Endeavor

by Scott McElhaney

  I pointed at him and grinned just then, “You know what? You’re right. There’s an elevator in there behind that curtain. I think you should go in there and go take a peek.”

  “Come with me. If you help me, I promise to share credit on such a discovery,” he seemed to be truly glad he got that info from me.

  “Sorry, Bud,” I turned to Crickett and put my arm around her, “I’ve just been banished eternally from the chapel. You’re on your own. Let’s get out of here, Crickett.”

  “No, hold on! I have several questions!” he hollered as the two of us headed back to her vehicle, “Don’t you want to see your parents again? Together we can make it happen!”

  Neither of us looked back as we got into the vehicle and made for a hasty escape.

  SEVENTEEN

  “What are you thinking right now, Vastian?” she asked.

  The two of us were lying on our backs on the thick grass of City-Central Park. The overlapping squeals of kid’s laughter filled the air around us since the spot we chose was about twenty yards away from the large playground. There was a weathered picnic table just a few feet to my left and a massive maple tree that shot toward the sky about ten yards beyond our feet.

  Prior to her question, we’d been lying there next to each other in silence as we watched the birds passing in the sky above us. The ride from the chapel was also spent in silence. I hadn’t spoken for fear that I had truly embarrassed her and upset her. She hadn’t spoken perhaps because she really was upset.

  “I’m so sorry, Crickett. I don’t know what came over me,” I muttered.

  She didn’t respond for a moment. I wondered if she was sincerely that angry with me.

  “Well, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost my mother or even Harrion. I do know that I wouldn’t be rational. I’m quite certain that I’d be inconsolable until I found them again,” she said, “You’re holding up so much better than I would be. But your reaction earlier… if you truly believed that was some magical elevator that delivered food to your world… well, I think anyone would have done the exact same thing that you did when you ran toward that curtain. I don’t begrudge you for that.”

  “Then why aren’t you talking to me?” I asked, almost as a whine.

  “Because I’m scared that I’m losing you,” she turned onto her side to face me, “After all, you tried to run to the perceived exit without so much as a simple ‘good bye’. That’s also why I thought you didn’t really love me.”

  I rolled onto my side to face her. I reached over and tucked that thick strand of hair that covered her eyes behind her ear.

  “I totally get it. I can’t even explain what I did in there. It was a gut reaction that wasn’t the slightest bit thought out. I saw an exit and I saw my mother crying,” I explained, “And let’s imagine I made it back to my world. After hugging my mother, I’d suddenly remember you and go insane with my broken heart all over again. You can bet I’d have come back, but this time I’d have had the time to at least warn my family that I was leaving. I’d have really come back for you, Crickett. And you know why? Because I love you.”

  She took a hold of my hand, “Then say it again.”

  “I love you, Crickett.”

  She closed the distance between us, kissing me sweetly. Then she cupped my face in her hands, causing me to fall back onto the grass again. She scooted closer, never breaking free from the kiss while I drew her onto me. The gentle flick of her tongue against the tip of my own drew a moan from me as I took her fully into my arms.

  “Don’t leave me,” she breathed against my lips.

  My left hand cupped the back of her head while I held her at the waist with my right. Between kisses, I finally managed a reply.

  “Then help me forget my past,” I whispered.

  “How?” she bit my bottom lip.

  “Moment’s like this,” I chuckled, “I couldn’t remember how to navigate a ship even if you sat me at my terminal again.”

  “Ship?”

  “Well, you know. We’re imagining things,” I replied.

  She kissed me on the lips, then drew back while she looked at me, “Snow globe. I’ve heard a whole lot of weird stuff in the past twenty-four hours. Look me in the eyes and tell me that we aren’t on a ship.”

  “Kiss me again,” I leaned toward her lips but she drew further back.

  “Vastian! Really?” she pleaded, “Just say it so that I can feel better.”

  “Say what?”

  “Tell me we aren’t on a ship. Just look me in the eyes and say it!” she insisted with pleading eyes.

  “We both know I’m from another world, Crickett. It’s alright to admit that-”

  “Is this a ship?” she blurted, “Yes or no!”

  I looked up at this beautiful woman in my arms. She was truly a blessing that I needed to be thankful for. And I really was thankful for her. I wanted nothing to mess this up. But at the same time, she demanded answers and so far, I’d never lied to her.

  “Kiss me and I promise to answer you,” I pleaded, hoping to steal one more kiss before she ran away from me forever.

  She looked at me for a moment, then I noticed that beautiful smirk appearing. She finally returned her lips to my own. I clutched her tightly to me, kissing her more hungrily than I had before. I savored those velvet lips and that gentle sweet tongue for as long as I could before she finally drew back and breathed those words against my lips.

  “Ship?”

  “Yes, you and I are on a ship,” I whispered.

  “No,” she breathed.

  “Yes, and not an ocean ship either,” I said, pulling her to me.

  She rested her head on my shoulder as I held her tightly.

  “Outer space? That makes no sense,” she replied, “What about these trees and that gentle breeze?”

  “I can’t explain that. I’m currently learning as we go. What I can tell you is that the man you’re holding is for all intents and purposes one of the pilots of this ship,” I whispered near her ear.

  “You mean that you aren’t just someone who knows? You’re actually a freaking pilot of my world? You’re flying this enormous enigma?” she seemed to growl.

  “Not anymore. I accidentally discovered this… this… well, this world where you live,” I said, “As far as I knew, none of this existed.”

  “This,” she gestured toward the park, “Everything around us. My apple farm. Drury Farms. Me. This picnic table. You piloted a ship never knowing that any of this was part of your ship?”

  “Crickett, please keep in mind that I’m merely seventeen. This ship most certainly isn’t mine. And it was apparently designed to create a government that maintained the ship’s ultimate purpose. It was designed in such a way to keep both worlds from knowing about the other while guiding us toward a planet that we could survive on. No, I never knew about you. I doubt any of my people knew about you.”

  She rolled off of me and as I turned to her, I found her looking up at the sky. I was still surprised that she hadn’t pushed me aside and chosen to run back home.

  “Let’s just be serious for a moment. That bird in the sky over there to the left. That bird had flown past us how many times? Is it a projection? Do we even have a sky?” she asked.

  “Are you asking me to guess? If you think I know any facts, I honestly don’t.”

  “Yes, tell me what you think of that sky.”

  I looked up at that beautiful blue sky, then released a groan. I was pretty certain about what I believed, but I wondered if she was prepared to hear those beliefs.

  “I believe that sky is fake. You are watching a VidFilm somehow wrapped around this entire world,” I said, turning to her, “Now do you really believe I’d hide anything from you? I’m telling you what I truly believe!”

  She sighed, “Did you know that it only rains at night? Well, besides the day after an offering to the Great Harvester. It’s weird, right?”

  “Yeah, we never see anything about these offerings in VidFilm
s and I’ve seen a few VidFilms where it rains all the time.”

  She rolled onto her side again and looked at me, “Take me to see your world. I wouldn’t want to stay, but I’d like to see where you’ve lived all these years.”

  I turned to her and smiled, “I’d love to. First, we need to find a way to open the door.”

  “Do you know where the door is?” she asked, plucking a blade of grass from the lawn between us.

  “Yes, but for the time being, it’s unreachable,” I replied.

  “For the time being?”

  I pondered how I could explain to her what I’d gathered together in my mind so far. So much of what we understood about the world around us was different due to our separately unique upbringing.

  “I have to believe that things will somehow adjust once we reach our new home because we’re supposed to meet together when that day comes. I can’t imagine all my people leaping into that pond like I’d done,” I explained.

  “Wait, I’m confused. We’re going to meet up with another ship and then start living there?” she asked, “And is the door you came through up on top of that mountain with the waterfall?”

  “Yeah, the door’s close to there. And no, we’re actually going to another planet. Our home world, Earth, had become unlivable. It was struck by a huge comet back in the time of my great grandparents. We’ll reach this planet fairly soon according to the last charts I’d seen. We’re just outside of the small Kapteyn star system, so I’m expecting to witness the landing while I’m still young enough to enjoy it.”

  “You’re totally being serious. This…” she gestured all around us, “This isn’t the Earth and as a matter of fact, Earth has been destroyed?”

  “Just like we all learned in school about the dinosaur-killer asteroid that slammed into the Gulf of Mexico sixty-five million years. Something similar happened again like eighty-some years ago.”

  “If that’s the case, then my grandpa probably knows that this is all fake and he’d been contributing to the charade!” she growled, “Why would he lie to us?”

  “How old is your grandpa?” I asked.

  “Upper 70’s if I remember right.”

  I shook my head, “No, that means he was born here. And you can bet his parents were of the last generation that knew this was an interstellar ship. It was your great grandparents who knew and probably didn’t tell your grandpa. Same goes for me. My great grandparents probably knew about this portion of the ship, but never shared that information with the next generation for some reason.”

  “Wow, you’re probably right. But why allow us to live ignorant inside a spaceship?” she asked.

  “I really don’t know, but I definitely believe the ignorance of these last few generations was caused intentionally. I think that first generation had a reason for it, but I can’t even imagine what that was.”

  She began plucking more blades of grass individually while we lie there facing each other. The happy screams coming from the playground warmed me inside. I’d never forgotten the immense joy of my toddler years and I now had to wonder if those children on the playground would be so sad and brokenhearted if they’d known their home world had been destroyed. Or how would they feel to discover that they could very likely live out their entire lives captive aboard a spacecraft. Granted, this generation would most definitely set foot on Kapteyn C, but the prior generations had a good chance that they would actually die without ever leaving the confines of the ship. I wonder if that thought played a part in keeping these people in ignorance.

  “You mentioned for the time being that you couldn’t reach the door, but you believe that’s temporary?” she asked.

  “Yeah, with the sort of mechanics that surely exist inside that elevator, I wonder if there’s something that will adjust so that door can be easily accessed when we arrive at our new home. Maybe there will be an elevator or stairs that appear once the waterfall shuts off.”

  “Waterfalls don’t shut off. Wait, the waterfall isn’t natural, right?” she asked.

  “Exactly,” I agreed.

  “Well, then can we go investigate it after lunch?” she asked.

  “Sure!” I grinned, “What’s for lunch.”

  “I know just the place!”

  EIGHTEEN

  We had chosen a table near the window inside a restaurant that was completely devoted to multiple varieties of fried chicken and something I’d never heard of before called jo-jos. The juicy fried chicken was breaded in the most wonderfully crispy crust that crumbled all over my plate when I took that first bite. The jo-jos turned out to be thin and crispy fried potato wedges that were breaded in something also very delicious. I’d never had such a delicious meal in my entire life and I’d said as much to Crickett.

  “Yeah, this is one of my favorite places to eat, especially when I’m spending the day at City-Central Park,” she said, biting into one of the jo-jos.

  “How often have you found yourself enjoying the park in the same way we were today?” I asked, chewing on that juicy bite of chicken breast.

  She cocked an eyebrow as she seemed to examine me, “Are you asking me about all my past lovers? There were too many to count!”

  I laughed, “No, really! Surely I’m not the only guy who thought you were the most beautiful woman on the entire… well, the entire planet as far as anyone else is concerned.”

  “Thank you for your kind words, but I’ve only ever kissed one other guy and he was my boyfriend last year. I really don’t get away from the orchard all that much which was part of the reason the relationship didn’t last,” she said, “Even now, I’ve got to warn you that the apples are my responsibility and I work sometimes six days a week. If you can accept that, then I see no reason why we can’t be together forever.”

  “As near as I can tell, I’ve got nothing else to occupy my time for the rest of my days here,” I replied.

  “Then welcome to forever!” she laughed.

  NINETEEN

  On the way to the pond, we stopped by her house to grab a ladder from the barn. She also wanted to bring her electronic pad in case her mother tried to reach her for anything. Their pads permitted text communication like ours did. Probably all the tech on both sides of this ship was identical.

  I didn’t recognize the Metroparks parking lot from before, but at the time, I was being rushed into the back of an ambulance so I didn’t really pay attention to much. She parked close to an opening into the nearby woods. I could see a wide gravel path that had been clearly designed for hikers. As a matter of fact, two people had just come out of the woods and were heading over toward one of the vehicles.

  “If these woods have a walking path going through them, why would people be allowed to hunt in there?” I asked, “Someone could get hit by a stray bullet.”

  “No one hunts in these woods. I doubt anyone hunts anywhere for that matter,” she said as she got out of the vehicle.

  “What about those two men who found us at the pond?” I asked, getting out of the vehicle and circling around to the back where we’d tied the ladder.

  “The guys in camo pants?” she asked, “They were National Guard. They were running sniper drills in the woods, I’d heard one of them say.”

  I chuckled as I untied the ladder, then dragged it from the back of the vehicle.

  “What’s funny?” she asked.

  “Think about it. Snipers need to be good at being invisible. You can bet that they’d been hiding in the woods pretending that the hikers were bad guys,” I said, then thought of something, “But wouldn’t they have seen you being brought to the pond by your captor?”

  “He didn’t bring me here via this path. He had a house up against the other side of these woods. My hands were tied and I had a gag over my mouth as he carried me over his shoulder. I knew that the time had come when he would drown me like the others,” she said as we both headed into the woods.

  “I’m so sorry you went through all that, Crickett,” I said.

  “
Hey, you changed the whole outcome of that one. I managed to get my hands free, but a whole lot of good that did me. I did land a few good punches though,” she said proudly.

  We didn’t talk anymore about it as we followed the winding trail through the dark woods. We discussed our plans to investigate the waterfall and the cliff face rather than dwell on the details of that painful morning. We came to the pond with the waterfall about five minutes later.

  I immediately took to studying the miniature mountain after I set the ladder down onto the lush grass. The non-angular shape of this rocky cliff was designed in such a way to ensure no one could easily climb it without proper climbing equipment or at least a tall ladder. The thorny shrubbery along the sides also posed as a painful obstacle that served not only to protect the cliff from climbers, but it also probably protected the front wall of the ship itself from being discovered. After all, we weren’t that far from the bridge when comparing it to the world below. If those shrubs weren’t there, I’d probably find a wall about twenty or thirty yards in that general direction. I’d bet there were thorny shrubs encircling the whole base of this ‘snow globe’.

  I turned just then to check on Crickett since I hadn’t heard from her in a little while. I located her seated on the grass watching me with a bit of sadness in her expression. I walked over to her and sat down next to her.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, putting my arm around her.

  “Just feeling some anxiety over the memories of that day. I don’t want to go near the water if that’s okay with you,” she replied.

  I tugged her close in a side-hug, “Of course that’s okay. Just know that I’ve got your back, okay?”

  She looked at me with a forced smile as she nodded, “Maybe I’ll sit here and text my mom. Besides, I need to see if she’s still mad at me for sleeping with you last night.”

  I laughed at her choice of words. If the wrong person had been eavesdropping, they’d think we had spent the night doing a lot more than what we really did. I slipped off my shoes and socks, then rose up from the ground and grabbed the ladder from the grass nearby. I then approached the pond and took a step into the water near the flat face of the cliff. The waterfall was crashing into the pond just about twenty feet away from me where the water was deeper. My feet sunk into the mud just a little, then seemed to rest on flat bedrock. I took that opportunity to set the base of the ladder into the knee-deep water, then I propped it up against the cliff.