“Where are the wolves?” Jetta asked, picking her way through the wreckage to the door.
Triel looked outside to the wind-whipped terrain. “I don’t know. When I came to they were gone.”
“Meitka,” Jetta cursed.
She leaned out the door and shielded her eyes. Somehow they had plowed through the most level area in the foothills of a forgotten city. Sand and debris rained from the tortured skies as lightning lit up the wasteland.
“Where are we?” Triel called over the howling winds.
Jetta gestured to a discarded plastic bottle lying in a pile of refuse just outside their cruiser. “Earth.”
“What? Why did you jump us here?”
For a moment, Jetta questioned her own judgment, but her resolve only firmed. “Because we haven’t found all the answers yet. We need to know why Earth is linked to Algar. Amargo felt it too. The truth was never on Algar.”
“Then why did he stay at the Temple of Exxuthus?” Triel shouted over a clap of thunder.
Jetta shut the bay doors as best she could to keep out some of the noise. “Earth is too dangerous; he had enemies—he couldn’t go back. Besides, he had to keep his Promise to the Prodgies. He also thought he could get the answers by following me in the Diez di Trios, but then... things got confusing.”
“And another thing,” Jetta said, remembering Admiral Unipoesa’s confession to her and Jaeia in the medical bay. “Here we’ll also find the answers to a much more serious problem. Answers that can restore the Starways.”
Jetta told Triel about Kurt Stein, about her encounter with Agracia, and the mission she interrupted when she crash landed on Old Earth the first time. The Healer listened intently to her explanation of Kurt Stein’s work with genetic archiving and Admiral Unipoesa’s belief that the inventor held the key to resurrecting dead planets; the passenger list stored somewhere in a smart server deep in the heart of the Deadzone near Ground Zero; the odd coincidence of Agracia’s recognition of her tattoo.
“I need to find Agracia—I need her knowledge of the Deadzone.”
Jetta went on to tell her about Josef Stein, and Edgar Wallace’s belief that his laboratory might still be intact somewhere deep in the Deadzone. She also shared her curiosity about the similarities between the teachings of Ramak Yakarvoah and Victor’s philosophies, and the possibility that the key to Josef Stein’s Smart Cells, and to Ramak, was hidden in the personal journals in his lab.
“Well,” Triel said, “what now? Everything that was important on this planet was destroyed centuries ago.”
Jetta couldn’t outright disagree. Amargo had fruitlessly searched through the ruins of the pyramids and the ancient cities for years. Then again, Amargo didn’t have Agracia and Bossy to help him scavenge.
“I don’t know, but I feel like we need to be here,” Jetta said. “All the answers are here, I know it. Just trust me.”
Jetta peered out the window and scanned the horizon. The surface was dangerous. They needed to leave as quickly as possible. Come nightfall, exposure to radiation and the elements would be the least of their concerns.
Jetta bit her lip. What memories she had managed to grab from Agracia’s mind were mostly drunken nights and street brawls. What she needed now was an accessway to a Pit or shelter. She trained her thoughts on Agracia’s memories and took another look outside.
“Agracia’s been around here before,” Jetta said. She tried to bring up the navigational computer, but despite her best efforts the terminal remained dead. A thorough search of the storage compartments turned up a few miscellaneous tools and three lifesuits, though only one seemed to be fully functional.
“What are these?” Triel asked as Jetta handed her the blue suit.
“I’m guessing that this old freighter probably carried starship parts and supplies for booster highway repairs. These suits were used for manual repairs outside the starships if they were too far out for a tow. They have Grade I protection, so we should be okay.”
“What about you?” Triel said, seeing that Jetta had handed her the only functional one.
Jetta measured the ripped suit against the one missing the radiation sealant. I’m dying anyway, she thought to herself. “I’ll be fine. You’re more important.”
“Jetta, no—”
Jetta pressed the suit into her chest. “You can always heal me—I can’t return that favor.”
Triel turned over the suit in her hands. “It’s getting harder, Jetta,” she said quietly, “whatever the Motti did to you...”
The Healer pointed at her stomach to the scar that hadn’t healed, but Jetta didn’t look, instead asking, “Hey, what’s in that box over there?”
Triel removed some of the fallen debris sitting atop a ration box. “Ugh—old MREs,” Triel said, dusting off the ready-to-eat meal packets.
Jetta’s stomach growled at the mention of food. “When was the last time you and I really ate?”
As they suited up and dined on stale packets of meat substitute and water rations, Jetta thought of her dream.
“What’s wrong?” Triel asked, seeing the look on her face.
“Just before I woke up I had a weird dream. I was back on Fiorah, mapping the air ducts. I thought I heard Jaeia calling for me. But I don’t think it was really a dream. I think Jaeia needs me. I think something’s happened.”
“What can you feel?” Triel asked.
Jetta shook her head. “No, I can’t go there. Not now. I have to complete this. I don’t know why, but I feel like everything I’ve done so far has led me here. I have to stay on this path.”
Triel tilted her head. “But what if we need to go back?”
Jetta pursed her lips. “I’m sure of this. Jaeia is stronger. Stronger than me even. She can handle whatever is happening out there.”
But the Healer heard her voice waver. “What if something’s happened to Jahx?”
Jetta stuffed the remaining supplies—the laser bolt gun, socket lugger, flashlight, feather grinder, and the last packets of water and MREs—into the other suit and tied it into a sack that she slung over her shoulder. “I have to stay on this path,” she repeated. It was her best answer.
Jetta swallowed the dry lump in her throat and tried not to think about Jahx. She had avoided it as best she could while she and Triel were searching for answers, but consciously or not, her mind always returned to her brother and sister. Only the pain of what she feared herself to be kept her from running back to them.
“Let’s go,” Jetta said, shoving open the bay door.
She held on to Triel’s hand as they bowed to the raging winds. The helmets that came with the suit were better outfitted for outer space than a violent terrestrial storm, but it was better than nothing.
Jetta remembered her first involuntary visit to Old Earth, when Agracia had wrapped her in a gear bag for protection as they trekked across the exposed terrain of the wastelands. The wind and debris had torn up her legs, and even the thought rekindled the pain. Jetta heeded the memory and chose her path as carefully as she could, sticking close to the shelter of fallen rubble and staying out of the direct path of the wind. Even with their suits the wind battered them, fighting them for each centimeter of ground gained.
Despite the boost provided by food and water, Jetta hadn’t rested properly in days. Her body, as much as she shied away from the truth, was suffering too much strain to keep pushing herself this way. However much she told herself she had to keep going, if she didn’t stop soon—if they didn’t stop soon—their entire mission would be compromised.
Jetta spotted a rundown shelter constructed from steel beams and rusted metal scraps thirty meters ahead between heaps of trash. Agracia’s memories told her that Scabbers frequently made temporary safe houses to wait out storms. It appeared recently constructed, a series of lightning deterrents running along the patched roof.
Jetta motioned for Triel to wait outside as she circled the building. There were gaps in the slats, but the inside was too dark for h
er to discern anything useful. She couldn’t sense anything, but with the sheer commotion surrounding them, she didn’t entirely trust her senses.
Jetta carefully tested the door, but the old metal wouldn’t budge. The wind was picking up, as were the frequency and proximity of the lightning strikes.
A crack of thunder seemed to break the skies. She rammed the door with all her strength and it flung open, sending her stumbling inside.
Triel’s voice crackled over the helmet microphone. “Are you okay?”
Jetta turned to see Triel using her body weight to shut the door against the brutal winds.
“Yeah,” Jetta said, flicking on the helmet’s night vision mode and picking herself off the dirty ground.
“Hold up,” Jetta whispered, holding up an arm to halt Triel’s advance. In the opposite corner of the shelter lay a curled human figure. A discolored blanket wrapped around his shoulders like a shroud.
“Don’t worry—he’s dead.”
Jetta didn’t doubt Triel’s perceptions, but she poked the corpse with her foot before relaxing.
“How did he die?” Triel asked as Jetta overturned the body. The wounds to his chest and thighs answered her question. It looked like someone or something had torn into him with something sharp. When the smell filtered through her helmet, Jetta released him and backed away. After a moment’s thought, she covered his head with the blanket, leaving his boots exposed, and dragged him outside.
A quick survey of the building turned up a few useful items the dead man had been carrying. A few candles, a lighter, a handful of trading caps, some food rations, and pills marked with red and black stripes. She searched Agracia’s borrowed memories and found they were anti-radiation pills, but given the degradation of the bottle, who knew how effective they’d be?
The man had been carrying a short rifle and a six-shooter but was otherwise grossly unequipped for life aboveground. No hazard suit of any sort, no maps, no medkits, no survival gear. The thin blanket he died in barely covered his large frame.
“What are you doing?” Triel asked as Jetta moved to the center of the room, where a wood composite platform served as the only clean space. Jetta coaxed a few wicks out of the heap of candles melted onto the platform corner before using the dead man’s lighter.
“I’m tired,” Jetta said, removing her helmet and sliding down the wall nearest the candles. Her breath rose in puffs into the chilly air. “I know you are too. We need to rest, if only for a few hours.”
Triel didn’t argue but took her helmet off as well.
“Hey—” Jetta protested.
“You took yours off.”
Jetta swallowed one of the radiation pills. “I was just testing these out.”
“Give me one, then.”
“No! Put your helmet back on!”
“Jetta Kyron,” Triel said, crossing her arms. Jetta mumbled under her breath as she dug a black and red pill out of the bottle and handed it to the Healer. She swallowed it with a disgusted look on her face but said nothing more.
Jetta stared at the flames as they danced in the wind that made it through the cracks in the shelter. “So, did you get what you needed from the Temple of Exxuthus? Can you survive as a Solitary?”
Triel took a seat opposite of her and leaned against the wall. “I don’t know. It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting.” A troubled look crossed Triel’s face, but it passed as quickly as it had formed. “What about you—did you find what you needed there?”
Jetta brought her knees to her chest and threw a handful of dirt in the opposite direction. “Just more questions.”
That sat in silence for a moment, listening to the thunder and wind rage overhead. The candlelight lulled Jetta until her only thoughts were of laying her head down and closing her eyes.
“I miss my sister.”
The words came out of her mouth before she could put thought into them. Triel, who had dozed off, looked up sharply. “Can’t you just tell her that?”
Jetta shook her head. “Not right now.”
Triel’s eyes narrowed. “What are you afraid of?”
Jetta straightened up. “It’s not that. I just...”
But it was true, and lying to a fellow telepath was insulting, so Jetta conceded. “I am afraid. Of a lot of things. I’m afraid of what Jaeia will say when I talk to her. I... hit her.”
Triel didn’t hide her surprise. “When?”
“After I got into Victor’s mind. She was standing in my way so I knocked her out cold. I had to see him. I had to know about those terrible things I saw in his head.”
Jetta traced her tattoo in the dirt but quickly wiped it away when she realized what she was doing. Once again, the words left her lips before she had a chance to bite them back. “What am I?”
Triel cautiously stood up. For some reason Jetta thought she might attack and backed up as far as she could against the wall. But the Healer merely sat beside her so that their shoulders were touching.
“You’re my friend.”
The look in her eyes was different this time, and Jetta could see through them like the clearest blue waters.
“Do you really believe that?”
“Jetta,” Triel said, her voice barely rising above the wind, “if there’s anything I’ve known for certain in my life, it’s that nobody—nobody—can tell you who you are.”
Jetta let her head drop back against the wall. The question she posed came from inside her, from a place she seldom understood. “What did Lady Helena show you in there?”
Triel smiled shyly and shook her head. “Something unbelievable. Very strange. I’m not entirely sure. It didn’t make sense.”
Then the troubled look came back.
“What is it?”
Triel wiped her eyes. “Nothing. I’m just confused.”
Jetta took her hand. “Tell me.”
Triel chortled and played with Jetta’s hand. “Just a vision I had. Very confusing. Nothing I expected. You’ll have to excuse me if I digest it a bit longer before sharing.”
Jetta didn’t hide her offense.
Triel raised a brow. “Like you’ve never kept anything from me.”
Jetta withdrew her hand with a grumble.
Triel looked her over with a serious eye. “You really don’t look good, Jetta.”
Jetta picked up the lighter and looked at herself in the reflective finish. Her skin was colorless, and her eyes had deepened to hollows. She put the lighter down in disgust. “Not much either of us can do about that now.”
“I wish I could help,” Triel replied softly.
Jetta forced a smile. “You’ve done so much as it is. I can never repay you for all the times you’ve saved me.”
Triel paused before replying. “Yes, you can.”
Jetta knew what was coming by the haunting need in Triel’s eyes. “I’m your friend. Haven’t you always been able to trust me?”
Jetta said nothing, knowing the Healer wouldn’t stop there.
“Why won’t you open up to me? Every time I’ve been able to see you—really see you—it’s been a life or death situation. I don’t want that any more. I want to see you, now, without the threat of death, without you running away, without any more diversions.”
Jetta didn’t look at her. “Why are you asking this of me?”
“Because it’s too important to avoid any longer. I need to know, Jetta.”
Jetta fumbled with the sleeves of her lifesuit. A ball of emotion grew inside her chest, pushing against her ribs and rising in her throat in an acid wave. Frustration found its way into her words.
“Haven’t I shown you enough?” she exclaimed. “How can you ask me that when you already know?”
Triel touched her arm. “Maybe it’s not words that I want anymore, Jetta.”
“Reht is the love of your life,” Jetta whispered, her cheeks and eyes hot with anger. “I murdered your family. I destroyed Algar.”
“Reht was my first love, but not my life love,” Tri
el countered. “And the Core destroyed my world, not you. I blamed you at first, but that was before I knew you and saw through your eyes.”
Jetta hid her face from her. “I’m a girl.”
Triel chuckled. “Really?”
Jetta frowned.
Triel changed her tone. “That doesn’t matter.”
“Why me?”
“You don’t need an explanation. You know the truth. You have always sensed it.”
“I know that you’re my friend,” Jetta said stupidly. Tears were now cascading down her face. She hated Triel for making her cry, but she couldn’t help it. This was the one subject that could completely unravel her, and she didn’t know why.
“Yes, I am. But look deeper, Jetta,” Triel replied, shaking her head. “You can lie to yourself all you want, you can choose not to see what is right in front of you, but what is true will still exist no matter how much you fight it.”
Jetta inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, trying to focus on something—anything—other than what was going on so she could steady her emotions. She couldn’t believe they were having this conversation now, on Old Earth, inundated by poisonous radiation, in the middle of a storm with a dead body lying outside their meager shelter. She was exhausted to the very marrow of her bones and could feel the sickness eating up her reserves; this was not what she needed right now.
But before she could derail her nerves with anger, two soft lips pressed into her cheeks. Following the kiss was a warm hand that cupped her jaw.
“Let go.”
“I can’t!” Jetta said, pulling away. “It’s not right.”
“What’s not right about it?”
“Jaeia would hate me,” Jetta whispered. “She can never find this out about me.”
“She’s your sister, your twin—more than that, even. She’s part of you. Don’t you think she wants you to be happy?”
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