by Lynn Moon
Takoda’s taking pictures with his cell phone. It’s then a thought hits me.
“These are the original Elders!”
My great grandmother nods.
“Where’s the lady who guided the original ships?” I ask.
She points to a woman standing tall and proud above the others. She’s holding a staff decorated with red and golden gems. Her long black hair curls around her arms. Her black uniform is similar to my school uniform. She’s wearing the same hat as the one I wear every day. Two couples stand at her side.
“This is the mother of the original two?” I ask. “Oh, what were their names?” I say trying to remember. “Oh yes, Rhea and Hera.”
“Yes,” she agrees.
“Thank you for showing us this?” I stop talking because painted on the wall directly in front of Takoda is a portrait of Abeytu and standing next to him is a portrait of me. “She looks just like me!”
“Yes, she does,” Takoda adds, taking my hand.
“Your mother.” She places her hand on my shoulder.
My stomach tightens and my head whirls. “That’s not my mother—she didn’t look at all like this.”
“That is your mother, my child,” she says with a sad expression.
Takoda studies her portrait. “She looks just like you, in the eyes mostly and the mouth, and the nose, and the cheeks.”
“Okay, okay, so I look like her, but that doesn’t prove anything! My mother was blonde and shorter than me.”
“…and her hair, her forehead, her body type, her…” Takoda kisses my fingers. “…hands.”
“Okay, if that’s my mom, then how does my father fit into this equation? And, how can I be the great granddaughter of that young girl over there, Shyanna, if my mother is over here standing next to Abeytu. Check the walls and see if he’s here—or if there’s anyone who looks like him.” I run along the mural checking all the portraits. There are seven sets of families displayed on the wall. The original captain and her two children with their mates are in the middle. Their six children with their wives or husbands. The first child of each is scattered about the room. From what the 3-D guy said, each of these kids had six of their own. So this room was painted early during their reign if only one grandchild is present. No names are listed, so there’s no way to tell who’s who—and there’s no portrait of my father anywhere.
“I’ve captured all of the paintings,” Takoda says with pride. “But how can these be so clear and colorful? They must be thousands of generations old. Why haven’t they faded over time?”
“They keep it dark in here. But my question is how can that old woman still be alive, and where did she go anyway?”
My great grandmother is nowhere to be found, and I still have so many questions for her. I run into the golden chamber, but she’s gone. Returning, I study the portrait of my mother. She’s young. Maybe in her teens, and she does look just like me, or I look like her. Her parents are standing behind her; Shyanna has her hand on my mother’s shoulder.
“Wait!” I yell. “This can’t be my mom! The people in these paintings are all mixed up. Shyanna is in two places.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Takoda asks.
“Look, that is the lady I saw in my dreams, Shyanna. She said she was the mother of my grandmother, Lylillea. Lylillea had my mom. But Lylillea is over there, not over here. And Lylillea looks just like my sister. Why would she lie to me?”
“Actually, that makes everything come together,” Takoda explains. “In this picture she is a child with her parents. In this portrait, she is a wife and mother standing with her family—your grandmother.”
Before we leave, he takes one last look at the Captain. “I wonder what her name was,” he asks.
“Great, great, great grandmother,” I say, counting on my fingers.
17
TOMORROW
I’M SAD to leave our beautiful ancient city. I learned so much, but I still need to know more. The answers are here somewhere. I make a silent promise to return someday. We were given a time I equated to thirty Earth days, or a month. It’s a long hike to the jeep. This time, I have no fear of creatures eating me for dinner. We camp at the same site as our first night.
“It will be strange to be home and at school again.” I lay content in the warm embrace of Takoda’s arms.
“Yes it will.” He yawns. “What will you do with all this information now that you have it?”
“The problem is I have more questions than answers.” I look up into his beautiful eyes and my heart melts. “I can’t ignore what we’ve learned and I know we have to tread lightly. What we learned can be deadly if the wrong people find out that we know. But I can’t stop wondering about my mother.”
“Perhaps that is a question for your father,” he adds, as he bends over to kiss me on the forehead. “Now that I have you, I never want to lose you. I love you and we will tread this dangerous path together.”
“I love you, Takoda.” I’m secure in our love as sleep takes hold.
A large explosion rocks the ground and lights up the skies. Screams echo throughout the darkness as a second explosion shakes the ground beneath us. Takoda’s up and hauling me to the jeep before I’m fully awake.
“What’s going on?” I yell as Takoda’s maxing out the speed.
“I don’t know,” he yells, as another explosion hits nearby, making the jeep lurch to one side.
My head hits the window and I scream out in pain. I’m shaking all over as I grab the seatbelt trying to lock myself in. Before I can, another explosion hits directly in front of us. The jeep flips and lands back on its tires. I’m bleeding from my head and shoulder, but I’m more worried about the stupid seatbelt. The click causes me to sigh with relief as another explosion lights up the sky and rocks the jeep from side to side.
“Who is firing at us? Are we at war again?” I cry grabbing hold of anything I can find to steady myself.
“I don’t know!”
Before my terrified eyes, a large fireball heads straight for us. I scream as Takoda swerves the jeep onto another dirt road. The fireball hits behind us and the area explodes in flames. It takes all his concentration to keep us from running head-on into a tree. We drive for a few miles before skidding to an abrupt stop.
“Get out, now!” Takoda yells, jumping from the jeep. He grabs our packs and anything else he can reach in less than five seconds. We run as fast as we can away from the vehicle. Just as we lose sight of the jeep, another fireball roars over our heads and lands right where we left it. We fly several feet into the forest. I lay crying and shaking on the ground when a pair of strong hands picks me up, and we start running again. We dash through the thick jungle until the morning light begins to crest the nearest ridge.
Only when the explosions are a distant rumble do we slow down. My ears are ringing and my head is pounding. Blood’s still dripping down my face, and my legs and arms are badly scratched and bruised. We eventually come to a small stream with fresh running water. We stop to rest and take note of our situation.
“How badly are you hurt?” Takoda asks, dipping a rag into the cool water. He softly wipes my face and dabs the cut on my head.
“Ouch.”
“That will need a stitch or two,” he says, pulling out some bandages.
“What just happened?” I ask. I’m shaking all over and can’t stop.
Takoda shakes his head. “I honestly have no idea.”
“It was as though they were aiming right for us!”
“I hate to agree, but I think you are right. Whoever it is, they were tracking that jeep. That’s why we ditched it.”
“So how do we get home?”
“I’m not sure yet,” he answers.
“Why us?”
“You really need to ask that question?” he asks.
“No, I guess not.”
• • •
We bathe ourselves in the small stream. It’s a little painful because the water’s so cold.
Takoda finds an area covered by large trees and sets up our badly torn tent. It’s pretty banged up, but it’ll work. We lost one sleeping bag and will have to share the remaining one. But at this point nothing matters except we’re both still alive. We’re afraid of our phones and Takoda smashes them between two rocks. He then buries them.
“We can’t risk being tracked,” he explains when he sees me staring at him. We’re totally on our own.
It’s several days before we pack up and head in a different direction—on foot. Our bodies need to heal. Not wanting to run into anyone, especially anyone with a fireball, we head deeper into the forest. We thought about returning to the ancient city, but felt it too risky.
We’re living off the land and I’m thankful for Takoda at my side. I don’t know the first thing about finding food in the wilderness, especially on another planet. He teaches me to hunt with a small wire and a stick, and how to fish with a sharpened branch. We never light a fire at night, only at midday to cook our food.
I soon learn what plants are poisonous. Takoda makes us bows and arrows from limbs of small trees, and we soon have enough equipment to be comfortable. Our feet hurt and we’re constantly fighting blisters. It isn’t long before I finally give up on shoes and decide to go barefoot. Takoda scrapes the bark off a strange looking tree and makes us sandals that we tie to our feet with a strong vine. They look stupid, but they work.
Although we sleep each night in each other’s arms, the days are spent working on our survival. We have to ensure we have enough food to eat and fresh water to drink. We keep track of the days with strands of rope. Each morning a new knot is added, and it isn’t until we have four strands with five knots each we find a small community nestled in the forest.
We enter the village. My heart pounds as I search for suspicious characters. But then, everyone looks suspicious to me lately. Six homes sit side-by-side with small fields. Our arrival draws everyone’s attention and, we’re surrounded by people.
An older man with a beard and white hair pulled into a ponytail approaches. He’s cautious and searches us with questioning eyes. I’m not sure how dangerous we look, but we’re filthy. Our clothes are torn and ragged.
“Do you speak the ancient language?” the man asks in English.
“Good day to you my friend,” Takoda replies, and nods to the right.
“May we offer you sustenance and a place to wash?”
“Please,” Takoda says. He holds out his hands for the man to examine. It’s a gesture of submission when meeting someone for the first time, a culture thing I was told.
When they serve food, the white-haired man sits with us.
“How did you get here?” the man asks. I can tell he doesn’t trust us.
“We’re on Trials. We chose the Ruins of the Wicked Lady,” Takoda answers.
“That’s a very dangerous place. Did you see the Nomaddas?” he asks. His expression is serious.
Takoda glances at me and I answer, “No, it was actually very boring. The place is empty except for large rodents and insects.”
“I see,” he replies. I’m not sure if he believes me.
“Did you hear the explosions?” I ask.
The old man stares directly at me. “Yes, we were wondering what that was.”
“A fireball hit our jeep and destroyed it. We’re walking to the trains,” Takoda adds. He picks up a piece of bread and dunks it into his food.
“You’re a long way from the trains,” an older woman across the room interjects.
“Your stew is delicious, thank you very much,” I add. I smile trying to steer her off the subject. “This is very kind of you.”
“You are from the city or are you Council?” she asks.
“Harriett!” the man scolds.
“It’s fine,” I say. I feel it important to not cause trouble. “We’re neither. But my Uncle is a Statesman, my father works for the government.”
“Government?” the old man asks, staring at me.
“She means the Commission. Her father is Consultus for the Natioprobo. My name is Takoda and this is Journey.”
“A scum digger.” He growls, shaking his head and laughing.
“A what?” I ask, looking over at Takoda.
“You would call him a lawyer,” Takoda explains. “Your father works for the courts.” Takoda whispers to me. It’s obvious he doesn’t want to start a debate with this man.
“You know about lawyers?” The old man snickers. “All right, enough of these stupid questions. Where are you from, exactly?”
“Well, exactly, I’m from North Carolina.” Not thinking anyone would know what that means, I felt safe saying it. But the man and woman gasp at the same time. “You know where North Carolina is?”
“Yes,” the woman replies. “I’m from Ohio and Jed’s from Texas.”
“How in the world did you get here?”
“They tell us we’re related to the Elders,” he says. “Seems they want our DNA.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Have no idea,” he answers.
“How long have you been here?” Takoda interjects.
“We’re not sure,” the woman replies, refilling Takoda’s bowl with stew.
“Well,” I say, standing up and offering the man my hand. “We are very pleased to meet you both.”
As we shake hands, he seems to relax. “It’s nice to finally meet another from Earth. We are a small community, about twenty of us. All from around the United States. But it’s a relief to know others are out there—somewhere.”
“Is there any way we can get to the trains from here?” Takoda asks.
“We can help with that,” the woman replies. “Isn’t that right, Jed?”
“We’ll get you there,” Jed adds, rubbing the back of his neck. “Going to check on horses. Be back in a few, make yourselves at home.”
“Thank you,” Takoda replies, finishing his second bowl of stew.
We decide to spend the night. We need to get a good night’s sleep. Sitting on the porch under the night’s sky with Jed and his wife Harriett, others come to greet us and introduce themselves. All are from Earth and none know how long they’ve been here.
In the morning after a wonderful breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast, Jed drives us to the train station. It’s almost a four-hour trip. We feel guilty for him having to go that far. We say our goodbyes and agree that someday, we’ll come back to visit.
• • •
We stand alone on the platform with our senses on high alert. Nothing happens. We ride the train in silence and when Takoda’s neon green jeep rolls to a stop in front of my cabin, I’m happy and pleased to be home. I’ll miss Takoda not sleeping next to me, but it’ll be wonderful to be in the security of my father.
I quickly kiss Takoda goodbye, grab my backpack, and run to my father who’s waiting on the steps. He swings me around as he hugs me tightly. He asks if I had a good time. Before I can answer, Makayah runs out of the house and jumps into my tight embrace.
“Well, what did you learn about yourself?” he asks.
“Too much to explain tonight,” I answer, following Makayah into the cabin.
My father grabs my backpack. “You’re right, you need to get washed up and get a good night’s sleep. Are you hungry?”
“No, we ate on the train, but thanks.”
I sit next to my father and put my head on his shoulder as he watches TV. I have a million questions for him, but tonight is not a good time. My mind needs to sort through everything I’ve just experienced. Tomorrow I’m going to try to find out who tried to kill me and Takoda, and who in the world is my real mother. How do I explain it all to my dad?
18
A LIE
I LAY in bed trying to decide on whether to get up, or be lazy for a while longer when the phone rings. I know who it is before my father yells out my name.
“Coming,” I holler.
“Phone’s for you,” he says, with a smile and a wink.
I r
oll my eyes as I place the phone to my ear, “Hello?”
“I’m thinking of you,” Takoda says. “Good morning, beautiful.”
“Good morning to you too,” I reply. “And I’m not beautiful, but I do miss you.”
“I’m coming to pick you up in an hour, so be ready,” he says. “But for now, go check your backpack.”
“Why?” I ask. “What for?”
“You have a surprise in one of the small pockets,” he adds just before he hangs up.
I grab my bag and run back to sit on my unmade bed. I don’t want it on my bed, it’s still full of dirt and rocks from the forest. The front and side pockets reveal nothing. Perhaps Takoda’s toying with me, but then I remember the small pouch on the back I never use.
I unzip it glancing inside. The opening is small and my fingers barely fit inside, I can feel something thin. When I pull it out, my heart skips a beat. I’m holding the reddish-gold disk of the 3-D man between my two fingers. Now I’ll just have to figure out how in the world I’ll play the thing.
• • •
“Good morning, Takoda,” my father says from the living room.
“And good morning to you, sir.” Takoda’s sweet voice echoes down the hall. “I’m to spend the day with Journey. We plan to have lunch at the ruins, if that is approved by you.”
“Of course, Takoda.” I hear my father’s footsteps coming toward my room. As his head peeks around my door, I slip the disk under my pillow. “Takoda is here.”
“I’ll be right out,” I reply. I’m not even dressed yet.
“Everything okay?” he asks, with a slight frown.
“Just a little sleepy, that’s all.” I grab my jeans from off my chair. “Can you entertain him for a few?”
“Certainly,” he replies, closing my door.
I dress, pulling my old school’s sweatshirt over my head.
I glance at the mirror. “What am I going to do now?”
Something has to be done, but what? What can I do? I’m only sixteen, I’m just me.
I drop the shiny disc back into the small pocket on my pack. I know that no matter what I decide to do, I will never be the same person again. My life will never be the same.