“JT, it’s not you! Let go of me and grab Max, please!”
I thought of every moment I’d ever had with Max. The first time she helped me with the hidden files on the Renaissance, the first time she held my hand, even our first kiss. My hand wriggled on Ketheria’s wrist, but it was not enough. I could not let go.
Max’s shirt ripped again — a final time.
Ketheria grabbed at Max as she fell, and I like to think I tried as well. My left hand stayed on Ketheria while my right hand scratched at the air.
I didn’t scream. I didn’t cry out. Instead, I told Max I loved her as her body plunged into the purple light chute.
“I’m so sorry, JT,” Ketheria whispered through her sobs. “I’m so sorry for this.”
I stared at the purple chute for a while. This couldn’t be happening. Max? Max! This isn’t real, I tried to tell myself, but I knew Max was gone. I could hear Ketheria sobbing, and I could hear the war raging over my head, but I could also hear my breathing over it all, for some weird reason.
As I stared at the purple light chute, waiting for time to reverse itself, I felt my hate for the Rings of Orbis burn my insides. I hated everything they had done to me. I hated them for everything I had lost and everything I’d never had.
“It’s not your fault, JT.”
“Yes, it is,” I whispered.
“It’s not. It’s this place, these people.”
“I know that, but it won’t bring Max back.”
“I’m so sorry,” Ketheria whispered again as she stood up. I was still staring down the hole where Max fell. “They did this to you, JT, and they’ll do it again. I have to stop them.”
Without looking, I said, “What do you mean?”
“It’s my destiny.”
“What is?”
“To save them.”
“Save who?”
“Save everyone.”
I finally turned toward my sister and away from where Max had fallen. In the back of my mind, I was aware that my life was still moving forward. “Ketheria, what are you talking about? Here, grab on to me. Can you pull yourself up at all?”
“JT?” It was Switzer.
“Where were you?” I screamed. “I needed you! You could have helped me.”
Switzer was kneeling on the far side of the hole. I could see blood gushing from a nasty cut over his right eye, and his left arm was clearly busted.
“Switzer!” my sister cried, trying to look over her shoulder. “Is that you? I’m ready.”
“Ready for what?” I said.
Max is gone.
“JT, I must suffer this,” she said. “It will not happen if I do not do this. It is the last thing I must do before I can truly awaken.”
“Ketheria, tell me what you are going to do,” I demanded.
“I have to do this, and I have to do it without you. I see that now. I’m sorry.”
Then Ketheria bit down on my hand. “Ow!” My fingers loosened just enough for her to slip from my grip, and she let go of the bar.
She tumbled into the hole.
“Ketheria!”
Switzer was next to her in an instant and plucked her out of the purple air. He refocused on the far side of the hole, just as he had practiced at the Hollow. I did the same, surfacing in the center of the battle. Preservation Forces were fighting hand to hand with knudniks and Citizens alike. I couldn’t help but think that Switzer, with Ketheria in his arms, was a far better Space Jumper than me.
Max is gone.
“What are you doing, Switzer?” I said.
“Getting a little payback. Something you should have done a long time ago.”
“Put her down!”
“No. I’m not like you, buddy. Things are black or white for me. You spend too much time in here,” he said, pointing at his head. “This is a good deal, and I’m going to take it.”
“Deal? What deal?”
“It was my idea,” Ketheria said. “Don’t blame him.”
“What are you doing?”
“Put me down, Switzer, but don’t let go until I say.”
“Ketheria. I don’t understand. Tell me, please,” I pleaded with her.
Max is gone.
Ketheria did not reply. She stood perfectly still with her feet together and lifted her arms to the side. Then the glow within her eyes seemed to expand. The golden luminescence flowed from her eyes and formed a radiant coronet around her head before dropping to her feet. When the light hit the ground, it exploded outward like the birth of a new galaxy. The circle of light engulfed everyone in its path. Citizen, knudnik, and soldier alike dropped their weapons and bathed in the stream of light now flooding Murat. I could not tell how far the light was going, but soon it flowed as far as I could see.
Everyone just stood there and stared at the people next to them with this perplexed look on their faces, as if they were trying to understand how they had gotten here. Soon some people were tending to the fallen and no one was fighting anymore. I gawked as Preservation Forces stepped down from their tanks and pulled knudniks from the rubble. Was Ketheria doing this? I turned toward my sister as the stream of light faded and eventually stopped flowing. Then she turned toward me slowly. There was something different about her. I didn’t know if it was her eyes or her smile. She looked as if she was capable of understanding anything.
Then she smiled at me and said, “Good-bye, JT.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked Charlie.
“I have a few debts to repay,” he replied.
Charlie and I were seated in the spaceport on Orbis 4. His shuttle was about to leave, and he had asked me to visit him before he left.
“Your real name isn’t Charlie, is it?”
He shook his head and said, “Harlan. Harlan Admunsen.”
“I like Charlie better.”
“Then let’s leave it like that.”
“I’m going to mi —” I started to say, but he interrupted me.
“Don’t get me crying. Something might start to rust. You never did turn down those emotion levels, either,” he complained. “But thanks for making me feel like myself again. You know, with the . . .” Charlie pointed at the metal around the back of his skull.
“No problem,” I said.
I stared at the floor, swallowing the lump in my throat.
Then he said, “They still might find her.”
I shook my head, unable to talk.
“The shuttle for Orbis 2 is now boarding.”
Finally, I croaked out, “No.” I looked up at him. “I wish I could feel what everyone has been feeling since the awakening. Theylor said I was designed to not experience it. The enlightenment had no effect on me. Just another gift from the Trust to ensure that their fighting machine stays true to its mission. I don’t mind, though. . . .”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, I think it’s helped a little, with Max, you know, to fill that hole up a little bit.”
“You’re going to be all right,” he said, and clamped his hand on my shoulder. It was a painful blow.
“Ouch! You may act like the old Charlie, but you have superhuman strength now.”
“Sorry.”
“The shuttle for Orbis 2 is now boarding.”
“I gotta go,” he said, standing up. “Give me a hug and then go and get on with your life.”
I laughed.
“Hey! None of that. You know what you have to do. You are a Space Jumper. They’re going to write stories about you one cycle, JT.”
I stood and smiled. Then I gave Charlie a hug. “Come find me,” I whispered.
“I will,” he croaked.
“The shuttle for Orbis 2 is now boarding.”
Charlie broke away. “Go on, go say good-bye to Theodore,” he ordered.
“Good-bye. Charlie.”
“Good luck, kid.”
Charlie picked up his bag and joined the line for the shuttle. He didn’t turn back to look at me again, but I waited until he disap
peared through the loading door. Even after everything that had happened, Charlie still managed to avoid most of my questions. I wondered where he was off to. I wondered if I would ever know.
I set out to find the New Arrival Processing Center, to say good-bye to Theodore. Theodore was now helping the new knudniks arriving on the Rings of Orbis. He had wanted to take this cycle off work, but I told him not to. I figured it would be easier to say good-bye that way.
No one referred to the new arrivals on the rings as knudniks anymore, and they were no longer indentured to the Citizens, either. Ketheria’s enlightenment had spread fast through the rings, even reaching the Trading Council, who structured a new power deal with the Keepers.
Watching everyone file through the spaceport, I couldn’t help but feel that they looked a little happier in their home. But the Rings of Orbis were no longer home for me. For so long I had thought that this is where my life would end up, but now I realized that it was only the starting point. My home was always where my friends were. I had had a home on the Renaissance, and I had had a home on the rings when we were all together, despite the conditions. I just didn’t see it.
I missed Max terribly. I hoped for so long that the light chute had transported her to another place on the ring, but after a long and fruitless search, the Keepers were unable to locate her. Phase after phase, I blamed myself for that moment. I was unable to turn off the creature inside of me long enough to help the girl I loved. I could still get angry thinking about it, but at least the awakening had created enough space for me to move on with my life.
I stopped outside the entrance to the New Arrival Processing Center. I watched Theodore talking with each alien, directing them to the R5s and then helping them uplink information for their adjustment period on the rings. He moved from alien to alien, more confident than I had ever seen him. Theylor said it was from the enlightenment, but I couldn’t get a sense of that. In fact, I think Theodore’s change had nothing to do with Ketheria. I think he’d simply found his passion.
“JT!” Theodore called out when he finally saw me.
I waved at him and walked into the room. “I wouldn’t have guessed in a billion rotations that we would have ended up like this,” I said.
Theodore looked back at the aliens huddled near the R5s.
“I know! It’s crazy, isn’t it? But you know, I feel so empowered. It’s hard to explain. I just want to help. I want to make the rings a better place, and it’s not just me. The sentiment is spreading through every ring.”
“It’s almost as if the Ancients have come home,” I replied.
“That’s what Theylor said!”
“I guess we did what they needed.”
“But what does it mean? You know, for us? What will happen when Ketheria goes around the universe waking everyone up?”
I looked at Theodore and shrugged. “I don’t know. Like this, I suppose.”
“Then it’s going to be great.”
“You can still change your mind.”
Theodore shook his head. “No. My place is here now. You know, you could stay. Switzer can take care of Ketheria. Even you said he’s changed.”
“I don’t think so. Switzer saw a good deal and he took it. He will always be looking for what’s best for him. Ketheria will have no effect on him. One of those deals is going to hurt Ketheria some cycle, and I can’t have that. Besides, I think she expects me to find her. It was something she said. You know . . . after . . .”
Theodore looked at his feet, and I did the same. It was a routine we went through whenever there was nothing left to discuss but Max. Theodore had helped me the most after the accident, and I was grateful for that. I hoped he knew.
“Thanks,” I whispered just in case he didn’t.
He nodded and smiled. “Will I ever see you again?”
“I’m going to make it a promise,” I said. “One that I will keep.”
“Then I’ll see you soon, my friend. Stay safe,” he said, and hugged me.
“You too.”
Theodore broke away and waved as he returned to the new arrivals. I watched him slip back into his work, and then I turned for the door. I spotted two Keepers walking through the spaceport and wondered if Theylor had arrived yet. He had personally disbanded the Descendants of Light after it was discovered that they were the ones who bombed the exit points from Murat. I wondered if Drapling even knew what he had done. Theylor never mentioned what happened to him.
My instructions stated that I meet Theylor at the wormhole launch located at Gate 5 on the far side of the Spaceport 1. Whenever a knudnik’s work rule had expired, the knudnik was offered the choice to stay and petition for citizenship or take a free trip through the wormhole. Not once had I ever thought about taking that trip. I always saw the rings as my final destination, yet here I was, ready to leave the place I had so wanted to call home.
The cycle’s traffic was sparse near the gate. I figured few knudniks opted for the wormhole option anymore. I spotted Theylor waiting near the gate. Both his heads were smiling.
“I have a present for you,” he said.
“That sounds intriguing. Is it something to eat?”
“You must be hungry, but you can eat on the other side. It’s best to travel through the wormhole on an empty stomach.”
“So what is it?”
“Come, I’ll show you.”
I followed Theylor through the gate. He was the first person I had ever met from the Rings of Orbis. It was appropriate that he be the last I see. Throughout everything, Theylor had never changed. He was the same alien as he was the first time I met him.
I stepped through the gate and onto a curved platform. Theylor moved toward the huge windows that arched up and over our heads. On the other side of the glass was a small spacecraft docked at the portal. The slick flier glistened under the warm floods that spilled down on the ship.
“That’s mine?” I asked.
“Well, you certainly cannot walk through the wormhole. Did you ever wonder why the trip was so expensive? You need a vessel.”
“And you’re giving this one to me?”
“It is our gift. A token of our gratitude for everything you have done for the Rings of Orbis. I took it upon myself to make a few upgrades and enhancements,” he said. “I see you’ve done the same.” He glanced at my right arm.
“You know?” I said.
“Of course. She was worried that we might still need her, but I assured her that we could cope in her absence. Besides, I believe she would have missed you more than she will miss us.”
I held up my right arm and fiddled with a thick piece of jewelry made of silver metal and black bands of rubber that now clung to my wrist. It looked like a bracelet, but it was one that I could never take off, for it was actually attached to my arm.
“Vairocina made the addition,” I whispered.
“A girl needs a little room,” she teased inside my head, “especially if I’m going to traipse around the universe locked inside your arm.”
“It looks nice,” Theylor remarked. “No one will ever know. Would you like to see your new ship?”
“You know I have to do this, right, Theylor?” I said.
“Of course I do.”
“And I have to do it alone.”
“As you have always stated.”
“Vairocina gave Switzer the coordinates of every place she had ever visited in the galaxy when she uploaded those coordinates in Ketheria’s room. Switzer can only jump to those star systems. I figure I’ll simply do the same thing. I’m certain I can pick up his trail somewhere along the line.”
Theylor reached into his robe and removed a Space Jumper’s belt.
“Then you’ll need this when you find her,” he said.
I took the belt in my hands. All my thoughts and emotions for Max ignited inside my chest. If only I hadn’t been so stubborn, if only I had accepted my fate sooner, then I would have had one of these stupid things. I could have jumped to Max after she fel
l and then jumped to safety. It was the most costly mistake of my life, but one I would never make again.
“Thanks,” I mumbled, and slipped the belt around my waist. “I still don’t understand why Ketheria had to leave without me. Switzer is not the most trustworthy person.”
“She had to. It was part of her awakening. The fourteenth and final step required her to let go of the thing she cherished most in this universe. That, I am afraid, was you. Only when she released you from your duties could she truly be the Scion. The results were immediate, as you remember.”
I nodded.
“When you emerged from the cocoon on the Hollow, you, too, completed the final step of your awakening. Without it, you would never have become a Space Jumper and Ketheria would be on her own forever.”
“I’ll find her soon,” I told him.
“I know you will.”
“Ready, Vairocina?”
“Absolutely,” she said.
“Good-bye, Theylor. Thank you for everything.”
The Keeper smiled, and both heads nodded. “Drink deep from the Source, my friend,” he said.
I looked back at the spaceport before stepping onto the ship. The tallest spire was reaching for the eclipse as the ring laid its shadow across the city. I will never miss this place, I told myself. As I hesitated outside the bay, I felt a deep pain in my stomach and a wave of nausea rose up in my throat. I smiled, not because I was leaving but because I knew that Ketheria was still within my reach.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
You always hear about writers locked away, toiling over their manuscripts for years, before unleashing them on the world. It sounds like a solitary process, but it’s far from that. I would personally like to acknowledge those who have namelessly helped me bring the Softwire series to life. Thank you so much. I really mean it.
To Eddie, for getting the ball rolling in the first place.
To Liz, Lynne, and Michael for finding the Softwire books a home at Candlewick.
To Sarah for putting up with me and making me a better writer.
To Laura, for your patience and always taking my phone calls. :)
To Lisa, for your big bookstore support when others were silent.
To Denise and the girls at KNTR — your support has never wavered. Thank you. Ninjaritas for everyone!
The Softwire: Awakening on Orbis 4 Page 27