Alpha Rising (34 page)

Star stepped to his side. “A lady named
Sapphira wanted to help us. Who is she?”

The woman gasped. “Sapphira? You spoke to
Sapphira, the deceptive queen leader?”

“
I sensed her deceit,” Star
replied. “We’ve led her astray.”

The man whispered to the woman. She nodded.
“I’m Hope, and this is my mate, Freeman,” she said. “We were the
last commoners to help with the co-op effort before the takeover.
We hid the food and supplies from the last two co-op deliveries in
the graveyard. At night we sneak into the campsite to feed the alms
people. They’re dangerously undernourished.”

Freeman added, “We’re in great peril—our
lives in danger. The lords are looking for us. We’ve been
hiding.”

Bach stared at the
bedraggled pair.
Could they be the chosen
ones? But there’s no symbol.
He pointed to
Star’s necklaces. “Have you ever seen anything that looks like
this?”

“
We commoners have no
jewelry,” Freeman replied. “Everything’s been taken from
us.”

“
No—it doesn’t have to be
jewelry,” Bach added. “It can be anything … anything that looks
like this … a crossed circle.”

“
A crossed circle? No,”
Freeman replied weakly. He stared at the symbol then pulled Hope
aside and talked in private. “We can think of only one thing,” he
said quietly. “But you’ll have to come to our hiding place to see
if it’s what you seek.”

“
Where’s your hiding
place?” Bach asked.

“
Behind a
waterfall.”

“
Waterfall?” Bach groaned
and plowed his dirty hands through his hair. “We’re short on
time.”

Star said, “We passed a cliff with three
waterfalls after leaving our ship.”

“
Those are the ones,”
Freeman answered.

Bach pulled the map from his pocket and
showed it to Freeman. “We’re parked here, but we’ve covered a lot
of ground since we passed the waterfalls. What’s the quickest way
there?”

“
A back trail. Follow
me.”

#

Freeman and Hope’s hideout was in one of two
caverns behind the waterfalls. The few remaining animals lived in
the other. As soon as she entered, Hope cleared pebbles from an
area of the floor and dug in the dirt to uncover a small, round,
clay box. “This is all I can think of that looks like your symbol.”
She handed the box to Star.

Star lifted the round lid. The box had two
crisscrossing dividers inside. “This looks right. It’s a
symbol.”

“
Our oldest daughter,
Kyrie, made it to hold four family treasures—one from each
grandparent.” Hope’s eyes teared. “Our elders fought hard to break
free of this planet, but there’s no way to freedom. Our children
hid the last of our animals here in the cavern and cared for them.
When our shelter burned down, all three children went missing.
We’ve hidden here ever since.”

Star comforted Hope with a hug. “Children
are missing from all of the planets. I’m going to find out why. How
old were they?”

“
Nine, eleven, and
twelve.”

“
Come with us now. You’ll
be safe,” Star said. “We’ll do our best to find your
children.”

#

Bach and Freeman boarded the animals, and
Star led Hope to the E-module.

As the big ship lifted off, Bach enlarged an
area of interest on the viewscreen. His devious smirk came at
seeing Sapphira and her scheming posse of evildoers forging toward
the ocean in terrain-runner vehicles.

*****

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

From afar, Zarephath looked like a giant
spinning top encircled by a multitude of halos. As Bach maneuvered
the Ark through layers of ochre-colored particulates surrounding
the planet, the view from the windows became obscured by the haze.
His topography analysis showed twenty-three large and small
volcanoes spread across the planet, and hilly terrain riddled with
channels carved by a liquid. Additional data indicated a blanket of
smoke, ash, and toxic pollutants.

As the Arkmates neared touchdown and the
view cleared, the ship passed over a canyon darkened by a column of
smoke climbing from a large, smoldering volcano. Two lesser mounds
nearby spewed fiery pitch and a rain of black ash.

“
Darn. We can’t use the
co-op ships’ site,” Bach complained to Star. “It’s too close to an
active volcano. But there’s a small valley close by that’ll
work.”

After landing, Bach turned on the filtration
system to prevent smoke from entering the cabin when they opened
the door, then he and Star disembarked wearing E-suits to protect
against the pollution. Finding no signs of life where they landed,
he walked ahead about fifty yards and scaled the spine of a
thirty-foot-high, rocky ridge to see what lay beyond. In the
foreground, numerous sandstone and limestone mounts and cliffs,
with trails leading up and around them, stretched across the
terrain, the nearest with a cluster of cave-like openings and
passageways at its base. More than a dozen large mountains loomed
miles in the distance.

Then something flashed across his eyes, like
the glint of the sun off metal. He squinted for a moment, then
looked for the source. Nearby was a strange path inlaid with
fragments of colored jewels that looked like they’d fallen from
inside a kaleidoscope. As random volcanic flares illuminated the
gemstones, colorful sparks danced across the terrain like those
from a disco ball.

Fascinated by what he saw,
Bach inched down the back side of the ridge and headed to the
mosaic trail. He squatted down and ran his hands over an array of
transparent gemstones in colors of yellow, red, green, blue, and
purple, and others in opaque opalescent hues.
Amazing! Someone purposely inlaid these stones as a
picture
. He followed the trail a few yards
out. The inlaid image ended and the pathway became a footpath of
hardened clay leading through larger limestone hills. Heading back
to the ridge, he yelled to Star. “Star, come here! I found
something awesome.”

She climbed the ridge and worked her way
down the far side to where Bach stood shaking his head in wonder.
Neither spoke as they absorbed the sight of sparkling jewels inlaid
in the pattern of a comet trailing a multicolored tail across a
blue sky.

Anxious to explore, he said, “The trail
winds through a crevasse, but continues after the comet’s tail
ends. Let’s see where it goes.” He closed the ship’s ramp with the
remote control and the two set out along the gemstone-encrusted
walkway.

Beyond the mosaic image,
the two came to a narrow opening between two rocky ledges. Star
followed behind as Bach squeezed through. The passage opened into a
large arena where dozens of flat boulders stood upright like
billboards. Their smooth stone surfaces featured carved
hieroglyphics and depictions of Jurassic-era animals. Bach could
barely contain his excitement.
My
imagination’s on overtime. Is this a museum from the Paleolithic
era?
He wandered closer to the boulders and
touched the etched designs, whispering questions in his mind that
he wished he could answer.
Are they from
the past? Or is this the present?

He recalled his college research on
Neanderthal man. “I studied ancient art like this when I was in
school,” he told Star. “These pictures are communication—family
history, possessions, warnings, even spiritual beliefs.”

She ran her hand across a stick figure
standing on a mountain with outstretched arms. “I have an
overpowering feeling that this is a place of reverence.”

Bach nodded. “Yes, I feel a spiritual
connection.”

The two moved among more limestone boulders
and came to a Y-shaped divide. Bach pointed to the right. “I’ll
check this way first.” He passed through a winding, three-foot-wide
pathway when the rocks separated again. But ahead were only more
crevasses and rocky ledges. He went back and reported, “No signs of
civilization that way. Let’s try the left trail.”

They walked the trail for a short distance,
then the crevasse opened into a high plain where fifty or more
miniature volcanoes, the largest the size of a compact car, the
smallest like a molehill, rose from the blackened soil. A few feet
away, a dozen cavemen in loincloths squatted in a circle. Oblivious
to Bach and Star’s presence, the ancient men seemed poised as cats
ready to pounce on a basketball-sized mound emitting a
confetti-like spray of ash.

The Arkmates moved closer.

As if on schedule, the small mound erupted
with a bang, sending a burst of smoke ten feet high and enveloping
the ancient cadre in a thick cover of dust. The men sprang to life
with yelps of joy. But their excitement soon turned to shouting and
shoving as they jockeyed for a prime spot above the steaming mound
to ensure maximum smoke inhalation.

“
I can’t believe my eyes,”
Star said. “Fighting to inhale smoke?”

“
It’s called smoking, but
it’s most often done with, uh, little tobacco-filled paper
cylinders….”

Star shivered. “Why would anyone choose to
concentrate smoke in their lungs?”

Bach shrugged and shook his head at the same
time. “They find it pleasurable.”

“
Pleasurable? Look at the
smoke coming from their mouths and noses. I’m glad we have the
headgear. The smell must be awful.”

“
It has a stimulating
effect for some,” he offered. “But it becomes addictive and it’s
toxic, and it shortens their lives. The log said that women are
more susceptible to the smoke’s adverse effects. I figured it meant
the atmospheric smoke. Anyway, there are few women
left.”

They focused on the cavemen in hopes of
seeing a symbol, but the men wore nothing but unadorned loincloths.
As soon as the smoke from the small volcano dissipated, the
ancients jumped up, squawking and grumbling, and ran to a
two-foot-high mound near Star and Bach. Within seconds, the tiny
volcano erupted, and the men pushed and shoved to reach the new
source of smoke.

Bach said, “I read that in the past, the
smaller volcanoes were used for glassmaking and mineral refining
for the co-op. But glassmaking and ore processing are rare now.
Zarephath’s men spend their time in combat for the smoke.”

“
What can we do? If the
eruptions continue, we’ll never get close to them.”

“
Let’s move on and see what
else we can find.”

The ancients paid no attention as the
Arkmates headed across the clearing to a mountainous area. The two
were halfway around the first mountain’s base when Bach stopped
short and held Star back. Just yards ahead, an enormous pterodactyl
lay writhing on its side on the ground.

Star moved closer behind Bach and watched as
the bird struggled to lift one huge wing as if flapping a last
goodbye. “How sad.”

“
Sad and unbelievable at
the same time,” he said. “Like stepping back to when time
began.”

The bird let out a low cry.

“
I can’t watch any longer,”
she said. “We have to find the symbol.”

“
I saw an outlying mountain
with passageways and caves from the top of that ridge in front of
where we landed,” Bach said. “We should be close to that area now.
Let’s climb this mount and have a look from the top … find those
caves.”

The rock climb was precarious right from the
start, but was made more difficult by fallen tree branches and
slippery, decaying leaves. The two eventually reached a trail of
large limestone slabs stacked one on top of another, like a
motionless escalator. After climbing dozens of steps, as they
neared the summit on aching legs, Bach delivered a mournful song,
“Oh, I wish I were a mountain goat, so I could reach the top.” As
if in response to his lament, an inhuman bellow rang out. The sound
hung in the air and echoed from cliff to cliff. He looked back
down. “Whoa. I wonder what that was. I don’t see anything below.
Let’s get to the top so we can see all around.”

On a plateau at the summit they found the
source of the desperate cry—a felled brontosaurus lying on its side
gasping for breath. The mighty beast’s nostrils flared as it
strained to lift its huge head, which rose a little, then flopped
back on the ground.

Star stepped back as Bach crept forward. The
brontosaurus’s amber eye followed his every move. Bach crouched
close to the primeval creature and inched his hand toward the
beast’s head. “I’m so sorry, buddy.” He patted its neck. “I’d love
to give you back your life, to see you roam and eat your
vegetables. It’s just too late.”

The dinosaur went still at
the touch of never-before-felt human kindness. Then its breathing
tapered off, its huge eyes rolled closed, and its suffering body
sagged and went motionless.
Haaarraaggh!
A final blast of air
spurted from its nose. Bach waited for a moment, then reverently
stroked the dead beast’s head. “Must have starved.” He looked at
Star with a lump in his throat, then released frustration in a long
breath before he spoke. “The animals here are huge. We’ll never be
able to capture them, much less board them.”

“
Let’s find the chosen
ones. There are many questions in need of answers,” she
replied.

Bach checked the far side of the mountain
beyond the brontosaurus’s carcass. “Good news,” he yelled to Star,
“a stair-like formation cut into the rocks leads to the caves I
saw.”

As the two neared the bottom of the mount,
an ancient-looking woman ran shrieking from a nearby cave. Dozens
of cave dwellers poured from their caverns, and the area swarmed
with panicked people. Three primitive men raced to an alcove and
pounded circular metal gongs with huge clubs.