“You live around here?” Dad asked.
“Not in this city. But if you follow above that road, it will eventually come to a fork. Follow the left one,” Brian said.
“Fork,” he repeated.
“The road splits - this one right beneath us,” he pointed out the window at the nicely lit path directly beneath us as we passed the large building, “I live about thirty miles from here, toward the base of the mountains over there.”
“Thirty miles,” Rigel repeated, “And how do you suppose we’re going to get back here to find my daughter before she gets herself killed?”
Brian turned around, “Listen – this hopper has the markings of the USN-SD. I have a hopper quite similar to this craft in all ways, except that it doesn’t bear the markings of the enemy.”
“Enemy? The Navy is an enemy?” I asked.
Brian turned back to the window and pointed, “There’s the fork I was talking about. Take the left side and follow it for about ten miles. You can hit the thrusters as long as you keep mind of the distance.”
“Seriously, though. What happened with the Navy?” Rigel asked.
“After that public interview on the USS South Carolina, the people of the United States got really upset. There was a lot of talk of conspiracies. Many believed that the Navy intended to destroy that colony from the very start. And then when the Navy got together a quick response team and started helping out KMA, the wormhole suddenly collapses and the black hole you’ve managed to contain suddenly explodes,” he said, jabbing his finger at the window again, “Turn right over there and follow that road as it leads up the mountainside.”
“But the nuclear explosion never happened,” Dad replied, banking the shuttle to the right.
“It doesn’t matter what did or didn’t happen. What matters is what was perceived. The Orbital Union quickly jumped at their opportunity to gain control over all the shipping to Mars and Europa. And you’ll remember who already owned the failed Hawke Jump technology by that time,” he said, pointing to the command terminal, “Slow it down now.”
“So they are the ones who created the new wormhole to KMA?” Rigel asked.
“The USN-SD pretty much imploded within a year. The Space Division still exists, but only as a fraction of what they once were. They also are under a government imposed suspension from KMA for a period of twenty years. So this shuttle and the shuttle Henley left on the beach could pose a lot of questions that we don’t want to try to answer.”
“This is unreal,” my dad said.
“Turn right over there and slow down even more. We’re almost to my house,” Brian said.
Henley Knight
Chapter Fifteen
“Hi, I’m Henley,” I offered yet another pleasant greeting to these joyous people.
Everyone appeared to be so happy here, and why wouldn’t they be? This place was loud, bright, and filled with a variety of chimes, rings, and shouts of joy. People were everywhere! They were playing at some golden machines that would spin multiple wheels when the person pulled a lever. I learned quickly that this was an electronic match game. Many people were sitting at various tables playing a card game I learned long ago called Blackjack.
I now stood near a table where people were placing discs on a chart of numbers and then hoping that a spinning wheel would randomly cause a marble to land on their chosen number. This whole place was filled with excitement and fun. This was a nation that knew how to spend their time. I kept the tablet tucked under my arm while I just stood among them as a happy spectator.
“What number, sweetie?” a man asked, putting his arm around me.
“Number? Oh, I don’t have any of those discs,” I said, nodding toward the table in front of me.
“You do now,” he said, holding up a red one.
“Wow, thanks!” I said, examining the plastic token.
“Well, go ahead and choose a lucky number,” he nodded down at the table.
I leaned over and placed it on a square, “I like twenty-two.”
“Then I like it too,” he said, placing another disc on top of mine.
The wheel was spun and the marble was dropped. It spun around and around and then eventually started bouncing. It finally settled on number five.
“Darn!” I said.
“No big loss. There’s plenty more where that came from. How come I never saw you here before? What’s your name, darling?” the man tugged me closer to him, keeping his arm around my waist, “I was pretty sure I’d met all the women at this club.”
I wasn’t sure if what he was doing was considered inappropriate or not, but it definitely made me feel a little uncomfortable. I scooted away, still keeping a friendly smile so not to offend him.
“I’m Henley. Today’s my first day here,” I said, remembering suddenly that I needed to blend in, “I’m just here to have some fun just like everyone else.”
“Really? Well you don’t waste any time getting down to business! I like to have fun as well,” he said, “And I’ve got a room right up on the top floor.”
“The top floor in this building? Really?” I asked, hoping I could somehow convince him to show me, “Would you let me see it? I was just wondering what the ocean looks like from up there.”
“How much?” he asked.
“How much do I want to see it?” I asked, “Well, I’d never been in any building that was over two floors before, so I really want to see it pretty bad.”
“No, I mean how much money?” he asked.
I just remembered what Brian had said about money here. It was how they traded stuff. I couldn’t pay to see the room.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have any money,” I replied.
“No!” he laughed, patting me on the butt like Thatcher usually did, “How much money… you know… how much do you need?”
I scooted away from him a little more. We really never touched each other like these people so casually did. The only person who ever even tried to touch my butt before was Thatcher and he was even polite enough to ask the first time.
“Oh! Well, I saw a machine back there that wouldn’t let me play it. I finally figured out that it required five dollars which I didn’t have. Could you spare five dollars?”
“You’re quite a catch,” he laughed again, “Why don’t I take you upstairs to my room?”
“Thanks!” I hugged him, “I don’t know how to repay you. Everyone here is just so nice and welcoming.”
Thatcher Stark
Chapter Sixteen
Word had already gotten to Brian’s wife that the Diana was presumed lost at sea. He should have arrived at Murphy-Stark about a month ago. So when she saw us walking up the front porch of her house, even though Brian looked significantly different since the last time she’d seen him, she burst out in tears and couldn’t regain her composure for quite some time.
While she held onto him just outside the front door, sobbing and repeating his name over and over, Brian attempted to soothe her with promises to never go to sea again. We watched the two of them for a short while, growing ever more impatient in spite of our understanding. Brian caught my eye as he held his wife and then attempted to explain to her that he had to leave her already to run an important errand. I couldn’t tell if she was ignoring him or if she simply couldn’t hear him over her sobs.
“Zane, why don’t you go up on the hill and start up the hopper?” Brian said, still holding his wife, “The coils need to warm up anyway. But don’t leave without me.”
The three of us rushed off the porch and headed around to the back of the house. Although it was dark out, we could see a black hopper parked up on a hill near a large shed. If it weren’t for the light on the front of the shed however, we wouldn’t have seen it at all. We rushed up the hill, wasting no time.
“We can’t hang out here waiting forever,” Rigel said as we opened the back hatch, “I never taught my daughter anything about the sort of world I came from. She doesn’t realize what’s out there.”
“Sh
e’s smart, though,” I said, “She’ll manage just fine until we locate her.”
Henley Knight
Chapter Seventeen
It was more beautiful than I ever imagined. I hadn’t even noticed from down below that these were more than just windows on the side of the building. Each room had its own balcony, so you could stand out in the open air just like I was doing now. I hung out over the railing, looking down at the people walking far beneath me. It was frightening the first time I looked over, but then I realized that the railing was sturdy and as long as I stayed on this side of it, I was completely safe.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he said, leaning against the rail and looking over at me instead of at the beach.
“It is! You could see for miles from here! If I had this room, I’d never even want to go downstairs. Do you live here?” I asked.
I leaned over the railing this time and looked to the right at the row of buildings next to us. From up here, I could see some of their rooftops. On one of the buildings, I actually saw someone hanging over their balcony just like me. They didn’t even know I was watching them while doing the same thing.
“No one lives here, Henley. This is a hotel,” he explained.
“What’s a hotel?” I asked, turning to him.
“Really? Where have you been all your life?” he asked, leaning in toward me like he was about to kiss me.
I backed away quickly, wondering why he would attempt such a thing. I didn’t even know this man and besides, he was probably old enough to be my dad.
“It’s alright, I get it,” he nodded, “No kissing then.”
“Right,” I agreed, confused by the man’s unusual ways.
“Why don’t we go inside?” he asked.
“Can I stay out here a little longer? I love the feel of the wind and the sound of the ocean from way up here,” I asked, “Just a little longer?”
“But don’t you want the five dollars so you can go down and play the jackpot?” he asked.
“Sure, but I’m in no hurry,” I said.
He seemed to pout as he went back into his room. Someone like him probably lived with views like this all of his life, so he was accustomed to it. To him, this was nothing exciting at all. What if I ever got jaded like that? What if the excitement of spending time with Thatcher just turned into something that was ‘ordinary’? What if I started taking him for granted and stopped appreciating him?
That was when I noticed something was terribly wrong. My hopper was missing. I had parked it right behind this building directly on the beach. As a matter of fact, I could still see the imprints of the two skids. It was gone!
“Oh no!” I croaked, turning and rushing into the room.
The man was coming out of the bathroom just then, wearing only a pair of underwear. I covered my eyes, realizing that he hadn’t expected me to be back in the room just yet.
“I’m sorry, sir! I need to go downstairs really quick to find out what happened to my hopper. Someone stole it and I need to get back home,” I said.
I shielded my view of him with my hand as I started to rush past. Suddenly his hands were at my waist, tugging me to him. I unshielded my eyes just as he tried to kiss me again. I slapped him and then immediately punched him when I realized the slap didn’t even stun him or get a reaction.
“What are you doing?” I shouted.
“What do you think I’m doing?” he asked, pushing me backward and causing me to stumble onto the bed, “I wanted to get to know the new girl.”
“Are you crazy?” I spat, scooting back away from him on the bed.
The man didn’t seem the slightest bit embarrassed that he was still just wearing a pair of underwear. As he knelt onto the bed with a crazy smile, I realized that he must somehow think that I was his girlfriend… or perhaps his wife. I leapt from the bed and started for the door, grabbing my tablet from the dresser. I could hear him rushing up behind me. I opened the door and felt him grab onto my arm, causing me to drop the tablet.
He shouted an obscenity and then pulled me violently back into the room, causing me to fall to the ground and hit my head on the wall. By the time I turned to him, he was already on top of me, holding my arms to the floor with an exceptional amount of strength.
“Why are you doing this?” I cried out, “I just want to go home.”
Thatcher Stark
Chapter Eighteen
It felt like more than ten minutes had passed before Brian joined us inside the shuttle. We closed the hatch and shot up into the sky before we even had a chance to talk to him and see how his wife was doing. We’d already verified on the tablet that Henley hadn’t even moved from the same spot she was in when we left the beach earlier.
“There’s going to be some police or military presence in the area when we get there,” Brian stated, “The existence of the USN-SD hopper they found on the beach is probably going to be causing a bit of an uproar by now.”
“So, how do we land and go find her without getting caught?” I asked.
“This is just a regular hopper, kid,” he said, “We’re just a group of gamblers looking for a good time.”
Since we didn’t have to follow the streets this time, my dad brought the shuttle to full thrust and headed straight toward the red blinking light. It only took a few minutes for us to reach the beach. Brian showed us the way to a shuttle hangar that was within walking distance of Henley’s red light. Thankfully he had brought along enough money to pay the parking attendant.
“What ever happened with the wine?” Dad asked.
“It’s still in the hopper at my place,” he replied, leading us out of the shuttle hangar and onto a busy street, “I hadn’t expected to be stopping by my home along the way, so I grabbed some cash and eliminated the need to trade anything. Besides, time isn’t quite on our side right now.”
The traffic on these roads was insane. I wondered for a moment how people even crossed from this side of the street to the other. I also wondered why they started putting hover coils on their land rovers. None of the vehicles speeding past us had wheels which I imagined would have required a stronger power core than those found in any wheeled vehicles. Shuttles, which hovered as well, used three times the power as our land rovers. From up above as we flew over the streets, I had assumed that these were just like the land rovers we had in Valhalla.
“Over here,” he led us to a set of stairs that brought us down to a tunnel beneath the street.
The tunnel, much like the world above, was brightly lit with at least a dozen more lights than were even necessary. We crossed beneath the busy street and then took the stairs back up to the surface. There, Brian hurriedly led us past two buildings. I was amazed at how brightly lit this whole city was. They had more street lights than even necessary. Every building had signs on them that were lit up. Even looking into the windows as we passed each building, I saw lights on everything inside. I’d never imagined such a place, even after seeing all the images from Earth that Henley had showed me.
“She’s in that one,” Brian said, staring down at the tablet as he pointed his thin finger toward one of the taller buildings.
We followed him past the current building and then through an unusual spinning glass door that brought us into the bowels of the enormous structure. Immediately inside, we found ourselves in a place filled with a symphony of odd electronic sounds. It was exceptionally noisy, both from the blended sounds of voices as well as the noises emanating from the many curious machines nearby.
“Someone stay by the door and make sure she doesn’t accidentally slip by us,” Brian said.
We looked at each other and it wasn’t hard for me to see that I would be the one to stay behind. I reluctantly nodded and remained by the door while the three of them proceeded into the crowd and beyond my view.
Henley Knight
Chapter Nineteen
He pulled my arms up over my head and clutched both of my wrists together in one of his large fists. This left his other hand f
ree, which he used to start tugging at my dress. I couldn’t even imagine what would cause a man to think that he could do this to a person, much less me. I squirmed, trying to at least get my legs out from underneath him. I couldn’t do anything with my hands no matter how hard I tried to break free.
“Why?” I cried out, “Why are you doing this?”
“Why wouldn’t I? You’re a doll. The most gorgeous thing I’d ever laid my eyes on,” he said, tugging harder at my dress.
I felt the hem of my dress sliding up over my belly. Suddenly his hand was at my hip, pulling at my panties. At this, I screamed as loud as I could and thrashed about. I felt my knee come in contact with him, and then suddenly my hand was somehow free. I felt around on the floor for anything I could use to help me, but my hand only settled on the leg of the dresser. I pulled, trying to get out from underneath him.
He let go of my other hand and then slapped me across the face harder than I’d ever been hit in my entire life. It was enough to turn my cries of terror into cries of actual pain.
“I’ll do it again if you don’t settle down!” he shouted, grabbing hold of my wrist again.
He pulled my dress up again and started to tug my panties down. I thought of Thatcher and remembered that I was supposed to belong to only him. Not to another man. I screamed once again and thrashed beneath him. I got a leg free and brought my knee up and this time I contacted him in such a way that finally made him cry out.
He stopped, squealed in an odd way and then rolled off me. I scooted away from him quickly, watching him curl up into the fetal position. I pulled up my underwear, then knelt and grabbed my tablet from the floor. Wasting no time at all, I ran out of the door and slammed it behind me.
“Honey, were you just screaming?” someone called out from behind me.
“Don’t hurt me!” I cried, running for the silver doors that had opened up onto this floor several minutes earlier.
I heard the rapid footsteps behind me draw closer as I jabbed the button next to the door. I kept jabbing it, crying and pleading for it to open.
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