Amy came around to the driver’s window. She crouched down to set her face even with Tom’s. “Thanks for the ride, and the support. Watch for an email from…” Amy thought of a new address, “elizabeth6388 and a phony name in a few days.” Amy hesitated, and then just gave Tom a smile.
She moved off around the mall, keeping in the parking areas, and away from the entrance cameras. She shook her head trying to sort out her emotions. She wondered why she nearly bent down to give Tom a goodbye kiss, and told herself, you’re losing it girl! You’ve only known him for two hours, he’s older than you, and this is no time for complications. Tom was watching her right until she went around the corner.
Chapter 28 – Mexico and Beyond
John was sitting in a car next to the mall entrance, reading a magazine. He jumped when Amy knocked on the window. He lowered the window and smiled sheepishly.
Amy responded, “Hi! Open up the back so I can put these in.”
Candy wrappers and empty fast food containers littered the back of the car. “Yah,” he said as he watched Amy put in the case and backpack, “disgusting isn’t it? It’s not my car. You may not believe it, but my car’s clean. What’s with the case? I haven’t seen that before.”
Amy came around to the passenger seat, and got in. “Drive east out through Farrell Crossroads before you hit I20 and head south,” said Amy. “Keep to the speed limit; I don’t want to be stopped. I’ll tell you what’s happening as we go. When we stop I’ll pay cash for everything. We’ll take turns driving. Even if we drive non-stop, I’m going to be late.”
John focused on driving while she relaxed, keeping quiet for the first few minutes. As he drove, Amy spent the rest of the afternoon telling him what had happened to her from the first time they had met Simon. It was hard for him to believe. At first John was suspicious that his sister was setting him up, but he eventually accepted that Amy was serious.
The clincher was when they stopped at an almost empty restaurant, and Amy showed John, while they ate a meal, the pictures and videos she had from other planets and the video of her staff flying around her dorm room.
John, at a break in her story, said, “You know this is weird. My sister has traveled to other planets. Just like the movies. One day I'll walk on a different planet. It’s cool!”
Back in the car, Amy finished by telling him about being followed, and about Sharpie and Tom, and that she was on her way to pick up Daughter.
“That’s so cool!” said John when she was finally finished. “How’d you convince other people you’re not crazy?”
There was no answer to that. Amy just laughed. Amy used his friend’s cellphone to send a text message to Paul and Frank; Amy’s was switched off and would stay off. The text message said, ‘followed. b careful. c u at camp. aelr’.
They drove through the night and the next day, taking turns at the wheel while the other slept. They stopped only at gas stations and restaurants away from the interstate, and used Amy’s wad of cash. There were no problems crossing the border into Mexico. When they reached San Crecerlan they parked the car at a hotel and booked a room for John. He was to use his cash to buy some clothes and stay at a motel for two or three days until she got back.
“John,” said Amy in a business-like tone, “we need to recruit supporters. You’d be one of our first supporters. I can’t take you this time. I’m going to keep at least part of the oath I made. It’s going to take time, but one day you’ll travel on other planets, I promise that.”
John smiled. “I was your supporter before you ever asked.”
Amy gave him a quick hug. “While I’m away I want you to consider changing what you’re taking in university. Your last two years should give you a degree that fits our needs, and it should suit your talents.”
“Why finish university? I just want to travel to other planets,” he answered impatiently.
Amy shook her head. “We don’t need tourists; we need people who can help pull the galaxy back together again.”
“Typical!” he answered, but his face admitted she was right.
“Even Luke Skywalker took training,” Amy reciprocated.
“Low blow!” he exclaimed. They both laughed.
It was late afternoon when John drove her out to as close to the pillar as he could get, dropping her off near the trail that went across the hilltops. Amy had stopped to buy some flowers and vase for Simon’s grave. The road through the village on the beach would have been closer but Amy thought that people might see them.
“OK,” said Amy tensely. “Drive away at your normal speed. I’ll meet you at the hotel when I get back.”
“Good luck, Sis!” He drove off leaving her in the dark to follow the trail down to the pillar.
Amy spent some time ducking into the jungle, as Paul had insisted, and backtracking to ensure she wasn’t followed. The bushes tried to tear her flowers apart and Amy had to hold them against her chest. It was a waste of time of course, but Amy didn’t know that. Watchers were already at the ruins, in the jungle, using hidden video cameras to watch the pillar.
The flowers had attracted some wasps and Amy shook the flowers to get them off. One was right inside the flower and Amy decided that one on Simon’s planet would do no harm. Amy tapped the secure code, and the normal chill moved rapidly up her from her toes to her head. This time she felt a tug on the flowers, but couldn’t tell what that was in the dark.
In the dark of the dome Amy shivered. It felt as if something bad was coming. The shiver was passing through her whole body. Just nerves, she told herself as she tapped the sequence for Simon’s campsite.
When she arrived on the pillar on Simon’s world she saw that one flower had been broken off, the flower that had the wasp in it. It wasn’t on the pillar anywhere, so it must be in Mexico. She’d tell Frank about the flower being broken off when she had a chance.
The watchers in Mexico were frustrated again; all they had seen was Amy use the secure code. They’d not been able to follow her, she had lost her tails, but they knew where she was going. None of them had noticed the flower that had slid down the dome and now lay just outside the large circle in the mosaic. An annoyed wasp left the flower and returned to its hive.
* * *
Sandspour asked, “I’m not to warn Amy Elizabeth La Reine?”
“No, this is a test,” was the answer from the Wise One. “Amy Elizabeth La Reine is approaching a moment that will challenge her faith. She must learn Earth is different from the other planets in the galaxy and that that the One Who Tests is more directly involved in the lives of the faithful.”
* * *
Amy found Simon’s campsite just as they’d left it, more or less. The wind had moved a few things and loosened some of the ropes but it only took a few minutes to fix everything. Amy put some of the extra camping gear in the tent, and added the dome tent and cooking gear to her load. After filling her water bottles in the stream, Amy attached one sidearm to her belt and put the spare sidearm in the backpack, both loaded. Amy would take no chances on this trip, not when traveling alone. After putting the flowers and the vase on Simon's grave, Amy left to go to Desert Stronghold Two. She was anxious to meet up with Daughter again and not be any later than she was.
Stepping on the pillar, Amy put on her ball cap and sunglasses, ready for the bright sunlight on Daughter’s planet. Amy tapped the secure code and then the sequence of taps she’d memorized. Again she sensed that something bad was coming. It almost felt like a warning, that something was going to happen. Who knows?
Wind and sand hit Amy the instant she arrived at the Boat Pillar. Sand was in her eyes, nose and mouth before she could even think. The wind caught the backpack spinning her around and knocking her down, and she lost her ball cap and sunglasses as she fell. Now more sand was getting into her eyes and her hair was lashing her face. Amy realized that Simon’s staff had bounced out of her hands. It was so dark that she couldn’t see it. The air around her was so
dry that static sparks were crawling over her clothes. Then lightning was flashing all around her, briefly showing her the staff. Amy crawled to the staff; the sand had already half buried it. This was a sandstorm! The last one had been twelve hours long!
She lifted the staff to use the return code Simon taught them. Horrified, Amy remembered that this was an incoming only pillar, and she couldn’t go back!
Amy knew the wrecked boat should be close, but she couldn’t see it. It was the only shelter for miles. Where was it? Which way? She needed to find it, or she’d die here! She’d have to crawl. Amy forced herself to work this out. If the storm came from the same direction as last time, she told herself, then the boat should be to the right as she faced downwind. Amy turned so the wind was blowing on her right side. She was crawling, so the boat should be about 30 steps, or was that knees, away. One. She was such an idiot coming alone. Two. This was going to end with her mummified corpse buried in the sands. Three. The wind was pushing her over. It was the backpack. Four. Should she get rid of it? Five. No idiot! It’s got your water in it. Six. Amy pulled her tee shirt up over her face to keep the sand out of her mouth and nose. Seven. The sand stung her waist and tickled under her breasts. It was mildly erotic. Focus girl! Eight. Her throat now was so dry that she had no spit left. Nine. Should she stop to drink? Ten. No, keep going. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Twenty-one. Had she lost count? She didn’t remember. Twenty-two. She must have been counting. The wind and sand were confusing her. Twenty-three. Twenty-four. Twenty-five. She was so tired. Twenty-six. The boat had to be here! Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight. Keep going sucker. Twenty-nine. You wanted to do this alone! Thirty. Nothing! She grabbed the end of the staff and swung it around her. The wind almost took it out of her hands! Nothing! The boat wasn’t here! Now what! She lay flat on the sand. It was easier. She closed her eyes.
“Get up idiot!” Amy croaked to herself. “You’ll die here!” Which way? Back to the pillar? Yes, that way I know where I am.
She turned herself around until the wind was on her left. One. Two. Lightning flashed all around her and her skin tingled with the electricity. Three. Four. Keep going! Five. It’s too much! Amy hid her face in her arms trying to get a dust-free breath. The dust was closing her throat. She could hear herself wheezing with each breath. I must keep going. She pushed herself up onto her knees. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twenty-five. Did I lose count again? No, I was counting. Twenty-six. I’m exhausted. I need to rest. Twenty-seven. Come on girl, three more. Twenty-eight. Two more. Twenty-nine. One more. Thirty! Made it.
Everything was covered by sand. She tried to clear away some of the sand to find the pillar, but it blew in faster than she could push it away. It was so hard to breathe. She lay down with her face surrounded by her arms. It didn’t help. She was exhausted, and Amy knew that if she didn’t hold on she would just choke and die right here.
Which way? If she chose the wrong direction, she would die. If she did nothing, she would die! Which way?
She got up on her knees and turned downwind. That was her guess, but was it right? She was so tired. She laid herself down in the sand again, hiding her face in her arms, trying to breathe. The wind pulled at her, threatening to roll her across the platform. Another thirty steps! She didn’t have the strength!
“God help me!” Amy groaned through clenched gritty teeth.
###
End of Book 1
The characters and events depicted in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
The adventure continues in the second book of the Council of Three series, Keys by Doug Plamping – now available from eBook retailers.
Book 2 in the Council of Three series sees Amy, lost in a sandstorm, saved by the One Who Tests. It seems that on other planets God is more directly involved in the lives of humans.
Amy meets a baby alien that she is to take to Earth. That seems to be a condition of their travelling from Earth into the galaxy. The baby alien spider is already four feet across from claw to claw and growing! They aren’t given an option to say no.
Returning to Earth, Amy takes the baby spider to university with her, hiding it in her dorm room. Babysitting an alien turns out to be a full time job. Someone takes a movie of the spider, and it only gets worse after that. Amy discovers that a baby spider is the least of her troubles. The staff that the old priest gave her is changing her physically; she heals faster and has more energy, but it gives her strange dreams and nightmares. Also, the criminals and the government watch and follow her, and the criminals have decided to act.
Warned by an alien, Amy runs from the criminals but she is stopped, kidnapped, drugged, and tortured for her knowledge on how to travel to other planets. She is to be killed, but the government rescues her before that can happen. Unfortunately the government decides to lock Amy, Paul and Frank up and throw away the key! Given powers by the staff, which is now talking to Amy in strange two word sentences, she uses shields to escape from the seventh floor of the hospital where she is being held.
Paul and Frank are warned and escape capture. Now they all have to travel across the US without being found by the criminals or the government, but they only have 48 hours to get to their rendezvous. Once they’re together they still have to get off Earth. Unfortunately, the military have occupied the area around the pillar, the only known way off Earth.
Add to those troubles, aliens think that Earth is the most dangerous planet in the galaxy, and propose to do something about it !!!
Connect with Doug online at:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/DPlamping
Blog at - https://dougplamping.blogspot.com/
Twitter at - https://twitter.com/dougplamping
Doug Plamping has recently taken his writing hobby to the new level of published author. Step on the Sun is his first book, with two other books in the Council of Three series (Keys and Journey) published, and the final book of the series, Return, being prepared for publication. Doug has been a science fiction and fantasy fan since he was a boy growing up in the United Kingdom. A Canadian for 40 years, he enjoys rural living north of Calgary, Alberta, and spending time with family and friends.
Last, but not least, thanks to my loving and patient wife Cherie, family, and friends, for their support and suggestions in the writing of this book.
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