by BC Powell
While Sash spends a few moments thinking about what I saw, I listen to Aven’s soft, steady breathing. “I don’t know what that means,” Sash says. “It could be an answer to a question you haven’t asked yet.”
“Why would the Pool show it to me now?”
“Maybe when you need the answer, you won’t be able to go to the Pool. Always remember what you saw.”
“I will,” I say. “It’s not the kind of thing I’d ever forget.”
Early the next morrow, Sash and I take Aven to Home and exchange her for Maya. After meeting Larn at the gate, we all slip boots on our feet and drape canisters over our shoulders. Once Maya is secure in a traveling harness on my back, we depart the Delta. Using the bridge north of the Delta, we cross to the western Barrens.
As we glide over the wasteland, the weight of Maya’s thin frame is almost unnoticeable. Sash zips back and forth in front of me while Larn stays a few miles behind us to protect our rear. Due to the enormous distance, we spend well over half the morrow just getting to the area where we plan on searching. We stop on a hill overlooking the Bridge of Harmony that crosses the Eternal Canyon.
“I want to talk to the Schorachnia,” Sash says. “Maybe they saw something. Then we’ll decide where to go.”
“Do you think Tela would have come this close to a Gateway?” I ask.
Sash shakes her head. “I doubt it, but sometimes the Guardians will go thousands of miles from their Gateways along the edge of the Expanse. They all have incredible speed. They check on their domains in either direction, just like the Serquatine swim the length of the river.”
“Why do they do that?” I ask.
“To catch Murkovin if they can. The sap in their blood does the same thing for the Guardians as the sap in ours.”
“They’re such friendly creatures,” I sarcastically comment.
I’m surprised that Sash smiles at my remark. “They serve a purpose,” she says. “That’s what matters.”
Sash runs down the hill towards the Canyon. After I release Maya from the harness, she plops down on the ground by my feet. Her eyes are captivated by the fluctuating colors of the barrier over the western sky. The symphonic serenade of the Canyon spills across the red dirt and flows into our ears. I sit down on the ground beside Maya while Larn stands behind us to keep watch on the Barrens.
“This is incredible!” Maya gasps.
“Is this your first time near the Infinite Expanse?” I ask.
“It is. I’ve never seen or heard anything like this.”
Soon after Sash stops at the Stone of Passage, one of the enormous, scorpion-like Schorachnia climbs over the side of the Canyon and shuffles to her. With his two tails coiled behind him and the pinchers on his two front arms clicking and clacking, the rusty-colored creature has a conversation with Sash. When Maya lowers her eyes from the sky and spots the Schorachnia, she uncontrollably shivers.
“That’s the scariest looking thing I’ve ever seen,” she says.
“And to make matters worse, they’re not very friendly,” I reply.
“Have you met them?”
“I came to this Gateway for my journey to the Expanse,” I answer.
She turns her head to me and scrunches her face. “You rode that thing across the Bridge of Harmony?”
“I sure did,” I say. “It was an amazing experience.”
“Now that I’ve seen them, I don’t think I’ll choose this Gateway when I go.”
I quietly chuckle. “You’ve seen the sky and heard the music. That’s the best part.”
Once Sash finishes speaking with the Guardian, she races back to us. Maya and I stand from the ground and Larn joins us at Maya’s side.
“What did he say?” I ask Sash.
“He hasn’t seen any Murkovin near his domain in a long while,” she answers, “but that doesn’t mean Tela isn’t near the Canyon. I thought it was worth asking if they’d seen anyone who resembles her.”
“What’s the plan now?”
Sash’s eyes roam the Barrens for a few moments before she answers. “Maya’s range is roughly four hundred miles in any direction. The barrier can be seen from about two thousand miles away. If we make a stop straight out from the Expanse at four hundred miles, then two more stops every eight hundred miles farther out, we’ll know we’ve covered everything in sight of the barrier with a little overlap. Then we move eight hundred miles north or south, and we make three more stops in a direct line back to the Expanse. We’ll do it over and over until we make our way all along the edge of the barrier. But there’s one question we need to answer first.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
“Do we head north or south from here?”
Sash moves her eyes from person to person while we try to come up with a logical response. Larn turns his head to the north, studies the distant Barrens, and then looks to the south.
“I would say south,” he says.
“Are you basing that on anything?” Sash asks.
“I think she’d want to stay as far away from the Delta as possible,” he answers. “If she traveled too far north from where she and Chase were, she’d risk crossing the paths we use to the Expanse. I think she’d stay in the southern part of the Barrens.”
Sash directs her attention to me. “And you?”
“I agree with Larn, but my reasoning is a little different. The Murkovin were still looking for us and trying to cut off our path to the Delta. Tela suggested that we go far north of the Delta and then back down to avoid them. She knows that I know that, so I think she’d do the opposite.”
“You and Tela were about forty thousand miles south of here,” she says. “Do you think we should start there?”
“I don’t know. We’re here now and a lot of the morrow is gone. I think Larn was correct when he said that we shouldn’t be random in our search. Starting here is as good a place as any. If she doesn’t want to be found, I don’t think she’d stay close to where we were.”
Sash nods to me and then looks at Maya. “What do you think?”
“I don’t think I should have a say,” she answers.
“I disagree,” Sash says in a soothing tone. “If you’re brave enough to be out here with us, you should have a say in what we do.”
Maya glances at me and then looks at Sash again. “I think what Larn and Chase said makes sense. I say south from here. What do you think?”
“It’s unanimous,” Sash answers. “I think she’d want to stay close to the Expanse with the least amount of risk of being seen by anyone else.”
“Let’s hope Tela’s thinking that rationally,” I say.
Once Maya is on my back again, we travel a few hundred miles due west. On top of the highest hill in the area, Larn helps Maya off my back. She kneels to the ground, places both palms on the dirt, and closes her eyes. The rest of us scour the Barrens in every direction looking for movement that might be a Murkovin. A few minutes pass with Maya in deep concentration before she utters a sound.
“I don’t sense anything,” Maya says.
“It’s not very likely that we’d find her on the first stop,” I tell her. “Even the first hundred or so.”
In less than five minutes, we cover the eight hundred miles to our second stop. We spend another few minutes with Maya on the ground trying to sense something from Tela. We repeat the process over and over, snaking back and forth across the Barrens to the south. As the morrow wears on, the routine becomes increasingly monotonous, but at least we’re covering a much larger area than if we tried to search by eye.
At our twentieth stop, we see a lone Murkovin standing on a hilltop less than a mile away. With her eyes magnetized to the beast, Maya nervously fidgets with the dirt at her sides. The creature disappears behind the hill but soon climbs back to the crest with another Murkovin at his side.
“Can you try to focus on where they are?” I ask Maya.
“I’ll try,” she says quietly. “This is the first time I’ve seen a Murkovin.”
Sash kneels by her side. “Don’t be afraid, Maya. We won’t go near them and I won’t let them anywhere near you.”
The confidence in Sash’s tone seems to ease Maya’s fear. She closes her eyes and pushes her hands firmly to the ground. After a few moments, she shakes her head and looks up at me with a frown on her face.
“Nothing.”
“We should head back now,” Larn says. “It’s almost time for sleep. We have a long return trip ahead of us and can’t keep Maya out any longer.”
Maya lowers her eyes to the dirt. “I’m sorry I didn’t find her.”
“Don’t feel bad,” I say. “I didn’t think there was much chance of us finding her on the first morrow.”
During the trip back to the Delta, I realize what an enormous undertaking lies ahead of us. It took so much time just getting to where we started that we were only left with a few hours of actual searching. With Maya’s range, each stop we made took care of roughly an eight hundred mile diameter circle with us in the center. We went through twenty of those, which totals over ten million square miles, an unfathomable amount of space by Earth standards.
I try several times to calculate how many morrows it will take if we have to search the entire edge of the Expanse. On a stop for sap, I even ask Sash to confirm my math. The number we both come up with—a very rough estimate—is two hundred.
As we near the Delta, one of Maya’s cheeks falls to the particles of my shoulder. After it remains dormant there for a few minutes, I assume she’s dozed off. My head suddenly aches from all the “what ifs” running through my mind.
What if I’d just insisted that I carry Tela back to the Delta when she seemed better? What if I’d gone to refill the canisters with sap while she was in the waterfall? What if I’d had the decency to leave the cave when she took her clothes off instead of gawking at her? What if I’d come to my senses sooner and realized what the wild sap was doing to both of us?
What if . . . what if . . . what if.
When we reach the Delta, we head straight to Home. Marc takes a sleeping Maya from my back and carries her to her room. Since Aven’s already out for the night, Sash and I decide to leave her at Home. We return to our habitat, clean off, and pass out from exhaustion.
Early the next morrow, we spend half an hour playing with Aven at Home before departing again with Maya. Just as he was the prior morrow, Larn is already waiting for us by the gate. Before we get our boots and canisters, Sash steps in front of Larn.
“I don’t want to sound rude,” she says, “but I don’t think you should come with us.”
“Why not?” Larn asks.
“You’ll slow us down. You know how fast my speed is, and Chase has surpassed yours. We need to cover a lot more ground than we did on the prior morrow.”
“It’s safer with three of us,” he argues.
“We aren’t there to fight. Our speed will keep us safe.”
Larn looks at me. “What was your count?”
“Three-eighty one,” I answer. “But I think I can go a little faster.”
“And Tela’s?” he asks.
“The same that I had.”
He thoughtfully nods his head. “I’ve noticed how fast you’ve both become. I’m sorry she isn’t here to hear me say this. I’m proud to have served as Mentor to both of you.”
“Thank you, Larn,” I say. “You can tell her in person when we bring her back.”
“I hope I have that opportunity.” He looks down at Maya. “Do you feel safe with just the two of them.”
“I think so,” Maya says. “Sash won’t let anything bad happen to me.”
Larn returns his attention to Sash. “Her safety is your top priority. Let me know as soon as you return.”
“I will,” she replies. “Thank you for understanding.”
Larn bows to us and then walks in the direction of Market. Considering all his help and how much concern he’s shown for Tela’s well being, I hope he doesn’t feel bad from what Sash said. But I’m fairly certain he recognizes the truth in her words.
“Now it’s your turn,” Sash says to me. “You need to go faster.”
“I think I’ve got a little more in me.”
“You need a lot more than a little. That’s why I asked Larn not to come. Do you believe you can go as fast as I can?”
“Of course not,” I answer. “You’re three times faster than anyone here.”
“Do you remember when I helped you go faster by traveling through you?”
“Is that what you want to do now?” I ask.
“No,” she answers. “I want you to travel at my speed on your own.”
“I don’t think that’s possible,” I say.
“It is possible,” she firmly replies. “When I shared my light with you at the Gateway, I had to leave some of it inside you. It was the only way to bring you back from the Expanse. Part of what I gave you is in your spectrum now. If you believe you can match my speed, you’ll find the same level of focus that I have and your body will follow your mind.”
“Why haven’t you told me this before?” I ask.
“You haven’t needed it until now,” she answers. “Free your mind of the boundaries you impose on yourself and you’ll keep pace with me. If you can’t do that, you should stay here.”
I shake my head. “I’m not staying here.”
“Then keep up with me,” she demands. “Until you prove you can go faster, Maya will ride with me.”
Once Maya is on Sash’s back, I follow them to the western Barrens. Soon after we hit the open space, Sash begins to pull away from me. I concentrate on staying right behind her, but she puts more and more distance between us. Tunneling my vision into a few distinct beams, I try to forget about everything else. No matter how hard I try, I can’t keep up with her.
When she’s almost out of my sight, she suddenly slows until she’s right by my side. She drifts towards me so that the tiny barbs of her body bristle against mine. As our molecules partially intermix, she gradually accelerates. I block out every other thought except keeping the feel of her inside me.
Buried somewhere in my body is a gear that I never knew existed. When my mind shifts into that gear, the force of the whiplash almost collapses my lungs. The bite of an arctic blizzard numbs every particle of my body, and I fight with all my might just to suck in one breath. I might as well have straddled a comet hurtling through outer space.
While torpedoing across the wasteland, it’s impossible for me to detect any real detail in the terrain. Nebulous shapes warp through my vision. The only sight I can make out for sure is the sparkling trail directly in front of me that I know is Sash. I stay right on her tail.
A blink must be ten miles, a heartbeat twenty, and a breath a hundred. It’s almost impossible to judge time at the speed we stream across the badlands. When Sash eventually begins to slow, I broaden my focus until I return to what would have been my normal traveling speed. We both slip from the light and coast to a stop on top of a hill. When I realize we’re already on the same hill that we made our last stop on the prior morrow, I look at Sash in amazement.
“That was incredible!”
Sash stabs her spear into the ground, catches her breath, and smiles at me. “We made it to this hill in a third of the time that it took us to get from here to the Delta with Larn.”
Rubbing the sting out of her cheeks, Maya pokes her face out from behind Sash’s head. “That was . . .” She pauses in thought. “I don’t know what that was, but I want to do it again.”
“Whatever you left inside me is pretty incredible,” I say to Sash.
“I don’t know if that’s true,” she replies.
“You don’t know if what’s true?”
“The part about a piece of me staying in your spectrum,” she answers. “I made that up.”
“You lied to me?” I ask in disbelief.
“I don’t think of it as a lie. I think of it as doing what was necessary to make you go faster.”
>
Maya rests her chin on Sash’s shoulder. “I hope I’m as clever as Sash is when I grow up.”
“I don’t think I could handle more than one of her,” I mumble.
Sash raises one eyebrow but otherwise ignores my remark. “Now that you’ve found your real speed, we’ll be able to cover three to four times as much ground in a morrow.”
“We need to,” I say. “Thank you for doing that.”
“All I did was make you believe. You did the rest.”
Resuming our procedure from the prior morrow, we make a stop roughly every eight hundred miles. With my newfound speed, I’m able to stay neck and neck with Sash the entire time. At each location, Maya spends a few minutes on the ground while Sash and I keep our eyes peeled for Murkovin. By the time the morrow is over, we end up covering over three times the amount of space that we did the prior morrow. Although Maya never senses anything that might be Tela, we try not to let it discourage us.
During our return trip to the Delta, Darkness blankets the already dreary wasteland. With Maya secure in the harness on her back, Sash travels close by my side. While the rain pounds down and the winds whip across the murky terrain, we both stay alert for any sign of Murkovin.
As we cross the bridge to the Delta, the rain recedes and light returns. Although we arrive at roughly the same time as the night before, Maya is still awake. Her mood seems disheartened, partially from how exhausted she must be, but also from the lack of success at locating Tela. Sash has a brief conversation with her, basically telling her not to give up hope. Once Maya is safely in her room, Sash and I take a sleeping Aven back to our habitat.
Baby girl doesn’t wake up during the brief journey to our cavern or stir when we tuck her into our bed. After we quickly rinse off in the fall, Sash and I climb under the sheet on either side of our daughter. I reach an arm over Aven and rest it on Sash’s shoulder.
“I feel bad about the time you’re spending away from Aven.”
