Margo interrupted the incoming insult as she said, “Can we cut this please?”
“Cut what?”
“This.” She motioned a finger between herself and Brie. “We’ve been bickering since forever because you burned my diorama of the Founders 5. Why would you even do that?”
“You came to class with two looped tails while I had only one.”
A moment of silence passed between the two of them. Margo’s face was frozen in disbelief. “That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“Because of my hair, you burned my diorama?”
Brie looked around for a moment and answered, “Yes.”
Waving away the revelation, she continued, “The reason I even got into the mess I was in was because I was trying to outdo your find in book return. And look where it landed me!” She motioned toward her too-large loaner flight suit. “Sporting a tent, putting around in a flyer built for an elder, all because, apparently, I wore two looped tails in my hair in the 4th class!” The two began to laugh and after a moment Margo began to calm down and said, “Where are you heading?”
“I’m heading northeast toward the Mines of Blue.”
That comment caught her attention. “I’ve heard there was something in the mines. Possibly a power source.”
Brie pointed at Margo. “And that’s the reaction I was looking for!” She tucked her finger away after realizing she had stuck it out in the first place and awkwardly straightened herself out. “Now, it’s just lost it’s punch knowing you can’t out crazy me.”
“Oh boy, now I can’t do the thing you wanted me to fail at doing…”
“Exactly! I am still going to find that thing in those mines and I will still bring it back here, but it’s just lost a little of the luster.”
“That’s…” She ever so wanted to fire back, to tell her what she was hiding in her metaphorical backpocket, but she knew she had to wait. As a wave of jealousy washed over her she remained calm and extended her hand toward her competitor. “I hope you do, and if you do, be careful.”
Her rival paused and looked cautiously at her outstretched hand. She shrugged, shook, and released hands. “Why are you being nice?”
“Because I feel like rivalries like these are not worth it at our ages. We’ll both bring greatness to Artsiv and we’ll all be better for it.”
Brie mulled the idea over in her head and nodded. “I guess we can be grown ups about this.” She firmed up her stance which prompted Margo to do the same as they both gave each other one last handshake. They parted, leaving Brie to go to her party and Margo to head back to her flyer. As she closed the gyro’s backpack, she turned back toward Brie and yelled, “Word of advice.”
A gust of wind kicked up, forcing Brie to cup her mouth and yell, “What?”
“Don’t break anything old!” The two shared a cautious grin and moved on with their lives. As Margo lowered the cockpit canopy the bells of The Eight rung through Artsiv. The checkered green and white flags unfurled across the village and within moments hundreds of tiny dots shot into the sky. The young pilot dropped the sun visor on her flight helmet, slowly took off from the ground, and followed the wayfinder to her next delivery.
Chapter 2- A thief in the night
Margo woke in the faint light of a morning that was still a distant dream. Sliding out from her covers already in her daily attire, she quietly grabbed her pack from under her bed, and made her way to her bedroom door. “Where are you going?”
Gritting her teeth, she spun around and faced Catcher sitting in his defragging cradle in the windowsill. Walking across the worn wooden floor, she sat down on the edge of her bed, and said, “I thought you would be defragging still.”
“Clearly, I’m not, so where are you going?”
“On The Path of Roads.”
“I thought you told Nane…”
She cut Catcher off. “And if more people know then the chances me making this work narrows.”
“Do you realize what would happen if the Eight found out?”
“I would be given a heavier punishment.”
“And I don’t even know what that is as no one has ever defied them in such a manner.”
“Catcher, I know the map is real, and I am going to go and prove it.”
“Regardless of the consequences?”
She took a breath and quickly mulled it over in her mind. “It’s worth the risk. Why would The Before Ones have such a thing hanging in a place filled with knowledge if it was false? If Artsiv is truly about knowledge and exploration, then I have to know, and if I fail then at least I tried.”
“You fail out there in the world, odds are high you will die.”
“A life without risk is a life not lived.”
“Quoting Resh is powerful and all, but it doesn’t have the weight of you acknowledging that, if you fail, you might die. Are you ready for that?”
Margo lightly kicked her feet against the ground, took another breath, and answered, “I am.”
“Good, then let’s get going.”
Catcher, I wasn’t going…”
“And you were seriously going to leave me here?” Her face filled with excitement as the A.I. continued. ”On the eve of your greatest adventure and the grandest display of defiance in the history of Artsiv? I think not.”
“You’re willing to accept the fact that you might die?”
“I’ve been around the belt, hip, and shoulder of many of Artsiv’s citizens. Minus the Flints, they’ve all led safe and boring lives. I accept and treasure this moment!” With a burst of excitement Margo leapt from her bed and snatched Catcher from his defrag station. She smiled at the crystalline chip as she slipped him into his blue carrying case and clipped him to her belt. “Before we go, I must know, did you really mean it when you said that you were done trying to outdo Brie?”
“Eh, not really, she burned my diorama. That’s not something you just get over.”
“I figured as much.”
Margo gazed around her room, taking in the various printed captures of herself, her father, mother, Nane, and various locales she’d visited with her class. Looking at the pictures she noted that she didn’t have a lot of people her age in them, otherwise known as friends. Margo picked up a picture of her and Catcher working on one of her father’s automatons. As she stared at the picture, her smile grew once again. Margo always felt at home digging through trash, finding treasure, and mapping the stars. She tapped Catcher’s case. “I’ll miss this room.”
“It’s a small room that held small dreams, but they’ll come with you no matter how far you go. Let’s make some new ones, shall we?”
She took a capture of her Mom and Dad from their wedding day, placed it in her pocket, and left the room. Making her way down the stairs, she slowed her exit as she passed her parents’ room. Entering the kitchen, she grabbed a few jars of preserved fruit, pickled meat, and bread. Pulling a note from her pocket, she glanced at the envelope that simply read “Open asap.” Placing it on the three-seated table, her bare feet carried her swiftly toward the mud room where she threw on her boots, and slid down the garage access ladder.
As her boots hit the steel plate floor, she was startled to find it lit. The gyrocopter she was supposed to fly out, Pipsqueak, was sitting suspiciously uncovered and prepared in its landing bay. Margo cautiously walked over to the craft and placed her hand on it, checking to make sure it was real.
“Pip is ready to fly.” She felt her heart freeze as her mind jumped into panic mode. Margo slowly turned around to find her father, Gerard, standing with a torquator wrench in his hand. The bearded short man carried a mischievous look on his face as he approached his daughter and Catcher. He pointed at the main double rotor with the wrench. “Engine harmonics should be set up right, but why don’t you have Catcher run a check.”
“Dad…”
“Have him run a check.”
Pulling Catcher from the carrying case, she plugged him into the central black spherical core. Sh
e turned back to her father with the color still drained from her face. “I… I didn’t expect to find you here.”
His smile vanished as he placed his hands on his hips. “You think I don’t know my daughter?” He walked over to a bay of switches on the wall and flipped on three in the column marked “Mains”, causing the sound of machines and gears firing away in the background. In the garage the sound was minimal, but outside the landfill that sorted the junk that Artsiv created began to come alive. Machines grabbed and sorted the various trash types as automatons carried loads of recycled metal to crushers. The operation ran in silhouette against the early muted light of dawn. He wiped his sweaty brow and shrugged. “You are exactly like your mother, rebellious, to a fault.”
“Dad, I just couldn’t sit here.”
He raised an eyebrow and motioned toward the stainless-steel gyro with a single red stripe that grew from a fine point at the nose until it covered the entire rear flap. “I know. I knew you were going to try to sneak off sooner rather than later. Guess it’s a good thing I know you’re impatient.”
A wave of guilt settled over her as she closed the distance between the two of them, took a knee, and hugged him. Slowly he raised his arms and hugged her back, keeping his eyes on the gyro and shifting back toward her short black hair as she leaned back. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He kept his voice low but he was smiling with pride. Gerard motioned toward Pipsqueak. “I see you grabbed some jars from the kitchen, but I got a feeling it won’t last you long.”
“In the spur of the moment I thought this would do.”
“I’ve seen you eat…” His smile grew. “...that’s rather conservative.” Walking up to the storage compartment that was located between the cockpit and the power core, he opened it up to reveal it crammed with jars of food and other supplies. A grin manifested itself as she looked over the compartment and saw her favorite food was in copious quantities. “I got you stocked up for a few weeks’ worth of food, though I hope you’re not gone that long.”
She pointed at the stash. “I see you got a lot of Red Rock Pears.”
“And other food, but yeah, a lot of pears. You also have a comm gun, a Girsh rifle, two boxes of ammunition, a range finder, tent, bedroll, and a lamp.”
Cocking an eyebrow, she knelt and tried to add her stash to the current inventory. “A rifle?”
“You never know what you’ll meet out there. Parent mode is always on.”
“Analysis complete. Power core is operating within safety standards and all systems are operating at peak efficiency.”
Gerard looked up from the storage box at the chip. “I’m surprised to see you were going to go along on this clandestine operation.”
“Gerard, if there’s one thing I do know, it’s that Flints are an interesting clan. Never missing out on a moment, ever.”
“You weren’t so encouraging of me to break the rules when I had you.”
“I also wasn’t part of the reason you weren’t able to go on The Roads. Think of it as an apology.”
He turned toward his workbench and took a plain looking box from it. He handed it to Margo. “Open this.”
“What is it?”
“A gift from your mother.”
Margo’s eyes shot open in surprise as her hands gently opened the box. Inside sat a green hat with a long brim and flaps on the sides that could be pulled up and out of the way. A small and happy tear showed up in her eye as she put the canvas hat on and looked at it in the reflection of the cockpit. “It’s so useful!”
“She wanted you to have that when you went on the roads. Approximated your head size, thankfully you got her small one rather than my giant plumb skull.”
She spun around and hugged her father. “Thank you.”
He squeezed her back and said, “Thank her, she made it, I’m only the messenger.” Margo took the hat off, put it in her bag, and stowed the pack in the storage area. She jumped into the cockpit as Gerard asked, “Where you are planning on going?”
The question froze her in mid-motion as she turned and face him. “I could lie, but I’d rather not. I’m going after the map.”
A heavy sigh escaped the rubbish man’s well-built frame. “Are you sure about that?”
“Dad, it’s real.”
“The Eight say it isn’t.”
“The Eight also banned me for saving Catcher from a mad A.I. No one else truly agrees with them, even Brie doesn’t!”
He raised his eyebrows. “Brie May thought it was a harsh ruling?”
“Yep.”
Scratching an itch on his chest he looked over the craft his daughter was sitting in. “You’re set on this?”
“Yes, Dad, I know the map....”
He walked over to her, looked at his daughter, and cupped her face in his hands. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved when I heard The Eight’s ruling. A part of me felt great knowing you couldn’t leave. You had to stay here.” He took his hands away and placed them at his sides. “Then there is the other part of me, the part that knows it’s wrong to feel that way.” A small pool of tears gathered around his brown eyes as he bit back some of the emotions. “You don’t grow at home, but out there in the world.”
She clasped his worn hands and nodded. “I love you Dad.”
“And I love you, Margo.”
“This is hard for me too, but I have to do this.”
“I know… just wish I had more time before you did.”
“It’s like what grandpa used to say, ‘The world never waits for you.’”
He nodded, kissed her forehead, turned, and grabbed Catcher from the access port. Gerard patted the top of the chip. “She better come home.”
“She will.”
He handed the A.I. over to Pip’s pilot. She slid the chip into the console which made the dials and controls begin to glow to life. “Did you do the pre-flight, Margo?”
“All mechanical controls are functional”
“Then we’re ready to launch.”
Margo put the photo of her parents between the flight gauges causing Gerard to laugh. “I was young then!”
“For luck.”
“Margo, if you’re anything like your mom, which you are, you won’t need luck because you have skill.”
He reached for the canopy to close it only to have his hand stopped. “I haven’t told mom yet.”
Crow’s feet formed along his green eyes as he smiled and looked down at his child with her pilot’s helmet on her head. “Best to tell her in person, but make it quick, got a feeling she already knows and you don’t want to get caught.”
“What about you? Won’t you get in trouble with the Eight?”
“You wrote a note, right?”
“Yep, it’s on the table.”
“Then you’re a runaway.” With a wink he shut the canopy, tapped on the glass, and backed away. The power core began to hum as it spun the twin top blades to speed. The tail blade pitched the small metallic craft as it lifted from the ground and turned toward the opened garage door. Pipsqueak sat hovering for a moment. Gerard walked around and found Margo staring out of the window at him holding up her thumb. He raised his and watched her fly off over the loud garbage field against the cold blue morning sky. He leaned against the steel frame of his house, took out a small pipe, and lit it. “Winds with you, kiddo.”
***
A cold breeze rustled the leaves of the trees in the grove. The trees varied in size from wide and old to mere saplings; their branches twisting and roots digging into the ground while the trunks stood in neat and organized rows. The living grid swayed as the wind picked up and ruffled the short black hair of Margo who stood in front of a particular tree that just reached above her head. She cleared her throat. “Hi Mom.”
The trunk of the tree had grown around a worn brass plate that read: Altarah Flint 23-1456-1
Margo’s green eyes lit up as she tried to keep her excitement in check, “Thank you for the hat! It fits great a
nd will be super useful now that I am starting the Path of Roads today!” Her voice echoed through the grove. “My start is a little unorthodox since everyone else left yesterday and I am technically breaking the ruling set against me… but Dad can explain that part to you.” Another gust of wind ruffled the leaves around her, but couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “I don’t know what I’ll find out there, but that’s what makes it an adventure! I won’t be alone, so don’t worry, okay? Catcher will be with me and you know how much he frets about everything, so you won’t have to do that too much.”
Margo’s demeanor began to calm down as she scratched her olive-skinned neck. Her voice lowered to a whisper, “I am worried about Dad. I don’t want him to get into trouble for my doing, but I think the Eight shouldn’t bother him. He’ll be alone for a while, but I know you’ll be there with him and he’ll have his work too.”
Her attention was pulled skyward as a narrow blue bird with black tipped feathers landed on a nearby tree. “I don’t want to lose too much light, but I wanted you to know that I love you, Mom. I’ll tell you more when I get back.”
Margo spun on the heel of her brown leather boots, and ran back through the rows and rows of trees until she left the cemetery. The living tombstones rustled in the wind and seemed to wave to her as she left.
Chapter 3- The end of the world
Point Echo was the last piece of solid land before an endless sky. The orange cliffs dropped down into a constant blanket of clouds that stretched far beyond the blue horizon. Margo stood in front of her craft, gazing out at the expanse. Carrying an air of humor, Catcher asked, “Anything out there?”
“No.” Margo glanced at the worn sign in front of her as the wind danced through her hair and kicked up a cloud of dust from around her feet. Painted on the sign was the following: ‘This is the end of the world. Admire it and go home.’ She then shielded her eyes and examined the horizon, as if to make sure the sign was reading true. “It really does go on forever, doesn't it?”
“I don’t think it’s called ‘The End of the World’ for nothing.”
Margo Flint and the Last Soldier Page 2
