by Peter Telep
The girls make faces and sigh.
Cypress narrows her gaze on the scholars.
* * *
The outpost is equipped with living quarters, research labs, classrooms, a workout facility, and the grease-stained floors of shops where they repair vehicles and machinery.
We finally reach a hangar where three hoverjets sit in a neat row. They resemble helicopters but have stubby wings instead of rotors and four vertical engines that pitch forward when they take off.
These particular metal birds look pretty sad, though, with rusty wings and landing skids scraped bare of paint.
I check the pilot’s door. Locked. Then I peer through the glass, noting more computer panels inside.
“Doc, we don’t have the codes to get in. We don’t have the codes to start engines, and we don’t have a pilot. Why are we wasting time?”
I turn back and raise my brows at Meeka. “Just making sure they’re here.”
“There’s no one left on this planet except us. What part of that don’t you understand?”
“I get it. You just have to trust me.”
We head back to the cafeteria.
All the stress has made us hungrier than the wintt.
While I eat some kind of meat that tastes like a sloppy joe, putting it on pieces of “bread” that remind me of freckled bananas, I have brief conversation with Keane.
Julie’s hidden him inside the ship, but in order to do that, she was forced to place his body in one of those tanks, and his persona is now being projected and used as part of the ceiling on deck nine, ring seven. Sounds glamorous.
However, he still has the ability to secretly connect with both me, her, and a network of “spies” within the tanks who feed Julie and her group information about the Armadis. It’s a pretty elaborate setup, but as I suspected, it allows Keane to ask around for the information we need.
By the time I finish my meal, he’s shouting in my mind:
“Who’s the man with the plan? Whose outfits are always on point? Who’s slaying it up here while you losers pig out down there? Oh, that would be Keane Centennial Trusand, the dashing young warrior who—”
“Dude, please,” I beg him. “Did you find me a pilot?”
“I got her. But no one’s heard of any Dr. Arabelle, and no one’s claiming to be. I don’t think he’s up here.”
“Dang. All right. So does this pilot have the codes?”
“She’s got it all, and she’ll talk you through it.”
“Sweet. You tell Julie about Tommy?”
“Yeah. She says if he doesn’t get better, he’ll have to come up here.”
“Roger that. And Keane. I’m sorry about what happened to you. My father has been… I don’t even know how to...”
“You’re into that again? Get over it, bro.”
“I promise, we’ll get you back.”
“Just take care of my girl. But not too good. I mean, you know, keep her safe. But don’t hug her. Unless she’s really scared. And if have you do that, only breathe through your mouth—because sometimes she smells really good.”
“Does that mean sometimes she smells really bad?”
“I never said that!”
“Goodbye, Keane.”
“Yeah, yeah…”
I break the connection.
“Ready to roll?” I ask everyone.
“Roll where?” Steffanie asks.
“Back to Verbena.”
“Who’s the pilot?” Meeka asks.
“Me.”
Even Cypress scowls in disbelief.
I raise my palms. “Don’t worry. I got this. Now let’s get Tommy down to the hangar. And pack some food, too.”
* * *
I tap in the access codes to all three hoverjets and swing open the doors.
“Really…” Meeka says, impressed.
I wink at her. She snorts.
Next, I instruct the girls how to remove the batteries from two of the aircraft. We’ll transport and link up those extra batteries to the third hoverjet, the one we’ll be flying, since we can’t reach Verbena on a single charge.
“Oh, I get it now,” Steffanie says. “Keane’s connected to a pilot up there.”
“Yeah, she’s a prospector and flew all three of these. She’ll talk me through it.”
“Oh, wonderful,” Meeka says. “And if for some reason the connection between you and Keane breaks?”
“Shut up! Don’t jinx us.”
“Okay…”
“If you’re so worried about it, why don’t we just play a little Personify?” Steffanie asks Meeka.
“I already thought of that,” Meeka answers. “Cypress and Hedera can’t jump, and I don’t trust Doc, so we don’t have enough people. Flying back is the only way.”
“You need the memory in your arms and legs to fly this machine,” Cypress says, staring at the hoverjet. “Just like my chopper back home. You must feel it.”
“Oh, he’ll feel it,” Steffanie warns. “Especially if he’s lying about flying this thing.”
I give Steffanie my best fake smile and thumb’s up.
She rolls her eyes.
Once the batteries and the food are loaded, we zip Tommy into a heavy jacket and strap him onto a stretcher borrowed from the outpost’s clinic.
He’s sleeping soundly, but his cheeks are caved in, and his skin is like chalk. Even his stubbly beard seems grayer.
Hedera approaches carrying a flower pot filled with three baby scholars. She shrugs and says, “In case they decide to talk with us… and for good luck.”
“Load ‘em up,” I say, remembering how I had Lyrric bring along a few scholars when we went out to the lab. They must’ve fallen out of the truck when we got attacked, and we left them behind.
Now for some weird reason, I feel compelled to go back there, as if the scholars themselves are putting that thought in my mind. I can’t ignore it, so I get with Meeka…
“I know it sounds crazy, but just for a second, come on,” I tell her.
We jump back to the valley.
Her hand goes to her mouth.
“Whoa,” I gasp.
What was once a scorched wasteland with a gaping hole in its center is now a vast field of gold for as far we can see.
Millions of scholars wave gently in the breeze.
Hexagons everywhere.
“I don’t know what this is,” I tell her.
“It’s beautiful,” she says. “And scary. What’s happening?”
“I’m not sure. But I feel like it’s supposed to.”
“And what’re we supposed to do?”
“I don’t know. But I feel like they wanted us to come here and see this. And they want us to keep going.”
We return to our bodies, and I share the news.
Steffanie says she’ll have Joshua send another invitation to the scholars.
I nod and motion that we hold hands. I lower my head and say, “This is a healing wreath for all of us, especially Tommy. He’s going to be all right.”
“Doke,” Cypress says. “I believe you.”
Everyone climbs onboard. I buckle into the pilot’s seat, and Meeka slides into the copilot’s chair.
Cypress, Hedera, and Steffanie strap into jump seats built into the bulkheads.
We’ve already opened the hangar doors, and Keane feeds me the access codes to get into the jet’s computer. He’ll channel the pilot’s thoughts so I can speak directly to her.
That’s great because the controls look complicated.
I take my time going through the preflight checklist and then fire up the engines.
As we glide out of the hangar, I glance back at others and give them a quick nod.
They look at me… scared out of their minds.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
I guess flying’s pretty cool—if you know what you’re doing.
So, uh, yeah, I sort of crash into the hangar as we take off. The roof collapses behind us…
But we’re
in the air!
Never mind all the screaming behind me.
Those girls are so negative…
Besides, what’re they worried about? I have an expert pilot in my mind, and we’ll be fine.
Most of it’s automatic, although my pilot says the hoverjet should be flown by both a pilot and her persona, meaning my persona should be in the copilot’s chair instead of Meeka.
Now you tell me.
Not a big deal, though. I just give a few instructions to Meeka, and we bank hard and soar off with the engines rumbling through the cabin and giving me a little rush.
As we cut through the clouds, I can’t help but smile and say, “Red Five, standing by.”
“What?” Meeka asks.
“Nothing. This is insane, right?”
She nods tightly, still freaking out.
I reach forward to a touch panel and key in the auto flight sequence. Suddenly, the stick and foot paddles have a life of their own.
Now it’s time for me lay in the course.
I instruct the navigation computer to show me a map of Verbena and zoom in on the temple.
Numbers in yellow indicate that all satellites are offline and that the map hasn’t been updated in 7,326 days.
A warning flashes on another display: insufficient battery power to reach programmed destination.
The pilot teaches me how to order the computer to revert to the reserve batteries as each dips below ten percent.
Finally, she congratulates me on a job well done and adds, “Now Doc, you know what they say? Flying’s easy. Landing’s the tough part. With the uplink down, you don’t have current data on the landing zone, so I wouldn’t trust the autopilot. You land her manually. I’ll help you.”
“Thanks. I don’t even know your name.”
“It’s Sangie. I’m actually Lyric’s cousin. She says hello.”
Just hearing Lyric’s name hurts. “Please tell her we’re coming. We’ll get her out.”
“I know you will.”
I close my eyes. No pressure, right? Just everyone on the planet needing to be rescued, along with everyone on Earth.
I’m starting to feel sick, like I might pass out.
“You okay?” Meeka asks.
I snap open my eyes and face her. “I’m good.”
“How long till we get there?”
I squint at one of the control panels. “It’s showing nearly nine hours, but that’ll change as we pick up some tailwinds.”
“You sound like an expert.”
“Not me. Her name is Sangie.”
“The pilot in your head?” she asks.
“Yep.” I throw off my seatbelt, stand, and limp back into the crew compartment.
Steffanie is showing Cypress how to check for Tommy’s pulse, while Hedera hides her face from me. I slide into the seat next to her say, “We’re on our way.”
She nods, but I can tell she’s been crying.
“Keane says hi. He says I can only hug you if you’re really scared. He doesn’t want me to smell you.”
She lifts her head and her persona glows in her palm. “He said what?”
“He thinks you smell too good and that I’ll fall in love with you based on your smell. He’s really jealous.”
“You’re just saying that.”
I lean over and do some exaggerated sniffing. “Wow, he wasn’t kidding.”
“Stop it,” she says, shoving me back.
“All right, all right.”
She smiles through the tears. “Thanks for telling me.”
“When he was… did you see… I mean the rose thing? Did you connect to him?”
“Yeah, I was there,” she says. “But I think he realized Julie was coming, and that’s why he held back his immortal.”
“He gave me his father’s and my grandmother’s, but I plan to give his father back.”
“What’s it like?”
“You mean carrying one?” I ask.
“Yeah, apparently I can do it, but no one thought I could, so no one’s ever offered, except for Keane.”
“I don’t know if it’s the same for everyone, but I close my eyes and see them. I can focus on one and then project it.”
“What do they feel like?”
“I don’t know.”
“Come on…”
I take a deep breath. “Well, I guess you attach an emotion to them. When I sense my father’s immortal, I just feel pissed off. My mother makes me really sad. I guess carrying them around is a blessing and a curse.”
She nods, and we sit there for a few more seconds until I ask, “So, any thoughts about the letter?”
“I have a few ideas, but I don’t think you’ll like them.”
“Oh, I’m sure I wont, but you have to tell me.”
“I’ve tried to analyze every word.”
I widen my eyes. “That’s why I gave it to you.”
She pulls out the letter and we read it again, together:
Doc,
If you made it this far, there’s still a chance. I thought the curators could help, but I was wrong. We’re running out of time. Find Doctor Arabelle. He’ll know what to do now.
Hedera traces her finger over the words. “Okay, he starts with, ‘if you made it this far.’ I think he’s referencing our previous steps, but how could he know them if he wasn’t there? And because we found the letter, the Galleons haven’t won yet.”
“I agree. It sounds like he knows what’s happening.”
“And then there’s this line about the curators, which forces me to ask what’s the problem, and why did he call them to help? And why couldn’t they help?”
“Right.”
“So as best I can tell, the problem is us,” she says.
“What do mean?”
“You said there was an apocalypse on Halsparr. And then the Galleons got blown up by the First Ones. Flora was nuked about fifteen years ago… and now the Galleons will finish off Earth. It’s us. We’re the problem. All we do is kill ourselves.”
“And you think my father was trying to fix that? No way. His company played with fire. They weren’t trying to solve anything.”
“You don’t have to believe me, Doc. I’m not sure about any of this. I’m just trying to help.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just… when it comes to my father…”
“I know. But it seems like he’s trying to stop something in the letter, not cause it to happen,” she says.
“I wonder if anything he’s said is true.”
“Hey, Doc, you there?” Keane asks, sounding urgent.
Hedera frowns at me. “What is it?”
“Not sure,” I answer. “Let me see.” I head back to the pilot’s seat. “What’s up, bro?”
“I just need to tell you something. Actually, I really need to talk to my father, but you have his immortal, and I don’t know if he’d say anything about it.”
“About what?”
“It just never occurred to me.”
“What didn’t?”
“That when everyone on Flora got picked up and plugged into the ship, that someone would know me. They saw me when we talked to the community, and they realized who I was.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“I found them, Doc.”
“Found who?”
“My mother and sister. They died when the bombs went off, but I found someone who has their immortals. It’s this lady who was a friend of my mother’s.”
“Wow, that’s crazy. You thought they were lost. So this is a good thing, right?”
“I’m not sure. My father showed me his memories of them, but that’s different. I feel like I’ll be meeting them for the first time.”
“Well, that’s a good thing, right?”
“I don’t know. Should I do it?”
“Yeah, but you can’t meet them now, right? Not while the lady carrying them is plugged in.”
“No, but if we get her out, she wants to give them back to me. I don’
t know why, but I’m scared.”
I want to tell him that I know how that feels, that when I connected with Lori and lived her life, I was scared, too.
However, be careful what you wish for.
I thought Lori was an angel—until I learned she was cheating on my father with Solomon.
I want Keane to be happy, but I can’t honestly say that accepting these immortals will be for the better or worse…
“Doc, are you still there? It feels like you’re drifting.”
“I’m here, bro.”
“What should I tell her?”
“Tell her when this over, you’ll get together and decide what to do…”
“Right. That’ll work.”
“Yeah, it will. And you’re right about Hedera. She smells so awesome that I can’t even describe it.”
“You bastard!”
“Ha. I told her what you said and how jealous you are.”
“Why’d you do that?”
“Because she needed to hear it. Now just lay low and keep your eyes open, okay?”
“Roger that, Commander.”
Rolling my eyes, I turn back for the crew compartment and witness an amazing sight:
Hedera is demonstrating to Cypress how she projects her persona above her palm, and then Cypress leans in closer to show her the eyelo.
They smile at each other. New friends.
* * *
I dream of the island.
I’m at the observatory, staring through the telescope at a star I didn’t know was my own. When I look up from the eyepiece, I’m surrounded by the immortals I carry: Lori, Alina, Hollis, Thaddeus, Corrales, and Brandalynn.
If immortals have “weight” the way Cypress says, then I shouldn’t be able to jump—because I’m carrying around nearly an entire baseball team!
I guess the weight thing only applies to the immortals of First Ones or curators or whatever they’re calling themselves this week.
“You have a lot on your mind,” Lori says.
“Wow, mom, you think?” I reply.
“Why are we here?” Alina asks.
I glance at Julie’s mother and shrug. “Maybe I’m trying to work out something in my dreams.”
“Thank you for taking care of my son,” Corrales says.
“Keane doesn’t need my help,” I remind him.
“But you need ours,” he says, narrowing his gaze.
