Echoworld

Wren's instinct was to go and comfort the child, but Shaun grabbed her arm and shook his head. She angrily snatched her arm back.

"Our purpose isn't to protect one, but many," he pointed out. And he was right, though she hated to admit it.

"Which way?" she asked.

"North. Two days, unless, by some miracle, the metro is working." He began walking resolutely down a street. Wren followed closely.

"You mean you have a metro here?" she asked in surprise. She took the subway to work everyday on Delta, and was amazed that there was something so normal on Alpha.

Shaun didn't answer the question, but instead took unseen stairs down. If she hadn't been with him, she never would have noticed them. A high-pitched squeal of brakes told her that the subway was indeed working.

Once on the dark platform, she saw hundreds if not thousands of people wandering aimlessly. Shaun grabbed her hand. "Don't let go," he ordered. He then dragged her through the throng of people and onto the subway itself. Wren had never seen so many people in one place. And almost all of them had a hopeless look in their lightless eyes. They weren't down there to travel - they were there to die amongst others just like them.

She was relieved when the doors finally hissed shut and the metro began moving. Still gripping Shaun's hand, she moved over to a window. There was nothing to see, of course, but it felt like the subway was moving much faster than normal. "How long until we get there?" she inquired, still watching the window.

"Two and a half hours. Maybe a little more."

"What!" she exclaimed, then quickly lowered her voice. "How fast are we traveling?"

"Faster than you're used to. Just keep low and be quiet. We need to figure how to do this."

She sat down in a seat near him. She took her hand away and glared at him.

"No guards to worry about, but it is a big place, so - what?" He just noticed her glower.

She shook her head, still staring angrily.

"Fine. Rumour has it she works in a study from midnight to two, before she sleeps. Good, because we will get there about eleven or so."

As he continued to mutter to himself, her fury grew. She fanned her ire, hoping to gain enough anger to power her through her experiment. The subway was nearly empty, with only an old man sleeping in his chair towards the back.

How dare he tell her to sit down and shut up? Because he was familiar to the world, he was allowed to tell her what to do? No. She wouldn't stand for it on Delta and wouldn't allow it here. Besides, who was going to die on this expedition? Not him; he only had to tell her where to go for her to die.

He continued talking to himself, ignoring Wren altogether, it seemed. She continued glaring at him.

He flew off his seat as if pushed. He looked around, furiously trying to find who'd done it. Wren merely smiled.

"That - that was you?"

"Yeah. You really ticked me off."

He climbed unsteadily to his feet and sat next to her once again. He gave her as wide a berth as possible without seeming rude. "How?"

"Telling me to shut up, then trying to figure out a plan as if you were the only one working this through."

"I did that?"

She nodded.

"Sorry. Remind me never to do it again."

"It's all right. Actually, it wasn't your fault at all. I wanted to see if I could summon that much anger, see if I could control the headaches."

"And..."

"I can, to an extent.