D. MacHale - The Soldiers of Halla

I looked inside… and wished I hadn’t.

It was as hideous a sight as I imagined. My friend hung by the neck at the end of the rope. His head was cocked at an impossible angle. His body swayed slightly. All I could hope for was that his death had been quick. I began to shake uncontrollably. I don’t know what it was. Maybe some kind of outpouring of emotion. I guess it was my version of crying. I felt as if I were walking through a dream. A violent, impossible dream.

The Ravinian guards pulled me away from the door and brought me back toward the stairs that led up and into the Taj Mahal. We climbed. I didn’t resist. What was the point? When we reached the top of the stairs, Elli was there, being held by two dados. She was in tears. She didn’t say anything, and that was good. I wouldn’t have known how to respond. Nothing she could have said would make this better. I’d lost my best friend, and the person who pulled the switch was her daughter. We each had to deal with our own private agony.

The dado escorts moved us both toward the Taj Mahal. Elli didn’t put up a fight either. The next thing I registered was a small patrol of Ravinian guards walking toward us. Six in all. They marched in tight formation, two by two, holding silver weapons to their sides. As dazed as I was, something felt off to me. This team of dados was headed directly at us. Quickly. I sensed the hesitation on the part of the dados who were holding me. It seemed some odd game of chicken was about to be played out. I expected the oncoming dados to walk around us-after all, we were the ones who were being towed, so to speak. They didn’t. They came right for us.

The single dado who was leading us stopped. He didn’t know what was happening either. We all stopped, expecting the oncoming dados to skirt by. The lead dado raised his hand and motioned for the oncoming group to go around.

It was the last move he made.

The oncoming dados came within a few feet, and attacked. The first two nailed the dado out in front with their weapons. He fell instantly. I was pulled to the side by one of the two dados that were holding me. He didn’t join in the fight. He was all about keeping me under control. He threw me to the ground and sat on my back to keep me from moving. I had to struggle just to see what was happening. The two dados that had been holding Elli let her go and went for their weapons. Too late. All six of the attacking dados had their weapons drawn and mowed them down. They were fast and efficient. The attack took only a few seconds. Five dados went down. When it was done, the team of six regrouped and marched toward me.

I figured this was the end. It was an execution squad sent to take us out.

Elli ran to me and crouched down behind the one dado that hadn’t been wiped out. I expected him to jump up and make some final stand. Instead, he stayed on top of me. He was carrying out his mission until the end. The other six dados were nearly on us. They stood shoulder to shoulder, their weapons out and ready. I had no doubt that in moments, Elli and I would be back on Solara. Elli grabbed my hand and squeezed, bracing for an attack…

That never came. When the hit squad got to within a few yards of us, they stopped. Just like that. All six stood there staring at us silently. What the heck was going on? We stayed that way for a few seconds. The only sound I heard was my own heavy breathing. I twisted my head around to look up at the dado who was sitting on me. I figured the next move was his.

What I saw didn’t add up. It was the first time I took a close look at the robot. He was one of the dados that had been holding Mark up on the gallows platform. Now that I was close to him, I saw that he had the stubble of a beard. He sat staring at the line of dados. There was a long, silent moment.

Then the dado spoke. “Wow,” he said, breathless. “It actually w-worked.” He looked down, gave me a big smile and said, “Can we get out of here now?”

Yeah. It was Mark.

Thy best friend was alive.

He wasn’t hanging by his neck inside that silver tube. You’d think I would be hit with an overwhelming sense of relief and joy. Don’t get me wrong. I was. But at that moment, the overriding feeling was more one of total confusion.

“Wha-” was pretty much all I managed to gasp.

Mark shrugged. “This is the first time I’m okay with those dados looking like me.”

Elli gasped. “They executed a dado?”

“Yeah. He’s probably not even hurt.”

I glanced at the line of dados who had arrived to wipe out our escort party. They stood together, holding their weapons up, waiting for a command.

“They were ordered to protect me,” Mark explained. “Dados are handy to have around, so long as they’re on your side.”

I was still in a state of shock. “But… how?” “Nevva,” Mark said. “Nevva Winter?” I gasped.

Mark actually laughed. “You know anybody else named Nevva?”

I glanced over at Elli. Judging by the way she looked and the way I felt, we were both pretty stunned by that revelation.

“The plan was hers,” Mark continued. “Nevva saved me.”

The impossible truths kept getting more impossible. I couldn’t think fast enough to keep up.

“But why?” I croaked out. “What did she say?”

“Only that she wasn’t going to let me die. These dados will protect us until we get to the tunnel out of here, which we should do right now.”

I turned to Elli, thinking she would be even more thrilled by this news than I was. But Elli was gone. I looked around quickly to see that she was several yards away from us, running. She was headed into the Taj Mahal.

“Hey!” Mark shouted to her. Then to me he said, “What is she doing?”

I got to my feet. “She must be going after Nevva.”

“She can’t!” Mark went to run after her, but I stopped him.

“No, you gotta get out of here.”

“What? No! You can’t go after her. I don’t think Nevva’s going to protect you too.”

“It doesn’t matter. We’ll be okay. Elli and I can leave whenever we want. But not with you here. I hate to say it, Mark, but you’re a liability.”

“Uh… what?”

“I told you, we don’t need flumes to travel anymore. We can just leave. But you can’t. If these dados are going to get you to safety, you’ve got to go.”

Mark weighed my words. I knew he didn’t understand, but he wasn’t about to ask for an explanation. At least not then. There wasn’t time. We were still surrounded by a world of dados that weren’t programmed to protect him.

“Go back to your people,” I continued. “Keep searching for the exiles. If we want to help them, we have to find them.”

“And what’ll you do?” he asked.

“Get Elli and get out of here. After that, I don’t know. We’ve got to come up with a plan to stop that army of dados.”

I walked to one of the downed dados and picked up his weapon. He wouldn’t be needing it anymore.

“So this is it,” Mark said. “The turning point of Third Earth is also the final battle for Halla.”

“It’s sure looking like it,” I replied.

I hated to say good-bye. I’d already lost Mark once that day, I didn’t want to go through something like that again. “Go,” I said. “We’ll find you.”

Mark threw his arms around me. “I wish Courtney were here,” he said, his voice cracking.

I didn’t agree, but I didn’t say anything. This was actually the last place I wanted Courtney to be.

“Get back safe,” I said. “Don’t do anything dumb.”

“Dumb? Me? You forget who you’re talking to.”

Mark pulled back. There were tears in his eyes. I knew what he was thinking. It felt as if this might be the last time we would ever see each other.