“I knew it,” Keira said excitedly. “I knew she’d have a plan to get us out of here. That must be why they’ve been keeping all of us apart—they suspect my mother is plotting to take me and Alexander and leave.”
“It’s kind of obvious,” Lumen replied. “You are her children. Of course, she’ll do anything for you guys.”
The light continued to dim a little bit around them as the two walked in stride across the base. Keira looked up at the dark patch on the edge of the sun. It reminded her of someone holding their thumb over the edge of a flashlight. “What are we going to do?”
“Do you believe Albion?” Lumen asked. “I mean, why is she suddenly nice?”
“I don’t know. I mean, something is going on up there, for sure. But I don’t know what we can do about it.”
“This may be another of their elaborate hoaxes to trick us into doing something terrible,” Lumen proposed as she pulled her silky hair back over her right shoulder. “We may be watching an ordinary eclipse of some kind, or maybe they’re projecting it onto the dome.”
“Dr. Albion said they needed me and Alexander specifically,” Keira added. “What’s that about? I haven’t even seen him once since he came in here with you.”
“I hope he’s okay,” Lumen said as they approached the entrance to their dorm. “We don’t even know where he is.”
“Maybe Dr. Albion will let us see him next?”
They entered the building and made their way down the white-tiled hallway to their room. As far as they knew, no one else lived in the large dorm. It was only the two of them.
“At least Paul isn’t around anymore because he’s off with Dr. Albion,” Keira continued. “He was really getting on my nerves, even back at Oak Knoll. All the terrible things he said about Tenzing.”
“He was already acting like a prick before Paragon’s clones captured you guys at our theater hideout.”
“I didn’t want to say anything to James about it, but he could do so much better than Paul,” Keira said.
“Hey, I wanted to ask you about your mother,” Lumen said.
“What about her?”
“Well, what did you think? Was she what you imagined?” Lumen asked as she opened the door to their room.
“It’s hard to say exactly. She seems really nice. And she definitely looks like me.”
“Same hair and eyes.”
“It seems like she’s on our side too,” Lumen said and sat on her bunk.
“I guess only time will tell about that one.”
8.
JAMES TRIED to roll over but realized Falling Star was holding on to him like he was his teddy bear. I guess we didn’t need our own sleeping nests after all. Something shifted in front of him. He tried to move in that direction, but Tenzing was curled up against his chest, soundly asleep, blocking his way.
I guess I’m going to have to get used to this. Paul would have laughed at me in this situation. He’d have teased me for days. Stop! Stop thinking about Paul! Who cares what he would say! You aren’t together anymore. Stop thinking about him. Hide your thoughts away and squash your feelings. Do it now!
James shook his head to clear it, rearranged his legs, and positioned his right arm on his side. Falling Star’s muscular chest rose and fell gently behind him. As far as pillows went, Falling Star made a particularly good one. He was warm, soft, and he smelled nice. James had watched as Falling Star made a hair preparation from grinding honeysuckle and mustard flowers for their oils. He rubbed it all over his body. It brought a healthy shine to his golden hair.
The sun was coming up. The sky began to blush with pinks and apricots. James watched the trees as they slowly filled with morning light. Falling Star yawned loudly behind James. His hair may have smelled nice, but Falling Star’s morning breath was something else entirely. James pushed Tenzing out of his way, released himself from Falling Star’s grip, and stood up. He stretched his arms and yawned.
“I’m awake,” Tenzing said before curling up next to a patch of Queen Anne’s lace and falling asleep again.
“Shubh prabhaat,” Falling Star said while yawning again, which didn’t make it any more understandable to James. Then he quickly added, “I mean, good morning.”
James looked down at Falling Star on his side in the cattail-lined sleeping nest. A bulge beneath his thick fur caught James’s eye. Falling Star noticed what James was looking at and quickly crossed his legs.
“I really have to go pee,” Falling Star said.
“I do too,” James answered.
“Should we wake Tenzing?” Falling Star asked as he pointed to the cat.
“No, let him sleep. He’s had quite an adventure finding us.”
“Let’s go wash up in the lake,” Falling Star suggested.
“Isn’t that water going to be really cold?”
“So? Are you afraid of a little cold water?” Falling Star teased.
“No.”
“All right, then. I’ll race you there,” Falling Star said, jumped up, and was off like a shot, running like mad into the forest.
James watched him go.
“Is he always this loud and perky in the morning?” Tenzing asked as he opened one eye.
“I really don’t know,” James answered. “We just met back at Fort Bragg about a week ago.”
“Oh, okay. I’m going back to sleep. Good night.”
James laughed and then walked slowly into the forest. He could hear branches breaking and the occasional howl of joy as Falling Star made his way down to the lake. It was easy enough to follow his trampled path through the trees, plus his footprints gave him away. As he got closer, James could hear water splashing. He lifted a fallen pine bough and stepped out onto the sandy shoreline. Falling Star cruised around in the lake twenty feet away. James stood and watched. The yeti flipped over and did the backstroke. He looked over at James.
“Come on in. It’s not that cold.”
“I don’t want to get my jumpsuit wet,” James said meekly.
“Take it off and come in,” Falling Star said.
James stood silently.
Falling Star stopped paddling and waited. James slowly unzipped his white jumpsuit and stepped out of it. He left his socks and shoes on the shore and walked quickly into the water.
“It’s freezing cold!” James shouted, up to his knees in lake water, his arms wrapped around his chest, teeth chattering.
“It’s not that cold,” Falling Star said as he sloshed over to James. “Come over here.”
“I’m not moving.”
Falling Star approached and gathered James up in his strong arms. At first the wet hair was agonizingly cold, but it immediately began to warm up. James felt the chill beginning to leave his bones. He looked up into Falling Star’s eyes.
“Is that better?” Falling Star asked as he rubbed a hand up and down James’s goose-pimpled back.
“Better. I am getting… warmer.”
“You are,” Falling Star said as he rubbed his hand over James’s chest and stomach, and then held James closer. “I can tell.”
James blushed as his body responded to the closeness. He pushed Falling Star away and leaped out into the deeper water. He surfaced and spat.
“This is not so bad, once you get used to how it feels.”
“I know,” Falling Star said and dove into the lake and came up next to James. “You could learn to love it once you get used to it.” Falling Star winked at James.
“I guess so,” James said. “Wait, what are you talking about?”
Falling Star gave James a wry grin. “Swimming in the lake. What are you talking about?”
“Swimming,” James said, splashed Falling Star, turned, and sank beneath the water.
Falling Star followed him down beneath the glossy surface. James’s body lit up bright green as he went deeper. He swam like a minnow into the dark beneath the pond lilies that rose from between the tree stumps at the lake bottom. Falling Star caught James by the ankle and pulled
him alongside his body. He held James gently to his chest and looked down at him. The sunlight rippled over his face from above. He leaned in and kissed James on the lips, bubbles rising from the corners of his mouth. They both surfaced and continued kissing. James was surprised what a good kisser Falling Star was. James moved his hands over Falling Star’s taut, hairy body and discovered his excitement. Falling Star smiled his handsome smile at James again.
“Hey! You guys!” Tenzing shouted in his shrill, alley-cat voice from the shore. “Something weird is happening with the sun. Look up!”
“What?” James turned to face the shore.
“Can’t you see it?” Tenzing asked. “Look above you!”
James and Falling Star searched up through the redwood canopy, but it was hard to see the morning sun rising through the branches. They continued to paddle around trying to get a better view. But no matter where they swam, the forest roof was too thick to see through.
“I can’t see it—what is it?” James asked.
“I don’t know, maybe an eclipse?’ Tenzing said. “Except it hasn’t moved. It’s just blocking the edge of the sun.”
“Weird,” James answered and tried again to locate the sun through the trees. They continued to float around, circling each other and smiling. They’d have to go ashore to see what Tenzing was talking about.
“What were you two doing out there?” Tenzing asked.
“Nothing,” James replied quickly.
“Are you two going to be doing nothing all day?”
James and Falling Star looked at each other and started laughing.
“Your timing is perfect, Tenzing,” James said and began swimming toward the shore. “We just finished our morning swim.”
“Yeah,” Falling Star groaned. “Perfect.”
9.
A KNOCK came on the dorm room door. Keira answered it, thinking it would be Dr. Albion, ready to show them the subterranean levels of Fort Bragg.
It wasn’t.
“These badges are for you,” the young MP said. “Sign here that you received them.”
“What?” Keira asked. “Why do we have to do that?”
“You both need to sign in on this touchpad, so we know you’re in receipt of these badges.”
“Okay,” Keira said and signed her name. She looked over her shoulder at Lumen.
“What are they for?”
“These are Blue Level Entry passes to let you into the underground part of the base, into Project Jedi.”
“Do you know what’s down there?” Lumen asked as she stood up and joined Keira at the door and signed for her badge.
“No, ma’am, I’ve never been down there.”
“You don’t have to call me ma’am,” Lumen said and winked at Keira. “Sir will do.”
“Yes, sir,” the MP responded.
The MP verified both signatures on the touchpad. Then he handed each of them a blue holographic badge, turned, walked up the hall, and exited out of the dorm.
“Is this going to be a self-guided tour?” Lumen asked. “I mean, where’s Albion?”
“Maybe this Nibiru thing is for real and she’s busy?” Keira speculated.
“Maybe. Or maybe they figure we’re going to snoop around down there anyway. At least now they are expecting us to snoop?”
“These probably only let us in to certain rooms at Project Jedi. Nothing really good.”
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
Keira peeked out of the doorway and looked up and down the hall. “It doesn’t look like Dr. Albion will be joining us. I guess we should go snooping around down there anyway,” Keira said. “Right?”
“Sure,” Lumen answered. “We should take advantage of no Albion.” Lumen clipped the Blue Entry badge to the collar of her white jumpsuit. “I saw a way down there in the middle of the base, near the processing center when they brought Alexander and me.”
“I wish James was here,” Keira said as she clipped on her badge. “He should be seeing this with us.”
“We can tell him later, when we see him again,” Lumen said. “I remember everything with perfect detail, sounds, smells, emotions, even brain impulses. That’s one of my powers.” Lumen paused in her train of thought, then continued in a whisper. “You know, I was thinking that your mom might not wait for James to get back before she busts us out of here.”
“I thought about that too. I hope they’re waiting for us on the outside.”
“Maybe we’ll run into them on our way out?”
They left the dorms and walked in the direction of the middle of the base. The sunlight was dim all around them. Keira looked up and saw a small semicircle eclipsing the sun. It was a tiny dark area on the otherwise blazing disc.
“Albion said it would cover more and more of the sun as it got closer,” Lumen said as she also gazed up beside Keira.
“It’s like a marble in front of a grapefruit.”
“That’s a pretty big marble,” Lumen said, squinting and grinning.
“That’s a pretty big grapefruit too.”
An MP driving a Jeep went quickly past on the left, honked, and then ignored them completely. Except for that, the whole base seemed deserted. The tarmac was empty of all life.
“Everyone must be in the labs,” Keira said as they kept walking. It was kind of eerie wandering around in the deserted space.
“Or working down below.”
“What did the guys in the lab call it?” Keira asked as she adjusted her badge.
“The Basement.”
“That’s original,” Keira said and then stopped. “Do you think you have enough energy to contact my mother? Maybe she can come with us and show us around?”
“That’s a good idea. Let me see how far my power can reach.” Lumen shut her eyes and concentrated. Her brow furrowed. She began breathing deeply. A look of frustration crossed her face. “Ugh! It’s the cuffs and that stupid dome. I can’t get anything out right now.”
“Hey, you tried!” Keira smiled. “That’s all you can do.”
“There’s the door that leads to the Basement,” Lumen said pointing to her right. She walked over to the dark blue pressurized door. She removed her badge and swiped it across the blinking lockpad. A tiny bell rang, and the door popped open with a hiss. They stepped inside. A string of lights ran along the ceiling of a concrete tunnel that sloped downward for one hundred feet. Near the end, they came to another pressure-sealed door. This door looked older. Its bolts were worn and a little rusty, although it had a modern lockpad.
“I guess different parts of the base were built at different times,” Lumen observed.
“Yeah, some of the buildings look so 1970s.”
Keira took off her badge and swiped it across. That door opened upon an elevator. Instead of floor numbers, it had colored bars next to the buttons.
“We must be going all the way down to blue,” Lumen said as she pushed the last button with her index finger and stepped back. The elevator descended quickly with a soft whooshing sound. The colored bars lit up as the elevator dropped down past each level.
“Why are there no guards in here?” Keira asked.
“I know, right?”
“It’s weird.”
“It is,” Lumen said as the elevator came to a stop.
The doors opened revealing an enormous man-made cavern. Lumen stepped out first and looked around.
“This is just like how it is beneath Paragon.”
“Wow, it’s so huge,” Keira said.
Above them a crisscross of scaffolding clung to the stalactites on the rough ceiling like creeping vines. It held banks of sodium lights and a few rows of loudspeakers. Filling up what looked like the entire cave bottom stood a huge military research center. Row after row of white cubicles and offices were each stacked with blinking scientific equipment, along the cavern floor. White canvas tents popped up here and there, as well. Strange-looking vehicles, some flat and round and some bulbous and scalloped like seashells, stood in lines bet
ween the buildings. Mechanics and lab techs in blue jumpsuits scurried around them. The white buildings stood out starkly against the limestone walls. Every plank and partition was painted white or made from some white material. It looked like an all-white labyrinth.
“They must have a template for these underground facilities,” Lumen said, a little tremble in her voice. “I mean, this is almost identical to the one they held James and me in at Paragon.”
“Does that freak you out?”
“What, like PTSD?”
“Well, yeah,” Keira said. “Are you okay? You look a little pale.”
“I guess I didn’t realize how it would affect me,” Lumen said distantly.
They walked over to the metal railing around the elevated platform and looked down.
“Where do we go from here?” Keira asked.
“Let’s wander.”
They heard footsteps coming up metal stairs next to them. Lumen turned to see a seventeen-year-old African American gentleman in a white jumpsuit approaching from their right.
“Cedric!” Lumen said and ran over and threw her arms around him, the first tiny tears pinched in the corners of her eyes. “Oh my God! I thought I’d never see you again! What are you doing here?”
“I’m part of Project Jedi now,” the good-looking Cedric said as Lumen released him. “See? No more cuffs.”
Lumen wiped her cheeks and stared at him dubiously.
“Really, it’s not bad,” Cedric said and produced something that looked like a silver bar of soap from his jumpsuit pocket. “I have orders to remove your cuffs too.”
“What?” Lumen asked. “Are you kidding?”
“Show me your wrists,” Cedric said as he extended the silver bar.
Lumen’s cuffs opened and dropped onto the metal platform as Cedric ran the bar over them. “And you must be Keira,” he said and removed her cuffs also. He picked both sets of them up and put them, rattling, into his deep hip pockets.
“Yeah, thanks,” Keira said. “I hate those cuffs.”
“I missed you,” Cedric said as he turned back to Lumen.
“I didn’t know what happened to you,” Lumen said. “One day you were there at Paragon, and the next you weren’t, and no one would tell me what happened.”
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