Sunrise Destiny

by Mark Terence Chapman

  I chose that particular location to ditch the car, because I knew the alley ran most of the way to the bay. We’d really only have to expose ourselves the last couple of blocks.

  We didn’t make as good time as I would have liked. The Azarti have short legs, which aren’t optimized for running as much as for swimming anyway. The best speed we could manage was more of a jog than a run.

  We reached the end of the alley and looked both ways for cops. I didn’t see any, so I instructed Karsh to do his best to get us across the street unseen. We crossed and entered the alley on the other side.

  The cops had the advantage of numbers and speed. But we had an advantage, too. We knew where we were headed and they didn’t. Now that we’d dumped the car, and with my implant’s GPS feature still disabled, as long as we weren’t spotted along the way they couldn’t track us.

  We made it without incident to the end of the alley. Then we were forced to cross the street and travel along the sidewalk out in the open, around the corner and down the last two blocks. This severely tested the abilities of Karsh and his team. Even though they could confuse those near to us, people a block or more away were out of range, but not beyond their ability to see us. We had to hope no one was looking in our direction, or that they hadn’t paid attention to the news that afternoon.

  We got within half a block of the beach when I heard sirens heading our way.

  “Run!”

  I had to lope along at half speed to keep from outrunning the Azarti. Lola wasn’t much faster. I glanced back over my shoulder and the cars were within sight. Now we’d reached the street and had nothing but beach between us and the bay. Once past the sidewalk, we left the area lit by streetlights. The running became tougher in the soft sand. Ahead, I heard the soft lapping of waves.

  The police cars screeched to a halt behind us. Doors slammed shut but I wasn’t about to turn around and look.

  “Halt! Metro Police! Drop to the ground and put your hands behind your heads.”

  “Keep running!” I called to the others. We were only a dozen yards from the water and freedom.

  “There’s nowhere to run. Halt or we’ll open fire!”

  “Keep running!” We were within feet of the water. I grabbed Lola’s hand.

  “Fire!”

  Bullets whistled past us. We dove for the water, but Lola hesitated. She floundered on the surface. I held her arm as I kicked for the horizon. “Come on! Swim. What’s the matter?”

  “I-I can’t swim.”

  “You what?”

  “I never learned.” She choked and struggled to remain afloat. Her eyes went wide with panic. She coughed. “L-leave me. Go. I’ll be okay.”

  She tried to turn back to shore.

  “No way. If you stay, I stay.” I looked toward the Azarti, who were yards ahead already. “Go without us, Karsh. Leave Earth. Be safe. We’ll be fine. Go!” A bullet deflected off the water, inches from my ear.

  Instead of responding, Karsh and Lomash turned back toward us. Karsh grabbed my wrist and the other grabbed Lola’s, separating us. Before I could say a word, the two Azarti dove with us in tow.

  From the shore, I heard, “Let ‘em go. The harbor patrol will get ‘em.”

  As the water closed over our heads and the Azarti kicked for the murky depths, my only thought was, “Wait! We don’t have threls!”

  Chapter Eleven

  Karsh twisted his body so he faced me and held a threl against my face for a second until it took hold. As before, there was a brief sensation of pain as the tendrils penetrated my eyes and ears, and a momentary need to gag when the tendrils snaked down my throat. But I’d been through the experience several times before, so I knew what to expect. I relaxed and let it happen.

  For poor Lola, though, it had to be a terrifying experience. She fought like a she-demon against both the threl and Lomash.

  [Take me to her, Karsh,] I pleaded. He did so. [Can you forward my thoughts to her, so she can hear me?]

  [I believe so. Yes.]

  [Good. Thanks. Lola, honey, can you hear me? It’s me, Sunrise.]

  She continued to fight, but with less certainty now.

  [It’ll go a lot more quickly and smoothly if you stop resisting and just relax. You won’t drown and you won’t suffocate. I promise.] I reached out and took her free hand and squeezed. She squeezed back, nearly hard enough to break bones. I felt her fear—of the ocean depths, of the threl, and perhaps, to some extent, of the Azarti. It was too much to take all at once.

  I squeezed again, more firmly now. [Relax, Lola. Remember, I’ve been through this before, several times, and I’m here to tell the tale. Once the threl is finished doing its magic, you’ll be able to breathe underwater like a fish, and see better than you’ve ever seen before. It’s incredible. But you have to relax. It’ll all be over in a few seconds. I know it’s dark. Just close your eyes and pretend you’re at home in your apartment.]

  She was still trying to hold her breath and that made it harder for the threl to reach her lungs.

  [Let it go, Lola. Let out your breath. It’ll be fine. Trust me. Let it go.]

  I don’t know whether it was my words, the pressure of my hand on hers, or simply fatigue, but finally she released her breath. For a moment, she kicked and struggled against suffocation, and then the oxygen must have finally started to flow. In an instant, she stopped fighting and began to breathe normally.

  [Are you all right, sweetheart?] I asked. [Concentrate on your words and we’ll hear them.]

  [This is…this is amazing!]

  Karsh transmitted her words and the wonder in her mental voice.

  [I told you, honey. It’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s a wonderful experience.]

  [I-I had no idea. It’s-it’s like goin’ to one of those aquariums that has a clear plexi tunnel under the water, so you see fish and rocks and seaweed all around you. Except better. I’m actually in the water. It’s like I’m a fish, too. I can go wherever I want, not just through the tunnel.]

  [Exactly.]

  For a moment, I envied Karsh and his people. They were naturally adapted to this environment, from their webbing to the bullet shape of their heads, to their ability to breathe water. By comparison, I felt awkward and ungainly, like a fat duck waddling slowly and awkwardly across the ground, compared to Karsh’s streamlined sparrow soaring and swooping gracefully across the sky.

  [If we just had webbed hands and feet, like the Azarti, we’d be all set.]

  [That and a fur coat. I’m startin’ to get cold, Donatello.]

  Donatello? She’d never called me that before. It was always the more formal “Sunrise”, or the same sort of meaningless “sugar” or “baby” that she used on her johns. This was the first time she’d ever used my name. That told me how scared she was. She was trying to break through the “professional” barrier between us. We’d been hooker and john, we’d been friends, we’d been lovers, but now we were communicating on a level that demanded even more intimacy.

  [We’ll be okay, Lola—no, damn it—Sharinda.]

  I felt her tense up at the name. Bad connotations? I’d have to follow up on that later.

  [Not Sharinda, then. How about Shari?] I sensed warmth at the suggestion.

  [Shari. Yeah. I like the way it sounds, comin’ from you.]

  [Shari it is, then.]

  [But only when we’re alone. I have a professional reputation to maintain.]

  I smiled. [All right, then. Alone, we’re Shari and Don. To the rest of the world, we’re Lola and Sunrise.]

  She squeezed my hand to indicate agreement. The lighthearted banter had served to distract us from our situation, but reality returned quickly enough. Until she’d mentioned it, I hadn’t noticed how much colder the water was than the last time I’d visited Karsh’s ship, weeks earlier. That, and we were now far deeper than I’d been before. Evidently the threl also made it easier for us to equalize the pressure in our inner ears.

  [She’s right, Karsh. This water’s to
o cold for us to stay in much longer.]

  [I understand, Sunrise. It will not be long. We are almost there.]

  [Good.]

  My teeth were already chattering. A few more minutes, or much deeper, and hypothermia would become a problem. As cold as I was, it had to be even worse for the slender, diminutive Azarti, who evolved in warm seas and didn’t have my muscle mass and body fat for insulation. They were tough little guys, though. Not a complaint from any of them.

  * * * *

  Despite the adrenaline rush of the past few minutes and the tug on my arm as I was dragged downward and seaward through the water, I found myself nodding off. I fought to stay awake, but it was no use. I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

  [Donatello Sunrise! Don’t you be fallin’ asleep on me. I won’t have it!]

  A hand-squeeze threatened to crush my fingers. I jerked my head up and looked around wildly. [Huh? What?]

  Then I spotted Lola—Shari—facing me. The moonlight barely penetrated this far down, but it was enough.

  [You have to stay awake, Don. Just a little bit longer.]

  [I’ll try. Keep talking.]

  [About what?]

  [It doesn’t matter. Anything. Just keep talking. Tell me about your childhood.]

  There was an awkward silence. [I-I don’t like to talk about that.]

  [That’s okay, Shari. Don’t think about the bad parts. Just think about the good parts. There must have been some good moments, right? A birthday party? A puppy? A boyfriend?]

  She tittered. [A boyfriend? Me? Ha! I was skinny and flat as a board and wore braces. No boy would look at me. Well, no one but Simon Titmus. Yeah, he had a crush on me in seventh grade.]

  [It’s hard to believe you were ever flat as a board. You certainly made up for it.]

  Shari laughed. [Ha! Simon never knew what he missed out on. He was a year or two too early, poor kid.]

  [I’ll bet he got picked on a lot with a name like Simon Titmus.]

  [Did he ever! He got pounded in his younger days. I heard, though, that he had a growth spurt in 10th grade. Ended up playing varsity football.]

  [You ‘heard’? I take it you weren’t dating at that point.]

  [No. I was long gone by then.] I felt sadness in her mental voice.

  [Gone? Did you have a fight or something?]

  [A fight? No, it had nothin’ to do with him. In fact, I never even told him I was leavin’. I just had to…leave.]

  [Okay, you lost me. Why’d you have to leave?]

  There was a longer pause this time. [My uncle—] Another pause. [I-I can’t.]

  [That’s all right, Shari. I think I can guess. I’m sorry. My fault. Here I was trying to get you to think happy thoughts, and I led you right back to the dark ones. Look, forget it. If you ever want to talk, I’ll listen. For now, forget I asked.]

  She nodded.

  [We’re here.] Karsh’s words broke the mood. He pointed ahead and slightly below us.

  The water was a curtain blocking my view of anything more than a few feet away. Then, I saw it—the ruby glow of Galla. Within seconds, we were alongside her. Karsh ordered a tube opened from the outside in. I went first, so Shari could see how it was done. She followed. Karsh was next, and Lomash brought up the rear.

  What a difference! In seconds we went from chilly to bathtub warm. We emerged in an empty chamber and then exited into the main passageway.

  [We prepared a chamber for you, so you can be more comfortable.] Karsh gestured down the passageway to the right.

  When we reached the end, he extruded another tube. The chamber was empty and dry. It was the one where I’d awoken my first time aboard. As before, there was a raised platform that could serve as a table or a bed, but now wide enough for two. And this time there were two raised stools.

  I removed my threl and explained to Shari how to do the same.

  “Eww, that’s creepy!” She shuddered and rubbed her eyes.

  I smiled. “You get used to it.”

  [There is food, dry clothing and other things in the storage compartments.] Karsh pointed at a section of wall. It had seams where none had been before.

  [Food? Clothing? How? When?] I certainly wasn’t expecting that. Despite my surprise, I had the presence of mind to speak aloud, so Shari could follow the conversation.

  I walked to the nearest compartment and at a thought, it opened. Inside were jeans and shirts, both men’s and women’s, along with towels, blankets and bed linens. I wrapped a towel around Shari’s shivering shoulders and grabbed one for myself.

  [Last night, when we decided today was the day we would come for you.]

  [But…] I was still confused. [Where did you get all this stuff? I know you can’t just walk into a store and buy things.] I glanced at Shari, who looked just as puzzled.

  [Very simple. I contacted one of Lola’s friends who had helped us with the blood. I explained that she needed their assistance. He and his associates were eager to help. They acquired the necessary items, sealed them in a waterproof container, and met me at the shore. I suspected that you would be with us for a few days.]

  [Thanks, Karsh. You’re probably right. The cops’ll keep looking for us. They’ll patrol the area and send divers down looking for bodies. They can’t sense our thoughts, but they can see Galla’s glow if they get close enough.]

  [Do not worry, Sunrise. We will keep watch for the authorities. If they approach too closely we will have Galla hibernate again. They will not find us.]

  [So now what? We just sit here for a day or two until the cops stop looking?]

  [Correct. It is too dangerous to leave now. The mouth of the harbor is shallow enough that Galla’s glow might be seen by those patrolling.]

  [Then what? I think we’re about done in this town. We have to go somewhere else.]

  Shari nodded her agreement.

  [We can take you wherever you want to go, as long as it has deep-water access.]

  [Thanks, Karsh. I guess Lola and I’ll have to talk it over.]

  [Of course. You both must be tired. I will leave you for the night. Call me if you need anything.]

  [Thanks, Karsh,] Shari said. [We owe you.]

  Karsh radiated surprise. [Not at all. It is we who owe you.]

  [We can argue later about who owes whom,] I said. [Right now, I’m beat. I need to get out of these wet clothes. Is there any way we can get enough fresh water to bathe in?]

  [Of course. Galla can filter out the salt and fill that basin for you.] He pointed to a sunken tub that hadn’t been there a moment before.

  [Great. Thanks. I could use a good, long soak.]

  [I shall go, then. Good night to you both.]

  [Good night,] Shari replied. I nodded and held out my hand.

  Karsh hesitated a moment, before shaking my hand. His tiny fingers felt delicate in mine. I was afraid if squeezed too hard I might crush bones. [Good night, Karsh.]

  [And to you, my friends.] He knee-bowed and then exited through the tube.

  Shari and I stripped off our sodden clothes and tossed them in a pile. We could rinse them out later, when we’d knocked the chill out of our bones. We stepped down into the tub and lowered ourselves into the water. It wasn’t as hot as I would have liked, but it was wonderful after what we’d just come through.

  The combination of the warm water, fatigue, and coming off an adrenaline high conspired against me. Within seconds, I had dozed off.

  “Don?” Shari shook my shoulder. “It ain’t very flatterin’ to a girl for her guy to fall asleep like that, ya know?” She’d put on her hooker persona for effect. But her wry smile painted a very different picture. She looked younger and less street-worn without the heavy makeup and streetwalker getup. More like the innocent girl who ran away from home at a tender age.

  “Sorry, honey. Something about almost being drowned in a toilet, then running from the cops and having bullets whiz by your head, tends to take something out of a guy.”

  She cocked an eyebrow. “I know a better way to w
arm up.”

  Our planned long soak turned into a quick rinse, and then we went in search of bed linens.

  “You’ve got some good friends, Shari. Look at all this stuff, and in just a few hours.”

  She smiled. “You know that old saying, about how what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?”

  I nodded.

  “It works like that with friendships, too. Life ‘on the other side of the tracks’ ain’t always easy or kind. Shared misfortunes forge strong bonds.”

  “Did you get that off a fortune cookie, or was it a cereal box? Ow!” I rubbed my shoulder where she’d punched me.

  She snorted and smiled. “Jerk.”

  “Just trying to lighten the mood.”

  We spread sheets and a blanket over the bed/table. There was nowhere to tuck them, but we made do and climbed into bed. I lay on my side, cradling my head on one arm, looking at Shari. The red background glow of the chamber made her seem to have rosy cheeks. “You’ve never looked lovelier.”

  She blushed. “Aw, I’ll bet you say that to all the gals you’ve been on the lam with in an alien spaceship sittin’ on the bottom of the ocean.”

  I laughed. “Darn. You caught me. Yes, you’re the...let me think...carry the two...forty-fourth woman I’ve been in this situation with. How did you know?”

  “Woman’s intuition. I knew you were too good to be true.”

  “Oh, I’m much better than that. C’mere, and I’ll show you how good I am…”

  * * * *

  The next day was a long one. Sitting on the ocean floor trying to be invisible isn’t the most exciting pastime in the world. With Karsh supervising the cloaking effort most of the day, Shari and I were left to our own devices—and they weren’t all that interesting either. Deep underwater as we were, my implant was pretty much useless. I couldn’t call anyone, I couldn’t access the Internet, I couldn’t do much of anything. Shari and I didn’t have any books or holos to occupy us. Basically, there was nothing to do but talk and eat.

  Well, there was one other thing, but I was too tired to do it again for a while.