Into the Forest Shadows (16 page)

Balcony?

The snippet of conversation made no sense to
her at all. After finding even the main cafeteria empty, she
carried her muffin with her out to a balcony overlooking the
spaceport. They had to be talking about the illegal ship Ranger
Tottori brought down manually the day before.

Every table and chair on the fourth floor
balcony was taken, the people of Oburos CIty watching the scene
below avidly. As if they were watching a show.

Mary found a place against the railing and
looked down. She nibbled at the muffin, watching the patrolling
Rangers. The ship didn't move, but she could tell from the glow of
lights that the onboard generators were still functional. No glow
from the engines, though. Ranger Tottori must have successfully
shut them down from the computer link he'd used to bring down the
ship.

"Do you know the ship model?"

Mary blushed as she turned her head towards
Ranger Tottori. She quickly swallowed and nodded, "Durasia class
freighter, of the B-model. Rather standard as freighters go."

"We're going to open her up before they
figure out how to get the engines going. We need someone who knows
the ship to shut all the systems down as fast as possible once we
are inside." He glanced up and down the balcony, "And your office
manager is not welcome on the mission."

Mary placed the empty plate on top of a
serving robot as it rolled by. She dusted off her hands, "I don't
have a problem with that. Do you think you'll have trouble with
those inside?"

"It's a given. We've tried negotiating all
night with no success." He escorted her back into the building.
"We'll open her up and the Rangers will go inside. You'll come in
later with a full escort to shut down the systems. Acceptable?"

"Acceptable," Mary responded.

As he hadn't mentioned Kate she assumed they
didn't know anything further. The activity would keep her mind off
of it. The rush of excitement felt good but scary.

She followed him down to the spaceport
offices and as far as the guarded main doors leading out to the
tarmac. The freighter loomed nearby, reminding her of the old days
when she'd worked with Grandpa in the main offices. Days she missed
fiercely.

Ranger Tottori approached the main airlock
with three others. But instead of a stand-off, the Rangers faced a
stampede. All the airlock doors popped open at the same time. Out
of them poured people of all ages and gender with backpacks and
bundles in their arms. All running as fast as they could away from
the city and towards the forest.

Mary stayed inside the main doors watching
with amazement. The Rangers, completely overwhelmed, did their best
to stop some of them, but otherwise got out of the way. No weapons
among the illegals, as far as she could tell. One small
blessing.

She shivered as she watched the crowds of
people running towards the wall of trees surrounding Oburos City.
She didn't like the trees, but today something seemed... off. The
forest appeared even more unwelcoming than usual, more
dangerous.

She realized a Ranger was gesturing at her.
She hurried out the main doors. With a full escort she made her way
inside.

The ship was in a sorry state. Debris covered
the floors, curtains made of blankets hung from the ceiling. As she
moved deeper inside the air grew stuffy. How many people had been
crammed on board?

Enough that they'd had several minor life
support failures on their journey, she found out after perusing
through the ship systems. She started shutting down the unneeded
systems. With the help of the internal security system, she guided
the Rangers to several rooms where people still lingered. As the
Rangers cleared the ship she shut down the sections.

The process took time, but she used the time
to familiarize herself with systems she hadn't used in years.

It felt good to use the skills. Maybe she
could take Kate with her on a freighter run? Show her the other
side of the business. She was, after all, the sole heir of the
family stock.

Her heart hurt. So many things she needed to
show and teach Kate. She wouldn't waste future opportunities.

With the ship finally cleared, she started
the last of the process. Engines, generators, life-support. All
shut down in by-the-manual sequence to ensure the ship would have
no trouble starting up when the time came.

The main lighting shut down. She pulled a
keycard out of the console in front of the captain's chair and
handed it to Ranger Tottori. "Finished. Codes are changed, which
only you now have. No way will they be able to launch again."

"Not that many of them are left to try,"
Ranger Tottori said grimly as he pocketed the keycard. He turned
away too fast for her to ask what he meant. But she found out the
moment she stepped back outside.

The sun hovered over the horizon, about to
dip below. Rangers and people from the city moved among unmoving
dark shapes on the ground near the hangars. From their rough
clothing she recognized people from the ship standing inside one of
the nearby hangers with Rangers guarding them.

As she made her way back to the spaceport she
realized what the shapes were. Covered bodies.

She stopped, looking out over the tarmac. Her
mind froze. What had happened? The Rangers didn't use lethal
weapons. Their permission to stay on the planet forbid it.

One of the Rangers saw her. He straightened
up from the body he was covering, quickly walking to her. He gently
pushed her towards the spaceport.

Mary averted her eyes, staring straight ahead
and focusing on the spaceport main doors. "What happened?"

"We don't know. The trees of the forest went
crazy for a while."

"The trees attacked?"

"Yes ma'am. Strangest and most terrifying
thing I've ever seen. Attacked and threw them back. Our hospital is
full of the survivors. We've been recovering those that didn't ever
since. Go on in. Thank you for your help today. Ranger Tottori will
be in contact if he needs further assistance with the
freighter."

Mary stopped inside the spaceport, her mind
whirling. The trees attacked? Why? She'd never heard of them doing
that before.

She rushed to the communications department.
It took a while before one of the controllers could get to her, as
the inter-planetary calls were non-stop. But she had the news she
expected, but didn't want to hear.

No word from her mother or Kate.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Kate tried hard not to laugh when the
seed-pot hit Ayden square on the top of the head. Really, she did,
but it leaked out anyway.

Ayden glared at her. "It's not funny."

She cleared her face, trying hard to suppress
the laughing, shaking her head. "Nope, not funny."

Kate heard a small twig from a nearby tree
whip through the air. Without having to look up, the frantic
squeals and chitters of their tree-top attackers told her the twig
found its targets. Her fingers tightened on the hollow nut Bunbun
had fallen asleep inside. He still refused to wake up, but he
looked comfortable.

She protected the nut from another barrage,
hurrying away from the area behind Ayden. "You're just testy
because you didn't sleep well last night."

"No, I'm testy because you made me sick. Want
me to carry Bunbun for a while?"

"Bunbun is fine. And I did not make you
sick."

Ayden's reply was lost as another surge of
emotion went through the trees around them. Bunbun twitched in his
sleep, giving a muffled chirp.

Anger, despair. Tinged with horror.

Why would any of the trees feel horror?

An image of darkness. Another of hope along
with a vivid image of a forest of colors and vibrancy she'd never
seen outside of her dreams. The hope faded back into despair, and
the image of the forest faded.

She'd seen the forest before, the previous
night as they slept near the Phoenix Elm. Why was she seeing and
dreaming about forest she'd never seen? All she could think was
that she was echoing the trees around her.

She didn't say anything to Ayden. She didn't
trust her head, and if she didn't why should he? At least, she
tried to tell herself it was all in her head.

A group of trees shivered with fierce anger
and hatred as they walked by. Some of them purposely put themselves
in their paths, forcing them to find a way around. Roots popped up
out of the ground to trip them.

"It's as if they don't want us to get to the
camp," Ayden complained as he helped her climb over a log.

"Maybe they are?" Kate said, the fury of a
small bush nearby triggering a picture in her head of a large tree
with a large red mark on the trunk. She squeezed his hand as she
slid down the other side of the trunk to join him. "They did
protect us from the bottle of pain pills."

"This means we won't have a chance at getting
to the camp tonight."

She didn't voice her concern over that. The
emotions and images were growing stronger the closer they got to
camp. The next group of trees they passed allowed them passage
unmolested, but further down the trail the emotions once again
overwhelmed the forest.

Kate grabbed Ayden's coat when she saw a
thick limb reaching down towards them. The limb stopped and
quivered, as if deciding what to do, and then slowly retracted.
Ayden continued walking, as if unaware. Sometimes she thought he
forgot that only her cape kept the trees from attacking them.

Another night in the forest? She didn't like
that thought.

Besides everything going on in the forest,
she knew her mother must be frantic. While she knew she needed to
stay in the forest long enough to find another Watcher, or someone
who could help, she longed to hear her mother's voice. And to warn
her from the scumbag known as Uncle Travis.

Plus, she needed to find Grandma. She
couldn't explain it, but she didn't feel like Grandma died the
night Diasis took her place. She was alive out there somewhere, and
Kate had to figure out how to find her.

As Ayden predicted, night came before they
could get to the Gatherer camp. They frantically searched for a
trailing willow, finding one far too near a stand of Memory trees
for Kate's liking. A cold dinner consisted of a few things they'd
gathered along the way. The fog came down off the mountains faster
and thicker than ever before.

"It's because we're so much closer to the
mountains now. We'll have to expect this much fog now," Ayden said
as way of an explanation. He handed out the blankets, quickly
making himself comfortable.

Kate unfolded the blanket, letting it drift
down over her legs. "How far is the camp now?"

"We'll be there early tomorrow morning."

The thought cheered Kate considerably. Not
much more hiking before she could finish at least some of what she
needed to do.

When she finally drifted into a troubled
sleep her dreams filled with Grandma and her orchard, the forest
and the image of the last time she'd seen the Watcher. Flashes of a
different forest, much brighter than the one they'd been traveling
through, interspersed the memories.

And emotions. So many negative emotions.

Kate's eyes opened to the early light of
dawn. The fog retreated quickly. By the time she folded the blanket
and put on her shoes it was gone.

She pushed at Ayden to wake him up. "Come on.
The forest is waiting. Can you hear the rustling?"

Ayden crawled out from the hollow he'd slept
in. "You don't say."

"We should travel while they aren't angry.
It's a nice change from them wanting to beat us up." She looked up
at the canopy, paused in the action of putting the blanket in the
backpack, "They're watching. And waiting."

Ayden pushed himself up and narrowed his eyes
at her. "You can tell all that?"

Kate cocked her head. Small vibrations moved
through the trees around them, but some were definitely from trees
further away. The whole forest sat tense, just waiting. But waiting
for what?

"Can't you feel it?" She stepped out from
under the protection of the trailing willow. No fog in sight, but
also no bunts, tree lemurs, birds, or anything else. "The trees
aren't viewing interlopers well right now, but they seem to be
waiting for something. We should take advantage of it."

"You're more of an interloper than I am."

"But the forest isn't thinking that way right
now. Can we eat while walking?"

Ayden groaned as he stretched. "I told you
we'll be there this morning. You don't have to kill me in the
process of getting there."

Kate rolled her eyes. "I did not make you
sick."

"Yes, you did. At least I'm doing better this
morning." He balled up the blanket and stuffed it in the backpack.
"Are you alright?"

"Sure. Why?"

"You seem different this morning. Definitely
more cheerful. That should tip me off something is wrong right
there."

Kate scowled at him. She grabbed Bunbun as he
raced by her feet. "Look, even Bunbun is feeling better today. Come
on, walk it off."

Kate waited for him outside the Trailing
Willow. She glanced in the direction of the mountains, knowing what
direction they lay even without seeing them.

She knew something else this morning: She
needed to not only get to the mountains, but also to the other
side. She scowled at a nearby tree. Great, strong feelings, but no
reason of 'why' behind them. Just the urge, pushing at her
constantly.

But beyond the foothills lay the territory
forbidden to the humans. Would the trees who had helped and saved
them so many times turn around and attack her when she crossed that
invisible line?

"Fine, let's go," Ayden said as he pushed
past the leaves of the Trailing Willow. "Time to get answers."