Finally, the day arrived when Rhonin summoned Kanden and Linnea Helix to the access tube.

The power had finally been restored, much to everyone's shock and delight. One afternoon during the daily change of shift, several lights had suddenly flooded the main level. Though some fixtures didn't work, most had been repaired with spare parts and scrap metal while Engineering and a small Maintenance crew worked on the satellites beneath the dome on the top floor.

Then came the flood of questions. When would they open the vault? Was it safe to go outside? Was this another false hope?

The Council had hidden away in their chambers, refusing to answer anyone until the Founding Families went to the top and determined their fate.

Now at the tunnels, Ryker, along with Zephyr and Father (bouncing Eudora in his arms), joined them as Yasmin led Linnea by the hand to the small group. Arlo and Marina were present as well, shifting from one foot to the other with visible anxiety.

Zephyr stood apart from everyone else, refusing to meet Kanden's eyes. He didn't speak either as he clenched his fists around the crutch handles. Kanden wondered why he'd come at all since they hadn't exchanged more than five words since the wedding.

The little girl sucked her thumb and clung to Yasmin, who had come with them. Orphaned during the riots, Linnea had been placed with other children without parents, and she'd apparently struggled to fit in. According to Yasmin, no family wanted to take her in, and her peers shunned her.

"I don't want to go," she whimpered, retreating back a step.

"It'll be fine," Rhonin said softly.

Linnea squeaked and hid behind Yasmin. "You don't know that!"

Empathy surged through Kanden's chest. He couldn't say whether her family would have told her to suck it up and press forward anyway. She was scared now though, and lying wouldn't do her any good.

Kneeling beside Yasmin, Kanden watched Linnea until she peeked behind the older enforcer's leg through wet lashes. "Hey," he whispered. "I'm scared too."

Her eyes widened and her thumb left her mouth with a loud pop. "You are?"

Kanden nodded. "Never grew out of it. Being afraid isn't a weakness; fear is what makes you strong."

"How?"

Rhonin stepped away while Yasmin followed Kanden's lead and squatted so she was also at eye level. Neither said anything as the latter tried to coax the little girl out of her shell.

"Fear makes you more careful," he explained. "You know there's danger, so you make sure to make good choices. But that doesn't mean it's easy to push past an obstacle."

Wiping a sleeve over her nose, she sniffed. "Why do we have to go up there? I'm scared of the dark."

"I am too," he admitted as he extended his hand.

"Really? But you're one of the enforcers. You guys aren't afraid of anything."

Kanden chuckled. "I'm afraid of everything. Would you feel safe if I carry you up the ladder? We can create a harness to keep you from falling."

Tears fell, and she trembled. Several seconds passed before she finally approached him, sucking her thumb again. "You promise you'll hold on tight?"

"Cross my heart." For emphasis, he drew an X over his chest. "You want to leave this place, right?"

She nodded and held his hand, making his heart leap unexpectedly. No one had ever put this much trust in him before. She was like him now; labeled as different simply for being born to a specific family. If anyone understood what that was like, it was Kanden.

"Let's do this," Rhonin said, handing glow sticks to Kanden and Arlo. Attaching a light to a tactical vest he'd looted from the supply lockers upstairs, he outlined their plan.

"It's just going to be us," he said, indicating himself, Arlo, Linnea, and Kanden. "Engineering and Maintenance cleared the upper levels and restored power. Our mission is to go up there and try to access the control room. That's where we'll find out if we're getting out of here."

"And how does this involve us?" Kanden asked, still wondering how this involved the Founding Families.

Rhonin sighed. "It wasn't in your manual, but there was a manual specific to the evacuation process in Helix's vault." Laughing weakly, he bleated, "My family's book held the original charter and the governing laws meant to be implemented within the society. Turns out a few got crossed out and changed before switching hands."

Kanden groaned. This wasn't a surprise; he'd always known the Founding Families had been corrupt. To hear it and know evidence existed somehow made it worse. By birth, he felt complicit even though he understood it wasn't his fault.

He raked his fingers through his hair. "Ugh, what a mess. I take it you know what we're supposed to do?"

Rhonin nodded. "Yep. We needed the power so that when we get upstairs, we have to give a small sample of blood. It took Engineering awhile to figure out the old tech, but they're in. It's requesting DNA confirmation, which will go through some fancy machine. After that..."

He shrugged, raising his eyebrows as if to say what happened next was anyone's guess.

Could be worse, Kanden reasoned. He'd faced a riot and watched Sabre murder his mother. Even if this mission failed, everyone would finally have an answer to their situation. Either they'd go to Overland, or they'd slowly die Underground.

"I guess there's only one way to find out," he said, projecting more confidence than he felt.

With a lopsided grin, Rhonin clapped him on the arm. "That's the spirit, Calvorite."

As Rhonin went to retrieve straps to build a harness, Father approached, still holding the baby to his chest as if someone would snatch her from his arms. "You going to be all right, son?"

Kanden nodded. "Yeah. Getting stuck in the crawl space was worse. At least this way, I know we tried every last possibility to get to the surface. No room for regrets."

Failure would be devastating, but Kanden wouldn't blame himself or anyone else. Hopefully, things would go well, and they could rebuild. Humanity could try one more time to get it right and not kill each other or the planet.

Ryker came next and pulled Kanden in for a kiss. Touching his chest where Kanden's necklace hung beneath his tunic, Ryker said, "I believe in you. No matter what happens, be proud of yourself. You've gotten further than anyone else has to finding a way out."

"You too," Kanden replied while holding his husband close. "No one would have found this place if it weren't for you and your dad."

Tears pooled in Ryker's eyes as he sniffed. "Yeah. Kind of feels nice to be right for once."

Kanden laughed and kissed him again. "You realize you have to go up that ladder again, eventually."

"I'll cross that bridge when we get there," he mumbled, making Kanden chuckle. "Just get the doors open. I'll be here when you get back."

After releasing each other, Kanden tentatively proceeded toward Zephyr, who still wouldn't look at him. He didn't try to run, though, so Kanden approached until they were within arms' reach of each other. "Hey."

"Hi."

Zephyr's response was little more than a whisper as he stared at the ground. His shoulders hunched defeated over the crutches.

"Zeph..."

"Please don't," Zephyr uttered in a broken whisper. "I never had a shot with you. It's not your fault."

Guilt gripped Kanden's chest. His unreciprocated feelings weren't anyone's fault; no one could help it, and both were entitled to their emotions. What he hoped more than anything was whether their friendship could survive. "I didn't mean to hurt you, you know."

Pained green irises met his, and tears fell as Zephyr blinked. "You could never willingly hurt anybody. We'll figure this out. Just...try to come back in one piece, all right?"

Kanden nodded before wrapping Zephyr in a tight hug, relieved when his best friend returned it. "I couldn't have done any of this without you."

Zephyr chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. Now go be amazing. We'll be here when you get back."

With everyone's goodbyes said after a scandalously long kiss shared between Rhonin and Marina, Kanden stepped into his harness. Arlo nervously took the lead and climbed up a few steps, making room for Kanden.

With Linnea had been hooked to his straps and wrapping her tiny arms around Kanden's neck, they went next. Rhonin followed close behind, and the trio made their way up in the dark.

Feet against metal echoed inside the cylindrical tube, making Linnea cling tighter to Kanden. "I don't want to do this," she sniffed.

"It's okay," Kanden assured her. "I've been up here a couple of times now. It's only dark inside the tunnel, okay? Then we'll see if we can open the door at the very top and go to the surface."

Below, Rhonin said, "The power will be on upstairs. We fixed all the essential systems we could with our priority on the upper levels."

Up, up, up there climbed until they reached the offices. Like Rhonin had said, the lights were on this time. When Kanden last visited, the long corridor had been eerie. With light bathing the floor in a sterile glow, the halls and offices revealed a long-lost moment of chaos frozen in time. Chairs still lay on their sides, yellowed papers scattered the floor, and various objects had been broken or fallen off counters and tables.

The second level told much of the same story, except the lockers all sat open, footprints had upset a thick layer of dust, and rubble littered each side of the hall.

"Took us forever to clear this," Rhonin announced as he took the lead. "An earthquake seems to have been the culprit for all this rather than an insurrection or riot, so we can rest easy knowing we didn't inflict this catastrophe."

At the very end of the corridor, Rhonin opened a door and led them into a room different from all the others Kanden had thus far familiarized himself. Tech lined every single wall; screens and keyboards took all the table space, earth stained chairs sat pushed under the desks, and a giant electronic island took the center space.

The central node consisted of a hard, halved gray sphere. A panel protruded from one section with enough space to fit one hand.

"What now?" Kanden asked, unhooking Linnea from his harness. When he set her down, she grabbed his leg and clung to him like her life depending on it.

Arlo went to a station nearby and powered it on. The screen flickered to life as he rolled the chair out and sat. On the desk, Kanden noticed a slip of paper with very scratchy handwriting.

"I need to boot up the system," Arlo explained while studying something on the paper. Then he pecked at the buttons on the keyboard while letters appeared on the monitor.

A loud, artificial voice boomed and shook the room. "Unauthorized presence. Please confirm your identity."

"Shit, what was that?" Kanden demanded. He'd nearly pissed himself at the unexpected noise.

"You said a bad word," Linnea whispered.

Rhonin clamped his mouth shut as he did a terrible job at containing his giggles.

Spinning around in his chair, Arlo indicated the island. The panel, which had been lifeless before, now glowed and pulsed with green light. "According to the manual, you three are to prick your finger, drop a small amount of blood into the sample tray, and wait for the system to check your DNA. The founding engineers designed an automated system to do all the work."

And keep us trapped. Kanden couldn't think of any other reason to limit access to three genetic families. If any had died without descendants, the results would have been disastrous.

With a shrug, Rhonin went first and picked up the tray that extended from the panel. Three syringes sealed in separate packages lined the tray. Opening it, he took the first and asked, "Okay, how do these work?"

Consulting his notes, Arlo said, "Twist off the plastic cap. Then press it to your finger and hold it until it pricks the skin. Once you draw blood, drop it in the sample tray."

Kanden and Rhonin both inspected the blinking light that read SAMPLE DEPOSIT in ancient block letters.

Linnea cried and rapidly shook her head against Kanden's leg. "No more blood! No more blood! Daddy was stabbed in the face, no more blood!"

Kanden's blood froze as he remembered Mother choking on her own blood. "It's okay," he squeaked, dropping to her level and placing both hands on her shoulders. "My mother was killed too. It's just a small prick, and then we're done, all right? We're not going to die."

The little girl popped her thumb back into her mouth and continued to weep. "I don't want to!"

"Shh, shh, it's going to be fine," he promised. "I'll be right here with you. We'll be okay."

In reality, Kanden really didn't know, but this was their only way to find out. Taking her hand, he led her to the node and gathered her into his arms and rocked from side to side with her. "Get it over with, Rhonin."

Nodding, the senior Enforcer pressed the syringe casing to his finger and grunted when a spring snapped. Discarding the needle, Rhonin squeezed the skin around his finger and dropped blood into the tray.

The panel closed with a snap as a red light flashed. A few seconds passed while everyone held their breath before the light turned green and a new, clean tray appeared.

"DNA confirmed," the robotic voice said in a gender neutral tone. "Welcome, Garasone descendant."

Arlo laughed breathlessly and pressed a hand to his heart. "Goodness, I can't believe that worked. Okay, you next, my boy."

Kanden held out a hand to Rhonin. "Can you do it? I've got my arms full."

Repeating the process with the next syringe, Kanden jerked but otherwise didn't express his discomfort as he dropped blood into the tray.

"DNA confirmed. "Welcome, Calvorite descendent."

"You can do this," Kanden said to Linnea. "I need you to be brave so we can all get to the surface, okay?"

Linnea's arms tightened around his neck. "I don't want to."

"People are counting on us," he reasoned. "It doesn't even hurt after a second."

She shook her head, and Kanden lifted his hand to stop Rhonin and Arlo, who both opened their mouths as if to speak.

"Linnea, please. We can't do this without you."

Dull blue eyes peeked up at him. "But what about afterwards? Everyone is mean; what if they make me stay Underground forever?"

Oh. Kanden squeezed her in a fierce hug. "I won't let that happen. You can come home with me and Ryker. We both know what it's like to lose our parents, and you don't have to be alone."

"You'll be like a big brother?"

Kanden nodded, overwhelmed by her innocent acceptance. "I'd be honored to be your big brother. But now I need you to be a brave little sister and give some blood, okay? I'll be right here with you."

Finally, Linnea held out her hand for Rhonin while keeping her head buried in Kanden's chest. She squeaked when the spring popped, yanking her hand away the moment Rhonin released the needle.

Once her blood was in the tray and the system welcomed her as Helix's descendant, a kaleidoscope of blue and purple lights bathed the room. Around them, an electric current vibrated from inside the walls, humming with energy. Then, a holographic image sprang to life above the node, taking the appearance of a non-binary human with short hair.

Its hollow eyes blinked as it scanned the occupants. Extending hands outward in a welcoming gesture, the hologram spoke in a monotone voice—less robotic but still not at all human. "Welcome, Founding Families. Please state your command."

Setting Linnea down beside him, Kanden gaped at the technology. Rhonin wasn't much better; for the first time, he actually looked stunned.

Facing Kanden, Rhonin shrugged. "Uh... Would you call me a coward if I tell you to take it away?"

Kanden laughed. "No, but I'll run you later til you puke."

"Done." Rhonin didn't offer a single argument as he retreated and pulled Linnea with him. He must have been really nervous to let his subordinate's cheeky comment slide without a reproach.

With a deep breath, Kanden addressed the hologram. "Can you open the caverns so we can go to Overland?"

Something whirred overhead as the hologram processed his request. Then, "Assessing safety and essential systems. In the meantime, I can grant you access to the departure tunnel, which includes a view of the exterior terrain. Would you like to proceed?"

"Yes!"

Kanden and Rhonin shouted at the same time and traded grins.

A door ahead between a row of monitors flashed green before sliding open. With Arlo and Linnea in tow, the enforcers led the way.

A long tunnel opened up, but what made this location different from every other place within the Caverns was the steel catwalk encased by thick glass. Outside the glass, the terrain was pitch black, and a sliver of light that resembled a fingernail shone through a cloudy substance above. What attracted Kanden the most though were thousands of glittering lights, twinkling overhead.

"Stars." Hundreds of thousands of millions of stars blinked in the black sky, stealing Kanden's breath from his lungs.

A small hand slipped into his, and Kanden hefted Linnea onto his shoulders so she could see them too. "They're so prettyyyyyy."

Rhonin and Arlo slowly joined the pair, each gripping the rail as their heads tilted back. "We did it," the former whispered. "We actually made it to the top."

~*~

We are soooooo close to the end! Are you ready?

I'm going to keep this brief so you can enjoy the moment. We'll find out very shortly whether the Undergrounders make it out.

If you enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to vote! All feedback and comments are welcome.