Go and catch a falling star
Get a child a mandrake root
tell me, where all past years are
or who cleft the Devil’s foot…
If thou beest borne to strange sights,
things invisible to see,
Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till age snow white hairs on thee,
Thou, when thou returnest, will tell me
All strange wonders that befell thee…
—“Go and Catch a Falling Star,” by John Donne,
from Poems From a Distant Earth, by Chen Tien
Aidan ran after Ally, under the dim shadow of the old hyperloop tube. It had broken off at some point, leaving a jagged end hanging over the water of the bay just ahead.
He tried to imagine things as they might have been before the collapse—the whoosh and drama of the world as it hurried about its business. Greats like Asimov, McCaffrey, Clarke, Butler, Sprütz, Odawe and Tepper had imagined what life might be like in that world’s future, and many of their projections had come true.
Aidan had devoured all the science fiction books in the Records as a kid, and it had hit him hard when he’d realized that sci-fi was about the past, not the future.
Cimber barked, breaking his reverie. The mech dog pointed at the far side of the bay.
Something lifted off the ground on a plume of smoke, streaking up into the sky toward the falling object.
Ally skidded to a halt. “What’s that?”
Aidan shook his head. “That’s Martinez Base, right? Some kind of defense system?”
Ally stared at the descending dot. “What if they’re not friendly? Maybe the defense system has good reason to attack them.”
Aidan frowned. “Maybe so.” He hoped it wasn’t true—he wanted to believe those were people up there. Good people. That they weren’t alone in this empty world.
Ally looked pale. “This is a bad idea. We should hide—wait and see what happens first.”
Aidan rubbed his neck. “Whoever built that defense system has probably been dead for more than a hundred years.” He hoped that was true, too. “How would they know who’d be coming down to see us?”
Ally shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Exactly. We don’t know. So let’s do what we can to find out!”
Ally shook her head. “It’s too risky. We came to find medicine for mamma—”
“Which is over there.”
She bit her lip. “Yes. Yes, it is.”
“Good, then it’s decided. Come on, let’s go—they’re coming down fast.” He put his hands around his pack straps and ran toward the rail bridge, the only one still intact across the wide span of water.
Ally cursed and ran after him.
He hoped he was right. She was his big sister—all his life, he’d followed her lead, but this time… it felt right to try and help. Not that there was much they could do.
They reached the rail bridge. It was an old metal structure, its iron trusses rusted with age. Next to it were two others—the shattered hyperloop tube with its end dipping down into the water, its once-white surface pitted and scarred by time and weather, and an old highway bridge. It too was cracked and broken.
The rail bridge was the only one that was whole, traversing the bay from one side to the other without a gap.
As they ran across it, Aidan imagined a train roaring by, clack clack clack on the tracks, loud horn blaring, the rush of air carrying the smell of grease as it hauled cargo from one side of the bay to the other.
He glanced up at the sky.
The ship—for surely that’s what it must be—had reversed course and was ascending. The missile streaked after it, missing it by a hair.
The ship zipped off in another direction, but the missile swung back around to come after it. The world sizzled and shimmered.
What the heck? He looked at Ally, who shrugged.
Was the sky bluer than before?
As Aidan watched, the missile slammed into the ship. There was a great explosion, and bits of debris raced across the sky on plumes of smoke like a hideous flower. Then the sound wave hit them.
Aidan dropped to his knees and closed his eyes to pray. Please save whoever that was, or take them up into Heaven. Or whatever You want to do. He didn’t pray much—that was more mamma’s thing—and he was a bit rusty at it. But it felt appropriate.
Ally knelt next to him and reached for his hand. She squeezed it tightly, and he winced. It was sore. Aidan frowned. Must have scraped it somewhere.
They looked up at the sky together, her hand clutching his so tightly that he feared her nails would draw blood.
Remnants of the craft plummeted to the ground, one piece falling into the water with a splash not twenty meters from where they stood. The storm clouds were rushing in now too, the wind teasing his red hair.
Ally closed her eyes again. “I can’t watch.”
But Aidan couldn’t tear himself away. The aftermath of the collision was amazing, beautiful and terrible, all at once. He hoped the end had been quick. Then he saw it. Them. His prayers were answered. “They’re alive!”
Ally glared at him. “I’m not crying.” She dried her cheeks with the back of her hands. “What?”
“Up there!” He pointed. Four white things were floating down from the sky, buffeted by the wind.
Ally squinted. “Sky seeds?”
Aidan shook his head. “I think they’re parachutes!” He’d studied Earth history intensely in the Records, especially the wars. He’d always wanted to be a pilot, unlikely when there were no more planes. He’d all but given up on that dream.
But this…. It was like watching history.
“They’re alive.” Ally gaped.
The specks were getting bigger, but they were also drifting apart. “Those two are going to land close by!” The pair of parachutes were floating their way, driven by the wind.
They watched them together for a minute, gauging where they might come down.
Out in the bay, most likely.
Ally bit her lip. “You’re right. We have to at least try to help. Come on!” She set off at a run toward the falling parachute’s likely destination.
Aidan stared after her. What happened to being careful? Then he shrugged and followed her across the old railway bridge above the choppy silver waters of the bay, as the wind whipped at them ahead of the approaching storm.
Rai braced himself as Ghost blew the Zhenyi’s escape hatch. He slipped his pack onto his back and then shrugged his arms into the parachute’s straps.
Ahead of him Tien leapt out of the jumper.
Rai was scared shitless, his heart racing in his chest like a steam engine. His gaze skittered around the little ship one last time before it was blown to bits. It was his second home, one that he knew down to every last bolt and seal. This is wrong. “Are you sure—“
“See you below!” Ghost thrust him out the open hatchway after Tien before he could finish his sentence.
The ship receded above them as Rai tumbled end over end trying to find the chute release.
He grasped it at last as ground and sky tumbled past, the wind whistling in his ears.
The handle slipped out of his grasp.
Frantic, he reached for it again. This time his hand closed tightly on it, and with a jerk, his chute opened above him, yanking him upward.
He swung back and forth, slowly stabilizing as his chute filled with air.
Tien was floating down close by. She flashed him a thumbs-up.
There was a loud explosion above them.
Ghost! Hera! Rai looked up toward where the Zhenyi had been, but the chute blocked his view.
Frantic, he tried to reach them em to em. Nothing. Maybe we’re out of range.
Bits of hot debris rained down on his chute. One piece burned a hole through the chute, filling the air with a sharp smell before dropping past his face toward the ground.
It was a small tear. Rai stared at it as the wind of his passage tore it wider, the slow rip spelling his doom. He tried to reach it, to do something to stop it, but it was too far above him. There was nothing to do but fall.
-Rai, you okay?- Tien’s voice came through clearly in his head.
The ground was flying up toward him. -Something tore my chute. Did the others make it?-
-I don’t know. Hold on!- She steered her chute toward his.
What was she doing?
Tien closed the distance between them rapidly. The wind was picking up, whipping her black hair around. -Get ready to release your chute!-
-What? No. I can’t!- She was insane. Without the parachute, he’d plummet to his death.
-Let it go or NOW we’re both going to die!- Tien was coming in a little below him.
Sweat beaded his forehead. “Fuuuuuuuuuck!” He pushed the release, and his chute flew away, dropping him like a stone.
Rai screamed, the air rushing out of his lungs to mix with the wind that buffeted him. He slipped past the edge of her parachute and Tien grabbed his belt, halting his fall abruptly and knocking the air out of his lungs. She was strong. So strong.
He gasped for air as she hauled him up. His extra weight pulled them down toward the Earth faster. “Arms around me!”
Rai gasped, and sweet air filled his lungs at last. The Earth rushed up toward them in a muddled blur as he found purchase, hugging her waist awkwardly and interlocking his fingers behind her back. He had only a second’s peace.
-When I tell you, let go and hold your breath.-
-What?- Calm, sensible, always rational Tien had suddenly gone stark cracking mad.
-Now!- She kneed him in the ribs and he let go in surprise, almost forgetting to hold his breath.
A second later, Rai plunged feet-first into warm liquid. He dropped three or four meters in a cloud of bubbles. The Bay! His swimming lessons kicked in, and he pushed his way back up through the murky water toward the dim light of the surface above. He thanked Sam for making them learn how to swim in the pool on the Launchpad.
His head popped above the water as Tien plunged in a few meters away with a splash.
Rai took a deep breath of Earth’s air. It was clean and warm. We’re home.
Ghost blew the hatch.
The ship was rising now, trying to outrun a missile which she couldn’t escape.
He pushed Tien and Rai out in quick succession, watching as they plummeted toward the Earth. One after the other, they were pulled back up by the expansion of their chutes.
“Ghost, go!” Hera screamed over her shoulder. “I’ll keep this steady.”
Ghost shook his head violently. -Not without you. Let go of the controls, Hera!-
She grimaced. -I can’t.-
“There’s no time.” He barked it out. “You can’t save her. Come on!”
Hera grunted. She set the autopilot, and then practically leapt toward him. He slipped her chute on over her shoulders, and they squeezed out of the open hatch to fall toward the Earth together.
Two seconds later, the missile slammed into the Zhenyi, breaking her into a thousand pieces with an explosive roar.
The shock wave slammed into him, and he could no longer hear the rush of the air as he fell.
He reached frantically for his chute release. His fumbling fingers found it, and he sighed with relief as it billowed out above him. The recoil pulled hard on his arms, lifting him up five meters before slowly dropping him back down toward the ground.
He looked around for the others.
A few hundred meters away, he spotted Hera’s chute. It was fully deployed—thank the fates—but she hung limply below it.
“Hera!” He could barely hear his own shout, and the world was silent around him.
She didn’t respond, or if she did, he couldn’t hear her. He hoped the hearing loss was temporary.
-Hera!- Still nothing.
Where were the others?
He and Hera were a bit west of the target, the old military base Sam had chosen for them.
Ghost looked up and gulped. The sky. Oh sweet cracking hell, the sky.
It was bigger than he’d prepared himself for—a vast open space full of air so beyond his ability to accept that he had to close his eyes, overwhelmed by the blue and white and purple that filled the world around him.
He took a deep breath and opened them again.
On the horizon, he could see the broken city of San Francisco, her once-proud towers and spires now malformed, twisted shapes more suited to a graveyard. The city had been one of the primary targets on the NAU’s west coast and had taken some of the heaviest damage.
Intensive observation from space had confirmed that much over the last few decades. Still, it was one thing to read about that and see satellite photos, and quite another to witness the devastation firsthand.
Ghost shook off the awe-induced paralysis. He had work to do.
He steered his chute toward Hera, closing the gap as they fell toward a small forest of zongi trees that dotted the hillsides overlooking the bay.
Dark storm clouds were racing across the sky—the promised storm, hiding the city’s ancient wreckage. Ghost stared at them, daunted by their sheer size and scale. Then he tore his gaze away to look down.
The world below was mostly green, wide open swatches of grass peppered with zongi tree stands and the occasional rectangular ruin. The ground was coming up fast.
Rai and Tien, where are you? It had all happened so quickly.
The dropnauts all carried short-range communicators. They would be able to reach one another, and when the station was overhead the next time they should be able to establish communications with the Launchpad on the x-band.
Ghost marked where Hera was as they dropped below the tree line.
He aimed for a fairly clear patch, managing to land with all the grace of an ore-hauler, stumbling to a stop just before slamming into one of the zongi tree trunks.
He got his land legs under him and dropped his pack as the chute collapsed behind him. He pulled out his sharp hunting knife. Unlikely that he’d encounter anything dangerous, but better prepared than dead. His limbs were heavy, like they’d been when he’d trained in high gee on the Launchpad. He could handle that.
Ghost took a deep breath. The air was humid, carrying a strange briny scent. Like the prawn tanks in the aquaculture ponds in Redemption. There were grasses and small bushes and the tall zongi trees, heavy with fruit near their crowns. Rai would love this.
Ghost shook his head to clear it of the strange new stimuli. Focus on the mission.
-Hera?- Still no response.
His hearing was slowly returning, the whisper of the wind a joy to his ears.
With a shrug, he lumbered off toward where he’d last seen her fallen, his steps leaving footprints in the thick grass. Please let her be okay.