Alpha Rising (32 page)

“
It’ll be disruptive if you
arrive late,” Griffon said.

Bach waved them on. “We’ll be there
shortly.”

With Griffon and Nova out of earshot, Star
stared at Bach. “What are you doing? We should go where the crowds
are to look for the symbol.”

He pointed across the street toward a black
and white cottage with a fenced yard. The round iron gate had two
intersecting spokes.

They crossed the street for a closer look.
“That’s it,” Star said, “but they won’t be home if the memorial
dinner is mandatory.”

Bach huffed. “So we have to wait for the
event to end?” He looked around and paced. “Then what if one person
lives here, and someone else has the other symbol?”

“
Let’s go to the dinner and
search there too. We can come back later.”

He huffed again. “You’re right.”

As they turned to walk away, a man and
woman, both with white hair and pink eyes, stepped forward and
blocked their path.

Bach moved toward the man with a smile. “Hi,
I’m Bach and this is Star. Do you both live here?”

“
Yes.” The man was
defensive.

Stammering for a friendly opening line,
Bach’s silence played a part in the startup of a new musical
concert around the house. Two crickets on the arch over the front
door rubbed their prickly legs together making the sound of
violins, and on the walkway two rabbits, one black, one white,
thumped their hind feet in accompaniment. Nearby, dozens of
dangling spiders plucked their silky, harp-like webs, and a chorus
of night birds warbled in perfect four-part harmony from the
overhang. “Peaceful music for all of us,” Bach said, hoping to calm
an uncomfortable situation.

The woman’s gentle face, framed by wispy
white hair, matched her delicate voice. “Your presence is
celebrated by the Creator’s creatures.”

“
We’re humbled,” Bach
replied.

The pink-eyed man stared at Star’s eternity
circle with the Byzantine cross resting within it. He shook Bach’s
hand. “I’m Cyrus and this is Wick,” he said, acknowledging his
mate.

“
Nice to meet both of you.
I’m Bach and this is Star, from Dura.”

Cyrus stepped closer to his front door.
“Wick and I came back for a diary filled with stories of Reno and
Elan’s travels here. We’re going to read from it at the dinner,
then give it to Griffon and Nova to take back to Dura so those
stories can live on for future generations.”

The delicate music stopped as Wick unlatched
the door and ushered the Arkmates into the colorless cottage.
“These insects and animals are like friends to me,” she said.
“Their music used to lull our baby to sleep.”

Cyrus found the diary. “First our three sons
disappeared, then our new baby died from the poison on this planet.
Everything we touch, use, it’s all toxic.”

Bach placed his hand on the man’s back.
Nodding with understanding, he said, “We’re here to take you away
from all this. The Creator has commissioned us to find those with
the symbol that’s on your gate. But we must hurry.”

“
Can we take the book to
the dinner first?” Cyrus asked.

Star took the diary from his hand. “There’s
no time to read it at the dinner, but we can take it back to Dura
together.”

Cyrus and Wick rushed to gather personal
belongings. “What else should we bring?” he asked.

“
We need two of all the
animals,” Star said.

“
Animals? There are few
alive. We have only small ones.” Wick opened the front door. “I’ll
bring Weaver and Webber, Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins, and—”

“
Her spiders and rabbits,”
said Cyrus.

“
Yes,” Bach said. “Bring
them.”

Cyrus went outside and came back a few
minutes later with six hollowed-out logs that served as the
animals’ homes; two were five feet long, the others shorter.

Wick waved toward the two crickets, “Honey,
grab Schroeder and Gree.”

Cyrus plucked the insect violinists from
their post above the door, then placed them, along with the
rabbits, a jar of fireflies, spiders, birds, willi, and other small
critters, into the logs. The frightened menagerie sounded off
inside their makeshift dwellings.

Suddenly an ominous rumble shook the small
house, rattling every door and window.

“
Quake,” yelled
Cyrus.

With their feet bouncing like balls on a
polished floor, the four grabbed onto tables and furniture—anything
within reach to support themselves. A second, more powerful tremor
struck, breaking dishes in the kitchen and toppling books from
their shelves.

Outside, the toxic ground shuddered as if
the planet retaliated against those who had defiled it for
decades.

Cyrus crawled on his knees to Bach, shoved
the two longest logs filled with animals into his arms, then slid
the shorter ones with insects and tiny animals toward Wick and
Star. “This will be a big quake.” He scooped up the last two
critter-filled logs and yelled, “There’s been much underground
testing.”

The house’s foundation heaved in waves and a
putrid odor warmed the air. Bach braced himself inside a doorframe
to stabilize his skewed equilibrium, and yelled to the others,
“Let’s get going. Stay close together.”

Logs tucked under their arms, and their feet
barely touching the ground, the four fled across a land splitting
into a road map of caverns, cracks, and chasms.

Running through neighborhoods where houses
swayed and crumbled into heaps, and trees toppled like twigs, Star
shouted to Bach, “What about Griffon and Nova?”

He yelled back, “They’ll make it to their
ship … been here enough to know what to do.”

A sudden black flash near Star’s feet split
the land three feet wide and flipped her onto her stomach. She
screamed and crawled forward as the ground shifted upward at a
steep angle and propelled her, feet-first, toward a developing
chasm. Desperately clinging to her critter-filled log with one
hand, she grabbed onto the rise of splitting ground with the
other.

Bach heard her scream and looked back to see
her dangling by one hand on the far side of the near-vertical
split. He stumbled up the opposing side, latched onto her hand, and
used his logs to bridge the four-foot gap. She inched across to
safety, but lost her grip on the log she carried. As It rolled past
Bach, a cricket escaped. The terrified insect hopped a few feet
out, stopped in fear, then made music with its back legs. Bach
grabbed the log while Star scrambled on hands and knees after the
cricket, snatching it in her cupped hand. Her partner pulled her
upright and they labored across the shifting land together,
reaching the third trail just seconds behind Cyrus and Wick. The
four headed into the Ark with their cargo and Bach noticed that
Griffon and Nova’s ship was gone.

Star prepped for liftoff while Bach secured
the passengers in the E-module and the menagerie of small animals
and insects in their temporary home.

Upon engine ignition, the ship shuddered
against heaving and shifting ground. With forty seconds to go
before liftoff, Star shouted to Bach, “We don’t have all the
animals—there’s no pegasus.”

“
We don’t have time,
Star!”

“
We must take
them!”

With the floor rumbling beneath his feet,
Bach rushed aft. “Open the ramp.”

As if in answer to the opening door, the
pegasus appeared on the crumbling third trail. Mane flying and tale
whipping, with sparkling dust swirling behind, the stallion raced
toward the Ark and stopped at the foot of the ramp nodding and
braying, with its frightened pink eyes focused on Bach.

Bach stepped out to corral the beast, but
the wild frenzy of wings and striking legs forced him back into the
cabin. He watched in anguish as the beast galloped in a circle,
bucking and kicking, then jumped a twelve-foot split in the ground
and flew down the third trail. Bach struck at the air with his fist
and turned from the doorway in anger. “He was right here, spooked
and desperate, but there was no way to catch him. And I didn’t see
a mate.”

Wick appeared at the passageway door in the
main cabin. Over the body-vibrating rumble she shouted to Bach,
“There is just one.”

“
What?”

“
Magic’s the only one—a
mutant—a result of all the testing. There are no others.” She
hurried back to the E-module.

Warnings clanged and the passageway security
locks snapped closed. Star retracted the ramp and advanced the
engines for liftoff.

As the Ark sliced through the ghost-like
mist, Bach whispered, “Sorry, Magic. Wish you could’ve come.”

“
I do too,” Star
said.

Bach sighed hard. “The pegasus will forever
remain a myth.”

“
A myth? He’s
real.”

“
On Earth, we depicted them
in fantasy as mythical creatures, but we all wanted to believe they
existed. I always wondered if someone, somewhere had seen one, and
so cherished the memory that the tale of its sighting was passed
from generation to generation. Now I saw one—incredible! I’ll never
forget him. He understood and was angry about his fate.”

She brushed a tear from her eye. “I’m angry,
too. I wanted to bring him along.”

*****

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

On the lengthy flight to Jezreel, Bach and
Star found time to eat, rest, and socialize with the passengers in
the E-module. The eclectic group had adjusted well to their new
living quarters and now shared great camaraderie. The many animals
thrived and peacefully coexisted in their protective habitats.

While reviewing incoming data for Jezreel,
Star shifted in her seat with a huff. “There’s something strange at
the landing site.” She set the viewscreen for wide-angle and
enlarged the landing site’s image. “Bach,” she said, without
looking up from the electro-brain panel, “what do you make of this?
The terrain scan shows our landing pad filled with debris and
broken rocks.”

He looked over her shoulder and compared the
image to computer data. “That’s recent damage. I’ll check for an
alternate site.” His quick terrain query found no other landing
sites, but as a rudimentary map spewed from his computer he said,
“I found a flat area we can use. I’ve mapped it. Star, what
happened here?”

“
It’s a sad story. An
ill-fated transformation began after the Specter appeared. Jezreel
was once a pristine biosphere with rainforests and herb gardens—the
only uninhabited planet. But the Specter’s experimentation wreaked
havoc with the order and balance of Jezreel and the other planets,
creating medical crises, depleting food and water supplies, and
creating the need for an alternate fuel source. That’s when Durans
sprang into action with interplanetary travel in search of
solutions.”

“
Not sure I want to hear
this,” Bach said.

She continued, “Jezreel’s rainforest
vegetation was rich in natural pharmacologies, and we kept up with
the bacterial onslaught for a while. But the evil one quickly
over-harvested the forests’ herbs for his own purposes.”

“
So who lives here
now?”

“
I wish I could give you a
better answer, but the people of Jezreel are the Specter’s
castoffs. He seduces followers to his Ultimate World with
hedonistic gratification, but many fall victim to excess, so he
transports them here, to live out their lives as slaves, working as
herb harvesters in controlled gardens.”

#

Bach landed the ship on the plot of ground
he’d located earlier on the computer, and they set out using his
map. He pointed toward a coppice of dead shrubbery. “That’s the
fastest way to get to the populated area.”

The two traveled for more than a mile
through jungle-like growth of browned plants, leafless
bramblebushes, and tall dry stalks before emerging from the brush
near a lake the size of a city block. Dark, polluted water clogged
with debris and waste, had the dreadful stench of rotting
garbage.

Hoping to come up with a better choice than
following the smelly lake’s perimeter, Bach checked his map for an
alternate path. If they detoured through an old rainforest, they’d
eventually reach the civilized area. They set out through a mix of
dead trees and soggy underbrush and eventually came to the depleted
forest. At a plateau in the distance, three grimy waterfalls poured
over gaunt-faced cliffs into a muddy lagoon below. Bach pointed
ahead. “The housing area’s in a valley not far from that
lagoon.”

After downclimbing a series of switchbacks
through a maze of gnarled, skeletal trees, the two headed toward
the housing area. As they approached, a warm, swirling breeze
enveloped them in a putrid odor smelling of dead flesh. Ahead was
what looked like a concentration camp. Star covered her nose and
mouth with one hand and slapped at swarming bugs with the other.
Bach held his breath as long as he could. Nostrils stinging from
the stench, he moved cautiously into the camp-like area where
scores of near-skeletal, unwashed residents in shabby clothing
wallowed in filth and misery. Oblivious to their surroundings, some
conversed with invisible partners and others stared into space from
sunken eyes. Moans and cries of anguish arose sporadically.

The foul air permeated Star’s hair and
clothing. She didn’t open her mouth more than necessary to speak,
fearing she’d taste it. “This is worse than I could ever have
imagined. They’ve been robbed of everything.”

Bach shook his head in disgust. “I don’t
think we’ll see the symbol here.” He looked beyond the campsite.
“There has to be another housing area, and those who run the co-op
exchange. Let’s ask someone.”