Where the Forest Ends: A Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novel

by Turner, Ben

  Vivian's heart was thumping in her chest.

  Ambrosia opened the trap door and let in the relentless light of the outside world. Vivian raised an arm to shield her eyes.

  Once they stepped out, Vivian took in her surroundings.

  They were close to the landing pad of where the Andersons had landed. It was probably where she and her father had landed a decade earlier, but she couldn't remember.

  She looked down. The root connected to her leg had disappeared, retracting away from the sunlight.

  Ambrosia walked towards a small shed.

  Ambrosia stopped at the door and looked back. "You look weak," she said. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

  Vivian nodded, although Ambrosia was right. She did feel weak, and she did feel as though she might collapse any second.

  "I'm fine," she said, although the pain of being disconnected from Seed was palpable.

  Ambrosia nodded. She opened the door to the shed and stepped inside. Vivian followed and closed the door behind her.

  Inside was a table and a chair. Sitting on the table was a device Vivian vaguely recognized, as though from a long forgotten dream. It was a large square device with a small screen at the top and six dials along the bottom. Each of the dials was surrounded by numbers and symbols Vivian didn't recognize.

  "Where is your mother?" said Ambrosia. "We will send a message and then take you back under the canopy so Seed can reconnect and make you feel better."

  "Her name is Lily," said Vivian, leaning against the wall to stabilize herself. "She's a scientist. She was on Rebanic ten years ago. That's all I know."

  Ambrosia turned the dials in what seemed like random patterns. The device made strange squishing and sliding noises. There was a book on the desk beside the device. Ambrosia consulted it for the last few dials then spoke into the device.

  "Rebanic," she said, "I am searching for a woman who goes by the name of Lily, and who was employed on Rebanic as a scientist ten years ago. I am with her daughter, who is looking for her. Any and all information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks."

  She turned a dial and the entire device powered down.

  Vivian gritted her teeth against the headache.

  Ambrosia turned towards her. "We've sent the message. If your mother is there, we will be hearing back. I will tell you when I get a return message. Until then, you will be a model citizen. Is that agreed?"

  Vivian nodded and stepped towards Ambrosia, pulling the silver knife she'd stolen from the cafeteria from her waistband.

  Ambrosia looked at the knife and took a step back, her eyes going wide and her hands going up to guard herself.

  "What are you doing?" she said.

  Vivian grabbed Ambrosia’s shoulder, and pulled her towards the knife at the same time she swung her arm upwards towards Ambrosia’s gut.

  Ambrosia didn't defend herself. The knife impaled her transparent stomach, going into her vital organs. She gasped.

  "This is for Dave," whispered Vivian, leaning close to Ambrosia's ear. "This is for Cornelius. This is for Gavin. This is for all the rebels. This is for every person whose death you are responsible for."

  She yanked out the knife from Ambrosia's midsection. Through Ambrosia's transparent skin, Vivian could see the organs leaking blood both inside and outside her body.

  Ambrosia stared forward, smiling, as the blood flowed from her stomach onto the floor.

  "You have no idea what you've done," said Ambrosia in the same calm and neutral voice which she had always used.

  She dropped to her knees.

  Vivian smiled. "I know what I've done. This is justice."

  Ambrosia fell onto the ground and stopped moving, lying in a pool of her own blood.

  She stepped over Ambrosia's body and stepped up to the communication console on the desk. She flipped through the book until she came to the page that explained how to make a distress call. She flipped the dials to the desired positions and hit the call button.

  There was nothing but static for a long time.

  "Hello?" said Vivian. There was no response. She remembered that Ambrosia had spoken into it and was waiting for a response.

  "My name is Vivian Masters," she said. "I am on a planet called Trella in the outer reaches. The planet is going to be destroyed soon. We need as much help as we can get to save the thousands of humans who live here. Please send help or everyone is going to die!"

  Just as she finished the transmission, the entire planet shook under her feet, sending her chair tumbling. Vivian stumbled and managed to stabilize herself against the wall.

  "What the hell?" she muttered, rubbing her head. She stumbled out the door, using the walls and doorframe as support.

  The shaking was even more vigorous outside the shed. The leaves moved beneath her like water. It was difficult to get a firm grip on any of them, and although they held her weight, it was no longer firm ground. Vivian managed to get her balance and look around. In every direction, wherever she looked, the planet was vigorously shaking.

  She looked back through the shed doors at Ambrosia's dead body.

  She couldn't think of an explanation that wasn't either coincidence, or that this was a direct consequence of Ambrosia's death.

  The planet shook violently again, and Vivian had to grab onto the railing to steady herself.

  She held on for dear life, wondering what she had done.

  Chapter 37

  Vivian made it to the trap door and climbed onto the bridge below. She pulled her goggles on and blinked until she could see clearly in the darkness. She barely noticed the root that reached out of the ground and attached itself to her ankle, although she did notice that the headache and pain dissipated. She sprinted along the bridges, taking the stairs three at a time and using the railing to balance herself against the violent shaking of the planet.

  As she got closer to the city of Trella, she started hearing screams and panic. Somewhere in the chaos and rioting, she heard Hazel trying to maintain peace.

  She stumbled into the crowd, covered in sweat.

  There was hundreds of people gathered in front of the Mother Tree, screaming and shouting at Hazel to save them.

  Hazel was standing on a raised stage and shouting down at the crowd, asking for calm. The other members of the council stood behind her.

  Ellen was standing near the back of the crowd. Vivian grabbed her shoulder.

  "Vivian," said Ellen when she turned, "Where were you? Did you do this?"

  "Maybe," said Vivian. "I need to get to the front. I know how to stop this."

  Ellen knew better than to ask questions. Together they bulled their way towards the front of the crowd. Vivian jumped onto the stage against Hazel's protests and looked out at the crowd.

  "I know how to stop this," she said.

  The crowd was too loud for all of them to hear her, but enough of them got the message to calm down the rest.

  "Move," said Hazel, grabbing Vivian's shoulder and shoving her off the stage. Vivian stumbled off the stage as another massive quake shook the planet, sending everyone to their knees.

  "Let her talk!"

  "She's better than you!"

  "Let's hear what she has to say!"

  Vivian slowly regained her balance. The world was spinning. She was pretty sure she'd hit her head. She lifted herself onto the stage and looked over the crowd. Hazel had the awareness to step back. The crowd quieted and looked up at her.

  "This is what Dave was afraid of," she said. "Although he may have been a terrible person, and his methods were unjust, he was right. You can see that now. This planet is dying, and the Council of the Mother Tree has known about it for a long time. We need to get off this planet, and we need to do it soon. I've put out a distress call to the rest of the galaxy, but if we don't do anything we'll be dead long before we ever get a response. We need to stop this!"

  "How do we do that?" shouted someone in the crowd.

  Vivian swallowed, feeling a random bout of stage
fright. She looked down at Ellen, standing in the front row, who nodded and gave her a thumbs up.

  "There is a black panel on the northern pole," she said. "That is where the power is coming from to destroy this planet. We need to destroy it! If we destroy it, then all this will stop."

  "How do you know that?" shouted someone in the crowd.

  "I've seen it," said Vivian. "There is a being that controls this planet. You might know it as the seed which the first explorer brought to Trella. It is actually a device of war, designed to give a planet all the resources they could ever need, then strip them away at a moment’s notice. It is reaching the end of its life cycle. As it dies, it will us with it. We need to cut off its power supply. The only way to do that is to go to the northern pole and destroy it."

  The people in the crowd looked at each other nervously.

  "To the northern pole!" someone cried, and it took Vivian a few moments to realize that it was Ellen.

  The rest of the crowd seemed to be on Ellen's side, chanting that they needed to get to the northern pole to save their planet.

  "Wait!" said Hazel, stepping forward. "This will pass! This will all pass!"

  "We're done with you," said someone in the crowd.

  Hazel smiled maliciously, shoving Vivian to one side. "You're not even close to being done with me!"

  There was a sound of a million branches cracking all around them. Roots began springing up from the ground underneath the crowd. They attached themselves to some of the people of Trella. Others fought against the rapidly moving roots that tried to attack them.

  "Break the roots!" Vivian screamed. "They will imprison you and control you!"

  Hazel grabbed Vivian's arm. "There's nothing you can do," she whispered. "This is my planet."

  Vivian's eyes strayed to the root attached to Hazel's ankle. It was thicker and more sturdy than the others she'd seen. How long had it been there? Years? Decades? How must higher was Hazel's tolerance to the chemicals pumping into her body?

  Vivian lifted her foot, slipped behind Hazel, and stomped down as hard as she could on the root which came from the leader’s ankle.

  The root snapped in half. It was noticeably more difficult to get through than the others. As the root snapped and the green liquid within spilled out onto the ground, Hazel screamed.

  It was such a high-pitched scream that the entire crowd turned to look as she fell to the ground, shaking and convulsing, drool coming from her mouth. The rest of the council stepped away from the spectacle taking place in front of them.

  "With me!" Vivian screamed, gathering all their attention to her. She raised her foot and stomped down on the root attached to her ankle. It snapped and she wobbled a little in place. but managed to remain standing.

  "Ignore the pain," she shouted out at the crowd. "It's the price of victory!"

  The crowd was hesitant at first, but slowly they began stomping down on the roots and disconnecting themselves from Seed.

  "Come with me!" Vivian screamed. She pulled the pages from the explorer's notebook and walked into the Hall of the Mother Tree. There, hanging on the wall above the high table, was what she needed.

  The world shook again. Vivian struggled to stay upright and to keep walking forward. Her heart was thumping in her chest and her hands felt clammy, but she kept going.

  All she cared about was the basilisk mounted on the wall. She walked up to the basilisk and took the notes from her pockets. She put her hand on its head and muttered the strange words written there. She didn't understand what they meant. They used sounds and symbols she wasn't familiar with but looked close enough to regular letters that she hoped she was getting them right.

  Suddenly, the snake came to life and looked down at her with its empty eye sockets.

  Slowly, it crawled off the wall and onto the ground in front of Vivian. It put its head down in front of her.

  The entire crowd stared at her, and Vivian took a deep breath.

  Slowly, one foot at a time, she climbed onto the head of the immense snake and into the same position she had seen Dave and Ambrosia take when they were riding the beasts.

  Once she was securely in place, she felt something prodding at her ankle. She yelped and pulled back. There was a root coming from the head of the basilisk.

  Vivian swallowed, realizing how Dave and Ambrosia were controlling the beasts.

  She let the new root connect to her ankle. As soon as it did, Vivian felt as though she could feel every inch of the snake's bony body.

  She thought to move forward, and the snake did, like she was moving her own body. She slithered through the crowd and out onto the bridges. She turned back towards the gathered crowd.

  "To the northern pole!" She screamed, raising her right hand in the air above her. As she turned, she spotted Hazel lying on the ground, motionless, her lifeless eyes staring skyward.

  "Ellen," she said, looking down to her right at her lover and best friend.

  Ellen looked up at her.

  "I'm going to go ahead," said Vivian, "and try to end this as quickly as possible. If anything goes wrong, I need you to bring everyone else and do whatever they can to destroy the panel on the northern pole!"

  Ellen seemed uneasy, but nodded. "I'll do it," she said. Then she got close to Vivian and whispered, so no one else could hear, "Are you sure about this?"

  Vivian nodded. "More sure than I've ever been of anything."

  Ellen nodded and stepped back.

  Vivian looked up at the canopy of leaves above them. She knew that the endless expanse of space was behind it. She wondered if anyone had heard her distress call.

  She swallowed, pushing down her fear. The snake surged down the stairs with such speed and ferocity that Vivian felt sure that she was going to fall off, but she managed to hold on.

  Chapter 38

  The snake moved through the forest so fast that Vivian had to crouch down or the wind would knock her off the snakes back.

  She looked back and saw the faint shapes of the people of Trella walking onto the forest floor. They looked like tiny ants.

  The rest of the council had disappeared into the crowd along with Hazel's soldiers. Maybe they had realized Vivian was right, or maybe they'd decided it wasn't worth fighting the entire population of Trella.

  Vivian crouched down and enjoyed the ride as she rocketed towards the northern pole.

  Within a few hours, she could see faint strands of sunlight way in the distance. The planet had continued rocking violently for the duration of her journey. She'd been forced to find alternative routes a few times as trees and debris had blocked her path.

  She hoped Ellen and the citizens of Trella were okay. The planet was getting more violent in its quakes. The trees that still stood were shaking.

  She came around a tree and got her first clear look at the northern pole. It was just as she remembered it.

  A shadow passed over the northern pole, making Vivian pull the snake to a sudden stop.

  She stared at the darkness that came over the northern pole and then passed by. Was that a ship? Had someone come to save them?

  The earth shook. Not the same shaking from when the planet shook, but the shaking from the night where Dave had been carried away by the first basilisk.

  Vivian paused, looking for the source. It seemed to be coming from everywhere at once.

  She looked forward. The light of the northern pole was within reach. She just needed to get there and she could end this.

  From amongst the trees came a basilisk, then another, then another. Vivian and her snake began retreating, trying to get away from the rapid approaching basilisk's.

  She looked back and her heart caught in her chest. Basilisks were coming from every direction, closing in on her. There was no escape. She needed to fight.

  Where had all these basilisks come from?

  The converged on her, exactly in tune with one another. As each of the bony snakes lunged at her viciously, Vivian tried to defend herself. The snak
e she was riding obeyed her every command as they dipped and ducked away from the attacking basilisk's.

  The entire ground shook, the hardest rumble that Vivian had felt yet. She was thrown off the side of the basilisk's head, dangling from where the root attached her ankle to the snake.

  The other snakes were converging on where she dangled from the side of the snake.

  Seed was controlling these snakes, and had pulled her into its trap.

  Somehow, Vivian knew, when she had killed Ambrosia, she had set all this in motion.

  Vivian remembered all the people in Trella and found a final reserve of energy and bravery deep within her.

  She reached up to her ankle and pulled as hard as she could. After a few seconds, the root attaching her to the basilisk snapped. She fell towards the ground ten feet below. She managed to spin and get her arms out in front of her. She hit the ground and rolled away as quickly as she could.

  She rolled underneath a nook made by the roots of a tree, a small cavern which would offer her temporary protection.

  She looked through the gap. The basilisk she'd been riding in on was being crushed and ripped apart by the other snakes.

  Vivian pushed her back against walls of the small cavern, looking for an escape route. Once the snakes had torn apart her stead, they began circling the area, looking for her.

  Vivian didn't know how long she stayed there, staring out at the dozen immense basilisks her. The planet continued to shake.

  "You know," said her father. "That rebel was right about the basilisks."

  Vivian turned and looked at her father, sitting on the ground beside her with his knees pulled to his chest.

  "What do you mean?" she said.

  Her father smiled. "There was a rebel who came under your care during Dave's Rebellion, back before any of this happened. He told you that the basilisks were made from the bones of his dead comrades. He said Hazel and the council were creating the basilisks."

  "He was right?" said Vivian.

  "Not about who was making them," said her father. "Hazel never knew any of this. Ambrosia knew about it but wasn't doing it."