The Battle for WondLa

by Tony DiTerlizzi

  “Yes. Trust me.”

  Zin studied the holographic map. “That would be a wise place to touch down. We do not want to draw any attention to ourselves.”

  “Okay. Pollen refineries. Got it.” Hailey touched the location on the map and set the course of the ship.

  “Oh, I see how it is. You do it because Zin says it, but not me?” Eva put her hands on her hips.

  “Hey, sometimes you are right and sometimes you are wrong.” Hailey kept his focus on flying the ship. “I just want to be sure before we get ourselves into a situation that we can’t get out of.”

  “That’s a fair observation,” said Zin.

  Eva let out a scoff and rolled her eyes. She flopped down in the copilot’s seat.

  The cockpit itself was sparse and simple, with several stations mounted inside an impressive domed windshield. It was almost as if they were not in a ship at all but were gliding in an enormous flying bubble.

  Hailey’s hands moved over the controls, and the ship accelerated. “I cannot believe how fast this thing is.”

  “Do you think it flew all the way from Solas to attack us?” Eva looked out to see the gray mists of clouds whooshing by. “Because it seems to be taking longer for us to return to the city.”

  “Naw,” Hailey said. The ship banked slightly under his control. “It must have been following us. I thought I heard engines at one point. I bet Caruncle was sending coordinates the entire time.”

  Eva remembered the pillar guard also looking up toward the sky.

  “What a despicable fellow he turned out to be,” Zin growled.

  “Yeah. I was onto him the whole time. I tried to warn ‘a certain someone’ about him, but she wouldn’t listen.” It was hard to tell if Hailey was grinning from piloting the speeding ship or from harassing Eva.

  Eva crossed her arms and turned her chair away from him. She studied the holographic radar as they approached Solas. She could see blinking icons indicating a mass of warships moored over the city. “Won’t Cadmus and Loroc send more ships after us?” She pointed to the radar image.

  “I thought of that and sent a fake report,” said Hailey. “According to Cadmus’s main controller for the fleet, this ship doesn’t exist anymore. They think it was destroyed over the ruins.” Hailey smiled, smug. “Let them look all they want.”

  The warship dipped down below the thunderheads, and Solas came into view. Eva rushed up to the windshield . . . then recoiled.

  As anticipated, Cadmus’s fleet of ships floated over the cityscape and around the tall spires of the royal palace. From the skyline thick columns of black smoke billowed up like twisted tree trunks in a forest of destruction. Even down through the ashy smog, Eva could see the skull-like visages of warbots marching past war-torn homes. In some city blocks the buildings had been completely obliterated.

  “How? I can’t believe . . .” Zin’s voice trailed off to a whisper. Sorrow racked his plump round face. “The entire educational district is . . . just . . . gone.”

  “I am so sorry,” said Eva. The sprawling ruination brought to mind the landscape she had just left. She wondered if the ancient ruins had also suffered a military invasion long ago.

  “Look there!” Zin pointed to tattered pennants flapping in the wind from the top of the Royal palace. Emblazoned on each was the symbol of an eye with a horizontal iris. “The royal pennants are flying, which means Her Majesty is still in command.”

  “That’s good,” said Eva. The ground below came up fast as Hailey brought the ship to a smooth landing in the middle of a field next to a pollen refinery. “Do you think you can get to the palace unnoticed?”

  “I know that palace inside and out. After all, I designed it.” Zin patted Hailey on the shoulder in thanks and then exited the cockpit. He floated down the steps that led to the cargo bay.

  Eva followed him under empty bays that had once held an army of warbots. Now the vacated deck contained only Bix and Bax, saddled and sitting on their haunches. Caruncle’s holstered boomrod hung from a nearby support beam.

  Zin paused at the top of the loading ramp and turned to Eva. “I will speak to Ojo immediately, but in return you must do something for me.” The ramp hissed open. Thick acrid smoke wafted in from outside. “Eva, whatever manipulation my brother has masterminded, Ojo likely believes that Cadmus is the one behind this conflict.”

  “She would be partially right,” replied Eva. “He still wants to take this city for his people.”

  “Correct,” Zin said. “So while I am contending with Ojo and my brother, I need you to go and speak with Cadmus. If he has a fraction of the compassion you hold, he’ll cease his ruinous actions.”

  “I don’t know if he will.” Eva gave a worried look. “But my sister told me I need to show him that his thinking must evolve.”

  “Evolution is successful adaptation to one’s surroundings,” said Zin. “You have obviously adapted. Now teach him.”

  “I will do my best,” said Eva.

  Hailey’s voice crackled over the intercom. “Hey, guys, the fleet is splitting up for some reason. We should probably get while the getting is good.”

  Zin smiled and took Eva’s hands in his. “Do you remember when you were in my study back at the museum? And I told you what I was searching for?”

  “You wanted to solve some big mystery.”

  “Exactly,” said Zin. “The biggest mystery of all: Why are we here?”

  “And?”

  “I don’t know the answer completely.” Zin looked outside at the darkened sky. “But I now understand that even seemingly inconsequential participants can take simple actions that expand to affect the masses. Like ripples caused by a pebble tossed into the water.”

  “And each planet is a pebble?” Eva asked.

  “Each one of us is a pebble—humans, extraterrestrials, mouls. Me and you.” A renewed glimmer came to Zin’s sad eyes. “We each play a part. We are born, we live, and we perish, perhaps to be born again in some other form—just like this planet. Galaxies are but one living entity burning with the energy from all of us. Life and death are but siblings who turn the universe continually. Endlessly.”

  Eva thought of the beast in the forest trying to eat her. She had outsmarted it, and so it had died, but perhaps the cubs had lived. Muthr had died, but Eva had lived. She threw her arms around Zin. “I’m really sorry I wrecked your museum. I didn’t want any of this to happen.”

  “Nor did I. But it did. My sister knew it when she left her mark on your arm for me to find, and here we are.”

  Eva walked Zin to the foot of the ramp. Overhead, thunder rumbled.

  “Where will you go after the battle has come to an end?” Zin asked.

  Eva sighed. “I don’t know. I want to see Rovender and Otto. I miss them so much.”

  “Go. Be with them.” Zin floated out of the ship. “After this is over, I shall find you. I believe you have much more still to teach me, Eva Nine.” He lit the small light mounted on his pointed hat. He smiled at Eva one last time and floated away.

  Eva stood at the foot of the ramp. She listened and looked up at the dreary skies. There were no air-whales here. No turnfins or knifejacks. The animals knew to stay clear of this place.

  “Okay,” Hailey said as he worked the warship’s controls. “Next stop, home.”

  Eva felt the cockpit pressurize as the ramp sealed shut below. With a gentle swaying motion the warship lifted up and tilted away from Solas. The engine’s hum grew louder. Within seconds they were rocketing through the clouds.

  Hailey turned to Eva. “So, do you think Zin can do it? Stop Loroc?”

  “I hope so.” Eva sat down in the copilot’s hovchair, still thinking of Zin’s words.

  “That’s a lot of pressure for one little floaty guy,” Hailey said with a whistle. “Stopping his crazy power-hungry brother and trying to end the war. From what you’ve told me about Loroc, Zin’s a goner.”

  “Don’t say that!” Eva smacked Hailey’s arm. “I hav
e faith in Zin. Besides, we’re out of options.”

  “Hey, I think you’ve gone above and beyond what anybody else would do.” Hailey turned back to the controls. “So now let’s get Vanpa, get you back to Rovender, and lay low until this thing blows over.”

  “But what if it doesn’t just ‘blow over’?” Eva turned Hailey’s hovchair to face hers.

  “Then these leaders will all kill one another. I don’t care. They’re all untrustworthy jerks, if you ask me.” Hailey pushed his seat back away from Eva. “We’ll find somewhere safe to go, away from all of this.”

  “Oh, like your parents did?”

  “Aw, that’s low, and you know it. You of all people should—”

  “Should what? Know what it’s like to lose a parent?” Eva shoved back her hovchair angrily and stood. “Muthr died saving me, just like your parents did.”

  “Great observation, Eva. So explain to me how offing the all-powerful Loroc is going to bring them back? Because it’s not.”

  “We all may die if Loroc is not defeated. That would include Vanpa and Rovender.” Eva wanted to punch Hailey for the things he said. It was the same way Eight had made her feel.

  “If it is that important, then why didn’t you go with Zin?” Hailey snapped back. “If you’re so set on ending this war, why did you send him in alone to handle it?”

  “Because he is Loroc’s brother.”

  “What does that mean? You couldn’t handle your sister. What makes you think Zin can handle Loroc?”

  Eva spoke between clenched teeth. “Eight nearly killed me. She was crazy.”

  “Okay, I’m sure this Loroc guy is levelheaded and open to sitting down for a family chat with his little brother,” Hailey said in a sarcastic tone.

  “What else could I do? I can’t defeat him. I tried.” Eva slid back down in her chair.

  “You’re right. This battle is too big for one person to solve. It’s too big for you. So let it go and let the leaders sort it out.” Hailey brought up the radar once more and projected it in the large cockpit. The warship stayed in the center while a three-dimensional map of the terrain moved along underneath. The ship’s flying route was superimposed over it and appeared as a dotted line over the landscape.

  “Speaking of leaders, I am going to see Cadmus when we arrive.” Eva watched the hologram, but her mind was still on Zin.

  Hailey stopped what he was doing and looked over at Eva. “You are shorting out right now. I think you need some serious REM.”

  “I am not. I promised Zin.”

  Hailey threw up his hands. “You know what? Go for it. Both you and Zin can walk straight to your deaths. I don’t care.”

  “I know you don’t care. I’m just a reboot, remember?” Eva stood to go.

  Hailey shook his head in disgust.

  The holographic radar pinged. Behind the warship were half a dozen other pulsing dots.

  “What is that?” Eva leaned in to get a closer look.

  Hailey zoomed in on the dots. “More warships.” His voice was grim.

  “After us? Did they see us?” Eva’s mouth went dry. The ship they were on was much larger than the Bijou, but they were outnumbered six to one.

  Hailey’s hands flew over the blinking controls. “I’m displaying their trajectory now.” On the radar, lines projected from the squadron of ships. Though the other ships were some distance behind Hailey’s ship, their route matched Eva and Hailey’s destination. “They’re returning to New Attica,” he said.

  “To get us?”

  “I don’t know.” The ship’s engines whined as Hailey pushed them into overdrive. “Whatever the reason, we’ve got to get to Vanpa and the others before these guys arrive. Otherwise we are done for.”

  Eva pulled Hailey’s Omnipod from her poncho pocket. “Well, you better contact Vanpa and let him know you’re coming.”

  “My dad’s Omnipod. You found it.” Hailey blinked with surprise as she handed it to him.

  “Caruncle had it after all,” said Eva. “You were right.”

  Hailey gave a lopsided grin to Eva as he took the device. “I know. Sometimes it takes a liar to know a liar.”

  “Greetings, Evan Seven,” the Omnipod said through a hiss of static. “How may I be of service?”

  “Please establish contact with Evan Six. Thank you,” Hailey replied.

  “Establishing contact momentarily. Please hold,” said the Omnipod.

  “We are coming up on New Attica,” Hailey’s voice came over the loudspeaker in the ship’s hold. “I could use your help getting everyone on board the ship when we land, if that’s okay.”

  “Of course.” Eva finished rubbing the SpeedHeal ointment she’d found into the wound on Bix’s thigh.

  “Vanpa knows we’re coming,” Hailey said as Eva entered the cockpit. “I’m gonna set down just outside the camp. I’ve told him to instruct everybody to bring only what they can carry. They should be ready and waiting for us.”

  Eva followed Hailey’s gaze through the cockpit window. Raindrops sprayed against the windshield. It was so gray that it was impossible to tell if it was day or dusk.

  The warship shimmied as it descended through the thunderhead. A familiar desolate mountain landscape welcomed them from below. Hailey slowed the ship and navigated it down through winding canyon walls.

  “I checked the radar, and there are no other warships in the area except for that squadron, but I’ve managed to put some distance between us,” Hailey said, and navigated the ship up and over a stony plateau. “We should be coming up on New Attica—” But he did not finish his sentence.

  The gigantic round quarry that housed New Attica was an inferno. Gone was the atmospheric membrane that had stretched over the entire city. From the center a brilliant blaze belched a black cloud out into the sky. As Hailey maneuvered the ship around the perimeter, it was clear what had caused the devastation. One of Cadmus’s large command warships had crashed nose-first into Attican Hall.

  End of

  PART I

  PART II

  CHAPTER 17: THUNDERSTORM

  The distant fiery glow from New Attica shimmered on the wet canyon walls of the Toiler’s camp. Inside an enormous cavern hangar a large gathering of shabby people lined up at the ramp of Hailey’s parked warship.

  “Eva, there’s an Attican gondola in the back of the hangar on the other side of that wreck. You can take that!” Hailey shouted over the din of people boarding. He pointed to a parked gondola at the far side of the cave tucked behind the skeletal frame of a scavenged airship.

  Eva pushed her way through a throng of Toilers who were scrambling to evacuate. She passed the shadowy recess where Hailey’s hovel was nestled.

  “Well, looky who it is! My fellow reboot!” an elderly man with a beard grinned with yellow teeth. He hobbled from the doorway of his home on a pneumatic peg leg.

  “Vanpa!” Eva ran up and hugged Hailey’s grandfather.

  “Hailey told me everything. I heard they didn’t get to rewire your brain after all.” Van Turner brushed aside Eva’s braids. “That Cadmus; always wanting to fix things that aren’t broken.”

  “Yeah, I’m glad we all made it out of there,” replied Eva.

  “Listen,” Van Turner said in a confidential manner. “There is no way on Orbona I would have let Hailey deliver you and Rovender if I’d known what Cadmus was up to. I hope you can believe that.”

  Eva took Van Turner’s gnarled hand in hers. “I understand, as does Rovee. And Hailey and I are good now.”

  The old man smiled. “Good! Now let’s get you going.” He shuffled over to the gondola. “We swiped this baby years ago. Now it runs independently of Attica’s central computer, so you’ll have to steer it manually, okay?”

  “Okay.” Eva threw Caruncle’s boomrod and charger into the gondola.

  “Great! These are your controls.” Van Turner activated the gondola. The vehicle hummed to life and floated up a meter off the cavern floor. Van Turner reached in and pointe
d to the homemade dashboard. “This notched wheel here controls your speed. This trackball steers it, and this . . . Wait. Where is it?” Van Turner banged the side of the dash. This caused a hologram of the gondola to materialize over the dashboard. “This shows you which way you’re going. Got it?”

  “I think so. It looks a lot like the controls to the Bijou.” Eva climbed in and sat in the middle of the dingy cushioned seats.

  “Ain’t that hard. And you’re a fast learner.” Van Turner winked. He turned on the ship’s bright headlights. “Just don’t tell Hailey how easy it is.”

  Eva smiled and got accustomed to the controls.

  “You sure you want to do this?” Van Turner asked.

  “I have to try to find Cadmus and tell him what I’ve learned. I know he’s done a lot of things that are wrong, but there are a lot of good things he’s accomplished too.”

  “Perhaps, but that young benevolent man has become poisoned by the disillusionment of experience and age.” Van Turner spoke with reflection.

  “I don’t know. But I still need to speak with him,” said Eva.

  “From what has happened, I think he probably knows there’s trouble in paradise.” Van Turner closed the door on the gondola and rapped it twice with his knuckle. “If you ask me, this war is over. New Attica lost.”

  Into the gloaming Eva sped down a winding canyon toward the city. Banking hard around a sharp turn, she brushed the side of the rocky wall with the gondola, sending out a spray of brilliant sparks.

  These controls are sensitive. Eva tilted the gondola up and ascended out of the canyon. Rain pattered over the clear bubble canopy as she crossed the dark rocky terrain that surrounded New Attica. That squadron of warships will be here any minute, she thought. I don’t know why that command ship crashed, but I don’t want to be here when reinforcements arrive.

  The gondola dipped over the rim of the quarry that housed New Attica. Eva navigated the craft through a blinding cloud of smoke and came out near the central hub of the city. In the center the blackened twisted bones of the wrecked command ship were strewn over rubble that had once been Attican Hall. Wild raging flames danced over the wreckage. Even the trees in the eastern sections of the park were ablaze. Below Eva’s gondola, people were crying out, scared, injured, or holding those who had not survived.