The Justar Journal: An AOI Thriller

by Brandt Legg

  “Do I?’

  “You recall the fires in the Amazon?”

  “Oh, yes. Of course. Thank you again.”

  “Good. Then what I’d like you to do is kill the AOI Chief.”

  “Well I’d like to do that too.”

  “I thought you would.”

  “I mean I’d like to actually stick a knife in her heart and watch the life drain from her miserable face.”

  “In another life Chelle, we might have been close friends, you and I,” Miner said. “I’d like to do it too, but there are reasons, I’m sure you can understand, that prevent anyone associated with P-Force or myself from doing such a thing.”

  “As I said, I’d be happy to, but I don’t expect we’ll get the chance.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. See, even though I’m on the outs, so to speak, I am privy to all kinds of information which could assist you in an assassination of the Chief. In fact, in the next forty-eight hours, if she keeps this barbaric war going, I believe we’ll have plenty of people inside the Aylantik who would be willing to help with such a mission.”

  “We’ll see then,” Chelle said. “But I was zooming to see if P-Force might assist PAWN in a counteroffensive against AOI positions.”

  “That’s not an option, and you won’t need me anyway if you just kill that woman,” Miner responded, leaving no room for further negotiation, although Chelle tried.

  After speaking with Miner, there were more zooms. Representatives of the Creatives wanted action. Their enclaves of writers, poets, artists, and musicians were getting leveled. They told Chelle, “If this continues at the current pace, the world won’t have any Creatives left by next week. We’re being punished because we backed PAWN. You have to come to our rescue now! PAWN needs to wake up and respond to this holocaust.”

  “The Aylantik has targeted you because you are freethinkers. It has very little to do with your support of PAWN. But we share an enemy, and we will do everything in our power to stop them. We will be retaliating today.”

  Next were the Rejectionists. They’d been immune to the brutal air and satellite campaign because of the remote locations of their outposts in the forests. Their largest presence, in the Amazon rainforest, was particularly hard to find, and even harder to reach, but the AOI had sent small parties of heavily armed grunges in, and they’d been doing serious damage. Chelle assured them PAWN would be working to slow the AOI in the coming hours.

  In between everything, she checked the updates and continued to look for any sign of Osc and Drast. It wasn’t looking good, and PAWN Flo-wings kept getting shot out of the sky. The only things in the air were the ever-present drones, squadrons of jet-packed grunges, and AOI planes. All commercial aviation had been suspended, and it made the search for her loved ones even more difficult. She knew that if PAWN were going to have a chance, they’d have to get a presence in the skies, and that depended on Deuce Lipton. Only he and Miner had enough air power to challenge the AOI, but Miner could handle only small regional operations, whereas Deuce had the capacity to challenge the AOI from space.

  While she handled a situation with the Rejectionists, there was another zoom holding from a PAWN operative in Amsterdam. Almost twenty percent of that area’s population was made up of either Creatives or PAWN loyalists, but before she could get to the zoom, the connection went dead.

  In that instant, half of the city had been wiped off the map by a series of Sonic-bombs.

  She wanted to cry, but tears weren’t something she could afford to indulge in any longer. Instead, she zoomed Nelson, and was amazed when it actually connected.

  “You’re okay! Thank goodness you’re alive,” she said upon hearing his voice. The connection was weak, and she couldn’t get a live picture even if she wanted one. “Are you seeing the nightmare?”

  “Yeah, unfortunately, we are. It’s sick. We need to get to the Chief.”

  “We’re working on a lot of plans,” Chelle said, not wanting to talk about Miner’s plan. Even with infinite-encryption, Chelle always worried someone could hear. “Has Munna let you see the Justar Journal?”

  “Not really. Deuce has laid off about the prophecies. He’s pushing her about the List Keepers now.”

  She told him about Osc and Drast. Nelson had met his nephew only twice, but he had a strong sense of family. He had argued vehemently against sending him into the AOI undercover, but in the end it had been Osc’s decision.

  “Can you see if maybe something in the Justar Journal can help?” Chelle asked. “Or, maybe since you saved Deuce’s son, he might return the favor if you ask.”

  “I’ll do everything I can Chelle. I promise,” Nelson said. “Don’t worry, we’ll find them.”

  “Thank you.”

  Nelson knew his sister well enough to know she could still run the war even with the personal stress she was dealing with, but PAWN had not been doing well so far. “What’s the plan on responding to the AOI?” he asked carefully.

  “We’ve been fighting from the shadows for so long, that it’s what we’re best at. You’ll start seeing us surface very soon.”

  “Good. Has everyone fallen in line?”

  “All except Deuce.”

  “Don’t worry, he’ll end up with us,” Nelson said. “And, in spite of the initial bombardment from AOI, I believe that once Deuce declares he’s with us, and if we can get the List Keepers, we’ll be able to beat Aylantik.”

  “Every time I hear about the List Keepers, I picture two old guys in a shack somewhere in the woods scribbling in an old ledger, counting leaves on a tree or something. We all think they are something, that maybe they can save us, but we don’t know anything. Nelson, what if they’re nothing?”

  “They aren’t ‘nothing.’ I think they are even more than we can imagine.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because ever since my time with Cope Lipton, I’ve been wrestling with astonishing things, great mysteries, happenings I cannot explain.”

  “I know. I’ve read some of your recent work.”

  “That doesn’t even scratch the surface. Much of what I saw isn’t in my work, and I’ve not discussed it with you, or anyone. Yet even with all of that, there’s one thing that’s impressed me above all else.”

  “What?” Chelle asked, desperate for something powerful to cling to.

  “Munna.” Nelson knew his sister would be let down, that she was not the old woman’s biggest fan, but he pushed on. “Think about it Chelle. She controls the prophecies. She knows the future without even looking at them. She is at least one hundred-thirty-three, and she got dunked in the ocean yesterday while we were under heavy attack and she wasn’t even fazed. I’m still recovering myself. Of course, part of that could be I lost my bacs in the water.” He chuckled. “But I mean it. She’s like a woman out of a fantasy novel. Some old sorceress . . . and she’s a List Keeper. What if there’s a whole tribe of Munnas? What if they can do things with their minds like she controls her cells? What if they can control other people? I don’t know, but I think if we get the List Keepers to help, we win.”

  “I think you need to write another novel and unload Gandalf and the dragons from your brain.”

  “I don’t mind your ridicule because I know you love me, and I know you only half mean it anyway. But Chelle, consider it just for a moment. There is one common denominator between the pre-Banoff world and the Aylantik’s entire rule, and also among Booker Lipton, Cope Lipton, Deuce Lipton, PAWN, the Justar Journal, and the List Keepers . . . It’s Munna.”

  He looked across the large opulent room as Munna entered. She’d been in the private cabin that Deuce had given her, the nicest on the Moon Shadow. Munna smiled at him, as if agreeing with his assessment even though she couldn’t have heard it.

  “I’m telling you Chelle,” he whispered. “If we are going to win, or even survive this, we need the List Keepers.”

  “And how are we supposed to get to them?”

  “Grandyn is on his wa
y right now. With any luck, we’ll hear from him soon. I’m counting on a Happerman, one more time, to save the revolution.”

  Chapter 34 - Book 3

  Grandyn and Fye left the POP at first light and headed due east. Their escorts could take them no further, but Grandyn knew the area.

  “If all goes well, we should see Zaverly this afternoon around fifteen hundred near Ashland,” Grandyn said as they walked briskly through the woods. “It’s sort of full circle. We’ll be just a few miles from where my dad, Nelson, and I brought the books from the library. We hid them in a barn. I remember meeting Munna for the first time, and then . . .” He thought of the attack that had killed his father.

  “I know,” Fye said. “That same day you met Munna was also the first time I learned who you were. I knew you’d be important to the revolution, but I had no idea you’d be so important to me. Back then, you were just an assignment.”

  Grandyn flashed the Happerman smile and she laughed. For a moment, they were simply two people in love. The trees were temporarily shielding them from the war and disintegrating world. He took her hand and they continued on in a happy silence until the reality of it all closed back in on them.

  “Did you ever think the AOI would unleash such devastation?” Grandyn asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Have you seen things? About the future, I mean. Did Munna show you?”

  “I haven’t myself, but I’ve been told.”

  “By Munna?”

  “Some.”

  “Why won’t she let us use the Justar Journal?”

  “I don’t know,” Fye said. She wanted to stop and sit under a tree on a bed of pine needles and talk, but there wasn’t time. They had so far to go, and they couldn’t stop until they got to the City. “I thought Munna was going to let PAWN, or at least the TreeRunners, use the prophecies. But I think it has something to do with Deuce. Something he isn’t doing, or something he shouldn’t be doing.”

  Grandyn thought about that for a minute. He believed Fye knew much more than she was saying, and if she didn’t, she was much smarter than he, so she ought to be able to figure it out, even if she didn’t know. Grandyn didn’t want to keep making her uncomfortable about what she wasn’t allowed to talk about, but he needed to understand. The revolution had taken his family and many of his friends, and now, with a child on the way, he had to make it right.

  “But you think we should be able to use the prophecies, right?” Grandyn asked.

  Before she could answer, they heard someone call his name and quickly crouched behind a tree.

  “Grandyn Happerman!” the man repeated.

  Grandyn scanned the area and could see nothing.

  “Oh TreeRunner, you’ve gotten old and careless.”

  Grandyn didn’t say a word. Fye had to remind herself to breathe.

  “I’ve been following you for almost a kilometer and I’m less than ten meters from you now. Pretty woman. I like her long hair, but didn’t you fancy brunettes?”

  Grandyn thought the voice sounded vaguely familiar, but it was echoing off the trees and he couldn’t place it.

  “I heard you were dead, TreeRunner. Glad that was bunk,” the man said. “I guess I’ll come out now, because you seem to have lost all your old skills. But I’m friendly, so don’t shoot me or nothing.”

  A few seconds later, not much more than seven or eight meters in front of them, a man dropped out of a tree and landed with his hands up in the air.

  “Grandyn, it’s Wyle. Wyle Sunet.”

  Grandyn and Wyle had been members of the same TreeRunner clan, and had grown up together. Grandyn stood cautiously and peered around the tree.

  “Wyle Sunet?” Grandyn shouted. He ran to him and they hugged each other. “Why the hell did you have to scare me like that?” Grandyn asked, irritated.

  “Hey, if you’re scared, don’t sleep in the woods,” Wyle said, repeating an old motto their Clan leader used to say to them whenever they said they couldn’t do something.

  “I’m serious Wyle, these are different times!”

  “Exactly,” Wyle said. “That’s why we can’t be too serious.”

  Fye walked over and Grandyn introduced them.

  “You’re even prettier up close,” Wyle said. “What are you doing with this clown?”

  “I like to laugh.”

  “Oh, see Grandyn. She agrees with me. There’s nothing humor can’t make better.”

  Grandyn didn’t agree. He might have a few years ago, but not anymore. He’d seen too much. Things he couldn’t imagine ever being able to laugh about. But he was happy to see a friendly and familiar face. It brought back his years of innocence running through the forests of the Oregon mountains.

  “I knew you weren’t dead.” Wyle said, breaking the silence, shaking his moppy, red hair.

  “Not for lack of trying,” Grandyn said.

  Fye frowned.

  “How have you been?” Grandyn asked.

  “Good, all things considered. I guess it’s been about five years since we moved away, when my dad got that job in San Diego. Hey, sorry about your dad. I loved Runit.” Wyle put his fist on his heart and looked at Grandyn with sad eyes.

  “Thanks, man. I miss him every minute.”

  Wyle nodded. “I got word of his death about the same time the AOI started killing TreeRunners. Of course, we went into hiding, but as the war got closer they asked for volunteers to come up here. I said, ‘Hell yes, I’ll go back home.’ A group of us from Southern California Area worked our way up . . . I guess it’s been about a month ago.”

  “It’s so good to see you. There aren’t a lot of us left from the Portland Clan.”

  “I know. I kept hearing you were killed. It seemed every few weeks a new rumor of your death in some forest somewhere would surface. I never believed it. I don’t know why, but I just didn’t.”

  “I can’t believe how good it is to see you,” Grandyn said. “Fye, Wyle was like a brother when I was growing up.”

  “Yeah, there were like ten of us brothers, and three sisters, all TreeRunners. Remember Nester? I ran into her when we first got here.”

  “Seriously? I’d love to see her. How is she?”

  “Great. They have her assigned to Zaverly Tandrum. She’s in charge up here now. Answers directly to Parker.”

  “We’re supposed to connect with Zaverly today. She’s going to help us get south.”

  “It ain’t gonna happen today, brother. Zaverly is in thick fighting north of Grants Pass. The AOI came in hard. I hear the grunges are going to be moving in deep down here in the next few hours.” Three other TreeRunners, that Grandyn didn’t know, joined them. “Have you seen any?”

  “No. Luckily it’s been pure nature all morning,” Grandyn said.

  “Without Zaverly’s help,” Fye began, “it’ll take us more than a week to get there. I can’t keep up this pace.”

  “Where you all heading?” Wyle asked.

  “We’ve got a critical meeting southeast of here. Kind of top secret revolution stuff.”

  Wyle nodded knowingly. “We’ve got an extra unarmed AirSlider, fully charged.”

  “Really?” Grandyn said. “That would be great. We’re already late,and Fye’s pregnant so we can’t push‒‒”

  “Hey, she’s pregnant?” Wyle said, grinning. “Congratulations! Is it? I mean‒‒”

  “Yeah, I’m the father,” Grandyn said.

  “Wow! Another Happerman. Beautiful!” Wyle couldn’t stop smiling and looking back and forth between them. “Here, take my AirSlider too. It’s also not equipped with lasers, but it’ll get you where you’re going much faster.”

  “No, man, I couldn’t,” Grandyn said.

  “With two of you on a board, you can only go half-speed, and it’ll take you twice as long to get there,” Wyle said. “I can ride with someone else until we meet up with another patrol on recon.” He stared at Grandyn with a serious expression. “You can’t be out here on foot right now.”


  Grandyn looked at Fye. She wanted him to take it. “Okay. You have no idea how big a deal this is.”

  “I’m sorry for shaking you up. I really didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to see if you could spot me. Remember when were kids? I never could find you when you hid in the trees.”

  “Yeah,” Grandyn said. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “This guy is a camouflage freak,” Wyle said to Fye.

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said.

  “You should,” Wyle said, “or you may not be able to find him one day. And you may need him to change a diaper or something.”

  Fye laughed, imagining that.

  “What about weapons?” Wyle asked.

  “We were at a POP last night. They armed us.”

  “Good. The AOI seems to be using a new tactic now that the war is on,” Wyle said. “They used to send in full units to do big sweeps, but yesterday and today it’s been two or three grunges alone. They’re all over the place, and hard to spot.”

  “We’ll be careful.”

  “You sure you can’t wait for Zaverly?” Wyle asked. “She’ll have a large force, and will be able to get you through anything.”

  “I wish we could, but we need to keep moving. If the fighting is that bad up there, she might still be days away,” Grandyn said.

  “And we can’t risk not being able to make it through,” Fye added.

  “Okay,” Wyle said. “Take these.” He gave them extra charge sticks.

  After a warm farewell, in which Wyle apologized again for scaring them, he sent them on their way.

  “He’s kind of a goofball,” Fye said as they were on their own again. “But I like him.” They were gliding right next to each other while Fye got used to the AirSlider, on which she’d only ridden once before.

  “He’s a good guy,” Grandyn said. “Lots of memories.”

  “You’ll tell me all your old TreeRunner stories someday, right?”

  “Any time you like. How about we trade stories . . . TreeRunners for List Keepers?”

  Fye groaned. She had walked into that one. “As soon as we get to the City, it’s a deal.”