The Distance Between

by Blair Cousins

  “Is your owner in there or are you just skirt chasing?” She walked over to him and pet him with both hands. He barked and shook the rain from his fur. “Okay, I’ll check, but I don’t think they allow dogs in here.”

  She took her first step, and Chargie walked right in beside her. He took a few steps then looked back at her, just like before. Ester shook her head and smiled and followed him into the bar. The place was grimy, much like the rest of the city, but it was lively with people talking and playing slot machines. No one seemed to mind a dog and a girl walking in. Not that Ester wasn’t allowed in bars. She was of age, but she was sure a big white dog would turn some heads. Most people just looked up and smiled as if it was common place.

  The bartender called Chargie’s name and waved a piece of meat over the bar. Chargie’s tail slow wagged as the old dog took his treat. The bartender looked up at Ester and smiled, as if he was aware of Chargie’s skirt chasing habits. Ester smiled back and continued to follow Chargie to the back. Past the chattering people and flashy machines, Chargie entered a hallway through a beaded curtain. Ester stopped. It was a little odd to her, but she guessed if Chargie was heading back there it was okay. Pass the beaded curtain was a series of rooms, some looked like bathrooms, maybe a janitor closet, and an office. It wasn’t well lit, but there was definitely something towards the back as she noticed the faint red light. As she got closer, she heard voices.

  She heard InyOuty greet his dog.

  “Chargie.”

  “What is that mongrel?”

  Ester heard a familiar voice and stopped.

  InyOuty laughed. “Some would say the same of your beast.”

  There was silence.

  “So will you help me? I do not have much time.”

  Ester heard InyOuty sigh and inched a little closer.

  “I am but an old man now. There is little I can do.”

  There was a slam of hands on the table making Ester jump.

  “I will not accept that! My mission is of the up most importance, and time is running out.”

  Ester stood with her back facing the wall. Who was InyOuty talking too?

  “Shh shh, I know, but quiet down. Someone might hear you.”

  “I am sorry. I have traveled a long way from my home planet to find you Captain Applecom.”

  “Are you positive of the attack?”

  “They are on route to Rean as we speak.”

  That’s when Ester recognized the voice and barged into the room. Two faces stood in shock: one she recognized, and the other was a lean muscular creature with short dark midnight blue fur and onyx horns curled on her head. Ester stumbled back. She was wearing Pisces’ clothes, but this couldn’t be her. The creature before her was Labadoran.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Wait a minute, I know you,” Ester said as she stepped closer. “Pisces?”

  The air was tense as Ester looked between InyOuty and Pisces. What was Pisces doing here, and why did she look like that? Ester’s mind raced. How did she know InyOuty? And an attack? What could she possibly mean by that? Meanwhile, Pisces cursed in a language Ester was unfamiliar with.

  “I don’t have time for this,” Pisces growled.

  InyOuty looked surprised, but Pisces only got angrier as she stared down Ester.

  “This does not concern you,” Pisces barked coldly.

  “Excuse me?” Ester said.

  Ester could feel her blood begin to boil. This woman, this Labadoran, was talking about a possible attack on her planet and had the gall to say that it wasn’t any of Ester’s business. She was tired of her secrets.

  “Like hell it does!” Sparks spit from Ester’s fingers.

  Chargie barked as the two women looked like they were about to tear each other apart. InyOuty sighed. Things were becoming more complicated now. Chargie growled, breaking the silence.

  “That’s enough!” InyOuty raised his voice as he reached down to pet his dog. “Hush, hush, boy. I’ve got it.”

  “InyOuty, what’s going on?” Ester said, looking into his eyes.

  InyOuty pressed two fingers to the side of his head and winced.

  “Calm down, you two.” InyOuty took a deep breath. “Ester, I was not expecting you. How are you?”

  Pisces growled. “Why are we wasting time? Has my message not convinced you?”

  “Be quiet.” InyOuty’s words cut through Pisces’ anger. “Ester this is Pisces, a member of the Unity Reform from her home planet of Labadora.”

  Pisces hissed, but Ester ignored her.

  “Labadora? What’s she doing here?” Ester said

  Pisces silently stormed to the other side of the small room. “If you are not able to help me, I will find help elsewhere.”

  Chargie whined. “Easy.” He petted his dog. “I did not say that I would not help you I said that I am an old man. But I may know of a retired ranger that maybe up for the job, but you are responsible for convincing him.”

  Ester couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The word ‘attack’ rang in her ears and the weight of Sal’s words turned her stomach into knots.

  “InyOuty, someone please tell me what the heck is going on!” She started to panic.

  InyOuty took a long and hard sigh. “You would be better off not knowing. Now, it’s time for you to go.”

  “Bullshit. I will not go. This is my planet, my home. If someone is going to attack, it I want to know! I have friends in ranger academy. I even know someone who could talk to a civil councilor. Maybe if we tell them now, the rangers would be ready for the attack…”

  Pisces’ silver blue eyes glossed over. “It is no use,” she interrupted.

  “Have you tried?” Ester said.

  Pisces grunted. “Your planet is on no terms to speak with me. They will not take my warnings to heart and attack fool heartedly. Without the right insight and knowledge, their attempts will fail.”

  “Then you can just give it to them.”

  “Weeks,”—Pisces slammed her hands on the table—“Months, years went into the planning of this take down! It is not something you can learn in a matter of days.”

  “Come now.” InyOuty stood; he had heard enough. “I will give you what you seek, but you must go quick.” InyOuty stood from his chair and walked over to a tweed bound book and opened it. “He lives in Cha-la, in the Furthert Locale. His name is Wildgrass Inspread. Tell him InyOuty sent you.” InyOuty’s eyes glared when he handed Pisces the address. “Do not lie to me, child. A great deal of lives are on the line, and I am extending my trust only because the stakes are too high not to.”

  Pisces took the note and bowed. “Then from the core of the Unity Reform under our great leader, Jordain, I will not let you down.”

  She turned and started to leave, but Ester blocked her exit. She was very familiar with the renegade ranger, Captain Wildgrass Inspread. He was her hero and currently the strongest man alive on the planet. If Pisces was up to no good, this could be a real danger for Rean. They couldn’t risk losing their strongest warrior.

  “I’m going with you.” Ester glared.

  “Ester, no,” InyOuty protested, “it is too dangerous.”

  A blaze set behind Ester’s deep brown eyes. She ignored him and focused on Pisces. “InyOuty may trust you, but you have not won my trust yet.”

  Pisces glared at both of them. She had already made the mistake of allowing someone to overhear her conversation. If she let Ester stay here, it could ruin her plan if she ran her mouth.

  “Do as you please, but I am not responsible for your death.” Pisces pushed past Ester and exited down the hall.

  The old man frowned. This was not how he wanted this to go. He sat back down in his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Ester, I cannot allow you to go.”

  “It’s okay, I can make sure she sticks to the plan,” Ester said, even though she had no idea what the plan was.

  “This isn’t a game, Ester.”

  “I know, but something in my heart wants me
to watch over her closely. I don’t know how to explain it, but the electricity coursing through my veins tells me that this is the right thing to do.”

  InyOuty resisted the urge to sigh. He was all too familiar with the look in Ester’s eyes. Young, driven, and foolish, he knew at this point there was little he could do to stop her. His old dog panted with his tongue out and looked up at him.

  “Alright,” InyOuty said. He rushed to scribble an address on a piece of paper for Ester and handed it to her. “This is the address to the garage I sent Pisces. I’ll phone my old friend and tell him that there will be two making the trip, but you must hurry. She leaves at sun rise.”

  “Thank you! I won’t let you down.” Ester bounced on her heels and ran out.

  InyOuty collapsed in his chair. “You better know what you’re doing,” He said to his dog, who barked by his side.

  ***

  Ester rushed to catch up with Pisces. She didn’t know what to think or do, so she just ran as fast as she could. There was going to be an attack on Rean. Should she call Angel? Could she trust a Labadoran? Her mind was flooded with questions. She ran down the street but couldn’t find Pisces anywhere. InyOuty had given her the address of where Pisces was heading, but who’s to say Pisces would follow through when she already knew where Wildgrass lived. Her heart jumped a beat. This road was taking her to Captain Wildgrass Inspread, her hero and idol. She wanted to enjoy this moment, but her mind was being taken over by images of Pisces trying to kill him. She couldn’t let that happen.

  The sliding doors of her apartment opened, and Ester headed straight for the stairs. She knew Pisces lived somewhere on the second floor, but she wasn’t sure which room. She ran up the stairs and flung open the door and looked down the dank poorly lit halls. Ester clenched her fist. There were so many rooms. She couldn’t search them all. Ester heard a door close and ran towards the sound. She looked at each door for any sign of identification, but it was useless in this rundown slum. She rounded a corner, and saw a man with a cigarette hanging from his lips. He looked up at her then went back to locking his door. Shit. Ester looked in the opposite direction. Pisces might as well be gone by now. She couldn’t imagine her packing many things, so Ester decided to take a chance and try to catch Pisces at the garage.

  Ester raided her closet and pulled out a dark royal purple ride suit and stuffed it in a bag. She ran to the kitchen and threw in a few meal bars and fruits. Her heart was racing; a voice in the back of her head begged her to call Angel. He would know what to do. He had all the connections, but she pushed that aside in a rush to pack. She ran to the bathroom and grabbed her tooth brush and soap then looked at them like they were offensive objects that had just slandered her name. She wasn’t going on some vacation; she was following a possible assassin to her idol’s house. She was way in over her head, and she knew it. Back in the den, she passed the large white hologram phone Angel had given her. It wasn’t too late. She could still call Angel and warn him, but what then? Would the rangers descend on her apartment and capture Pisces? What if Pisces was right? What if this was the only way? Ester hollered in frustration, grabbed her bag, and was out the door, locking it behind her. Ester rushed to the stairs when she heard someone call her name. She spun around, thinking it was Pisces.

  “Sal!” Ester forced a smile. He looked like he had just come from the convenience store.

  “It is good to see you,” he said as he noticed her bag. “Oh, my apologies. Am I keeping you?” Sal forced one of his big famous smiles.

  “It’s no biggie.” Ester bit her lip. “I’m just going on a little trip.”

  “How lovely.” Sal beamed. “If you have a visitor, should I tell them where you are?”

  Ester thought for a second, “Sal, you remember the little blond boy?”

  Sal thought for a second, then his face lit up again. “Yes, the little boy made of sunshine.”

  “Yes, his name is Angel Johnson. If he and only he comes looking for me, tell him I went to Cha-la for vacation, and that I’ll be back soon.”

  “Cha-la for vacation, him only him. Angel Johnson, got it.” Sal clasped his hands together.

  “Thank you, Sal,” Ester said as if this would be the last time she would see him.

  “Enjoy your vacation.” Sal stood at the top of the stairs as he watched Ester disappear around the corner.

  She was actually relieved that she ran into Sal. She knew she could trust him to relay the message, plus she had her wristband, so she could call Angel at any time. That was her backup plan just in case anything went wrong.

  The address InyOuty gave her to the garage was 2121 Fertlane Drive, but Ester had no idea where that was. She stood outside of her apartment complex and looked up and down the street. She looked at her wristband. It was twenty-two hundred hours. She had time, but not enough time to get lost. She ran to the convenience store, a place she knew she could ask for help. Her boots splashed in the puddles left by the rain as she pulled her windbreaker around her. The store was empty, much to her relief, as she ran past the shelves towards the counter. This time, the clerk was a young guy around her age that reeked of cigarettes.

  “Do you sell digi-maps of this locale here?” she asked, out of breath.

  The man sort of grinned as his gaze followed up and down Ester’s body. “Where you headed? Maybe I can give you directions?”

  Ester looked repulsed. “I’ll take the map. Thank you.”

  The man grinned and folded his arms and leaned back. “And where’s a pretty girl like you going this late at night?”

  Ester did not have time for this. She reached over the counter and grabbed him by the shirt, nearly pulling him over the edge. “I’m in a hurry. You gonna sell me the map or what?”

  She held him there as the man squirmed under her grip. He nodded, and she released him and he stumbled back

  “Five tones.”

  Ester handed the man the money and took the map, rushing from the store out into the streets. She stood against a wall as she tore open the package, hoping the map would be easy to read. When she looked at it, she breathed a sigh of relief that it was similar to the map she had received from ranger academy. She scanned the chip over her wristband, and the map started to download. She pulled at the little curls on the back of her neck as she waited for the map to load, forcing a smile at the people passing her by. Then a hologram projection appeared showing her a layout of her locale.

  “Okay, okay, where are you?” She looked around the map.

  Her locale was a lot bigger than she thought, and she had no idea where to start. The last map she used the destination was already mapped for her. She looked at the box for directions, but there were none. She groaned. It would seem that the projection was just a basic map and not a step-by-step locator. Staring at the map, she scanned the streets for anything that looked familiar. She searched for her street or the underground train station, anything that would give her a starting point. Zooming in and out, she found something unexpected: the park. She knew that wasn’t from here. That would give her a starting point. If she wanted to find a garage, more than likely there would be other garages around it. She searched the map for large similar shaped buildings. Then read through the streets when she found an area that looked like it could be garages: Hundoak, Camlan, Harvlane, Fertlane. Ester’s eyes popped open. There it was, but it was located on the edge of her locale, meaning it would take her some time to get there. Ester looked down the street as the wind picked up. The temperature was dropping as if it were telling her to turn back, but it was a little too late for that. Ester swallowed hard and zipped up her windbreaker. Her planet needed her, and she wasn’t going to turn back so easily.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The warehouse district was large and confusing. The street sign for Fertlane had fallen down, which added nothing by time to her search. After about an hour of circling around, she finally found the place—a rundown building that looked like it was a violation away from being condemn
ed. She stood at the door as the drizzle floated through the air. A dim yellow-orange light glowed against the scratched-up door of 2121 Fertlane drive. She took a deep breath and reached out to knock and it opened just as her fist was inches away. A tall skinny man with blue highlighted hair in a dirty t-shirt and jeans looked down at her.

  “Ester?”

  Ester nodded.

  “Didn’t think you were coming.” The middle-aged man said with a smile, as he chucked a handful of seeds he pulled from his pocket.

  She walked in from out of the rain and jumped when the door slammed loudly behind her. She winced, but the guy didn’t seem phased at all. She followed him through the warehouse filled with dozens of different types of hover cars and jetters. He led her to an office on the other side of the show room.

  “I’m Vertin by the way,” the man introduced himself. “I gotta say, I haven’t gotten a call from old InyOuty in a long time.” The man moved around the office. “You don’t need a digi-id do you?”

  Ester shook her head.

  “Thought so, but yeah, he was a friend of my old man.” Vertin pulled out some more seeds and ate them. “Well, I’m not one to get in others business, but I wish you luck. Your jetter will be ready in a few hours. Traffic is low around dawn on the south tunnel out of the city. That’s your best shot of getting out the quickest. Make yourself at home.”

  Vertin disappeared from the office leaving Ester there standing around. Ester looked around the small office. On the walls were old pictures of hover cars and jetters throughout the ages. Calendars and work sheets littered Vertin’s desk, dotted with seeds. She turned around and saw a round table full of papers, weapons, maps, and other supplies, only adding more to the gravity of the situation. If she was being honest with herself, she didn’t belong here. Maybe she jumped the gun a little. Maybe she should have let Angel and the other rangers handle this. After all, it was their job. She looked back at the clock. It was twenty-two thirty-five hundred hours, so she still had about eight hours or so until the sun rose. But first she needed to find Pisces. Ester sat her bag on one of the chairs that lined the walls and peaked out the office window into the show room. She saw Vertin, but no sign of Pisces anywhere. She doubted she got here before Pisces, but then again Pisces wasn’t exactly the best at following directions. Ester paced the room. She could sneak out into the show room and look, but what if Pisces came back and sabotaged things somehow? After all, on the table were all the maps and most importantly weapons. She was at a loss of what to do until she heard voices behind the office door.