After spending a few moments mesmerizingly studying David's expression while stroking her scar and contemplating what it meant to be a physical human being again, she turned her attention to their destination. She gasped as the silhouetted form of the land mass loomed before them. They were closer than she had thought. She couldn't imagine that there was life there. There wasn't a trace of activity. There wasn't a spark of light. Even with the absence of electricity, there would have been torches, candles. Her eyes scanned the darkness. There was nothing. It was too dark to see the structures they had seen from the sky earlier.
David broke the silence with, “I don't think there's anything to be afraid of.”
“I'm not afraid,” Emily replied.
David chuckled. “I know. I was thinking out loud, but now that you've heard my thoughts, there's nothing for me to be afraid of. There doesn't appear to be any life here.”
The shuttle cruised over the edge of the land mass, slowed, came to a complete stop and hovered.
Emily continued peering into the darkness. Her eyes beginning to adjust, she began to make out the silhouettes of what appeared to be a large gathering of buildings. It was far too dark to make out any features, but she could see that the tops were rounded. They weren't especially tall, not by 21st and 22nd Century Earth standards. The tallest building she could make out as her eyes continued to adjust appeared to be the approximate height of a forty-story building.
Something caught her eye in the distance beyond the structures. She squinted, got a better sense of what it was and opened her eyes wide. She would have to scratch her previous assessment regarding the height of the tallest building. It looked like an enormous, skyscraping piece of obsidian in the form of a jagged blade, jutting up toward the thick mist above as if attempting to pierce it. From her vantage point, the pointed tip of the structure appeared to end just shy of reaching the mist.
“Are you seeing what I'm seeing?” she asked.
“I am. There's an abandoned city up ahead.”
“Mm-hmm. How tall would you say some of the taller structures are?”
David shrugged. “I don't know. Thirty, forty stories maybe?”
“Take a closer look.”
David glanced at her before peering into the distance. He leaned forward and squinted. He shook his head. “What am I looking for?”
“You don't see it?”
“I'm sorry, but I don't have your super-duper non-corporeal night-vision. What am I supposed to be seeing?”
Emily searched the surrounding cabin. “Do we have binoculars in this thing?”
“They're on our belts,” David said matter-of-factly.
Embarrassed, Emily reached for David's belt, removing the binoculars and handing them to him.
David took the binoculars and studied her. “What is going on with you?”
“What do you mean?” Emily said defensively.
David shook his head. “Never mind. Probably not the best time to have this conversation.” He peered through the binoculars for a long moment before pulling them away from his face. “Is that what I think it is?”
Emily nodded. “I think it is.”
He brought the binoculars back to his eyes. “It's huge! It has to be a hundred stories or more! You think it's a building of some kind?”
“It is,” Emily said sullenly. “No doubt about it.”
“How did we not see this from above?”
"The mist is thicker toward the center of the island. At an angle, we were able to see the outer edges of the city, but that thing is way back there toward the center. It's the perfect hiding place."
“I doubt whoever built it intended to hide it. The mist is the only thing covering it, and it wouldn't be there all the time.”
“You sure about that? It seems strategically placed. It's thickest over the structure, as if it's meant to hide it.”
David lowered the binoculars. “The mist...is strategically placed?”
“It looks that way.”
“How do you strategically place mist...and keep it there?”
Emily shrugged.
“It looks to be abandoned...like the rest of the city.”
Emily wasn't so sure about that. “Maybe,” she muttered.
“What happened here?”
“There's only one way to find out.”
David lowered the shuttle onto the beach and cut the engine. He promptly removed his harness. Emily remained still.
“Are we sure we want to do this?” she asked, staring into the darkened city.
David looked at her. “Do what?”
“Go rushing off into the darkness. We should stop a moment, think this through.”
It was as if they had switched roles―David enthusiastic about running off into an unpredictable and potentially dangerous situation, Emily suddenly overcome with trepidation. She couldn't help it. Something about this situation didn't sit well with her. She may have left the Great Community and the extraordinary intuitive abilities that went along with it, but her basic intuitive abilities were still intact.
“Are you okay? If I didn't know better, I would say that something's got you spooked.”
Emily nodded. “Something does,” she admitted.
David furrowed his brow. “You? You're not afraid of anything.”
“I'm afraid when there's something to be afraid of.”
David looked into the distance, then back at Emily. “What are you afraid of?”
Emily shook her head. “My spidey sense is tingling. There's something not right about this situation.”
The last thing she wanted to do was frighten David when he actually seemed to be enjoying himself, but his expression told her that that was exactly what she had done. She couldn't help it. She needed to keep him on his toes.
She continued, “There's something out there waiting for us. I feel like...I feel like we're walking into a trap.”
“All right. Now you're starting to scare me,” David confessed. “Should we head back?”
Emily continued to gape into the distance.
“We're heading back!” David answered for her.
He tapped the touchscreen to power the shuttle. The shuttle didn't respond. He tapped it again. No response. He tapped it a third time. Nothing.
She wanted to be sure before she alerted him. She didn't want to alarm him if what she was seeing turned out to be a row of small trees swaying in the distance. She was hoping that the faint glow they were giving off was the result of the rays beaming down from the planet's twin full moons. But her eyes adjusted, and she was able to make out their forms.
“You're wasting your time,” Emily said soberly as David continued pounding his fingers on the touchscreen. “They disabled the shuttle.”
“Who did?”
Emily nodded into the distance, signaling David to follow her gaze, to see what she was just beginning to see herself. There were several luminescent humanoid beings in the distance, and they were moving toward the shuttle.
Chapter 20
Richard kissed his husband goodbye and moved toward the shuttle bay. He hated these moments. They were few and far between, which, of course, made them all the more difficult to handle. The last time this feeling of foreboding came over him, the roles were reversed. George was stepping out of Encounter to check for signs of contamination on Earth after returning from their mission to Eden.
He entered the shuttle bay, turned and took one last look at George before the shuttle bay doors slid shut. Their eyes remained locked through the shuttle bay door windows, but Richard didn't think it was a good idea to continue holding George with his eyes. It would just make leaving all the more difficult.
He dropped his gaze, turned and headed for the shuttle. He wanted to cry as he stepped onto the purring shuttle. He wanted to scream as the shuttle's door slid shut behind him. He pushed both impulses aside as he sat behind the cockpit and strapped himself in.
He instinctively knew that George was standing ou
tside the shuttle bay doors, watching his departure. He resisted the urge to catch those eyes one last time. The chain had been broken once. No point in breaking it again.
He leaned toward the cockpit. “Are we ready to get this show on the road?”
“We are,” Elexa responded. “Lieutenant, if you will, let's open the shuttle bay doors and see what's out there.”
“Aye, Captain. Opening shuttle bay doors―” The shuttle bay doors slid open. Deanna tapped the thruster controls. “―and we're off.”
The shuttle bolted from the shuttle bay, causing Richard to grip the chair's armrests. The belly of the shuttle skimmed the water's surface before rising. Richard eased his fingers from the armrests and smiled at the futility of squeezing them in the first place should the shuttle go tumbling into the water. Holding onto the armrests for dear life may have been a futile gesture, but his tension under the circumstances was only natural. Not only was he flying off with Elexa and Deanna into an unpredictable situation; he was doing it without the love of his life.
“Are you okay back there, Richard?” Deanna asked. “I didn't scare ya, did I?”
Richard sighed. “You did scare me, but I'll get over it.”
Elexa said, "Good because we can't have you falling apart on us out there."
Richard managed an awkward, lopsided grin, his eyes drawn to the blackened strip of land in the distance. “I'll do my best to keep it together.”
The shuttle zipped over the still water. They would reach land in a matter of minutes. Richard wished it would take longer. He wasn't anxious to go searching for signs of life in the darkness. He was anxious to get back to George. He hated leaving him alone on Encounter. He didn't know what scared him more―dying without George or George dying without him. He shuddered. He could have smacked himself for thinking that way. It shamed him to consider the possibility that he was more concerned for himself than he was for George. If he lost his own life, he would be separated from George and from life. The two were one in the same as far as he was concerned. If George lost his life, he would be separated from George and, in turn, from life. George was life, and he couldn't live without him, wouldn't live without him. Was that so selfish? Was he more concerned for his own feelings on the matter than he was for George's?
Stop it, Richard! You're thinking crazy!
His right hand began to move. He had actually considered slapping himself. He placed it gently in his lap, shook his head and forced a smile. Everything was going to be okay.
The mission at hand. Focus on the mission at hand.
Richard leaned forward, peering at the land mass as it filled his field of vision. They were nearly on top of it. Minutes became seconds. Seconds before they arrived. Seconds before they landed in the darkness. He scanned the darkness looking for details, signs of habitation. It didn't take long. It was dark, but not that dark...not yet. Silhouetted rectangular shapes became visible in the distance.
“Do you see that?” Richard asked.
“Yep,” Elexa replied.
The shuttle swooped over the beach, came to a stop and descended.
“There are no signs of life,” Deanna said as she settled the shuttle onto the beach and cut the engine. “No activity. No lights. No nothing.”
“Then why am I so afraid?” Richard asked.
Elexa and Deanna looked at Richard over their shoulders.
“Because it's dark and creepy?” Deanna suggested. “And you're on an unexplored planet?” She shrugged. “Just throwing it out there.”
“Are you all right?” Elexa asked Richard.
Richard hesitated before saying, “Yeah...yeah. I'm just...” He paused. Did he dare tell them the truth?
“You're just concerned about George,” Elexa offered.
Richard sighed. If only he could be certain that that was it. “Maybe...or maybe I'm just concerned about myself without George,” he confessed.
Elexa and Deanna looked at one another.
“Is that it?” Elexa said with a broad smile. If Richard didn't know better, he would say she was downright amused by his concerns. “Are you feeling guilty because you're...well, you're human?”
Richard furrowed his brow. He didn't quite follow her logic.
Elexa continued, “Richard, my dear, we're both quite a bit younger than you. Don't tell me that we have to school you on this particular aspect of human nature.”
“He's so wrapped up in his fear that he can't see that his fears are perfectly natural,” Deanna added.
Richard didn't have an immediate response forthcoming, though he suspected what Elexa and Deanna were getting at.
Deanna reached back and took Richard's hand. When she wasn't being sarcastic, her true colors would shine through. She was actually quite sweet. "Papa, what I'm about to tell you is something you already know all too well. You've just forgotten. Your head is a mess because you've left George behind. You love George. There is absolutely, positively no doubt about that. You love all of us. There is absolutely, positively no doubt about that either. Not wanting to lose somebody, not wanting to continue without them is not selfish. Being concerned about how you would feel if George weren't with you is not selfish. It's human nature."
Elexa reached back and placed her hand over the clasped hands of Richard and Deanna. “But...it is also human nature to allow fear to take us places we have no business going. You're jumping to conclusions, Richard.” She looked at Deanna. “And you...I'm not sure you're helping. Richard just needs a good slap across the face.”
Deanna nodded. “You're right, Captain. Papa, this is for your own good.”
Deanna released Richard's hand and gently placed her palm on Richard's cheek.
Richard smiled, grabbed Deanna's hand and kissed her palm.
“You're right,” he said softly. “That did the trick.”
“All better now?” Elexa asked.
“All better now.”
He wasn't lying. A good talking to and a gentle touch was just what he needed to slap him back to reality. It was still a pretty grim reality, but one he was ready to face.
Deanna said, “Ready to go ghost hunting, Scooby-Doo?”
Richard threw his head back and laughed. “Ready,” he said before cocking an eyebrow and adding, “Wait. You know that show?”
“Pssh. How young do you think I am?”
Deanna opened the pilot side door and jumped out before Richard had a chance to answer. He looked down, contemplating the answer he might have given had he been given the chance. The truth was that he didn't have an answer. He didn't know how young or old she and Elexa were. He was a father figure to both women, but he didn't know the basics. He didn't know how old they were, whether they were born in the 21st or 22nd Century. Shouldn't he have known these things? He knew the kind of people they were. He knew that he loved them as daughters. Wasn't that enough?
A whistle from outside the shuttle snapped him back to the moment. Elexa and Deanna were watching him through the cockpit window, hands placed on their hips. Well, he at least knew them well enough to know that that was Deanna's whistle.
“Hey, papa!” Deanna called. “You coming?”
Richard gave them a wave of acknowledgment and stepped out. It was warm, breezy. The air had a tropical scent, not unexpected considering that the planet was at least ninety percent water.
“We need to be cautious,” he advised, approaching Elexa and Deanna. “Take it slow.”
“Of course,” Elexa agreed. “We'll move in a bit, observe the structures from a distance before moving in for a closer look...if we think it's safe.”
Elexa led the way with Richard and Deanna, side by side, following close behind.
Elexa reached the innermost edge of the beach and crouched. Richard and Deanna mirrored her movements, moving up alongside her and crouching. There was a forest up ahead. Based on his observations as the shuttle approached the island, there wasn't much forest between themselves and the city.
He peered through his bi
noculars, the twin full moons offering enough light to illuminate a small embankment of dirt beyond the trees. Beyond the embankment lay, what could only be described from their vantage point as, a small, underdeveloped city. The city was devoid of light, giving Richard every indication that the city was abandoned.
Still, he couldn't shake that feeling. He was a scientist, not taken in by irrational fears, but there was something off about this place...something to be afraid of. He shook his head. It was his imagination. He was human after all. The right conditions could bring out those primal fears in even the most rational human being.
Elexa sighed. “All right. It appears that our initial assumptions were correct. There doesn't appear to be anybody here, which leaves us two possibilities. One, this place has been abandoned. Whoever was living here packed their stuff and moved on to greener pastures. Or two, all intelligent life on this planet has gone extinct.”
Deanna said, “The first possibility seems the most plausible. The waters rose, and life on this planet was no longer sustainable.”
Richard shook his head. “I think we're jumping to conclusions. At this point, we don't have much to go on.”
“You're right,” Elexa concurred. “We should move into the city and have a look around.”
Richard was nonplussed. "That's not a good idea, not yet. Didn't you hear what I said? Not having much to go on doesn't mean we should go running off into a darkened, seemingly uninhabited city. We have no idea what to expect. We're not prepared.”
Deanna turned her flashlight on and pointed it at Richard's face. “We brought our flashlights. We're prepared.”
Richard grimaced and pushed the flashlight away.
“And what do you mean by 'seemingly uninhabited'?” Deanna queried, pointing her flashlight toward the city. “It's deader than a doornail. It's clearly uninhabited.”
“From this distance, to our naked eyes, it appears uninhabited. I don't need to remind either of you that this is not Earth. This is an unexplored planet. We're far from home. We don't know what we're getting ourselves into. The least we can do is wait until daybreak before we go exploring. The city isn't going anywhere.”
The Perfect Moment in Peril Page 12
