by Peter Telep
“You’re right.”
I pick up the can of green beans sitting on the rock behind me. “You want to try some? It’s Earth food, but I think you can eat it...”
“Okay.”
I hand him a cut green bean. He smells it, takes a tentative bite, chews, and then widens his eyes. “Not bad.”
“Not pepperoni pizza, but good enough for now.”
“Guys?” Julie calls.
We face her. She’s crying.
And my heart sinks.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The cub passed away before Val even got near the bullet.
Mama Grren doesn’t know yet. Neither does Brave. Julie is not connected to them, and we’re all pretending the cub is still alive and sedated.
We huddle around the poor thing while Val goes through the motions, checking for a pulse. “Could’ve been a reaction to the meds. I’m just not sure.”
“Isn’t there anything else you can do?” I ask.
She shakes her head.
“Okay, so here’s the thing,” Keane says softly, as though the grren can understand us. “We have no idea how they’ll react. We might want to say our good-byes, because there’s no way out of here now.”
“We need a miracle,” I say.
“No, we don’t,” says Julie. “I’ll tell them the truth.”
“They’ll find that out eventually,” I say. “Why bother?”
“Because it’s better they hear it from me. And I refuse to become my mother. You can’t hold things in. You have to tell the truth.”
Tommy glances at me.
You can’t hold things in. You have to tell the truth.
I turn to Keane. “What do you think?”
“You’re giving me a say?”
“Hell yeah, we are.”
“Then I agree with Julie, but we offer something else, too.”
“Oh, yeah, what’s that?”
His eyes widen. “Revenge.”
* * *
We wait outside the cave while Julie connects with Brave and Mama Grren.
It’s no use trying to defend ourselves. If the grren decide that our failure means death, they’ll be picking their teeth with our bones soon enough.
And while Tommy understands that, his rifle’s still at the ready. Marines don’t go down without a fight.
“This never occurred to me,” Val says. “I was so confident I could save that cub. I just don’t get it.”
“Well, there are no gods,” Keane begins.
“Shut up,” I order him.
“What did she say?” Tommy asks.
“She thinks you’re attractive,” I tell him.
“Really?”
“No, I just thought it’d be nice to smile before we all die.”
“Come on, son, have faith. She’s in there, doing her thing, and maybe the truth will set us free.”
“Okay, whatever you say.”
“Believe it, son. The power of positive thinking can move mountains. Imagine that.”
I raise my voice. “So, Val, how do you know Meeka and Steffanie?”
“I’ve known for a long time. They were brought to the refugee hospital a few days after the withering.”
“Is that like an enormous warehouse?”
“Yes, it is. Out near the coast.”
“Meeka showed it to me.”
“Those were some of the worst weeks of my life, but those girls are strong and extremely independent. We’ve been friends with their caravan for many years.”
“I’m sorry we got you into this.”
“It’s not your fault. I know what’s at stake here. If they can harvest those trees, that could change their lives. This is the best thing that’s happened to them in years.”
“And you’re okay with those kids taking mirage?”
“It depends on the case. Some are worse off than others, and I’ve seen the benefits.”
“Do you take it?”
“No, this is where I’m needed most, so this is where I stay. I don’t jump very often anymore. I go the Community to chat with other doctors I know, but that’s it.”
“No family?”
“My husband died in the city.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Julie?” Keane calls out.
My gaze lifts to the entrance, where Julie leans on the wall, as if the experience has really drained her. “I told them everything.”
“And?” I ask.
“And they’ll still let us take the snowter branches.”
We all sigh.
“But under one condition,” she continues.
“What?” I ask.
“Mama Grren and Brave get to come with us. They like your plan, Keane. They want revenge.”
“And they’ll get it,” he says.
Tommy springs to his feet. “All right, people, let’s get moving. I want the rest of that food brought back from the crash site. Then I want you to contact Meeka and Steffanie, tell them to get moving at sundown. We’ll meet tonight. Come on, people. We ain’t getting paid by the hour.”
I cross to Julie. Whoa. She’s flush and panting now. “Are you all right?”
“No, I’m not.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t feel so...”
She faints right into my arms.
“Hey, I need help!”
Val rushes over and helps me lower Julie to the ground. She hollers for Keane to get her pack. Meanwhile, she checks for breath sounds and looks in Julie’s eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“I don’t know yet. Maybe the connection drained her.”
“But how? It wasn’t that long.”
“Did she eat anything? Drink anything?”
“Just water from the river. And the canned stuff we found. Wait. She took some mirage. But that was a while ago.”
“How much?”
“She said a little.”
“Where’d she get it?”
“She found a branch.”
“Did she mix it with water?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, she might’ve overdosed, and sometimes the effects have a long delay period, maybe even longer for someone like her who’s acclimated to another planet.”
“But you can help her?”
“I’m not sure. She could die.”
* * *
Admit it. Sometimes when you’re telling a story, you make yourself look better, right?
You lie about your Karate skills or make people think you’re smarter or more beautiful than you really are.
You show them you’re not a whiner. You’re someone who can take anything.
And really, I’ve taken a lot. But not anything like this.
I hold Julie’s hand. My cheeks are wet with tears.
Val moves quickly. Some of her instruments look familiar, others don’t. She’s calm in the face of death.
I’m borderline hysterical.
I can’t even imagine being on Flora without Julie.
Or never being able to see her, talk to her, or hold her hand ever again.
I’m replaying a thousand moments in my head:
Every time I wanted to kiss her. Every time to stole a look at her. Every text I sent. Every time I thought I love you and never told her.
She carries my backpack. Plays games. Helps me in and out of my sling. Signs my cast and dots the “I” with a heart.
There’s no evil inside her, just that sinister beauty that Tommy described. She can’t help what her father did.
I don’t know how to be me... without her. I just don’t.
This is not happening. I squeeze her hand.
Listen up, Julie Carter. You can’t OD from some stupid drug. I need you to wake up so we can go home together.
Brave slips out of the cave and shifts toward us, jumping into his personas. His eyes rotate and widen as he spots Julie lying unconscious.
He leans down and nudges my arm with his nose while his
personas pace behind us.
“He wants to connect,” Keane says, kneeling down at my shoulder. “He wants to know what’s going on.”
“You tell him.”
“No way. I have my guard up, but one slip and he’ll see a memory I have of hunting them. I’m not taking that risk.”
“Well, I have the same problem.”
“You? How?”
“I just have some memories I don’t want to share.”
“Of the grren?”
“Not exactly. It’s a long story. He could learn something I don’t want to share with Julie. At least not yet.”
Brave nudges my arm again, this time much harder.
“You better to talk to him before he gets mad,” Keane says.
“Keane, I’m telling you, I can’t. It could ruin everything.”
“What are you hiding?”
“Now’s not a good time.”
“Somebody talk to Mufasa here, before he takes a bite out us,” Tommy says.
Muttering a curse, Keane jumps into his persona, reaches out with a trembling hand, and connects with Brave.
For a moment, his face goes blank. “Okay, he begins. “I’m telling him we think Julie overdosed. He knows I have my guard up. He thinks I don’t trust him. He wants me to lower my guard, see, I told you. Oh, no. He’s smart. He tricked me, he got in. I’m sorry. I’m telling you we didn’t mean it.”
Slowly, as though he’s changed his mind about us, Brave edges back from our group.
He stares hard—
And then roars so loudly that we scream and jerk back, scared out of our minds.
Tommy raises his rifle and aims for Brave’s head.
Just then, four more grren leap down from the rocks and join him, along with Mama Grren.
They hiss and growl, ready to attack.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Just as Keane returns to his body, I jump into my persona.
“Doc, what’re you doing?” Tommy hollers.
I ignore him because one of Brave’s personas strays close to me. I hold my breath and leap onto his back, grabbing his ears like they’re reins.
The rocky hillside vanishes—
We’re up in the trees as high as a skyscraper.
And I’m thrown about as we leap from branch to branch.
I’m scared and blown away at the same time. We’re going to die—but this is amazing!
Each time we break into the air I feel weightless, like when a rollercoaster rumbles over the top of a hill.
Yeah, awesome, but it’s hard to forget that the forest floor and river are like a billion miles below, and if Brave misses a single limb... man, I don’t think he can fly...
Digging my heels into his ribs, and clutching him even tighter, I settle in and try to anticipate his movements. He’s ridiculously skilled at picking out the right branches, landing almost silently, and then aiming for the next one.
As he charges on, I become more aware of his senses. What he smells and feels are as important as what he sees.
Check it out: even though I’m holding Brave’s ears, I can sense the texture of the trees on my paws, I mean hands. He reads the branches and sniffs the leaves along the smaller limbs, deciding which ones are thick enough to use. The forest has never been more alive to me.
Strangely enough, my hip begins to ache, one of the old wounds haunting me now, haunting Brave.
“Please don’t hurt us,” I whisper in his ear. “Please.”
With that, he takes a flying leap, and we soar through the air... and then plunge toward the ground—
Only to land in the middle of a street lined with rubble.
I think I screamed... or at least I opened my mouth and nothing came out. I sit here now, struggling to breathe.
Brave lowers his head, gesturing that I climb off.
We stand before the crumbling foundations, the scabs of concrete piled with debris.
The image flashes. It’s my house on a sunny day. Another flash. The sandstorm. The night my mother was killed.
He’s reading my thoughts. I’ve let him in.
I guess I had to—in order to save us all.
He sees everything now:
My dead mother. Solomon fighting with Hollis. My father coming home. Julie crying in her mother’s arms.
Does he realize that the same man who saved his life when he was cub also killed my mother? I’m not sure. I don’t feel anything from him yet...
But then a new sensation washes over me. He realizes we’re sincere. He knows that Keane is sorry. He digs his nose into the crook of my arm and offers a glimpse of the future:
The grren watch as we harvest the snowter branches.
And then... a surprise.
He narrows his eyes and nods. He understands my pain.
The loss of my mother. The struggle to tell Julie.
No words from him, only feelings and memories, just like Julie said. But I know... I just know.
When Brave looks at me again, tears streak down from his eyes... real tears...
I put a finger to my lips. Please... don’t show Julie this.
I’m not sure if he understands. He flips his ear into my face. I grab it, and he wrenches me back to the river valley—
Whoa.
We’re looking down the barrel of Tommy’s rifle.
“Tommy, I’m okay. We’re all okay.”
He hesitates but finally lowers his weapon. “Son, this is a very shaky alliance. I don’t like it.”
“I hear you. But it’s better now.”
Brave’s personas vanish, and the other grren retreat back to the cave or follow a path up the hillside.
Back in my body, I kneel beside Val. “How is she?”
“I gave her a root extract that neutralizes the mirage. It’s working.”
I breathe a massive sigh. “Thank you.”
“She’ll wake up soon. I think she’ll be all right.”
“How long until she can move?” Tommy asks.
“Depends. I wouldn’t have her traveling until tomorrow.”
“Roger that. Hey, wait, I can understand you now.”
Val smiles. “I guess my wreath is finally translating for you, so I better watch what I say.”
“Aw, you’re fine. I’m a big boy. I can take a little criticism.”
“Somehow I doubt that.” She winks at Tommy.
* * *
We carry Julie into the cave, and she sleeps throughout the day. I don’t leave her side. Neither does Brave.
Meanwhile, Mama Grren and her mate wrap the dead cub in coils of soft vines. It’s like a mummy.
When they’re finished, more grren arrive. Mama Grren picks up the cub with her teeth and carries the bundle outside, where dozens more wait.
Tommy returns some time later. He says they took the cub into one of the highest trees and suspended it near the top. He thinks there was a ceremony, like a human funeral, and the grren sounded as though they were crying.
* * *
By nightfall, Julie’s eyes flicker open, and she manages a faint smile. “I had this terrible dream that we were stuck on an alien planet.”
I return her smile. “Me, too.”
“I’m sorry I screwed up.”
“That’s my job. Stop being an overachiever.”
Brave nuzzles up to Julie. She strokes his head and sighs.
I hold my breath, praying they don’t connect.
Whew, he’s just happy to see her.
After a moment, she notices the long shadows on the wall behind us. “What time is it?”
“Late. The caravan should be here soon.”
“I’m so thirsty.”
“Here.” I hand her a vegetable can we’re using as a water glass.
She takes a long drink. “So we’re okay? The caravan’s coming up?”
“Yeah.”
“Then what’s bothering you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You have that look.”
I grope for an excuse. “I, uh, just keep wondering, what if we’re too late? What if we get back to Earth, and—”
“Stop. I thought about that too. And it’s not too late.”
“How do you know?”
“Because your father expects someone to rescue him. And he’ll do everything he can to stall this Solomon guy.”
“Okay, I can almost buy that. For like a dollar.”
She nearly smiles. “My mom says everything happens for a reason. I hope she didn’t lie about that.”
* * *
An hour later, Keane returns from a jump. He reports that the rumms have hidden their vehicles on the southeast edge of the forest. They’re coming up on bikes and confident they haven’t been followed.
When they arrive, we make introductions. I don’t realize it, but while we’re talking, about twenty grren surrounded us, agitated by our sheer numbers. Brave and Mama Grren ward off a few youngsters who venture too close for comfort.
Tommy instructs the rumms to shoulder their rifles and keep their pistols holstered. “Don’t waste your time. We are entirely dependent upon their trust—and what we don’t need is an accident.”
Reluctantly, the rumms agree.
Meeka slips up to me and whispers that she wants to talk. She leads me away from the group and around a tree, out of sight.
This is odd. She looks odd.
“Are we okay? What’s going on?” I ask.
She grabs me by the collar, smiles—
And then shoves her tongue down my throat.
Shocker!
When she’s finished, she pushes me away like I’m some fast-food boyfriend good for a cheap thrill.
“What the hell?”
“I haven’t felt like this in a long time.”
“You’re insane.”
She makes a crazy face. “Just a little.”
“Did you take mirage or something?”
“I told you, it doesn’t make you high.”
“Then did you take something else?”
“I’m just...” She pulls me closer and lays her head on my shoulder. And then she starts crying.
“Oh, no, what now?”
“I’m just... so happy.”
A few leaves crunch. A twig snaps from behind the tree, and then a voice:
“Hey, Doc, I wanted to—”
I glance up at Julie...