“… six, seven, eight.” Laura stared at her hand as she finished tallying up. She couldn’t swear to it, but was pretty certain the Retriever had eight long fingers stretched out from the center of what would have been….
“… the palm.”
She whispered out of reverence. And a healthy dose of fear.
Because she realized exactly where she was.
In the grip of an alien machine’s hand that picked stuff up and took it back to another galaxy. Stuff like buildings, cars, machines, and, quite possibly, terrified little girls.
Something shifted and pulsed below. And was followed by a whirring as the glow lights beginning to throb.
“Joad! We gotta get me out of here!”
Sayers noticed that Laura called Joad’s name. He might have reacted more but was too intent on pulling at the rope they had wrapped around the Retriever’s fingers.
“What’s the matter, Laura?” Sayers yelled.
“Something’s moving in here… !”
There was no mistaking the terror in his stepdaughter’s voice. “We’re trying! Hold on tight!” He didn’t even want to think about what she might be grasping deep inside the alien craft. Sayers wiped horrible images from his mind and resumed tugging. But the arm didn’t budge in the slightest. He yelled at Joad.
“Suggestions?”
For the first time since Sayers had met the man, Joad looked at a loss. His eyes had narrowed to slits from the exertion of trying to pull the fingers apart. “I don’t know. Use something for leverage?”
Sayers looked frantically around. No such thing anywhere in sight. Only Fixer, ten feet away, kneeling on the ground with his eyes shut tight. His body was shaking.
“Hey! We could use some help over here!” Sayers screamed.
Fixer buried his head against his chest and quaked even harder. This infuriated Sayers, who let go of the rope and raced over to grab the scrawny man.
“What’s with you, man? Don’t you see what—”
Fixer snapped his head up. His eyes had an intensity Sayers had never seen in the man. They were bloodshot-red and tear-filled.
“Leave me the hell alone!” roared Fixer.
Sayers felt himself being propelled backwards. Caught totally unaware, he fell onto the ground. Dazed, he couldn’t tell if he’d stumbled because of Fixer’s violent reaction—or something else.
Fixer resumed his quaking pose. Joad had turned to see what was causing the fuss.
Sayers started to get back on his feet, but found it hard going because the ground had begun to shake.
Both Joad and Sayers looked back at the ship. The Retriever was starting to rumble as well.
“Laura, what did you do?” screamed Sayers.
“Nothing!” came the yell, deep below the surface.
Sayers whirled, intent on getting Fixer to help with a last-ditch effort to save Laura before something catastrophic happened to the ship.
But Fixer was rocking back and forth, lost to the world.
She really hadn’t done anything.
Laura had moved maybe six inches forward. She had stayed clear of the glow lights. But no question about it, they were pulsating more than ever, like some kind of machine starting to rev up.
Something rumbled. It came from beneath her once again.
Just as she realized it was the floor—the palm of the alien hand that had cushioned her fall—the surface began to retract.
The edge nearest the glow lights became a gaping hole that grew larger by the second, as the palm’s surface shrank.
Laura tried to back up but had nowhere to go. She ran into a wall where the edge of the “wrist” would have been.
“Hurry! You’ve got to hurry!”
Joad didn’t need the desperate plea from the girl. He knew they were running out of time as he realized they were making no headway with the rope-pulling. For all he knew, they’d been the ones to set off whatever mayhem was happening below in the belly of the ship.
“This isn’t doing us any good.”
“What do we do, then? Let the thing crush her?” replied the panicked physician.
Joad let go of the ropes. “We got to get in there and try and lift the thing off her.”
Sayers nodded. Joad was already starting to climb over the crater edge when a cry sounded behind them.
“Get away!”
Both Joad and Sayers whipped their heads around to see Fixer on his knees, shaking like a hydrant about to blow. The man’s eyes were wide open and focused on the Retriever directly behind Joad and Sayers.
Blood had started to drip from Fixer’s nostrils.
“Get away from the shippp… !”
Fixer’s demand was guttural. The earth started to shake. Joad and Sayers did as told, and moved away from the crater.
Fixer let out a scream. There was a loud scrunch.
The Retriever.
It was starting to move.
Two things were happening.
The hole was getting bigger. Laura saw there was nothing but open space and a drop that went who-knew-where into the bowels of the alien ship.
At the same time, the fingers above her started shaking.
She remembered why it was called a Retriever. It gathered up everything the Strangers took from the world. All those things had to go somewhere. Like the garbage trucks that used to roll down their street, picking up cans and throwing their loads into the chute at the top of the vehicle.
The chute. That’s what the hole was.
And Laura was only a few feet from going right down it.
This time she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Joad had seen a lot of incredible things on his journey from the Other Side. But he couldn’t remember anything more stunning than what was transpiring before him.
Fixer continued to shake and moan.
The Retriever’s fingers rose in the air.
Both shuddered. Exactly the same way.
No question about it; man and machine were synchronized.
As Fixer leaned back and worked his fingers to lift and separate, the Retriever’s extensions did likewise. If Joad weren’t watching this with his own eyes, he would have sworn there were some wires attached between the two.
Yet it wasn’t a trick. At least, not of the traditional variety.
But it might as well have been magic.
She stopped screaming when she saw daylight.
The fingers began to spread apart, allowing the streams of sunshine to increase in size. Laura got on her knees and reached for open air.
She dared to glance at the retracting floor of the palm. The hole was huge and she could see over the edge. Nothingness spread below her. The glow lights throbbed like a pulsing heart on steroids, casting an eerie glow into an alien rabbit hole where Laura was sure Wonderland didn’t exist.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!”
Laura’s screams were suddenly much louder. Joad saw it was because the fingers had lifted high enough to expose the inside of where the girl had fallen. Joad was the first over the crater edge, but Sayers was right behind him.
Joad froze and the physician almost bowled him over.
The two men stared down into the exposed Retriever.
Laura was backed up against an inner wall, hovering on a ledge over a hole that descended deep into the ship.
And the ledge was shrinking.
“Hurry!”
This cry wasn’t coming from Laura. She was paralyzed, in near shock, and shoved up against the wall.
“I can’t hold this much longer!”
Joad realized it was Fixer calling from above.
The Retriever fingers shook furiously above him. It was as if they were suspended in midair and realized they had no business doing so.
Joad got himself moving. He leaned over the edge and reached for Laura, who had her eyes shut tight. She was moaning.
“Reach up. Right now.”
She opened her eyes and stared at him in disbelief. Joad
couldn’t blame her. He couldn’t wrap his brain around what was going on, either.
“C’mon. We don’t have much time.”
Just as they clasped hands, the ship lurched. Joad started to fall over the edge.
And was grabbed from behind by Sayers.
Which allowed Joad to keep his balance and begin pulling Laura up to safety. The physician kept his grip on Joad, and soon the two men had Laura in their arms. They fell backwards, collapsing on the ground on the safe side of the crater.
Joad heard Fixer groan. He turned just in time to see the man fall face forward in the dirt.
One second later the Retriever fingers smashed down into the belly of the ship.
Joad didn’t need a program to know the force would have snapped his neck like a twig.
Laura had her arms wrapped around Sayers; she was crying but safe. The physician locked eyes with Joad.
“Close,” said Sayers.
“No kidding,” replied Joad.
Sayers kept his arms around the young girl. Joad could tell the man felt awkward. He guessed parenting skills went by the wayside when you spent the better part of seven years trying to build the perfect still.
He crossed to Fixer, who was sitting up and wiping blood from his nose.
“You all right?” asked Joad.
“Took a lot out of me,” Fixer said, catching his breath. “Never tried it with something that big before.”
“‘It’ being your Gift,” suggested Joad.
“I guess that’s what some call it. Feels more like a curse sometimes.”
Joad began putting things together. “That’s what those brothers are after, isn’t it?”
Fixer nodded. “They just don’t know it.”
“Well, looks like they’re going to get another chance to find out.”
Joad turned to face Sayers. The physician was pointing off in the distance, back toward the lavender patch.
A dust cloud was moving across the lunar-like plains toward them. Joad didn’t need to see what was causing it.
The sound of pounding horse hooves was warning enough.
21
At first, he was distracted by the ship.
It was impossible to not be. Primo had seen a few on his travels, but the sight of the spacecraft never failed to strike simultaneous feelings of awe, fear, and gratitude. Awe, simply because it was humongous, from another world, and not in the sky. Fear rose from the inert part; though motionless in the crater, Primo had this gnawing feeling that the ship might come alive in a split second and scoop him off to nothingness. The gratitude came from remembering that an alien ship didn’t grab him or his brothers in the first go-round.
His attention diverted back to their quarry—the Rider and his trio of troublemakers. They raced toward their horses a hundred yards away. Primo smiled, seeing Quattro’s horse amidst the other two mounts. Not only would they finally wreak vengeance for their sibling’s brutal death, but they’d reclaim the horse that had been ignobly taken from them in the woods.
Primo motioned to Secundo and Trey. “Let’s get ’em.”
His brothers needed no urging. Secundo, his blond locks still dappled with traces of blood from the last encounter with the Rider, spurred his horse with a kick and whoop. Fire blasted from the animal’s nostrils as man and beast were propelled forward. Trey took up the chase and Primo confidently brought up the rear.
Fixer and the doctor reached their mounts first. They hopped on, practically in tandem, and galloped away. Quattro’s horse, the jet-black mate of their very own, snorted fire and pawed at dirt about fifty yards further away. The Rider sprinted across the lunar-gray surface for it, the girl trying to keep up behind him.
Primo watched as his brothers divided their quarry in two. Secundo tore to the left, giving chase to Fixer and the physician. Trey set his sights on the fleeing girl and Rider. Primo weighed his options and decided to follow Secundo; with two horses and men to go after, he figured Secundo could use the help.
Primo was galloping along when he heard Trey let out a yell. He looked just in time to see that Trey’s primal scream had unnerved the girl enough for her to turn and glance behind her. She tripped over a jutting rock and fell headfirst into the gray dirt, crying out in obvious pain.
A number of things happened at once.
The Rider reared up on his horse, swiveled the animal around, and dismounted in one swift fluid movement.
Secundo stopped his mount in its tracks and stared at the fallen girl.
Trey’s horse almost trampled her. She screamed even louder as she rolled away from stomping horse hooves. And the fire coming from the nostrils of Trey’s frightened steed.
Primo saw an immediate advantage open up, and cried out for Trey to seize it.
“Grab her, you fool!”
Trey leapt off his horse and ran as fast as he could.
The girl tried to regain her footing, but in the frenzy of the moment slipped again.
Trey reached her before the Rider. He pulled out his knife and brought it to the young girl’s throat, squelching her next scream.
Being farthest away, Fixer and the doctor were the last to react. By the time they turned, Secundo had his crossbow up and pointed at them.
Primo felt a bit of bursting pride. The weapons training he’d put his brothers through was paying dividends. He pointed his own bow at the Rider, who was already backing away from the girl, slowly replacing the makeshift sling in his pocket.
The Rider glared at Trey, who had pulled the girl even tighter to his body as he backed up toward the spacecraft.
“Let the girl go. She means nothing to you.”
Trey looked past the Rider at his older brother. Primo knew it was time to step in. He carefully dismounted, making sure the Rider never left the crossbow’s site.
“But the rest of you do,” said Primo.
“So, start with me,” said the Rider. “I’m the one who killed your brother.”
Primo’s eyes flickered. He glanced at Fixer and the doctor. They had come to a halt below a huge sand dune. Secundo had maneuvered himself so that he was directly between them and the Rider-Primo standoff.
Primo shook his head.
“You flatter yourself.” He pointed at Fixer and the doctor. “That distinction belongs to this man, who calls himself a doctor.”
“I tried to warn you. But you wouldn’t listen!” protested the man. “He was practically dead when you brought him in the door.”
“You could have saved him. If you weren’t drunk off your lazy ass from that lousy swill!” roared Primo.
His accusation clearly put the doctor even more on the defensive. “Me and Laura never asked to be part of this!” He pointed frantically at the Rider. “None of this would’ve happened if Joad had stayed out of it. Or Fixer told you the truth about what he could do!”
For a moment, silence reigned.
Primo noticed the looks of betrayal emanating from the others. He could tell that the physician realized he’d overstepped his bounds, but the words had already sprung from his mouth and it was time for Primo to capitalize on this new information. He eyed the Rider.
“Joad? Like that family in the book?”
“I’m surprised you know it.”
“There’s a whole lot about me that’d surprise you. Shame you won’t ever get the chance to hear it.”
“Let the girl go and you can tell me anything you want.”
“I think I’m the chief negotiator here. Unlike the not-so-good doctor or yourself, Mr. Joad.” Primo raised the crossbow up a few inches and fingered the trigger. “At least now I know the name of the man whose life I’m about to take.”
“No!”
Primo kept the crossbow aimed at Joad, but turned toward the scream emanating from the young girl, Laura.
“Oh. You prefer I start with him?” asked Primo as he swiveled the bow toward the physician.
“Why do you have to kill anyone?”
“Because they m
urdered our brother.”
“It was an accident! They were just trying to help me.” This came from Fixer, the last court to be heard from.
“I’ll get to you,” promised Primo.
He paused a beat, taking it all in. And smiled.
“You know, all this could have been avoided when we first met if you hadn’t lied about the cells. We wouldn’t have strung you up on your perch and you never would have met your friends here and put them in danger.”
The wiry man’s body had started to shake. Primo could see it wasn’t out of fear. It was actually intense rage. Primo was impressed; he had labeled Fixer a coward.
“If I’d told you the truth, would it have stopped you from trying to kill me?”
Primo didn’t see any point in lying to the man.
“Probably not.” He pointed at Joad, Laura, and the doctor. “But it would’ve spared their lives.”
Laura groaned.
Primo eyed Fixer suspiciously, then nodded at the doctor. “What did he mean when he said ‘What you could do’?”
Fixer didn’t respond. He snapped his eyes shut instead.
“What’s wrong with you?” demanded Primo.
The scrawny runt began to rock back and forth.
“Be careful what you ask for,” chided Joad.
Primo started to respond, then thought better. A pang of recognition ran through him, the kind that came on right before of one of his weather outbursts. Trey, hand shaking, brought the knife closer to Laura’s throat. Initially, Primo thought it was due to his brother’s weakening resolve, but then he began to feel the rumble beneath his own feet.
“What the hell is that?” yelled Secundo.
A violent whipping sound filled the air.
Primo whirled around realizing what he was hearing.
But not before Joad, who screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Laura! Get down!”
The girl did as told as the eyes of the others darted toward the spaceship. The Retriever in particular. The alien metal-covered arm was lifting and beginning to coil.
Suddenly, the tentacle whipped through the air.
The Seventh Day Page 15
