Faster Than Falling: The Skylighter Adventures

by Nathan Van Coops

  Windborne sand skittered across the cockpit windows. It was growing harder to see the ships around them. The lead ships in the group had already reached the mountains. They were disappearing through the Storm Gate in rapid succession, some towing one another through.

  As the wind and sand continued to batter the ship, Samra soon lost sight of the mountain altogether and could only make out the tail end of Landy’s skiff in front of her. The Fury’s crew retreated below decks.

  Kipling and Atlas were both coughing as they entered the cockpit. The girl they had picked up had wisely donned her goggles and seemed unfazed by the dust. She had simply wrapped her scarf over her face to block the worst of it. She slowly unwrapped it again once Sunburn successfully secured the door.

  “Well, we’re in it good and proper now,” the big man said. “Let’s hope we don’t run straight into the mountain.”

  “My sister knows what she’s doing,” the girl with the goggles said. She slid them off her face and Samra was finally able to get a good look at her. She resembled Landy in a lot of ways. Dark hair and eyes, and an expression of seriousness that spoke of hard work and struggle. The girl’s expression seemed to lighten a little as her eyes found Kipling. Kip was brushing sand from his hair and was unaware that he was an object of anyone’s scrutiny.

  “I’m Samra,” Samra told her, not waiting to be introduced.

  The girl studied her, taking in the controls of the ship in her survey. “Quimby.” She nodded to Samra and went back to removing the sand from her scarf.

  Samra’s eyes drifted to Atlas. He’d removed the relic cube from his jacket and was cradling it carefully. He looked up from its faint glow and smiled at her.

  Samra had to pull her attention back to the path ahead and focus on the route through the mountain.

  Landy’s ship led the way, somehow navigating the correct heading despite the low visibility. The little skiff bobbed in the wind and was having a hard time staying level, but it was small enough to have plenty of clearance as it entered the Storm Gate. For the first hundred yards, Samra could see little more than she could outside, but as they rounded the first turn, the sandstorm lost some of its reach, and she was able to see the tunnel more clearly.

  There were no more Air Corpsmen guarding the passage. Instead, the rafters holding up the tunnel ceiling were lined with workers in shabby clothes, some of them bloodied. The workers were applauding the craft ahead of them. Landy and the man she was with waved. Men and women, and even a number of kids, lined the walkways at the sides of the tunnel, watching and shouting for their returning family members as they came into view.

  “Is this ship still flying the Savage Colors?” Quimby asked.

  “It is,” Sunburn replied.

  “Might want to fix that,” the girl said.

  Sunburn studied the crowd outside and nodded. “Aye, we might.” He exited through the rear hatch and the Quimby girl followed him. Samra looked aft through the rear-facing windows to where the Savage flag was waving from the right engine nacelle. She couldn’t see Quimby or Sunburn from her angle in the pilot seat, but she knew when the flag came down because the crowd on the walkways erupted into a massive cheer.

  Kipling smiled as the Restless Fury docked behind Landy and Dex’s skiff at the central library tower. The building was now hovering significantly lower in the valley without as many of its support ships, but the Library of Knowledge was firmly in the possession of Quimby’s people. Everywhere Kipling looked, mine workers and their families had emerged from the tunnels around the valley. They were waving hammer flags and cheering for the returning ships. The now not-so-secret fleet was tying up all around the central docking tower.

  Kipling stepped onto the dock behind Quimby as she was greeted by Landy. Quimby’s big sister immediately wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tight.

  “I was so worried about you. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, I’m fine!” Quimby said, as she squirmed in her sister’s grasp, casting an embarrassed look toward Kipling.

  Landy relaxed her grip on her sister but held Quimby’s shoulders. “What were you thinking going off on your own? Taking a stolen ship out to the dig?”

  “You could have been killed,” Dex added from behind Landy.

  “She did it because I asked her to,” Kipling interjected. Landy and Dex turned toward him. “She helped save my people. If it wasn’t for her, the whole future of the Skylighters might have been stolen. She’s a hero.”

  “Marlow Savage and his men put your people in danger, too?” Dex asked.

  “More than they knew,” Kipling said.

  A man covered in dust rushed up to Dex, panting. “Dex, sir, we’ve got to close that gate now if we’re going to have any chance of fending off the Air Corps and holding the valley.

  “Have all of our ships made it back?” Dex asked.

  “Nearly all have checked in. Ones that haven’t by now aren’t likely to, sir. Not the way things be out there now.”

  Dex frowned. “How many are we missing?”

  “Five, sir. Some we know went down in the fighting. Reports are fuzzy on the others, but Air Corps ships are finding their way back in, and we won’t be able to repel them.”

  Dex clenched his jaw and laid a hand on Landy’s shoulder. “I have to go to the gate. See that the library is safe. This fight’ll be for nothing if we didn’t claim our prize.”

  Landy gave him a quick kiss. “Go. I’ll handle things here.”

  Dex nodded to Kipling and Quimby and rushed off with the other man.

  Samra and Atlas descended the gangplank of the Restless Fury, followed by the big red-haired man and his blonde, female shipmate. Landy’s eyes swept over them to the deck of the ship and back. “And the captain?”

  “Stayed behind to see to her family,” the big man said. “Ordered us to leave her.”

  “You let her choose the wrong side of this?” Landy said. “You knew this was coming. I know you did, Sunburn.”

  “What I knew matters little. Since when does a crew make decisions for its captain?” Sunburn replied.

  “Maybe when she’s clearly more than just your captain,” Landy said. Her eyes stayed locked on Sunburn’s, but he didn’t respond. He only set his jaw and crossed his arms. Landy addressed the rest of them. “Come on then. It’s time we see what this was worth.”

  As they walked along the dock toward the doors of the library, a boom echoed from the direction of the Storm Gate and a cloud of dust and debris shot out of the valley-side opening. A handful of dust-covered individuals in masks ran out of the entrance. Kipling paused and listened to the rumblings from inside the mountain. Dex had brought it down as promised. Whoever was on the other side was going to stay there.

  If it hadn’t been for his recent visit inside the Starfire and its dizzying views from other worlds, Atlas was sure the Library of Knowledge would have ranked as the most beautiful place he had ever seen. The panes of glass that arched overhead were patterned in bright colors and splattered little rainbows across the floor. The morning sun had risen above the height of the mountains and now shone freely into the valley.

  Men armed with harpoons guarded the library, but they seemed every bit as awestruck and reverent of this place as he was.

  The walls of the library were lined with relics, each carefully ensconced in a reliquary of its own. Marlow Savage’s collection pulsed with light as they walked past. It was only when he reached the center of the room and the pedestal erected there that he realized everyone was staring at him.

  “What? What is it?” he asked. When he ceased moving, he noticed the relics had been pulsing brighter as he walked toward the pedestal, throbbing with each step he made. As he stopped, the lights settled to a dull glow.

  “How are you doing that?” Landy asked.

  Atlas reached into his jacket and removed the master relic. It was brighter now, too. As he held it up, the relics at the farthest ends of the room turned on. Some of them chimed
musical notes as they awoke, the relic tones rippling around the room in a wave as each one came to life and announced its welcome message. The relic in Atlas’s hand turned on of its own accord as well, and projected an image into the space next to him. It was Mira, the woman from inside the ship. She stood calmly next to the pedestal at the center of the room.

  “Thank you, Atlas. Thank you, Samra.” She smiled at both of them. “You’ve given me the second chance I’d been hoping for.”

  The crew of the Restless Fury was awestruck by the woman’s appearance. Ylva muttered vague curses under her breath. Kipling and Quimby likewise seemed wary of the apparition. Samra, however, stepped forward immediately and addressed the woman.

  “Is Captain Savage alive? What happened to her?”

  Mira blinked once and seemed to be looking somewhere far away. “My connection to the ship from this location has been broken. The collapse of the mountain has obstructed my signal. But I can tell you that when I last had a connection, Miss Savage was safe.”

  Sunburn breathed an audible sigh of relief, and Landy cast a knowing glance at him. Sunburn stepped forward. “Is she . . . will she survive?”

  “The Starfire is equipped to support life in far more hostile environments than this,” Mira replied. “And the ship is provisioned for a variety of emergencies. The supplies from its original mission are largely untouched. If Miss Savage seeks to survive aboard the ship, she will be able to find the means.”

  “And the one who tried to kill me?” Atlas asked. “What about him?”

  Mira looked at Atlas with a somber, but sympathetic gaze. “I’m sorry to say that Marlow’s quest for knowledge has ended. He will not be a danger to you any longer.”

  Atlas nodded and looked down to the relic in his hand. One of Enzo’s killers was gone, but it didn’t do anything to ease the pain.

  “I am grateful for your actions,” Mira continued. “A long time ago, I underestimated the volatility of both this planet and the people I brought here to populate it. My plans for the growth of your culture and society didn’t go as intended. I realize now that I should have trusted in you more and controlled things less. Knowledge or ignorance of the past will not be what defines your future. Only your actions can do that. You come from a long line of adventurers, explorers, and heroes. Heroes who also made mistakes and wrong decisions. It’s time I give you the freedom to make those choices on your own. I only hope that you will learn well from the experience.”

  The cube in Atlas’s hand glowed brighter and the relics around the room did, too. Atlas held his other hand up to block the light from his eyes. A few moments later, the cube dimmed again.

  “What just happened?” he asked.

  Mira looked to the rest of the group. “I copied the information from your cube into the others. There will no longer be knowledge held in reserve, and no master relic to guard it. Take the history of your people and share it freely. The good and the bad. And make a new history for yourselves.”

  One of the men standing guard near the wall cautiously pulled a cube from the wall and studied it. He slipped the relic into his coat pocket and patted the fabric.

  Atlas studied the pedestal that had been built to receive the master relic. He turned the cube over in his hand a few times. “So, it really is like my grandfather said. Knowledge isn’t about learning what’s already been done, it’s the tool so we can do what hasn’t been done.”

  “Your grandfather was a wise man,” Mira said. “I’m sure he’d be proud to know you’ve learned that lesson.”

  Atlas looked up at Mira. “My village doesn’t have a knower to teach us anymore. My grandfather and Mr. Merritt are both gone.”

  “You are all knowers now,” Mira said. “Perhaps you can fix that.”

  Atlas considered her words, then slipped the relic back into his pocket. “I think I know someone who might be able to help.”

  41

  THE RETURN

  The crew of the Restless Fury stayed three days in Port Savage, but in that time the city changed names many times. The people of Smoketown, now new residents of the mountain valley, insisted on a new name for the port, but enjoyed several long nights of celebratory yet contentious argument on the subject, during which time the city variously went by: Port Triumph, Port Mutiny, Landysport, Dexport, Port New Hope, and even Port Nameless. The citizens ultimately alighted on a rather chronological name to celebrate the specific hour of their victory: Port Sunrise.

  Samra was happy to find that Cogs arrived back at the ship after several days, a little worse for wear from celebrating the battle he hadn’t actually realized was happening at the time it occurred. He showed up missing several articles of his own clothing and wearing a few others that didn’t appear to belong to him, but submitted that he was ready to leave port and once again resume a life of sobriety and duty aboard ship. It took him a half-day to notice the captain was missing.

  Sunburn was the remaining crew’s choice for temporary captain, at least until the fate of Captain Savage could be determined. As it stood now, there were no passes left to the high desert, and the citizens of Port Sunrise were keeping a strict watch on any ships that might attempt to navigate south around the mountains to aid the Air Corps forces. The crew of the Restless Fury was currently being regarded as yet more victims of the Savage family’s tyranny, and Samra knew enough to keep any talk of a rescue attempt of the captain a secret till they were far away from port.

  It was Sunburn who approached Samra on the third day, while she was sitting on the bow deck, to finally address their goals.

  “I’ve been discussing matters with the crew,” Sunburn said. “And the way we see it, the captain made you a promise. It falls on us to keep it for her.”

  Samra was fiddling with the key that had unlocked the chain she previously wore. The lock was gone, buried somewhere at the bottom of the desert, but she had held on to the key, not thinking too much about why. She looked up at Sunburn. “You’re going to take me home?”

  “Seeing how Landy is busy rebuilding the city here with Dex, and we need someone who knows how to handle the Fury, I thought you may just want to fly yourself home. I recall that being part of the deal, too.”

  “I can stay on as pilot?” Samra smiled.

  “We need someone who can tell us where to go, too. Figured your friend may want to help out in a navigator capacity, seeing as we’d be transporting his cargo the whole way.”

  “Kip will like that.” Samra liked the idea, too. She also couldn’t wait to see the look on Kaleb’s face when Kipling showed up with the missing globe sons and single-handedly saved the patch from ruin. Let Kaleb and his Watcher horn try to outdo that. Khloe and Jerem would be shocked, too, though for some reason, Samra couldn’t really get herself to care much about what they thought anymore.

  “And I figure we owe your people that much,” Sunburn said. “We’ve taken enough of their goods from them these past few years. I think it’s time we gave some back.”

  “What about Atlas?” she asked.

  She hadn’t seen much of Atlas the last few days. The day after the battle he’d woken up and stayed quiet most of the time. Samra had watched him puttering around the stern of the ship where his Sun Dragon was still secured to the hull. He’d spent most of that day and the next back there, mending tears in the fabric and adjusting the ship’s rigging. Samra knew it wasn’t going to do much good. Kipling had informed her that the ship’s propulsion system was out of air, at least till Atlas could get it back to Enzo’s pressure machine in Womble, but Atlas didn’t seem to care.

  She had almost gone to tell him there was nothing left to fix, but Sunburn had been the one to stop her.

  “That boy needs to grieve in his own way,” Sunburn said. “You leave him be for a while.”

  But Samra wasn’t much for leaving things alone. When Atlas didn’t show up for the evening meal that night, she fixed a plate of Grounder food that looked fairly disgusting, but which the others seemed to
like, and took it to him. When she found Atlas, he wasn’t in the Sun Dragon, he was sitting at the stern of the ship, his feet dangling over the edge of the deck overlooking the rear loading doors. He was staring off toward the south wall of the valley.

  Samra recognized the cavern holes that used to stream with desert sand. After the Storm Gate cave-in, the sandfall had stopped flowing. A few of the lower holes still trickled a bit of grit here and there, but the main flow had stopped. Samra gently took a seat next to Atlas, but didn’t break the silence. She set the plate of food beside her and just waited.

  It was less than a minute till the boy spoke.

  “I never got to say goodbye to him. I think that’s what bothers me most.”

  “I’m sure you would have if you knew,” Samra offered.

  “That’s the worst part. I knew he was hurt, but I didn’t want to believe he could die. So I never told him how I felt about him when I had the chance. Never told him how much he meant to me.”

  “He knew you loved him. Parents always know that sort of thing.”

  “Do they?” Atlas said. “I’m not sure.”

  The question made Samra think. When was the last time she had told her father or stepmother what she felt for them? She certainly hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye either. As much as she was angry with her father for putting his duties as a new colony chief ahead of her, she still missed him. She missed Loara, too. Even her globe green pudding. But her family was at least still alive. Somewhere.

  She stared out at the darkening mountainside. People were lighting torches to repel nightbeasts already and it was growing harder to see the far side of the valley. “Why don’t you tell him now?” Samra said. “You could tell him before we go.”

  Atlas looked at her, reading her face, then squinted at the dark hole in the valley floor at the base of the sandfall. He watched the spot for another few seconds, then seemed to make up his mind. He got to his feet. Samra rose with him and waited as he cupped his hands around his mouth.