by S A Shaffer
David collected his travel bag and followed the rest of the people off the Airbus. He knew the faces: aides, assistants, secretaries, guards, Eric, but he’d taken to ignoring all of them in recent weeks. As they filed out onto the landing bay, the other airbus full of the people docked and unloaded. David saw Francisco walk down the ramp with Bethany lagging behind as she towed a gigantic suitcase far larger than necessary for the six-day retreat. Francisco joined David and then rolled his eyes as he turned and watched Bethany drag her bag across the floor. She sat on it once she reached them, breathing hard.
“How come yours is so much lighter?” She asked as she pointed to David’s modest-sized travel bag.
David took pity on her and switching his bag to his flesh arm, he easily lifted her oversized suitcase with his ebony arm.
“But I already tried that, and it didn’t work!” she said as she crossed her arms and huffed.
“No matter, Bethany.” David said, failing to hide his smile. “I’ll carry it.”
“Okay, excellent.” Bethany said without thanks as she spun around and marched off after the rest of the people.
The circular landing dock looked like a modern version of an old fashion lodge ringing the ancient tree that supported it. Polymer beams, made to look like everpine branches, stretched out from the central tree and sloped away. Glass panels covered the beams, which were in turn covered by real bogweed thatch, giving the entire roof a rustic appearance. Rough carved planks covered the floor of the ring-shaped room, while polished wooden railing surrounded the outer deck. To the perceptive eye, the only actual wooden structure in the whole room was the living, central tree. Everything else was a synthetic replica. A resort concierge met the party at one end of the landing and led them over a wide arching bridge toward a grand lobby, which was a massive circular building suspended between four everpines.
From the bridge David could see a majority of the resort buildings as their lights sparkled in the darkness. It stretched from tree to tree via sky-bridges or boardwalks all surrounding the famed everpine. Big Stanley stood in the center of the resort with a lit circular walkway that wound up its trunk, along with several steam lifts that rocketed less vigorous patrons straight to the top. David looked up from the bridge as he walked, and despite Big Stanley being lit all the way to the top, he had a hard time visualizing exactly how high the tree reached.
As he stepped into the resorts grand lobby, his jaw dropped at the rustic wonder. Several water features burbled and churned with some of the local wildlife flitting within—young ones of course. The wooden floor planking formed a square pattern around smooth bluestone slabs, and as far as David could tell, it was actual stone. The weight of such a floor created an engineering wonder. Leather furnishings sprawled around lush shrubbery in wicker containers. The vaulted ceiling bore the same wooden beams he’d seen earlier, except instead of a thatch and glass ceiling, this one was all wood paneling, and it reached for 20 fathoms. At the room’s center, a stone base held a roaring fire within a glass casing and a glass chimney that piped the smoke all the way to the apex of the domed ceiling and out the top.
David liked this place very much. It was one part natural and three parts comfort. As the party gathered in the room, he noted that there were no other vacationers other than the resort staff, those who were part of the retreat, and some guards. They flanked every hallway and major junction. While David glanced around the room puzzling at this, a man of ordinary stature in a pinstriped suit climbed to the top of the several stairs to the landing surrounding the fireplace and called them all to silence. Beside him stood Blythe and a pretty little brunette. Blythe flew to Thornton separately on his new yacht—generously paid for by the Alönian houses. David longed to see the airship, but as of yet, he had not been afforded an opportunity. He’d heard plenty of rumors, all of which spoke of incredible sophistication.
“Welcome, my friends to the Everpine Resort.” The stranger said once they were all still. “My name is Raphael Hephnaire, and I am the owner of this establishment.”
David gulped when he heard the name. Don Raphael Hephnaire, was one of three remaining Don’s left in Alönia. David had already met Don Johnson, and now he had seen Hephnaire as well. Blythe seemed to attract the wealthiest of Alönia’s populace.
“When Mr. Blythe requested a few rooms for his speaker retreat,” Hephnaire said, “I was so overjoyed to have such a dignified and exceptional speaker in my resort, that I reserved the entire facility for him and his friends.”
The crowd applauded with exuberance. David might have joined them if he didn’t already know how much tax money Hephnaire pocketed in the exchange. After a moment or two, Hephnaire waved them to silence.
“You will have free rein of the resort and its amenities.” Hephnaire said. “But first, a word of warning. The wildlife surrounding our resort is exquisite and dangerous, but only if you wander beyond the resort boundaries. Leatherwings are grand and majestic, and harmless unless you get too close to their nesting grounds. If you choose, you can take a guided skiff tour that will give you an up-close look at their ferocity, but please, stay with the tour, or you just might become Leatherwing lunch.”
The people laughed at the carefree manor in which Hephnaire described the gruesome death.
“In addition, the forest floor is perhaps the most dangerous place in Alönia.” Hephnaire said in a more serious tone. “The Colossus Horned Toad will swallow you whole and even snatch your skiff right out of the air. Nature’s playground is not ours, which is why we have our own playground within the resort in the form of an open bar.”
Oh, how they cheered for that. David groaned at the prospect of having such a beautiful environment ruined by throngs of people in a drunken stupor.
Not again, he thought.
“Now, you may collect your key from the concierge’s desk, and a bellhop will take your luggage and lead you to your room.” Hephnaire pointed to several counters with waiting staff. “In the morning, you can either order breakfast to your room, or be served in the dining room on the far side of Big Stanley.” Hephnaire clasped his hands in front of him. “Are there any questions? No? Well I wish you all a pleasant evening.”
The crowd dispersed, as the people collected their keys and, after making a stop at the open bar, they walked to their rooms and made plans to return to the open bar. David received his room key and map of the resort from the concierge, but before he could retire, he felt a grip on his arm. He turned and found Blythe smiling at him. Where before David had to look up at Blythe, now they spoke eye to eye.
“My, but it does take some getting used to the new you.” Blythe said. “You’re so much different.”
“You should try being on the other end of it.” David said, recovering from his initial surprise. “I feel like I’m walking on somebody else’s legs, and everyone seems to have lost a few inches in height.”
“Ha, I’ll bet your right. It is the best imitation ebony iron I have ever seen.” Blythe said as he tapped a finger on the black appendage. “Well, I was hoping you would sit with me at lunch tomorrow. Two of Thornton’s representatives have requested an audience for what I can only presume to be a lobbying pitch.”
“Yes, of course.” David said. “Whatever you need.”
Blythe nodded, and with one more squeeze of David’s shoulder, he turned and lent an arm to the pretty brunette and walking off to his room with what was no doubt his evening entertainment.
David followed his bellhop through the grand lobby, across a sky bridge to a steam lift that rocketed him a few floors until they reached a ring of rooms in the midst of the tree’s foliage. His room was nothing less than phenomenal. It smelled of pine and the outdoors, and it was much more than a standard hotel room. The washroom alone looked larger than David’s entire apartment with its walk-in stone shower, sauna, carved stone bathtub, and two sinks. The bed sat in the middle of a twenty-foot high circular room with windows paneling one side and everpine the other. It ha
d a rugged, yet expensive appearance. David thanked the bellhop, who set his bag down on a table and left with a nod. He did the first thing he always did when he vacationed with his parents: He jumped up on the bed and had a few hops. Once he’d satisfied himself, he leaped down and looked around the private room just to be sure nobody had seen, despite the locked door. Then he walked out onto the balcony and admired the view of the resort, the trees, and the flowing wildlife. Big Stanly stood proud in front of him, reaching far beyond any of the other trees. David’s balcony rapped all the way around his room with a spa on one end. Tree branches grew around the alcove, with fresh foliage blowing in the breeze.
David stood there for a moment, leaning against the railing and admiring Jeshua’s creation when a flicker of movement in the foliage caught his eye. He leaned out over the railing and peered into the clumps of finger-thick blue-green needles. Then, the branch moved, and green feline eyes stared back at him. Presently, it meowed and crawled down the branch a little further toward him. It was the size of a large cat, and David puzzled how the animal managed to climb so high. Then, it leapt. The blue and black furred animal flew through the air, and folds of skin stretched tout between its forepaws and hind paws. The leap became a three-fathom glide, and the feline alighted on the railing next to David with superb balance. There, it sat and began preening itself. David stood stunned. He’d never heard of such an animal in all his life.
“What are you?” He asked. “Some sort of flying cat?”
Intricate swirls wove into the animal’s blue and black fur, and its tail was abnormally long, at least twice as long as the animal itself. The end of the tail flattened into a tuft of fur the shape of an arrowhead.
David ignored the large sign on his balcony wall prohibiting the feeding of wildlife, as he proffered the last bits of the candy bar he had in his pocket. After all, the sign wouldn’t be there if everybody didn’t already do it. The animal stopped its preening and sniffed the candy bar. But it hesitated, walking down the railing and started sniffing his jacket. He reached a gentle hand out and rubbed between the animal’s pointed ears, each tipped with a tuft of fur. Abruptly, it stopped sniffing him and gobbled up the candy bar David still held in his hand. David looked at the animal in confusion.
“Fickle little thing, aren’t you?”
He admired the beast for a few more minutes before he went back in his room. He decided the evening air to be a pleasant temperature, so he only closed the screen portion of his balcony door. After cleaning up, he went to bed early, knowing that he would need his rest two days hence when they eavesdropped on Blythe’s secret meeting.
The next morning, David awoke to an odd rumble in his bed. He roused himself and looked around the room with bleary eyes. Nobody was there, but he still felt the rumble through his bed. He looked down and jumped at what he found. In an instant he was out of the bed and standing over it in shock. There, lying sprawled out across his sheets was the same flying feline he’d seen the night previous. David looked back toward the balcony and saw that the screen door was open a foot or two. He looked back at the animal. It was awake now and stretching its limbs on his comforter.
“No, you live outside,” he said as he grabbed the animal by the scrap of the neck and drug it off his blanket. He heard claw scrape thread and had to jerk the overgrown feline a few times before it came free. “and I live inside.” He added as he tossed the animal onto the porch and closed the door, locking it this time.
No sooner had he turned around than the animal began to whine. David growled and rubbed his groggy eyes. He saw some fruit and cookies on a tray next to the refreshment station. He grabbed a handful of cookies and tossed them out the door. The black feline stopped its fussing and started eating.
At that moment, David heard a knock on his door.
He walked across his room, attempting to pat down his messy hair as he went. He opened the door and found Francisco leaning against the frame in a nonchalant manner.
“It’s seven o’clock.” Francisco said. “I would have thought you’d be ready by now.”
“Had a little trouble with the wildlife.” David said. “If you’ll wait, I’ll just be a moment.
After a quick wash David dressed, and He and Francisco headed down for breakfast. Not a single patron graced the dining room, at that early hour, and most would not rise for some hours more. This was good, as David and Francisco could speak with little concern at being overheard. They sat at the far end of the large dining room next to a large, sun-filled windows.
“So I gather you’ve seen our objective?” Francisco asked before taking a drink of tea.
“The mission objective?” David said, shaking his head. “Where is it?”
Francisco pointed out the dining room window. “The meeting should take place in Blythe’s private apartment.”
“And where is his private apartment?” David asked, fearing the answer.
“I’ll show you.”
They stood and stepped out onto the small deck that surrounded the dining room.
“At the top of Big Stanley.” Francisco said and he pointed straight up.
David leaned out over his balcony railing until he saw the top of Big Stanly and the grand apartment ringing it. A shadow passed over him and the same dumb flying cat alighted on the railing next to him and nuzzled his arm. Francisco hadn’t notice since he was cupping his eyes from the sun and looking at the top of the tree.
David frowned at the animal, and while Francisco was preoccupied, he nudged it off the railing. It meowed in protest and glided away. David looked around in case anyone had noticed, but nobody had.
“We need to be up there at 11:00 pm tomorrow evening.” Francisco said, uncupping his eyes and reclining against the railing. “And we won’t have a lot of time to get there. There’s a dinner seminar tomorrow that ends at 10:00. We’ll have an hour to get from here,” he pointed at a balcony where they stood, “to there,” he pointed up, “and we have to do it without being seen. That winding walkway won’t be much good as it will have guards posted all along it. Neither will the steam lifts, as they have guards at every stop and one inside each lift.”
“Why don’t we just airship up?” David asked.
“Even if we did it without running light, we’d be spotted by one of the lookouts,” said Francisco. “Airdropping in won’t work either. Too many branches to break our necks on. No, as far as I can see, we have one option. We need to climb along the trunk all the way to the top.”
“In an hour?” David said with a snort.
Francisco nodded. “Unless you have another idea. Trust me, I’m all ears.”
David looked over the railing again and groaned.
They decided to survey Big Stanley from other angles, so they went for a walk through the resort. The Boardwalk surrounded the entire facility and presented some of the most spectacular views David had ever seen. Unfortunately, he couldn’t enjoy them as the impending doom of climbing Big Stanley weighed heavy on his mind. After walking the boardwalk circuit twice, they surmised that climbing was their only option and that no particular path along the trunk was any easier than the next.
The only thing of real interest they saw during their exploration was the outline of a small carrier moored in the distance, something David presumed to be Blythe’s new pleasure yacht, but it was too far away for him to identify anything other than the outline. With a heavy heart David joined Blythe for lunch that afternoon back in the dining room.
David sat next to Blyth, who had the pretty brunette on the other side of him. David had stopped learning the girls’ names as they always disappeared within a fortnight. On the other side of the table, sat Hephnaire along with the two Thornton representatives Blythe had mentioned earlier. One of the representatives David already knew: Representative Donald Evanson of House Thornton’s First District. He’d stalked the representative during his week of snooping around a few seasons earlier. The other was Representative Addison Mitchell of Thornton’s Thi
rd District. Both men were known Pragmatics.
The representatives attempted some small talk as the wait staff served lunch, but as everyone finished eating, the men came to the point.
“We have a proposal for you, Speaker Blythe.” Evanson said. “As you know, our districts are but sparsely populated and reliant on logging and mining for survival. We have no manufacturing to speak of. While we may disagree with you on most political questions, we do agree on one thing: our constituents are our greatest concern.”
Blythe nodded with pinched eyebrows and a serious gaze.
“It is with that in mind that we want to propose some legislation.” Evanson said.
“Why not propose it in the assembly?” Blythe asked as he took a sip of his tea.
“In recent weeks you have been against any proposed legislation by Pragmatics.” Evanson said and held up a hand as Blythe made to speak. “An understandable stance considering the past dozen cycles. What we want to communicate to you today is that our proposed legislation is bipartisan in its substance, and its purpose is solely to provide work for our populous. The mines on the far side of Thornton, which have fed this house for more than a century, are running low on minerals. However, during recent excavation, some miners fond a new vein that runs underneath the bog fields.”
“Gentleman,” Blythe said with a smile. “I think I see where this is going. If you are asking me to grant you a variance to the mining ban on old forest lands, that is something I cannot do.”
“The vein runs thousands of feet below the surface.” Mitchell cut in with less tact than Evanson. “We could set depth parameters to be sure that there was no impact on the surface.”
“I’m very sorry gentleman.” Blythe said in a placating tone. “My position is quite firm on this.”