Alpha Rising (31 page)

Thoughts racing, Bach set
foot onto Troas as if entering a vandalized graveyard.
Two Durans may be dead. Who were they and why did
they crash?
He examined the ruins but found
no bodies in the wreckage or on the ground. Star waited just inside
the Ark’s door. “I can’t tell what happened,” he said on returning.
“I hope they’re still alive. Let’s head out and see what we can
find.”

“
The atmosphere here is
continuously semi-dark,” she advised. “Inhabitants can’t tolerate
bright light.”

The landing site was bordered by five trails
fanning into a misty gray forest of black trees and withered
vegetation. None looked more heavily traveled than the others. Bach
stared at the colorless roads then turned to Star with a strange
look on his face. “What an odd sensation … like someone staring at
me … taunting me to choose wisely.”

“
Yes, I feel someone
watching.”

He walked around and looked down the roads.
“I don’t see anyone, and from what little I can see through the
fog, none seems a better choice. All seem to go nowhere.”

Contemplating which trail to take, the
Arkmates’ mind game unwound further when a huge creature flew from
beyond the surrounding woods. The all-white stallion landed nearby,
folded its massive wings against its body, and raced forward with a
clamber of hooves. Stopping just yards from the pair, it reared
skittishly then spread its wings and flew down the middle road.
Sparkling silver dust swirled in its wake as it disappeared into
the mist.

Bach had to catch his breath. “A pegasus! We
told stories about them on Earth. A real pegasus!”

“
His name is … Pegasus?”
She looked down the center trail. “Let’s follow him.”

*****

Bach and Star walked the foggy middle path
for a distance, but never saw the winged horse again. As they
neared a large, sloping hill, both heard sounds coming from the
other side.

“
Listen,” Star
said.

Bach nodded. “It’s not people or animals.”
He stopped for a moment. “It’s music. Let’s climb up and see who’s
over there.”

They looked from the crest of the hill into
a shallow valley below where music came from an amphitheater shaped
like a giant half-open clamshell. A crowd of four hundred or more
spectators had gathered for a concert on the hill’s slope—the
closest sitting less than ten yards away.

On the stage, a symphony orchestra played
heavy classical music. As the tempo quickened, the audience reacted
with choreographed hand movements.

“
I sure didn’t expect
anything like this,” Bach whispered.

“
Me neither,” Star replied.
“It’s interesting that all the women are in white clothing, and the
men in black.”

In the midst of the solemn, yet passionate
concert, Bach suddenly noticed that everyone there had white hair
and pale skin. “Even the people lack color,” he said in amazement.
Then he whispered as he walked, “We also have people on Earth with
white hair and pink-colored eyes, Albinos.”

“
Pink eyes would be
light-intolerant, so it may be best that the planet is not bright.”
She looked down the hill. “Oh, I hope our crews are okay.” She let
out a small yelp and grabbed onto Bach. “Look! There they are!” she
pointed to an area alongside the clamshell stage. “See, there’s
Nova’s red hair and Griffon’s brown hair.”

The Arkmates hurriedly wound their way
behind the crowd and inched down the hill.

“
They’re standing so
still,” she said.

“
Something reverent’s going
on.”

As they neared Griffon and Nova, the music
intensified and the audience rose to its feet in a wave of black
and white motion. Then all uncovered glowing glass orbs and held
them above their heads. The softball-sized jars twinkled inside
with captive fireflies, giving a warm glow to the colorless
hillside.

The tone of the event grew more intense, and
in what seemed slow motion, two huge white drapes on stage opened
to reveal floor-to-ceiling glass boxes containing thousands more
twinkling fireflies.

Bach and Star arrived alongside Griffon and
Nova, and Star hugged Nova. “I’m so glad we found you. Where’s our
other crew?”

Nova pulled away and put her finger to her
lips. Her eyes were moist. “Shhh! Can’t speak now.”

Bach persisted. “The wrecked co-op
ship….”

“
Shhh!”

The concert stopped, and the audience parted
to clear an aisle. Two ceremonial leaders in long black robes
marched down the embankment from a shrine on the hill. They carried
glowing silver staffs to light their path to the stage.

After retrieving two polished white urns
from a table, the leaders placed them center stage. Then the
orchestra resumed as the men grasped the trailing ends of long
black scarves suspended from the rafters. When the music climaxed,
the leaders pulled the sashes and the air came alive with whistling
percussion from the wings of a hundred white doves set free. The
birds flew high above the hillside, hovered like a cloud, then
vanished into the hazy sky. The leaders descended the stage and the
crowd dispersed. Many wept.

Nova turned to Star and hugged her. “What
are you two doing here?”

Bach spoke at the same time. “What’s going
on? We saw the crashed ship. Who crashed? Are they okay?”

Griffon draped his arm over Bach’s shoulder
and moved him forward with the crowd. It took a moment for him to
reply. “Reno and Elan crashed yesterday.”

Star stopped, in shock and whispered to
herself, “Reno and Elan.”

“
This is a service in their
honor before we take their remains back to Dura for burial,”
Griffon added.

“
Burial?” Bach’s mind
drifted back to the night in Dura’s party facility when he first
met Elan, the pretty mystery lady, and when his newfound buddy,
Reno, rescued him from scheming Lavender Rose. He found it hard to
accept that he’d just attended Reno and Elan’s memorial
service.

“
Why are you here?” Nova
asked again. “Everyone thinks you’re in the Ultimate World. Things
are tense between Dura and Ulwor. A war could break
out.”

Griffon glanced at Bach. “And where’s
Altemus? Is he with you?”

Bach didn’t want to tell him, but he had no
other believable story. “Altemus won’t be back.”

Griffon pulled him aside and searched his
face. “Altemus left a note that said—”

“
The note was a temporary
solution to a complicated problem.”

Star let it out all at once. “Dad’s dead.
The Rooks tried to abduct him and he brought them down in the death
lake.”

Griffin gasped, “No!” and looked at Nova’s
stunned face.

No one spoke as the foursome solemnly
followed the crowd toward a residential area. Then Griffon dashed a
few steps out and looked back at Star and Bach. “What are you doing
on Troas? How did you get here?”

Bach thought for a moment,
wondering how much to share. “We’re on a confidential expedition. I
can’t discuss it now. But you and Nova
must not
tell anyone what you know
about Altemus, or that you saw us here.”

Nova spoke up. “You know we’ll keep your
confidence, Bach, but we’re brokenhearted over Altemus’s
death.”

Bach added, “And regarding how we got here,
Griffon, we restored the earthships.”

Griffon walked backwards and stared. “You’re
flying that old three-piece relic?”

“
Yes, we rebuilt it.” Bach
moved alongside Griffon and quickened the pace. “Griffon, we need
your help. We’re behind on the time set for this mission, and we
have to retrieve certain things to take back to Dura. How well do
you know Troas?”

“
Things on Troas are slow
going. Nothing’s motorized, and everyone travels on two- or
three-wheeled cycles. There’s one big residential area, and they
have no artificial light. They’re on the outer fringes of the
daystars’ ranges … where they receive just enough heat and low
levels of light. The fireflies generate one type of illumination
the people here can tolerate. But fireflies are dying off. People
have health problems and they can barely keep vegetation
alive.”

Nova added, “There was no pollution before,
then the enemy set up labs on the planet’s back side. He’s tested
war weapons here—below and above ground. Deadly emissions—the sand,
the water, all contaminated. Underground faults have broken down
from the constant detonations.”

“
What’s left to share in
the co-op?” Star asked.

“
Nothing here,” Griffon
replied. “But the people have great scientific skills, so the
Specter exploits their talents, applying them to deadly chemical
and bacteriological experiments. That’s how Reno and Elan crashed.
Thousands of birds didn’t live up to the Specter’s research
expectations so he released them in a fit of rage. The sky was
filled with crazed birds that died slow, agonizing deaths. Birds
clogged the control thrusters in Reno and Elan’s ship. That’s what
brought them down. We lost two of our best.”

Bach looked at Star. “Remember back in the
ship when Ivy warned about many wings? This has to be what she
foresaw.”

Griffon continued, “And children are
missing. The Specter might be taking them to the Ultimate World to
train for his army.”

Nova added, “Little by little, they’re
disappearing from every planet.”

“
Yes, we’ve heard that
too,” Star said. “We must quickly investigate.”

“
We’ll launch a
surveillance watch when we take Reno’s and Elan’s remains home for
burial,” Nova said, “then come back for any children still here to
take them to Dura, and to round up any animals remaining on Troas.
We’ll move them to other planets, but we’re not sure they’ll
survive there either.”

The four continued toward the residential
area, following the reverent crowd through a gray and dreary public
park lined with black-leafed trees. In the midst of solemness came
the faint sound of harp music.

Star looked around. “What beautiful
music.”

Nova pointed to a bramblebush hedge and put
her finger to her lips. “The spiders I told you about.”

In the spiky black bushes nearby, glowing in
the dark, a network of lacy white spider webs looked like spun
sugar draped across the twigs and vines. Dozens of phosphorescent
spiders, centered within their silken snares, performed like
passionate maestros, their jointed legs skillfully plucking their
webs like harp strings.

Music seemingly orchestrated from beyond
time and space drifted through the somber air. Bach suddenly
recalled Star’s mention of the spiders’ music after he’d talked
about his favorite group, the Ravens. For some reason, the
phenomenon of real spiders making music by plucking their webs
struck him as funny. “The spiders. Not at all what I had expected,”
he said, stifling a giggle.

The symphony stopped abruptly.

Nova flagged her hand in front of Bach’s
face. “Shhh. You’re interrupting.”

“
Sorry.”

“
You’re on another planet,”
she reminded him.

Bach calmed down, and the arachnids resumed
their concert.

Star pressed close to him and whispered,
“What did you expect?”

He turned to speak in her ear, but now her
intoxicating fragrance added to his wonder and he forgot what he
was going to say. He took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then
whispered, “Before, when you mentioned the spiders, I was thinking
more like the Ravens.”

“
Oh, that’s right,” she
said, “your ravens have singing voices.”

He smiled.

“
C’mon, let’s go.” Griffon
spoke quietly. “The memorial dinner is mandatory. Then we’ll
retrieve the remains.”

Star stood back, distracted by something
only she heard. Then the others noticed and stopped talking. A
faint melody, like jingling bells, delicate timpani percussion, and
tiny tinkling cymbals drifted around them. “Where’s it coming
from?” she asked.

“
The willi,” said Griffon.
“Wood nymph percussionists.”

Bach’s eyes widened. “Wood nymphs named
Willi play percussion?”

Griffon nodded. “The sounds come when they
drop dew onto different objects. Before the deadly rays ravaged
everything here, the willis’ music served as meditation and
relaxation for the soul.” He sighed. “And when plants and flowers
still bloomed, their dew music was even more delightful.”

“
I can’t imagine it,” Bach
replied.

Nova pointed to a dime-sized insect flying
among the black leaves right above their heads. “Look, there’s
one!”

The translucent, fairylike willi flitted
around, opening and closing its pearly, diaphanous wings like tiny
fans while precisely dropping from its hands one silvery bead of
liquid at a time in melodic rhythm.

“
You’re lucky to see them,”
Nova said. “They’re on the verge of extinction. It appears that
nature’s musicians are performing tonight to mourn the loss of Reno
and Elan.”

As they walked on, Bach moved to Griffon’s
side and said in an oddly casual manner, “You know, I find the
insects’ musical gifts enchanting. I’m going to stay here for a few
more minutes. Star and I will catch up with you at the memorial
hall.”

Star gave Bach a peculiar look. “We should
go there together and come back here later.”

“
I want to stay a little
longer, and you should too.” He pulled her to his side and looked
at Griffon with a phony grin. “We’ll show up in a few
minutes.”