Kinetics: In Search of Willow (36 page)

The trip took me about an hour. It was
only a two mile walk, but the dense shrubbery and the uneven ground
made the trip about ten times as hard. I stopped just at the two
mile mark just inside the line of trees that surrounded the Laramie
base. In front of me was a sheer cliff that dropped off into a
river.

I sat on the edge of the cliff in a
fairly discreet position behind a rock that stuck out of the side
like a huge pimple and examined the Isiroan base. All the buildings
were made from earthy stucco and looked more like they belonged to
a period piece movie on the Aztecs than a modern day city. Even so,
a large satellite dish adorned the tops of the highest of the
buildings, each pointing in a different direction, breaking the
illusion of a trek back in time. At the center was a tall, more
modern style building with dark glass windows.

But the strangest part of the town
wasn't its Aztec-styled architecture; it was the large structure on
the only hill in the middle of the valley. It looked like the
monument at Stonehenge, except Stonehenge didn't have triangular
overhangs reaching inwardly from each of the pillars. It was too
far and too bright out to see any details, but the ground in the
center of this Isiroan wonder looked like it was
glowing.

Surrounding the base was a large
circular levee-type structure, on top of which was a fierce-looking
fence with watch towers spaced at regular intervals. The fence
climbed up the side of a hill and each end halted at a large
building halfway up one of the valley mountains. I pulled out some
papers from my pocket and sifted through them for one of the
maps.

The building up the mountain was
titled 'HEOG,' or 'High Energy Output Generator' Jacob had
explained to me that all the titles on this map were not the actual
names of the structures but merely notations on certain
characteristics. The only one that was properly titled was the
Isiroan Teleport Booster. That was the Stonehenge-looking thing on
the hill in the middle of the base. I moved my index finger along
the line of the roadways and found the supply entrance. It wasn't
too far from here.

I crawled to my feet and slipped into
the trees to find a sheltered spot to hide out until darkness. If
what Jacob said was true, then all I needed to do was to wait for
the right moment to strike. And that moment would be at night when
there were few awake.

I found a low branched tree and
climbed up it to sit in a cradle of tree limbs. I was far enough up
that I could see the majority of the base in great
detail.

I was confused, however. With all the
information that Jacob had given me, they obviously knew quite a
bit about the Isiroans. Why then did they never attack? Why was
Willow initially abandoned to these people? Could our army be so
depleted that we couldn't even pull off a simple rescue?

Then what was I thinking?
How could I do this? I am not some super soldier. I couldn't
even 
use
 my powers if I wanted to in the first place. I felt my
stomach roil in protest, and a headache pounded at my skull
relentlessly. I clutched the bark of the tree branches underneath
me, feeling like I was about to fall headfirst into the
leaf-covered undergrowth.

I had never been afraid of heights.
Willow and I used to climb countless trees in our early childhood,
and I never had a problem being inches or yards above the ground.
Now, I found myself dreading the distance between tree limb and
ground. The jump meant one thing: the continuation of my journey
into alien territory. I wanted nothing more than to go home and
envelop myself in my thick blankets and forget about the
world.

Willow was my only anchor here. The
only reason to stay was for her sake. I didn't need to prove
anything to my brother. Who cared what he thought was acceptable
behavior. I was my own person. And yet, the distance seemed to only
get wider. My fate, my future, rested on a successful mission.
Willow's safety rested on my successful mission.

I forced myself to look away toward
the east and stare at the oncoming darkness. That darkness would be
my salvation and my sentence. Soon I closed my eyes and tried to
think of things that wouldn't make my heart beat so fast --things
that would make the waiting game easier.

I hadn't been aware that I'd dozed off
until I heard something snap and I was startled out of a light
doze. I steadied myself on the tree limb and listened intently for
any more noise. The only sounds were those that naturally belonged
to the forest. I sat rigidly and didn't move a single muscle until
I was sure that there was no one around.

It was dark now.

The base was alight with hundreds of
shining orbs. I still couldn't see enough detail to make out
people, but I was sure I saw movement under the glow of
lights.

Looking around once more, unsettled by
the sound of that snapped twig, I checked my watch and climbed out
of the tree.

CHAPTER 26

“
If
hiding was something I was good at, I would not be on the front
lines facing them. I would be behind them, taking the enemy out
with honeyed words and poisoned daggers.”
– Karasemmara, Leader of the Isiroan Militia.
1204.

I scaled the small cliff face and
dropped to the ground with a huff. The fence of the Isiroan base
was about ten times more intimidating from the level ground than
from the top of the cliff, rising up over the rest of the earth on
a sturdy, but sharply angled hill. It looked like a levee with a
tall alien fence crowning its top. From here I could even hear the
low hum of the electricity coursing through the entire structure;
the sound was unnerving.

I slid down the edge of the river into
the ankle high water that flowed through the river bed, which I
hadn't realized until now, was made entire of concrete. It looked
more like a storm drain than a natural river. The supply road that
supported the base lay parallel to the river. A narrow bridge
breached the gap of the unnatural river and was hardly wide enough
to support much more than a wide SUV. A gate pierced the side of
the wall and fence with tall, steel doors that rose all the way up
the vertical height of the fence.

I crouched low and looked in every
which direction to make sure I wasn't going to be seen running
through the water. Ducking into the small cylindrical tunnel that
allowed water to pass under the concrete bridge, I waited for any
unnatural sounds and continued on my way through it to the other
side. Not much further away, I saw a large halved oval cut in the
side of the fencing through which the water of the river flowed
into the base.

From here it looked like you could
enter the base through the ovoid tunnel, but, as Jacob had already
warned me, it was guarded by something. It was supposed to be like
a laser fence of some sort. I quickly wrote that off as an
alternative. My priority was to wait for a supply truck which was
usually supposed to come around 1:15 a.m.

I checked my watch. It was only 12:48
a.m. I still had almost a whole half an hour to wait.

"When the truck pulls up," my
brother's voice intoned in my head, "that's the best and only time
you'll get to sneak into the truck. We know that the driver will
get out and open the doors to the cargo and then go back to his
seat. You'll have anywhere from between five to fifteen minutes to
get into the cargo. Stay hidden. Their sensors will not see
you."

I found some secure footing just
outside the water flowing through the waterway. The stream was
hidden under the shadows cast by the bright floodlights, and then I
waited. I don't think I ever liked the idea of waiting here. It
made the possibility of changing my mind easier. I didn't want to
change my mind. For Willow's sake and for my own.

I rested my head on the cool concrete
and breathed in the midnight air. All too soon I would be at the
point of no return if I hadn't already reached it. To turn back now
would only mean that I would have to walk for miles and miles just
to reach normal civilization. Plus I would be overtly abandoning
Willow, just like the Alliance had. I would never stand for
that.

A loud honk startled my adrenaline
into action and my footing turned out to be not as secure as I
thought it was. I slipped on some green, mossy slime buildup and
fell with a very ungraceful splash into the water. I sat stock
still with the chilled water soaking through my clothing and waited
for the telltale sounds of discovery.

It never came. Instead I heard another
honk. I scrambled to my feet and slid back into the darkest
shadows. I saw headlights flare across the side of the steep hill
and heard the loud obnoxious rumble of a diesel engine. The truck
was early. 15 minutes early. I took a chance and craned my neck and
body around the bridge and saw the large semi-truck towering over
me. I snapped my head back in just as the driver opened his door.
He was whistling tunelessly.

I pressed myself into the wall and
waited for a second for my adrenaline to calm down. I didn't wait
long because I knew that this was my chance now. If I didn't take
it, I'd never see Willow.

Careful to stay in the shadows I crept
across the fake river and crawled on my stomach up the side. I
would have skinned elbows after this. I saw the driver finish
opening the back of the trailer and readied myself to jump out and
hide myself in the back of the truck.

The driver whistled his way back to
the cab of his truck and closed the door firmly behind him. I
hoisted myself up and over the edge of the bridge and under the
trailer of the truck. The sound of the entrance gate slowly
unbolting itself was all the encouragement I needed to start moving
faster. With a deep breath I crawled toward the back of the truck
and pulled myself out by the rear bumper.

It was all dark in the back of the
trailer and I could hardly see anything inside. I took one more
breath and lightly hauled myself up into the back of the trailer. I
felt around blindly for one too many seconds trying to find
anything I could squeeze between or get under. I started to panic
when I heard voices coming closer, talking jovially with the
driver. And then-- there! I pushed myself between what could have
only been huge sheets of wood. There was a space just big enough
between the boards and the side of the trailer for me to fit my
entire frame into. I pushed myself in as far as the boards would
allow and then fumbled in my pack for the BodyHeat pills that I had
been instructed to take as soon as I was in the truck. Apparently
they were supposed to lower one's natural body temperature to the
same level as the surrounding area. Almost the second that I
swallowed the silvery pill, I felt all my extremities going numb. I
wasn't sure at first how the pills were supposed to work, but I
very quickly realized that the pills were artificially inducing
hypothermia.

The boards hardly moved as my body
began to shake violently. What little I could see in front of me
was starting to become part of a watery kaleidoscope. I clenched my
jaws tight as my breathing became harder and harder to control.
Stiffness stilled my shaking limbs and I curled in on
myself.

Only a few more
seconds.

I turned my eyes out to see through
the small opening between the boards and the wall of the trailer. I
saw some movement but my swimming vision made focusing an Olympic
trial. I tried to interpret the movement that I saw and the faded
voices that I heard.

A shadow.
"We—nothing—early—"

Light. "—Come? We don't—"

Another shadow. "—Wait
for—Ashwater—supplies."

The voices faded off and
then I felt a great 
bang
 as the trailer doors were
shut. With trembling fingers I reached back into my pouch and felt
around for the second pill, the one that would return me to normal.
The truck jumped as it started up and began driving. The sudden
movement startled my already weak fingers, and I dropped the inky
black pill that would make me warm again. I had no choice. Waiting
for the next bump, I intentionally fell over onto my side and
groped around in the dark for the pill I couldn't see. My fingers
found it and I struggled to get it to my mouth.