Lost Horizon

by Michael Ford

  The helicopter took off, its nose swinging around in a wide arc before it surged forward in a gentle upward trajectory, evening out at a height well above even the tallest of the trees.

  “I’m sorry,” said Fionn’s voice. It sounded weak, and looking across, Kobi saw his eyes were only partially open.

  “You saved our lives,” said Asha. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

  “Yeah, you were amazing,” added Yaeko.

  Apana smiled at the soldiers opposite, a wide, beaming grin that turned to a grimace. “I guess the message got out, hey, fellas?” he said. The soldiers said nothing.

  Kobi clung to that knowledge. His body felt stronger, already healed from the crash landing, and he tightened his fists in a surge of triumph. CLAWS had them. But the world must know the truth now. Relief spread through him, even as he knew they were heading to certain death at the hands of Melanie.

  Kobi looked out of the side window as the old city flashed by. They were heading almost exactly due east, so he assumed they were being taken straight back to New Seattle, but the chopper began to descend again after only a few minutes. They passed over black water, and he suddenly knew exactly where they were going. A grand house came into view, surrounded by beautiful greenery. The helicopter hovered for a moment, then landed right in the middle of Alan Apana’s yard. Another, smaller helicopter was already there.

  The soldiers waited until the rotors stopped spinning before ordering Kobi and the others out onto the grass. Apana fell awkwardly to his knees, and Kobi helped him up. They huddled together right on the porch where Apana had smoked his cigar the night before.

  The door to the veranda opened, and out stepped Melanie Garcia, holding a cocktail glass. She looked as immaculate as ever, dressed in a crisp gray suit and open-collared white shirt revealing her bony neck. Her gray bob had grown out and fell to her shoulders in glossy waves. She looked older than in the hologram Kobi encountered in the slums of New Seattle: her skin looked thin, almost stretched over her sharp, delicate cheekbones. Her expression was impassive: the only hint of human emotion lay in her hard eyes, glinting with satisfaction. Like a predator honing in on its injured prey. She was followed by a figure in a dress. It took Kobi a moment to place who it was. “Niki!” cried Asha.

  Six months had transformed Niki completely. She’d grown taller, and her hair was different, piled on top of her head in a style fastened with a bright scarf, and she wore subtle makeup that accentuated her cheekbones. She looked so much older. She hitched her chin a fraction at the sight of them, but her eyes betrayed no joy at seeing her old friends.

  “Hello, Alan,” said Melanie, sipping her drink. “What a place you have here.”

  “You’re too late,” said Kobi. “We got the message out.”

  Melanie cocked her head. “Very resourceful of you,” she said. “You’ve given our PR team a lot of work to do. Luckily we managed to black out most of the broadcast when we realized what was happening.”

  Was she bluffing? She spoke with such calm that Kobi began to doubt himself. Had it all been for nothing? He saw from the despair in the faces of the others that they believed her.

  “Melanie,” said Apana, speaking for the first time. “Think about it. We can start again.”

  Melanie chuckled to herself. “I’ve no wish to wind back that particular clock. You still don’t get it even after all this time.”

  “Just take it yourself, then,” said Apana. “Tell the world CLAWS has defeated the Waste. You can be a hero. There’s a vial of pure, concentrated GAIA up in my lab. Just one drop can neutralize an area miles and miles in radius. You can save New Seattle.”

  “Do you really think we haven’t had the GAIA 2.0 formula all this time?” Melanie asked. “Don’t you remember? I was in charge of sending out the formula to our production labs.” She shrugged. “I kept copies of all your files.”

  Despite all his treatment at the hands of CLAWS, Kobi still felt a rippling wave of shock stun him to the core. They could have cleansed the Waste from the whole environment. All this time.

  “Melanie,” pleaded Apana. “You’re frightened, I know it. You didn’t know what you were doing. All these years you’ve lived in terror of people finding out the truth. But, my dear, you must see sense now!”

  “Do not patronize me, Alan!” said Melanie, her fingers tightening on the glass so hard Kobi thought it might shatter. “You think I’d let you endanger everything I’ve built? You’re wrong.”

  “Melanie, dear,” said Apana, suddenly sounding very old. “You can still fix things. You couldn’t know the consequences of what you were planning. You are no scientist. It wasn’t your fault.”

  Melanie’s face flushed. “No! It was your fault!” she cried in a shrill voice. “Of course I didn’t know what that formula would do—because you kept me out of everything. Favored Alex and Jonathan even after they turned down jobs with you. I should have listened when they told me you were too single-minded. You never valued me! Was it because I’m a woman? You thought I was weak, stupid. You didn’t think I would ever defy you. You were going to fire me!”

  “Melanie, you were like a daughter to me.”

  “You’re a fraud, Alan. You use people. I might have released the Waste, but you’re the one who’s responsible.”

  Kobi started to understand the bitter resentment that burned in Melanie’s eyes. Behind the cold, calculating exterior lay a need for recognition, a hatred of those who did not take her seriously, a need to destroy all others before she destroyed herself.

  “I can’t turn back now,” said Melanie quietly, and for the briefest moment Kobi thought he could see the orphaned girl: lost, alone, abandoned, brilliant, terrified. “The path is set. Okay, let’s finish this up.” She spoke into a watch communicator. “Is it ready?”

  A voice cracked back. “The device is in place. We’re coming back now.”

  “What device?” said Kobi. A horrible feeling was creeping through his gut.

  Melanie stared hard at him, unrelenting and devoid of any shred of empathy: the expression reminded Kobi of the analytical robotic eyes of a Snatcher. “You didn’t think I’d come all the way out here just to say hi, did you, Kobi? Much as I trust our ability to spin your little message, we need to be sure the whole world knows who’s responsible for the biggest terrorist attack in history.”

  “What are you talking about?” said Kobi.

  “We’ve planted a little bomb,” said Melanie. “Well, a big bomb, actually. Should be enough to wipe out most of this island. No one will ever know about these gardens or Apana. GAIA 2.0 will have never existed.”

  “You can’t,” said Apana. “An explosion that size will send Waste spores into the troposphere. Over the wall. They’ll reach inhabited areas in—”

  “For a genius, you can be very slow sometimes,” said Melanie.

  The truth slowly dawned on Kobi. “You want the Waste to spread. Even though millions will die. You’d do that just to keep control.”

  Melanie sighed. “No, you would.”

  “You’re going to blame it on us?” said Asha.

  “Yes, of course,” said Melanie. “The world will believe Sol, the anarchist terrorist group, planted a bomb. They will do anything to destroy CLAWS. What better way than to target our global headquarters in New Seattle—a city CLAWS holds up as a symbol of their victory against the Waste? You can see their reasoning. Sol’s last stand. Come on. The city is doomed anyway. The Sol agents we interrogated informed us of the Waste growth beneath New Seattle,” said Melanie, sounding almost bored now. “I must admit, we never wanted quite that amount of Waste to find its way to the city. We underestimated its potency. Luckily, when the Waste overruns the city, we can blame you, and no one will ever presume that CLAWS failed to protect the citizens.”

  “Wow, you really are a sicko,” said Yaeko. “Niki, are you hearing this? Tell me you’re hearing this.”

  Niki just shook her head, not meeting her old friend’s eye.r />
  Yaeko threw out her hands. “Niki, I really think you should do something right about now. You’re not a murderer. You think Melanie is your mother? She isn’t. She is using you. You’re just a commercial for CLAWS! Don’t you get that?”

  “Shut up, Yaeko!” yelled Niki, a surge of static electricity running over her fingertips.

  “We’re your family,” said Fionn. “Not CLAWS.”

  “Ah, he speaks!” said Melanie. “Family. How heartwarming.” She rounded on the kids. “You didn’t see the world when the Waste struck. It was chaos. People trampling one another to get out of the city. Riots and looting.” She shook her head in disgust. “CLAWS brought order again, but now that’s crumbling. People need order. They need something to fear.”

  “You’re wrong, Melanie,” said Kobi. “People don’t need you. You need them. Because you are weak. You think money and power will give you happiness. You have nothing.”

  “No!” snapped Melanie, throwing her glass into the side of the house, where it exploded. “You are only a boy. You don’t understand a thing. They’ll be cursing your name forever and the name of Sol and all you fugitives. History is what I decide.”

  She was practically spitting out the words as she spoke. Kobi knew that there was no way to convince Melanie. She could never be saved, but still Apana looked at her sadly. The CLAWS CEO gathered herself. “Time to go,” she said.

  “What are you going to do with us?” said Yaeko as the soldiers headed for the chopper.

  “Nothing,” said Melanie. “All you need to do is”—she pointed up—“smile.” A drone was hovering above her head. On the side it read, “CLAWS NEWS.” “Goodbye, fugitives.”

  She’s leaving us here. . . .

  Melanie nodded to the CLAWS soldiers, and they formed a line in front of her and Niki. Melanie walked toward the chopper.

  “You can’t do that!” shouted Niki. “You said we’d take them back!”

  “Sorry, sweetheart,” said Melanie. “But this has to be done. We have to protect the CLAWS brand. It is more important than any of us. It’s the only thing that keeps the world together.”

  “But . . .” Niki looked distraught.

  “No buts. We have to think of the greater good, dear. Remember what they are. Terrorists.”

  Yaeko snorted and shook her head contemptuously at Niki.

  The soldiers filed back onto the chopper. I need to do something, thought Kobi. If he could overpower one, get a gun . . . somehow take out the others . . .

  But the soldiers were well drilled, keeping him in their sights all the time as they settled in. The blades began to spin, and the helicopter rose off the ground.

  Melanie strode toward the remaining smaller chopper and climbed into the cockpit herself. “Come on, Niki, get in.”

  Niki didn’t move from the veranda. She stared at Melanie across the yard, defiance in her eyes. “I’m not leaving without them,” she said.

  Melanie’s gaze flickered with a trace of anger before her expression hardened. “Fine,” she said. She slammed the cockpit door and began to manipulate the controls. The rotors spun.

  “No! Wait!” cried Niki, running down the steps.

  But Melanie’s craft was already off the ground. Niki slowed as it rose higher above the house, then shot off to the east. Her shoulders slumped, and she turned to face Kobi and the others.

  “Hey,” said Yaeko. “At least you can die with a clean conscience, Nik.” She went over and put her arm around the other girl.

  “She said she’d keep you safe, Yaeko,” said Niki. “I swear.”

  “You should have known you couldn’t trust her,” replied Asha. “After everything she’s done.”

  “We need to get out of here before the bomb goes off,” said Yaeko. As the helicopter flew away, Kobi noticed that a light had lit up on the news drone above them. He finally understood.

  “No,” he said.

  “Um, yes,” said Yaeko. “Fionn, could you call on a few of your friends to get us out?”

  “I could try,” said Fionn. “I could probably get a couple big enough to carry us.” He closed his eyes as he projected the call.

  “No,” said Kobi. “We’re not going to leave. We’re going to try to stop that bomb. It’s what Melanie wants us to do, but we have no choice.”

  Asha frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Kobi stared up at the CLAWS News drone. “If they catch us near the bomb, it will look more like we are to blame. She’ll turn the people trying to save the world into its destroyers. The same thing to Kobi that she did to Apana!”

  “That’s pretty clever,” said Yaeko. Asha gave her a look, and Yaeko added, “What? It is. Nik, any way to stop that bomb?”

  “I . . . I don’t know,” the girl said, still shaken.

  “I have to try,” said Kobi. “I have to.”

  “But that’s what she wants!” said Fionn.

  “I don’t have a choice,” replied Kobi. “I have to try to get it off the island into the lake.”

  “How will you find it?”

  “It will be near the clonal spore sacs,” said Apana. “That’s where the highest concentration of Waste is, right at the epicenter of the GAIA 1.3 leak. It’s at the center of the island. We passed it, Kobi—when I rescued you. Where the spores of the clonal organism are created.”

  Kobi began pacing toward the gate of the yard.

  “Melanie planned for this, Kobi. You said it yourself,” said Asha, rushing after him. “It must have some kind of lock on it or maybe a motion detector to stop you moving it.”

  “Sounds like Melanie,” said Yaeko.

  “But . . . I have to try,” said Kobi. “I have to. You don’t have long. Fionn, get everyone else out of here. Asha, make sure you use the cleansers right before the spores get to you.”

  Fionn shook his head, tears streaming from his eyes. “No, Kobi.” He spoke through his telepathy, and Kobi sensed a wave of anguish.

  “Do it! You guys are all that’s left of Sol. You can’t let it die today. Alan can help you get the truth out. But I have to do this. My dad gave everything to try to stop CLAWS—even his life. I have to do the same.”

  Asha gave him a long, despairing look. She rested a hand on Fionn’s shoulder. “Do it, Fionn.”

  The boy tilted his face up at the sky with closed eyes, tears dripping from the corners. There were distant squawks, and two gigantic seagulls glided down, sweeping Kobi with a hurricane of wing beats as they flapped to slow themselves, thumping gnarled talons into the lawn in front of Apana’s mansion. They both laid their huge wings flat against the grass, eyeing the five kids with a giant glassy stare.

  “Go!” said Kobi.

  Asha stepped toward him, but Kobi backed away, and with a final teary nod, Asha climbed onto one of the gulls.

  “You get used to it,” said Yaeko to Niki, who stared, horrified, at the gigantic beasts. One of them clacked its beak, and the other had its large black eyes fixed on Fionn.

  The three kids climbed on, sitting in a line, gripping bunches of the birds’ feathers. They helped pull Apana up. The old man looked frail. “Thank you for saving me,” he said to Kobi. “And I don’t just mean my life. Thank you for helping put right some of the things I did. Goodbye, Kobi Hales.” They launched into the air.

  Kobi watched them go and found himself smiling. He remembered the sweeping epic fantasy novels his father had read to him, where heroes would ride on the backs of magical birds. He almost laughed to think of what Hales’s face would look like, seeing them all now. The branches of the trees in the yard bent under the blast of wind. As the great bird disappeared out of sight beyond the tall hedges he felt a strange, peaceful calm come over him.

  “Kobi, if anything ever happens to me, you have to be brave. I won’t always be here. When you’re on your own, you still have to go on. That’s the final rule.”

  As he heard his dad’s familiar voice clear and strong in his mind, he turned and headed over the gravel path to
ward the end of the yard and the passage through the hedges. Above, the drone followed. It retreated high into the air—probably to keep the bomb from damaging it—until it became just a faint dot in the sky. Always watching.

  Kobi ran into the tunnel cut into the hedges and felt the spray of the sprinklers wetting his face, his back, his legs. He wiped the water from his eyes. He reached the gate ahead, taking in the remarkable boundary between Waste and GAIA: the curling, decaying roots meeting the healing fertilizer and turning into bright beautiful flowers, healthy plants, large mushrooms, before falling away back into the deathly swamp. He stopped suddenly. An idea blazed through him. At first, he was too stunned to move. His whole body pulsed with a deep, desperate hope.

  He turned and headed back toward the house.

  19

  HAVING LEFT THE YARD through the iron gate, Kobi charged through the constantly moving swampy morass of the clonal organism, dodging trees that shot up all around, leaping over cracks and bulging roots as the ground expanded and shifted beneath his feet. He squinted against the thick cloud of spores stinging his eyes, streaming down his throat. The voices infiltrated his mind again, but this time they weren’t so welcoming: Kobi could tell they sensed the intention in his mind. The clonal organism knew he meant to destroy it.

  What are you doing? Do not do this! Leave!