Chapter 13

Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow

"Captain, please sit down", ordered the commandant. "The boy has survived alone in the forest, he can answer the questions without help."

Captain Harkness rolled his eyes, but his grin didn't fade.

"Of course, sir, I never doubted it. Just wanted to make sure young Jack here was comfortable."

Funny thing, no one at the table seemed to believe him. But he sat down, and Edie swallowed. He was suddenly very conscious about his own appearance, even though he hadn't cared about it for months. He didn't know that much about humans, but he was sure his new body wasn't normal under Earth standards. The pale skin could pass as unusual, but at least the last time he'd seen his own hair it'd been as white as paper. That was weird in kids, right?

"Jack, I'm commandant Usman, head of the military in this base. We don't want to harm you" said the commandant, in that awful high-pitched voice adults used with little kids. "We just need you to answer some questions, alright?"

"Yes, commandant. But I would like to ask you some questions, too, if that's alright."

His hands were sweaty, so he slipped them inside his pockets. He had to act confident, or they would treat him like a baby for however long he stayed there. Problem was, he was more than a little nervous.

If the adults were surprised, they didn't show it.

"It is, Jack, of course you can" continued the commandant. He was sitting up right now, as if he was taking Edain more seriously. "How about you sit with us and we can have a conversation like civilised people?"

Success. Edie nodded with a smile and sat on the nearest empty chair, next to Ellen. This was going to be a very long conversation.

"Are you really just ten years old?"

"Yes…"

"And you're only partially human?"

"Yes…"

"On your father's side, is that correct?"

"Yes…"

Edie sighed. It was the third time someone asked him the exact same questions. They'd been at the table for hours, and he was getting hungry.

"Where are your parents?"

"Dead…"

"Isn't there anybody taking care of you?"

"No…"

"What are your intentions on this planet?"

"I've told you five times already, I'm just a traveller. You know, if you wanted to look for inconsistencies in my story you could ask harder questions. It'd be more interesting for all of us."

"This is a security protocol, Jack. We have to follow the rules because…"

"Right, sorry. I forgot all security protocols have specific instructions for when a kid shows up at your base. Can't we just speed it up? I mean, doctor Tanaka is almost asleep already, and look at captain Harkness! He's been flirting with Professor Haile for twenty minutes at least!"

"As if that was unusual", muttered Ellen under her breath.

Commander Usman turned red.

"If you're going to disrespect the rules of this base, we will not allow you inside."

Edie held back another sarcastic remark.

"I'm not trying to disrespect you, commander, but this procedure is just too slow. Isn't there a way to-?"

An alarm cut through the air, and everyone rose from their seats. Doctor Tanaka woke up and screamed something about a toaster. Captain Harkness let go of Professor Haile's hand and took a sonic blaster out of his pocket. The other scientists rushed to their telescopes. Commander Usman brought out a radio and started giving out orders that no one could hear. Edie left the table amidst the chaos, and reached the door to see what was going on.

He opened the door, and immediately regretted it. A cloud of dark smoke hit him, and gave him a coughing fit. His lungs burned as if he was getting sick. He pulled up his sweatshirt to stop breathing the smoke, and tried looking again.

He couldn't see much outside, but there were flashes of light here and there, and he felt somebody pass right next to him, even though he couldn't see a thing. The alarm still blasted at full volume, deafening him and making it impossible to know anything else. The smoke got in his lungs despite his precautions, and his eyes were watery from the fumes. He doubled over, coughing again.

Somebody pulled him inside.

"What are you doing?". It was captain Harkness. He'd somehow lost his gun, and was looking at him as if he was crazy. Edie was getting real tired of that look.

They closed the door and Edain leaned against the wall, still coughing.

"What's going on?"

"It's the dragons", answered the captain, running to the stairs. "And you just let their poisonous smoke inside. Good job, Jack."

Ed didn't bother responding. He took a look around the room. Most of the soldiers had gone outside (wearing gas masks, he noticed. Clever people), and a few of them stood at the windows, shooting at anything they could see. Outside, there was nothing but smoke and figures appearing and disappearing through it.

The alarm finally stopped, and the noise of the fight was finally audible. There were screams, shots, roars and fire. The dome had turned into a battlefield.

Well, that was something he understood.

His brain started working at full speed. The base was being attacked. His androids were missing. The only tools he had were a screwdriver and a pen, and they weren't even sonic.

Oh, boy, he thought. This is going to be fun.

He dusted off his clothes and went to help.

He got to professor Haile first. The scientist was working on a computer, programming something as fast as he could, and it was obviously not working, judging by his face.

Edie took a peak at the screen.

"Need any help?"

Professor Haile jumped in surprise.

"You can work with computers?"

"A bit, yeah. What's the problem?"

"Oh, well, I can't put up the second barriers. The system is malfunctioning?"

"Oh, damn. Alright, let's see. You've restarted it, right?"

"Of course, kiddo. Three times, from different settings. Still not working."

"Really? Well, that probably means the problem is in the program itself then. How long is it?"

"Four pages. There's no way we can rewrite it before the second horde comes."

"Second?"

"Yes, they come in turns. This is only the first one. They try breaking the barriers, and if we can't put up the next ones, they'll destroy the base. There are five barriers total, ten if you count the emergency systems."

Edie made a face.

"Yikes. Uh… Have you checked the stability of the cables?"

"It's fine. The problem seems to be with the energy generators."

They stayed silent for a moment, thinking rapidly. They couldn't fix the generators from there, could they? It was impossible to reprogram them from a distance. Unless…

"Hey", Edie burst out. "Have you tried reversing the polarity?"

"What?"

"Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow. That'll start the opposite generators, and put up the barriers."

Professor Haile looked puzzled.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Give it here." Edie didn't wait a second. He took the computer out of the professor's hands, and started typing as fast as he could.

Around him, the soldiers kept the fight against the dragons. Edie saw commander Usman from the corner of his eye, looking outside the door and holding a pistol; Captain Harkness rushed past him with a grenade launcher, followed by three other soldiers; two scientists whose names he couldn't remember had gotten hold of bulletproof vests and were still saving their projects from the fire; even professor Haile, by his side, was directing other people.

He finally finished the program, and pressed Enter.

"Go!"

There was a faint sound, and then the building trembled. Edie felt a rush of energy build up below the floor and escape outside. Some of the soldiers screamed, and the sound of the battle faded abruptly. Now, everything he could hear was the crackling fire, and fainted dragon roars.

Professor Haile was looking at him in awe.

"Kid, you put up the barriers all at once. You really have to teach me that trick."