by Bev Prescott
Erik chomped and swallowed.
“Did you even taste it?” She patted the dog’s head and took a tomato for herself.
“That’s some good stuff, huh, boy?” JJ gave Erik a scratch. “Mind if I stuff my pockets with a few for Federico?”
“Not at all. But we should hurry. The seeds for all of these plants are stored in that tray.” She pointed to a sealed green container. “You carry it, and I’ll grab Dr. Ryan’s box.”
He popped the tomato into his mouth and filled his pockets with more. “What about you and Eve? We should leave some of the seeds for you.”
“That wasn’t the deal I made with Woody.” She opened the cabinet. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be able to grow more. I’ve got another stash.” The cabinet was empty. She wheeled around.
“What’s wrong?”
“I thought I’d left Dr. Ryan’s box in the cabinet.” Turning, she saw it beneath the lab bench. “Maybe I’m losing my mind.”
“Do you think someone was in here?”
“There’s no way. They would’ve taken everything.” She shook her head. “I did leave in a rush. The Banditti were threatening Inu.”
“You’re right. No one could’ve come in here and left without eating this stuff.” JJ’s breast pocket buzzed. “Elliot,” he said. He fished out the acupalmtell and pressed the call button. “That you, Elliot?”
“Banditti,” Elliot whispered.
Sharon woke Queenbee’s screen. “Fuck. There’s at least ten Banditti and two more hydro-vans. They’re headed to the barn. There’s another entrance into here from there. Maybe someone has been in here.”
“Let’s go.” JJ brought the acupalmtell to his lips. “Elliot, stay put. We’re coming.”
“There’s no time to wait.” Elliot’s words rushed out. “I’m going now.”
“Don’t.” JJ dropped the acupalmtell into his pocket and hoisted the seed tray onto a shoulder. “Stubborn old man.”
Sharon yanked the titanium box from beneath the bench and ran with JJ and Erik through the corridor. She thought she heard someone clanging at the entrance in the barn floor. Daring to slow down, she checked Queenbee. “Oh, my god.” She halted.
“What is it?”
“The Banditti see Elliot. They’re going after him.”
JJ set the tray on the floor and took the acupalmtell from his pocket. “Elliot. They’re coming your way. You have to hide.”
“I’m drawing them to me,” Elliot panted.
Watching with JJ through the eyes of the owl, Sharon saw the blast of a spectraletto. The laser slashed across Elliot’s upper torso.
He fell to his knees, got up, and kept going until he stopped at the base of the dead oak tree. He pounded on the trunk wildly, with both fists. A black cloud emerged from a low cavity. The Banditti kept coming as the cloud of bees engulfed Elliot, stinging him mercilessly.
“No!” Sharon yelled, sickened by the thought of the pain he must be experiencing. While Elliot was immune to the bee venom, he no doubt felt every stab of their sharp, barbed stingers.
“The killer bees?” JJ asked.
Before Sharon could muster an answer, a Banditti yanked Elliot from the tree. He reared a fist back before jerking several times as bees jabbed into him. Queenbee’s speaker transmitted his bloodcurdling screams. The Banditti wailed in agony and crumpled.
The cloud of bees flattened out and spread down the hill toward the other oncoming Banditti.
Elliot labored to his feet and thrust his arm inside the cavity. A second Banditti shoved him aside while a third pulled a black box out of it. His body jerked too, and he dropped hard. The third Banditti screamed, hitting himself over and over again before collapsing.
Sharon swiveled the owl’s head. The remaining Banditti gaped at what was going on before bolting toward the safety of her house.
“Guess they got the message about the bees. They’re going to wait it out.” JJ rubbed his forehead. “When will the bees calm down? We have to get that box before the Banditti do. And we can’t leave Elliot to die.”
Elliot lay on his back with the box clutched to his chest. He lifted his knees and curled into the fetal position. His clothing was dotted with disemboweled and dying bees that still clung to him. Like Elliot, they had sacrificed themselves for their others. A sting by an Africanized honeybee was a death sentence for the bee too.
Speaking into the acupalmtell, JJ asked, “Elliot, how badly are you hurt?”
“Can’t . . .” Elliot sucked in several shallow breaths. “Breathe. My chest.”
“The laser might’ve hit a lung. How the hell do we get up there?” JJ asked.
“Fuck.” Sharon slammed her back against the tunnel wall and slid down onto her butt. She pulled her knees to her chest, hugging herself. “Fuck.”
Erik laid his snout on her knees and whimpered.
“We can figure this out.” JJ crouched next to her. “Let’s think of something I can wear to protect myself. I’ll go after him.”
“There’s only one thing that will work.” She put her hands to her face, trying to blot out the only option. “Fire and smoke.”
“How?” JJ asked.
Sharon butted the back of her head against the wall and got to her feet. “By destroying the only home I’ve ever known.” Her body vibrated with fury. She banged her fists at the tunnel wall. “What more will I have to lose!”
Erik barked excitedly.
“Tell me.” JJ gripped her shoulders. “How to help you.”
“Don’t let me change my mind.” She exhaled her reservations and put a hand to Erik. “We have to hurry. Follow me.”
She bolted to the exit and stopped. “When my brothers and I built the underground farm, we devised a way to destroy the surface in case we ever needed to hide.” Her voice sounded detached from her body. “We figured if nothing was above ground, no one would suspect we were under it. I’m going to blow my home to smithereens.” Sharon looked through the eyes of the owl at her home and tried to sear the sight of it into her memory. In another ten minutes everything above ground would be gone.
“There’s got to be another way.”
“There isn’t.”
“I’m sorry it’s come to this.” JJ pulled her into a hug.
It felt foreign, yet comforting to be embraced by someone other than Eve. “I’m glad you’re my friend.”
“Me too.” He held her tight.
“I told you not to try to talk me out of it.” She pushed him away. “Don’t make me feel all sentimental.”
“Sorry.” He smiled affectionately and picked up the box of seeds. “How do we get out of here?”
“I’ll detonate the buried explosives. It’ll make lots of smoke and fire. Hopefully, by the time the Banditti get their bearings, we’ll be long gone.”
“Should I tell Elliot the plan?” JJ asked.
“No. He’ll try to talk us out of it.” She tapped in the key combination to arm the bombs. “Let’s hope it works.” She pressed the detonation key.
Boom, boom, boom! The concussion tossed Sharon against the wall. She regained her footing, shoved the exit hatch aside and scrambled out.
JJ handed up the box before hoisting himself through the portal.
Erik shadowed them.
Heavy gray smoke flooded the air. Boom, boom! The ground convulsed as if in an earthquake. Boom!
JJ coughed and pressed his forearm against his mouth and nose.
Sharon pulled Eve’s scarf to her face to block out the smoke. Flames flicked from the house and barn. Sparks from several engulfed orchard trees spread the fire. Black smoke blotted out the sky. She squinted, hoping to get a glimpse of her apple tree. There it was, in the middle of her orchard, writhing in hideous flames. She’d swear she heard it scream. Remembering Federico’s words, Keep going, Sharon. You have to keep going, she tore her eyes from the awful death of her extraordinary tree. The bees had lifted off to safer air.
Sharon and JJ ran toward Elliot, pa
ssing a bloated Banditti covered in vicious red welts. His face looked inhuman, with swollen lips that protruded past his nose and chin. The white of his right eye bulged out of its socket.
“Holy fuck!” JJ yelled.
When they reached Elliot, he lay limp, staring up at the sky. Blood pooled around him. Quick, shallow gasps puffed from his lips.
“Be careful of any live bees that might be stuck in his clothes.”
“Okay.” JJ tried to lift him.
“No.” Elliot reached for Sharon. “Let me stay with your family. My family.”
Overcome by warring emotions, she smoothed his hair. “I’m your family,” she whispered.
“I love you.” A tear slid from his eye. “Thank you for bringing me home. I’m home.” His eyes fluttered before staring, vacant, into the blackening sky.
She bent down and touched her forehead to his. “I always loved you too. I still do.” Her stomach clenched, trying to hold in the sorrow of so many memories, buried, but not gone. “Thank you for helping me.” She brushed her hand over his eyes to close them. “Sleep well, Elliot.”
Streaks of lasers whizzed past them. JJ put his arms under her and helped her to her feet. “We have to go.”
Erik woofed.
Sharon untangled Elliot’s fingers from the box’s handle.
JJ hoisted the tray of seeds to a shoulder and took Dr. Ryan’s box.
Sharon grabbed Erik’s collar.
Together, they stumbled up, and down the hill to the waiting Albatross.
Erik leaped into the open capsule, followed by JJ and Sharon.
In silence, JJ tapped out launch commands.
Sharon tried in vain to see through the heavy smoke as they got airborne. Clutching the box to her chest, she rested her head against the port window. Good-bye, for now. With Eve, maybe she could rebuild.
Chapter 16
The altimeter on the wall of her assigned cabin aboard Belosto-One caught Sharon’s eye. Displaying the layers of Earth’s atmosphere, its arrow hovered at seventy-five kilometers within the mesosphere. She lifted the shade over the window. Cottony clouds blanketed Earth below. Sapphire colored the sky while orange burned at the subtle bend in the horizon.
Memories of her childhood surfaced. She imagined morning, her favorite time of day. In springtime, her family’s orchard trees had bloomed with fragrant pink flowers. By summer, the farm’s rich soil teemed with vegetables of all kinds. She’d sit in the orchard with her back against a tree watching Mark and Jon play hide-and-seek.
On her fourth birthday, her father had given her the honor of planting an apple tree seedling. It became the most special tree in the orchard. With the sun warming her skin, she’d watch thrushes and warblers building nests in its branches. They always seemed thrilled to live at the edge of the woods, as if they woke every morning ecstatic for another day. The world had dimmed forever when the majority of its birds died. With the loss of her apple tree, Sharon’s world was darker too.
“I miss them.” She rubbed Erik’s ears. “My family. The birds and the trees. But most of all, I miss Eve.” A vision of black smoke and raging fire elbowed out happier recollections. In spite of the bath she’d taken earlier to remove the dirt, sweat, and soot from her skin, the scent of the fire’s destruction lingered in her nose. The box Elliot had retrieved sat safely against the wall. The solid gold lock she and Eve had made by melting down all of Sharon’s family’s jewelry still secured its contents.
The dog laid his head on her thigh. His brown eyes locked with hers. He sighed as if sensing her grief.
“Don’t worry. I’ll bring you with me wherever I go. JJ told me you went on a hunger strike when I went to California.”
He blinked.
“You understand.” She plucked a dried beetle from a bowl on the desk. “Starving yourself is one way to get what you want.” She offered it to him. “I don’t want you to ever be hungry again.”
He sniffed and lapped it into his mouth. Tail wagging, he crunched once and swallowed.
Erik’s head snapped toward a knock at the door.
“Come in,” Sharon called.
The door opened. Clad in the clothes they’d arrived in and only socks with a snowflake pattern on their feet, Annie stood with her hands on Inu’s shoulders. “May we talk with you?”
At the sight of Erik, Inu backed into Annie. Under his left armpit, he clutched the pages from Sharon’s mother’s sketchpad.
“It’s okay.” Annie crouched and held a hand to the dog. “Come, Erik.”
“Go see Annie.” Sharon kissed the dog’s head. “She’s a friend.”
Erik trotted to the old woman and let her nuzzle him.
“I had a dog when I was little.” Annie got to her feet. “Her name was Daisy. Best friend I ever had.” She motioned for Inu. “Bring the sketches to me. Let me show you.”
Keeping wary eyes on Erik, Inu handed the pages to Annie.
“The pencil too, boy.”
Inu fished it from the pocket of his rolled-up pants. He still wore the clothes Sharon had given to him back at her farm.
Annie took it and scribbled on a page. “There.” She displayed her work.
The drawing looked like a pile of stacked round rocks with a large flat one on top. It reminded Sharon of the cairns placed in the White Mountains to mark hiking routes over the bare tops of the Presidentials.
“Do you know what this is?” Annie asked.
Inu lowered and raised his chin. “Inuksuk.”
“Ha!” Annie giggled. “Yes. Inuksuk. Among the many uses and meanings in Inuit culture, it symbolizes friendship and welcoming.” She laid a hand on Erik’s head. “The dog is our friend.”
“F . . . fr . . .” Inu crouched, holding his hand to Erik. “Friend.”
Erik wagged his tail as Inu rubbed and patted him.
“Annie!” Sharon exclaimed. “You got him to talk. That’s amazing.”
Annie put her hands to her knees pushing herself upright. “He’s a brilliant boy.” She tousled his hair. “And artist. He communicates through pictures. He does the drawing, and I translate. Then he copies my words. We’ve had lovely conversations.”
“Did he tell you where he’s from?” Sharon asked.
“He’s from Greenland.”
“Anything about his family?”
“Reluctantly.” Annie’s voice lowered. “It was very difficult for him. They died from the Arctic Plague. It was that trauma, I think, that took his voice away.”
Sharon watched Inu hugging and kissing Erik. “Poor boy.” She didn’t share a bloodline with him, but their histories bound them. “Mine died the same way.”
Annie clutched the sketchbook pages to her chest. “Two degrees.” She sat on the end of the small bed. “If my parents’ generation had only listened.”
“About what?” Sharon asked.
“Scientists warned them not to let the Earth’s temperature increase by more than two degrees Celsius. That it would be a tipping point for all kinds of bad things to happen. Back then, the permafrost in the Arctic was already melting. They’d opened Pandora’s Box. Disease was only one of the awful things that escaped.”
“I wonder why they didn’t care about what would happen to us.”
“I don’t know that they didn’t. Might’ve just been human nature. We’re a self-absorbed lot. It’s why you stole my coat. Which, by the way, I’m still mad at you for.” Annie gave Sharon’s wrist a gentle squeeze. “But I know that you’re a good person deep down. Your actions were motivated by the desire to save your wife, even if it meant sacrificing someone else. Most people would’ve done the exact same thing to save the ones they love.”
“I really am sorry. I hope someday you’ll forgive me.”
“Now’s not the time to hold grudges,” Annie said. “We humans better evolve away from our bad selves, or die. I may still be mad at you, but I do forgive you.”
Inu reached for the sketchbook pages. “Please.”
“Yo
u have something to say?” Annie asked. “Speak your mind, boy.” She handed him the pages and pencil.
He riffled through the stack. “E . . . Eve.” Inu passed a page to Sharon.
“Oh my gosh.” She stared in disbelief. Drawn on the page was a perfect likeness of Eve, down to what she’d been wearing the day she was taken. “You only saw her once.”
“Inu has a photographic memory as well as being a talented artist.”
“The only thing that could be more perfect would be Eve standing in front of me.” Sharon lifted an arm to him. “It’s amazing.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Thank you.” She kissed the top of his head.
Inu beamed. “Eve.”
“Yeah.” She squeezed him tight. “You gave me Eve.”
“Sorry to interrupt.” Woody stood in the open doorway. Her usual poise showed signs of fracture. “If you don’t mind, Annie and Inu, I need to speak with Sharon.”
“We understand.” Annie took Inu’s hand. “Thank you, Sharon, for coming back for us. Hopefully, we can talk more later.”
“I’d like that, Annie.” Sharon smoothed the top of Inu’s head. “And thank you for the picture.”
He reached up, took her face in both of his hands, and kissed her forehead.
“A kiss to the forehead is an expression of protection.” Woody smiled. “You seem to be collecting protectors.” She ran a hand along Erik’s back.
“I guess I look as fragile as I feel,” Sharon said.
“Worn and thin, yes. Fragile, no.” Woody ushered Annie and Inu to the door.
Sharon waved to Annie. “Thank you for looking after Inu.”
“He’s looking after me as much as I’m looking after him.”
Woody held the door and said to Annie, “Be sure to let us know if there’s anything more you need for the reading class you agreed to teach.”
“I will. I can’t wait to get started. Teaching is all know.”
“Wonderful,” Woody replied. “It’s our good fortune to have another educator among us.”
Woody shut the door behind them. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am about your farm and the apple tree, Sharon.” She pressed farther into the room and rested a hip on the table. “Thank you for keeping your word, though. Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected seeds other than kale or potato. They’ll go a long way toward feeding the Qaunik. Not to mention the boost in morale they’ll give everyone.”