She tried to thrust upwards, toward the light managing to seep through the fathoms of water, but was cut off by ten or so of the thick, armless monsters.
Jules tried again to use her powers, but the tank was empty. Everything was calm for a moment; none of the agitated monsters moved. They kind of floated there, paused in time. She noticed a few of them flick a tail, and she knew that wasn’t the case. A brave eel, not the largest, but a tenacious one, pressed through the rest of the school and tested her, swimming between her legs.
Then another, and another, until at least six raced at her at the same time. Three struck her in the chest, and one in the left arm. Her EVA held, but she wouldn’t be able to last much longer under this duress.
“Jules, we’re almost there,” her Uncle Zeke’s voice told her, giving her hope she could make it out of this alive. Jules glanced at her hand, almost stunned to see the pulse pistol remaining in her grip. She began firing it, not randomly, but at the largest of the groups. They were waiting behind the eager younglings, and she thought that if she could scare the elders off, the rest would follow.
More blasts cut through the water, their pulses flaying a couple eels right next to her. Blood and guts muddied the area, and she used her thrusters to arc away through an opening in the eels’ perimeter.
“We’re here! Move behind us!” Dean shouted, firing side by side with Slate. They carved a path, and she took it, shooting herself past her friends. They continued firing, and soon Dean was on her tail as she sought freedom at the shoreline. When she was sure Slate was following, she pushed through the water, breaching the surface, and Extel and Canni were there, grabbing hold of her wrists and dragging her to the rocky beach.
Dean was right behind her, clambering out, water dripping from his EVA as he lay beside her on the wet stones. Slate emerged from the water, tossing his weapon a few yards ahead and dropping to Jules’ other side. The three of them stared up at the darkening sky, breathing heavily.
Slate popped his helmet off first, then Dean, and Jules finally did as well, only when she was sure the danger was gone. That had been close. Too close. Her powers had failed, after being unstable for the last few months. She attempted to feel the rush of the Iskios, but there was nothing but an empty cistern where it usually sat waiting.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“Thank us?” Slate asked. “You risked yourself to save your classmates, then fought the enemy even when the odds were stacked against you. I’d say that was very Gatekeepers of you.”
“You think?” Jules asked.
“I do. And you know something else?” Slate sat up, getting to his feet. Dean and Jules stood too, their helmets under their arms. Wet packs sat in piles near Wentle’s boots.
“What?”
“It was a classic Parker move,” Slate told her, and she beamed with pride. It was the highest compliment her dad’s long-time friend and sidekick could have given her.
She didn’t reply, but did catch the grin from Dean. “Slate, isn’t it a little early to be so dark outside?”
Slate peered to the sky. “I’d say so. Their days are only about eight hours of sunlight in this region, this time of year, but the darkness is something else. I think we’re about to be hit with a storm.”
Jules almost felt the electricity in the air, and even though the cloud cover was thin and light gray, she knew her uncle was right. “In that case, we better find some cover before we’re hit.” She took the time to assess where they were. Their eventual destination had been across the mountain range, but they were some distance from it.
“I’d say we have twenty kilometers before we reach our target,” Dean said, staring at the mountain peaks.
The lake’s edge was calm, the water showing none of the dangers lurking below the reflective surface. The beach led to a field, which was surrounded by thick gray conifers, rising like giant Christmas trees. They reminded Jules of her parents’ farmhouse on Earth, and she suddenly missed her family with a deep ache of her chest.
“Come in, Loweck. Come in, Suma.” Slate tried his mic, but received nothing in return.
“Who did this?” Jules asked.
“I have no idea. There shouldn’t have been anyone left, especially not someone firing lander-crushing missiles.” Slate’s chin lowered, and he spoke much softer. “I hope Loweck and the others are all right.”
“I’m sure they are,” Jules assured him.
“I’m scared,” Kari said, seeming younger than she was. She was at least two years older than Jules, but you’d never know it by the way her lips were quivering.
“I know. We all are,” Slate told the girl.
“What are we going to do?” This from the Keppe boy. He was turned from them, staring toward the mountains.
“We go on. If we have any hope of being tracked by Suma and Loweck, we need to make it to our goal. They know where we were heading, and that’s where they’ll search when they can’t reach us.” Slate was confident, and the others were buying into it. Jules, on the other hand, was concerned for their well-being. If someone had targeted their ship, why wouldn’t they have attempted to destroy the other two vessels as well? But she decided to keep that to herself, because the conjecture wasn’t going to help any of them.
“Did we manage to bring everything?” Slate asked, leaning over the few packs. “Where is the… we don’t have much food. I think we left one of the packs on the ship.”
“It was such a hurry, I think I dropped it,” Wentle admitted.
“It’s okay, Wentle. We’ll manage. With any luck, we’ll cross the twenty kilometers in two days, no problem. We have enough to last us that long,” Slate said, but Jules picked up the worry in his tone. No one else seemed to notice, and they were all full of nervous excitement at the looming adventure.
“Slate, do we know what’s out there?” Jules asked, pointing to the trees and beyond.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t have time to study the wildlife. I didn’t expect this.” He looked abashed at his unpreparedness.
“Don’t sweat it, boss,” Dean said, grinning.
“Okay, kid. Everyone good?” Slate walked to each of the kids, patting their suits, and checking to make sure they were all healthy enough to make the trek. When he was satisfied, he took the lead. “Stay near one another. We’re like old-school Gatekeepers. Think of this as an exploratory mission on a strange new world.”
Jules heard a shriek carry over the lake, the terrible noise echoing the vast distance, and she somehow knew this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. This was life and death, and they also had the person who fired the missile at them to deal with if they survived the wild.
With one last attempt, Jules squeezed her eyes shut, but her abilities remained dormant.
____________
“I hope you slept well?” Frasier said it like a question.
“Not too bad for someone locked in a cabin,” Magnus told him.
“You understand we’re only taking a few precautions. It won’t always be like this,” the man assured us. He rubbed his trimmed, gray-flecked beard, and poured us coffee in the kitchen of the main villa. It wasn’t what you’d expect from a new home; the kitchen was all red clay tiles and ornate finishes, and we sat at a small round wooden table meant for four. Amada eventually opened the door and greeted Frasier quietly. She didn’t say a word to me or Magnus.
“Amada, care for a cup of coffee?” he asked. I noted he had a fire in the kitchen’s hearth, and a French press to use when the water was hot enough. I was about to tell him a coffee maker would be much simpler, when I tried the steaming beverage. It was the best coffee I’d ever tasted.
“Cream is from the goats in the field. What do you think?” he asked.
Magnus tried it before I replied, and nearly spilled the cup. “This is fantastic.”
Frasier smiled and slunk into his seat. “You know, everyone thinks that technology is always the answer. We need that single-serve coffee pod that’s
destroying the environment just so we can save five minutes, before we drive an hour in traffic to a job we hate. Sending emails, answering phone calls, and sucking up to a boss who dislikes you as much as he dislikes his wife and kids.
“With the Kraskis’ attacks, then the Bhlat invasion, we had a real chance to turn the tides. Why must humans always revert to what they know?” Frasier asked.
“It’s engrained in us,” I said.
“No, that’s not it. You know why we have cities with tall buildings, and robots doing our manufacturing, and hovertrains flying around?” Frasier looked at me closely, and I suddenly worried he’d placed me on the train.
“Capitalism,” Magnus said.
Frasier slapped the table, spilling my coffee over the edges of the cup, and he pointed at my big friend. “Give the grand prize to Mr. Nilsson. Amada, tell him what he’s won.”
Amada made no move to play along with her leader’s boisterous ways.
“We always build more and more because of greed. Even when we had no currency after New Spero, everyone doing anything was under the impression that currency was going to make a comeback. Do you know how hard it is to have a socialist utopia? It’s not feasible, not with the greed corrupting our race,” Frasier said.
This was some heavy discussion for six in the morning, but I took another drink of coffee, feeling the caffeine enter my brain, perking me up. I almost gave myself away by talking about the Alliance credits, but held myself back in the nick of time. “I used gold to get here,” I told him. Some people on Earth were still using the ancient commodity in trade, especially for unsanctioned travel.
“See? Even the ones outside the colonies are using ways to make money. The Restorers don’t believe in currency as it’s always been used, but we don’t have all the answers yet,” Frasier admitted.
“So if Earth had no technology, if you will, how would the society be governed?” Magnus asked.
Frasier shrugged in an exaggerated motion. “How should I know? I only have a plan to stop us from destroying ourselves once again. It won’t be up to me to pick up the pieces after,” he said.
I caught something in his eyes as he watched our reactions. It could have been fear, or maybe, more specifically, resignation.
“You don’t expect to survive this, do you?” I asked softly, and Amada’s chair pushed away enough to make it squeak on the tile.
Frasier glanced at his right-hand woman. “I don’t know what will happen, but I’m ready to die for my cause. If I can save thousands, millions even, then yes, I’ll gladly sacrifice my life.”
I knew he meant it. He was serious about this and adamant he was doing the right thing. This made him even more dangerous than I’d expected. The other thing was, part of me couldn’t blame him. He was right about some of it. Humans were greedy, but there were ways around it. Sure, everyone had to work and put the effort in on Haven, but since the Kold had been expelled, it was a safe place to live with a thriving and happy society, a dozen races of beings living among one another.
“And what about you two? Will you risk it all to be part of this?” Amada asked, speaking for the first time. Her voice was low and gravelly, like she hadn’t drunk water in a year or so.
I swallowed a sip of coffee and sneaked a glance at Magnus, who answered for us. “Sure, why the hell not. This world has gone to hell in a handbasket, returned, and dipped back below. Let’s make it a better place to live. I’m in.”
Magnus had a way with words, and I kept my reply simple. “I’ll do what needs to be done.”
Frasier appraised us, as if we were diamonds and he was searching for a flaw in our cut. “Good. Let’s have something to eat, then we’re heading to Italy.”
He said the word, and I thought about the strange hoodie-wearing woman who’d stopped at our locked cabin the night before. Pisa. Were we going to Pisa?
“Where to?” I asked, trying to sound casual.
“You’ll find out soon enough, Don.” Frasier and Amada stood, leaving us at the table.
I locked gazes with Magnus, and he let out a puff of air from his cheeks. “Looks like we’re doing that road trip we’ve been waiting for.”
Thirteen
I saw why they wanted the hovertrain. It settled to the ground a kilometer from the main villa, and the four of us stood there, waiting to board. Several armed guards were standing along a worn path halfway between us and the incoming transportation vessel, but they were relaxed, their weapons resting at their sides.
“Have you ever seen something so wonderful?” Frasier asked, nodding toward the train. I’d bet it was the very same one I’d been kicked off of only a week or so ago.
“I can’t say that I have,” I told him.
“I prefer a boat with sails,” Magnus said.
“I like that. Maybe one day you and I can sail the Greek isles,” he said, clapping Magnus on the back.
“When it’s all over, you mean?” Magnus asked, probably trying to fish for information.
“That’s right. When it’s all over.” Frasier picked up a beige bag and slung it over his shoulder. Magnus and I took our meager belongings and followed the man onto the hovertrain. “It’s a shame we won’t be able to use things like this great train soon. I may be an advocate for the Old World ways, but there’s something magical about traveling across Europe in a couple of hours on this luxury vessel.”
I filed his words away. He was saying that things like the hovertrain wouldn’t function. I wondered if that meant he was going to unleash some sort of electromagnetic pulse or nuclear device. I had to remember that as calm and collected as Frasier was, he was a terrorist, and was willing to do anything to meet his goals, self-sacrifice included. That made him the most dangerous type of adversary.
It was the same train, and I found myself sitting in the exact seat I’d been in with Mary and Hugo days ago. Magnus plopped onto the opposite seat, and Amada disappeared into the front of the train, where the pilot was tucked away.
Magnus ran a hand over the wooden table between us and nodded his acceptance of the woodwork. “I could get used to this,” he said.
“Don’t bother,” Frasier suggested, and Magnus only nodded along.
The train lifted from the ground, and I stared out the window, seeing birds lift off by the dozens, becoming dark shapes against the bright blue sky. It was a beautiful day, and as we rose, I saw a wonderfully overgrown Spanish landscape through the panes. Maybe they were onto something. The world was much calmer and healthier without human interference.
It wasn’t long before we were over water, the sea rolling with whitecaps near the coast as it battered the rocky cliffs.
Magnus and I didn’t know where we were headed, but the initial information Paul had gathered assumed their headquarters was in Italy, so maybe this made sense. I was curious if we’d find ourselves anywhere near Pisa, or how that woman was planning on meeting us there. It was a bit of a hike from the villa in Spain.
“What’s the job?” Magnus asked, skipping by the small talk.
Frasier eyed him, as if weighing whether to say anything or not. “Nothing too large. New Rome is the only major center of Italy. There are over two million people living there. Did you know they moved the Vatican?”
“I didn’t,” I said, and truthfully, I wasn’t aware of that.
“Old Rome remains,” he told us.
“Like every city, right?” Magnus asked. “I mean, they’re all still there.”
“The Restorers have a stronghold there,” he told us.
“That makes sense. If I think about the Old World, that’s it,” I told him.
“Exactly. We have some planning to do, but you two are making a stop in Florence,” he said.
“What’s in Florence?” I asked.
“Did you know there’s a space station in orbit around Earth? It was built not long after the Event, constructed using blueprints found on the Kraski ships.” Frasier pulled a toothpick from his pocket and stuck it in his mouth
.
I remembered the station, all right. We’d been escorted there when we’d returned from chasing Leslie and Terrance to Haven, then tried to stop the Bhlat from finding out about us. It was too late, and Mae had been killed. We’d learned that seven years had transpired on Earth as a result of the wormhole we’d passed through while on the station, and that Patrice Dalhousie had left for New Spero. It wasn’t long after that we flew away from Earth to join our friends on our new world, and I’d never returned to the station.
I honestly hadn’t thought of it in a long time.
“I think I heard something about it a long time ago. Is it operational?” Magnus asked.
“I saw a TV special on it when they were first building it,” I told Frasier. “Who’s up there?”
“We’ll get to that later. For now, all you need to know is one of the engineers was from Florence. You’re going to his office and retrieving the details of the project,” Frasier said.
Patrice had told me it was a very hush-hush type project; all the work was done behind closed doors, with everything kept private. The main reason was so no one could access the system. From orbit, a station like that would be able to do some serious damage to the world below if control was in the wrong hands.
I was beginning to comprehend what Frasier was planning but didn’t think I had the full picture. We’d need to play along.
“This seems like a real job. You sure you want to send two rookies in?” Amada asked him.
Frasier smiled at her. “They aren’t going in alone, my dear. That’s where you come in.”
She clenched her teeth, the jaw muscles bunching up, but she didn’t rebuke him. She only nodded acceptance of the role, and I knew Frasier wasn’t a man to be trifled with. His people deferred to him, even strong-willed ones like Amada.
Magnus was built for jobs like this, and he scratched his head, playing the curious newcomer. “I don’t understand what you want us to do. We go to Florence, and what? Find his office? Do you know where it is?”
Frasier shook his head. “No, but we have his home address. At least, where he used to live before he left and abandoned Earth with all the other traitors.”
Old World (The Survivors Book Eleven) Page 10
