Dean was the last from the ship, looking like a hero from a comic book, at least in Jules’s eyes. He smirked at her and stood at the end of their small group as Slate vied for their attention.
“You all heard Suma. We’re on a search and retrieve, team. Our Nirzu cruiser awaits us,” Slate said. Jules watched as he stared at the tablet in his hand, mumbling something.
“Is it the Horizon?” Dean asked. His family was aboard. Jules knew that her mother and Hugo would have already departed through the portal to Haven, and her dad was on Earth.
“They’re moving out. The last colony ships have departed, and so has the Horizon. Looks like we’ve been left behind,” Slate said, and his words sent a shiver of fear through Jules for no viable reason. She shook it off. She wasn’t a little kid any longer, and she was powerful. She remembered the rush of an explosion around her as she’d stopped the Kold from exploding the Duup Peaks on Bazarn after Garo Alnod’s funeral. She was invincible. But instead of being thrilled at the concept, she was instead mostly afraid.
Jules noticed that the other two groups were already moving across the field, and she followed their paths, noticing ships at the far end of the area. They were similar to landers from back home, but different enough to catch the eye.
“To the cruisers. We’ve loaded the supplies on the ships already, but don’t forget your personal packs,” Slate reminded them. Jules grabbed hers from the ground outside the dropship and hung it over her shoulder.
“I told you I’d be your partner,” Dean said, jogging to catch up to her.
“What do you mean?” she asked him.
“The teams. I was supposed to be on Suma’s team, but I talked to her before breakfast. She wasn’t thrilled about it, but I managed to trade with Tremb.” Dean flashed a smile.
“You did that for me?” Jules asked.
“Well, I did it for me, to be clear,” Dean admitted.
“No you didn’t.”
“Yes I did. I know what you’re capable of, Jules, and I want protection,” he said, but Jules knew he was pulling her leg. It felt good to have someone want to safeguard her, or at least support her on the mission.
“Don’t expect any special treatment,” Jules said, walking faster to move away from him.
She was the first to the cruiser and waited for Slate to arrive before opening the hatch to enter the ship. It was longer and sleeker than their landers, but the ceilings were tall enough to accommodate most of them. Canni was the largest, and he had to duck as he moved through the bench seats toward the rear of the vessel. He took each of their packs and placed them in a cargo hold beside the solo chair.
“This is it,” Slate said. “We head for our destination.” He sat in the pilot’s seat, and Jules watched out the viewscreen, seeing the other two cruisers lift from the ground and begin moving in opposite directions.
Jules chose a seat beside Slate. “Where are we going?” she asked, seeing the blips of the other two ships slowly moving away on the console’s map.
Slate used the controls, zooming out. “Right here.” He tapped the screen past what appeared to be an expansive lake. It had to be fifty miles wide and twice as long. It ended at the base of the distant mountain range. That was where he pointed. It was the same place she’d seen when they arrived; she knew it. She kept the news to herself, not wanting to sound crazy to her uncle and professor.
Slate tapped his earpiece. “Loweck, we’re taking off. Good luck out there, and stay in contact.” He tapped it again, cursing under his breath. “Loweck?” He pulled the earpiece out and set it down. “Communications aren’t working. Something odd is definitely going on around here.”
Jules remembered them saying there was an electrical disturbance causing issues between the surface and space, but apparently, it was affecting them as well. She didn’t love the idea of being out here with no contact to the other Gatekeeper teams, and neither did Slate, from the look on his face.
He shrugged. “Maybe it’ll clear up. For now, we stick to the plan.”
The ship vibrated slightly as he powered the engines up, and Jules craned her neck to see the rest of the team. Kira was excitedly chatting with Extel Four, and Wentle stared at the wall, his hands slowly opening and closing.
“Everyone ready? Good.” The cruiser lifted, and Jules watched as they left the city behind, the tall pointy structures moving away as they headed for the wilderness beyond.
____________
“I can give you a few reasons why you shouldn’t kill us,” I said.
Frasier’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m listening.”
“At times, part of me would prefer death to living.” I spoke softly, adding a haunting tone to my voice. “Have you ever lost someone you loved?” The question was pointless, because I knew we all had, but I needed to play with their emotions a bit.
“Perhaps,” came Frasier’s answer.
“All I ever wanted was to live a peaceful life. Met Allison in high school. She was a transfer student from Highwater, two towns over. Their school shut down when the auto parts factory closed their doors. My pa told me something I’d never forget that day, when he’d lost his job along with a thousand others.” I leaned forward, staring Frasier in the eyes. “He said, ‘Son, one day you’ll be in the workforce, and all I can ask is that you don’t choose a career that depends on people working with their hands.’ I knew what he meant.
“The auto parts were being sourced overseas, likely to China, though we didn’t know it then. Our entire region suffered, but our school was the only one staying open as the county lost all that tax money. Allison first walked into that English class, her chestnut brown hair curled at the tips, her smile worthy of a sash at a state festival,” I said, laying it on a little thick. I glanced at Magnus, who was listening as if he’d never heard the story that we’d practiced for a full day before heading to Earth.
The other two listened with rapt attention, and I thought I might have them. “We started dating and were married out of college. I always remembered what my father told me, and decided to go for a mechanical engineering degree. We’d always need those, and while I didn’t believe a robot would take over my job, I figured I might be able to create machines. He passed away before I finished school, and though he never told me so, I always thought he was disappointed with my choice.”
“Our towns were nothing but pit stops to Nowheresville by the time the Event happened. Allison and I were married, and our son was heading into the first grade. We lived outside of Columbus, her teaching at a local college. We assumed teachers would always be needed. Guess we were somewhat wrong about that.”
Frasier drank more wine, stubbing his almost-finished cigar out in a clean ashtray on the table. “Go on.”
He didn’t seem to mind my meandering story. I was trying to build it up. “We were on vessel three.”
Frasier’s eyes went wide at the mention of the Kraski ships. It had been a long time ago, a distant yet vivid memory for most people still. “Twenty-four,” he said, glancing at Amada.
She lifted her sleeve, revealing a tattoo of a Kraski ship, the number fourteen scrawled over it. I’d heard of people marking their survival in different ways, but hadn’t seen many tattoos done with such detail.
They turned to Magnus, and he set his glass on the table. “I was on thirty-two.”
The two hosts nodded, and I resumed my tragic tale. “You don’t need the gory details. We made it, but Felix didn’t. He was killed in the initial riot on board. Not even shot by the Deltra… he was crushed in a stampede of angry humans.” It took a huge effort, but a tear managed to roll down my cheek in remembrance of my made-up child.
Amada’s hand rested on mine, and she squeezed it for a moment before pulling away. “I lost one too.” She didn’t expand on it, and I could only nod sadly. For the first time, I thought of the Restorers as not only enemies, but people. Grief, destruction, and death had driven them to their current actions, and I knew that underst
anding their motives would only assist me in shutting them down.
“We returned with everyone else, but the world was a different place. No one needed a mechanical engineer, and even though there were homes for everyone, we struggled to settle into a routine.” I thought about Tim Dobbs telling me lies about his family, and I hated how natural it was for me to follow suit. He’d betrayed me, just like I was betraying Frasier and Amada. I went on. “We stayed behind when the first colonists abandoned our planet.”
Frasier nodded his understanding. I had a sense he was passionate about his home. He seemed like a salt-of-the-earth type, one who would never agree that leaving his planet behind made any kind of sense.
“Traitors… all of them,” he said with a previously-hidden passion.
I nodded. “It wasn’t until a few years later, when those bastards came to attack us, that we fled.”
It was clear from Frasier’s face that he’d stayed behind, even when I’d managed to open a portal in Egypt to transport everyone to New Spero. Amada’s too.
I needed to backpedal. “I wanted to stay. I fought with Allison over the decision until the bitter end. She told me she was pregnant but hadn’t built up the nerve to tell me yet, so I relented. We left Earth.” I hung my head low, resting my face into my sweating palms.
“You did what you had to do,” Frasier said, his voice not judging.
“We lived on Terran Three for a few years, and having our daughter returned some structure to our routines, but…” I stopped.
“What happened?” Amada asked.
“Drones. My wife and daughter…” I choked up, pretending it was too hard. “…Katherine, were walking outside our home, near a construction site. They were throwing up Terran sites like no one’s business, negligently and quickly, using programmed drones and robots to do the heavy lifting.”
I took a deep drink of my wine, not even tasting it. “I was told their death was fast, that they wouldn’t have felt the girders at all. Crushed in the blink of an eye.” I drained the rest of the glass and set it on the table with a shaky hand. That part was real.
I sat there silently. “So… when I heard of you, I needed to know. I found my way over on a hovertrain, and met Markus here along the way. We got to talking, and my story resonated with him. He agreed to help me find you. I need to be part of this revival of the old ways.”
Frasier sat frozen for a moment, then stood with his arms wide. “Come here, brother.”
I did, and he pulled me into a hug. His scent was overpowering, sandalwood and animal hide mixed with stale cigars.
“Don’t you worry about anything. You’re among friends here,” he said.
Relief flooded me, and my tense shoulders eased up slightly at the words.
Frasier turned to stare at Magnus. “It’s this guy I’m not sure I trust.”
I heard the cocking of a gun, and saw it in Amada’s hand as it pointed toward my old friend.
Ten
Jules watched with interest as they neared the lake. Even though some of the vegetation was dying, lonely sticks jutting from the ground, bereft of leaves and life, she thought it all had a kind of poetic appeal. The lake shimmered in the late morning sky. The clouds were thick and blotting in the reflection below, and Jules wished she could sit on a dock and dip her toes into the frigid water.
“Jules, try Loweck and Suma again,” Slate said.
She picked up the earpiece and tried their lines. “Come in. Come in. Jules Parker here.” It was dead. “Sorry, Uncle Zeke, nothing.”
“It’s not your fault, Jules. We’ll try again in a while.”
Jules scanned the map, seeing that their target remained some distance away. It wouldn’t take much longer. She looked to the clouds, wondering what was causing the communication disruption. Slate had asked the senator about it, and she’d sworn it wasn’t something they’d encountered issues with, but Slate claimed they used a different method of messaging than the Alliance.
“Hold on, Jules, do you see that?” he asked, nodding to the console.
She did. There was a brief blip; then it was gone. “I saw it. Coming in fast.”
“What the…” Slate’s gaze darted to the viewscreen, and Jules’ followed. One second she saw the missile approaching; the next it hit, shaking the ship and sending them spinning out of control. Kira went flying, clearly not harnessed in, and Jules heard a sickening crunch as the girl kept moving around the ship’s interior.
“I got you!” Canni shouted.
Jules dropped her self-imposed barrier, letting the green energy flow through her. Slate was bleeding from the head, using the controls with practiced efficiency, and he managed to bring their dropping ship level as it headed toward the water at a downward slope.
“Are you okay?” she asked him, shouting over the alarms ringing from the console speakers.
“I will be when we land this thing,” he said. “Is everyone okay?”
Canni answered for the group seated behind them. “Kira is unconscious, but I think she’s breathing!”
“Hold on to your hats,” Slate told them.
Jules watched as the cruiser moved for the glimmering lake water, much faster than her uncle would have liked. The impact was jarring, and she rammed against the straps over her shoulders and around her waist. Then they were sinking.
Slate was fumbling with the controls. “There has to be a floatation setting on this thing. There always is.”
“Didn’t they tell you how to fly it?” Jules asked, the realization they might not survive starting to hit her. Kira was coming to, and Wentle was making a soft, scared buzzing sound.
“They gave me the basics. Look, Ju, we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for this mission. No one was expecting to be assaulted by missiles!” The cut on Slate’s forehead was deep, and blood covered the left side of his face. He wiped at it as they sank.
“Dean, pass me the medikit!” she shouted, and Dean moved in an instant, unbolting himself and grabbing the first aid kit from their supplies. He raced to the front of the vessel, passing it to her.
“I’ll see if Kira needs anything,” he said, settling beside the blue girl.
“Where are we?” she asked.
Slate was unstrapping himself, and she tugged on his arm. “Stop for a second. You’re not going to do us any good if you bleed to death before we leave the ship.”
He groaned and plopped to his seat. “Probably right.”
Jules rubbed at it with an antiseptic wipe and found the cauterizing tool. It scanned his head, sealing the wound up in a clean line. His face still had blood on it, but it wouldn’t cause him any more issues.
“Thanks. We’re sinking. Do you think…” Slate stared at her, and she saw her own brightly-glowing eyes in the reflection off his pupils.
“I can bring us to the surface,” she said softly. Most of them knew about her powers, even though she rarely showed them, but none but Dean and Slate knew the truth of them.
“Good. We need to leave this ship,” he said, turning to the other students. “We all need to climb into our EVAs, pronto. Dean, can you help Kira and Wentle into theirs?”
“You got it, boss,” Dean told Slate, making Jules’ uncle smile despite their circumstances.
The space was cramped, not intended for seven people to change into bulky EVAs, but they managed. By the time they were all sealed into the suits with their helmets on, Jules peeked to the viewscreen to see the cruiser settling at the bottom of the water.
It was dark there, but the lights of the ship shone forward, revealing exotic creatures. A long, skinny eel-like fish stopped near the viewscreen, bumping into the ship. More came, at least a dozen of them, each one appearing larger than the previous one. They were all banging against the hull, trying to crack the nut they found invading their home.
“That can’t be good. The largest ones are at least ten feet long. Probably weigh two hundred pounds.” Slate grabbed a pulse rifle, and Jules watched as he checked the ch
arge.
The other five students stood ready in their suits. Jules almost laughed at how sad their entourage was. Kira was so tiny in hers, white eyes wide and scared. Wentle hadn’t said a word, and only buzzed in reply when spoken to. Extel Four, Canni, and Dean appeared ready to fight the eel monsters.
Slate moved for the exit, settling his hands on Jules’ shoulders. “Explain to me what you’re going to do.”
Jules looked at the other students and realized there was no point in hiding it from them. They’d learn now, or when she covered them in a huge ball of green energy. “I’m going to create a sphere that we can all travel through the water in.”
“Have you done this before?” he asked.
She nodded. “With Papa, on the shrunken planet.”
Slate knew what she was referring to, even though it was a long time ago, when she was a little girl. “And it will prevent whatever those things are from penetrating?” he asked.
“I hope so. I haven’t made one this large before,” she admitted. She was sure she could do it, though.
“Okay, Dean, do we have everything?” Slate asked, checking the hand-selected supplies they were bringing with them. Weapons, shelter, and food. The three necessities of life, he’d emphasized. They had enough water all around them and extremely compact filtration equipment.
“Check and check,” Dean said.
“Everyone ready?” Slate asked, motioning them forward toward the door.
Jules faced them all, her back to the door. “I’m going to do something, and you can’t be afraid. I know you’re all aware I have some… abilities.”
Wentle watched with round black eyes as Jules concentrated, pushing the field from her chest. It started no larger than a basketball and grew until it was bigger than all of them. The other students passed through its boundary as she left it deactivated, and soon they were each covered by her energy circle. Their packs were all inside too, resting between Canni’s and Dean’s feet.
Old World (The Survivors Book Eleven) Page 8
