A storage container leaned against one wall. Emory rummaged under a pile of rags on the shelf and pulled out a cylindrical object, about the size of two fists clenched together. His hands shook with excitement while he examined the metal surface. No cracks or holes. The boy cradled the capsule, heavy for its size, and climbed into the helicopter. He pulled down a lever, placed the fuel pod in a tank, and clicked it shut.
So far, so good. This was really happening! He picked up his manual again. Only one chapter troubled him: “Instructions for the Co-Pilot.” Sonda didn’t even know about the helicopter yet and probably never heard of such a machine. Could she help him fly? Would she be scared?
No, Sonda wouldn’t be afraid. The wind would blow her dark curls like wild clouds around her head, and she’d smile for the first time since-- he didn’t know how long ago. Since probably before their mother had died.
But what if something went wrong? What if they crashed to the ground in a blackened mess and he never got to find out what happened next? He pursed his lips in a determined line. Everything would be fine.
Emory slid into the pilot’s seat and ran through the list of operations like he had a hundred times--during chores, through evening prayers, and in the darkness of his room while grasping for sleep.
Check the instrument panel
Flip the fuel line lever
Push the engine control forward
Dashboard lights glowed. His mouth hung open while dials on the pressure gauges swayed. The machine trembled and the giant rotary blades turned. A roar filled the inside of the helicopter, his ears, his mind, his entire being.
In his excitement, Emory almost forgot himself and let the machine lift through the opening in the roof and into the sky.
Can’t risk a test flight, someone might see me. He pulled the levers back up again, and the blades slowed, then stopped. The lights winked off, one by one.
Emory hopped to the ground on trembling legs and looked up at the mighty machine. She seemed to be holding her breath, just waiting for him to reveal their destination.
“Don’t worry, I’m just gonna get my sister.” He patted the sleek side. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”
###
Barn owls gave chilling cries from overhead. White forms swooped down into the field before Toby. A startled squeak announced the end of a small creature and the beginning of an evening meal.
Tears trickled down Toby’s cheeks and he sniffed and rubbed his nose. When he closed his eyes he could still see her. Pale skin, white hair that normally puffed around her face like cotton tufts, but today had been curled and arranged by Gramble Lenora’s careful hands. Her features, severe and firm in life, softened by eternal peace. Gramble Colleen had gone to be with Father.
Two months before, they all noticed little changes. Gramble Colleen’s quick step turned into a shuffle. She spent fewer hours with her beloved microscopes and test tubes and more time reading the Bible, Father’s book. For she had come to God at last, and had been baptized by Gramble Edward in the same little underground stream where Toby had first heard Father’s voice.
Gramble Colleen preferred the underground fortress for most of her life, but in the last days she came to stay in the little house on the surface. She spent many hours on the front porch, letting the breeze cool her wrinkled skin. One morning Gramble Shana found her, gone ahead to adventures Toby could only dream about.
Death was not new to Toby, but he’d never experienced the loss of someone so close to him, with a life so entwined with his own. Gramble Colleen had been the one to help Gramble Gregory splice human and cat DNA together, place the tiny embryo in a glass womb, and tend to his growth.
The grambles had called him a ‘Trilby,’ the only one of his kind in the world. For fifteen years they had cared for him and taught him everything they knew.
A soft object tickled Toby’s chin and he looked down. He had grabbed his tail, a habit from childhood only returned to in moments of extreme emotion. Tears soaked the thick, brown fur.
If Gramble Colleen could see him now, she would say “Enough boo-hooing over an old woman. Get back to enjoying your own life!”
Earlier today, during the simple funeral service, a feeling had crept over him.
Gramble Edward stood over the grave and read
Bible verses. The other grambles listened, along with the Professor and his daughter, Zareena. Tinga, Jurn and Mia, children who had come to live with them over the last three years, huddled together, faces shining with tears.
Now, in the velvet evening, the thoughts pushed into his mind again. Is Heaven a true place? Is God real? Doubts Toby hadn’t considered for years had bubbled to his mind’s surface. He wanted to yank out these ideas and throw their writhing forms into the dirt, but they stuck. If only he could be sure--perhaps the pain in his heart wouldn’t throb so much.
A noise in the bush pulled Toby out of his pondering. His large, pointed ears perked and he sniffed the air. Human. And someone who didn’t belong to his community. He slowly removed his black gloves. No one had ever approached the caverns without an invitation. The cavern group couldn’t afford for outsiders to find the massive storage facilities and supplies they harbored underground. His fingers stretched, and claws emerged from the tips.
A person came from behind him and touched his arm. “Hey, little brother.” Mia held a lantern, and her golden hair glinted in its light. Though Mia was actually younger than him by three months, his head barely reached her shoulder.
He raised a finger to his lips. Her eyes widened when she saw his claws.
The bushes rustled again. A girl in ragged clothing stepped forward.
“Hey, Cat Kid.”
“Marabella,” Toby sighed. “What on Earth are you doing here?”
“Wanted to check on the little ‘uns.”
When Toby had last seen Marabella, over a year ago, her face had been streaked with blood and dirt from a battle. Now she seemed to be in good health.
“How did you find us?” Toby looked over her shoulder. “Is anyone else with you?” His past dealings with Marabella had not been pleasant.
“Naw. I’ve been lookin’ for your place forever. Just got lucky, I guess. Good thing, too.” She held out her hand. A dirty piece of cloth covered one wrist. “Cut myself and thought ya might have stuff to fix me up.”
Mia looked over at Toby and raised her pale eyebrows.
Toby nodded slowly. “Of course we can help. And Tinga and Jurn wonder about you every day. They’ll be relieved to know you’re all right. Come on, the house is over here.”
Toby led the way through the thin grove of trees, across the yard and up the steps of the porch. “Welcome to our home.” He pushed open the door. “Gramble Lenora, there’s someone here for you to meet!”
Light greeted them from a small table, where a candle flickered. The rest of the house seemed wrapped around this glow, with honey-gold wooden walls and cheery homemade quilts covering the furniture.
Gramble Lenora’s bulky form filled the end of one sofa. She looked up from her novel, and light glinted on her fiercely dyed, scarlet hair. “A newcomer? Is everything all right, Toby?”
Before he could answer, the back door opened and Gramble Shana came in from the cottage in the back yard where she lived with her husband, Gramble Edward.. She placed a basket of eggs on the counter by the stove. Her long, white braid fell over her shoulder and tangled in the fringe of her knitted shawl. “Toby, I thought I heard you pass by... Who do we have here?”
“This house is so clean.” Marabella stared down at her dirty hands. “I’ll go outside.”
“Nonsense!” Gramble Lenora sprang up, her shapeless dress billowing. “You come right over and wash those hands. There’s some beans and corn bread left from supper, though Toby and Jurn did their best, growing boys and all.”
The elderly woman lumbered through the room to light more candles on the counters. She grabbed Marabella’s shirt sleeve and tugged her over to the sink. “
Just need to start the pump, darlin’.”
Marabella pulled the bandage from her hand.
Mia came over. “Looks painful. I’ll get my medical kit and patch it up for you.”
“Who is she?” Gramble Shana murmured to Toby. Lines of concern surrounded her kind blue eyes.
Gramble Lenora turned back from the sink and tilted her head.
“She helped lead Dread’s gang.” Toby said while Marabella took the bar of soap Gramble Lenora handed her and turned it over in her hands. Probably never seen soap before. “She’s kinda like Tinga and Jurn’s sister, I guess.”
"Didn’t she have you tied up to a tree once? Is she safe?” Gramble Lenora reached over to a shelf and grabbed a rolling pin.
“I heard that!” Marabella whipped around, spattering the floor with drops of water. Her eyes flashed. “I’m not gonna put those kids in danger by ratting you all out, if that’s what you’re gettin’ at.”
Gramble Lenora set down the rolling pin and gave her a regal, tight lipped gaze.
“Ma’am.” Marbella looked down.
“Why don’t you come have some supper?” Toby set a plate of food on the table.
Mia returned from the other room. She dabbed medicine on Marabella’s hand and wrapped it with a clean bandage. “The cut’s not too deep. I don’t think you’ll need stitches but I’ll have to change the dressing tomorrow.”
“Where are Tinga and Jurn, anyhow?” Marabella plunked down in the chair and grabbed a chunk of corn bread.
“Gramble Shana went to tell them you’re here.” Toby took a piece of bread from the bowl. “They’re feeding the animals.”
“Animals? I didn’t hear no animals.” Crumbs flecked Marabella’s lips.
“Not everything is as it seems.” Gramble Lenora poured her a glass of milk.
“Fresh milk?” Marabella grabbed the glass so fast some of the white liquid splashed on the table. She gulped it down, then wiped off the resulting moustache with the back of her hand. “That’s good stuff. I bet it tastes better than Vibrance, though I ain’t ever tried it.”
“What’s Vibrance?” Although Toby had seen films and read books about every imaginable subject, he had never heard of this drink.
"From the city of the forgotten.” Marabella squinted up at him. “I went there a little while after I left you guys, when I was following Leader to find my gang. Anyways, a place in the city sells this stuff called Vibrance. Makes people all loopy.”
“Did you find the other kids?” Toby changed the subject. “Is everyone all right?”
“Course I did.” She dismissed the question with a wave of her bandaged hand. “Fat and sassy, every one of ‘em. Happy to be fed and followin’ Leader. They didn’t care if he smacked ‘em around sometimes. I mean, he’s fillin’ their tummies better than Dread ever did.”
Toby sighed. “Well, at least they’re alive.”
“Don’t know why you’d care so much ‘bout us. We did mean stuff to you.”
“Tinga and Jurn are family now,” Gramble Lenora began to clear the supper dishes. “They do their part around here and we love them. God tells us to have compassion for everyone in this dangerous world. Especially children.”
Marabella licked the last few crumbs off her fingers. “I met some people in the city who talked about God like you folks do.”
Toby’s ears perked up. “Really? How many people? Did they have meetings?”
Marabella bit her lip. “What did they call it? Oh yeah, they called their group a church. They try to help folks, same as you guys. Gave me some food. They wanted me to stay, but, you know.”
Toby's heart leapt inside his chest. Sometimes Father spoke to him out loud, but often he felt a simple awareness in his soul, a need to pay attention. “I would love to find a church.”
Marabella’s eyes narrowed. “I wouldn’t go pokin’ around that city. Most of the people are sloshed on Vibrance. And Leader was pretty close, though his trucks would never make it to the walls. I’m guessing he don’t know about it yet, ‘cause he’d of taken everything by now.”
Tinga and Jurn burst through the door. Their faces glowed with matching freckles. Tinga threw herself at Marabella for a hug while Jurn hung back and smiled.
Marabella touched the smooth pigtails hanging down Tinga's back. “Look at you,” she whispered. “They fixed you up, didn’t they?”
Maybe she really has changed. Toby scooted out from the table. “We all need to get some rest. You can sleep in Tinga’s room, if she doesn’t mind.”
The little girl nodded, her eyes shining.
"Don’t stay up too long.” Gramble Lenora kissed Tinga on the cheek. “If I know Toby, he’s planning a new adventure. Tomorrow will be a busy day for everyone.”
2
ADVENTURING AGAIN
Strains of music, hollow and faint, floated through the door at the Palace of Dreams. In Emory’s house, music was created with voices and hands. People sang in service every Sunday. Sometimes during chores, a child would begin a song in a high, sweet voice, and everyone else chimed along.
Olders spoke of years past when sounds were recorded, then played on electronic devices anywhere and at any time. Now few musical instruments remained from the past.
Emory did not know if the Palace musicians had taught themselves to play, or were instructed by olders, but the melody tripped and skipped in a constant stream, day and night. Dancers needed a reason to dance.
The old woman in front of him scratched the door with a gnarled hand. “Please,” she rasped. “Please ask my Henry to come to me. I just want to see my boy for a moment. He’s the only one I have left. Please, I haven’t seen him for three days...”
This started a chain reaction throughout the group of mostly women and children. They wailed and beat on the wall.
Emory was lucky; his sister’s trinkets would only buy her a few hours of dancing time. Some people waited much longer to catch a glimpse of a loved one.
He only saw Sonda every now and then when she’d come by the church for a few mouthfuls of food. Wild-eyed and scrambling, his sister usually begged him for memory objects, the Palace’s demanded payment. But sometimes her mind would clear a bit, and she’d bring up a plan to journey through the forest and find new treasures for Simper, the keeper of the Palace.
Emory knew what happened to mem-seekers. They disappeared into the woods and never came back.
But what if he could use the idea to get his sister into the helicopter? If they found a new, bright city so far away no one in town had even heard about it, she could live without the Vibrance and be happy for real. Perhaps then she could learn how to dance on her own.
He wanted to burst through the door like an autumn storm, find his sister and tell her about his plan. But he was only eleven, too young to be allowed in the palace, and besides, his last treasures were gone. The locket with the picture of his grandmother, the wooden elephant his father had carved in long winter evenings--all stolen by his sister to be thrown into Simper’s hoard.
Emory shuffled from foot to foot. His chin edged closer to the neckline of his rough garment. For a moment he wavered, then sank to the ground and curled into a ball.
His eyes fluttered as a shadow fell over his face. Right before he drifted off, a familiar chuckle sounded in his ear. Strong arms picked him up and carried him away.
###
Mia placed the last bag in the roamer’s storage bin and turned to Toby. “Are you going to need anything else?”
“I don’t think so.” Toby surveyed the interior of the compact, cube-shaped craft, which had been a gift from Professor Azareen. The roamer could travel several miles in a moment and change its own molecular structure, along with anything inside, to move through even the thickest rock wall. “We have to limit our supplies. It’s a tight squeeze, even for four people.” Even though the craft could adapt on the outside, the space inside couldn’t be altered.
Mia sank into the pilot seat. “I thought only you, M
arabella and Jurn were going on this trip.”
“Yes, but we might meet someone who needs our help,” Toby replied.
Gramble Horace poked his head into the door. Sweat gathered in beads above his eyebrows, which were thick and black despite his mane of white hair. “We’ve been fortunate; the people you have brought to join us have good intentions and are safe. But you can’t read people’s hearts, Toby. Be careful.”
“I know.” Every time Toby ventured out into the world he became more aware of people on the outside and the evil they caused. He’d been threatened just for the items in his pack. If a power-hungry individual came along and found the caverns, filled with resources meant for thousands—Toby didn’t want to think about what could happen.
Jurn swung down from the ship’s ceiling. His dark hair stuck out in all directions. “We can always come back if we forget something.”
Gramble Horace straightened the blue bowtie he always wore no matter what endless cavern maintenance task awaited him. “Remember, this ship was designed in another world and we don’t understand the technology. Even Professor Azareen isn’t sure how long the ship will fly in Earth’s atmosphere.”
“At least we won’t run out of fuel.” Toby pointed out.
“Yes. We always have starlight.” Gramble Horace nodded.
“And we haven’t had a problem yet,” Toby said.
Fear sprang into Mia’s blue eyes. “But it would be horrible if something went wrong, far away, and you couldn’t get home.”
“True.” Alone, Toby could travel through the woods quickly. His heightened cat abilities helped to sense predators and his retractable claws allowed movement through the treetops faster than any human. Any companions would slow him down and possibly be in danger.
“It’ll be the last adventure for a while,” he promised. “But I need to find this church.”
“Most of your latest trips have gone just fine, and I understand how important this for you.” Gramble Horace was the last of Toby’s family who had not yet dedicated his life to Father. “But—stay safe.”
The Toby the Trilby Trilogy Boxed Set Page 13
