Fire and Ice

Chapter 41 † Kayleigh

I watch as the first officer walks back down the hall.

"That was weird," Petra says.

"Yeah..."

I check my arm screens again.

It's up.

----------------

"Sir, Locke and Demosthenes posted articles supporting the end of the war."

"All net sites are failing due to overloaded servers."

The Strategos turns to look at Rackham and Anderson.

"This was coordinated," he mutters.

"I agree," Rackham says. "It's probably Kayleigh."

"That's why she interfered with the battle."

"I think so." The Strategos walks over to the table and sits down, putting his head in his hands.

"We're really in for it."

---------------

∞∞

The IF started doing damage control as quickly as they could, shutting down angry netizens by claiming Kayleigh was working with them.

And then I posted Kayleigh's article at 0434 hours. I locked the front door, back door and the gate, and sat in my room as I watched everything crumble.

There's riots in the streets of Europe and Africa. Buildings, destroyed by furious rioters, all screaming the same thing.

LET THEM OUT. LET THEM OUT.

The IF headquarters are being bombarded by teens and adults with chairs and sticks.

Chaos reins.

And who better to stop it than Peter Wiggin.

The great Locke, finally revealed. A call for peace and negotiation.

He offers to take the place of the Hegemon, but to unite all states and people, under the promise to bring Ender and Kayleigh back home to Earth, to safety.

To end the war that the masses so dearly believed in three days ago.

Pitiful, sometimes, the hive mind of humanity. We may consider ourselves more intelligent and better than the buggers because we won a few skirmishes, but we are, in truth, less refined. We may have individual thoughts and minds, but we have hive tendencies that only manifest in times of great anger or fear, causing us to act rashly.

Truly pitiful.

I watch from the safety of my bed as my older brother makes promises I know he will not keep, with the knowledge that my younger brother is a prisoner of war in some far off battle cruiser.

««

All hell is breaking loose.

The Command School students sit in their rooms terrified as we are bombed by Lord knows who for the upteenth time today. No officers will do their damn jobs because "that's what the Strategos wants me to do, and I hate him now because Ender and Kayleigh are locked up." Andrej and I are holding Eros together by threads.

"There's supposed to be a planet-wide vote tomorrow concerning Peter, the Strategos, and the other leadership," Einri states from his station.

"Good," Andrej spits. "I'm tired of doing other people's jobs." A loud clamor from the hall that sounds like every officer on Eros walking in the same place echoes into the control room and begins to shake our bones.

"Have you called the Intergalactic Senate?"

"Didn't need to. They're already in their way."

†††

Petra and I curl up in the corners to try and get some sleep. Of course, something itches in the back of my mind that I can't shake, some otherworldly presence that wants me to acknowledge it.

So I sit, awake.

Bored.

I wonder how Ender's doing.

I glance around the room, and notice a small lip on the ceiling, showing a small section of the tile that sits there. Perfect. I quietly stand up, glancing at Petra to make sure she stays asleep. I run my hand along the wall, feeling for a grip I could use. I find none. Damn. I walk over to the barred cell door and use it and a foot braced against the wall to hoist myself up. I reach my hand up and push gently on what I think is a ceiling tile. It gives under the gentle pressure from my fingertips, and I easily slide it out of the way to create a hole big enough for me to crawl into.

[]

At some point in my tracing I must have fallen asleep. Good. I'll need my energy tomorrow for whatever's coming. I'm sure I can figure a way out of this. I glance at my cell door to make sure no one's looking, and then up at my ceiling. A large hole appeared since the last time I looked at it three seconds ago. Two boots drop through the hole, followed by a torso and tightly braided black hair.

"Kayleigh," I breathe.

"Yup," she winks. "Just thought I'd check up on you." I run over and hug her, and she returns it, pressing her face into my shoulder.

"You gotta plan?" I ask.

"Help is arriving soon." I smile and squeeze her a little tighter.

"How'd I know you'd say that?" She pushes off me and winks.

"Guess you've finally learned my pattern."

"Wait, where's Petra?"

"Sleeping."

"And you're not because...?"

"Because help is coming and I'm antsy about what's happening on Earth. I wish we could get out sooner."

"May as well sleep then."

"Now you sound like Petra," Kayleigh teases.

"C'mon. We all need to sleep."

"Yeah. You're right. Guess I'll go, then." No, wait, what? "In case a guard comes in." No! Please don't leave me alone again!

"Wait!" I stammer as Kayleigh is turning to leave. She looks at me over her shoulder. "I... Uh. I want you to... Um... I just.. uh"

"Spit it out Ender."

"Please stay?" Kayleigh looks taken aback, but only for a moment. Then her features steel. Oh no. Too far?

"I mean," I quickly amend, " I've just been in here alone all day. It'd be nice to have some company?" Kayleigh turns around and looks at me. She shrugs as if to say why not? and walks over to the slab they told me is a bed and sits down. I follow suit, wrapping my arm around her shoulders. She leans her head against my chest and closes her eyes, and I do the same, falling asleep almost instantly.