Eighth Fire

by Curtis, Gene

  Mark ran back out. The temperature difference between the two sections was extreme and it was only a little after nine a.m. The Wasteland was well over 120° while the school grounds were just over 70° Mark noticed a stiff breeze blowing through the opening and thought how good it felt. He emerged on the other side and saw the Emerald captain backing away from the opening. The General was standing where he had been when Mark left him.

  He said to The General, “I need your help! She’s going to die if we don’t get her out!”

  The General stamped his hoof and shook his head. Mark saw in his mind the image of an auto-car racing toward LeOmi. “I know I need an auto-car, but you’re all I’ve got. She’s not more than three hundred yards in there. I know you can do it.”

  The General shook his head and stamped his hoof again. The image of the auto-car persisted in Mark’s mind.

  Mark said, “I’m going in with or without you,” turned, put his hood up and walked back in. The General followed. Mark hopped on The General’s back and started him on a fast trot toward LeOmi. In the short time it took to reach her, the horse’s legs, chest and neck were covered with a sweaty froth. Mark slid down, hoisted the lethargic LeOmi across The General’s back and tried to hop back up himself. His legs didn’t have the strength and he fell to the ground. He tried again. This time he was able to make it up high enough to lay across the horse’s back next to LeOmi.

  The General made his way back to the opening, stumbling to one knee or the other a couple of times, rising again each time with a steadfast determination to make it back.

  Mark felt the breeze from the opening and slid off of The General’s back, landed awkwardly and fell to the ground again. He tried to stand but thought it better just to crawl out. The General continued out, still carrying LeOmi.

  He looked up when he saw a large shadow just this side of the opening; it was an auto-car. How in creation did that get here? He continued crawling and remembered his first experience with an auto-car. Emily, the lady that had given the group a tour of the engineering section had turned and spoken toward the building wall when she called for an auto-car. He remembered saying to The General, ‘I know I need an auto-car’ and that he was next to the perimeter wall when he said it.

  He pushed the thoughts of the auto-car out of his mind, eased himself up and went to LeOmi. She was still groggy. The right side of her face was red and lightly blistered. She’s going to need some fresh aloe on that.

  He eased her off The General’s back and then to a sitting position on the ground. She tried to push him away while mumbling like a drunk, “I’m all right. I’m all right.” He eased her over on her side.

  “You’re not all right. You’re exhausted and you’ve got a bad sunburn, not to mention you’re likely dehydrated. You lay right here and rest for a minute while I check The General.”

  Mark walked over and rubbed The General’s chest. The froth had dried to a sticky paste and he looked dog-tired. Mark made his way around the horse while checking him over and finally said, “I’m sorry big guy, but you did great. I didn’t know I could call an auto-car from here. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have made you do that.” After he was satisfied that The General was going to be okay he said, “You can head back on over to the stables. I’ll get the other horse to take LeOmi back to the mountain.”

  He looked to where LeOmi had been. She was gone. He glanced around and didn’t see her. That left only one possibility: she had gone back in. Mark ran and got to the opening just in time to see LeOmi climbing into the auto-car. He ran to the side of the vehicle where LeOmi had entered and grabbed the door just before she closed it. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  LeOmi was rubbing her hands over the dashboard, pressing and pulling in different spots. She even checked the air conditioning vents. “Somebody is going to die if I don’t help them. Don’t you feel it?”

  “I feel something, but what I know is that you need medical attention.”

  “I’m just a little over heated, that’s all. I’ll be fine; I just need to cool down a little.” She continued to search the dash board for controls. “How do you work this thing?”

  “LeOmi, what we need to do is get back to the mountain, tell someone what’s going on and get that burn on your face looked after.”

  “No! I’m going to find out who needs my help and help them. Do you understand?” She pounded the side of her fist into the dashboard. “How does this thing work!”

  Mark knew he wasn’t going to win this argument. “Slide over, I’m driving.”

  Mark got in and said, “Take us to The Seventh Mountain.”

  LeOmi screamed, “No! No! NO!”

  The car’s voice said, “Destination may be reached from subway in Magi City.”

  Mark said, “Why can’t we just go straight to the mountain?”

  The car’s voice said, “That function is not available.”

  LeOmi opened her door and started to get out. Mark said, “Hold on a minute. You can’t get to where you want to go without a car.” There was no way she’d listen to reason and he knew she wouldn’t give up. The only way for her to stay relatively safe was to use the car. “I’ll take you there.”

  “You’d better!”

  Mark frowned. “Let me see a map.”

  A three dimensional holographic map display appeared in front of Mark. “Map function active,” said the car’s voice.

  He touched the section where they were, and ripples spread across the map. “Zoom in to this area.”

  The display did as he requested.

  He looked at LeOmi. “Where would you like to go?”

  She examined the display, finally touching it over a small body of water about fifteen miles away. “I think we need to go here.”

  Mark asked, “Is there a communications function?”

  “Emergency communication function is available.”

  “Good! This is an emergency. I need to tell someone what’s happening.”

  The map display went blank and a moment later it was replaced by the image of a man with a handlebar mustache. It was Mr. Müeller, an engineer Mark had met last year.”

  “Hello Mr. Müeller. Is there any way you can contact Mrs. Shadowitz or anybody else at the school and let them know we need help?”

  “Sure. What’s going on?”

  “LeOmi and myself feel the urgent need to rescue someone in a pond in The Wastelands. I don’t understand what’s going on, but I know we need help.”

  “I’ll make the notifications. You do know today is a testing day, don’t you? We’re prohibited from assisting in any situation.”

  “I thought that was just for the testing in The Oasis.”

  “Sorry, I’ve said too much already. I’ll make the notifications.”

  The screen went blank, followed by the map reappearing.

  LeOmi said, “I thought so. This is some kind of test, so don’t expect any help.”

  Mark thought she was probably right. “Destination here,” he touched the map where LeOmi had indicated, “as fast as possible.”

  The mechanical voice said, “Please sit back. You will experience six gees while I accelerate.”

  No sooner than the voice ended, the car started to accelerate. For a brief moment they were pushed back in their seats hard and just as quickly the pressure relented. The landscape whizzed by and a moment later the car said, “Rotating to decelerate. You will experience six gees on deceleration.” The car rotated and decelerated. “Destination reached. External temperature one two six degrees Fahrenheit. Exiting not recommended.”

  Mark said, “This is the place, in the water. I feel it. He’s about fifty feet down.”

  True to form, LeOmi didn’t say a word; she just opened her door. A blast of heat filled the interior of the cab. She put her hood up and stepped out. Mark did the same.

  LeOmi went to the water’s edge, knelt and put her hand in up to the wrist, pulled it right back out, started waving it around and yelling.<
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  Mark said, “I don’t get the sense he’s in any immediate danger of dying. Let’s get back in the car and talk about what we can do.”

  LeOmi glared at him for a second, shrugged and went back to the car.

  Once inside Mark said, “I’m driving. Is this vehicle submersible?”

  “Submersion function is available.”

  Mark saw a slight smile cross LeOmi’s lips. “Take us fifty feet down, fifty yards out.”

  There was a faint hiss followed by a low click before the vehicle moved. The car’s voice said, “Submersion function active. Fifteen minute air reserve.” Fifty yards from the bank the vehicle slid below the surface.

  Twenty feet down a rocky peak appeared outside the front glass and at fifty feet they could see a small, upside-down submarine trapped in a rock slide, nose up with the tail section buried in the rubble.

  LeOmi said, “That’s it. How’re we going to do this?”

  “We can try to nudge the sub free with the car. What’s the water temperature here?”

  The car said, “Water temperature is seven-three point six degrees Fahrenheit.”

  Mark continued, “If that doesn’t work, I have an oxy-cap, I can give you half and we can go out and try to clear the hatch enough to get him out.”

  “Exit function not available.”

  “Well, then what’s the surface water temperature?”

  “Surface water temperature is one-two-four point nine degrees Fahrenheit.”

  “We can fill our pockets with rocks and dive down. The really hot water is probably just near the surface.”

  LeOmi said, “That’s doable. Let’s go.”

  “There is another option. I know it’s not something you’re willing to do, but we could just wait.”

  “Are you flippin’ crazy? I’m going to do what I can to save him.”

  “What if he doesn’t need our help? Think about it. This is a testing day. Maybe this is a test for him and we’re just interfering. I can’t believe nobody knows he’s here.”

  “You’re stupid. There may be just a one in a gazillion chance we’re his only hope, but I’m here and I’m able. I can and I will act. Now you think about this: if we were his only hope and chose to just sit around and watch him die; could you live with that? I couldn’t.”

  Mark remembered exactly how he felt when he had refused to let Benrah tell him something and Mr. Diefenderfer and Mr. Young had been savagely eviscerated as a result.

  “I see what you mean. Let’s do it.” He spoke toward the dashboard. “Is there a manual control for this vehicle?”

  “Manual function available. State authorization.”

  “I don’t have an authorization. This is an emergency and I need manual control.”

  A moment passed before the car said, “Emergency authorization confirmed.” An arm with two joysticks emerged from beneath the dash. “Manual control active.”

  Mark took the right stick, eased it forward ever so slightly and the vehicle moved backwards. “This is going to take a bit to get used to.” He tried nudging the control to the right and left, getting a feel for how the car responded. Moving the left joystick backwards and forward controlled the pitch of the vehicle, roll was controlled by left-right movements and yaw was controlled by twisting the handle. A thumb wheel controlled the depth.

  “I’ve got it now, let’s give it a try.” He moved the car toward the nose of the sub.

  Ten feet from the sub, an alarm sounded. “Collision alert! Collision alert! Collision alert!”

  Mark said, “Turn that alarm off! I’m doing this on purpose. This is an emergency.”

  The car veered to the right just five feet before contact.

  “Hey! What’s going on? I need to push that sub.”

  “Collision avoidance function active.”

  “Disable it!”

  “Unable to negate collision avoidance function.”

  LeOmi hit the dash. “What good are you then?”

  Mark said, “Go back to normal control and take us back to shore.”

  “Manual function disabled. Ascending.”

  Back on shore, Mark was the first one out. “Put about twenty pounds of rocks in your pockets and get back in the car.”

  The potato sized stones were plentiful and hot. Mark had to hold his cloak away from his body to keep from being burnt. LeOmi didn’t seem to mind how hot the rocks were. She beat Mark back to the car and looked impatient when he got back in.

  Mark said, “I’m driving. I want to be right over top of that submarine, but not in the water.”

  The car moved out over the water and stopped. Mark split his oxy-cap with his utility tool and handed LeOmi her half. “That’ll let us breathe underwater for about twenty minutes, twenty-five minutes max. Just keep it under your tongue.” He turned to the dashboard. “Car, I want you to stay right here until we get back. Do not move for at least an hour. Can you do that?”

  “Standby function active. Timer set for sixty minutes.”

  He turned back to LeOmi and said, “Let’s do this,” opened his door and was out with a splash.

  The first ten feet of descent were extremely hot, but the water cooled quickly after that. Mark and LeOmi reached the sub at about the same time and made their way to its center access area. Small boulders were piled over about ten feet of the back end of the sub tapering off toward the boat’s midsection. The conning tower on the overturned sub was completely surrounded by the rocks. The good news was all they had to do was roll the rocks away and let them fall down the side of the hill. Still, Mark didn’t think they could clear enough away in twenty minutes to make much of a difference.

  He felt an overpowering desire to get busy moving the rocks and to disregard everything else. He wondered why he felt this way; it didn’t make sense. This wasn’t the way he had ever felt in any critical situation he could remember in his entire lifetime.

  He moved into position next to LeOmi. They both started rolling the smaller rocks away and worked together on the larger ones. It took ten minutes, half their air supply, before they cleared one side of the inverted tower. They still needed to clear out enough rubble to be able to reach the hatch, and Mark thought they might have a chance at making it in time. Neither of them noticed the larger submarine floating sixty feet behind and ten feet above them.

  Ten minutes later it was obvious to them the oxy-caps were running out. They had barely cleared a space large enough to get at the hatch. Mark turned the wheel until it wouldn’t move anymore. He tried to open it and it wouldn’t budge. He slid out of the hole they’d made in the rocks and immediately LeOmi went in. Mark’s oxygen supply was completely exhausted now and he didn’t know how much longer he could hold his breath. He knew LeOmi had to be in the same predicament.

  He grabbed one of her legs and pulled her partially out of the hole. As soon as he let go, she pulled herself back in. He brought to the front of his mind himself holding his hands at his throat and then swimming for the surface. He knew she’d pick up his thoughts. He also knew she’d hold out until the last possible second, or more. She was almost as stubborn as Cap’n Ben.

  Mark started to take his cloak off to shed the weight in the pockets that held him submerged when a hand on his shoulder startled him. He turned and saw Gerod wearing a face mask, grinning at him and holding out an oxy-cap. Mark took the capsule and Gerod went to LeOmi, tapped her leg and shoved his arm into the hole with her. Mark felt a wave of relief. A moment later she backed out and started shoving more rocks away from the hole.

  Gerod grabbed her shoulder and spun her around to face him. He waved his index finger back and forth in front of her face while mouthing the word ‘no’ and then pointed to the other submarine. He motioned for them to follow and started swimming for the sub’s belly. They shed their cloaks so they could swim.

  The larger sub had an open hatch on the bottom that opened into a small pool in the bottom of the boat. Gerod removed his goggles and fins, tossed them onto the
deck and used the built-in ladder to climb out. Mark and LeOmi followed.

  Gerod, still grinning, nodded and said, “Congratulations. You guys did a good job at proving yourselves worthy to join the rescue team.”

  Mark felt a wave of anger and hostility wash over him. He thought it very strange that he was feeling these particular emotions; there was no logical reason for it. He knew this probably had been some kind of test or something and he’d done well. At least he thought he had. He didn’t answer Gerod.

  LeOmi yelled, “How could you do such a thing! What kind of man are you?”

  Gerod rebuked, “Young lady, you need to get a hold of your emotions. We didn’t cause that accident, the student in that sub did. We were standing by just in case he couldn’t deal with the situation. As far as you two go, we were notified to expect you just after you left The Oasis. Neither of you were ever in any real danger, although, for a moment there, we thought somebody was going to have to intervene. LeOmi, you were a bit reckless. You need to control your emotions a little better and reason things out a little more. Getting yourself injured or killed doesn’t do anyone any good.”

  The anger Mark felt increased, and then just left. It felt as if it hadn’t been there at all. He asked, “What just happened?”

  Gerod said, “Just about every year we get a natural rescuer. It’s unusual to get two, but it’s not unheard of. They’re usually identified on their first day as a sophomore during orientation simply because of all the testing going on. There’s ample opportunity for students to get into situations they perceive as life threatening, and usually at least one manages to do just that. We don’t tell students that except in the case of natural rescuers. Rescue teams are stationed in key areas and students are closely watched.