Jumpship Hope
Page 27
Janlin gripped the hatch frame for support. “You . . . talked with Fran?”
“Yes. With no Fran, we no get on ’ip. She hep.”
“But she wouldn’t go with you . . .”
“No go. She want war with Imag, no return.”
Fran had done what no one else could. “She is the true hero of today,” Janlin said, her voice rough.
Anaya turned back to the view, and Janlin joined her, staring out over the golden landscape of stark beauty. Could she have done the same in Fran’s place? So many times she’d longed for a way out, contemplating suicide as the only answer left, and later congratulating herself for not giving up, for not giving in. But this—Fran’s action was one of courage beyond anything she was capable of.
“Thank you for your sacrifice, Fran Delou,” Janlin said to the sun and wind and sand. She wondered if she could ever match it. Wondered if any of them would ever stand on Earth soil again. Wondered if she had some last thing to say to convince Anaya, now that she’d made her stand, some last bit of leverage to convince her.
She had nothing. It wouldn’t be worth standing on Earth if she knew she’d made the last surviving Huantag pay for it. She would die here along with them if that’s what it took.
Anaya chuffed, soft and gentle. “Okay, Jahnin. You right. Help Huantag too.” She lifted her comm-unit and gave orders, and they turned to take their seats in the shuttle. Moments later the Gitane shuttle rose from the settlement to fly on to the Huantag city.
Anaya nudged Janlin. “You hero now, Jahnin. To Gitane, to Huantag, to Human,” she said.
Janlin lost all grip on her emotions then, weeping for those they had lost and the hope of going home.
Chapter Forty-Nine
JANLIN WAS RIGHT there when Gordon’s eyes fluttered open.
“Uh . . . bloody hell,” he croaked.
She checked the monitor, then laid a cool hand on his forehead.
“It’ll get better quickly, I’m told,” she said, holding his head up so he could sip water. “The fever’s down, and your breath doesn’t rattle like a marble in a can anymore, so that’s good.”
Gordon’s hand gripped hers. “Where?” His eyes roved around the strange surroundings.
A grin split her face. “This is Anaya’s ship. We’re special guests. She’s taking us to the Hope right now.”
Gordon stared long enough and strangely enough to make her concerned. “Gordo?”
He blinked. “Hope?” His voice was a raw croak.
“Yes.” Janlin fussed about the room, unwilling to face his cadaver-like stare. Survivor guilt crept in, even as she limped on her still-sore knee. “We’ll Jump as soon as the ill are stable.” Or gone. They had continued to lose the sickest for a while.
“Home?” He blinked furiously, tears popping out to flow back into his hair.
Janlin squeezed his big toe, her other hand now full with things for the recycler. “Rest. I’ll let Yipho know you’re awake.”
Gordon heaved a big sigh and swiped away the tears with one big hand. “Ursula,” was all he said, and his eyes closed again. Janlin stood in the doorway choking on tears of relief. Gordon would make it. They would go home, and they would bring help, but it had come at a horrible cost.
“CAPTAIN INABA!”
They were back aboard Hope, Anaya’s shuttle safely stowed in the bay with the Seraph, and preparing to Jump home.
He turned and gave her a sad smile. “Please, call me Yasu,” he said. They clasped hands, sharing an unspoken exchange of grief. “It’s good to see you.”
She nodded, unable to figure out just what to say in such a moment, it all just felt like such babble.
“You did well to trust, Janlin,” he said then, surprising her. “Don’t lose sight of that in your guilt and grief.”
FINALLY, THEY WERE ready to Jump. Despite assurances, Janlin wondered how they could be sure of the Hope’s condition . . . or how they would be on the other side. But she put all these fears away when she understood how nervous Anaya was.
“Just think, you’ll go down in history as the first of your kind to Jump.”
“An if humans no ’ike me?”
“There will always be haters,” Janlin said with resignation. “Most of the time it’s people acting out of fear. As people get to know you, they’ll see how amazing you are, and it’ll be fine.”
Anaya chuffed. The remnants of her people were now helping the Huantag rebuild and recover from the Imag virus. They would be safe while she took this leap into the unknown.
Gordon appeared, back on his feet and possibly more eager for this day than anyone else aboard. While still a shell of his former self, he had regained enough of his joviality to greet everyone cheerfully.
“Anaya, I’m still trying to figure out how to thank you for all this,” he said. “One day I’ll manage it, some great idea, and I’ll probably need my wife’s help to figure it out.”
Everyone chuckled, and the mood was high. After all they’d been through, they could finally go home.
“Captain on the bridge.”
Immediately the mood of the room changed. Stepper stalked in, his shoulders riding high, his mouth a straight line. “Status.”
They went through the flight checklists carefully. Some people sat at unfamiliar stations, filling in for those lost, and Stepper’s terse tone made everyone flustered. Finally, it was done.
“Ready all stations?”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Wait!” Everyone turned to stare at Janlin. She swallowed, wondering why exactly she had to draw attention to herself. Was it so important?
“Kavanagh?” Stepper demanded.
His anger steeled something in her. She looked around the room and saw the anguish and horror they had all experienced reflected at her. She also saw the strength, the resolve, and yes, the hope, and she straightened up in the face of his anger in a way she never would have before.
“This Jump is for all those we leave behind,” she said into the questioning silence, a silence that held for several heartbeats as they all remembered faces that wouldn’t return with them.
Stepper loosened his clenched jaw and gave her a nod.
“For all those we leave behind.”
JUMP
The End
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Acknowledgements
THIS STORY BEGAN in the sweaty New England heat of St. Anselm’s campus, where the Odyssey Writing Workshop is held. Our assignment was to create a slam piece of flash fiction to read aloud at a public book store event. I was at a loss. How to be so brief? Calie Voorhis gave me simple, yet brilliant, advice: take one powerful moment, just one, and write that.
So I did. And promptly “saw” the whole story behind that moment... what led up to it, and what followed (well, mostly). So began a thirteen-year journey to publication, with that scene still a cornerstone of the story. Much gratitude goes to the entire Odyssey family for their continuing awesomeness and mighty inspiration.
Then there’s IFWA... how to encompass the profound effect this group has had on me, professionally and personally, for twenty-five years now? Small splinter groups often grow off the main group to be more manageable, and such a group named SAW helped with many versions of this tale. Sherry, Ann, Tereasa, Susan, Randy, Val, Gerald, Mike, Anna, Renee, Celeste, Al, Calvin, and many, many more have all helped create the writer I am today.
Special thanks to my publisher Margaret Curelas. Thank you for remembering Janlin, asking for her story back, and reviving a dream. Dear Reader, please know that any mistakes between these covers is on me, because Margaret also did a wonderful job of editing.
I have to give big credit to my family, especially my kid, for being so patient with an introverted reclusive writer person like me. And sometimes even later in life you meet peopl
e who become your world. Thank you, Wayne, for bringing my dreams new clarity and hope.
And most of all, thank you, dear reader, for the opportunity to share with you a story about spaceships and the crazy people flying them. JUMP
About the Author
Freelance editor, fiction author, and wood artisan, Adria Laycraft earned honours in Journalism in ‘92 and has always worked with words and visual art. She co-edited the Urban Green Man anthology in 2013, which was nominated for an Aurora Award. Look for her short stories in various magazines and anthologies both online and in print. Adria is a grateful member of Calgary’s Imaginative Fiction Writers Association (IFWA), and a proud survivor of the Odyssey Writers Workshop. You can see her carvings at the Hidden Art Show for the When Words Collide book festival. Learn more about Adria at adrialaycraft.com, or follow her YouTube channels Carving the Cottonwood and Girl Gone Vagabond.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Acknowledgements
About the Author