The Girl Who Found the Sun

by Matthew S. Cox

  “We’re going with you,” said Sienna.

  “You could’ve just said you were worried about me.”

  “Yeah. Well. I am, but… I’m not making it up about the kids getting woozy. You know I didn’t really trust it out here, but after Josh’s head hit the desk, what choice did I have? Seriously, look at them.”

  Raven glanced from child to child. None appeared dazed or groggy. Josh even bounced a little on his toes, evidently annoyed at standing still. She couldn’t argue that they appeared much more awake and animated than the last time she’d seen them hours ago.

  “Why do you have that look on your face?” Sienna glanced off to the side. “You’re not gonna tell us to go back, are you?”

  Bringing every child in the Arc with them out into topside sounded like a fabulously bad idea. Then again, so did leaving them in a hypoxic atmosphere. Reckless as it might be, she’d rather have Tinsley nearby than trust her to the dying ventilation system.

  “I don’t think there’s an obviously correct answer to that question. Mostly, I’m worrying about the feral guy that attacked me. It’s not Chewie. Just a man who has no idea what a haircut or shave is.”

  “Whoa,” said Josh. “Another person?”

  “No way…” Cheyenne gawked.

  “Are you for real?” Ariana scrunched up her nose.

  Xan pointed to the side. “You guys did hear that screaming before, right? That was definitely a dude.”

  The kids exchanged glances as if they’d witnessed a myth come to life.

  “Wow.” Sienna pursed her lips. “There’s people out here?”

  Raven waved for them to follow and resumed walking east, holding Tinsley’s hand. “I’m not a hundred percent sure that guy counted as people. Just grunted at me. Doesn’t speak. Tried to bite my fingers off then take a chunk out of my face.”

  “Eww,” said Tinsley.

  “What the heck did you do to him that made him scream like that?” asked Sienna.

  “She hit him in the wiener with that sword,” said Josh.

  Xan grabbed himself. Ariana and Cheyenne cringed. Tinsley peered up with a ‘you did not do that’ glower.

  “No.” Raven chuckled. “He went to grab me, so I tried to knock his arm aside, but cut him a little on the hand.”

  “Wow. Dude screamed that loud from a small cut?” asked Josh.

  “Sensitive spot.” Raven pointed at the thin skin at the base of her thumb. “And I doubt he’s ever been cut by a knife before.”

  Josh stuffed his hands under his armpits. “Ouch.”

  “You saw Chewie?” Tinsley reached up to touch leaves from a branch passing over her head.

  “It might have been the same guy. Definitely a human. Hair down to his knees, big beard, lots of body hair. A quick glimpse at a distance, yeah I can see someone mistaking him for a bear or wookie.” Raven scanned the forest. “Didn’t get a good look at the one in the storage facility. No idea if it’s the same guy.”

  Sienna gasped, stumbling over a rock. “Ow. Uhh, if there’s a dude out here, he’s definitely not alone. People don’t spontaneously pop into existence. There might be a tribe of primitives.”

  “Or he’s an exile from another Arc… no wait.” Raven shook her head. “Can’t be. If he grew up in an Arc, he’d have understood me trying to talk to him.”

  “They could have a language, just not one we know.”

  “Maybe he didn’t want to talk to you,” said Xan.

  “Pretty sure if he knew English, he’d have said some bad words when I cut him.” Raven ducked a low-hanging branch. “When I tried talking to him, he didn’t show any reaction. Might not have realized I’m a human, too, because he’s never seen clothing.”

  “Oh, ick. He was naked?” asked Sienna.

  The kids laughed.

  Raven indicated the woods around them. “There’s no quartermaster out here. If their group is primitive enough, they might not even understand the concept of clothes.”

  “That also kinda means it doesn’t ever get cold here.” Sienna wiped sweat from her forehead. “People would have sought ways to keep warm in the cold seasons.”

  “Maybe they’ve got blankets or something that they wear only when it’s cold out? It’s pretty darn warm right now.” Raven checked her compass again, adjusting course a hair to the left.

  “What would they make clothes from? There’s no animals for fur. Can’t make much out of pigeon hide. Maybe grass skirts?” Sienna shrugged. “But seriously, do you think he’ll come after us?”

  “Don’t know.”

  They walked onward, randomly conversing about the idea of civilization advancing from primitivism. The kids initially laughed at the idea of people walking around outside without clothes, until Sienna commented that the ferals had grown up never knowing such things existed so they couldn’t be embarrassed about it. The kids came to the conclusion that never having to do laundry sounded like an awesome idea.

  “Did the crazy man have a mask on?” asked Ariana.

  “No.” Raven smiled back at her. “He doesn’t even know what they are.”

  “Was he sick?” Cheyenne ran up to walk astride Tinsley. “Why aren’t you guys wearing your masks?”

  Tinsley frowned. “I don’t like it. It makes the air smell like butt. It’s nice outside. The mask stinks.”

  Xan tugged his mask down and sniffed. “Whoa. It does smell kinda weird. What is that?”

  “That’s the scent of clean air, wet ground, and plants,” said Raven. “Basically, you’re not smelling dirty air filters, hydroponic chemicals, and miles of filthy metal ductwork.”

  “Is it safe?” asked Cheyenne.

  “Around here, yeah it seems that way. There could be bad spots somewhere, but those should be obvious.” Raven went over what the doc explained about bad smells, puddles of liquid, and radiation warning signs.

  Cheyenne pulled her mask down and took a few tentative sniffs.

  Within the hour, all the kids had let their filter masks hang off their faces. Sienna held out the longest, wearing hers until Tinsley pointed out that the masks were so old that they wouldn’t do anything. After a few unobstructed breaths, she relaxed. As soon as Sienna made a comment about the weeds and such tickling her feet, the kids went nuts trying to step on—or in—as many different things as possible. None of them had ever experienced grass, dirt, mud, moss, or knee-deep flowing water before.

  Raven watched them darting around, worried that the voices of happy children might draw unwanted attention. She didn’t want to frighten the kids unnecessarily, and a lone man with no weapons or clothes presented only so much of a threat, especially after having one hand cut open. Thoughts of what happened to him gnawed at her. The guy didn’t exactly have an infirmary to give him stitches. If she’d only given him a scratch, it would probably heal up okay. If she’d sliced in to the bone, the man could possibly bleed to death or suffer an infection, assuming, of course, any bacteria survived the toxic period.

  The kids’ energy level seemed much higher than usual, and Tinsley hadn’t coughed once. Raven decided to let them be happy for now, and focused on watching the woods for signs of danger. Eventually, the novelty of walking on a surface other than concrete wore off. The children ceased racing about in search of new things to step in and clustered relatively close. Tinsley appeared to sense her mother’s nervousness and kept quiet while the others peppered Sienna with questions about the various plants.

  Perhaps two hours after the wild man attacked, Raven spotted a steel superstructure among the trees about a hundred yards off course to the left. She veered toward it, eagerness pulling her up to a fast walk.

  She stopped upon reaching the base of the tower. It resembled a giant hollow H supporting a wide crossbar that overhung it at least ten feet on either side, each branch having six dangling assemblies of ceramic discs and wire fragments. Some of the ceramic bits had fallen to the ground, littering the area around the tower. A second, similar, tower stood a few h
undred yards off to the northwest, oriented the same way, suggesting the fat wires had once been strung along from tower to tower. A ladder ran up the inside of the left strut, allowing access to a small platform six feet under the top spar. Nothing but bare steel appeared to be up there.

  “What’s this?” asked Sienna.

  “Remember me telling you about seeing a flash? This is the tower.” Raven ducked a horizontal spar and grasped the ladder, tugging on it to test solidity. It didn’t budge. “Be right back.”

  The kids proceeded to explore the immediate area, picking up the ceramic discs and trying to use them as Frisbees.

  “Don’t play with those. The pieces are sharp and will cut you,” said Sienna, her voice raised.

  Raven climbed up to the four-by-six foot platform, tiny compared to the ones on the windmill towers, and pulled her binoculars out of the satchel. Facing west gave her a reasonably clear view of the windmill farm. The blue tarp made number fourteen obvious. If someone had been here and had binoculars or something similar, they could have seen her easily.

  Did they notice me look at them and run away? Or did they happen to be leaving at the exact moment I saw this tower? She pictured someone elated to see another human, scrambling down the tower to run over there as fast as possible. But… she’d been working on the turbine long enough to still be outside when they arrived. By her estimate, it had taken her roughly two hours to get here and they hadn’t exactly been sprinting. That meant the person ran away. But why?

  Maybe I did imagine it. That wild man would eat binoculars before trying to look through them… and the thing I saw was green, not naked.

  “Whatever. Okay, so this is a dead end.”

  She clenched her jaw, trying to ignore the disappointment at not finding a person here, or signs of one like a chair or empty water bottles. When Lark came up with the wild idea that most of the Arc’s population hadn’t died, but left, her initial opinion of what she’d seen on this tower changed. At first, she didn’t believe her eyes, certain no other humans existed on Earth. Hearing Lark’s story picked at her optimism, changing that phantom into a lookout for the descendants of the former Arc dwellers.

  This elevated position made it quite clear that no above-ground settlements existed anywhere close by. Having someone sit up on this tower as a lookout wouldn’t do any good. Maybe it had been someone like her father, an explorer, using high ground for a better view.

  It couldn’t be…

  A lump formed in her throat at the thought it might have been Dad. As much as she wanted him to be okay, if he hadn’t died, that meant he willingly stayed apart from her for the past four years… and the notebook Daniel gave her with his apology letter made it clear he would never do that. Her father wouldn’t abandon her any more than she could abandon Tinsley for the sake of wandering. No matter how tempting the lure of discovery, it didn’t come close to the love she had for her daughter. As a child, Raven had never shown an interest in going outside. However, she probably would have gone with him if he’d asked her. Tinsley had no fear of the world above the Arc. If ever the urge to wander grew irresistible, she would bring her daughter along. But a child needed a home, not a life growing up never sleeping in the same place twice. A child needed food, not a gamble on catching and cooking pigeons.

  The Saints had a grill. What did they eat?

  Grumbling, she stepped to the other side of the small platform, facing east.

  Before I worry about exploration, I’ve gotta get everyone out of the Arc.

  She raised the binoculars to her eyes, scanning the terrain to the east. Across a vast spread of trees, grassland, and more trees, she spotted a sprawl of ruins. These buildings appeared significantly shorter than the other ruins, but the city covered a much larger area. From here, she could almost make out streets littered with decomposing cars. Nothing appeared to be moving around, but even using the binoculars, a person would have been smaller than a flea. She panned back and forth, frustrated that the distance kept her from getting a good sense of if it would be worth it to go that far away from home.

  A scrap of silver flashed in the distance, beyond the ruins.

  She backtracked, but couldn’t find it. Forcing herself to stay calm, Raven crept the binoculars to the right, moving as slow as she could. The silver spot, only as big as a pea to her from here, appeared to rise out of the trees beyond the remains of the city.

  That has to be the ‘spaceship’ Dad found.

  His notes made it seem massive, at least five stories tall. That it appeared so small in the binoculars told her she had a few days’ worth of walking ahead of her. Sighing, she lowered the binoculars and checked the compass heading, a little bit north of due east to the ruins. She stood still, staring out over the wavering treetops at the faint pale blur of the ruins. Without using the binoculars, the old city appeared only as a faint variation in color from its surroundings.

  Children’s voices came from below, the only sound louder than the rustle of the wind in the branches. No huge windmills, no turbine gears, no ventilation fans.

  It’s so quiet here.

  The peacefulness of her surroundings crashed into the urgency of her task. Sure, the people she cared about most were safe with her, but she couldn’t leave the rest of the Arc to die. If not for that, she might have been happy to simply continue walking, enjoying nature’s reawakening. Many of the books she’d read described forests, mountains, rivers, and so on, but the words failed to capture the awesome scale and beauty around her. Of course, they’d been written by people who didn’t spend their entire life underground. To them, trees had been no big deal. An ordinary sight that everyone understood. One didn’t need a thousand words to describe every detail of something so common.

  But until recently, she had only her imagination and a picture or two.

  I never want to go underground again.

  28

  The Garden

  The best part of topside is that it doesn’t have alarm clocks. ’Course, something might wander by and eat me in my sleep, but that’s a fair trade. – Ellis Wilder.

  The children ran over as soon as Raven climbed down from the tower.

  “Find anything?” asked Sienna.

  “Ruins of another city out there, and the silver ball.”

  “Silver ball?” Sienna scrunched up her nose. “What?”

  “Dad wrote about finding what he thought was a spaceship. It’s not… but I want to figure out what it is. There’s something out there that’s huge, round, and silvery. Also want to check on the buildings, see if any of them might be intact enough to use. Looks like they’re a lot shorter than the other ones. Maybe they held up better.”

  “Robot butt!” yelled Xan.

  Everyone looked at him.

  “What?” Tinsley scrunched up her nose.

  “Something huge, round, and silvery.” Xan laughed.

  “Did you bring enough food and water for three or four days?”

  “Food should last five. Water ought to make it three days at least.” Sienna pointed her thumb into the woods. “Can we drink from that stream?”

  “I’m not sure. One of the books… I remember reading about running surface water being dangerous due to microorganisms. Best option is well water or a spring. No idea if any microorganisms survived. Heck, the water could be fine. Might even be better than what we’ve been drinking.”

  “Josh, what are you doing?” squeaked Cheyenne.

  Raven and Sienna turned at the same time.

  “What’s it look like I’m doing?” asked Josh, his back to the group as he peed on a nearby tree. “Do you see any toilets?”

  Ariana and Cheyenne flew into a mild panic, apparently not having even considered the idea that the outside world wouldn’t have toilet rooms. The two girls ran over to Sienna, asking what they were supposed to do when they had to go.

  Tinsley matter-of-factly explained the process as if talking to someone who’d never peed before.

  They gawk
ed at her.

  Raven suggested everyone water the grass here so they didn’t have to stop every fifteen minutes.

  Somewhat reluctantly, the girls scurried off into the forest for some privacy.

  Once everyone gathered in a group after relieving themselves, Raven led them into the forest. Each time they spotted a trace of the old world such as a bit of road peeking out from under the dirt, a sign, random washing machine, and so on, the kids swarmed it and asked all sorts of questions about their find.

  When daylight began to dim, Raven looked around for anywhere that might offer shelter for the night. Unfortunately, every direction appeared to be the same: forest as far as she could see.

  Hope it doesn’t rain.

  “Hey,” whisper-shouted Josh, sounding frightened. “Look!”

  Raven spun toward him, reaching for the katana over her shoulder.

  The boy pointed at the dirt in front of him. She lowered her hand, relieved, and walked over to see what he’d found. Sienna and the other kids gathered close as well. Josh squatted in front of a boot print, pointing from it to a few others leading away in a line. They were too far apart to have come from someone walking. Whoever left these prints had to have been running like hell. Again, Raven compared her foot to the print, leaving her boot on. This track, too, appeared to be from a man, or a giant of a woman.

  “Definitely a person. Probably man.” Raven looked along the path of the tracks, which headed southeast. “Probably running.”

  “Should we follow?” asked Josh.

  “He’s going the wrong way.”

  “Uhh, I don’t think you guys understand.” Cheyenne indicated the print with both hands. “Someone else was here, and not a naked savage.”