The Navigator, page 57
Startled, Petal's grip failed. She screamed and the wind slammed her against the elevated section of the ship. The impact was jarring, but it stopped her fall. Before the wind pushed her into the sky, she was able to grab onto a stray rung that jutted out from the side of the Kingfisher.
"This necessitates a slight course adjustment," Seraphim chimed, the A.I.'s perennially serene voice nearly inaudible over the howl of the wind. It pointed further down the shipside to more rungs that hung over open ocean.
"I can't do this!" Petal shook her head. She was crying. The wind blew so hard it swept the tears out of her eyes before they could blur her vision.
Seraphim disappeared and then reappeared halfway down the shipside, next to a square-shaped depression, pointing to it.
A hatch!
Petal climbed across the side of the Kingfisher, fighting against the wind and the mind numbing cold. Her hair blew into her eyes constantly and her face felt chapped and frostbitten.
The mech was nimble, only four or five rungs behind her at any given time. It continually reached for her, threatening to grab her and toss her into the clouds.
Petal reached the depression and crossed it, interlacing her fingers around a rung that Seraphim guided her to. The mech swung over next to the depression and lunged at her with an outstretched claw.
Before it could grab her, the depressed hatch popped open, slamming into the mech's chassis.
The impact knocked the mech off its rung. Petal watched as it was blown past her by the velocity of the ship. It then tumbled down toward the sea, becoming just a gray dot and then an infinitesimally small splash as it hit the surface of the ocean.
Petal wiggled her way inside of the hatch. It was identical in design to the one on the bottom of the Tear Drop. Once she was securely inside, Seraphim closed it, allowing her to catch her breath. Her body shook; cold, in shock, and completely exhausted.
"I located the Consortium escape pod during your escape. It is on a small landmass situated in a bay, directly adjacent to this planet's only continent."
"Baffin Island," Petal wheezed. She felt like she might pass out and fought to keep her eyes open. "Junk. . .meh - my sister. She's there too. You have to. . .you have to take me to her. Let me take her. . .please. . .let me save her."
"Acknowledged. I will commence a precision strike on the island within a few moments utilizing the Kingfisher's anti-asteroid laser defense system. It should vaporize the pod without destroying the majority of the island."
"Be careful! Please. . .don't. . .make sure you don't hurt her."
- 89-
Catalin stopped dead on the front steps of his condominium. He rubbed his face. His alarm had failed to go off at its usual time. He couldn't tell what time he'd woken up because his watch had also failed and his condo lost power. He took the stairs down to the ground floor and exited the building, staring out at Khai Shen.
Khai Shen was in flames. Several of the taller buildings down by the coast were billowing smoke. Between them ran torch-bearing savages and rag-tag marines. The irregulars brandished automatic weapons and were wearing a motley mix of Kevlar and crude plate armor. It looked like the heart of the P.R.K. had been invaded by swashbuckling pirates.
Out in Khai Shen Bay, hovering directly over Baffin Island, was an absolutely massive spaceship that stretched on for miles. It was a gray collection of tubes and donut-shaped bubbles. Currently, it was pummeling Baffin Island with streaks of red light that burned brighter than the sun.
Below the spaceship, spread throughout the bay, was a large sea people armada. The 42nd Fleet and their pirate allies fled the bay once the spaceship appeared overhead, making a beeline out into open ocean. Their commanders would probably be court-martialed and hanged if they ever returned to the P.R.K., something which Catalin highly doubted.
Catalin sat down on the front steps, serene and at peace, watching the spaceship attack Baffin Island. There was something inside of Catalin that had always hated the world as it was - all neat and overly regimented. It reminded him of his suffocating obsessions. A part of Catalin yearned for something else, for something abnormal to seize hold of his world, turn it on its head, and make it into something more unexpected and infinitely more interesting.
This was why he'd accepted so many assignments that took him out of the civilized world and thrust him into the savage realm of the ocean.
Now, pirates were sacking his home city and pillaging its exclusive shops. Men clad in animal bones were kidnapping jaded city girls and dragging them by their hair back to rickety rowboats. An alien spaceship was attacking his workplace, incinerating its massive fortifications like something out of an antediluvian B-movie. Ea's finest fleet, the crown of the P.R.K. navy, was fleeing the battlefield in terror.
Catalin loved what he was seeing. Long had he craved to see a thing such as this. He adjusted his seat on the stoop and watched his meticulously planned-out world collapse into chaos with a look of sheer satisfaction.
***
Quill watched the Widower sail off from her perch atop Baffin Island's inner-most protective wall. Naris had slipped away, unharmed, yet again. He and the rest of the 42nd Fleet fled when a massive spaceship appeared overhead.
Once the spaceship arrived, all of the sea people around her, and those already ashore in Khai Shen, bowed to it and began chanting.
With a bang louder than anything Quill had ever heard before, the spaceship fired a long tongue of red laser light down at Baffin Island. The light penetrated the fortress's thick defensive works and incinerated most of the structures on the Island's southern side. The resulting destruction covered the Island in a haze of gray ash and smoke.
As the Widower disappeared behind the waves, Quill climbed down from the wall to rejoin Sejanus and a company of nomads who had landed on the Island after the laser strike. The terror the spaceship's arrival caused made the Island's guns fall silent. The jack-booted S.S.S. officers and guards who patrolled the Island and manned its guns were surrendering to the sea people's paltry invasion force en mass, not wanting to go up against the hovering, alien juggernaut.
Sejanus extended his hand to Quill, helping her descend the final few steps. He escorted her forward, through the smoke.
"An S.S.S. lieutenant told me the Island's quarantine cells lie to the north." Sejanus paused for a second and watched a group of nomads and surrendering S.S.S. men scatter on either side of him. "The dungeons were opened after the Khoi's wrath shone down from the sky and scorched the Island."
Quill hurried forward through the cloying smoke. She clung to Sejanus's hand tightly, so she didn't lose sight of him.
"Did they tell you if the prisoners inside them are okay? Have they seen Junk? I have to find her."
"I know not, Ms. Clymene."
Sejanus nudged Quill off to the side as a line of S.S.S. men marched past them. Two pistol-wielding nomad sailors were walking on their heels, prodding them toward the waiting Typhoon.
Quill coughed. The air was rank. It smelled of gasoline and burning rubber. She dragged Sejanus through the smoke over to a large concrete structure on the Island's northern edge. Its windows were narrow and crisscrossed by iron bars.
It looked depressing enough to be the Island's prison.
Throngs of gaunt, emaciated men and women were standing in a grassy courtyard in front of the building. They were all dressed in white jumpsuits, stained gray by falling ash. Some were bowing down, mumbling prayers at the shadowy ship, barely visible in the sky. Others were singing merrily, rejoicing at their new-found freedom. Still others looked on with thousand yard stares, in shock, unable to comprehend what just happened.
Quill rushed up to the crowd of withered prisoners, scanning their soot-covered bodies to see if any one of them was holding a child.
"Do any of you know a girl named Junk? Have any of you seen her? I'm looking for her! Her name is Junk! Has anyone seen her?"
"Water! Please! Water!" Several prisoners shouted back, thrusting their arms out at Quill, shambling toward her like a mob of zombies.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Sejanus fired his rifle into the air. The crowd dispersed and he smiled at their panicked reaction.
"Please do not crowd the prophetess! She is searching for a child named Junk, daughter of the Khoi. Are any of you familiar with that child?"
The gaunt men and women mumbled to one another. They continued to mill about in the smoky courtyard, huddling together.
None answered.
"Junk!" Quill screamed into the crowd, undaunted by their silence. "Junk! Are you here? Can you hear me? Junk! Can you hear me?"
"Yes," a soft voice squeaked from behind the mob.
Quill pushed her way through the prisoners, over to the imposing gray building.
Toward the back of the crowd, nestled under the building's awning, was an old woman and a young girl. The girl looked no older than eight with dirty brown hair, rat-like eyes, and an ash-streaked face. Her white jumpsuit was filthy and crumpled. She glanced at Quill and then up at the old woman who was holding her.
The old woman was wearing a frumpy sweater and tan slacks instead of a prisoner's jumpsuit. She was very old, seventy or so, with a wrinkled face dotted with dark liver spots. She rocked the child back and forth in her arms.
"Are you Junk?" Quill slowly approached the trembling girl.
The little girl continued to stare into the old woman's eyes. Dust and ash wafted through the courtyard, fluttering her tangled hair. She looked over at Quill, nervously biting her lip.
"I'm Junk."
"Shhhh." The old woman clutched Junk tighter. "Stay quiet. Don't talk to her."
"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." Quill squatted down in front of the old woman. "I know her sister."
"Junika doesn't have a sister."
"Petal sent me to find her."
"Petal?" Junk's eyes lit up. Her face regained a bit of color. She started to squirm. "You - you know Petal?"
"My name's Quill. Petal and I are friends. She asked me to find you. I promised her I'd find you."
Junk writhed, trying to get off the old woman's lap. The woman wouldn't let go. Instead, she glared at Quill with venom.
Sejanus approached Quill and the others through the smoke. He smiled at the old woman and tapped the side of his rifle.
"Let go of the child, madam. She doesn't belong to you. She belongs with Ms. Clymene."
"No. She doesn't. I'm her grandmother. Junika is the only family I have left. Whoever you are, please don't take her from me."
Junk was still struggling in the old woman's grasp. She finally broke free and ran up to Quill, hugging her tightly.
Quill hugged Junk back, easing away a bit, so there wasn't any pressure on her belly. She stared at the old woman while stroking Junk's hair.
"I - I didn't know. Petal said Junk was an orphan. I didn't know she had a grandmother."
"Her name is Junika." The old woman slowly stood up. "I was invited to come here and take care of her until the S.S.S. released her."
"Oh." Quill took a large swallow. She had no idea what she should do. She let go of Junk and preened her hair nervously. "I - I thought that. . ."
"Look!" Junk darted away. She pointed up at the sky, excitedly. "It's Petal! See? It's Petal!"
Quill, Sejanus, the old woman, and all of the assembled prisoners followed Junk's finger up to the sky. A large platform cut through the smoky haze and hovered thirty feet overhead. A girl was standing on the edge of the platform, staring down at the crowd. She had fiery red hair and was wearing silver, tinfoilish clothing.
"Oh my God." The old woman watched dumbstruck as the platform descended and came to a gentle rest about a foot above the grassy courtyard.
Junk raced over to the platform. She hopped onto it and almost tackled Petal to the ground.
"Petal! I knew you'd find me! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!"
"I did too." Petal hugged Junk so tight, she couldn't breathe. She was crying. The two girls' tears mixed, streaming down each other's faces.
Surrendering S.S.S. men and nomads gathered around the courtyard in a semicircle. They stared at the trell and the two crying girls in disbelief.
Quill backed away from the old woman. She walked over to the trell and casually boarded it.
Petal pried Junk off her chest and approached Quill with a grin. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the bump on Quill's belly.
"Quill? What are you doing here? Is that - is that your baby?" Petal alternated her gaze between Quill's face and her belly. "Can I touch it?"
"Sure." Quill grabbed Petal's hand and pressed it to the bump. "I came here to find Junk. Are you okay? You've been gone for a long time. What happened to you?"
"Time is different in space." Petal pulled her hand away when she felt the baby kick.
"Time and space are quite the same actually." Sejanus winked. He'd climbed aboard the trell right after Quill. He pointed his rifle at the surrounding crowd, ensuring no one else would board it.
Petal went pale. She hid behind Quill.
Quill touched Petal's cheeks to try and calm her.
"It's okay. Sejanus helped me find Junk. We're friends now. He helped us."
"Oh. . .Thank you."
Sejanus knelt down on the trell, smiling at the three girls.
"I'm sorry I threatened you little one. I hope the gods are not angry with me for my transgression. I was blinded by my authority. Do you think they will be angry with me, goddess?"
Before Petal could answer, the trell shook. It was being pulled into the sky. As the nomads, S.S.S. men, and prisoners watched from the ground, the platform melded in with the clouds and was then swallowed whole by the hovering spaceship.
The spaceship's hangar doors closed around the trell and the craft began to float westward, toward Roc's soaring mountains.
The Kingdom of Roc
- 90-
Quill, Sejanus, and Junk peered around the Kingfisher's cavernous hangar in awe. Eight golden trell satellites hung overhead. Two entangled mechs lay heaped together in the far corner of the hangar, still and offline. The sound of Junk's excited footsteps echoed off the walls, over the faint hum of the wind, outside.
Petal was standing in the hangar too. She didn't look awestruck like the others, but elated. Her eyes had been locked on Junk ever since the girl boarded the trell. To her, Junk looked like an angel, a cherub who was glowing. She wished their moment together would never end.
"This place is wondrous." Sejanus laughed, staring up at the satellites and the golden force field that kept them locked in place. He shook his head, grinning. "Absolutely wondrous."
"It's called the Kingfisher." Petal smiled. "It's really big and really, really fast. It's a spaceship."
Quill walked up behind Petal and rubbed her shoulders.
"Is this where you've been? People said they saw you rise up from the sea on a trell, and that you were swallowed by an airship."
"Yep. I was headed off to space, but I got the ship to turn around so I could find Junk."
"Whoa. Look at those!" Junk ran over to the two entangled mechs, pointing at their twisted limbs, breathlessly. "Are those robots? Can you control them? Can you make them do stuff? Can I make them do things too?"
"No!" Petal raced after Junk, snatching her hand and dragging her away from the machines. "Don't touch them. They're robots but they're dangerous. Leave them alone."
Junk looked down at the floor with sad eyes.
"Okay."
Quill watched Petal mother Junk with a bemused smile.
"Where is this ship headed, captain?"
"I'll tell the ship - Seraphim - I'll tell her to drop you off somewhere safe."
"What about you, Petal?"
"I'm not Petal anymore. I'm Petal-Fatima. I remember everything about my parents and the Khoi now. I remember who my mother was, where we came from, our lives in Amanahora - everything back to the beginning of my people. I am my mother, but I'm still me. I'm both. My new name makes more sense. . .and I. . .I'm not going with you, Quill. I'm staying here. I'm staying on this ship. I'm going back to my people."
"You're not coming with us?"
Junk latched onto Petal's hand, pleading with her eyes. "Why - why aren't you coming with me? Why can't we stay together? You promised! You promised we'd always be together!"
"I don't belong here, Junk. I belong in space. Somewhere. This isn't my home. I'm an alien. I don't belong on Ea. I belong in the sky, with people like me."
"You're an alien?"
