Pilgrims Page 15

  Blake was still yelling, “With Rison about to implode, the fate of Risonians is now tied to that of Earthlings. Irrevocably. They will need your diplomacy.”

  “No,” Swann said firmly. He looked over Blake’s head and waved at Jake. “Go back onboard!”

  Jake screamed, “No!”

  His voice hit Blake like a physical blow, and he staggered back, and then turned to stare at Jake. Blake’s face was pale and sober in the murk. He already looked like a ghost.

  “No!” Jake screamed again, and he didn’t know if he was crying for his stepfather or his biological father. Both men had to make it off the planet. He loved them both.

  Blake looked back toward Swann, and his head jerked backward. Swann had punched him in the nose. Blood spurted out, and Blake bent double to howl. Swann brought a knee up and again Blake’s head jerked. He fell backward, spread-eagled. He tried to sit, shaking his head.

  Swann grabbed Blake under his armpits and dragged him up the gangplank, his shoes bumping. Norio was there to shove Jake back into the ship, and then to help Swann with Blake’s struggling form. As soon as Blake was inside the ship, Swann sprang back and yelled, “Go!”

  Instead, without Swann holding him, Blake managed to kick away from Norio and charged out of the spaceship, down the gangplank and tackled Swann.

  Captain Bulmer, Utz and Dr. Mangot were frozen, undecided what to do in this foolish, deadly struggle.

  Jake watched from the doorway, his heart in his mouth. Norio started down the gangplank again to help. But Jake grabbed at his shirt and jerked. “No. You can’t interfere.”

  Norio shook him off. Tears streamed down Norio’s cheeks, and his voice was hoarse. “The Prime Minister has given me an order. And I’ll die trying to obey it.”

  Jake understood. If Swann was determined to stay here on Rison as it imploded, then Norio could only honor that choice. He had to do as Swann had asked, or die trying. Otherwise, there was no honor left to him, no way to show a lifetime of respect for the man who was his boss, his friend, his mentor.

  But Jake had to stop Norio from helping Swann sacrifice himself.

  Suddenly, Captain Bulmer was there, huge and bulking. He grabbed Norio in a bear hug. Utz clambered into the pilot’s seat and readied the spaceship for lift-off. Norio stopped struggling and watched Utz instead of the fight. After a minute, he nodded and turned back to the struggle.

  Outside the ship, Swann and Blake were exchanging blows, fighting for the honor of sacrificing himself for the people of Rison, for Dayexi, and for Jake.

  Without warning, a massive quake shook everything. For seven seconds, the world heaved and bucked. When it stopped, the air was still, as if everything was holding its breath.

  Then a strange creaking started. Looking around, Jake saw one of the tallest palm trees swaying. Slowly, it toppled.

  It landed on the gangplank with a tremendous boom.

  The ship was stuck fast and couldn’t lift off!

  Captain Bulmer, Jake, Swann and Blake hurried to heave at the tree’s trunk. Heavy, it was still half-stuck to the ground by roots, so it wouldn’t move.

  Norio pulled an axe from an equipment cabinet and ran to the roots. Captain Bulmer took the axe and shoved Norio out of the way. The Captain’s bulk made the axe’s head bite faster and deeper.

  Still, the others shoved at the tree trunk.

  Swann grunted and said, “Blake, you’ve got to see the sense in this. I’m Risonian. I’d be lost on Earth.”

  “Dayexi has found a way to be happy there,” Blake said evenly. “You will, too.”

  “She’s found a way to be happy because you’ve been there to help. She needs you.”

  Angry, Jake interrupted, “She—we—need both of you.”

  Swann stopped shoving and put a hand on Jake’s shoulder. “Son. You know this is right. You’re a true Quad-de, and we don’t avoid the truth.”

  “No. No. No,” Jake’s voice trembled. Was it because Swann had called him “son”? Because Swann had said he was a true Quad-de? He’d worked hard to make Swann proud of him. Worked to be first on the fight floor. Worked to become a diplomat. Worked to adapt to the moon base and to an Earth school. For Swann.

  They stared at each other for a long moment, and then Swann dropped his grip on the tree trunk. He took a step forward and pulled Jake into a hug. His face buried in Swann’s chest, Jake breathed deeply of the hint of seaweed, the sweetness of wolkev, the smell of home. No. Swann couldn’t stay here.

  Swann murmured into Jake’s ear, “My son.”

  And Jake wept.

  For long heartbeats they stayed like that, father hugging his son and son hugging his father.

  A cheer brought them back, and Jake realized that the tree was free from the roots.

  Swann turned Jake loose and swiveled toward Blake. Before the Earthling could turn around, Swann locked his hands and brought them down hard on Blake’s head.

  Blake slumped and slid to the ground.

  Utz was already in the pilot’s seat, and the gangplank was retracting. Captain Bulmer and Norio ran up the moving gangplank and into the ship. Norio reached down and pulled Jake up and into the spaceship. Swann heaved Blake onto his shoulders. Norio reached down to pull Blake inside, too. But the heavy deadweight was too much for Norio to lift alone. Captain Bulmer leaned over and grabbed a fistful of Blake’s shirt and heaved.

  At the last moment, just as the door began to close, Norio sat on the edge of the doorway.

  No! Jake grabbed for him.

  But Norio had already let himself fall to the ground.

  No! Jake spoke the word, but nothing came out.

  The spaceship lifted off, and its doors closed shut.

  Jake scrambled to a window and pressed his face against it.

  Swann and Norio stood shoulder to shoulder in the clearing.

  Swann lifted one hand in farewell.

  His heart full of sorrow, Jake pressed his hand into the glass and watched as they disappeared. Two of the most important men in his life, Risonians through and through, even to the end.

  Implosion

  As they lifted off and into the planet’s outer atmosphere, the spaceship struggled with the weight of five people. Escaping the planet’s gravitational pull was hard, making the engine whine.

  Jake felt himself pulling in his stomach muscles, as if that would make him lighter and relieve the ship’s load. He sat cramped into a small space on the floor between the seats and the box that held the starfish globes. Without his weight, he fretted, the small spaceship would still have struggled, but not as bad.

  “Oh!” cried Utz. “No!”

  Jake stood and craned to see out the window.

  They were already halfway to the moon. Far below them, the planet was a perfect blue ball.

  No, not perfect.

  A red crack was splitting off the top third of the ball. Agonizingly slow, the crack widened, and it looked like an angry slash, a wound that needed stitches. Impossibly, it widened more, magma pouring out like blood.

  It kept widening: the planet was bleeding to death.

  Cringing, Jake’s hands pressed onto the window glass; he wished he could grab hold of the jagged edges and force the crack to close. If only he could stop it from expanding more.

  Another crack appeared at almost a ninety-degree angle from the first. The perfect sphere bulged, lopsided as pressure released at the point of the cracks. Jake’s hand involuntarily went to his temple, remembering the times he’d fallen and cracked his head, leaving a huge knot. It was a planetary concussion.

  Up till now, only the top third of the planet was involved. Now, like a balloon, the whole globe inflated slightly, pulsing outward. Jake couldn’t imagine the force necessary to make an entire planet look like it was inflating.

  The planet fell inward.

  It was probably rapid, probably over in mere seconds. But to those watching, time slowed.

  The dusky blue ocean—they were looking at the Holl
a Sea—dimpled like an apple where the stem attached. The indentation spun, sucking water, down and down. It must have hit the core’s magma because a plume of steam spat toward the sky.

  “Look!” cried Utz.

  Another cyclone appeared in the North Seas. And then, another in the southern polar region. In massive lazy swirls, water spun toward the center of each funnel and disappeared.

  Plumes of steam spread rapidly becoming a dense fog that slowly, slowly, slowly enveloped the whole planet. There were outlines of continents, and then there was white. There was blue water, and then there was white. The blue planet had turned into a cloud of steam.

  It was impossible to see what was happening.

  And then, even the clouds dimpled and pulled inward, rushing down toward a huge gravity pit, the black hole that was forming at the center of the planet.

  Jake thought of the people: a mother nursing her baby, a couple picnicking, someone chopping vegetables for stew, Mitzi building a sand castle, Hideaki fishing for a mundy, Swann and Norio—

  He wept.

  Boom!

  A shock wave hit their ship and threw them toward Cadee, the lonely moon that held a tiny remnant of Risonians.

  The shock wave jostled Jake, and he lost his footing, grabbing at something to keep from falling into Blake, who was still knocked out and strapped to a chair. He finally caught hold of the base of Dr. Mangot’s chair and hung there, frantic to know what was happening.

  Utz’s face was a stern mask of concentration as he fought to ride the shock wave and fought to keep them on course for Cadee.

  Another shock wave hit. Jake curled himself around the chair’s base and hid his face. He lay there, frozen in shock and grief. Rison was gone. Swann was gone. What would he and his mother do without Swann?

  Another shock wave. And another.

  Finally, Utz called out. “We’ll dock in five minutes.”

  Gone

  The crowded hallways of the Cadee Moon Base were somber and quiet. Shock. Grief. Sorrow. The words were inadequate for the devastation they had just witnessed.

  Gone. All gone.

  Everyone lost a loved one. Everyone.

  A moment of silence for the lost planet. A lifetime of silence for the lost souls.

  They grieved. For the lost beaches, mountain passes, soaring birds and humble beasts. For lost aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, husbands, wives, children. For the loss of an entire diverse, exciting planet.

  Unspeakable sadness.

  The images from Cadee were broadcast to Earth, and Dayexi called, desperate for news.

  Blake and Jake faced her together.

  “We tried to save Swann,” Blake said. “But he knocked me out and shoved me aboard.”

  Jake could only shake his head and whisper, “He’s gone.”

  Her wails split their already fractured hearts into more splinters. Sharp pain overwhelmed them, and they clung to each other until Dayexi’s tears subsided. Finally, she held up a hand to the screen and pleaded, “Come home. Soon.”

  “Soon,” promised Blake. “Soon.”

  The Cadee Moon Base

  No one had the luxury of grieving; there was work to do.

  Engineers, physicists, aeronautics experts and every other person with technical expertise was drawn into the huge job of stabilizing Cadee Moon as a new satellite around their sun, Turco. They had wisely placed thrusters all around the moon, so they could maneuver as needed. The shock waves had thrown them away from the planet, and they had to avoid the belt of debris left from the planet’s destruction.

  The plan, many years in the making, of how to place the moon into a stable orbit was tricky and long. It took a blessed concentration that kept people from thinking or feeling.

  Meanwhile, people loaded onto ships, saying good-bye to their solar system and blasted off for Earth. Those left behind, waited.

  Numb. Empty. Drifting the hallways of the Cadee Moon Base as if they were ghosts.

  The Earth delegation expected to blast off almost immediately. Instead, Dr. Mangot went straight to the infirmary where intravenous fluids finally stabilized her temperature. Captain Bulmer hardly left her side until her temperature was normal. Only then did he find a place to sleep for a while.

  When Jake realized they’d be delayed, he insisted that someone else take their spaceship, the Eagle 10, and they could join a later ship. He traipsed the hallways until he found a small, dingy room filled with people, and waved to the small girl who’d swum with them when they first arrived on Cadee.

  He motioned to her father and gestured toward the door. “Mr. Bruce, please.”

  Mr. Bruce asked cautiously, “Yes? What can I do for you?”

  “Let’s talk in private,” Jake said. They stepped outside into the corridor, and Jake explained their situation. “You can take our ship if you can find a pilot.”

  Mr. Bruce’s eyes rimmed with tears, and he shook Jake’s hand. “We’re so sorry about Swann Quad-de.”

  Jake had to turn his head away, or his own tears would spill over.

  Mr. Bruce stepped forward and said, “Thank you, sir. You’re the head of the Quad-de family now, and we know you’ll make us proud on Earth.”

  Head of the Quad-de family. Jake vowed to himself, “I’ll live up to your legacy, Swann.”

  When the Bruce family loaded onto the spaceship and was about to blast off, Jake stopped by briefly to say good-bye.

  Immediately, Merry took his hand and tugged at it.

  Looking down, Jake tried to smile. She was the future of the Risonian people. “Do you need something?”

  She nodded.

  “What do you need?” he asked.

  She tugged him lower. Jake sank to his knee and looked at the child. Her curly hair spilled over her eyes, and he brushed it back gently. It made him really look at her.

  “What can I do to help you, Merry?”

  Then she whispered, “I heard about your daddy. Are you sad?”

  Shocked, he froze. But under her gaze, he slowly nodded.

  She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “My daddy says you’ll be OK because you’re a Quad-de. But if you need someone to cheer you up, you call me. Okay?”

  Jake could only nod.

  The ship soon joined the caravan heading toward Earth.

  Ironically, after just 48-hours, Dr. Mangot was yelling at the infirmary nurses, “Let me out of here!”

  Jake went to see her, feeling very much like a Quad-de who had to visit every sick person and cheer them up.

  As soon as she saw Jake, Dr. Mangot demanded, “When do we leave?”

  Jake explained that their ship was in use, which meant they’d have to wait for a return ship. Dr. Mangot seemed about to launch into a tirade. But Captain Bulmer touched her arm.

  Something had changed between them. Jake didn’t know when or exactly what, but between the two Phoke, there was a new awareness of each other. Their friendship had gone to a new place, and Jake was content to wait and see how it developed.

  While they waited for spaceships to return, Utz went looking for Kirkwall Rudak. He found him in the cafeteria during the early lunch shift. Utz took a deep breath, very aware that his body shape was so different from the Tizzalurians who dominated the room.

  He stopped at Kirkwall’s table and said politely. “Hello, I’m Utz Seehafer. I know your sister from Marasca University. May I talk to you?”

  “Derry?” Kirkwall looked up hopefully. Then, his face fell, and he shook his head. “She’s gone.”

  Of course, there was no privacy. But Utz forged ahead. “Um, no. I need to explain something. May I sit?”

  Kirkwall’s neighbor, another tall Tizzalurian, scooted over. Utz scrunched into the space. He hadn’t thought to pick up his lunch yet, he had been so focused on talking to Kirkwall. So, it felt odd to have nothing before him. Utz straightened his shoulders and dove into the conversation.

  “I met Derry at the university, and we became friends.” Utz paused, lo
oked up at the ceiling, and then determinedly looked at Kirkwall. “More than friends.”

  Kirkwall blinked and shrank away from Utz. “You’re Bo-See?”

  “I’m Risonian. That’s all that will matter on Earth.” Before his courage failed him, he blurted, “And I got Derry off-planet.”

  Kirkwall’s face drained of color. “No. How? When?”

  Utz began again. This was important because this man might become his brother-in-law. “I am Utz Seehafer, son of the late King Pharomond Seehafer.” He choked up at the mention of his father, but forced himself to continue. “Derry and I became friends while we cared for some animals.” He didn’t want to explain about the great white sharks. That might come later, but not now. “My cousin is a smuggler.”

  Kirkwall’s eyes were huge, and several people around them turned to stare.

  Utz continued doggedly. “I had Derry smuggled to Earth.”

  “You did what?”

  Utz nodded. “She’ll be on Earth when we arrive.”

  One of the people at the table started clapping softly, and the whole table joined in.

  One of them stood and called to the room. “His sister is safe! She got smuggled out.”

  Of course, the crowd didn’t know Kirkwall or Derry or Utz. But it didn’t matter. Any good news, any unexpected word that someone was safe—the entire room cheered.

  Everyone stayed busy for the next few months while waiting to go home. They had to grow all their food, keep the moon in a stable orbit, organize evacuations, and keep the peace.

  It would be a couple weeks before the big transports returned for more passengers. Jake and Blake busied themselves with helping organize people into groups to be ready for evacuation. Captain Bulmer’s curiosity about Risonian pools led him to take charge of scheduling swim times. He also went with crews to check the pressurized water tanks at the far end of the Moon Base.

  When a large spaceship returned, Blake and Jake helped everyone load, including Dr. Mangot and Captain Bulmer. They carried with them the starfish globes and would start research immediately.