Beyond Our Stars

by Marie Langager

  “Don’t move,” I said to Grim. I carefully inched my way into a kneeling position. His feet had landed under my upper body. “I’m going to take a look around,” I called out loudly, though I knew my voice was trembling.

  I braced one foot against the rope on the side of the bridge and made sure I had my hand on something secure. I peeked over Grim to the other side. The bridge swung slightly, shivering and making faint noises.

  The glassy shapes jutted out from all around, beautiful, and stunning, and terrifying. Fog overhung everything, and a chilling breeze swept through the moist air.

  Past the bridge was something that also sparkled, but differently. White buildings of strange shapes and odd sharp angles rose from out of the trees, and from mountainsides. A city. The structures, some in the shape of a half-moon, were surrounded by both the tall green and the deep maroon trees I knew so well.

  “Hope!” came Chance’s voice, calling me back. “Do we have to get there?”

  “There is the only place to go,” I yelled back, but my knee slid on the slick wood of the bridge just an inch, and we all had to steady ourselves as the small movement made it sway erratically.

  All right, so this isn’t going to be easy. “Okay, slowly, real slow, we’re gonna do this. I’ll shout commands and when and only when I tell you to move, you start moving. Everyone else, hang on,” I shouted. I had to shout, there had been only a small breeze but it seemed to gust into a rushing wind. I looked down at my knee that had slid. It felt damp. Sure enough, the wood was slightly wet, as though it had just rained. I mentally cursed the Locals. What were they doing?

  “Okay, first Grim. Carefully, move forward a little so I can see if you can keep going,” I wouldn’t be able to hold his hand through this one.

  He pulled on the wooden slat in front of him and inched forward to look underneath. I heard him inhale a frightened breath but he kept going, pressing his body to the planks and using his hands and feet to propel himself forward. He was using the slickness of the wood to make his sliding, flat belly crawl easier. He made it several feet.

  He looked back at me and gave me a brave nod. Maybe we could do this? And we really weren’t even that far from the end of the bridge and the city. It gave me motivation.

  “I’m going now, Grim stay put, everyone hang on,” I slid forward on my belly, pulling with my arms the way Grim had done. The bridge still swung in the wind, but I was getting used to it.

  “Okay, now Faith,” I called out. It was her, then Gaia, Boston, Weeks, Cairo, Marseille and at the very end was Chance. I tried not to think about it as I shouted out order after order.

  By round two we’d made it several yards. We’d be doing this a while, but it was working.

  “And now it’s Boston… wait,” I called. There was a noise I couldn’t identify. What was that?

  A creep of dread that knew the noise before I did crept up my back and made me turn my head.

  The other end of the bridge, shrouded by fog, looked like it was raining small pieces of crystal. The pieces fell from the edge where the ropes were secured. And then came the noise my senses expected, the sound of ripping and more shards falling as the other end of the bridge severed and started to fall down, down, down…

  I screamed for us to hold on. I felt my stomach rise in my body and a sickening feeling as the bridge began its torturously slow fall down and then the furious swing toward the wide jutting crystals. I had one second to pray no one would hit one of the sharper structures as I waited for the impact and tightened my grip with my hands, bracing my feet. I felt the slam into a flattened area of crystal reverberate through my bones and send searing pain through every nerve. I heard a cry above me that meant Grim was falling. I reached out an arm and brought him back to the crystal wall, but he couldn’t grab on and I couldn’t hold him. He slipped past me before I could do anything to stop it. “Stop him!” I screamed in a shrill, broken voice.

  I let myself lean out a bit and saw that Chance had Pilgrim. “I got him!” he bellowed up at me, helping Grim get his hands around the ropes again. The other Specs had all managed to avoid being impaled by the sharper formations and I put my head against the ropes and wood with my eyes closed, dizzy from the panic.

  I can’t do this.

  I really can’t do this.

  But after a moment I started screaming out orders again.

  Pieces of the bridge had been broken and it was barely intact. We had to get to the top, now.

  I was in front, so I moved as far as I thought the others would be able and then called their names one by one after me as we climbed up the broken bridge. Most of us were slammers, which helped. But normally in slamming you took out anyone who got in your way. This time, we had to get everyone to the top.

  Before I knew what had happened we were only a few yards away. I started my climb up. But then came the ripping noise again.

  “To the sides, get a hold!” Chance shouted from below me.

  We had to abandon our grasp on the bridge and try to get footing on the slippery crystals. Swiftly we all let go of the ropes and pressed ourselves into crevices in the wall.

  Now I couldn’t look down. I’d been slamming long enough to know that the best thing to do in a precarious situation was keep your momentum moving up. Don’t stop, don’t hesitate, move forward.

  I was pretty sure I hadn’t heard anyone fall or scream. But I still couldn’t manage to order a command or shout anything encouraging. It would be all I could do to climb.

  Chance’s voice came loudly from below me. “There are pieces that aren’t secure, test them before you put your weight on them. Pilgrim, I want you to put your left hand up first to that big cluster, see it? Yes. Hold there. Now your right foot into any place that feels…okay, that’s good. Now see that piece about two feet above on the left? Can you get that… okay good,” his voice continued, slowly, methodically guiding Grim upward.

  I kept up my steady climb. Chance’s voice made me feel focused. I was only inches from the top. As I reached my hand up and over I found a better foothold and pushed, scraping my elbows against the crystals at the top to get some traction. And then my feet came up over the edge and I managed to stand.

  I stumbled and wavered, my legs suddenly feeling like jelly and my vision swirling with small black dots. The others were still climbing.

  Help them, raced through my mind. I looked behind me. The crystals flattened out ahead of me and there was a rope, already tied to large white statue. The statue looked like a Local. It’s blue rock eyes stared at me. I ran for the rope.

  What is this, a lifeline or another way to die? But I didn’t have time to wonder. The rope was thick and the statue secure.

  I lowered it slowly, slowly down. “Rope coming your way,” I said to Faith, who was next up. She gave the rope a grateful look and grabbed hold. I heaved her up to the top and she got behind me so we could lower the rope again. Weeks had overtaken Gaia I had a feeling Chance might already be up next to me if not for Pilgrim.

  We lowered the rope to Weeks. “Up I go,” he grunted. Then as quickly as Gaia had, he moved to last in line to help heave whoever was the next closest up.

  Gaia, Weeks, Boston, Cairo and Marseille had all been pulled to the top. Chance and Grim were nearing the end of the rope now.

  “Make sure you stay pressed to the crevices as you grab the rope,” Chance shouted encouragingly. I was so proud, but tears were welling in my eyes as I waited. I needed Grim and Chance at the top with the rest of us. I wanted this to be over.

  I held my breath as Grim found a place to put his foot and stretched for the rope, pressing inward as Chance had told him. He got hold of the rope but then without warning his foot suddenly slid right off the small crystal he was balancing on and he went slipping down, trying desperately to get a hold somewhere. After a few yards he crashed onto one of the wide formations, still.

  “Grim!” Marseille screamed beside me.

  He didn’t move and I could see he wa
s bleeding.

  “Grim?” I called out. “Grim!”

  No movement.

  My eyes went wildly to Chance. Then back to Grim. His tiny form lay crumpled on the crystal. He’d fall if he moved an inch.

  I looked back to Chance. I knew what he was going to do, and I knew he had to do it. But still, from my mouth came the words, “Maybe, maybe…”

  He was going to try and save Grim, because someone had to. “Stop this!” I screamed at the sky. “Please! Stop!”

  “Hope.”

  Chance’s voice paralyzed me.

  “I can do this.”

  Tears started to fall from my eyes. I blinked so I could see him.

  Don’t do this, I thought. Then, please save Pilgrim, I thought. I was immobilized, frozen in fear. I couldn’t look away.

  Stop crying! I screamed at myself. He’s good at this, he knows what he’s doing. I scooted further to the edge, rope in hand, ready at a moment’s notice to pull them both to safety.

  He made his way back down at an angle so he could get to Pilgrim. “Wait, not there,” Weeks yelled out next to me. Chance had gotten a hold on a piece of crystal but he took his hand off when Weeks yelled and it slid out, debris falling out behind it. I thought I might throw up. They were doing this. Booby-trapping the way up. Chance kept going.

  And after an excruciating amount of time, he reached out to touch Grim.

  I watched as Chance tried to rouse Pilgrim, who was still knocked out and now it was obvious there was blood seeping from his head. Chance got no response. He has to wake up, I thought. There was no way Chance could carry Pilgrim back up. It wasn’t possible. Grim had to wake up.

  “Please,” I choked out on a sob. I wanted to raise my head and scream at the heavens, at the aliens for making this happen. After everything they’d put us through, this couldn’t be the way it ended. Wake up. Wake up.

  Then Chance suddenly straightened and braced himself, and pulling Pilgrim up by the torso he threw him across his shoulder. The boy’s arms dangled down Chance’s back. I went numb. There was no way. Just with the balance adjustments because of Grim’s flailing limbs alone, never mind the weight…it couldn’t be done.

  Chance was an idiot for attempting. He’d realize. He couldn’t do it. But he had no other option.

  Chance shook, struggling, as he tried to make his way back up. But inch by inch, he was managing. I held my breath, gasping now and then when I remembered to breathe.

  He was slowly, so slowy, coming back to me.

  He kept climbing right past the rope. I realized why. He had to keep an arm on Grim to keep him from sliding off his shoulder. And so he alternated arms as he climbed, using only one hand to secure himself. He couldn’t do that with the rope. I dropped it and I flattened on the ground, reaching my arm out to him. He wasn’t that far. Weeks swung his legs over the edge and began to climb back down.

  “I’ll get him, just get him near me,” Weeks grunted as he climbed down a foot, reaching an arm out.

  “Chance, watch that,” I shouted, a second too late, as he placed his hand on a large formation I had tried to use that had bowed under my weight. He lost his grip, only a yard from the top, a few feet from our grasping hands.

  He slid down a little but got a new hold. Instead of climbing again, he swung Grim down from his back, balancing precariously.

  “I’m going to lift him up, I can’t hold him long, grab him, and don’t let go.”

  He held Grim above his head, pushing Grim up with both hands while he inched his feet up. He kept his body pinned to the wall as tightly as he could, scratching and cutting himself and Pilgrim in the process. If he tipped back an inch they’d both fall, he wasn’t gripping anything with his hands so that he could push Grim up.

  Weeks got a hold of Grim, and then Gaia and Cairo did too. They hoisted Pilgrim up, and I felt my chest deflate. Chance just had to get up a few feet now.

  “He’s alive,” I heard Weeks say. I wanted to check Pilgrim, but I couldn’t just yet. I looked down at Chance and he smiled, reaching his hand up to mine.

  The formation he was standing on suddenly tipped downward, debris spilling out behind the crystal, and I saw the moment of panic in his eyes. Right before Chance went hurtling downward toward the sharp crystals below.

  I screamed, and threw myself forward, reaching my hands out for him. I kept reaching and our fingertips touched and somewhere in my mind I knew that I had gone too far and felt my body drop and the wind in my face.

  I crashed against the crystal wall and I lost sight of him for a moment. I careened down and felt shards scraping skin off my cheek. Something sharp sliced into my side.

  I was tossed again and as my head spun I could see him next to me. He was bouncing, hurtling into one crystal after the other and desperately struggling to get a hold.

  Chance turned completely upside down and collided into a large formation. His head took the full impact as he slammed down again. I could see him reaching out for something, anything. He kept sliding and another protrusion snapped his arm, making it hang limply at an impossible angle.

  Then I smashed again and felt rough edges ripping into my limbs. I found Chance in my vision again, in time to see his back crash into a thin spike with a loud crack. He hung on the spike for only a moment, his legs dangling off to one side and his head off the other, like he was broken in half. I fell past him down a long slope and watched above me as he rolled off, lifeless, and continued falling downward, no longer struggling, his mangled body twisting unnaturally as he fell. I saw his body come to a rest near the bottom and I slid down to rest below him, smashing my head as everything went black.

  Chapter Twenty

  Everything was blurry. I reached a hand up to rub my eyes but found I couldn’t move it more than a few inches. Something I couldn’t see hovered over me, opaque and solid.

  I screamed and then there was a face, but it wasn’t one I was expecting. The Local’s wide blue eyes watched me, it’s straight mouth set firmly.

  “Let me out!” I screamed at it and tried to pound on the field above me. Something tugged at my skin and I looked down. There were tubes coming out of my arms. Deep purple bruises and gaping red cuts covered my arms.

  “Chance!” I cried. I tried to reach the tubes and pull them. “What did you do?” I sobbed as blackness swept over my eyes and…

  ***

  I wasn’t sure how long I’d been out. The pain was gone, but I felt like I couldn’t focus. My vision was fuzzy. My arms and legs and tongue felt puffy and light. I liked not being able to think, it made it so I didn’t feel like screaming. Several of the Locals stood over me. Six of them, younger ones, in a little circle at my bedside. Their eyes moved from side to side, as they seemed to be examining different parts of my body.

  “Can I help you?” I mumbled sleepily. “Where’s Chance?” I asked before a wave took me…

  ***

  I jolted awake. There was something I was supposed to be doing. But my vision was still fuzzy. Where was I again? And then I remembered what I needed.

  “Chance!” I screamed. My voice sounded so small. The force field was still in place over me. I turned to the side and saw that there were Locals gathered around another bed. Chance? A Local moved in front of me. The gray creature towered over me and it was holding one of the tubes that came out of my arms. It pressed a small button on the tube.

  “Please…” was all I could manage before I felt unconsciousness taking me under again.

  ***

  I was in a different room. That was the first thing I noticed and it sent me into a panic. Metal walls. I was in a hospital bed and the tubes in my arms were different.

  My thoughts were still hazy. “Help!” I screamed.

  Instead of a Local, this time familiar faces appeared. An engineer, a medic, and Chief Upton walked toward me. Chief looked worn, his shoulders sagging and bags under his eyes. I tried hard to process what was happening.

  I vaguely became aware that I was
wearing one of our navy blue hospital gowns. I was with Chief… I was back at the Site. Probably the hospital of the Reflection.

  “Chance,” I said desperately. Instantly the image of his shattered body came back to me.

  Chief’s eyes were teary and bloodshot. He pressed his lips together and looked down.

  “No, where is he?” I yelled at anyone. I threw the sheets off of myself and stepped onto the ground. But I couldn’t support my own weight and I staggered back to the hospital bed. My legs felt weak and I looked down to find they were bandaged from heel to thigh.

  I also had a sling around one arm. The skin of that arm was a raging red color, from what I could see outside the bandages. The side of my face felt wet and too cool, and I remembered the feeling of skin tearing away. I guessed by how everything felt that my entire body must be bruised and sliced.

  But none of it mattered. “Where is he?” I demanded even as Chief rescued me from sinking to the ground completely. He pulled me upright and looked at me. I thought I saw regret in his eyes and I pushed at his chest.

  “Where is he?” I demanded again.

  When I heard Chief’s voice it sounded different, as though I hadn’t heard him speak in years. It felt too normal and completely foreign at the same time.

  “He never came back, just you,” Chief said, putting his hand on my shoulder as he supported me with the other.

  “What are you talking about?” I shouted. “How did I get back here? Where is he?” I needed someone to get me to Chance, right now. That was the only thing that would help me.

  Chief shook his head. “They kept you for two days Hope. Weeks said they wanted to wait inside for you but they were forced out. When we started to think you were both dead they brought you to us, bandaged and broken, and you were unconscious for another day. Chance, he,” Chief got quieter. “Hope. They never brought him back. Only you. It’s been three days.”