****
"Come back with us," River whispered, reaching back to take Geming's arm and wrap it around her waist.
"I can't," he replied, kissing the back of her neck, "If I go through that portal, I become what I hate. The second I step into that cube, I would become a weapon."
"You said that the knowledge isn't of any use on Earth. Maybe that means you wouldn't still be a weapon once you stepped out of the Wall."
"What other option do you have?" Jordan asked, "From what you've said, there are some people who are probably eager to make you not exist anymore. You can't stay here."
"We would have to go tonight. Everyone is watching the meteors. It is the one tradition that we all know."
The words felt meaningful and intense, and they hung heavily in the air as the three paused, soaking in the last moments of shared warmth before getting up and getting dressed again.
River held Jordan's hand behind her and Geming's in front of her as they walked down the metal stairs in the warehouse. She grabbed her backpack from where she left it on the floor and they walked out into a dark night brightened only by the flashes of color across the sky.
They had been walking for a few minutes when River heard a metallic scraping sound beside her. She turned just in time to see one of the small round vehicles coming toward them between two buildings, long metal arms sprouting from its sides. They started to run, but the robotic creature moved quickly, slithering around Geming and tackling him to the ground.
"Geming!" River shrieked.
"Go on!" Geming shouted, thrashing against the metal arm that held him tightly and was slowly dragging him across the rubber ground.
"No!"
"Go! Once the Patrol catches you, it's over. There's nothing I can do."
"Did they teach you that?" Jordan asked, running forward and grabbing Geming by the shirt, trying to pull him back.
"Yes."
River dropped her backpack to the ground and rummaged through it for a moment, then ran headlong toward the Patrol robot. As she approached, she realized that it was even smaller than she had imagined and she could see the vulnerable places where the arms emerged from the round body. They had all been holding onto Geming, but one now released him and started slithering toward Jordan.
"They may have taught you that," River said, opening the bottle in her hand, "But I know differently."
She shoved the mouth of the bottle into the open joint between the body and the arm and squeezed the sides, spraying soda into the robot. It immediately started to spark and jolt. Geming cried out as the arms tightened on him, but a moment later, they let go and he was able to scramble to his feet.
The three of them started running as fast as they could back to the building. Jordan lifted his cell phone to the walls to activate them with the light and they weaved their way through the corridors until they were finally back in the room with the cube.
Only when the wall closed behind them did they look at each other. Jordan laughed and shook his head.
"Soda?" he asked.
River shrugged.
"I guess it's even bad for terrifying technology."
They approached the side of the cube and River turned to Geming.
"What will happen if you go through the portal?"
"I will know and feel everything from the entire history of my kind. It will turn me into a weapon capable of destroying the universe."
"Do you know that for sure?"
"I know that is the weapon my kind has used since its beginning. It has given us the ability to win every conflict we have ever entered."
"And what will happen if you stay?"
"The Patrol will capture me and I will be brought up in front of the government and likely condemned."
"Are those your only options?" Jordan asked.
"What do you mean?"
"You said that the teachers here tell the people what they are to learn and they spend their lives innovating and advancing in that area."
"Yes."
"But you've learned beyond what they chose for you. It didn't make you a weapon, it made you stronger. Don't you think there could be a balance? Think of the meteors tonight. You said they are one tradition that everyone on this planet knows about."
"It is. It happens every year."
"Do you think that losing that tradition would be good for your kind?"
Geming stared at River, sadness in his eyes.
"No."
"The past does not have to be sacrificed for the future."
"What would happen if this cube wasn't here anymore? Could people still be weaponized?"
Geming looked at the cube and then back at Jordan. He picked up the silver bar he had used early and pressed it through the glass to gather more of the silver drifting down through the cube. Gathering it in his hand, he spread it across one wall. The moving image that appeared was of the cube from what looked like a very long time before. He scrutinized it, and then turned to them.
"The cube contains the information in the right concentration that any of my kind who step into it are changed. If the cube wasn't there and the portal was opened, the knowledge would flow freely. No one could be burdened with everything, or with nothing."
He touched River's face.
"Do you have to go back?" he asked.
She reached for Jordan and pulled him closer, then cupped her hand around Geming's face.
"I'm not going anywhere without you," she kissed Geming, then Jordan, "Either of you."
Jordan crossed the room and pried another of the silver bars out of the wall. He walked back to the cube and touched the tip to the wall. It slipped through just as Geming’s had. Jordan turned it to the side and tapped the wall with the side of the bar, creating a low sound as the metal hit the solid glass.
"Let's start a revolution."
Both men pulled back their bars and swung them with tremendous force into the cube, shattering it. River drew both boys close and watched as the tiny silver flakes drifted toward the walls, splashing across them and surrounding them with images.
Everything had changed in a single second, and she knew she never wanted it to go back.
THE END