by Seren Goode
Breeze stopped reading, and we were all silent for a minute.
“That description is the similar to Dawes. Do you think that’s when the Helios first noticed them?” I whispered.
“Maybe,” Shim muttered. Looking over his notes, he sighed. “They were so careful up until then, but they also hadn’t made any progress in finding out about the stone.”
Breeze sighed. “How sad for them.”
Skylar was flipping the pages of the diary as we talked. “Guys, I think I found out what happened to them, why there were so afraid.” He started to read.
(Translated) I don’t know how things went so wrong so fast. I’ve never seen anyone die before, and now I can’t stop thinking about what happened and how trapped we are.
The closing of the show was a relief, and it changed everything. While helping Clark pack up, we realized we were being watched. Across the hall, Arie saw the authorities of the show coming for us, with several law keepers. Clark said they were trouble for us, and we needed to leave. He gave each of us a hug and a handful of paper money to Micah.
Since the attempted theft, Micah kept the rock hidden and had us bring our bags with us so we could leave at any time. It was easy to slip under the tables and crawl out of view of the authorities. Then we ran.
I thought we were clear as we reached the large doors leading out of the showroom, but the back of the hall filled with dozens of men and women in black suits. The man who had tried to steal the rock was with them. He shouted at us to stop. We escaped out the doors and kept running.
Outside the convention center, a man drove up in a white vehicle with big tires. He yelled at us to jump in. Micah recognized him as one of the people he had spoken with at the show, but we didn’t know if he was one of the people chasing us. When we hesitated, the van driver said, “I’m Tar Xanon of Nadun!”
“Tar Xanon, the guy from the video,” Shim exclaimed when Skylar paused in reading.
(Translated) We scrambled into his van. There were no seats, so we crouched on the floor. The law keeper vehicles chased us, and Tar ignored the road and drove over any barriers in his way. I remember as we raced through the city, I didn’t care about the people chasing us; I wanted Tar to answer my questions: How did he get here? Did he know how to get home?
Tar drove up and OVER a law keeper’s vehicle. There were loud pops, metal pings, and a window in the van exploded glass. Tar was driving the wrong way down a road. M’er was sitting next to me, squeezing my hand.
A truck even bigger than ours came at us. A horn was sounding. Tar spun the van, and I fell over. Pinned to the wall, I missed what happened next. But, somehow, we didn’t crash. Then Tar was on a side street, and it looked like he had lost the chasers.
As he drove, Tar shouted out his story to us. It was hard to hear, and some of it didn’t make sense at the time. But I talked to the others later, and this is what we remembered:
Tar had worked the mines of Nadun. His assignment was to clean out debris from cave-ins on the oldest levels. The tunnels were deep and hot, mostly abandoned centuries earlier, but occasionally, they would re-open one to follow a new vein of minerals. There were certain specimens all miners knew to be on the lookout for. One day, the tunnel he was working on collapsed. He thought he was going to die there. Injured and scared, he tried to dig his way out. That’s when he found a rock so rare, they didn’t even have a sample of it, just a description. Before he could dig the rest of way out of the tunnel, a bright light flashed. A passage opened up, and he landed on Earth, but he had lost the rock. Over the years, he tried everything to get home. He knew the rare rock was the key, so he had been mining for a new stone ever since.
Tar’s story was so amazing. At first, I didn’t realize M’er had stopped holding my hand. When I looked at him to see what he thought of Tar’s story, his face was sweaty and pale, and he was panting. I remember asking him what was wrong and looking down. There was red all over his shirt. I must have made some noise. Trystal pulled me back, and Micah and Arie tried to help M’er.
It happened so fast. In all the books I have read, you have time to say goodbye or think about the things you wish you had done. M’er whispered something to Micah, then he was gone. Arie wanted to take him to healers, but it was too late, and Tar said it would jeopardize the rest of us.
Tar told us about the two groups who were chasing us. One was the government, which he had learned the hard way were dangerous, and the other was a private group called Helios Kratos—they were more dangerous.
I realized there is no place for us here. We are lost in this strange world. My mata use to say our paths are laid out for us; we just make one step at a time in Faith. She believes in Faith, and the Source, and the Stars. My pata says we each create our path by the steps we take.
I do not think this was M’er’s path. His was stolen from him, and I weep inside for all that might have been in his life.
It felt wrong when Tar dropped us at the bus station. I didn’t want to leave M’er or Tar. They were fragile connections to home.
Tar insisted it was too dangerous for us to stay. He said he would do the death rituals. Micah asked how we could find him again so we could try and find a way home. Tar’s words shattered me. “I have been trapped here for thirty-five years. There is no going home, there is only survival.”
Chapter 34
Diary: Finding Home
I choked back a sob as Skylar kept reading my mother’s diary.
(Translated) I don’t remember what happened after M’er died. I woke on a bus feeling empty. Deep in my soul, I knew I was never going to see my home again, never have my pata hold me, my pata sing to me, see my cherished grandperes. I was lost. And I’m ashamed to say I envied M’er his quick escape.
“Stop,” I choked out, rushing from the room.
“Grace?”
I escaped into the bathroom. Crouching down, I rested my wrists on the cool porcelain of the sink edge, my head dropped between my arms and tried to breathe. My chest was tight and achy. All I could hear was the pounding in my ears and my mind raced over and over those last words: quick escape.
Stars, I’d thought she was a coward. In the back of my mind, I’d thought she had run from us. Maybe living with me was too much work, maybe she had wanted to follow her own dreams and not have to take care of us, maybe…I don’t know that I had a good reason, but I always thought it was something I had done. And that hurt. So I got mad at her instead. But now…now I find out she was running for her life. She ran to keep us safe. Sources, she was so brave to have survived. She didn’t forge a new life in a new land—planet—by choice. She did it because she had to. She was so strong, and I was such a jerk to her.
“Grace.” Shim’s muffled voice came through the door. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this, but Shim and the others in that living room might be the only people on the planet that could understand what I was feeling.
“Come on, open up,” he whispered through the door.
Waiting until I could draw a stuttering breath, I turned the handle and studied him through the small slit. He was hunched down on the floor, face pushed to the opening. Concern pooled in his amber eyes.
“She…” I choked, and his face went wavy and blurry.
“I know. I…I know. Do you want to quit reading for the night?”
“Yes…maybe.” I thought about it. Was learning about what happened one sad, scary tale at a time better, or should we rip the Band-Aid off? I closed my eyes, suddenly exhausted. “No, let’s finish it.” My eyes opened.
Shim’s mouth tugged up at one corner, and he stood up and held out his hand.
When we returned to the living room, the others looked up.
“Are we still reading?” Jaxon asked with uncharacteristic sensitivity. At Shim’s nod, he sighed in relief. “Good, because I’ve been reading ahead. They must have met and followed Stringham to Portlan
d. You are going to want to hear this.”
(Translated) 19>7th 5104, June 13, 1995
Clark had told Micah that most of the people we met at the show were enthusiastic amateurs with a few seasoned experts, and it was rare to meet a true professional planetary geologist. Learner Stringham is one of those rare few, and we tracked him down at his home in Portland.
Learner Stringham was thrilled to see our rock, but he, Micah, and Trystal disagree on what to do. The Learner would like to cut into the rock to examine it more closely. He wants to cut it into five pieces. Micah can’t figure out what else to do, so he has agreed. But Trystal is very upset about it, something about the resistance being proportional…something…I had no idea what she was saying. I’ve been in a program for many years, but my favorite studies are art and music, not science. Most of us leave that up to the Terans—which is why they are usually in charge.
It’s risky either way, since we don’t know if or how the stone got us here, so we would never know if it has been damaged.
(Translated) 21>7th 5104 (June 15, 1995)
For the last two days, Micah and Trystal have been working nonstop with Learner Stringham; they also make sure one of them is always with the rock.
Last night, Trystal told us they had discovered that the silver veins in the rock are high energy conductors. Learner Stringham suggested there is an activator or trigger for this. This is where it got dangerous, and Micah got excited. This activator could be what we need to get the passage back, but we can’t tell Learner Stringham that.
“Do you think that learner—professor—whatever, told them the whole truth about what he had discovered?” Skylar asked.
“Maybe, but…” Shim had brought the red journal into the living room and started flipping through the pages while we read from the diary. He held his place and went back a few pages in the journal to check something, then returned to the original page. “This is the section that matches the dates we have been reading. It does look like he recorded the same information in his personal journal as what Amé wrote. She might not have been a scientist, but she recorded the important information, at least what they told her.”
“Uh oh.” Skylar made a tutting sound. “Here is where they ran into trouble.” He read over Jaxon’s shoulder.
(Translated) 22>7th 5104, June 16, 1995
Well, they did it! Learner Stringham had his assistant Sidney cut the stone up into five pieces. They tested each and Micah was proved right, the individual pieces had the same amount of power, or conductivity, or whatever, to them.
But when Sidney got involved, he started to ask a lot of questions we didn’t want to answer. He also became very possessive of the rock pieces and kept trying to conduct experiments without Micah or Trystal around.
(Translated) 23>7th 5104, June 17, 1995
So we are running AGAIN!
Yesterday, after leaving for the Learner’s workplace to do the additional power tests, Kindle spotted a black car watching the house. We grabbed our things and ran out the back door. Arie called into the office and left a message for Micah and Trystal.
I was worried we wouldn’t see them again. I didn’t know they had set up a place to meet if something happened. They have to start including me in these decisions. I’m not a baby; I can help!
“I know how she feels.” Breeze pouted, holding out her hand to Jaxon. “Let me have a turn.” Jaxon huffed and handed over the green diary, and while she found her place, he shoved Skylar off his shoulder. Skylar grabbed at him, managing to unseat him as he toppled to the floor.
Absently, Shim lifted his legs and continued flipping through the red journal as the other boys knocked each other about.
“Oh, this is a good part! And it doesn’t have a section in those gibberish marks, just English,” Shim said.
Skylar and Jaxon ceased struggling and, helping each other up, settled on opposite corners of the coffee table as Breeze started to read.
June 18, 1995
I finally got to do something helpful today…I saved a man’s life!
After escaping again, we were wandering around the waterfront while we decided what to do next. Since I never get asked my opinion, I left the others, and I walked past the beach and farther out onto the marina around the docks, following the pull of the ocean.
That is when I saw a man floating face down in the water. The moon where I was born is covered in water, so I’d learned rescue training when we are young. I yelled for the others to help and grabbed a rope with a float and jumped in. I wrapped the rope around him, pushing the float under his chest, then got back out and used the rope to pull him over. By that time, the others showed up, and together, we were able to pull him out.
Arie told me back home he had chosen the path to be a healer, so I know he has resuscitation training, and after a lot of work, we got him to breathe again. He had a cut on his forehead. It went from his temple all the way down to his cheek. He also smelled similar to my mata’s brother L’To when he would get melancholy and starts sucking down the palliatives. Blech!
When the man became aware, we told him what had happened. He pointed to a vessel called Fly to Blue, then lost consciousness again. Since we were not eager to come to the attention of the authorities, we dragged him on board and cared for him.
June 19, 1995
The man woke up today long enough to tell us his name was Lincoln and to yell at us to get off his boat. Then he fell back to sleep. He was so angry and didn’t thank us for saving him. Arie says I need to be careful around him. But I saved him, so he is mine, and I’ve been taking good care of him. He obviously loves the water, too, since he lives on it. I think we have much in common. Except for the love of palliatives. He has bottles of the stinky drink everywhere on his boat. We tried to use the oven and discovered three in there, several stuffed under cushions and bedding, and even one curled up in a sail.
“So that is how they met Lincoln and why Herb and Linda said they saved his life. It’s nice,” Breeze said.
“It’s boring, and it’s on a boat. Get to a good part,” Jaxon grumbled.
“Okay, okay.” Breeze flipped pages, talking to herself. “Skipping over them taking care of Lincoln, him offering to take them to San Francisco, Amé and Lincoln becoming friends, Kindle getting seasick on the trip—oh, wow, this is good…”
June 29, 1995
Lincoln was very quiet all day. I thought maybe I did something wrong. But then I saw he was the same way with the others. As we were pulling the sail in at the end of the day, the others were inside making dinner. He motioned me to the front of the boat and asked me if there was anything I wanted to talk about. Then he told me he had overheard us talking about another planet. Lincoln watched me sputter and spin as I tried to make up a lie he would believe. I’m such a bad liar.
He sat me down beside him, and he told me about his daughter and son. About the war he had been in. That he had done things to survive he wasn’t proud of. He told me about coming back home and how he felt he didn’t fit anywhere. How he had tried to be a good father but had turned to drink to escape himself. And he was afraid for his kids when he drank, so he left. Now the guilt over leaving his kids keeps him from going home. He told me a lot about what fear and guilt and sadness can do to a person.
And that is when I told him the truth: who we were, where we were from, and what had happened to M’er. He was quiet when I finished talking. We sat and looked out at the harbor, watching the ocean rise and fall. Then he told me he believed me.
I cried. To tell our story and have someone believe it that didn’t chase us, or want to hurt us, was such a relief. A huge weight lifted, and I took my first full breath since we had arrived on Earth.
Breeze sniffed and rubbed a tear from her check. “That was so sweet.”
“So stupid. He could have turned them in,” Jaxon exclaimed even as I saw he was absent
ly rubbing Breeze’s back.
“But he didn’t, and he helped them. There are good people on Earth,” Breeze exclaimed.
That struck me as odd. We had only just discovered our parents were from another place, and we were already thinking in terms of an “other world” and “Earth.”
“Grace, you want to read again?” Breeze offered with a watery smile. I shook my head.
“I’ll read.” Picking up the diary, Jaxon muttered, “…Of course my mom gets seasick. Okay, blah, blah, they had to tell the others Lincoln knew, blah, blah, more sailing…”
“Hey,” Shim interrupted. “If you are going to read, read it, or pass it off to someone else.”
“Yeah, okay—Well, this is interesting.”
June 30, 1995
Lincoln was full of questions today. He and I chatted while the others glared. Eventually, Arie started answering a few of Lincoln’s questions too. Trystal liked his idea that we needed to adopt Earth names. He suggested second names fitting different regions based on our race. That was a little hard to understand, but I guess because everyone is on Earth instead of spread across moons, each region developed distinctive characteristic, like each moon did back home. He did mention there was no place on Earth where people had green streaks in their hair, so I’d have to tell people I dyed mine or I had a genetic disorder. He also told us about foster families, where an adult would care for children who had no parents and that would be a good way to explain a family as mixed as ours.
From then on, we told everyone we were foster siblings.
Lincoln had so many ideas on how we could blend in and not get discovered that even Kindle was talking to him. Micah was still cautious.
July 4, 1995
It’s Independence Day! Lincoln says there will be fire in the sky tonight to celebrate. I can’t wait! We pulled into San Francisco yesterday and rented a place to tie up the boat. It took a long time to sail from Seattle. But now, Micah has gotten to know Lincoln better and is starting to trust him.
July 8, 1995