Alpha Rising (30 page)

“
A sign from our Creator,”
Star said. “We’re here to find those with a symbol—like the one in
your window. You must come with us.”

“
Yes, the Creator speaks,”
Zerah said.

“
Hurry,” Bach urged. “But
we still need animals. Where can we get animals from
Shushan?”

Tobit looked at Bach in confusion. “Animals?
It’s time for sleep. Animals will not come.”

“
Do they come here? How do
you get them to come?”

“
They come for the waking.
Fishers leave parts of their catches for animals’ food.”

“
Where?”

“
Far side of
lake.”

“
We have to wait until
everyone wakes up?” Bach asked. “That’s too long. We have to go
now!”

“
Animals know to come for
the wake-up bells,” Zerah said.

Star’s eyes widened and she looked at Bach.
“The bells the others talked about.” She took Zerah’s hand. “Where
are the bells? Who rings them?”

“
I ring them.”

“
Can you ring them now?
Maybe the animals will think it’s time to wake and they’ll come
now.”

“
Everyone will rise,” Tobit
complained.

“
It’s the only chance we
have to get the animals,” Bach said. “Ring the bells.”

Shaking her head, Zerah climbed a staircase
to a belfry. She called back from over the top railing, “Are you
sure I must do this?”

“
Yes,” Bach
replied.

The clanging bells had swung back and forth
a half-dozen times when five fishermen stormed into the supply
station shouting, “No bells! Not waking time; scaring the
fish.”

Bach escorted the men back outside. “The
bells will stop soon.” He yelled to the others on the ice-covered
lake, “The storm caused a problem. Stay there, keep fishing.”

Tobit and Zerah’s bags were already packed,
but Tobit added another bag with goods from the supply station. As
soon as Zerah came from the belfry, they fled with Bach and Star.
Alpha was in the perfect spot for the animals’ arrival at the back
of the lake. The four neared the ship to the sight of a variety of
beasts lumbering, scampering, running, and flying toward them. Star
opened the ramp with the remote and, with Zerah and Tobit’s help,
guided the animals inside to their module.

Bach didn’t make it all the
way to the ramp. He stopped alongside the big ship, which was
camouflaged by twenty inches of snow, wondering if the extra weight
might cause a problem at liftoff. At the same time, he got a
surprising revelation. Heat from the running lights had thawed a
vertical swath on the ship’s metal hull, exposing the beginning
letter on each painted word of ALtemus Rider’s Kingship. The
downward message read, ARK. Amazed, he wondered
was this planned or a prophecy?
He
got Star from inside and led her to the side of the ship. “Look.”
He pointed and shuffled around with restless energy.

She stared.

“
Do you see something
awesome?” he asked.

“
I see Alpha covered in
snow.”

“
No,” he said. “Look again,
what else?”

“
There’s nothing else. Am I
supposed to look at the ship?”

“
Yes,” he replied, unable
to stand still.

She waited a few seconds. “I see Alpha,
covered with snow. I see the running lights, working fine, and I
see where the lights melted a patch of snow and ice.”

“
Yes, yes,” he
prodded.

“
Bach, what’s wrong with
you?”

He huffed, shook his head, and folded his
arms across his chest for a moment. Then the confused look in
Star’s blue eyes made sense. “Oh, Star, I’m sorry. You wouldn’t
know about the ark, it’s an earth thing, you couldn’t know. I was
so excited about my discovery, I wanted to share it with you.”

“
Ark? The letters a-r-k
mean something?”

His smile lit up. “Yeah, they mean
something. There’s a story about a mission like ours planned by the
Creator. I’ll tell you about it when we get a quiet moment.” He
took one last look and talked to himself, “I don’t believe
this.”

*****

Inside the ship at the
flight deck, Bach spoke into a voice-activated computer and
recorded planet Shushan’s search details. While struggling to put
into words the discovery of Alpha becoming the Ark, it dawned on
him why Altemus had painted a capital letter
L
after the
A
. “Star,” he motioned her to his
side, “I think I figured it out why Altemus painted the large
letter
L
after
the
A
. He was
painting the name ALPHA on the ship and had the first two letters
painted when the enemy arrived. So he painted his own name as a
ploy and what should have been the Alpha, became Altemus Rider’s
Kingship with the capital
L
.”

“
I bet you’re right,” she
said.

“
Why don’t we call our ship
the Ark? It’s fitting and prophetic.”

She nodded. “And now we’ll be Arkmates, with
a great group of Arkriders in the modules.”

“
Arkmates and Arkriders,
perfect!” He cranked up the heaters with a grin. “Boy, this heat
feels good.”

“
And it’s good to be out of
the E-suits and headgear.”

“
And all that cold
weather.” He sang a little song, “Shushan … is like a constant …
three-dog night.”

“
Three-dog night? Is that
another Ravens’ oddity?”

“
No.” He laughed. “It’s an
old saying. On Earth, dogs are domestic animals that people keep as
pets … like you keep wurrs. Years ago on my home planet during
winter weather, before electricity for heat, people piled on
blankets and slept together to stay warm. They even took pets to
bed as a source of warmth, and to also keep them from freezing. A
three-dog night was a bitter cold one—they’d need at least three
dogs in bed to stay warm.”

“
My wurrs sleep with me,”
she said.

He chuckled. “That would be a two-wurr
night. And you and Lotus and Arro wouldn’t last long on a cold
planet like Shushan.”

She shook her head. “But Tobit and Zerah are
happy with their onboard igloo. All the Arkriders are doing great.
And, the animals have adjusted with no problems. A bonus is the
time we picked up en route to Shushan. I haven’t figured that one
out yet.”

“
Me neither, but being
closer to schedule is a big help.”

While Star readied for liftoff, Bach began
bobbing up and down and playfully snapping his fingers in rhythm.
He burst into a homemade song, “Oh, Troas, await our arrival, and
please make it easy for us, we’ve been hot, cold, threatened and
hungry, and are weary on this old sky bus.”

The Ark rumbled through frigid air with Bach
singing and Star giggling.

*****

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

During the lengthy flight to Troas, Bach
immersed himself in a little personal research. Busy with a
hand-held computer, he didn’t see Star approach the flight deck
with a lunch tray. She sat beside him and lifted the device from
his hands. “Time to take a break.”

He leaned back and stretched. “I’m
contemplating the universe.”

“
And?”

“
The Creator’s realm is
more far reaching than I had ever imagined. I’ve been dissecting
theories of parallel universes.”

“
It’s a fascinating
premise.”

“
I may never know for sure,
but it’s awe-inspiring to think about. What I’ve experienced since
leaving Earth surpasses comprehension. Parallel universes, mirror
universes. What do you think?”

She smiled and pointed to the food. “I think
you need to take a lunch break.”

He nodded and picked up a crispy, flat green
triangle. “Mmmm. Space cuisine. Looks like you’re a good cook. Do
you have a boyfriend?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“
No. None of them lived
past their first meal,” she deadpanned.

Bach hooted.

“
Now, back to your question
about additional universes. I’ve never seen hard data to
substantiate the theory,” she said. “But the Specter’s paranormal
appearance stirred an awareness of possible life forms elsewhere in
space.”

“
I don’t get it,” Bach
said. “If he’s another life form from somewhere in space, wouldn’t
others of his kind come here too? Or try to find out why he never
came back?”

“
Good
questions.”

“
Do you think he was evil
from the start, or just someone with the mental capabilities to act
on a thirst for power and dominance?”

Star didn’t answer right away. “Shortly
after he appeared, the thoughts and emotions of many Durans began
deteriorating. We looked for a cause and tied it to the Specter’s
paranormal abilities. Data captured from his energy aura indicated
a latent evil nature.”

Bach’s sigh seemed a pressure valve release.
“I wish the Creator had given me instructions for what to do when
we get back to Dura. In his presence I lost focus of everything but
him. I didn’t ask questions. I didn’t even ask about my crewmates.
It’s killing me not knowing where they are and what’s happening to
them.”

“
The Creator is in
control.”

“
I know, but I can’t shake
an odd feeling.”

She studied his face. “About our mission, or
afterward?”

“
I’m not sure. But when our
countrymen and the enemy find out that Altemus is gone, you know
that things will change on Jenesis. I wonder what we’ll find when
we get back.”

“
No one in Dura could know
about this mission yet, or that Dad is gone. But the Specter does.
So, on our way home, I’ll configure a communications link tie-in
with Dura’s internal transmissions. If anything’s wrong there,
we’ll know before our arrival.”

Bach nodded. “Good idea. I don’t want to
have to fly this big ship out of there in a hurry.”

“
Where would we go with all
the Arkriders and animals?”

“
We could get to Earth with
this technology, but we’d need more fuel, and I’d have to find my
crewmates first. I won’t leave them behind.”

“
Are you having a little
stress-induced anxiety?” she asked. “Everything will be
fine.”

“
It’s more than anxiety.
The Creator gave me seventeen days to complete this mission and
we’re two days behind.”

Star gathered the lunch leftovers and headed
to the galley. “I’m confident that we’ll return to Jenesis
according to the timetable. In the meantime, think about all the
wonderful people we’ve picked up, and their diverse skills. I
believe that, over time, the talents of all these faithful people
working together to improve planet Jenesis will bring about the
downfall of the Specter and his Rooks.”

Bach spoke softly so Star wouldn’t hear. “I
just hope we don’t have to get out of there fast.”

*****

CHAPTER THIRTY

Bach piloted the Ark by instrument readings
through Troas’s fog-filled atmosphere. Once beyond the haze with
the planet in view, his expectancy short-circuited. “Whoa!” he
shouted. “Look at that! There’s no color. Everything’s black and
white! It looks like something from an old-time movie.”

“
It’s a colorless planet,”
Star advised, looking at a viewscreen image of black, white, and
shades of gray draped in a ghostly silver mist. “It happened over
time.”

“
Colorless?” he
mumbled.

Suddenly she cried out, “No, no!” and tapped
on the keyboard with her eyes glued to the viewpanel.

Bach slid in beside her and took over. He
enlarged the image and his breath stopped for a moment. Colorful
shards of a wrecked co-op ship lay scattered like confetti on the
grayscale planet. A second ship nearby was unharmed.

Star stared at the monitor, hardly able to
speak. “One of our ships … crashed.”

“
The Rooks!” Bach pounded
his fist on the console.

She computerized an aerial scan. “There’s no
Rook ship on the planet or airborne.”

“
Then they were here and
left.”

Upon landing, the two hurried for a
firsthand look from aft ship. Seeing the co-op ship’s remnants,
Star choked on emotion. “One of Dura’s crews must be dead….”

Bach feared the worst. Struggling with his
own feelings, he pulled Star close and tried to stay focused.

“
My countrymen, my
friends,” she whispered.

“
Maybe they’re
okay.”

She found relief in tears. “They couldn’t
have lived through a wreck like that.”

He knew she was right, but had a troubling
question. “Why would two co-op ships be here at the same time?”

Head shaking, she said, “They’d never be out
at the same time.” Trembling, she whispered, “I didn’t expect we’d
ever face anything like this.”

“
Me neither.”

Star stepped from Bach’s embrace, wiping her
eyes on the way to the cockpit to scan the area one more time.

Bach stuck his face close to the viewport.
“I’m going out. Open the ramp.”

Star swallowed the lump in her throat and
let the ramp down.