The Split Skies (The Possessor Wars, Book 4): The Possessor Wars, Book 4

by Chad Spencer

  Amanda hesitated.

  “Go on,” Jeff urged. “Take her. I bet you were happy to have her before. So be happy to have her now.”

  “You really didn’t tell Kent that Danae should go into cryostasis so you could marry me?”

  Groaning, Jeff recited his conversation of the day before with his father. “If you don’t believe me,” he concluded, “ask Danae.”

  Again, Amanda hesitated.

  “Are you going for another horse now?”

  Shrugging, Jeff answered, “I suppose I could go after dinner.”

  “Can you take me with you?”

  “Sure. Why?”

  “I … I want to see if the Amsterdam is there. I need to know who’s telling the truth and who’s lying to me.”

  Grinning, Jeff nodded. “Let’s have dinner, then we’ll go,” he said.

  11

  Jeff pushed back his chair. “It’s done,” he said out loud. “It works.”

  Looking once more at the perfect ship displayed on his workstation, Jeff stood and stretched. The Living Freighter was finished at last.

  Danae and Denise came in. “Will you take us to see Amanda?” Denise asked at once.

  Smiling, Jeff said, “Sure, but let me get some lunch first.”

  Danae interjected, “Since you’re flying us up there, I’ll fix you something.” Without waiting for his reply she stepped lightly into the kitchen and began cooking, humming as she did.

  Jeff was surprised, but pleased. After a few moments, she saw him still standing there at the door and said, “Shouldn’t you change out of your bathrobe before we go?”

  Nodding, Jeff went into his bedroom. By the time he had showered and changed, his lunch was on the table. He didn’t bother putting on his datacrown. ‘Now that the Living Freighter is done,’ he thought, ‘I don’t need it much.’

  After his meal, the three of them boarded Jeff’s shuttle and set course for the Amsterdam. On the way, Denise asked, “Do you think Amanda will ever come and live on the island again?”

  “I don’t know,” Jeff answered. “She was pretty mad when she found out that Dirk, Porsche, and Dad were lying to her. That’s why she went back to the Amsterdam. It’s where she grew up.”

  “But she’s been up here for weeks!” Denise objected. “We hardly ever see her. I like Amanda.”

  Amanda was glad to see them when they arrived. They visited for a while, and then she asked, “How did you build those domes? I want one of my own.”

  Jeff queried, “You don’t want to live here any more?”

  “I’m tired of being by myself. I was thinking that there’s a good spot across the river from your farm.”

  Nodding, Jeff replied, “Sure. There are some more housing units and barn kits in the cargo bays. It won’t be hard to set you up, but it takes a while. We’ll have to make a lot of trips in our shuttles.”

  “No we won’t,” she countered. “We can use the Amsterdam.”

  “Of course! That’s a great idea. We can refuel it from the Ellsworth and take everything down in one trip. But I’ll go get Arvix to help us and be back first thing tomorrow.”

  So the following day, they commenced loading supplies for another farm into the Amsterdam. Actually, it was Arvix who did most of the lifting and carrying. By late evening, they landed on the planet with everything they needed. Jeff walked out to the building site with a tiny container of nanobots. He released a single drop of fluid onto the ground so that Amanda’s dome would begin growing. Saying goodnight to Amanda, Jeff returned home.

  Over the next few weeks, Jeff, Danae, and Amanda worked on building her farm. Denise helped as well. The day after Amanda’s farm was finished, Kent came to visit Jeff for the first time since they fought. Jeff and Kent sat together on the porch.

  “Still mad at me?” Kent queried.

  “Naw, I’m over it all.”

  Neither spoke for a while. Then Kent commented, “It was nice of you to build Amanda a place of her own. She had to stop living on that ship eventually, and she doesn’t want to have much to do with us any more.”

  Jeff thought, ‘Can you blame her? That’s what happens when you lie to people and jerk them around.’

  “Do you think,” Kent asked, “that you could put in a good word or two with her for us? It seems a shame to have so few people here and to not get along.”

  Nodding, Jeff replied, “I’ll see what I can do, but you should really ask Danae. She gets along better with Amanda than with me. She’s kind of adopted the girls as her little sisters.”

  “Ok, I will,” Kent agreed. After a pause he continued, “I was thinking that maybe you could all come over to dinner next week. After all, it’s your birthday, and Denise’s as well. Maybe just once we could all get together to celebrate.”

  “I guess. As long as Dirk doesn’t shoot at anyone.”

  “Dirk won’t dare,” Kent stated. “I don’t know what you did to him that night, but he’s scared silly of you. His mother and I had to do some real persuasive talking to get him to agree to come over while you’re there. I’ve never seen anything like it. He came to our farm that night babbling about you being a demon and shooting fire from your hands. He kept saying that Danae could fly.”

  Cautiously, Jeff asked, “What did Danae say about that?”

  Kent shrugged. “She made a big joke out of it. She kept insisting that Dirk was right. She said she was an angel with wings. Dirk about flipped out. He called her a mutant alien and went to sleep in the barn.”

  “He’s right. Danae and I are both mutant aliens.”

  Kent shook his head and sighed. “You shouldn’t make fun of him like that,” he scolded Jeff gently. “So we’ll see you next week for dinner?” Kent asked again.

  “Sure.”

  “And you’ll see if you can get Amanda to come too?”

  “If I can.”

  “Thanks, son.” Kent said goodbye and returned to his farm.

  The following week, the birthday celebration went off without incident. Jeff noticed that Dirk was skittish the whole night. But in spite of that, he managed to spend a lot of time talking with Amanda. For her part, Amanda didn’t seem to be mad at Dirk any more. The following morning, he saw Dirk ride by his farm.

  ‘It looks like he’s going to Amanda’s.’ Jeff thought. ‘But I guess that’s none of my business,’ he told himself. Jeff continued with his chores. In the late afternoon, he was working on a pond he’d decided to build for fish and ducks. He saw Dirk ride by again, heading home. It made him angry, but he wasn’t sure why. ‘It really is none of my business.’ He continued to scoop dirt with the small backhoe he’d brought down from the Ellsworth.

  Jeff put Dirk out of his mind. About ten minutes went by. Suddenly, the alarm Kent installed on the top of his dome blared. ‘Fireflies!’ he thought, searching the horizon.

  They were coming in fast. By now, the creatures knew better than to attack the domes. Jeff gazed anxiously toward the hill. There he saw Dirk, about two-thirds of the way to the top. Dirk’s horse, a veteran of many firefly attacks, knew what the alarm meant and what to do about it. He was trying to head for the nearest dome—Jeff’s dome. But Dirk wouldn’t let him. He wrestled with the reins, trying to point the horse toward his own home.

  ‘That idiot,’ Jeff thought. ‘He’s either too scared or too proud to come to my place for shelter. He’s going to get himself killed.’

  Jeff watched, wondering what he should do. The question was answered by Dirk’s horse. Frustrated with Dirk, it threw him off and ran toward Jeff’s dome. Realizing that Dirk would never make it to safety in time on foot, Jeff took to the air. Spreading his wings and skimming over the field, he got to the door of his dome, which was open. After dropping momentarily to the ground to pass through, Jeff took wing again.

  The fireflies were getting close. He heard the dome’s water jets come on. Flapping with all his might, Jeff covered the distance to Dirk as fast as he could. Up ahead, Dirk was just rising to his
feet, still shaken by his fall from the horse. Jeff saw Dirk’s eyes widen as he realized that the fireflies were almost upon him. Squeezing out every ounce of effort, Jeff strained to move faster. He could feel a wall of scorching heat as the fireflies descended on the two of them. Jeff dove straight at Dirk.

  ‘I have to time this exactly,’ he thought as he dropped. ‘There’s no second chance.’

  The moment before Jeff hit the ground, he covered Dirk and himself with his shield. The two of them sprawled on top of each other and rolled down the hill. Protected by the shield, they were unhurt. The fireflies continued their pursuit. Several times, the creatures attacked, but rebounded against the shield. Each attack sent Jeff and Dirk rolling in a different direction, like a couple of beans inside a beach ball.

  At last they reached the bottom of the hill. Being too close to the dome’s water jets, the fireflies withdrew. But they continued to circle overhead, screeching. Pulling himself to his feet, Jeff instructed, “Come on. We need to get into the dome.”

  Dirk stood and asked, “What are you? I mean really. You and Danae. How do you do this stuff? Can I fly too?”

  Infuriated, Jeff shouted, “Shut up and run you chongpeth!”

  They ran.

  When they were safe inside the dome, Jeff told Dirk about his visions of Eden and Genesis. “They contacted Danae too. I don’t know how they gave us these powers or why, but I can’t give you these abilities. I don’t know how.”

  Dirk appeared sullen. “I don’t believe you,” he replied bluntly.

  “Well, there’s nothing I can do about that, Dirk.”

  Angry, Dirk asked, “Why did you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Why did you save me? If you’d let the fireflies kill me, you could have Amanda all to yourself. That’s what I would have done.”

  “I’m not you. That’s not how I get what I want in the universe.”

  “That’s because you’re spoiled.”

  “What?”

  “You’re spoiled. You don’t know what it is to be poor. Not really poor. We had nothing.” He paused to gaze up at the fireflies as they receded into the distance. “Look … I’m sorry about what I did to you and your friends. But it was my only way to get by. And I had to make things right for us after Mom screwed up our lives by having that Third.”

  Hotly, Jeff retorted, “That Third is your sister!”

  Huffily, Dirk shot back, “She’s been nothing but a burden on us from the day she was born. My dad left that day. We had to sell almost all our stuff and move really low in the arcology. You have do idea what it is to lose everything like that.”

  “I know what it is to lose a parent. My mother died.”

  “So what? I lost both parents. My dad left and my mom had to work all the time. I hardly ever saw her and I never saw him again. At least you still had your dad. And I lost my home and almost everything I owned. All because of that Third.”

  “Why did your mom have Denise anyway?”

  Flushing angrily, Dirk hesitated. Then sullenly, he explained, “She thought it would to make my dad stay. They were having problems. All it did was make him leave.”

  Dirk walked away to get his horse. Mounting up, he rode back to Jeff. “This doesn’t make us friends,” he stated as he pulled up. “But thanks.”

  “I don’t want to be friends either,” Jeff replied evenly. “Just don’t steal from me or try to kill me anymore and we’ll get along. And you’re welcome.”

  Seeming satisfied, Dirk nodded and rode away. Jeff watched him go. ‘I guess you’d call it a truce,’ he thought.

  Jeff returned to his backhoe and resumed digging on his pond. The backhoe floated easily over the field’s cropped grass as he manipulated it back and forth. The pond rapidly took shape, and Jeff finished just as Arvix called him on his gridPhone to let him know his dinner was ready. He drove the backhoe to the barn to put it away.

  When he emerged from the barn, Jeff was surprised to see Porsche walking toward him. His father was across the field near the entrance to the dome, sitting on his horse. Porsche approached hesitantly.

  “I wanted to say thank you,” she began. “Dirk told us you saved him from the fireflies. He wouldn’t tell us much about it, but he said you saved him. Thank you.”

  Awkwardly, Jeff replied, “Sure. I mean, you’re welcome I guess.” After a pause he added, “Aren’t you the one who hates being outside? How come you didn’t just call me and tell me this?”

  Porsche gazed back toward Kent. “You saved my son. That deserves more than just a vid call. You can’t know what a son like Dirk means to me.”

  “I want you to know,” Porsche continued, “how sorry I am that I let Dirk do all those things to you and your friends back on Earth. It’s just … you see … I don’t expect you to understand, but Dirk is the only male that’s ever really been there for me. Until I met your father, that is. My father left when I was a little girl. He was a braintek addict and died somewhere on the streets, probably desperately shoving psychedelic data cubes into the data port in his head. My mother and sister and I were so poor. Then I married Dennis. But he turned out to be a lot like my father. When Dennis left, we were poor again. I decided I would do anything to stop being poor.”

  Jeff humphed and retorted bitingly, “That’s what Dirk said. That he would do anything. That’s why he beat us all up and stole from us. And tried to kill me. And lied to Amanda. And tried to kill me again.”

  “I didn’t mean anything like that,” Porsche shot back, growing testy.

  “Yeah but that’s how Dirk took it. You may not have meant it that way, but he didn’t know that.”

  Deflated, Porsche answered, “I guess so. I’m sorry.”

  Seeing her reaction, Jeff calmed down. But he was determined to ask the question he’d been wondering about since he’d seen her talking with Chief Connors on his 15th birthday. “I have to ask you,” he said, “but you’re not going to like it. But I have to know. Please tell me the truth.”

  Warily Porsche asked, “What do you want to ask me?”

  “Do you really love my dad? Or did you just use him to keep Dirk out of jail?”

  Jeff could see that Porsche was angry, really angry. But she kept control of herself and replied tightly, “You heard that from Chief Connors.” She scowled hawkishly.

  “Yes,” Porsche replied at last. “Yes I love your father. He’s the best man I’ve ever met, very kind and gentle. I should be mad at you for asking something like that. But I guess it shows how much you love your father.”

  ‘Wow,’ he thought, ‘this is a really different Porsche. Out loud he asked, “I’m sorry I made you mad. But I had to know.”

  “I understand. And just so you know, I loved my first husband Dennis too. I didn’t use him to get off the streets. Chief Connors was wrong. I was devastated when Dennis left.”

  ‘Is she telling the truth?’ Jeff wondered.

  Porsche asked, “Did you know my birthday is tomorrow?”

  “It is?” Jeff queried incredulously. “How come I never knew that?”

  “When we were on the ship, you were gone by the time my birthday came around.”

  Jeff remembered, and he remembered why. Porsche could see his face cloud over.

  “And I’m sorry for all of that,” she apologized quickly. “Really sorry. But the reason I brought it up is that we’re having another party tomorrow. Will you come? It would mean a lot to your father.”

  “Uh, ok I guess. But I don’t have a present for you.”

  Porsche laughed lightly and told him, “Don’t worry about that. I don’t really need anything anyway.” Jokingly, she added, “Except maybe a nice big arcology to live in so I never have to go outside again. You don’t happen to have a spare one, do you?”

  Jeff smiled slightly and shook his head. But suddenly he had an idea.

  “Come by at dinner time then. Your father said he’s cooking up something special. That man is a jewel. I never learned to c
ook at all, but he loves it.”

  ‘I wonder why he never taught me,’ Jeff thought. ‘Akio’s mom had to do it.’ Then Jeff remembered how withdrawn his father had grown in the years after Jeff’s mother died. He thought of the time just before they left Earth and how they had talked of little besides Kent’s job, his time in the Space Corps, and Jeff’s schooling. ‘We had problems before Porsche ever came into our lives,’ he realized. ‘We just got so used to it we thought it was normal.’

  In that moment, Jeff suddenly understood. ‘Dad was devastated when Mom died,’ Jeff thought. ‘He lost nearly everything–his wife, his career, and his chance to move up in the world. I guess he just didn’t have enough left inside himself for anything beyond making it from day to day.’

  Gazing across the field at his dad, Jeff thought, ‘That’s probably why he married Porsche too. He wanted a family and a career so much. He wanted someone to give to him instead of needing him like I did. I guess I never realized that he was probably feeling empty inside just like me. But I had Akio’s family. He had no one.’

  Quietly, Jeff told Porsche, “Thank you for coming here. I know it was hard for you.”

  Hesitantly, Porsche smiled again and said her goodbyes. She strolled her way toward Kent. About halfway across the field, she turned and waved at Jeff. She was still smiling.

  “I guess maybe she and I have a truce too,” muttered Jeff to the darkening night.

  Jeff returned her wave and went to his house for dinner. While he was eating, his gridPhone buzzed. It was Danae.

  “Jeff, I’m over at Amanda’s. You’d better get over here quick. Don’t bother to ride over. You can fly. She knows.”

  ‘Uh oh,’ Jeff thought. He left his food and flew to Amanda’s as rapidly as possible. Arriving at her house, he knocked on the door.

  “Don’t you let him in here!” he heard Amanda scream.

  Danae’s soothing voice came through the open window, “Don’t worry Amanda. We’re not going to hurt you.” She opened the door.

  Stepping inside, Jeff saw Amanda cowering at the back of the living room.