by David Moody
“There they are!” Sam had her finger pressed against the screen. “Is Kalandar dead?”
“It looks like he’s sleeping, or trying to.” Thistle was as close to the screen as she could be without putting her nose through.
“Oh, for the love of God. You both realize you can enlarge that portion, right? Well, you wouldn’t, probably don’t even know what a wheel is. End of the world, and I’m stuck with a hick. Although I would imagine, sometimes it must be nice being that ignorant.”
“If you want to punch her, I won’t stop you,” Sam told Thistle.
For a while, nothing happened. And the young women turned their attention to the bogalites and the devastation they were bringing on the people who were running away. They made sure to pull the invisible lens away from those scenes.
“Still think they were helping? All I’m seeing are hundreds, maybe thousands, of people being slaughtered. Maddie might have been an unwitting participant, but that demon, he knew what he was doing. What better way to get rid of the last piece of resistance than have those bugs kill them.”
“The mountain had to come down, the temperature was soaring,” Sam said the words, but she wasn’t sure how confident in them she was.
Sandra put her hands out, palms up as in a balance maneuver. “Hmm, a demon and extra heat, seems like those two go together like caviar and champagne. Now all those poor people are needlessly dying.”
Sam stopped what she was doing to look over at her mother. “You almost had me there for a second. Yes, it is difficult to trust a demon, but between the two of you, I’ll take Kalandar until he proves me differently. You’ve already shown your only allegiance is to yourself. It was when you pretended to care for the people out there, I knew you were lying.”
“It was sarcasm, my sweet naïve child.”
“If you say so. Now, if you could, by any chance, keep your psychopathic mouth shut for a while, I, for one, would appreciate it.”
“As would I,” Thistle added.
“How dare you speak to me that way! I’m your mother!”
“Oh, I think you lost the right to use that against me the second you decided you were going to leave me behind at the station.”
“To fight?” Thistle asked.
“Oh, nothing quite so heroic. It was about to explode and she wanted to get to safety before it did.”
“That’s rough.”
“You’re telling me. I always looked up to her as a strong, independent woman. I just didn’t know that it was actually narcissism in disguise.”
“You can think of me how ever you want, you will anyway, but nothing you say changes the fact of what is going on out there. People are being killed, and your demon friend is taking a nap like he doesn’t have a care on the world.”
“She’s right, and I don’t like that she is.” Thistle had come over to whisper in Sam’s ear.
Sam was unsure of what to think. “Should we put the wall back up?”
“Can’t put the cat back in the bag, my dear. What you can do is make sure they don’t make it back here to finish what they started.”
“Maddie is out there.”
“And she’s a part of it, unwittingly or not. If she makes it back, so does he. I don’t think any of us want that,” Sandra pressed. “Right?” She looked to Thistle for an ally.
“Maddie is doing something…they’re moving!” Thistle pointed.
“What is she doing?”
“Looks like she’s trying to get back. You need to do something!” Sandra’s voice was rising toward shrill. “Kill them now.”
“Stop! I’m not—we’re not—going to kill them. I don’t know about Kalandar, but Maddie, she’s my friend. She saved me, saved all of us. Now if you can’t shut your mouth for five minutes, I’ll shut it for you!” Sam raised her hands as if in preparation to use magic, although she had no idea if that would work or what she would do if it did.
“They look like they’re in some sort of shield. Look at the way Maddie is holding her hands, and Kalandar is moving without moving.”
“Like he’s a passenger,” Sam said. “That proves they’re not working with the tick monsters. No need to protect yourself from your friends. Just your relatives.” She smirked at her mother.
“Is she…what is she doing?”
“Looks like she’s trying to crush them or something.” Sam enhanced the image.
“The one on top wasn’t crushed.”
“Electrified, maybe?” Sam couldn’t figure out exactly what Maddie was doing. She understood the desire to help, but she’d never be able to do enough to make a difference. There were so many of the monsters. Maddie was cutting a swath through them, but it was like trying to pick up all the rocks on the moon.
Thistle zoomed in closer. “She looks exhausted…she won’t be able to do this much longer.”
“They’re stuck,” Sam said flatly. She felt powerless. “Will they be all right?” It was a useless question, as no one had an answer. It was impossible to know the unknowable. Sam was startled when Maddie and Kalandar were launched into the air. “They did that to us too! Is he trying to crush her?”
“I think he’s trying to protect her.” Thistle was watching intently. “Something’s wrong.”
“You think?” Sandra’s question was dripping with sarcasm. “Two days ago, I was drinking a mimosa, reading a good book. Now we’re in the middle of whatever this is.”
“You see that?” Sam was trying to show Thistle something, but the image was jostling about so violently it was difficult to see. “I think it’s a crack or something. Whatever they are in, looks like it’s about to break.”
“Oh, the horror of it all,” Sandra said. “What?” she asked innocently. “I’m genuinely concerned.”
“I wish Maddie were here; she’d tell you the only thing you were genuinely concerned about was your skinny ass,” Sam said defiantly.
“We’re going to need to do something, Sam. That shell is getting ready to go, and by the way those things are attacking it, we can clearly see that neither of those people inside are friends of theirs.”
“The rings,” they said in unison.
“But what do we do?” Sam asked.
“Like two monkeys with sticks,” Sandra scoffed.
“We should be able to lift them out and to us.”
“How, though? Maddie was the one running the controls.”
“How hard could it be?” Thistle asked.
“Said monkey number two. You do realize that those very words are uttered before almost every calamity, right?”
“Mother, shut up!”
“Just trying to be helpful.”
“As if.”
“No time, Sam.” Thistle was hesitantly working the controls, gesturing above the rings and focusing on lifting. “I think I’ve got it.”
“The abounding confidence is reassuring. Are you sure you’re not getting ready to blow this hotel up?” Sandra was watching as the rings began to glow like television tubes.
Thistle stopped what she was doing. “You know, I’m not really sure. Perhaps you should find someplace safe to stay while we’re doing this.”
“Really? Where’s safe?”
“Outside might be the best option,” Sam said.
“Oh, you’re both hilarious. I’ll be sure to remind you of this conversation when we enter the spirit realm.”
“Doesn’t matter; we’ll be going in opposite directions.” Sam was helping Thistle as best she could, although she was less sure of her actions than the other.
“We need to hurry. The crack is getting worse.”
Sam and Thistle faced off against each other, passing power between them. It grew with each transfer until, finally, it felt strong enough to meld with the rings. Thistle heaved the illuminated bundle; it struck the first ring and instantly swirled around the entire of it, making it glow a bright purple. It flared strongly enough that the whole room was washed out in a flash of brilliance. The light was so inte
nse, Sam was concerned they were about to be vaporized. She could see through Thistle, as if she was standing in an x-ray machine. It somehow grew brighter, then, just as quickly, the room was plunged into relative darkness. Sam’s eye’s struggled to adjust; she could not see much more than the ghostly afterimage of Thistle, burned into her retinas.
“You all right?” Sam asked.
“We’re still alive?” Thistle wanted to know.
“I think so. I mean, I don’t really know.”
“I wonder what your stick swinging did.” Sandra had come closer.
“We must be, otherwise there’s no way she’d still be around,” Sam said. “Can you see the monitor? Are Maddie and Kalandar okay?”
“All I see are large purple blobs.”
“They’re gone,” Sandra said. “I kept my eyes closed; one tends to do that when they believe they are about to be blown up.”
“They’re dead?” Sam wailed.
23
THE MOON
“Are we dead?” Maddie’s vision was obscured by the thick smoke that swirled all around her. The only thing she could make out with any clarity was Kalandar, and that was because he was only three feet away and even he had a hazy effect to him.
“Not dead, but perhaps we will wish we were. Stay close.”
“I was just wondering if I should venture off on my own or stay near the fifteen-foot tall bodyguard.”
“Sarcasm?” Kalandar asked. Maddie nodded. “I enjoy sarcasm. Don’t get much of that where I’m from. Most demons take everything too literally; have to be very careful what you say. For instance, if you have to choose whether or not to do something you would rather not do and you answer with you would rather have your teeth pulled…you see where I’m going with this?”
“I think I get it.”
“We are,” he paused, “somewhere else.” Kalandar had squatted down and placed his hand on the ground.
“I thought you said you couldn’t take both of us.”
“I did not do this. It is likely that Thistle and Sam saw that we were in trouble.”
“Where we are, it’s bad?”
“It’s not good.” He stood and wiped his hands together, letting the scorched earth fall back to the ground.
“So, they saw we were on fire and doused us with gasoline?”
“For sarcasm, that is a good analogy. The Bleed has been here and recently. This is what remains once it has consumed all life.”
“Is this Earth?”
“No. Though I don’t know where we are; I can answer with certainty we are not on Earth.”
“How can you be so sure?”
As Kalandar pointed, a small breeze parted the smoke, revealing an enormous skeleton. It was larger than an elephant, though it more resembled something bipedal. It dwarfed Kalandar.
“Giants? What chance do we have if they lost?” Maddie could only shake her head.
“Let us see if we can find something to eat.”
“We’re just gonna go traipsing across the countryside? What about the Bleed?”
“They do not occupy; there is no sense in it. The Bleed leaves nothing behind to rule, unless it wishes to be worshipped. They will have torn this place asunder and moved on.”
“So, where are we going to find food?”
“We must find a habitat of some sort and hope that whatever these beings were, they understood the benefit of preserving food.”
Maddie was skeptical; even if they came across the giants’ version of canned food, the chances were it would be barely palatable at best and at worst, downright poisonous. “Do you speak giant?”
“Sarcasm?”
“Sadly, no. I’m saying, if we come across food, how are we going to know what it is?”
“My thought was to let you be my taste tester.” At no time did he say he was joking as he began to walk. Maddie shook her head as she followed.
Maddie was having a difficult time getting used to the unnatural quiet. Even in the vacuum of her moon, there had been noise: the crinkle of the spacesuit, her regular breathing, the static of the radio…it was a cacophony by comparison. Besides their footfalls, there was nothing, not even the buzzing of a bloodthirsty black fly. That sound, while not particularly welcome, would, at the minimum, be something, anything, to indicate that even the tiniest bit of life remained.
“Is there anything here?”
“Not so much as a single-celled organism, virus, or bacteria. They have all been wiped out. This planet is effectively sterile.”
Maddie couldn’t help herself as tears fell from her eyes. She hadn’t known any of the inhabitants of this planet, she wasn’t even sure what sort of species they were, but they had to have had hopes and dreams, and even if they weren’t evolved enough for that, they would have wanted to survive and live their lives as they saw fit.
“Do not cry. If we can stop the Bleed, this planet will, at some time in the distant future, contain life again. It is in the nature of things.”
“And if we can’t? Stop it, I mean.”
“Then what will it matter?”
They walked in silence for a while. In the distance were towering mountains, and in front of them, the remnants of sky-scraping structures.
“Food,” the word seemingly grumbled from Kalandar’s stomach.
“Then what? You regain your strength and leave me here?”
“One problem at a time. And yes, it might come to pass that I have to leave you for a while, but only until I can find my way back to the portal from which we were sent.”
“Is it possible that Sam and Thistle will pull us back?”
“Unlikely. They either do not know where they sent us, or they can no longer operate the machinery.”
“Meaning what?”
“Does that need explaining?”
“No.” Maddie was feeling petulant. “If you go back and they’re gone, can you operate the rings on your own?”
“I can.”
“If they are gone, are you going to bring me back?”
Kalandar stopped short as he pondered the question. “If they are indeed dead, the odds of success—which were hardly above dismal—drops much closer to zero. I would have to weigh whether it would still be in my best interests to pursue the rebellion, such as it is.”
“Please don’t leave me here.” Maddie could think of nothing worse than being on a cold, dead rock. “If they are gone, please send me somewhere that has life.”
“These are difficult issues without clear answers, and I do not have enough information. I cannot and will not make a promise I may not be able to keep. I will give you this, though; I will think upon your request, should the need arise.” He’d offered her so little, yet she was grateful for it.
Maddie was bone-weary when Kalandar called for a halt. The spires in the distance hardly felt as if they’d grown any closer. She was hungry; there was no doubt about that, but she was acutely aware of just how thirsty she was. There was the beginning of an ache behind her eyes, her heart was racing a little too fast, and as tired as she was, she was unsure if she’d be able to sleep. Her training for the moon mission had extensively talked about dehydration and its effects. Tomorrow, she knew, if she didn’t get some water, her head was going to be pounding and she’d begin to weaken exponentially. If the city ahead of them was the only source, she didn’t see how she could possibly make it.
After finally falling asleep, Maddie was awakened by a wailing off in the distance. Kalandar rustled and sat straight up. “That’s not right.”
“What is it?” Maddie’s heart was beating so furiously in her chest that it physically hurt as it slammed against her ribs. It had been quiet for so long; this felt like whistling in a haunted house and getting a response. A long black line was on the horizon, blotting out what little sunlight was still present. Maddie’s hair first began to flutter and then whip.
“A storm is coming.”
“That’s a storm?” Thick, straight, cobalt blue streaks pounded d
own from on high. The concussive force of the strike shook the ground, and it was still many miles off. “Looks more like a weapon,” Maddie added. Though, she admitted to herself, there was no way she could know what a storm on an alien planet looked like.
“Who would deploy the weapon, and against what enemy?”
Maddie was thinking on Earth’s history and all the nations that used to rattle their swords by detonating nuclear weapons. They called it “testing” but that was more of an accepted lie than a truth.
The blackness was encroaching, and as it did, it began to lengthen and heighten. “We cannot outrun it.” Kalandar was swinging his head back and forth.
Maddie hadn’t even contemplated the notion; she didn’t have enough strength within her to do so. “If it is a storm, there could be rain.”
“Rain merely means precipitation from the sky, not necessarily what you’re hoping for falls. For instance, on Venus, the rain consists of sulphuric acid.”
“No shit, Copernicus.” Maddie was angry now. The lack of water was making it difficult to think straight, and Kalandar raining on her parade wasn’t making it any better. She smirked at her internal word-smithery. The wind had begun to pick up dramatically; her clothes were rippling and her hair was flowing to the back. The cobalt columns had grown in number and intensity.
“This does not look good.”
“Hurricane-force winds, giant lightning, and possibly sulphuric acid rain? What’s not good about it? Got any ideas on how we’re going to survive this?” She’d been using sarcasm as a defensive measure since she was a child, but she was hoping that Kalandar actually did have something up his considerable sleeve. When she looked over at him and his eyebrows were furrowed in a worried expression, she realized just how fucked they were. She now had to lean into the driving wind to keep from being pushed back; soon she would have to sit and possibly lie prostrate to keep from being blown away like so much chaff. “Any chance you can make one of those little bubbles?”