The Loneliness of Stars
Page 44
~Psy, in a conversation with Tracking Unit 12
I looked around the pit, searching for a way back up. After a moment, I decided that my best bet was to climb a root to the surface. After a moment of hesitation, I began to walk towards the most likely candidate, pushing back my fear. I gripped the root with my hands, and began to climb it. The root began to move and twist, trying to wrap itself around me, but I never let it get a hold. Two or three times I had to drop off of it and begin my climb again to stop it from doing so, but I eventually reached the top. I then leapt off of the root and grabbed the edge of the hole, hoping that it wouldn’t give way. It didn’t. I pulled myself up the rest of the way, back onto the path. I laid there for a moment, breathing heavily.
As I stood up, I realized that I was standing on the wrong side of the path – to get back to the others, I would have to jump across the pit. Sighing, I backed up several meters, then got a running start. I barely managed to leap the pit. My knees collapsed when I hit the other side, sending me flying forwards, but I rolled to a stop a meter and a half or so later.
I walked solemnly back towards the camp, trying to figure out how exactly I was going to explain what had happened. I had come up with nothing as the camp came into sight. There were three figures standing up there, and it looked like they were all talking to each other. I waved my arm, and one of them pointed to me. They ran towards me, and I made out the forms of Mikhail, Michaela, and Adam.
“Jak! What happened to you? Where are Stephen and Vincent?” Michaela sounded terrified, but Mikhail’s face was impassive.
“They’re… dead.” Michaela gasped, and Mikhail lowered his eyes.
“How?”
“Vincent tried to… did… kill Stephen.”
Michaela gasped again. “But… why?” Adam asked.
“Vincent was a… sick man. He was enjoying it.” I clenched my hands. “He also is responsible for killing the scientists and the priest… and Ezekiel.”
Neither of them made a sound for a few moments. “How do you know this?” Michaela asked, her voice quivering slightly.
I looked her in the eye. “He told me as he tried to do to me what he had done to Stephen. I broke free… and killed him.” The enormity of what I had done sunk in. I had killed another man. Much to my amazement, I did not regret it. Something inside of me had changed. I did not want to cry, nor was I filled with despair. I had just done with what needed to be done.
“Where are their bodies?” Mikhail spoke.
“Down the path, in a pit. The plants will have eaten them by now. That’s how he tried to kill us – he fed us to the plants.” I wondered if they would believe me – no one had bought my story about the plants yet.
After a moment, Michaela nodded. “Alright. Okay… I guess we’ll just have to go on like we always have.” She nodded again, then turned around and walked back to where she had been sleeping before, and sat down. Adam followed and put his arm around her, murmuring in her ear.
Mikhail continued to stand next to me. “So Vincent was killing for the sake of the kill?”
“Sort of – he was killing for the sake of the pain.” I took a deep breath. “I didn’t want to tell Michaela this – but he was Vinzetti Chavez.”
He looked at me. “I should probably know who that is, but I honestly have no idea. I’ve only been a true member of your society for ten or so years. Sorry.”
It hadn’t occurred to me that someone would not know who he was. “Never mind. It’s not that important.” He nodded, and we stood there for a few more minutes.
“Why didn’t you wake Fineas up?” I asked. The helmsman was still sleeping.
Mikhail shrugged. “I guess we all assumed he was still out of it. We didn’t really discuss it. Michaela was the one who woke up Adam and me – she was supposed to take over after Vincent, but found him gone, along with you and Stephen. We’d only been up for a minute or two when you appeared.” He smiled cynically. “This expedition seems to have just been a very bad idea.”
I could only nod in agreement. After a few minutes, we both returned to camp and tried to sleep. I don’t think anyone other than Fineas could.