by Dan Glover
"I don’t understand how they got the machine to work, Mr. Nate. The diagram Ena drew for us wasn’t logically consistent with the laws of physics as we understand them to be. Are you sure someone else didn’t steal away with it during the night?"
"No one else knew how close we were to achieving anti gravity, Pete. Part of this is our fault... we didn’t follow Ena's instructions. We had our own ideas on how to proceed. She tried to help us and we ignored her. She probably thought we'd refuse her request to fly to old America too."
"She tried to get me to fly her there before we came here. I had to explain that the jet needed refueling once we got to old America... that was if we could even find a place to land. Ena didn’t seem to understand the logistics involved in such a long journey."
"The only alternative is to take the Nautilus. The journey will take a couple weeks but we won't have to worry about refueling. I'll make plans to leave right away."
"Ena said it would be too late if we sailed to old America, Mr. Nate. That's why she wanted me to fly her there. There must have been a reason why she left this working model for us to see. She didn’t have to do that. If she knew how to make the full sized unit work, why would she take the extra time to fix the model too? She wants us to follow. It would only take us a few days to build another unit now that we know what we're doing."
"I hadn’t thought of that, Pete, but you're right. We have all the spare parts we need. Let's start right away."
Chapter 31—To the Rescue
When he arrived home she was gone.
Going to the kitchen and half expecting Ena to be fixing breakfast he was stunned to find no one home... Alpin couldn’t remember the last time the house was empty.
Catan and the other older children were off on their own for some time now. Niall, their youngest son, had run away without a word. Nate called three days later to let them know he had shown up at Toulon Castle where youngest daughter Luciana now lived. Alpin was sure the climate had a lot to do with their decision.
He assumed Ena decided to spend some time in the south of old France with the children but he wondered why she didn’t ask him to come along. Going to Karen and Pete's villa he discovered they too were gone.
During his youth and the initial journey to the Isle of Skye he remembered how it was a rather unsettling discovery that he preferred being alone. Inured to the quiet of the empty countryside he loathed leaving until he spotted the white sails of a ship on the horizon. Knowing Ena was on the Liberty, recognizing the lone Nautilus sent him into a panic.
Until that moment, he didn’t realize how deeply his feelings ran for her. He needed no one. Growing up in Orchardton Hall meant having to share his space with others unless he found a secret hideaway, somewhere no one would think to look for him.
One day he had been particularly vexed by the idiocy of the People, the endless bickering over meaningless trivialities that led in the end to them holding grudges against others finally ending in revenge both in rumor and gossip. Often times he wandered into little used passageways and rooms in the castle but soon the other children discovered his proclivities for hiding and made a game of seeking him out to aggravate and annoy him.
The sea had always been his one respite though Ena often followed him when she saw him making his way to the beach. He loved his little sister but at the same time he didn’t appreciate having to keep an eye on the girl. He needed to be alone.
One afternoon, when he was perhaps ten years old intending to steal away for a few brief moments into the ocean, he noticed a pathway leading the opposite way into the forest. He had never gone that way before. The lure of the sea enticed him to the beach and not to the wooded fields surrounding the castle. That day, something drove him to investigate the dark cathedral beneath the trees. He walked for an hour before emerging into a field.
An old barn squatted in the gathering gloom of dusk. At one time it might have been painted red but the years had stripped away the color until the siding of weathered wood stood naked against the elements.
Inside, massive wooden beams carved in ornate patterns upheld the tattered roof. Looking up he could see the stars as they popped into view. Pigeons roosting in the loft made soft cooing noises staining the walls with their white droppings but otherwise did nothing to acknowledge his presence.
The next day he returned. In the dim recesses that must have once served as stalls for horses or other livestock he discovered old tarps draped over horizontal posts. They'd been there so long the tarps held the bend even when he carried several of them into the loft to construct a sort of shelter where he might come to be alone.
Taking several long poles he found stacked in one of the straw and manure infested stalls and carrying them laboriously one by one up the wooden slats haphazardly nailed between two supports that served as a sort of treacherous ladder he constructed a teepee on the floor of the loft. It served both to keep the rain and the pigeon crap off his head while simultaneously conferring upon him the sense of being inside a cave.
He remembered being born though at the time he had nothing with which to compare the experience. Being inside the tent up in the loft of that old barn somehow reminded him of his emergence into the world while also lending him a sense of contentment in the isolation his hiding place bestowed upon him.
When the children started to arrive he began spending more time at a cabin he discovered in the Grampian Mountains years ago. Sometimes the kids accompanied him but normally he spent his time alone there. Now he stayed at the cabin on a more or less permanent basis. Ena complained of his absence at first but later she seemed to accept his disappearance as something predestined.
She made him nervous with her way of seeing the future. He wasn’t sure he wanted know what was coming for him even if he could avoid it. Though Ena called it a gift, Alpin was convinced it was more of a curse.
He remembered Chester finding him bruised and battered after taking a spill on his motorcycle. The huge tiger stood watch until his father came to the rescue. Later they adopted one of Chester's cubs, a tigress named Nin. Though she wasn’t anywhere near the size of her father her temperament matched his perfectly. She had gone home to Toulon Castle with Niall presumably to watch over the boy.
One of the jets was gone.
The hanger door stood open like the jaws of a beast waiting to swallow him whole. He wondered why Pete would leave it standing open like that. Perhaps it was meant as a message for him. Going inside he saw the smaller jet was gone but the large one remained.
"Why don’t we have another baby, sweet Alpin? The house is too quiet."
She showed up at his cabin on a rainy summer morning with silver bracelets on her wrists and love in her eyes. He didn’t realize she knew where he was but then he remembered it was Ena. The girl saw things no one else could.
"Come in, sweet Ena. Take off your clothes. You're wet."
"Don't look!"
He laughed remembering their first time on that beach in old France. In all the years they'd been together she still hadn’t lost that delectable shyness.
"You're looking!"
"I can't help it, my darling Ena. I've never seen a more beautiful girl in my life."
Though they had fifteen children together and had made love fifty thousand times or more, each occasion was special. He often wondered what she saw in him. Though the years had only increased her beauty and splendor it had not conferred upon him the same favor.
He remembered the first time he saw Kāne. The man looked feral, like a thing just come in from the wilderness. Now, when he looked into a mirror, Alpin saw the same untamed creature staring back.
Though he had never been the best student Pete taught him to fly. He hadn’t put in the flight hours required to become a full fledged pilot but he'd soloed a couple times. Like most things he did, he lost interest in flying about the time he thought he had mastered it.
He never had the prescience of Ena yet there were times especially troubled ones wh
en he received images from those most in need. He had heard that Grandmother Lily had mysteriously vanished though he rationalized how she would show up here one day.
Now, standing in the dark of the hanger and staring at the jet crouched in the rear of the building he got a clear impression that his grandmother was in danger. What's more, Ena had taken an unreasonable risk in an attempt to rescue her; she talked Pete and Karen into going with her to old America. They too could be taken prisoners.
A shudder ran up his back. He didn’t want to do it but he was compelled to climb into the cockpit of the jet, power up the console, and run down the pre-flight checklist the way Pete had taught him. The fuel tank was full. Apparently Pete had been planning a trip.
Now here he was flying ten thousand feet above the Atlantic homing in on the continent of old North America all the while knowing the jet would need refueling if he was lucky enough to find a landing strip free of debris and long enough to safely land.
"These jets basically fly themselves, Alpin. All you need to do is take off and land. Once you're in the air, just switch on the autopilot and set your altitude and destination. The plane will do the rest for you."
He feared what he'd find upon arrival. He worried Ena, Karen, and Pete were already prisoners along with Grandmother Lily and all his efforts would be in vain. He should turn around, head back to old Scotland, and forget this nonsense. If they wanted to throw their lives away in a futile attempt at rescuing someone, let them.
Chapter 32—Once There Were Three
Now, there were just the two of them.
For what seemed like ages Natalia wondered what it would be like to be alone with her lovers. She recalled those first days they spent on the shores of Lake Baikal living in the tiny stone cottage with no electricity and no running water.
Though she loved those amenities, she often thought how she would trade the whole of Orchardton Hall and all the rest of her days for just another week in that old cabin with both her Ladies by her side.
Lily was gone and Natalia missed her dreadfully. Lady Lauren tried to assure her that Lily had left of her own accord but Natalia knew better. Something horrific and terrible came for her. Though she knew Lady Lauren was worried for Lily too Natalia got the sense her lover was secretly happy to have her for her own.
Ena was the only one who believed her. She contacted the girl in hopes that Lily may have went north to the Isle of Skye but Ena only confirmed her worst suspicions.
"I keep dreaming of Grandmother Lily being carried off by dragons. What do you suppose it means, darling Natalia?"
"I was standing in the doorway talking to our sweet Lily when I saw something on the horizon, precious Ena. It was a dark cloud and yet it seemed to move on its own. I got the strangest sense it was coming for Lily. She must have realized it too for she pushed me away at the last instant otherwise I might have been taken too."
"I don’t understand, darling Natalia... what was it that took Lady Lily away?"
"I think it was that thing we disturbed in old New York City. I didn’t see it, but it kept Karen prisoner while we were forced to go back to the Nautilus. Lily insisted on going ashore every day so Karen wouldn’t get sick with Lake Syndrome. Apparently her presence also triggered changes in the three scientists who were being held there too. That thing named Micah changed too.
"Micah purposely infected himself with tiny machines called nanobots. They were so small they couldn’t be seen. He claimed that he had created them to aid humanity. He thought once they were introduced to the body those tiny machines would work to rid people of disease and even conquer old age. But something went wrong. They worked the way he planned but they also produced hideous side effects.
"I'm guessing that Micah realized the power of Lady Lily was far superior to his nanobots. He kidnapped Lily to study her just as Karen did all those years ago. He wants to learn her secret and incorporate it into his own devices."
"Oh my darling Natalia... we have to save Grandmother Lily."
"I have no idea how to go about doing that, sweet Ena. If she really has been taken to old America, we'd need a ship like the Nautilus to sail there. Even if we managed to get to her we would have to figure out a way to overcome Micah. The last time we were there he gassed us. This time he may not stop at simply rendering unconscious."
Though she warned Ena, she knew the girl wouldn’t be dissuaded from attempting a rescue. Natalia considered every way she could think of to help Lily but it all came down to the fact they were trapped at Orchardton Hall. The only means of transportation was the vehicles Nate left for them.
They were sitting together feeding each other breakfast the way they used to do but the feeling wasn’t the same. Someone was missing. Natalia couldn't help but wonder why Lady Lauren didn’t seem as bereft about the loss of their lover.
"If only we had an airplane, my precious Lauren. Perhaps then we could learn to fly it and go to our darling Lily's aid. I'm having horrible dreams of her being eaten alive."
"Oh my sweet Natalia... I'm sure our Lily is at ease where she is at for the time being. Perhaps one day she may return to us but until then we must abide by her wishes and leave her alone."
"But she is being held captive, my darling Lauren. She cannot come back to us. Can't you feel it too?"
"I was never an adept, my lovely Natalia, not like our precious Ena. What does she have to say about Lily's disappearance?"
"Ena told me how she is having nightmares too. She plans on going to old America in an attempt to rescue our Lily. I fear the girl doesn’t understand the fullness of the threat presented by Micah and his tiny machines. She may well fall into his hands too."
"Aren't you content being alone with me here, sweet Natalia?"
"I'm more than content lovely Lauren. Yet these awful dreams trouble my sleep and dislodge any sense of comfort I take in your arms. I feel so tormented. We cannot leave our Lily to her doom."
The halls of Orchardton never felt as cold as they did that spring. As the days progressed into summer, her sense of calamity increased to the point that Natalia could no longer hold back her tears even though there was no one to hide them from as Lady Lauren spent increasing amounts of time sequestered in her secret garden and no one else was around.
Natalia knew the clandestine way to enter yet she felt unwanted. Lauren had never invited her into her secret sanctuary. Though she had told herself how they shared everything with one another, Natalia knew that wasn’t the truth. Rather, Lady Lauren would always be something apart and separate from her no matter how many millions of years they spent in the company of one another.
She wondered if Lady Lauren drew part of her strength from Lily too. Natalia could feel her own strength sapping due to her lover's long absence. She had always thought Lauren's proximity provided the same protection from Lake Syndrome as well as the illness and death that permeated the old world and yet Natalia felt weaker by the day. She no longer had the vim and vigor associated with the first time she met Lady Lily.
Everything was falling apart.
Orchardton Hall had taken on the airs of a long abandoned building. The ivy that once grew luscious and green on its walls had withered and died leaving behind skeletons of decaying vines with grasping claws still hanging on to a life long gone. The roof had sprung so many leaks they no longer tried to put buckets under the dripping water. Spider webs proliferated throughout the mazes of rooms no longer inhabited by lovers and laughing children.
Lady Lauren's skin began taking on a distinctly mottled gray coloring where heretofore she had always exuded the ruddiness of health. Her glittering auburn eyes no longer sparkled. Her long deeply brown hair hung dull and listless on her shoulders as if she ceased to care for it. She wore the same clothing for weeks without bothering to change. Where she had once pranced about naked she now covered herself head to toe.
An odor of mildew and blight filled the rooms of the castle as if it was withering from the inside out. The corners of the
few rooms they still inhabited were caked with dead leaves and moldering debris blown in through broken window panes. The dull Scottish days were further accentuated by thick drapes drawn shut and never opened.
"The dead are among us."
"Whatever do you mean, my darling Lauren?"
"I've been so morose lately, my precious Natalia. I don’t know how you stand to be around me. I know you love Lady Lily more than me and it makes me feel so sad that I don’t know how to love you any better."
"Oh, sweet Lauren, no... I love you so dearly my heart aches. But I love Lady Lily too. Don't you miss her?"
"I tell myself that I do. But then I think how much more pleasant it is to have you all to myself, my precious Natalia. My thoughts are so muddled lately. I can scarcely dress myself in the morning so I just go to bed wearing my clothes. I don’t understand what's happening to me. I'm afraid I might be losing my mind."
Chapter 33—Prisoners
Lily was feeling stronger with each passing day.
The floor under her feet was gritty with dead nanobots rendered useless by her presence though she knew the tiny machines were never alive to begin with. They'd done their job by cleansing her body of the accumulated poisons she had picked up by her close proximity to the People.
But they weren’t dead at all... rather, as having never lived, the nanobots had simply become inert. Micah no longer had any use for them either. Being close to Lady Lily rendered the miniature crystals static. They left his body in droves allowing a rebirth of new tissue and health.
She found it strange that in the throes of death there was so much living to look forward to. Though Micah did not seem to fathom the possibilities unfolding before him, Lily understood intimately that they were both being healed... her by his terrible machines and he by her proximity.
"I don’t understand what's happening to me, Miss Lily. Am I dying?"