I had made it this far. But now, in the midst of my birthplace, I was frozen in fear. If Luther was gone, it would be detrimental to my psychology, and Titan needed me at full mental capacity.
“Um, Captain, suit up. There’s no time to waste. Once you answer that question, we are breaking into the atmosphere to find him,” Drake ordered. His voice sounded off with a touch of authority.
“Right. On it,” I said. I put my face in my palms for a moment and sighed. I had to do it, there was no other option. I stood up slowly, using the seat to brace myself.
All at once, Xena patted me on the back. “Looking forward to meeting Luther Belic and seeing your planet, Captain.” She grinned and stepped back toward the storage area. I stared at her. The death dealing instrument that sent Luther to Earth was now assisting my journey to reclaim him.
Perhaps she was attempting to relax me to aid in Titan’s agenda. I didn’t feel she was genuine in her statement, how could she be?
My heart was pounding, my hands were shaking, and I could feel myself sweating when I was cold only a few minutes earlier. I wondered if this is what Luther went through daily with his anxiety.
I shambled back to the lockers. For a moment, I laughed at myself as I glanced down at my legs. Luther could be touching me in hours, or dead. My thoughts ping-ponged from one extreme to the other. This could be the happiest day of my life, or the worst, or maybe nothing at all. Like Xena said, there was a possibility we might not find a trace of him.
“Get it together, Belic,” I mumbled.
A decaying realization washed back to shore in my mind, something I had fought back since the day I discovered Luther might be alive. Who am I if Luther is no more? I felt a sense of aimlessness and hopelessness overshadow my thoughts.
“No!” I shouted.
“What?” Drake spun around, startled.
“Nothing. I’m good. Perfect.”
Drake glanced back down, checking his C-12 pistol. “Captain Belic, I’m readying your weapon, too—”
“Give it here.” I stood up, showing Drake the palm of my hand. He placed the pistol in it.
“Here you go,” he said. When I saw the weapon, I could feel my training kick in. I’d learned to fire a weapon in the military, and the association was a welcomed distraction. I was a top tier naval fighter pilot, trained to deal with extreme pressure. I kept thinking about what I had been through. All the hopeful pilots that quit during training, one even committed suicide after being disqualified.
Still, I had never dealt with anything of this magnitude, not even close, but I had to alter my thought process to give myself a chance.
“Xena, assume an orbit around Earth of twelve thousand kilometers. All detection systems on deck,” I ordered.
“Roger. Aimed at earth and away from the debris ring,” she replied.
“What is the maximum speed of those newer destroyers, Xena? Any idea? If we’re detected, I want to know how much of an advantage we have,” I said.
“They’re not even close to us, Captain, from what we’ve recorded around the moon. If we flee, we’ll have a near nine thousand kilometer per hour advantage over them at full power,” Xena said.
“At least we can outrun them if need be,” I took hold of the throttle. I wondered if those numbers were accurate.
Drake stepped into the copilot seat, flipping a few switches above him. “I’ll be looking for any signs that the androids are alerted to our presence. Our drone testing revealed we’re invisible, but I want to make completely sure,” he said, turning toward me. He nodded with confidence.
“Roger that, Colonel,” I said, powering forward. Earth began to grow larger and larger in my view as the minutes past. I turned, staring at Drake for a moment as Earth reflected on his visor.
“Entering orbital revolution range in five, four, three, two, one,” Xena said.
“We’re ready, Captain,” Drake said. I took off my helmet and headed toward my locker. I opened it slowly, reaching in the top cubby hole. I cupped the small device in both hands and I pressed it against my face.
“Please, please, be here, Luther,” I whispered, stepping back to my seat.
“There’s a button on the top. Use your thumb, press and hold for eight seconds,” Xena explained. I pressed down on the indentation, waiting for it to turn on.
“Good luck, Victoria.” Drake nodded.
“Thank you,” I replied.
A red light flashed down the middle of the thumb sized device, then I heard some static and rustling around. After a few seconds, a voice erupted. “Okay, l-let’s see here, hold on, hunny,” Luther said. I bent forward in my seat, attempting to hold back the tears as my heart fluttered with excitement.
Drake patted me on the back. I pointed at the device. “It’s him,” I gleamed. Luther sounded horrible, I could tell he was depressed. I hadn’t heard that distressed tone since his father passed away.
“Alright, hopefully you can hear me, Vic. Okay, this audio device, the techs here on the Orion set it up for me, it’s connected to my cryotube. But uh, yeah, the way it works is after this file plays, you have a thirty second timer to answer my question, but before I ask, I just. Well, I wanted to say a few things. Not sure if you watched the video file, or if it played, but I’m basically repeating myself here. Let’s see... I, uh, I hope it hasn’t been that long since we last saw each other. I’d hate to have to buy all new clothes. Flannel only comes back in style every so often.
“You probably think I’m crazy for doing this, the doctor says I am. She said there can be complications going under the ice and being transported around. And the truth is, I-I am afraid, not so much for myself, though. You know how I overthink things, but the scariest part is, for me, is not seeing you again. The unknown, but I’ve thought about it, and I understand that’s what life is all about. But let me say, this whole ordeal has been a revelation for myself.
“Do you remember that Christmas years ago when your father told us about when he went to the ocean? I know you do. For him, it was a moment of almost self-awareness. You told me he never got to take vacations because of work, but seeing the vastness changed him. Made him realize how small he was.
“Then, I think about your ocean-like, self-awareness experience, what you told me about breaking through Earth’s atmosphere your first time. The limitlessness of space, the scale and beauty of looking down on your home. All those billions of humans who lived and died, never having the opportunity you had. You said it changed you, made you realize the brevity of life.
“Well, for me, I’m admittedly more like your father in ways, especially after bouts with anxiety and depression. Most of my life, you know, I lived in fear. Before I met you, I had given up, confined to my single bedroom apartment. Then I ran into you at that local home improvement store. It was raining, remember? I was picking out a brighter color to paint my room, to cheer me up, then you gave me your stone-cold advice on how rust orange walls wouldn’t go with my carpet sample. We talked for twenty minutes about nothing.
“I didn’t have the courage to ask you for your number, but you knew I wanted it. I was stumbling with my words at goodbye, trying to slip it in. And that brings me to the question. I know you’ll remember. Here it goes... What was the name of the carpet sample I had? We joked about it for years. When this file stops, you’ll be prompted by a beep to answer. But, ah, b-before I go...I-I really wanted to tell you something. That-that day was my ocean-like experience. It meant that out of billions of people, out of the vastness, someone existed that saw past my obvious flaws. You saw me for me. It opened up a world I never thought existed. So, if I never see you again, I-I want you to know, I-I’ve lived life to the fullest in the decade we had together. Meeting you was my moment, my ocean. I love you more than anything, Vic. I hope to see you soon.”
The audio stopped as tears sprinkled my suit. I awaited the prompt. I knew the answer. I looked out my port side window at Earth in anticipation. It was time. I took myself back to that
day when I first met him.
The device beeped.
I leaned into the small microphone. “Opposites attract,” I answered without hesitation.
I smiled excitedly, recalling the peculiar red and green carpet sample, like cliché Christmas colors. Ironically, the hideous color combo symbolized how different Luther and I were.
The red light on the device flashed green several times. “It appears your answer was correct, Captain. The device is receiving a signal,” Xena confirmed. I jumped up out of my seat, nearly hitting my head on the ceiling. “He knew exactly what to ask!” I yelled.
“One step closer.” Drake grinned. I hugged him, mashing the side of my face against his visor.
“Oh. I’m happy for you, for us.” He smiled, hesitantly placing his arm around me. I paced back and forth with my hands on my head.
“Coordinates received. Searching. Regional data confirmed. The location was formerly known as the Russian Federation,” Xena said. This was it. I felt a sense of urgency overtake me. If he was alive in his cryotube, it was thawing now.
“We have to hurry,” I said.
“To our knowledge, we have the fastest ship ever built. We can be there in minutes. So, let’s just be safe,” Drake warned. I sighed loudly, slowing down my breathing.
“You know, it’s interesting that Viktor and the refugees are from Russia, too. Maybe there is a settlement there.” Drake stared out into space.
“They were from Russia,” I said. We had no idea where they departed from.
“Transmitting encrypted data to Titan,” Xena said.
“You okay?” Drake asked. He peered around at me. It was difficult to comprehend what was ahead. I felt a rush of blood surfacing on my face as my palms began to sweat.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m just ready to go, to get this over with,” I said, plopping down into the pilot’s seat. I took hold of the flight stick as the navigation indicator popped up on my screen.
“Show us your home, Captain,” Drake nodded.
I slammed the throttle forward. The image of Earth blurred and shook in our view, growing larger by the second. I could make out the swooping white clouds painted across the round blue canvas. Details of the land masses begin to surface. Between the clouds, I observed the Mediterranean Sea, then Italy came in view. It all appeared much the same as I remembered, from here anyway. I was waiting for Drake or Xena to make a comment about our high-speed approach. Neither said a word.
“Amazing view,” Drake whispered slowly. I could only imagine how he felt. I’d seen this sight more times than I could count, but this time was much different. I felt a surge of excitement and gratefulness while staring at Earth. It felt like a dream. Ever since Arania told me about the fate of the planet, I expected the worst. I thought I might not see home again.
Earth now encompassed most of our perspective as blackness turned to blue. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between Drake and I as we watched on without a word, each of us observing its beauty like a piece of art at a gallery. While our perspective was much different, this was humanity’s rightful home, and we let it slip away.
“Entering the atmosphere,” I said as an orange, boomerang shaped flame spanned across our heatshield, blocking much of our wonderful view.
“This atmosphere is no joke,” Drake observed.
“Saved our asses plenty of times from asteroids. Burns most of them up,” I said.
“Didn’t help the dinosaurs. That I remember.” He arched an eyebrow.
“Most of them burn up. Some meteors have sturdier elements that help them survive entry intact. That’s where you run into problems,” I said. Drake nodded.
“Ever had that problem on Titan?” I asked.
“It’s rare. Titan’s guardian against asteroid strikes is Saturn, it’s blocked a giant meteor from impacting our home before. In fact, it’s thought both Jupiter and Saturn have thwarted Earth impacts due to their gravitational influence,” Xena spoke up.
“Interesting,” I replied. I thought it was strange how some Titans viewed Saturn in a spiritual sense. I guess much of it was because they didn’t have anything else to look at. Or maybe they needed something to keep them from going insane?
I throttled down into the lower atmosphere on the light side of Earth. It was a sunny, unsuspecting, surprising scene. I could have woken up on an airliner in this setting and never thought anything different about it.
Drake leaned over, peering at his ancestor’s planet without a word. I took pleasure knowing I was here to see it with him. He was likely the only Titan that would ever experience this.
“Drake,” I mumbled.
“Y-yeah,” he replied. He did a double take as he noticed my glossy eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered.
“I’m fine. It just, it means something to me, to see someone from your world experience this,” I said. He paused and nodded slowly. I leveled off, setting a cruising altitude of sixteen thousand meters headed toward our indicator.
“Ahead,” I said. We dipped into a patch of thick, white cumulus clouds.
“Wow,” he said as our perspective remained concealed by the fluffy condensation. Drake unbuckled and stood up to get a better view.
“Hey, Colonel, sit down,” I cautioned.
He hesitated before complying, staring out of the glass. “Sorry, it’s just—”
“I know,” I replied.
“I’ve seen Earth through virtual reality simulations before, but nothing is like the real thing, apparently. These colors, they’re so vibrant, the white clouds, the blue ocean. It’s sensory overload,” he went on.
We pressed through the patchy clouds for a few minutes until breaking through a clearing.
“Look at that!” he said. It was a sprawling vista. The ocean was calm and vast, seaming alongside the golden coast in the distance. I glanced back at Xena as she observed the gorgeous backdrop. Sunlight hit her face as she narrowed her eyes at the landmass. Her origins also stemmed from here, and now her kind had surpassed us as the rulers of this world.
“Land ahead. That’s eastern Europe.” I pointed. I didn’t give them much time to gaze at the scenery as I throttled forward.
“It’s really, green? All of it,” Drake observed.
“This doesn’t conjure up imagery of nuclear holocaust,” I commented, scanning the vibrant green forest below us. There was nothing out of the ordinary, tall pines tucked against patches of rocky hills. No buildings, no abandoned structures, just wild country that stretched into the horizon forever. It seemed untouched by human hands.
“It’s possible some regions of the planet were less affected by the war,” Xena said.
“Well, what are the radiation levels?” I asked.
“Wait. Scanning... slightly above normal readings before the war, nothing your suit won’t repel,” she replied.
“Hmm.” I eased forward on the throttle slightly, encroaching Mach 7.
“The Black Sea incoming,” I noticed, staring at the indicator of Luther’s pod as it grew nearer by the moment.
“I see it. The water has sort of a blue-green hue,” Drake observed.
Something caught my eye. “There’s something out there, in the distance, there are two orbs on the water.”
“Where?” he asked.
“Two large objects, there’s a sun glare on them. Eleven O’clock.” I backed off the throttle and enabled hawken, zooming in.
“I see it!” Drake said excitedly. We noticed two massive ships parallel to one another. They seemed identical with some type of giant paddle wheels. Behind the ships was a bright blue trail in the water that stretched for a kilometer or more, then narrowed and dissipated in the water. As I placed my visor’s cursor over the top of them, a stack of statistics flashed on the lower left-hand side of my heads-up display.
LENGTH: 422 METERS
WIDTH: 114 METERS
HEIGHT: 46 METERS
SPEED: 8 KNOTS
LIFEFORMS: 0 DETECTED
“Or there’s some sort of dampening to conceal lifeforms,” Xena added.
“Or that, yes,” I said.
They reminded me of some sort of bulky barge, but the purpose was unknown. The ships’ design appeared round, like a silver dome, pristine and well maintained, with no catwalks or ladder wells on deck. The only standout feature was the giant turn wheel on the bow. “Captain, radiation levels over this body of water are much higher than anything recorded thus far,” Xena informed.
“I wonder if those ships have anything to do with it?” I glanced beneath me one last time as we rocketed past.
“Thirteen minutes until arrival,” Xena said. I gulped.
“So, is there any discernible difference? The atmosphere, water, land?” Drake snapped over at me.
“I mean, I’ve never been to this exact section of Earth, but I don’t see any differences. I can’t say that there is.” I sighed. “Maybe the planet has begun to recover?” I asked.
“The data obtained from the android war estimates thousands of nuclear impacts across the globe. I don’t see a single hint of that.” Drake threw up his hands.
“I was taught Earth was a hellhole, but other than some slight radiation spots here and there, it looks fairly habitable,” he went on.
“We don’t know that. There could be all sorts of unseen dangers. Like Xena said, this may not represent the rest of the planet.”
“Or not,” he mumbled. I could understand his frustration. To me, Titan was a shithole far beyond this version of Earth, at least from what I could tell.
As we passed over the mountains, the ground beneath us began to turn white as we pushed into what was once Russia. The clouds thickened in the lower atmosphere. “Destination arrival in six minutes,” I said, pulling back on the throttle and dropping altitude. My heart was pounding in my chest as we broke through the low hanging snow clouds.
The Legion and the Lioness (World Apart Book 1) Page 19