“Are you going to make a fire?” She picked up a clump of moss. “I can help.”
“A fire? No.” Rovender took the moss from Eva and set it on his wound. “I need my ankle to heal so that I may lead you back to your home, and continue on my way.” He uncorked the bottle. Eva saw Rovender wince as he soaked the moss, letting the cloudy liquid run over the cut on his ankle. After blowing on the wound to lessen the sting, he took a drink and grabbed the length of twine. He began wrapping it around the makeshift dressing.
“Um, I think there’s probably a better way to tend to that injury,” Eva remarked. She watched him lean over and cut the twine with his peg teeth, finishing with an elaborate knot to hold the dressing in place.
“I am fine, Eva Nine. This will do.” Rovender admired his handiwork.
“Hold on.” Eva pulled out her Omnipod. “This is Eva Nine. Initiate IMA,” she said.
The device flickered on. “Individual Medical Assistance initiated. Is this an emergency?” it asked.
“Ha! I remembered it!” said Eva, grinning. “Now I’ve got to figure out how you do the rest of this.” She scanned through a few menus within the program. “Hmmm … It’s not an emergency… . I just want to add a new patient.”
Rovender settled back and grabbed a pouch full of seedpods from his pack. He offered some to Eva.
“Naw, I’m okay.” She continued fiddling with the program. “Aha! Here it is! New patient registration. Maybe I can figure out how to heal your foot.”
“Don’t worry, Eva Nine,” said Rovender. “Really, I will be fine.” He wriggled his toes. Eva ignored him, focusing on the Omnipod. Rovender dropped a handful of seeds into his mouth.
“New patient,” Eva said to the Omnipod. “Name: Kitt, Rovender. Age: uh … How old are you?”
“Almost eight trilustralis,” he answered, spitting seed husks out of the side of his mouth.
“Trila … How do you spell? Wait, how long is that?”
“Ah, there must be no word for it in your language. You see, if the transcoder cannot find a suitable translation, it will use a similar word from your root language, whatever that may be,” Rovender explained.
Eva stared at him, confused.
“Never mind,” he continued. “The celestial time for my clan must be recorded differently than it is for yours. I am not sure what moon and star cycles your clan uses, but our trilustralian cycle is the same one that our ancestors used for generations.”
Eva set the Omnipod down. “Isn’t your home in that old Sanctuary where I … um, met you today?”
“That abandoned cave?” Rovender spit the rest of the husks out. “That was just shelter for the night. No, my home was quite far from here.”
Eva looked out into the night. She didn’t feel as vulnerable and scared as she had during the day. In the dark, things appeared closer. Cozy. More comfortable. And now she was no longer alone, just like in the picture on the WondLa. She thought of Muthr. “Do you have a family back home, Rovender?”
“A family?” He took a drink, swallowing audibly. “No family. Not anymore.” Rovender’s voice sounded distant. Lonely.
Eva sat quietly for a moment. She didn’t want to pry and upset him, or give reason for him to abandon her again. “I never had a family,” she said softly, watching Otto. “I always wanted one—but I never got one.”
“Then you are lucky, Eva Nine.” Rovender gathered his things and stood, pulling his rucksack back over his shoulders. “Come. It is time to go.”
CHAPTER 12: SAND- SNIPERS
We need to go that way.” Eva stood at the forest edge, pointing across the plain. She could no longer see the line of trees on the opposite side, for the crescent moon was now hiding behind thick clouds, soaking the world in blackness. However, the Omnipod softly illuminated her face, and Rovender’s, as it displayed a detailed map of the surrounding area. A blinking dot indicated where her Sanctuary was located.
The Omnipod drew an arrow on the map. “Walking at a leisurely pace,” it said, “you should arrive at your destination in approximately one hour and thirty-seven minutes.”
“If we can get to Muthr, she can help us find the others,” Eva said, tracing the holographic trail on the Omnipod with her finger.
“Us?” Rovender broke his gaze from the device. “I will lead you back to your home. From there I must bid you farewell, Eva Nine.”
“But we escaped together.” She looked up from the Omnipod. “I thought we were friends.”
“Indeed that was a bit of excitement this afternoon,” Rovender said, placing his hand on Eva’s shoulder. “And I am richer for our paths crossing, but my journey continues in a different direction from yours.”
“Is it because of Besteel?”
“No,” Rovender said. “But when we split up, he will no longer be able to track us as easily. Which is good for us all, Otto included.”
Eva studied his face as best she could in the pale glow of the Omnipod; however, like Muthr, he appeared stoic.
“Okay, then. Fine. Let’s go. I’m sure Muthr is waiting for me.” She started across the dark flat field of gravel and stone.
Rovender grabbed her arm. “No, no, no,” he said. “We cannot travel over this ground.” Otto clucked in approval.
Eva scoffed. “Why not? I ‘traveled’ all over it today.”
“This dried riverbed is thick with sand-snipers,” he declared.
Eva stared at Rovender for a beat. She put the Omnipod near his mouth. “Sand-what? Can you repeat that?” she asked.
Rovender pushed the device away. “Sand-snipers are vicious carnivores that live underground in deep tunnels. They mostly hunt at night and use surface vibration to capture their prey.”
“I saw a pit today. I wonder if one lived there?” Eva thought back to the mysterious hole, its entrance surrounded by unusual ivory-colored rocks and branches… . Perhaps they had not been rocks after all.
Tunnel biters. Yes. Look.
Otto’s words drifted into the girl’s head.
“Otto tells me there’s one out there now,” Eva said as she scanned the dark landscape. She saw nothing.
“Really? He tells you more things, does he?” Rovender cocked his head at the giant water bear. “Let us see if Otto, and you, are correct.” He threw his empty bottle out onto the dark plain. Eva could hear it ping as it bounced on the bumpy terrain. Suddenly a far-off pattern of wondrous blue lights emerged from the ground. The lights dashed across the open area toward the direction of the unseen bottle.
“Oeeah!” Rovender looked at Otto. “You tell the truth. Perhaps this Otto does speak to you after all.”
“I told you,” Eva said, crossing her arms.
The bioluminescent markings did little to reveal the shape of the sand-sniper, but Eva could see that the monster was big, possibly longer than Otto. Its lights shifted in color from blue to a brilliant green, and it clicked aloud as if speaking in code.
Eva aimed the Omnipod at the sand-sniper, recording its calls.
“Tell me, Eva Nine,” Rovender said with a chuckle, “what is this monster saying to you?”
“Ha, ha—very funny.” Eva bristled. “Let’s get a better look at this thing,” she said. With the Omnipod still aimed at the sand-sniper, she said, “Please enter lumen mode.”
The Omnipod’s central eye created a brilliant white beam of light that cut through the blackness straight toward the sand-sniper. Eva sucked in her breath as the light revealed the towering visage before her.
Multiple cordlike antennae crisscrossed in the center of the sand-sniper’s face. Orbiting above, two large bowl eyes scanned the night, moving independent of each other. Below the confluence of antennae an array of hooked claws and bristled graspers flexed in a steady rhythm. Its snapping maw spit out Rovender’s bottle and clicked in cadence.
“Eva!” Rovender scolded her. “Shut that light off!” He pushed the Omnipod down, forcing the beam to the ground.
Visibly shaken, Eva watched
the sand-sniper’s glowing lights diminish.
“Are you trying to get us killed?” Rovender barked. “Thank the stars they don’t venture into the woods. We’d be done for.”
“I’m … I’m sorry.” Eva said, still in shock. “I had no idea.”
“No idea? How is it that you do not know of these fiends?” Rovender said, aghast. “I have encountered several here on these grounds. These grounds that surround where you say your home lies.”
Eva shut the Omnipod off. “I … I have never been up here on these grounds before. Ever.”
“Up?” Rovender cocked his head, studying the girl. “You mean to say you have just hatched?”
“Hatched?” Eva raised an eyebrow at him. “No. I didn’t just hatch. I don’t even hatch. I’m twelve. I live in an underground home, a Sanctuary—just like the one you were camping in.”
“Unbelievable,” Rovender replied, rubbing his whiskered beard.
The moon had reappeared through the cloud cover, illuminating the world with an eerie, dim smile. Eva saw no sign of the sand-sniper.
Otto spoke to her. You. Home. Come. He stepped out onto the open plain.
But what about the sand monster? The tunnel biter? Eva thought to him.
Not hurt. Me. Ride.
“He wants us to get on,” Eva said to Rovender. She grabbed on to one of Otto’s massive armored scutes and pulled herself up. Looking down at Rovender, she continued, “He says the sand monsters won’t bother him.”
“Does he?” Rovender examined the giant water bear, still rubbing his beard.
“Yes, he does.” Eva enjoyed knowing something Rovender didn’t.
At last he nodded and climbed up. “Very well. I will trust what he tells you. Ask him to follow the forest edge, so that we may still hide if necessary.”
Otto began shuffling along the edge of the open plain. Rovender pulled out another handful of seeds and dropped them into his mouth. “This may be a good idea, Eva. I am tired, and my foot could use the rest. However, we must still keep a wary eye out for Besteel.”
“Besteel? Will he find us?” Eva scanned the darkness, wondering what else was lurking around out there. Hunting.
“Perhaps.” Rovender spit seed husks out to the ground below. “The Dorceans are very skilled hunters and trackers. Is your home well protected?”
Eva looked down at her hands in the pale moonlight. Her nail polish was mostly chipped off—replaced by dirt and grime. “Our home? No. He broke in and destroyed it last night.”
Rovender studied Eva, chewing. “‘Our’? Are there others who live with you?”
“No. Just Muthr—my caretaker. But she’s just a robot. She’s not real.”
“Like the light images that come from your device?” Rovender pointed to the Omnipod.
“No, not a hologram. I mean, she’s a robot … you know, not alive … like you and me.” Eva felt a little flustered.
“I see,” Rovender said, still watching her.
Eva stared ahead, in the direction of her Sanctuary buried in the dark woods.
I wonder if the Sanctuary is even there anymore, she thought.
I wonder how Muthr is doing. Is she looking for me?
Why does a robot take care of me? Why not another person?
Eva also wondered why she had not been taught exercises on dealing with bird-eating trees, giant water bears, and burrowing sand monsters. Or evil huntsmen.
She confessed, “You know, I had hoped that there were people like me living in these Sanctuaries. A lot of people like me. But I don’t see any. Where are they?”
Rovender leaned in close to her. “Eva Nine, I have traveled to many lands and seen many wondrous things. A creature such as you, I have never seen.”
Eva closed her eyes. She wished for all the world that she had not heard this.
CHAPTER 13: SANCTUARY
We are close, Rovender said, eyes closed as he stood on top of Otto’s large plated back. Eva watched as he summoned the night air, fanning it around his face. “I can detect a smoldering scent that is neither a burned animal nor a burned plant. We should continue from here by foot.” He grabbed his rucksack and dismounted.
Muthr is neither an animal nor a plant… . I hope she’s okay, Eva thought as she slid down Otto’s side to join Rovender. She felt some regret on how she had described Muthr to Rovender earlier. She flicked on her Omnipod. “This is Eva Nine. Please check for messages.”
“Greetings, Eva Nine. You have no new messages—voice or otherwise,” the device chirped.
I stay. Otto spoke. I wait.
Thanks, Otto. Eva patted him on the head.
“Come, come, come.” Rovender ushered Eva into the mysterious woods. “We don’t want to risk Besteel seeing us. He will likely be returning to this area.”
“Returning? Why?” Eva clipped her satchel to her jackvest.
“Because he is clever.” Rovender put on his heavy pack. He gazed up, scanning the cloudy midnight sky. “We may be doing the very thing he is expecting us to do—I don’t know. But I would suggest you retrieve your robot mother and depart as soon as possible.”
Eva followed him into the woods, using the soft radiance of the Omnipod to light her way. “She’s not my mother. She just takes care of me.”
Rovender chuckled. “Well, she must have her hands full. You are much to take care of, Eva Nine.”
Eva fumed, saying nothing.
“So tell me, Eva,” Rovender said as he wound his way through the thick trunks of moss-laden trees. “If this robot is not your mother, what became of your mother? Of your family?”
“You tell me first,” Eva said, a hint of insolence in her voice.
Rovender was silent as they trekked deeper into the woods. From unseen forest-dwellers Eva could hear chortles burbling in rhythm over her footsteps.
Finally, Rovender spoke. “My life mate, my partner, became very ill when a sickness crept into our village, infecting many.” Eva heard him clear his throat. “She left this world, taking our unhatched offspring with her.”
Eva said nothing as she followed him through the undergrowth. I’ve never really been sick before, she thought. I didn’t know an illness could be so deadly.
“So what about you?” Rovender paused, looking at Eva over his shoulder. “If the robot is not your mother, what became of her?”
Eva answered, her voice like a lone tinkling bell in an orchestra of nighttime noise, “I never knew my mother or my father. I’ve only known Muthr.” She remembered the robot pushing Eva up the exhaust shaft in the kitchen just the night before.
Rovender studied Eva in the moonlight. “Let’s get back to her, then, okay?”
Eva nodded in agreement.
They continued on in silence for some time, winding their way deeper and deeper into the forest. At last Rovender stopped. “I believe your home lies just ahead, Eva Nine.”
A humming sound drifted down from the night sky. The shadow of a large bird zoomed overhead.
“Sheesa!” Rovender hissed, pushing Eva into the shadows of a wandering tree. “I knew it!”
“What? What is it?” Eva’s eyes went wide as she looked up through the canopy.
“It’s Besteel.” Rovender spit. “I should have sabotaged his glider when I had the chance. Now he is searching for us from above.”
Eva could hear the hum of the glider. It was very low and distant, then it grew louder.
“He is circling,” Rovender said. He craned his neck, catching a glimpse of the glider as it soared over them. “We shall let him go by again. Then we will run for it. Okay?”
“Won’t he see us?” Eva rotated her sore foot, readying it.
“He can sense heat, but it is cool tonight. So if we can get underground in time, he may not detect us,” Rovender answered, keeping his eyes on the dark sky. The thin moon went back to sleep behind the clouds. The sound of the glider diminished, then began to increase. “He’s coming back,” Rovender said, crouching in the shadow of the tree
. “Get ready.”
The glider whooshed by.
“Go! Now!” The two hop-dashed across a small clearing toward the entryway of Eva’s Sanctuary. As they neared, Eva tripped over the heavy ply-steel entrance door lying on the ground. Rovender yanked her inside. The two nearly toppled down the staircase that led down to Eva’s home.
While she caught her breath, Eva watched Rovender inspect the sky from the cover of the battered entryway. “Besteel is circling over once more,” he reported. “Ah, good. Now he’s moving on.” Eva could hear the eerie hum of Besteel’s glider fade away.
“We are safe for the moment,” Rovender cautioned. “So we should hurry. Go, go, go.”
Eva descended the staircase. She had never taken these stairs before—stairs that she had known existed, even though she was not supposed to. Below, electric lights flickered inside the control room—another place she had been forbidden to enter. Eva hesitated.
“Perhaps I should go first to make sure it is safe,” Rovender said.
“No, it’s okay,” Eva said as she continued down the stairs. “I know where I am. Besides, you have to leave, right? Now I’m on my own?”
Rovender peered down from the top of the stairwell. “Perhaps I can, at least, help you find your robot mother.”
Eva nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”
With his walking stick supporting his weight, Rovender hobbled down past Eva, leading her into her Sanctuary.
The stairs ended at the back wall of an empty white control room, Muthr’s quarters. Of course Eva knew of this room. Muthr had told her all about where she went at the day’s end, and the Omnipod had showed the room in its entirety when Eva had viewed the omniscient floor plan—but still, she’d never been in this room. Expecting an arsenal of high-tech equipment, Eva found only a damaged holo-puter projecting images of the many chambers in the Sanctuary. The images flickered in an unsteady rhythm as they floated in the center of the room.
“How do you enter?” Rovender studied the locked door leading to the Sanctuary’s main hub.
“Hold on,” Eva said, scanning the numerous displays. In these she was able to look into each room.
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