Darkfeather

by Andrew Demcak

  “I’ve never flown before,” Falling Star interrupted. “I hope I like it.”

  “I’m sure you will,” James said as his hand located a barf bag in a small pocket next to his seat. Oh, good. Just in case.

  “I hear what you’re thinking, James,” Lumen said in his head. “Let me put a thought into Falling Star’s mind that he loves flying.”

  “Please do,” James thought back. “I don’t want to find out what he had for lunch.”

  “Consider it done.”

  A few moments later, Falling Star suddenly said, “Lemonade,” which was Lumen’s psychic calling card. “I’m really excited. I’ve always wanted to fly in an airplane just like this one.”

  James smiled to himself.

  The Gulfstream turned to the right and taxied down to the runway. The plasma dome suddenly disappeared over the base. It was still afternoon, and the sun lit up the whole inside of the airplane. The engines again roared into life, and the plane began to speed down the runway.

  James could feel the velocity hit him right in the stomach. He gripped the armrests of his seat. “Where are we going?” James shouted up to the front of the plane.

  “Los Angeles,” Dr. Singh called back. “The Paragon Academy.”

  The nose of the jet began lifting, and the front wheels retracted. The engines got louder as the plane left the ground and began climbing into the sky. James blinked a few times, then swallowed hard. He pushed his thoughts out until he felt Lumen attaching herself to them. “Oh, God! I hoped we’d never see that place again!”

  “I’m still reading Dr. Singh’s thoughts. They want us to use the Skipping Stone down there for our mission. Apparently there was an accident while refueling the Sun Stone. Something about someone plugging a neutron stream into the wrong place or something. The Sun Stone is history. All that work they did is toast. That’s all I know for sure. It was all jumbled up in his head. I think he’s terrified.”

  The plane tilted left and began its path toward Los Angeles.

  “Do you think Paul did it, like Keira said?” James thought.

  “Who knows? I mean, he’s a little tyrant now, isn’t he? Who knows what he’s capable of now that he’s lost both you and his powers. He’s got nothing else to lose.”

  “But why would he sabotage the very thing that would save all of us?”

  “That’s what crazy people do. They want to lash out at everyone.”

  James shivered in his seat.

  A little bell rang again. “We’ve reached cruising altitude,” the captain said. “You may undo your seat belts and move about the cabin.”

  Keira undid her seat belt and walked up to the front of the plane. She sat down across from Lumen and began biting her right thumbnail. “My mother and Alexander aren’t here.”

  “Neither is Cedric,” Lumen added. “I hope they’re okay.”

  “Where’s Dr. Singh gone?”

  “To the bathroom,” Lumen said. “He wasn’t looking too good, either.”

  “I wonder if he knows where they are?”

  “I read his thoughts earlier, but I didn’t see anything about them. I’ll try again when he gets back.”

  The Gulfstream dipped into a bank of clouds and hit an air pocket. The jet bounced up and down, the seats and storage spaces rattling. Keira fastened the seat belt in her new seat.

  “We’re heading into some turbulence, please return to your seats and put your seat belts on,” the captain announced. “We’ll be landing in Los Angeles in about thirty minutes.”

  Dr. Singh returned from the bathroom, pale and sweaty. He sat down, reclined the chair back, and let out a deep sigh.

  “Are you all right?” Lumen asked.

  “Yes,” the doctor replied. “Too much excitement today. I have to get hold of my wife and let her know I’m in Los Angeles. We were supposed to go to Glass Beach this weekend. That’s going to be out of the question now.”

  Lumen took the opportunity to search Dr. Singh’s thoughts. She dove down and looked for any trace of Alexander, Cedric, or Dr. Darkfeather. Lumen found it. The three of them were already en route to the Paragon Academy. They were coordinating having all the Star Children meet up and see the Skipping Stone.

  “I’ve got it.” Lumen beamed her thought into Keira’s consciousness. “They’re already on the way to Paragon. We’re all going to be together again.”

  “That’s a relief,” Keira said aloud.

  Lumen glared at her to be quiet. Keira covered her mouth with her hand and turned a faint shade of pink. She sank back in her seat.

  “We’ll be landing in a little while,” Lumen said. “You’re going to get to see the Paragon Academy.”

  “I guess you’re not looking forward to it?” Keira asked.

  Lumen shook her head and leaned back against the leather headrest. Her thoughts raced back to Paragon. It had been so long ago now, but the memories were still fresh and clear. She remembered when she met James for the first time, how scared he was, how confused. She didn’t know what it was going to be like being back there again. At least this time, they had the upper hand. Paragon needed them.

  16.

  AFTER LANDING in Los Angeles, James, Keira, Lumen, Falling Star, and Tenzing were loaded into black Paragon Academy vans. They sped away from the secret airport and headed down the 405 Freeway toward the Paragon Academy. Traffic was heavy, but the vans drove around the rush hour jam on the dusty shoulder.

  “I guess the cops can’t give them a ticket,” James said.

  “Yeah, I noticed the vans have special government plates. That must give them the right of way,” Lumen answered.

  The black vans exited the freeway, after passing all the gridlocked traffic, and drove up the winding road to the Paragon Academy guard gate. Once through, everyone watched silently as the winding road quickly unfurled. They hurried past sculptures and garden alcoves to the plantation-style mansion that housed the Paragon Academy. The main house stood out creamy white against the green hills behind it. It sat behind eight Roman columns and a wide front porch. The building looked like something out of an old Hollywood film. Something that time had forgotten. Oaks and tall redwoods littered the grounds. A cool dampness hovered over everything as they stepped out of the vans and into the parking lot.

  “God, it’s just like I remembered it,” James said. “My mother parked her Tesla right over there, and then Dr. Albion came out to meet us.” James felt another chill shoot down his back.

  “I was just dropped off here,” Lumen said. “My mother didn’t even come in with me.”

  “That’s terrible,” Keira said as she picked Tenzing up and cuddled him.

  “Isn’t that Dr. Albion right there?” Falling Star asked as he pointed at one of the figures standing next to the colonnade. She was speaking to someone.

  “WHAT DO you mean life signs in the wreckage?” Dr. Albion asked.

  “I did the usual thermal scans, and something showed up, something large,” Radiation Tech Jamison said. “It’s right next to what’s left of the Sun Stone’s reactor core.”

  “But that’s impossible. Who was in there working when it happened?”

  “Our usual crew and one of yours, a Paul Schmitz.”

  “What?” Dr. Albion asked. “Why was he in there?”

  “He told them he had orders to remove a wasp nest,” Jamison said as he looked down at a printout of the event.

  “That’s absurd. What was he up to?” Dr. Albion asked. “Never mind, bring me whatever that living thing is. Have it sent here to Paragon. I must see this mutation for myself. With all that alien technology in there, who knows what we may have created.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jamison said and saluted. “I’ll personally go back there right now and retrieve it for you.”

  “That will be all,” Dr. Albion said and looked over at the vans in the parking lot. “Ah, they’re here. Good. You two, come with me.”

  Dr. Albion and a pair of armed MPs walked quickly over to the wai
ting group, her usual white lab coat billowing behind her. “Hurry up, please,” Dr. Albion said while waving her clipboard. “We need to get you over to the Skipping Stone. We have no time to waste. Please get back into the vans. We’re going to the other end of the property.”

  James took a quick glance up at the sun. The object had grown bigger. The sunlight was noticeably dimmer. In a matter of days, it would be too late to stop Nibiru’s impact. He slid open the van’s heavy side door and climbed back inside, followed by Falling Star, Keira and Tenzing, and Lumen. The two guards sat awkwardly on either side of Falling Star on the wide back seat. Dr. Albion got into the other van with Dr. Singh. They traveled quickly across the Paragon facility on paved back roads that crisscrossed the carefully landscaped terrain. The black vans turned through a massive grove of redwoods and then approached a huge camouflaged airplane hangar hidden among the trees at the far end of the property. The vehicle stopped right in front of the massive structure, and they all got out again.

  Dr. Albion approached the hangar doors and typed a password into the keypad. The doors slowly slid open. Fifty feet in front of the group stood a strange vehicle the likes of which most of them had never seen before. It was horseshoe shaped, or at least it had two front parts that jutted forward like a horseshoe. The middle was a huge metallic orb. Paragon attendants in blue jumpsuits busied themselves all around the craft. It was forty feet high and seventy feet across. It stood on landing legs, a liquid light pulsated over its entire surface, and it made absolutely no noise at all even though it was turned on.

  “Just like I remembered him,” James said. “Hello, again, handsome!”

  “Him?” Lumen asked.

  “This ship is male.”

  He stepped closer. With a small jolt, the Skipping Stone became physically part of James, as if it were a limb on his body that had been asleep and now was fully awake, blood flowing. It felt like his arm pulling away from his chest as he opened the glittering hatch and sent the silver boarding ramp out. The scurrying attendants all stopped working at the same time and stood watching in disbelief as the Skipping Stone opened itself like a puzzle box unfolding.

  “Oh, this is wonderful,” Dr. Albion gushed. “You still remember how to do it. General Hesslop was worried. No one else here has a clue how to make it work.”

  James turned to face her. “Since the first day I met this ship, we bonded for life. It’s always been part of me. Don’t you ever listen to anything I tell you?”

  “Oh, James, don’t take that tone,” Dr. Albion said with a soothing coolness. “Let’s get you, Keira, and Lumen on board.”

  “Can’t Falling Star and Tenzing come too?” Keira asked.

  “They may wait here for you,” Dr. Albion replied. “You’ll only be a few minutes as the ship gets to know both of you.”

  “It’s okay,” Falling Star said. “I’ll wait right here with Little Cat.”

  Tenzing grumbled something and went back to sleep in Falling Star’s arms.

  “Are you sure it’s okay?” James asked Falling Star. “You can come in if you want,” James said and then turned to Dr. Albion. “I insist.”

  “No, I don’t want to be in the way. You have work to do.”

  “All right. We’ll be back in a little bit.”

  James flushed with recognition seeing the Skipping Stone again. It was like meeting an old friend after a long time away. He ran up the boarding ramp, rushed inside the fantastic spacecraft, and then up the narrow incline to the pilot’s chamber. Lumen and Keira followed him on board. Keira was surprised to discover that the ship’s walls looked like smooth stone. When she placed her hands on them, they were warm, and at her touch, glowing purple veins of light began to pulse through them. As Lumen entered, quartz panels immediately lit up along the countertops as she passed. Sparks of white energy and information traveled along between Lumen and the panels, leaving bright trails of glittering light.

  “Am I doing that?” Lumen asked.

  “The ship knows who you are,” James answered. “He’s responding to us.”

  “He seems really happy we’re here,” Keira added.

  “It’s turning itself on as it recognizes each of them,” Dr. Albion remarked into a small microphone on her collar to General Hesslop. “It’s better than we imagined. It only needed three of them for the core processes to start.”

  “This is where I sit,” James said, pointing down to a hollowed-out spot on the floor of the silvery chamber. “Actually, I don’t sit. I lay on my stomach, my head up and arms facing forward, my two feet in these stirrups back here. You see, I look right out through the window there.” As he said the words, the opaque forward wall became transparent, and now they were all looking out of the ship at the activity inside the gigantic hangar. Falling Star saw them and waved from below.

  “I feel like this is my spot,” Keira said. “I think the ship wants me to sit over here.” A small bench rose from the floor in front of a bank of purple panels. Keira took her position. “This is right. This is where I navigate from.”

  “I’m supposed to be over here,” Lumen said as she sat in a concave spot along the glittering wall. “Y’Luc just told me. I’m in charge of his energy supply, and I can communicate for him.”

  “Is that his name?” James asked.

  “Yes, Y’Luc,” Lumen said.

  “Can’t you feel him everywhere?” Keira asked.

  “He’s our friend,” James said. “It’s like this with all Zetan things. They become part of you.”

  “He doesn’t like what they’ve added to him,” Lumen said. “He doesn’t know what the things do but they hurt him. He’s in pain.”

  “This is wonderful,” Dr. Albion said interrupting and clapping her hands. “Now we need to leave the ship alone and finalize your mission training. You’ve only got forty-eight hours left until liftoff.”

  “What have you done to him?” James asked, his anger rising.

  “Why, James, we simply attached the device to your friend here,” Dr. Albion explained. “We were lucky to get it off the Sun Stone in time. I’m sorry it’s not comfortable—”

  “He’s not comfortable,” James corrected.

  “Oh, forgive me,” Dr. Albion said with syrupy sweetness. “I’m sorry he’s uncomfortable. It will only be for a little while longer. We must be getting back to the academy. There’s still so much to show you and still so much we need to put on board. Please, we must hurry.”

  Lumen and Keira both got up and began to leave the ship. They ran their hands along the glowing walls as if petting a faithful dog. James followed and did the same.

  “AT LEAST we’re not in those crazy see-through dorms again,” James said as he rolled down the bedroll on his bunk and fluffed his pillow. A yellow sodium lamp flickered above him. The room was painted white and had six regulation bunk beds and no windows. These were officers’ quarters, but clearly they hadn’t been used by anyone in years.

  “When are they going to tell us where my mother and Alexander are?” Keira asked, annoyed.

  “And Cedric,” Lumen said.

  “We have to keep bugging them,” James said. “They may have removed our cuffs, but they still have power over us.”

  “But why haven’t they taken Falling Star away, yet?” Keira asked. “They can blackmail me with my mother and Alexander, and Lumen with Cedric. Why haven’t they separated you and Falling Star?”

  “I don’t know,” James said, dismissing the observation.

  “Just let them try to take me away,” Falling Star growled. “They’ll be in for a big surprise.”

  James turned to look at Keira. “Maybe that’s why?”

  “Could be,” Keira agreed.

  “But they can still blackmail me by saying they would hurt Karen or Alexander, or Cedric,” James said. “They still have that power over me too.”

  “I have to give them credit,” Lumen said. “That was very tricky to remove our cuffs and make us feel like we were free when reall
y Paragon always had power over us because they had the people we care about under their control. That’s super sneaky.”

  “Besides we need to stop thinking so selfishly,” James said. “That Nibiru object is even closer. We have to focus on saving the planet.”

  “I wasn’t being selfish,” Keira said angrily. “I’m worried! Where are Alexander and my mother? She wanted to meet with all of us before the accident happened. What did she want to tell us? Or what if they were hurt up at Fort Bragg? Maybe they’re not here at Paragon at all but were transferred to Oak Knoll Army Hospital?”

  “We’ll ask Dr. Albion,” Lumen said. “I can tell she’s trying to be nice. Maybe she’d tell us.”

  “I don’t know,” Keira said. “Wouldn’t you want to stay here, instead of going into space, if Cedric were hurt, like if he had radiation burns or something?”

  “I guess so,” Lumen said, considering the idea. “But if we don’t take care of that object, there won’t be any Earth for Cedric to get better on, right?”

  Keira was thoughtful for a moment. “Yeah, you’re right. Dr. Albion would have no reason to lie about it.”

  “What would she gain, anyway?” Lumen said.

  “Nothing,” James said.

  “Help me turn the bunks so we can put the pads horizontally across them. That way it will be a double bed we both can sleep on,” Lumen said.

  “Great idea!” Keira said.

  Falling Star had unrolled the foam pad on his bunk but stood looking down at it dubiously.

  “What’s the matter?” James asked.

  “The last time I sat on one of these things, it broke into a thousand pieces.”

  “You broke my bunk?” James asked surprised. “How come you didn’t say anything? I thought Paul did it to be an asshole.”

  “I was embarrassed.”

  Lumen and Keira were already snuggled up in their side-by-side bunks. James came over to Falling Star’s bunk and pulled the foam pad onto the floor. He moved the bunk over and placed his own pad onto the floor next to Falling Star’s.

  “Let’s not take any chances,” James said. “The floor is good enough for me, as long as you’re beside me.”