Shutdown (Glitch)

pretend it wasn’t real. It was impossible. Everyone had seemed so confident the quake wouldn’t be a problem, and the techer had assured us he’d be able to track anything coming. Obviously we’d all been wrong.
    I felt sick as I frantically touched my wrist com. “There are fliers above the canyon!” I couldn’t keep the panic out of my voice. “Enact plan Emergency Exodus. Everyone get to the escape pods now!”
    I ran to the elevator and rode it down, pacing in the small space. Every second counted. Why was this elevator so slow? I bypassed the allergen shower and hit the button to open the door directly into the entry hall.
    When the doors opened, the small open foyer was crowded with confused people. Some of my team were there, along with Tyryn, Jilia, and the Professor. Max Jr. was crying again, but I was glad that Molla and the baby had made it here first. There were three escape pods in this room. They’d be able to get in one.
    The internal alarm started going off, a loud beeping that should alert everyone to get to the pod nearest to them.
    Xona ran up to me. “What’s going on? Ginni just com’d the techer and he said he hasn’t seen anything on the Sat Imagery.”
    “Then they’re cloaked somehow.” I strode forward. “I saw them with my own eyes. Three fliers, circling.”
    She swore.
    I let my telek expand out beyond my body, beyond the hallway, beyond the mountain and into the air. Yes, there they were. One was landing on a small ledge right near the transport bay where I’d been standing moments ago.
    “Shunt, they’re landing!” I looked at Jilia, Tyryn, and the Professor. “Get to your pods and start loading people in, quick as you can.” The pods would shuttle underground through to the other side of the mountain range before launching and turning into normal air transports. “Launch them as soon as they’re at capacity, there’s not much time.”
    They nodded, hearing what I didn’t say. Each pod could only seat up to fifteen. There were only ten working pods, and over three hundred people crammed in the Foundation at the moment. There wouldn’t be enough for everyone, but we still had to try to get as many people out of here as we could. I looked around for Henk but didn’t see him. Hopefully he was helping people into pods wherever he was.
    For a moment panic swallowed me. I’d failed everyone again. So many people would be left behind. But the next second, I realized there was no time for those thoughts now. I just needed to do what must be done.
    More and more refugees came in, shouting to know what was going on. Tyryn and Jilia started directing them into the pods on both sides of the entryway. One pod quickly filled up. They were supposed to be filled half with refugees, half with Rez fighters, but in the chaos, the scared refugees had filled all the seats in the shuttle.
    “Tyryn, get on board, then launch!” I called. Tyryn nodded. We needed at least one head Rez operative who knew the launch protocol on board each pod. He entered, taking a couple of extra people with him even though they wouldn’t have harnesses to belt themselves in with. Rez fighters held back the surging crowd so he could slide the door shut behind him. Good, at least one pod was off safely.
    I’d been keeping my mind’s eye on the transport that landed. A flood of large bodies poured out of it, followed by a very small one. I felt the contours of the small figure. It felt like a little girl. They were approaching the entrance gate at the transport bay.
    “I’ve got to get Adrien out,” I shouted to Xona. “We’ll try to get in Pod 5 by the Med Center. I’ll get it filled and launched.”
    She nodded, grabbing Cole’s hand and sprinting down the hallway to help with the other pods.
    Suddenly, I couldn’t see anything with my telek at all. All my energy slammed back into my body, making me stagger backward a few steps. The next second, my power was gone completely. I tried to project outward again, but there was no buzzing, no rush of power.
    Rand had been rubbing his palms together, no doubt preparing to unleash his power on the intruders, but suddenly he stood up and frowned.
    My blood seemed to freeze in my veins. “Rand, what is it?”
    “My power,” he said, staring down at his hands. “It’s not working.”
    I turned to City. “Does yours work?”
    She raised her hand, then frowned when nothing happened.
    I swore. “They must have a glitcher with them who can