6
Selah jerked back. Her mind tried to digest what she saw—patterns of rectangles and squares, raised and sunken, fitting together in a dark gray wall that went up as far as she could see. No warning, no sound. Her mouth dropped open at the same time Mojica swung around from her navigator seat, snatched up the pulse rifles, and lifted Mari to her feet.
It wasn’t a wall. It was an up-close side of the airship transport. She could barely make out the impressions on the side facing her, where the propulsion and maneuvering wings had retracted below the plates as the transport magnetically hovered mere inches from the side of the AirWagon. An elongated crack appeared from the side of the wall, and a ramp came to rest on the top edge of the AirWagon. Taraji appeared in the opening, motioning them in.
Selah grabbed Rylla by the hand and hurried behind Mojica, who was acting as Mari’s crutch. They climbed on a seat to step onto the ramp. Taraji directed them in at the top and the ramp rose behind them.
The fear drained from Selah’s throat, taking the lump with it. She pulled Rylla down on the bench that lined one side of the narrow, elongated chamber. The dark curved composite wall felt like a safe cocoon. She hugged Rylla with trembling arms, and Rylla clung to her.
Mojica guided Mari toward the infirmary as Taraji finished punching in the code to the panel next to the ramp opening.
Taraji turned to Mojica. “Bodhi could use you on the command deck. We weren’t quite sure which defense combinations to use against the charges they’re firing using Mountain technology.”
“I’d hoped to get calmer circumstances to calibrate this transport for Mountain tech, but you’ve done well.” Mojica turned and bolted from the chamber.
Taraji stared at Selah without speaking. Selah lowered her head. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Taraji set her jaw and leaned against the wall.
Selah knew she’d hear about this episode from both her mother and Bodhi, but apparently Taraji was the prelude to her soon-to-be tongue lashing. “For coming out here to get Amaryllis. I know it was foolish, but I would never be able to live with myself if I’d left her behind.”
Taraji’s jaw muscles worked and she crossed her arms. “They’re only being cautious for your protection. You could have been captured by a very powerful faction of Blood Hunters, and everything we’ve gone through to get here would have been for—”
The muffled sound of an explosion accompanied a sudden jolt of the transport. Selah’s muscles quivered with fear and anticipation of another battle. Would her selfishness be their undoing? Her heart raced as she gripped the seat against the violent shake.
Bodhi veered the transport to the left. He tried to gain altitude and speed with the large vessel while wrestling the controls at each new volley of bombs raining on them. He glanced at one of the side screens on the control panel in time to see a guy on a Sand Run fire a bomb from a tube mounted on his shoulder.
Mojica charged onto the command deck and slid into the seat beside Bodhi. He looked at her with a scowl. “She talked you into coming out here, didn’t she?”
Mojica strapped on her harness and slipped her boots into the foot straps on the control grid. Their seating units were connected to the transport on gimbals that kept them floating straight up no matter the angle of the transport. “What did you really expect her to do? Leave the kid here? Selah may be dying, and for sure is never coming back to this place.” She pressed her thumb into a depression on her chair arm, and a control panel cantilevered out of the dash in front of her. “Loosen the reins.” She lowered a VR visor and punched in her access. “I’ve got control.”
The ship rocked to the right. Mojica shifted the joystick to the left and stomped on the right stabilizer pedal.
“How long can they fire on us?” Bodhi momentarily forgot about being angry at Selah. He watched the distance increase, but shells continued to reach them.
“Not much longer, my friend.” Using her left hand, Mojica manipulated combinations of colored pads on the keyboard in front of her. The percussions stopped, but Bodhi could still hear the shells exploding. His attention jerked to Mojica. “How’d you do that?”
“New shield technology.” Mojica grinned. “The magnetic shields are up, and unless someone walks where we’re sitting, they won’t even see us, because the construction of this vessel has the ability to bend light and make us blend into the scenery. But it’s only good when we’re out in the open. The system is still glitchy and the magnetics can interfere with other systems. The ship isn’t seen, but the interference is evident, which can effectively give away our position. That’s your next lesson. So how ’bout we run through TicCity and get on our way before they follow us that far.”
“But we weren’t planning on leaving until tomorrow,” Bodhi said. He didn’t like hearing they’d soon have to confront this gang again.
Mojica shook her head. “Those plans have disappeared like throwing sand in the ocean. The Blood Hunters won’t stop now that they’ve seen Selah. They know this is their last chance to catch her.”
“So that message you relayed to me from the adoptive parents—it was their ploy to get Selah into their territory.” Bodhi’s chest tightened. He should have suspected and had guards with her.
No. Mojica and Mari were more than adequate.
Bodhi inhaled sharply. He had to stop second-guessing himself, but he couldn’t afford mistakes. He’d promised Glade he’d protect Selah with his life. “I’m calling the Council. They should at least give us protection until we leave.”
Mojica accelerated the vessel. “I wouldn’t bother. That woman looked like she was ready to swoop in and take Selah’s—”
“TicCity Council Chambers. What is your business today?” The hologram woman smiled pleasantly on the command deck screen.
Mojica rolled her eyes.
“I’d like to speak to the Council woman,” Bodhi said. He was sure she’d offer help.
The screen went black, then immediately he was looking at the same woman with black eyes who had met them on the road. She pulled a covering on over her arms. Her look displayed guilt. What was she hiding?
“Madame Council woman, I’d like to ask your assistance with the adoptive child that Glade Rishon placed. We encountered Blood Hunters when visiting the child’s adoptive parents—”
“You had an AirWagon when you came to town. What vehicle is this with video capabilities?” The Council woman scowled.
“It’s a private vehicle,” Mojica said to the monitor.
“Well, we as Council should—”
“I’m asking if you could give us added protection for Selah until tomorrow.” Bodhi leaned forward and raised his voice.
The Council woman lowered her chin so her eyes looked larger when she looked at the screen. “The only reason you’ve been safe so far is out of courtesy to Glade’s memory. I was quite smitten with him when we first came out of the Mountain. But I was not the one he wanted.” The woman looked almost wistful for a moment. Then she snapped back to the present. “That was then. This is now. Glade is gone, and you had better be too . . . soon.”
Bodhi tried to itemize the tasks he still had to complete. “We need until tomorrow.”
The Council woman shrugged. “That’s up to you. We offer no protection. With Glade gone, our sector’s last allegiance to the cause has ended. We moved beyond it when Glade originally sacrificed himself to the Mountain, thinking he’d never be back. Come to think of it, we have you to thank for that debacle.”
Bodhi recoiled. “How can you be so callous? After all he accomplished for the cause over the years, Glade died in that place, and Selah is now trying her hardest to complete the Third Protocol. When she does, all Landers will be changed.” Bodhi stared at the woman, trying to understand how anyone could be this depraved about protecting human life.
“Yeah, well, we don’t know if that will be a good thing or a bad thing, now do we?” The Council woman looked as though she’d suddenly let her pretense fall.
Bodhi decided to probe. “Do you really think it would harm us?”
“We don’t know what variances have been added over the last 150 years . . . possible contaminants. We could demolecularize to common dust in an instant and it would all be over. Most folks have voted to press for another cycle rather than take the chance.” The Council woman shifted in her seat.
Selah pushed her way between Bodhi’s and Mojica’s stations and turned the monitor to face her. “So you all voted to let me fracture and, from what I’ve seen in the last few hours, essentially go mad, just so you continue your lives uninterrupted? Now I get it! All those novarium who have fractured and you’ve sent away—you purposely kept them from attempting to find the Third Protocol,” she said in disgust.
Bodhi wanted to reach out and pull her close. He would not let that happen to her. He would find the Third Protocol or die trying.
“Well, hello, Selah. Can’t say I’m glad to see you’re well.” The Council woman sat back in her seat and drummed the arms of her chair.
“Glade told me about you.” Selah leaned into the screen. “He told me the only reason you all left me alone as a novarium was because he was my father.” She pointed at the screen. “And the only reason he lived to see me become the novarium—since all the other novarium parents in this sector mysteriously died before their child transitioned—was because he was in the Mountain my whole life, where you couldn’t get at him.”
“Yes, well, that was a mistake on the Council’s part that should be rectified with the Blood Hunters’ compact.” All pretense gone, the Council woman tented her fingers and stared defiantly at Selah.
Bodhi pulled the screen back to him. “So you’d let her be drained for blood samples and then killed?”
The Council woman didn’t answer.
“Answer the question,” Selah said. “Tell me to my face you’d let me die.”
The Council woman shrugged. “You’re the last novarium we’ll have to deal with for 150 years. Maybe after that long the remaining Landers will be willing to let the cycle end. But at the moment people are getting agitated, and you have to leave. I don’t dare get in the middle. I have to live here, and either way you’ll be gone shortly.” She hesitated. “I guess after my past history with Glade, I owe you something. The parting advice I have for you is . . . your only hope is to find the old woman.” She slapped the connection closed.
Selah looked between Bodhi and Mojica. “The old woman? What does that mean? This is the second time I’ve heard about her.”
“No idea. Maybe Pasha and Mari will find a clue in the documents,” Mojica said. “I called Treva while you were talking. Brejian will be ready to go in a half hour.”
“I’ll finish the other transactions from here and order the supplies from the depot for us to pick up,” Bodhi said. The Council woman’s callous disregard for Selah’s life furthered his determination.
Selah leaned against the side of Bodhi’s command chair. “It just hit me. All these people have died just to keep their sector from being changed. How many other sectors have done this?”
“Their excuse is the change could be something bad,” Bodhi said.
Selah pointed at the blank monitor. “I don’t believe that! The Council woman was from the same original group as Glade. She originated in the Mountain. She knows the project goal, and she’s hiding some very important information. I could read that in her body-speak.”
Bodhi nodded. “Glade knew about the change. Although he never said why, I don’t think he’d have chosen it for you if the final results were bad.” Bodhi was certain Glade would not choose to have something harmful befall the daughter he loved so much.
“Folks, I think we have a problem.” Mojica pushed back her VR visor. “I was trying to alert Pasha that we’re coming in hot to snatch them up, but I’m getting no connection at the living units.”
“How far away are we?” Selah paled as she sat in the navigator seat behind Mojica.
Bodhi stared at her while Mojica had her attention. Her eyes looked tired. He needed to encourage her to rest more often. She worried about everyone else more than herself, but that was one of the reasons he loved her.
“About ten clicks.” Mojica pulled up a pair of joysticks and worked them with both hands.
Taraji and Mari entered the command deck. Bodhi was encouraged to see that Mari looked a lot better now.
“Perfect timing. Mari, take a seat next to Selah, and Taraji, you change places with me. We have to go into TicCity, and you know the landscape.” Mojica unstrapped and swiveled out of the command chair, and Taraji swiftly replaced her.
“Everybody strap in. We need to do this right now,” Taraji said.
Mojica seated herself at the tactical station behind Bodhi while Mari grabbed the second navigator seat beside Selah and swung it around from the console to face forward.
“Where are we going?” Mari asked.
“The living units. The Council threatened my life, and now my mother isn’t answering,” Selah said
“Mojica, I need you to issue us weapons,” Taraji said. “You know this style transport. Our armory is in the same place. Configure the pulse rifles to match your military X11B. Use the same configuration on laser darts for personal protection and issue communicator bands. I want everyone tagged so we’ve got instant communications at all times.” She strategically maneuvered the large air vessel over TicCity and onto the shoreline, then followed it northward in the direction of the U-shaped complex containing the living quarters.
“That configuration was never tested in the Mountain, mainly because there were no magnetic fields to shoot through.” Mojica tipped her head. “What kind of resistance did you run into saving the transport from the Blood Hunters?”
“They were a lot more sophisticated with their weapons than I expected. I lost several good men,” Taraji said. “Glade left specific orders for weaponry specs and upgrades to security that I previously thought were overkill to battle Blood Hunters. But after the fight I just lived through, I think his orders could have been more robust.”
Mojica motioned to Mari and they hurried from the command deck.
“Will we get resistance from TicCity when they see this vehicle?” Bodhi strapped in and brought down his VR visor. He pressed his thumb into the depression in his chair’s arm to bring up his control panel.
“Most definitely. I was hoping to ferry everyone out of town in the AirWagon we just left behind,” Taraji said.
Selah bit her lip. “I’m sorry I caused—”
“Stop! Own it,” Taraji said as she slowed their approach. “Are you sorry you got Amaryllis?”
“No,” Selah said. “But I’m sorry we lost the AirWagon.”
“It was a necessary loss,” Taraji said. “I need you to evaluate each situation from now on, not with emotions but with logical outcomes in mind. We are entering an unknown world and our logic may be the only thing that saves us.”
“Is it necessary to be so hard on Selah?” Bodhi asked.
“Bodhi, even though you look like a twenty-year-old, you’re 150. You’ve experienced these hard lessons. Selah is eighteen and doesn’t have the luxury of time.”
“I thought when Glade died your service to him ended,” Selah said softly.
“We are Kinship. Since the time of our ancestors, our service has been for the success of the novarium, and this time we have a good chance of completing the Third Protocol—”
Selah gasped and pointed past Taraji to the command deck window. “Look!”