by Ike Hamill
She shook her head again.
“Can you hand me a glass? I need some water,” Robby said.
“We’re on bottled stuff now,” Romie said. She pulled a bottle from the fridge and put it on the counter.
Robby raised his eyebrows as he cracked open the bottle and took a sip.
Romie sighed and explained. “There was quite a dustup after the conference call last night. Jim was spying on Brad’s messages. Brad took Jim’s tablet away from him. Jim tried to sneak out. Janelle woke up, then I woke up. In the end, Brad told us all that there might be a water issue up in Donnelly and we decided to resort to bottled water until everything gets cleared up.”
“Fair enough, although I doubt there’s a problem down here or in Donnelly. I think it’s only way up north for the moment.”
“And we should take a chance?”
“No,” Robby said. “Bottles are a good precaution. I know we don’t have that many lying around though. We might have to look into replenishing the supply. Maybe we can bottle our own once we know everything is right again.”
Romie yawned and nodded.
“So, back to my theory,” Robby said. He made a face as he took another bite of pie.
“Sometime after the electromagnetic issue was discovered, we first began to see the mark on the moon. Hopefully, Ashley can come up with some answers once she reaches a better telescope. In addition to the moon, she’ll be looking at Mars and Jupiter. I haven’t yet come up with a way that the two things are related. I’m not saying that they’re not, I just can’t come up with it.”
“You’re not as sharp as you used to be,” Romie said.
“Thanks. So, now, this new issue. The water up north is not reacting to heat in a predictable way?”
“Right,” Romie said.
“The question is, do we know about everything yet?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if there are gravitational anomalies out west? What if light doesn’t act the way it should out in the ocean? Do we have to begin questioning all of our basic understanding about physics and the natural world?”
“What, like, go out and start inventing things to be concerned with? Can’t you just settle for the problems that we’re actually facing?”
“I’m looking for more information. I’m looking for a single, underlying cause for all these things that we can address or fix. If we don’t figure that out, what are the odds that it won’t start to really affect us?”
“There were too many questions in that burst. I didn’t follow you at all,” Romie said. “You know how I feel about all this—work on the problems that you can touch. If there’s an electrical whatever out in the jungle, then don’t go in the jungle with a flashlight. If the water’s not safe to drink way up north, then don’t go up there without water to spare. As far as the moon is concerned, I don’t think we have any missions scheduled any time soon.”
“We can’t afford to sit back and let things happen to us, Romie. We don’t have the luxury of complacency.”
“We don’t have the energy to spare chasing ghosts,” she said. “Remember, if we double the population, we don’t have a way to feed everyone.”
“We can scale up production. That problem is already solved.
“Theoretically,” Romie said. “You and Brad both say the same thing, but you’re using leftover parts and tools from the old world. What happens when all that stuff breaks down and you can’t make more of it?”
“Yeah,” Robby said with a sigh. He pushed the pie plate away. As terrible as it was, he had done a pretty good job of mopping it up. The sugar influx made him sleepy.
“For someone as smart as you are, you’re ignoring something big, Robby.”
“Yeah?” he asked.
“You figured out how to chase off the ball of light, right? Where did you get that info?”
Robby blinked.
“And then the churn—where did you get that info?”
“I don’t understand,” Robby started to say.
“From other people,” Romie said, interrupting him. “Your insight into the big ball of light was from those symbols. What you figured out about the churn was from all our memories.”
The light in the hall came on. Robby looked up and expected to see Lisa. He remembered that she was still down south, beyond the Outpost.
They heard Brad’s cane and then saw him come around the corner.
“Morning,” Brad said.
“Good morning,” Robby said.
“Figured you wouldn’t be here until noon.”
Robby nodded. “I’m going to take a nap. You think you guys can be ready to hit the road in a couple of hours?”
“All of us?” Romie asked.
Robby nodded again. “Like you said, it might take all of us to figure this one out.”
“I said that?”
Chapter 21: Ashley
“How are we going to find our way back?” Ashley asked.
Her question hung in the air for a moment.
Tim took his backpack off his shoulders and took out a handsaw.
“This is the only thing I can think of,” he said. “We can guess the time of day, right? If we cut down a tree that lets the sun in, then we can use the angle of the sun to figure out approximately which way north is. We keep heading north until we find the river.”
“As long as we’re not already too far west,” Ashley said. “If we’re already past the bend…”
“Then we’ll miss the river,” Lisa said. “So why not head northeast? It might take a little longer, but we can’t miss.”
Ashley glanced at both of them. They were all in agreement.
“Is it safe to cut one down now?” Ashley asked. She looked off in the direction that they had heard the noise.
“The thing is gone. It’s as safe as it will ever be,” Tim said.
The skepticism on Lisa’s face mirrored the way that Ashley felt. Tim jumped up and began to scout for a tree. After shaking one, he started cutting. They took turns, sawing for a few moments until their muscles burned and then they handed off to the next person. The tree wasn’t very thick, but the wet fibers gummed up the blade quickly. Soon enough, they were toppling the tree. Above, the canopy closed in, giving them a tiny view at the sky. The sun was low enough that the none of the rays hit the ground. They had to determine the direction by looking at where the sun hit the adjacent tree limbs.
“So we all agree that east must be that way,” Lisa said.
“Approximately,” Ashley said.
“Close enough,” Tim added.
“Let’s mark off north on a few trees and then plot the direction that we’re going to head first thing in the morning,” Lisa said.
Ashley dug out her can of paint. She used a different color from Tim’s, just so there wouldn’t be any confusion. While she plotted out their course for the next day, Lisa and Tim began clearing an area big enough for the tents.
“I’m going to scout a little,” Ashley said, “and maybe forage.”
“Wait,” Lisa said. “Take this.”
She had tied one end of her spool of string to a tree. Ashley smiled as she took the spool from Lisa. There was no use arguing based on the look on Lisa’s face. It didn’t matter that Ashley had been exploring the woods all her life. Lisa clearly wouldn’t be happy unless Ashley was physically tethered to the campsite.
She clipped the spool to her belt and began to hike.
Ashley backtracked, trying to follow the trail that they had left. She wondered idly if it would be possible to simply follow their own footprints back the next day. One day shouldn’t be enough to completely erase their trail.
Darkness closed in around her as she entered a part of the forest where the canopy was low. Ashley took a sharp turn to hunt for signs of wildlife.
“I should have brought Penny,” she whispered to herself.
Almost like it was in response to her whisper, Ashley heard birdsong on the air. She straightened up and spun around,
trying to spot the perpetrator. The bird was lost in the leaves.
“Still, that’s a good sign,” she whispered.
Ahead, something white caught her eye. Ashley ducked under low branches that were heavy with thick leaves. The ground was covered in soft moss. From the bed of green, white mushrooms poked up. She picked one and turned it over.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she told the mushroom. “You belong in grassland.”
It looked right and smelled right, but the species didn’t typically grow in shady moss. Ashley shook her head and tossed the mushroom back to the ground. She continued on. The patch of dark woods didn’t last all that long. Letting out some more string from the spool, Ashley veered again and stepped out under tall trees again. Ahead, she found a tree with thick leaves that almost hid the orange fruit.
Circling the tree, one limb hung down far enough that she could pluck one. Round and fragrant, Ashley took a deep breath of the citrus. She peeled it carefully and squeezed a drop of juice on her finger. It tasted as sweet and sugary as the fragrance promised.
Shoving it in her bag, she looked for more. In the settlements, there were a few orange trees, carefully cultivated and kept indoors. None of the fruit they produced were as big and juicy as the ones she saw above. Ashley collected three more before she had to climb. For a moment, she paused, wondering if she should head back with what she had.
It was too good of an opportunity to waste. If the fruit was as good as she thought, it could be a valuable addition to the food they had packed. Ashley got a grip on a low branch and pedaled her feet up the trunk of the tree until she could hook a leg over.
The string snagged and the spool dropped below.
Ashley climbed anyway.
Her bag was about half full of oranges when she heard the noise. It almost sounded like a low growl. It came from above. She froze and studied the leaves overhead. Until the shadow shifted, Ashley didn’t see it. Then, all she really focused on was the eyes. They almost glowed with bright intensity.
She didn’t hesitate. Ashley swung her legs down, flipping over to grab the branch on the way down. Her hand slipped, and the limb sprung back up when she fell. The leaves rattled above as Ashley hit the jungle floor. The spool of string was right next to her.
Grabbing the spool, Ashley sprang to her feet and ran. She chased the line of string back to the low branches, ducked under, and followed the string to the left. She ran at full speed past the mushrooms and then burst back out onto the trail.
The string ended.
Panting, she glanced back to see if the thing was following her.
She didn’t see anything moving in the dark part of the forest.
The end of the string below her looked like a clean cut. From somewhere in the woods, she heard the sound of careful footsteps. Nothing looked familiar, but she couldn’t stay where she was. Ashley picked a direction that seemed logical and she ran. Her heart thudded and she felt like she couldn’t catch her breath as panic flooded through her.
She cupped her hands to her mouth and was about to scream for help when she heard a welcome noise.
Penny barked.
The second time the dog barked, Ashley pointed herself toward the noise and ran again. She saw a footprint in the dirt. A moment later, she picked out one of the painted marks on a tree. Ashley burst through the leaves and found the tents.
Doubled over, she panted.
“You okay?” Lisa asked.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Chasing. There’s a big cat, I think.”
“Cat?”
“Like panther, or something.”
Lisa and Tim looked at each other and then back to her. Tim looked down at Penny. The dog sat at his side.
“You’re sure?” Tim asked.
“Let’s get a fire going,” Lisa said. “Maybe it will be frightened by fire.”
Tim nodded.
Her lungs ached as Ashley tried to catch her breath. She remembered the spool of string and started to wind it back in. Remembering the severed end, she moved to the tree that she had tied it around. There was no sign of the string.
“Did you untie this?” she asked Lisa.
“What? Why would I do that? I’m the one who insisted you use it.”
Ashley nodded. “I guess I didn’t tie it well enough.”
Tim crawled into his tent when the sun set. Lisa and Ashley stayed out by the fire. All the wood was so wet, it was difficult to keep it going. The sticks produced more smoke than flame.
Lisa moved closer to Ashley so they could whisper.
“When you were gone, he put another mark on his leg. That’s why he has so many, he doesn’t seem to realize that he’s putting them on all the time.”
Ashley nodded. “So, can we trust ourselves? How do we know when we’re starting to act crazy?”
“Good question. I think we just have to get out of here as fast as possible. Something else strange happened when you were gone. I found this inside the tent.”
Lisa reached back to her bag and produced an orange. It looked exactly like the ones that Ashley had picked from the tree. They had shared a couple with their dinner that night. Ashley didn’t know how, but apparently Lisa had grabbed one and put it in her own bag.
“Aunt Lisa, that’s one that I picked.”
“No, I know that’s what it looks like, but I found it inside the tent. We must have packed it in there before we left.”
“How is that possible?”
“It’s not, unless this isn’t our first night here. I can only guess that somehow we lost an entire day and night, you know?”
“No. That doesn’t make sense. We would remember.”
“Sure, just like Tim would remember that he has already made a mark on his leg.”
Ashley found her bag and reached in to pull out the windup clock. The thing could run forever on one winding, but it had already stopped. She put it to her ear and then frowned at it.
“Great. I don’t even have a time reference. Should we try to go now? Maybe it’s too dangerous to even stay the night,” Ashley said.
“We won’t be able to see a thing,” Lisa said. “None of this wood is even good enough to make a torch out of. Besides, if you really did see a panther, it would be too dangerous. They hunt at night, I believe.”
Ashley shivered at the thought.
Before they climbed into their tent, they banked up the fire with more damp wood.
Ashley woke up as soon as the light began to brighten the walls of their tent. She shook Lisa gently and then moved to put on her shoes and unzip the flap of the tent. She was almost afraid at what she might find outside. Everything looked normal enough. The fire had gone out at some point without even consuming the rest of the logs. Ashley kicked the bones of the fire with her toe and wondered if it would burn better now. If they weren’t headed out, it might make sense to pack some of the wood now that it was scorched and dried.
Looking up, she was disappointed. The canopy had closed up the hole they had made when they cut down the tree.
If they wanted to verify Lisa’s painted marks, they were going to have to cut down another one.
Tim emerged from his tent.
Penny bounded out and headed to snuffle around in the woods.
“I’ll be right back,” he said.
Ashley headed the other direction with the same intention. She relieved herself and then met Tim back at the tents.
“I think we’re going to have to cut down another tree,” he said.
She nodded.
“I was just thinking the same thing.” Once she said it out loud, it bothered Ashley that she and Tim had come to the same conclusion. He had been acting crazy. Did this mean that she was now as crazy as he was?
Lisa finally emerged from the tent.
“I’ll get the saw,” Tim said.
“What for?” Lisa asked. “We know which way to go.”
“I thought we agreed that we were going to verify,” Ashley said.
Lisa let out an exasperated sigh.
Ashley moved closer to her. “Are you okay?” she whispered.
“Of course I am,” Lisa said. She said it exactly like Romie would have.
“You look like you barely slept.”
Lisa blinked slowly, fixing her eyes on Ashley. “Who can sleep out in the middle of the jungle with a panther stalking us?”
Ashley nodded.
They both turned at the sound of Tim beginning to saw down another tree.
Lisa finished packing while Ashley and Tim worked on the tree. When it started to topple, Ashley worked alone so Tim could hold Penny out of the way. The dog barked as the tree creaked and then fell.
Lisa pointed up. “See? Same. Can we go now?”
Ashley stared up, trying to make sense of what she was looking at.
“Hello?” Lisa asked. “Is that enough verification? The sun is pointing that way, which means that the direction we decided on last…”
She slowed down and eventually stopped talking.
“Yeah,” Ashley said.
Tim started and then trailed off. “This place…”
“Can someone make sense of this for me?” Lisa asked.
“No. I can’t,” Ashley said. “It’s morning, and yet somehow the sun is at exactly the same angle as it was at sunset last night.”
“It’s like the whole world was turned around,” Tim said. “North is south now.”
“Which way do we go?” Lisa asked. “We have to try to follow our own trail, right? We have the painted marks. We can use those.”
“Assuming they don’t go in a circle,” Tim said.
Lisa, Tim, and Penny all began to wander toward the next paint mark in the distance.
Ashley paused for a moment, trying to think through the idea that popped into her head before she said it out loud. The premise was too unstable. She couldn’t make a solid argument based on it.
They both turned to her when she spoke.
“You guys go back,” Ashley said. “I think we have to split up.”
Lisa didn’t speak—she only shook her head.
“Listen,” Ashley said. “If Tim is crazy—sorry, Tim—then we all are at this point. The hard truth is that we can’t trust ourselves, right? What we’re observing doesn’t make any kind of rational sense, so either the whole world is crazy or we’re crazy. Which is more likely?”