyton says irritably. “If I cough it up—and since I told you my source—will you let us off easier?”

  I marvel at her nerve while the commander folds his arms. Brilliant, simply brilliant. Whether her tale is true or not, our fearsome leader can’t verify it, and by pinning the blame on Blake and Shelly, no one else will get into trouble. Offering to hand in her brew is more of a direct bribe. A bribe I hope will work.

  “Here’s what will happen,” Commander Farrow says at last. “Miss Rainey, you will show me to the fence board in question and relinquish your remaining alcohol. Boys, you will return to your sessions. All of you must work an extra twelve hours of community service over the next two weeks. I don’t want to hear about this kind of misconduct again, well-intentioned or not. Do you understand?”

  I nod, weak and grateful our true motives weren’t discovered. Maybe my lecture from Mom and Dad won’t be too harsh after all. Peyton and Leonard murmur quick agreements. We’re getting off easy, thanks to Peyton’s clever explanations and negotiating. Leonard and I definitely owe her one.

  The commander addresses the guards. “Increase the surveillance outside the fence as well as inside. We can’t compromise the safety of our youth.”

  “Yes, sir,” a guard says. The other two echo him.

  Peyton walks to the UHV with Farrow and a guard, while the other pair of guards march Leonard and me back to the education compound and down the halls to the biology room. We slip in, earning a glower from the trainer but no questions. He merely gives a slight nod to the guard, who then retreats. A chill skitters over my body. Did I just witness their telepathic alien communication in action?

  I reach my seat. Harrel twists around in his chair, his pale brown eyes wide and questioning. I give my head a brief shake. I’ll fill him in later, although it’s clear our escape attempt failed. Aubrie gives me a curious once-over from her desk, but when I try to meet her eyes, her gaze skids away. Yeah. She’s still avoiding me. Now that Harrel’s on board and I have my imprintus proof, I need to corner her and make her listen to me. She doesn’t have to be my girlfriend anymore. I just want her to know the truth.

  After technology session, we break for lunch and she sits across from me at our friends’ table.

  “Don’t forget the study session at Harrel’s tonight, everyone,” Misty says.

  “Same time, same place,” Harrel says. He slathers butter onto his roll as everyone agrees and nods.

  “Hey,” Sean says. “Where were you this morning, Jay? You weren’t in classes.”

  “Um, I skipped and got caught.”

  “You skipped?” Misty stares at me. Aubrie and the others gawk along with her.

  “I don’t believe it,” Sean says. “How come?”

  I give a shrug that feels more like a convulsion. It’s risky, but I have to tell them in order to save their lives. “I’ve been out of it since the ceremony.” I start to say more, but Aubrie kicks me under the table. I wince and stop. Is she worried I’ll make a fool of myself—or is she afraid an adult might overhear? I glance at the two chowhall monitors who patrol the room. They are pretty close. Fine, I’ll wait until our study session tonight. We can close the door to Harrel’s common room without looking too suspicious.

  “I’ll tell you more tonight,” I say.

  Aubrie looks half-sick, keeping her gaze on her food. A few minutes later, the chowhall monitors announce it’s time to leave. I walk with Harrel to terraform training, filling him in briefly on our failed escape, and fidget until the zone tower strikes at the end of morning sessions. I lose track of Aubrie as the room empties. Not seeing her at our usual meeting place by the front doors, I heave a sigh and walk away from the compound on my own.

  When I reach the gardens, I grab a hoe.

  Dad walks up and down the rows as I work. “I’m concerned about you, son. Despite your somewhat valid reasons, you’ve never skipped sessions before.”

  I try to think of something to say that will make him go away
. Right now I can’t handle being shadowed by a giant lobster with vermal teeth, wrapped in a thin layer of human skin. “Sorry. Peyton and Leonard were trying to cheer me up.”

  “Didn’t your mother tell you not to hang out with that Peyton girl?”

  I back away a few steps. “Shouldn’t I be allowed to hang out with anyone I want? You’re always talking about moral choices and finding the right path.”

  “Yes, but you know how rebellious that girl and her scrawny friend are.” Dad’s voice grows stern. “Three days of hanging out with them and you’ve already gotten yourself into trouble. That ought to tell you something. If you don’t choose your friends wisely, you won’t do as well at your ceremony.”

  “Like I told Commander Farrow, I wasn’t forced into doing anything.” My words come out rough. This is nothing like our old relaxed conversations. I throw down my hoe. “Can we not talk about my ceremony?”

  A look of anguish crosses Dad’s face. Whether it’s from an imagined loss of Testing points from my bad attitude or something else, I can’t tell.

  “Jay.” He sounds gentler, almost pleading. “Your mother and I, the lieutenants, and Commander Farrow are interested in developing your overall character. We don’t want to be tyrants, punishing you in order to make you do what we want. We’re proud of your progress. We’d like you to become a strong individual who makes sound decisions. Of course you’re going to make mistakes. Our purpose isn’t to flog you for those things, but to encourage you to choose more wisely the next time. Can’t you see that?”

  I fight to keep my mouth from twisting into a sneer. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Except for the part he left out—about me tasting better if I develop the good character he wants me to have. Every adult in Sanctuary tells us how ethically important it is to treat our pigs and chickens and cattle well, to lessen stress and create the best flavor. It seems they view humans the same way. I don’t want to become some kind of super-food he’s creating to nourish his horde.

  He stands here next to me, almost oozing fatherly concern. But it’s all for the wrong reasons. In reality, he wants to devour my heart with his sharp fangs…he wants to sip my powdered bones in his disgusting broth. Words boil up inside me. I want to shout at him, hammer my fists against his phony human chest and slug his lying face. I want to ask him how he had the bleating nerve to tell me I had a cloudskimmer in Fort Hope with my name on it.

  Unfortunately, I can’t say any of that.

  Before I can figure out how to respond, Mom strides toward us, her arms swinging.

  “There you are, dear,” she says to me. “I need you to go to the office immediately. Someone’s there waiting for you.”

  “Huh? Who?”

  “Go find out. Don’t keep your visitor waiting. It’s impolite.” She flicks her hands in the direction of the gardening office.

  I stumble toward the small building that holds our datafiles and crop records. My angry thoughts disintegrate, replaced by jitters. Commander Farrow could be waiting inside, planning to grill me more about my escape—or about Blake’s supposed alcohol brewing. Or it could be Lieutenant Boggs, wanting to know why my education cases were left in his outbuilding.

  Oh, no. That has to be it. I should’ve gone back to the outbuilding to get the cases.

  With my heart revving into a faster beat, I step to the office door and open it.

  Chapter Twelve

  To my astonishment, the figure in the chair by the desk isn’t Lieutenant Boggs. It isn’t Commander Farrow, either. It’s Aubrie, sitting straight, her hands folded on her knees. When I come in, she jumps up in obvious distress.

  The door closes behind me with a click. “Aubrie?”

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “Okay.” I frown. Has something happened since we left our sessions?

  She groans. “I’ve been mean the last couple of days, ignoring you. I’m sorry I’ve been so selfish. I know I don’t deserve forgiveness, but…”

  She cares. She’s not rejecting me because of Blake. Relief hits me like a full body slam. “Sure, I forgive you. It’s been really weird not talking to you.” Maybe there’s hope for us after all, if she can forget about Zemik and get on board with the reality of the aliens.

  I step over and kiss her. Her mouth melts into mine, her hands press against my back.

  “Jay,” she says when we pause. “I’ve missed you. Your mom showed up at the preschool and asked me to come here and patch things up with you. But I was already thinking about doing it. Honest, I was.”

  I try to speak, but the words stick in my mouth. Mom took time off from the gardens to talk with my girlfriend about our relationship? That’s way twisted. I have a sneaky suspicion the main reason Aubrie apologized is because Mom told her to fix things with me. Aubrie’s the obedient type. She probably convinced herself she wants to be with me and that it’s the right thing to do. But I’m not so sure anymore. My confidence that we should be together is shriveling fast into a deep, black hole.

  “We shouldn’t waste our time together,” Aubrie says. “In twelve days, you’ll be heading off to Fort Hope. I won’t see you for two long weeks.”

  Reality crashes in even harder. I swallow with an effort, untangle my arms from around her curvy waist, and step to the door. I open it and check to make sure Mom’s not nearby, listening in. She’s not, so I return to Aubrie and place my hands on her shoulders. “Aubrie. If I went to Fort Hope after my ceremony, I wouldn’t be there waiting when you finished your ceremony.”

  Her smile falters. “What are you talking about? There’s nowhere else you could go. Unless you mean you’d leave in your cloudskimmer without me…”

  I sink into the chair and pull her onto my lap. Time to try again. Maybe she’ll listen now, since I have new facts and proof. She has to admit the danger we’re in. “That’s not the reason. Listen. I haven’t taken my nightly pill since Saturday, and I made an imprintus of what I saw. Harrel, Peyton, and Leonard didn’t take their pills, and they saw the exact same—”

  “I don’t want to hear that garbage!” Aubrie springs from my lap like I’ve stung her. “Your mom’s right. You shouldn’t be hanging out with those rebels, and I don’t know why Harrel’s involved in something this stupid. You’re messing up our future. It doesn’t matter what you all think you saw. I swear, Jay Lawton, if that’s what you’re going to say to everyone tonight at Harrel’s, I’m going to talk to your parents—or Commander Farrow. I’ll tell them you’re not taking your pills and you’re having hallucinations.”

  I gape at her, my lungs squeezing tight. “You can’t do that! You’d put me in serious danger.”

  “You should be taking your pills so you’re not seeing bizarre things. I love my parents, and I’m not buying what you’re saying. I thought you loved your parents, too.”

  “They’re not who I thought they were,” I say in a half whisper, half hiss. “They’re aliens, and they’re going to—”

  “Stop.” Aubrie’s eyes are glittery, her cheeks flushed. “You have to take your pills to stop the hallucinations. Whatever scary stuff you think you saw or caught on an imprintus, I don’t want to know about it. I want things to be like they used to be. You and me, our old plans, meeting in Fort Hope after my ceremony. We’ll explore Promise City. See fantastic stuff. No more arguments about Blake, no more talk about spiny fanged lobsters.”

  I sag against the chair. She’s in denial, holding onto a pack of lies to feel stable. Maybe during the next twelve days I can go along with her demands while I figure out a safe way to convince her. I can’t risk her reporting me to my parents or Farrow. Tonight at Harrel’s, I’ll have to tell the others I was just worried about Aubrie and me not being together, but now we’re back to normal.

  Then I’ll have to lie to Aubrie about the pills. Because as sure as the blistering sun, I’m not going to start taking them again.

  “Fine,” I say. “If you don’t talk about Blake to me, I won’t talk about aliens. Promise me you won’t
tell any adults about what I saw, either. Please.”

  She fixes her hair and straightens her shirt. Leaning down, she gives me a quick kiss that feels bittersweet. “It’s a deal. I have to get back to work. I’ll meet you at the Nebula tonight.”

  …

  The next morning at the education compound, I slip my arm around Aubrie’s waist and walk to our first session. My motions are automatic, forced into my old habits while my mind zings elsewhere. Hating that I have to fake our relationship. Wishing Mom would’ve left things alone. Wanting everything I’ve learned the past few days to be a nasty dream I’ll wake up from soon.

  In the session room, we take our seats. Wonders of the universe, Peyton and Leonard are already sitting at their desks. I guess they’re playing it safe for a while. But I don’t really see the point of good grades and consistent training attendance anymore.

  Or doing what we’re told. Meaningless.

  No punishment is worse than being eaten by aliens after our ceremonies. Now, the worst thing the aliens can threaten us with is banishment.

  Banishment. The word zaps me so hard I grip the sides of my desk. My eyes water, and I blink a few times. Is banishment an actual option, something we could do? If all the graduates got exiled to the outer zones, we could escape our death sentences…even though we’d be exposed to genomide dust. Maybe we could group together and travel to a less contaminated place—assuming such a place exists—and set up a colony of our own.

  My knuckles turn white. It’s insane to think banishment could be our one chance to survive, but it might be true, especially now that the guards have been increased.

  Can I really reverse eighteen years of responsible living in less than two weeks? It’ll be easier for Peyton and Leonard, whose scores probably aren’t as high. For Harrel and me, we’d have to commit full, outright mutiny. We’d have to flunk exams. Skip sessions, ignore our required community work, and maybe even drink alcohol.

  I sneak a sharp glance across the room at Peyton. She’s wearing black pants paired with the brightest red shirt I’ve ever seen. Her head is bent over her datafilm, her skin looking soft and brown, her profile somehow vulnerable and strong at the same time. I wonder whether she really gave up her last batch of brew to the commander. I’d also like to know if her story about Blake making the alcohol in the woods is true or just a clever cover-up.