*
Vandoraa was already on the vessel, having been placed there by a pair of hefty Kolean guards who remained silent as Ted and his companions shuffled into place. “General Toka sent us with two guards,” Juiya said, explaining the newcomers’ presence. “They’re some of the best in the fleet. They’ll look after Vandoraa while we meet with Kenneth, and the three of them will scan for danger and give us warning on our PDs if they pick anything up.”
Ted gave the guards a brief nod of acknowledgment, which neither of them returned, before belting himself against the bulkhead. Juiya positioned himself as the pilot. Alana and Trell stood next to Ted, Alana being the only one of them to have access to the ship’s computer, a large screen embedded in the right wall.
Silence prevailed as Juiya turned on the helm and began preparing the ship for launch. Another Kolean voice came over the speaker, sharp, fast, and utterly ear-piercing. Ted didn’t pay much attention to the conversation, but basically Juiya was asking for permission to depart, which was given. With a lurch, the small Kolean ship departed the launch bay and began drifting slowly towards Earth, Juiya having turned off the main engines to help avoid attention.
This led, of course, to a very slow-going journey. What would have normally taken only minutes with engines at full power took several hours of drifting with gentle acceleration bursts to help them move forward at irregular intervals. And after silence reigned for too long, they all seemed to be more or less fed up with it.
“Think you can explain a little more about the meaning behind the passage you sent him?” Alana asked Ted, obviously trying to break the silence and change the subject from the undesirable one before. But she also clearly wanted to know in case it came up during the negotiations.
“Well, in the book, Zarathustra is a philosopher who secludes himself from human society in order to discover the answers about life on his own. At the end, the passage I sent signifies Zarathustra coming out of isolation and emerging into the world to show humanity what he has become.”
“But what does that have to do with Kenneth? I mean, why that passage in particular?” she asked.
“As I mentioned before, Kenneth fancies himself an Übermensch. Ever since college, he’s made it his life’s goal to reject convention and forge his own way forward in life. In the message I added onto the passage, I basically told him that soon he’s going to be emerging from the mountain to reform humanity, but before he does that, I want to meet him in his cave. That cave just happens to be in the Ozark mountains in the Midwestern American States.”
“And how do you know that?”
“Because Kenneth grew up in that area. It’s significant to him,” Ted said. “It wouldn’t even surprise me if he kept a permanent residence there to return to when he isn’t at any of the resistance hideouts.” He then spoke to Juiya, “I’ll give you better landing instructions when we get closer to the surface.”
“Hold on,” Juiya cried suddenly as the ship jerked harshly to the right. Ted gripped the straps fastened over his chest and tried his best not to fall over. “We’ve been spotted.”
The cabin of the ship went dead silent until Ted worked up the courage to whisper Juiya’s words in English in Jodi’s ear. “What do you mean, we’ve been spotted?” Jodi said, her voice choked in fear.
“I don’t know how, but the Drevi have obviously found out a way to see through the Kolean’s tricks,” Ted told her, trying to remain calm and failing.
“How did they see us?” Alana was yelling over the warning alarms coming from the computers.
“Now that they know we’re here they must be looking for our ships more carefully,” Juiya said through a clenched beak. A single bead of sweat ran over the feathers on his forehead but he didn’t dare take his hands off the controls to wipe it away. “Damn, they’re shooting grappling hooks at us.” From what Ted knew, that was the way ships did battle with each other when the aggressor wanted the ship captured rather than destroyed. If the latter case, rockets carrying explosives would be used. “Hold on. I’m turning the engines back on.”
The ship lurched to the right and then shot forward, giving everyone in the cabin whiplash, but they hadn’t been stopped, meaning the hooks hadn’t hit them. “Now entering the atmosphere,” Juiya said.
“We’re not through the thick, yet,” said Alana. “I’m sure they’ll follow us.”
“I’m the more experienced pilot, judging by the way they’re flying,” Juiya said in a rare moment of boast. “I can shake them.”
Alana gave him a skeptical look, but said nothing as the ship began shaking, signaling its descent from space into Earth’s atmosphere.
Trell glanced at the computer readout over Alana’s shoulder, and let out a sigh of relief. “The Drevi ship isn’t showing up on scanners anymore. I don’t think they want to enter the atmosphere—they’re probably not equipped for landing.”
Ted observed Juiya puff up in pride a little bit, and Ted found himself very glad the young Kolean soldier had come along with them. Ready to take up his own duties, he undid his harness and leaned over Juiya’s shoulder. “Show me a map,” Ted said to Juiya. Juiya pushed a few keys and a three-dimensional map of the surface appeared. Ted scanned it for a moment before he pointed. “Here. This general area. We should be able to find a place to land nearby.”
Juiya nodded and focused his attention back on landing. After several tense minutes, Ted felt the familiar bump as the ship set down.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Ted muttered as they stepped off the ship and into the sun.
XI
December Page 26
