Dome Nine

by John Purcell

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  The sun was now high overhead now. The Three opened their umbrellas, taking shelter in the shade, and I went back to rowing.

  In theory, we were less than 10 miles from Washington, DC, but there was little sign of it. The shoreline was still choked with tangled blue vegetation, and I could only detect one small difference: mixed in with all the blue, there were now dots of bright red. The further south we traveled, the more numerous they became.

  Bim explained the geography. Even though most of Maryland was entirely submerged, Washington, DC was still quite a ways inland. He suggested we find the mouth of the Potomac River and follow it northward. This would bring us within walking distance of the city.

  The mouth was so wide that it was hard to distinguish from the ocean itself, but we managed to find it. As we traveled north, though, the river gradually narrowed. Soon, it jogged to the east, and when it straightened out again, we could see a green Dome in the distance.

  For a time, it seemed we might be able to row right up to it. Then we encountered a major obstacle: a highway that had once spanned the Potomac had collapsed into it, blocking it completely. We could go no further by boat.

  Just to the west was a small island, covered in blue trees. This had been used as a base for one of the massive concrete supports that elevated the highway. Similar supports to the east had failed, plunging the bridge into the river.

  On the nearside of the island, the trees came right up to the waterline, so we headed for the far side in search of place to land. As I rowed, Bim pointed to the remains of the highway.

  “I think this road was known as the Beltway. It used to form a loop around the city.”

  I said, “How far from the Dome do you think we are?”

  “I’d say we’re only a few miles from the rim. The problem is, we don’t know where the entrance is located. We might have to walk a long way to find it.”

  “Do you think the Potomac Clan lives inside the Dome?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine, Teo. I’ve never been here before.”

  The western shore of the island side was clear of trees. The blue weeds had a well-worn look, as though the shore had been used as a landing.

  In the middle of the island, near the concrete support, stood a ladder of sorts, about 30 feet tall. I realized it was actually a long section of railing fastened sideways, so that the balusters functioned as rungs. Some clever person had salvaged it from the collapsed bridge. It now provided a means to get up to the Beltway.

  As the lifeboat neared the landing, Moto hopped onto her seat at the bow and went into a crouch, taking the line in her teeth. When she heard the keel scrape bottom, she launched herself through the air, clearing the shallows and landing on the riverbank. Then she unfolded her hands and hauled the lifeboat in.

  One at a time, the Three jumped from the bow onto dry land. I joined them onshore and took the line from Moto, pulling the boat completely out of the water and leaning it up against a fallen tree trunk.

  I heard Luma say, “Look at all these flowers. They’re beautiful…”

  I turned to see her standing near the edge of the woods on a carpet of moss, Dogan at her side. Bright red flowers surrounded them. She stepped toward the nearest one for a closer look. As she knelt down, Moto began to growl.

  Luma stood up abruptly, raising her hand to her face, and turned to me. Her eyes were wide open in surprise. A neat row of red needles ran in a line across her cheek, from ear to chin.

  Her eyes rolled back in her head and her knees buckled. Dogan managed to catch her as she fell. As he lowered her onto the moss, a line of red needles appeared along his neck. He slapped at them, driving them further in, and flopped down beside her.

  The flowers began to close in on them from all directions.

  Moto and I finally sprang into action, too late. By the time we reached Luma and Dogan, thick tendrils had already begun lashing around their wrists and ankles. I ignored this for the moment, instead plucking the needles from Luma’s cheek. Moto unfolded her hands and did the same for Dogan.

  The flowers around us began firing needles at our faces, too. Fortunately, they had stopped targeting Luma and Dogan. We turned our attention to the tendrils.

  Fast as we were, we couldn’t get ahead of them. I would unwind them from Luma’s right wrist, but by the time I unwound her left wrist, her right wrist would be entangled again. Meanwhile, both her ankles were now hopelessly bound. Moto was faring just as badly.

  There had to be a better way. I traced the tendrils back to their source and discovered that they were all connected to a central vine hidden beneath the moss. The flowers were connected to it, as well. These weren’t individual plants launching a coordinated attack. They were all part of a larger entity.

  The central vine holding Dogan began to pull him by the ankles, dragging him toward the trees. Moto plunged her hands into the moss and took hold of the vine but she couldn’t stop it. It started dragging her, as well.

  Then Luma’s vine began dragging her in the same direction. I reached down into the moss myself and grabbed it, but I couldn’t stop it either.

  Moto took a new approach, trying to chew through Dogan’s vine. I scooted over to Dogan and rolled him on his side. Unzipping his backpack, I fished out his jackknife, then scooted back to Luma and started trying to cut through her vine. The blade, however, was short and dull and I accomplished nothing. If anything, the vine was picking up speed. I tossed the jackknife away.

  Despite her efforts, Moto hadn’t managed to chew trough Dogan’s vine. We were nearing the edge of the trees now.

  Where was Bim? I turned to see him crouched in the lifeboat, which was now surrounded by vines, tendrils climbing up the sides. Flowers were shooting their needles harmlessly overhead, but soon he would be in the line of fire. Bim, it seemed, wasn’t invisible to plants.

  Behind him, in the distance, I noticed movement on the Beltway and quickly magnified my view. A young woman in a green tunic was passing by, on her way east. I started waving my arms and calling to her for help. This made my face burn.

  She paused for a moment to locate the sound, then ran for the ladder. She rushed down it, jumping the last ten rungs, and sprinted toward us. She was young and her features were delicate, but she seemed an imposing presence, nonetheless. For a moment, I was certain she was Miss Green.

  Without breaking stride, she removed a leather pouch from her belt and loosened the drawstring. Then she threw herself down onto the moss beside Luma, below range of the needles, and scattered white powder over the tendrils that bound Luma’s ankles. Without waiting to see the result, she crawled across the moss on her elbows and did the same thing to Dogan.

  The tendrils recoiled from the powder as though it burned, unwinding themselves and retreating back into the vine. This was true of the tendrils around Luma’s wrists, too, even though no powder had touched them.

  I scooped Luma into my arms and raced up to the ladder, placing her gently on the ground, far from any flowers. She seemed to be breathing normally. Moto came up behind us and stationed herself nearby, standing guard, her fur littered with red needles.

  When I turned around, the young woman was circling the lifeboat, beyond range of the flowers, scattering handfuls of powder onto the vines surrounding it.

  By the time I’d retrieved Dogan and placed him next to Luma, the vines were retreating back into the woods, red flowers drooping. The young woman hurried up the embankment toward us, Bim close behind her.

  As she approached, she said, “We have to treat those wounds as quickly as possible. First of all, we need water.”

  I knelt down, shrugged off my backpack, and retrieved the VaporFlask.

  She took it from me. “Good. Now someone has to go into the woods and get some mushrooms.” She studied me as I got
to my feet. “I see you’re well suited to the task.”

  I said, “What do you mean?”

  She smiled slightly. “You already look like a pincushion.”

  I reached up and touched my face. There were needles embedded in my cheeks and forehead and chin. I checked my neck and discovered more.

  She said, “That can wait. Right now, we need mushrooms.”

  I wasted no time in the woods. Red flowers lurked in the shadows and vines squirmed underfoot, but every tree trunk had a cluster of delicate blue mushrooms at its base and I quickly collected a dozen. I was out of the woods and back up the embankment in under a minute.

  When I got back, Bim was busy weeding out red needles from Moto’s fur. The young woman had placed a small bowl on the ground and was mixing white powder and water into a paste, using a spoon. The spoon folded out from a fat jackknife that seemed to house all sorts of tools.

  She took the mushrooms I gave her and crumbled them in her hands, then added some to the mixture. When it was well blended, she started daubing the blue paste carefully on Luma’s face and Dogan’s neck, where the needles had pierced their skin.

  I said, “Are they going to be all right?”

  She nodded. “It’s a good thing you got the needles out right away. They won’t sleep for long.”

  “What does that paste do?”

  “The salt draws out the venom and the mushrooms prevent infection.”

  “That white powder is just salt?”

  “Yes.”

  “But it seems to burn the vines.”

  “That’s exactly what it does. She’s brilliant, I’ll give her that, but she’s overconfident, too, and she never checks her work. Everything she does has a flaw. You just have to find it.”

  “Are you talking about Queen Scarlett?”

  “Who else?”

  “She created those vines?”

  She got to her feet, giving me a look. “You’re from the Domes, aren’t you?”

  “Right. And you have a twin sister named Emerald.”

  She blinked a few times. “Do you know her?”

  “She’s my 5th grade teacher.”

  “She’s teaching school? In the Domes?”

  “You don’t seem to know much about her.”

  “I’m not supposed to know anything about her. I mean, where she is and what she’s doing.”

  “Why not?”

  “She got her orders straight from Cassius. No one else knew what they were.”

  “You belong to the Potomac Clan.”

  “Right.”

  “Your leader’s name is Geff.

  “Our leader? We don’t have any leaders.”

  “Your speaker, then.”

  “Geff speaks for us on occasion. How did you know?”

  “Emerald told me.”

  She frowned. “She was teaching you about the Potomac Clan?”

  “No. We spoke outside of school.”

  “And she told you who she really was?”

  “Yes. You could say she’s the reason I’m here. She and Bim, that is.”

  I looked over at Bim. Moto was curled up in his lap, her fur clean now.

  I said, “This is Bim right here.”

  The young woman smiled. “Hi, Bim. Is that your iPup?”

  Bim shook his head.

  I said, “Bim doesn’t talk. Our iPup’s name is Moto. She belongs to Luma and me.”

  She looked at Luma and Dogan, who were still lying motionless on their backs.

  “This is Luma?”

  “Yes, and that’s Dogan. When do you think they’ll wake up?”

  “Dogan was hit in the neck, so he’ll probably sleep longer. Luma could wake up any time now.”

  This was welcome news.

  I said, “Thanks for your help. We’re lucky you came along when you did.”

  “As a matter of fact, I have to get going. But why don’t you keep the salt?”

  “Really?”

  “I can get more. Consider it a welcome gift.”

  “Thank you. Can you do us one more favor?”

  “I’ll try.”

  “Can you tell us where to find Geff?”

  She shrugged. “Who knows? He’s somewhere inside the Dome. Just ask around.”

  “How do we get there?”

  “Head west and take the first exit onto Route 1 north. It will take you right to the rim.”

  “There’s an entrance there?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry, but I really have to run.”

  She turned and started up the ladder.

  I said, “Wait.”

  She paused, looking over her shoulder.

  “You never told me your name.”

  She smiled. “It’s Esmeralda. That means Emerald in Spanish. We basically have the same name.”

  She turned away and hurried to the top of the ladder, vaulting the guardrail and jogging off to the east.

  Bim appeared at my side. “That’s quite a resemblance.”

  “Yes. At first glance, I though it was she.”

  “So Cassius sent Miss Green to find you.”

  “Right.”

  “You should pull the needles out of your face before Luma and Dogan wake up.”

  I started feeling around and plucking them out. As I removed the last few, Luma began to talk in her sleep.

  At first, her words were quiet, but they grew louder and louder. “Mommy, where’s Bun-Bun? I can’t find her anywhere! Where is she? Mommy, I can’t find Bun-Bun!”

  Panic was rising in her voice now. “Mommy, where are you? Mommy? Mommy, I can’t find you! Mommy!”

  Luma sat up and her eyes snapped open.

  I knelt down in front of her. “Luma, it’s only a dream.”

  She looked around, disoriented, then burst into tears. She buried her face in her hands, sobbing. After a time, she said, “Oh, Teo! I miss Mom!”

  I didn’t know what to say.

  She wiped away her tears. “I’m sorry to be such a crybaby.”

  I helped her to her feet. “I think the needles had something to do with it. It could happen to Dogan, too. You might have to comfort him.”

  As though on cue, Dogan began to speak. Eyes still closed, he shouted, “Hey, batter, batter, batter, swing!”

  He paused, then shouted again. “Hey, batter, batter, batter, batter, batter, swing!”

  Luma gave me a look. “Should I comfort him now, or after the game?”

  I took a step in Dogan’s direction and she grabbed my arm. ‘Wait! I want to see how long he does this!”

  Bim joined us and we stood around as Dogan heckled four more batters. He showed no signs of stopping.

  Finally, Bim said, “We’d better wake him before it goes into extra innings.”

  I repeated Bim’s words and Luma burst out laughing.

  She said, “Oh, all right…” and went over to Dogan and kicked his feet.

  His eyes popped open and he sat up, saying, “Hey, what gives?”

  Luma offered her hand. “The flowers knocked us out, remember?”

  As he climbed to his feet, he said, “Oh, yeah, that’s right…”

  Luma touched her cheek, feeling the dried paste that covered her wounds. She turned to me. “Teo, what’s this stuff on my face?”

  Dogan checked himself, as well. “Yeah, I’ve got the same stuff on my neck.”

  I recounted how Esmeralda had come to our rescue, and explained her relationship to Miss Green.

  When I’d finished, Luma said, “Which way did she go? I want to meet her!”

  Dogan was equally excited. “Yeah, this I gotta see!”

  I said, “She went east, but we can’t go chasing after her. We have to get to Washington and find Geff. If we’re lucky, we might be able to see Cassius today.”

  Dogan grew serious. “You’re right. We have to get going.”

  Luma nodded.

  I said, “Let’s just make s
ure we have everything before we go.”

  While I went off to retrieve Dogan’s jackknife, the Three took drinks from the VaporFlask. When I got back, I gave Dogan the knife and stashed the VaporFlask in my backpack, along with the pouch of salt.

  When we got up to the Beltway, I was surprised at how wide it was. By all appearances, it was four separate highways running side-by-side, divided by barriers. I was equally surprised to find the pavement carpeted in moss. The entire Beltway was covered with it.

  I turned to Bim. “What do you know about this moss?”

  “I’ve heard Finders talk about it. It thrives on certain manmade materials, asphalt in particular.”

  “Did Queen Scarlett have anything to do with it?”

  “It’s pretty harmless. That would seem to rule her out.”

  “How about Cassius?”

  “It doesn’t have much in common with the other plant life he’s engineered. It’s more like the algae than anything else.”

  “You mean the florescent algae in the water?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you saying it glows?”

  “So they say. I imagine we’ll find out tonight.”

  Luma was listening with arms crossed, looking chagrined. “I got most of that. No one knows where this moss came from and it glows in the dark.”

  I said, “Right. And it thrives on asphalt.”

  “Like this roadway.”

  “Yes.”

  She frowned in thought. “That’s pretty smart. There are roads everywhere you look… Hey, do you think the moss is eating them?”

  I looked at Bim.

  “It’s an excellent theory.”

  Dogan scowled at us. “Why are we just standing around talking?”