“Mila? Well, tell her thank you, but I need to find Oslo and tell him what happened.”
The RF tilted its head. “You are in error regarding the issuer of my instructions. It was Mistress Kera, not Mistress Mila”
“Kera? What does she care, she was happy to see me leave.”
“Her orders were strict.”
“Oh, yeah?” He slid to the side of the bed and wobbled when he tried to stand up.
The RF steadied him. “Please return to your bed.”
Breeze gripped the robot’s arm for support. “No, just give me a minute. I feel like I’ve been sleeping for a long time and haven’t accomplished anything. Just leave me be.”
“As you wish.” The RF stepped away from him.
He collapsed to the floor in a heap.
Breeze lashed out at the robot. “I meant just stand still. Oh, forget it!” He waved the RF off.
He grabbed the side of the bed and pulled himself up. His knees buckled, but he held his ground. He saw his uniform neatly laid out on a table next to him. He struggled to take off the medical gown he was wearing so he could get into it.
The RF stepped over to assist and handed him his shirt.
“I thought you were under strict orders,” Breeze snarled as he snatched it from the robot.
“This unit recognizes authority when it presents itself.”
It was his turn to tilt his head. “What do you mean by that?”
The robot’s eyes glowed. “Your attempts at communication with our kind has not gone unnoticed.”
Before Breeze could press the issue, Mila stepped into the room.
“What is the meaning of this?” she huffed and pushed the RF to the side. The robot dutifully bowed to her. Before it turned away, it stole a glance at Breeze and nodded, then returned to its station.
Breeze groaned as he tightened his belt, and then reached over for his jacket.
Mila grabbed and tugged at it. Breeze held onto it firmly.
“Mila, I appreciate everything you’ve done, but I need to talk to Oslo about what happened. And have you heard from Sally or Ray? Are they all right?”
Mila pointed a finger at him. “You need your rest. You are not well, and you’ve been through much. As for Oslo, he knows.”
“What about Sally and Ray?”
Mila nodded and sighed. “Yes, they are back. But—”
“I need to go see her.” Breeze hobbled out of the room, reaching for anything he could find to steady himself as he did.
He stumbled his way down the steps, through the main doors and into the brilliant sunshine. He covered his eyes from the glare and quickly stepped onto the boulevard where the overhanging ficus trees provided him with shade from the scorching heat of the sun. As he made his way to the dormitories, he felt more rejuvenated with every step he took.
He flinched suddenly and looked to his right. There sat the Science and Engineering building. His memory still fresh from his encounter in the basement with Bram, he veered to the left side of the boulevard and hurried past it.
He stepped onto the courtyard and bounded up the steps of the dormitory and into the breezeway when he ran into Ray and Sally.
They all froze and stared at one another, then Sally rushed over and threw her arms around his neck.
He was stunned at first, and then embraced her tightly.
She pulled away from him and sniffled. Her face was red and puffy. “So happy to see you again.”
Ray spoke up. “Well, did you enjoy your long nap?”
Breeze shrugged. “What do you mean?”
Ray’s face darkened. “Do you know how long you were out?”
Breeze’s face went pale upon hearing the question.
Ray snorted. “You were in Medical for over a week.”
Breeze felt his legs wobble and he leaned against the railing for support. The warm air caressed him as it blew in from the ocean. “I remember I took a ship from the hangars. I was almost home when something attacked me, and I had to eject—”
Sally wailed and buried her head in Ray’s chest. He soothed her with comforting words while stroking her hair.
She gathered herself and looked at Breeze. “My home is gone.”
Breeze stood dumbfounded. “I remember you guys left…because of Ray’s father saying everything was okay for you back home—”
“It wasn’t! Our city is gone. It’s been attacked.”
Breeze slumped to the floor. “If your city is gone, then my town probably is too.”
He thought about his father. For the first time since he could remember, he actually began to realize that he might be gone from his life forever. He didn’t know what to think or feel.
“We’re all in a bad way,” Ray said as he sat next to Breeze. “I can’t get in touch with my parents.” He recounted the story about what had happened to them.
Breeze listened dutifully. When Ray was finished, he recounted his tale about being attacked by the Elephim over the mountains.
Sally came over to sit between them while struggling to keep her composure.
They sat in silence for a moment, and then Breeze spoke up. “In the end, the RF came to get us. Not Oslo or Kera or anyone else. Just the robots.”
Ray nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. Didn’t think much of it until now.”
“Did you speak to Oslo about it?”
“No. He’s been avoiding me and Sally. He kept saying he needed to focus on your recovery. Excort and Mila are the ones who have been watching after us. And Kera…” he nodded toward Sally.
She didn’t respond.
Ray continued. “Well, Kera hasn’t been seen either. It’s like nothing has changed.
“No,” Breeze said, “we need to get to the bottom of this. C’mon, follow me.” He stood up abruptly and wobbled. He grabbed the railing to steady himself, then turned and marched to the stairwell.
“Where are you going?” Ray called out.
“We are going to see Oslo in his office,” Breeze said.
Sally got up to follow. Ray stood and watched them leave, then jogged to catch up to them.
They stepped past their dorm rooms and down the steps that led to the administrative building. When they arrived at the entrance to his office, they burst into it. It was empty.
Breeze strode across the room and straight up to the lamp shaped like a boat captain that was on the desk. He leaned into it and shouted Oslo’s name.
Ray laughed. “Breeze, you can use the intercoms.”
“No. There is something about this lamp. Don’t ask me why I feel that way. Forget about the fact it looks hideous. Seriously, a lamp in the shape of a captain with one hand on the helm while the other shields his eyes. Or is he saluting? I can’t tell. I mean, who keeps a thing like this? Not even my father would and he’s a man who collects scrap.”’
“It’s just a stupid lamp,” Sally said sullenly.
Suddenly, a figure stepped in from the balcony. It was Oslo. “Perhaps, but I think of it as a cherished memento.”
They all turned to face him as he strode across the room and lowered his tall frame into the chair behind the desk.
Sally erupted. “You are a criminal and a coward! What happened to our families? Why have you been avoiding us?”
Oslo held up a hand as Ray tried to calm Sally down. She swatted him away.
“Much has happened, this I know,” Oslo began, “what I have to tell you will not be easy to hear. Please, do sit for a spell, the news I must give will be dire, and yes, more changes are heading our way.”
Sally was incensed. “As if I care! You have no right to lecture us—”
“Sit down!” Oslo boomed. They immediately sat in the chairs spread out before his desk.
Oslo rubbed his forehead. “This is a time of revelation for all of you as to why you were brought here and for what purpose.” He cleared his throat, and then continued. “This school, as you probably have already imagined, is not much of one. It is-was, a military facility. For a time, one of the premier bases on the planet. But events that changed the world reduced it to nothing more than the last refuge for a civilization that faded away into obscurity. And now, just a lonely outpost trapped in time.”
“What does this have to do with our parents?!” Sally shrieked at him, “I was attacked by some shadow figure at a crater that used to be my home! What was that? What’s happening out there? Where is my family?”
“The Elephim,” Oslo said.
“The who? What are you talking about?” Sally questioned.
Before Oslo could respond, Breeze spoke up. “Oslo told me everything right before I left.” He explained to them how Oslo, Kera and Excort confronted him in the dormitories, and how Oslo told him of Earth’s past and the battles fought between the Helios and the Elephim.
Ray sat up in his seat and listened intently as Breeze spoke.
When he was finished, Sally turned her wrath onto Oslo. “You’re telling me all of this is because you have some weird fantasy of creating a team of super powered people to fight these...Elephim creatures? This is not happening! What have you done to my life?!”
Oslo flinched and looked away. “What I have done...is far too late to reverse. I set out to rescue those that I knew who could make a difference in this world. Yes, I have stirred dark forces with my actions, but I will not turn away from my mission. I will rid this world of the Elephim and restore it back to its former glory. I will do this with you, or alone.”
He barely finished his words when Kera floated into the office through the balcony door, her white dress trailing behind her. “Don’t be so dramatic Ole, that is not your realm. You are not alone, and you will never be.”
Sally shrank back in her seat as Ray grabbed her hand to reassure her.
Breeze pointed at Kera. “All this time we’ve been here, you’ve never really explained how she got here or what she’s supposed to do except spook everyone.”
Oslo nodded at Kera as she settled by his side. He took her hand and held it as she materialized.
“Kera…is an old friend. A fellow paranormal like us all.”
“Old? Speak for yourself, old man,” Kera said haughtily
Oslo smiled briefly, and then turned somber. “Kera’s story is a long and complicated one. She is a refugee from the past. I discovered her in my travels across the globe in my later years and brought her here to Perihelion for safekeeping. I do not believe I am at liberty to tell you more without her consent.” He turned to her.
Kera leaned in and looked him in the eye. “Send them off Oslo, it is not safe here.”
“You’re always so eager to get rid of us,” Breeze said.
She glared at him. “It is for your own good.”
“So you can have more time to spend with that Bram guy in the basement?” Breeze taunted.
Her eyes blazed with fury. “This from a loner? What I do and why I choose to remain here are for my reasons alone and for no one else to question.”
Oslo raised a hand. “Enough. I will not have a brawl here in my office. We must come to the reality of what has happened. The Elephim are awake—”
“Yes, because of you!” Sally yelled.
Kera turned translucent as she lunged at Sally. “You have been rescued and protected. Be grateful for life, little girl.” She then added in a whisper, “always be grateful for life.”
Sally gripped Ray’s hand.
Oslo cleared his throat and Kera returned to hover beside him.
“No more. What is done is done, there is no going back. Sally, my actions may have only sped up a plan the Elephim had put into place long ago, nothing more. I saved you all from certain death. It is up to you to determine if your life is of any value. You can hate me if you wish, but you have your life and a chance to live free from a tyranny perpetrated by those who hide in the shadows and lash out at any attempt by humanity to better itself. This is an opportunity for you and your teammates and perhaps one day, your children.”
Sally said nothing as she turned to look out the window.
“I do not proclaim to know what has happened to your families. But I make it my solemn vow to set things right. I will use all of the resources at my disposal to reunite you with your families, this I swear.”
“So your plan for a super army—” Breeze said.
“Is very much on hold,” Oslo retorted. He closed his eyes for a moment to gather himself. “What I thought was Bram speaking to me from across the vast stretches of space on that cold night in my home in Scandinavia, was probably nothing more than my desire to believe that all that I had known was not lost, and that I could put the world back together as it once was. I understand how foolish that may sound, and I’m sorry I brought all of you into this madness, but I will never apologize again. We are alive and must accept the fate that has been handed to us.
As we speak, the RF are prepping a ship for you. A scout ship, as we called them back in the day. She is versatile and nimble, with the ability to range for great distances undetected. She will be the chariot that will whisk you across the Atlantic to the safety of Appalachia. There, you will reside at my wife’s farm until I arrive.”
“You’re sending us away again?” Sally said. “We’ve only been here for a few days, and you’re sending us out to get attacked again?”
“No harm will befall you, this I swear.”
“I don’t believe it!” Sally yelled.
“Silence!” Kera zoomed over the desk and loomed over her. Sally shrunk back in her seat as Kera returned to hover next to Oslo.
Oslo nodded at Sally. “You must believe me what I tell you. Perihelion has been compromised. I have managed to reestablish security, but I do not know if we have been infiltrated and if so, how deeply. We have performed multiple security sweeps between Excort, Kera and I, along with round the clock patrols by select RF, and we have not found any traces of Elephim. But one can never be too careful. I encountered a pair of Elephim on the outskirts of the fog when I departed the island. How they found me, I would never presume to know, but I have my suspicions,” he said and turned to Ray, then continued, “Nevertheless, I take full responsibility.”
Ray squirmed in his seat.
He addressed them all. “Regardless, I am dispatching all of you to Appalachia. As I stated earlier, the RF are performing the last of the repairs needed to get your scout ship up and running for the journey.”
“How come you never mentioned your wife before?” Sally said.
Oslo cringed. “It is, like everything else—”
“A long story, we get it.”
“My wife is a good woman. She will shelter you from this storm. She resides outside a town that possesses a fog that obscures the entire mountain range from the prying eyes of the Elephim.”
“Kind of like this place was supposed to,” Breeze muttered.
Oslo shot him a glance. “Yes, point taken. But in Appalachia you will meet others of our kind. It was one of the few places the Helios could go other than offworld to live in peace. There is something almost… mystical about that place.”
“Are you bringing Nina?” Breeze said
Oslo’s face grew red. “I… don’t believe so. No.”
“But she’s your daughter.”
“Yes, I know that. But Perihelion is her home and is the one place where she is truly safe. She will stay here with Excort and Mila. With our departure and with the reinforcement of the fog, the Elephim will never get near her. This I know.”
He stood up. “That is all for now. You are dismissed. Return to your rooms and begin
gathering your belongings. You will depart in three days.” He stepped out onto the balcony with Kera in tow.
The three looked at one another with blank expressions, and then shuffled out of the office with their heads hung low.
FOURTEEN
DAWN BROKE OUT OVER Perihelion as Breeze woke up with a feeling of sadness. He lay in bed and watched the sun rise over the bay through the open balcony door, its light penetrating the room and exposing the dreariness of it. Every crack on the ceiling, walls and floors were plain to see as it highlighted every flaw and blemish to be found. The whole school, the whole island, is in shambles. How did Oslo ever believe he could bring this place back to life?
He rolled out of bed and grimaced when his feet touched the cold stone floor. As he reached for his clothes in the cabinet next to his bed, he replayed in his mind the events that led up to this moment: the harrowing journey to get here from his desert home; meeting Oslo, Sally, Raza, Nina and Ray; the haphazard attempts by Oslo to teach and train them; their rebellion against him and subsequent departure from the island; the ambush and attempted kidnapping by the Elephim; Sally and Ray learning the harsh truth that their city lay in ruins, their parents nowhere to be found. It had been a whirlwind for them all. Now, Oslo was sending them away. To a safe haven, he promised them. He felt he had heard this before.
He stepped out into the breezeway and breathed in the warm and humid stream of air as it flowed in from the ocean. He looked at Sally’s door and wanted to knock, but thought better of it. He heard her sobbing throughout the night, and though he always thought of her as rude and abrasive, to hear her sounding so wounded and anguished pushed out whatever lingering anger he felt toward her. She was just as lost and lonely as the rest of them.
He walked down the stairwell to the courtyard, then onto the pathway that led to the hangars. He wanted to get a firsthand glimpse at the ship Oslo said he was prepping for their trip across the ocean to Appalachia.
He arrived just as several RF were pushing it out from the cavernous hanger and onto the tarmac.
The ship was a disheveled mess. He could see where the mechanics welded patches of steel plate across her hull. She had seen better days, and it showed with every scratch, burn mark and dent across its metal skin.
Breeze Corinth (Book 1): Sky Shatter Page 30