Gestern

by J. Grace Pennington

  “You must rest again after you eat,” Peter called as the women cleared the dishes.

  “Actually,” Dred said, pulling his pad from his jacket pocket, “I was thinking we’d go ahead and leave as soon as a taxi can get here. We are beyond grateful for your hospitality,” he hastened to say as the host’s face fell, “but we need to be going. We still have a long way to travel and dangers to avoid.”

  The man glanced at his wife.

  “You must stay,” Lena insisted. “It is so late, and the lady is injured.” She nodded in my direction.

  My knee was throbbing.

  “Don’t worry, we don’t plan to walk,” Dred assured. “Like I said, we’ll get a taxi. It’ll be fine.”

  “You must stay,” Peter insisted.

  “Yes,” his wife echoed. “We cannot allow guests to leave before a good night’s sleep. It would be rude.”

  “We must be good hosts.”

  I felt Dred stiffen beside me.

  I tried adding my assurance to his. “We appreciate that deeply, but we don’t want to take advantage...”

  “It is no advantage!” Lena smiled. “We are glad to help! It is an honor!”

  Dred put a hand on my shoulder and gripped tightly. “I suppose we can stay one night,” he said. “We appreciate your concern.”

  “Daddy,” Ursula interjected, “can we see the bats tonight?”

  “There are no bats here, pumpkin.” He took her hand and squeezed it. “I’m very tired. Andi, don’t you think we should go ahead and rest? I know your leg hurts.”

  Was it a hint? In case it was, I answered, “Yes, it does. I’d love to lie down.”

  Dred smiled at our hosts and their friends. “Thank you so much for your offer. We’ll stay this one night. I hope you don’t think us rude if we go rest now.”

  “No, not at all!” Lena made shooing motions towards us. “Go rest. Feel better.”

  Dred kept his hand on my shoulder and his other hand in Ursula’s and corralled us towards the bedroom again. August followed, continuing to thank everyone in German.

  Only when we were back in the room with the door closed did Dred release his hold on me. I frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t trust them.”

  I lowered myself to the edge of the nearest bed, wincing as I bent my knee. “After they took us in and fed us?”

  “Why did they do that?” Dred stepped to the window and peered out into the night.

  “Because they’re kind people,” I insisted, though my gut began tying itself in the knot that was becoming almost customary.

  He turned to face me. “But why would they be so insistent that we stay?”

  “They said they wanted to be good hosts,” I said, but even as I spoke the knot tightened. How many times had I had this discussion with the Doctor, where I wanted to trust someone and he insisted we shouldn’t? And who was usually right?

  “But what could they want from us?” I argued after a moment of thought. “You don’t think they’re working with Edmunds, do you? How could they have been recruited so quickly?”

  “I don’t know what to think, really.” He sat down and rubbed his forehead. “I just know something’s not right. I think we should pretend to go to sleep, then get up after everyone else is in bed and leave. I can call a taxi from Reichhalms in a few hours.”

  I looked at August.

  “I have to agree,” he said. “Something’s not right.”

  I hung my head and picked at the knit of my sweater. Why? Why could there never be simply good people in the world? Why did it have to be so complicated?

  Something buzzed in my pocket. My pad. My heartbeat intensified as I pulled it out and looked.

  A message from the Doctor.

  I opened it as quickly as I could and began to read.

  Andi,

  I hope that you’re still safe and that August and Ursula have been retrieved. I’m afraid that help will not be as quick in coming as I’d hoped, however. Mr. Guilders’ flight has been detained in France—he believes that Edmunds is trying to stop him from getting to the Council in Germany. If that is the case, then Edmunds must suspect that I know something. I’ve been copying as much data as I could the past couple of days, and I’m going to leave the hotel and stay with the Captain near the starbase—there’s more security there. So don’t worry about me. The Captain is trying to call in some favors with Mr. DeMille to see if we can get your situation expedited with the Council, but Mr. DeMille isn’t very happy with the whole situation, so I don’t think that will help. I can’t get to you quickly enough to do anything; neither can the Captain. I haven’t heard from Crash. I don’t know what else to do, Andi. Please let me know how you are, and what your current situation is. I wish I were with you.

  Much love,

  Dad

  My eyes watered as I read this. Yes, we were safe. That was something to be grateful for. But we were on our own. Just us and Dred.

  “What is it?” August asked. He sat down next to me and wiped a tear from my cheek with one cold fingertip.

  I handed him the pad and he read. Dred looked at me and I gave him the simplified version of the message. His brows furrowed. “If Edmunds can stop a flight with your friend on it, he can certainly stop us from getting out of the country.”

  That hadn’t occurred to me. But it was true. If he could find some pretext to have Crash arrested, he could no doubt do the same with us.

  Could he?

  How could one senator have that much power? Alone?

  What if he wasn’t the one in charge of it all?

  August touched my arm. “You need to sleep. I’ll wake you up when it’s time to go.”

  I didn’t disagree. My head ached. My thoughts swarmed like the bats from the castle. My knee hurt. And I was sore. All over.

  I curled up on the bed and August draped a blanket over me. “Do you want me to write to the Doctor?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “I can do it.”

  He handed me the pad and I took it, tuning out the voices of him and Dred as they discussed the situation. August seemed to have finally accepted Dred as an ally if not a friend, if his normal, unguarded tone was any indication.

  I started a new message and began typing.

  Dear Doctor,

  I’m so sorry to hear about Crash and Guilders. Is Guilders okay? We are all safe. We rescued August and Ursula, and we’re currently seeking shelter with some people in a small town. They fed us and gave us a place to rest, but Dred and August think they have some ulterior motive. We’re going to try to leave after everyone is asleep.

  Dad... something awful happened. When we tried to rescue August and Ursula, Edmunds’ men caught us and they were going to kill Ursula to get me. Dred convinced them to let us go in exchange for the radialloy. He took it out, Dad. They’ve probably destroyed it by now. It’s gone.

  I’m okay for now... Dred has a treatment, but he says it’ll only last a couple weeks before we have to find another cure. I’m... scared, Dad. I know he saved us. I’m not mad at him, but... are you close at all to finding a cure?

  I miss you. I trust... I hope... that I’ll see you again soon.

  I love you, Dad.

  I sent the message.

  When I looked up from my pad, Ursula’s face was just centimeters from mine.

  “Can I sleep with you?” she asked.

  “Of course,” I smiled, and scooted as far to the edge of the bed as I could. She climbed up next to me and snuggled beneath the blanket.

  “Maybe I can keep the nightmares away,” she murmured.

  It must have worked, because no nightmares came that time. Only dark, silent, uninterrupted sleep.

  I awoke to a hand on my arm, timidly shaking me. “Andi?”

  The waking was quick and easy this time. In a second I was fully conscious, and I looked up into August’s face.

  “Time to get up,” he whispered.

  I slipped out from unde
r the covers, careful not to awaken Ursula, who still dozed beneath them. I picked up Dred’s coat from the floor and wiggled into it. “What time is it?” I whispered back.

  “A little past three a.m. But there’s a problem.”

  My heart sank. Another problem? Please God, no...

  Dred got up from his seat on the bed across the room, face illuminated by the pad he held, which I noticed was August’s rather than his own. “Look at this.” He handed it to me. I examined the screen.

  It was opened to a web browser, where he had started to type “nearest taxi service.” But below it was an Austrian news page, and across the front of the page was displayed images of August and myself. And below the images were the words, “Wanted for questioning. Please report any sightings to the number below. 100,000 credit reward for information leading to their capture.”

  A communications number followed.

  I looked up at Dred, heartbeat accelerating.

  He handed the pad to August. “I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m guessing we should get out of here. Now.”

  “Maybe... it’s Mr. DeMille. Maybe the Captain convinced him to help and he’s trying to find us.”

  “I don’t think so.” August nodded towards the door. “We’re trapped in here.” To illustrate, he stepped towards it and rattled the knob. It didn’t budge.

  “Can’t you...?”

  He didn’t wait for me to finish my question. “Yes, I can pick it, but I’m assuming if Edmunds is behind this, he already has his men surrounding the place by now, so what good would it do?”

  “But if they’re here, what are they waiting for?”

  “I don’t know,” Dred replied, “but go ahead and pick it. We can at least have a look around.” He looked at me in the dim moonlight. “You stay here with Ursula and make sure everything is packed, in case we find a way out of here.”

  In less than a minute August had picked the crude lock, and the two men crept out into the darkness of the little house.

  I started packing the few things we had gotten out while there, not minding what went in whose backpack. Just packing against the soft sound of Ursula’s steady breathing.

  Why would there be an online request for information about us? If Edmunds was behind it, what did he have to gain from bringing us to the attention of the public?

  The door scratched against the wooden floor and I jumped, adrenaline pumping. August and Dred slipped back into the room.

  “Wake Ursula,” Dred said.

  “What did you find?” I whispered.

  “There are men outside, front and back. But there’s a basement in the kitchen, and I can see a car hidden just inside the forest. We’ll sneak out there and August says he can jailbreak the car so we can use it to get away. I’ve already planned our route to Reichhalms. Now hurry and wake her up.” He lifted his backpack and mine both onto his shoulders.

  Heart still adrenalinized, I shook Ursula gently. “Ursula. Ursula. It’s time to wake up.”

  She made little groaning sounds and rubbed her eyes with her fists.

  “We have to go, honey,” I whispered as loud as I dared. “Come on. We have to get up.”

  She opened her eyes and blinked at me.

  “Where’s Daddy?”

  “I’m here, pumpkin.” Dred approached and laid a hand on her head. “You have to get up and be very, very quiet.” He handed her the doll, which she hugged.

  I helped her out of bed and August crept to the door. “Can you walk okay?” he asked as I limped towards him.

  “Yes.” My leg still felt like it was on fire every time I put weight on it, but I could bear it. Hopefully at least long enough to make it to the car.

  Dred gripped Ursula’s hand and nodded at us. August opened the door and the four of us slipped out into the silent house.

  August led the way through to the kitchen. I walked as softly as I could, fighting to avoid a moan every time I stepped forward. I hugged Dred’s jacket tighter around me in the chilly air.

  We made it into the kitchen without incident. August pulled open a basement door and went forward into the pitch black. I followed, running my hand along the wooden wall and stepping carefully to avoid bumping into anything. Dred ushered Ursula after me and closed the door behind us, making the darkness complete.

  A cold hand slipped into mine. I didn’t know whether it was August or Dred, but I welcomed the help making it down the stairs and through the basement. I wished I dared turn on my pad to give some light, but I had no idea how any illumination might give our presence away, so I just kept on in the blackness.

  “Careful,” August whispered in my ear. “There are steps.” The hand pulled away from mine.

  I stepped gingerly until my shoe hit what I presumed was a step going up. I felt for the top of it and climbed one step at a time.

  Something clicked, and moonlight flooded the darkness. August had opened a door just above and was climbing out. “Stay low when you get up here,” he whispered, and reached a hand down towards me.

  I reached for his hand. It was cold. He helped me up and I got to my hands and knees in the grass, biting back a scream as my knee flexed and touched the ground.

  Not much longer. Not much longer.

  August pulled Ursula up, then Dred crawled out of the opening. “You have to crawl now,” Dred whispered to the little girl, barely audibly. She obeyed, and the four of us crept through the grass as noiselessly as we could.

  Every move was torture. The skin around my suture pulled until I felt nothing but pain. I’d give anything for an injection of regen treatment right now. How had people gotten by in the days of bandages and sutures? I couldn’t hold back a grunt a couple of times, but I tried hard to focus through the pain. Right leg—ow. Right hand. Left leg. Left hand. Right leg—ow—

  I didn’t dare look to the left or the right. I just followed August. Nothing else. Focused on him. One hand. One leg. One hand. One leg.

  At last we reached the trees and August slipped into the shadows and stood. Whimpering, I crawled the last meter and collapsed. August bent down and rested a hand on my shoulder.

  “Hurry,” Dred whispered urgently as he and Ursula made it into the woods.

  August let go of me and left me curled in the fetal position, hugging my leg. This brought back memories. Not long after I’d met August. The first time the radialloy hurt me. It had been a million times worse than this. So had the pain when the alloy began to die. But that knowledge didn’t seem to bring any relief.

  Ursula crouched beside me, but said nothing. She just stayed there.

  Oddly, it was only then that the thought popped into my head. Wait... August can jailbreak a car?

  Silence. There was silence everywhere.

  “Dred...” August’s voice was too loud in the cold night air.

  “What?”

  “I think we have a problem.”

  I forced myself to sit up, stiffly. A problem? We had many problems.

  “This isn’t just any car,” August said, his accent becoming thicker in his panic. “It’s a police car.”

  October 24th, 2321

  3:33 a.m.

  Graz, Austria

  Crash thumped his forehead against the wall. For the fifth time since he’d woken up, restless, at two thirty. His growing headache didn’t deter him. Just as it hadn’t the dozens of other times he’d made the same motion.

  How many times now had he demanded a phonecall and been completely ignored? He was an American citizen. He had rights. He should have been expedited to the States days ago, if nothing else.

  He could see why someone might want him not to go with August and Andi, why they might not want the kids to be able to avail themselves of his superior wisdom, experience, and talent. But why keep him in limbo here? Why not bog him down in red tape back in his own country?

  That would be easy enough to do.

  His shoulders sagged. He cursed his errant youth. Why couldn’t he have—well, yes. Listened
to his uncle. His uncle was always right. Always. That was what was so infuriating.

  God. Hi, it’s me. Crash. Long time no talk. I’m sorry. But... I need to get out of here. Help me for Andi’s sake, if not mine. Something’s not right at all. I can fix it. I know I can, if I can just get out.

  He rubbed his aching head but stopped mid rub and let a smile slowly spread across his face. Brilliant idea, God. I can just get myself out. Thanks. I’ll get on that.

  CHAPTER XXI

  Dred stared at August. “Are you sure?”

  August nodded. “I’ve had more experience with police cars than I’d like. I know how to spot the security systems.”

  The instant he said this, a shout rose from behind us. Commotion began.

  They must have realized we were gone.

  “Can you still jailbreak it?” Dred asked.

  “I... I don’t know.” August looked at me. “It’s a lot more complicated than a normal car...”

  “Try!” Dred hissed. He pulled me to my feet with one arm and scooped Ursula up with the other, not even sagging under our weight. I moaned as I put pressure on my leg, but forced myself to lean upright against him.

  August’s back obscured my view of his work on the door. My heart pounded as the door opened, then he reached under the steering wheel and fidgeted with the wiring, lips pinched in concentration.

  “I don’t think I can get the autopilot working,” he murmured, again sounding more Austrian than ever. “But...”

  Sparks flew, and the car whirred to life.

  Dred opened the back door and shoved Ursula inside. Then he lowered me into the seat beside her. “Hold on,” he said, then slammed the door and climbed into the front next to August. “Go!”

  August jammed his foot down and the vehicle leapt forwards.

  I curled up in the seat, groaning with every bump. There were plenty of them. August might be an expert starship navigator, but driving through a dark forest on full manual control wasn’t the same.

  Ursula sat silent next to me, still hugging Lucy.