The Second Wave (21 page)
“I think we should check on Simon,”
interrupted Mayor Rochester, who approached them in a hurry. As far
as the workmen had told him, Simon, fed up with his employees and
their religious schemes, was in the forest right now to go ahead
with the demolishing. By himself.
“Good for him.” Eleven shrugged.
“What an idiot,” Elizabeth stated.
“Maybe we should help him out,” Peter
offered.
“What does demolishing mean?” Eugenia
asked.
“It means he’s blowing a hole in the mountain
to build another village there,” John explained.
Eugenia pointed to the Northeast and asked,
“This mountain?”
John pointed to the Northwest and clarified,
“That mountain.”
“Oh, but you mustn’t.” Eugenia’s words halted
every other conversation in the group. “Unless you wish to drown,”
she amended.
“Why? What happens when we blow up the
mountain?” Summer Paige asked.
Rochester said, “The workers told me there’s
a cave inside that leads to the Underworld.”
“Underworld.” Eugenia tried the word out to
see if it fitted. “Yes, I believe you could call it that.”
Burke threw up her arms in frustration and
almost hit her horse on the snout. “More information and less
riddles if you please!”
“My head hurts.” Eugenia hid her face in her
hands. She closed her eyes to wait until the dizziness subsided.
She didn’t know the right words, she didn’t know anything
anymore.
“What’s behind the mountains?” Peter asked
Rochester.
The mayor shrugged. “More forest, I
suppose.”
“But nobody checked?”
“There wasn’t anything there before.”
“None of this was here before,” Eleven
pointed out. “So what makes you think you know anything of this
planet anymore?”
“I trust Simon checked,” Rochester defended
his architect, although he wasn’t quite sure why. If Simon Jones
had indeed missed to check out the repercussions of an explosion,
they might all be in danger.
“Water,” Eugenia managed to mumble through
her fingers, head still in her hands. “Behind the mountains is
something you call sea.”
Rochester grinned. “Yes! I remember. Simon
said something about a waterside. But no worries: The water line is
below the foot of the mountains.”
“So nothing is going to happen?” Eleven
inquired. The mayor cheerfully shook his head.
“Unless there are more gas pockets in the
mountain,” Peter objected. He had taken about a dozen rock samples
from the area around the waterfall when he and Luke were
investigating the cave. They had stumbled upon a small gas pocket
inside the stone; nothing dangerous or lethal. But if there was,
for instance, a large gas in place inside the part of the mountain
they were about to blow up, it could mean the blasting force could
get unpredictably high.
“And if it was, say, high enough to rip a big
enough hole in the ground,” Peter ended, “the seawater could get
through.”
With close to no trees between the explosion
site and the village anymore, a large amount of water had the
potential to flood everything.
* * * *
The mountains covered the horizon from East
to West as far as the eye could see. Some of the peeks were so high
they got lost in the clouds; the settlers could only guess how much
farther into the sky they protruded. Some parts weren’t nearly as
tall, but still too cumbersome to climb.
That was why Simon Jones planned to blow a
passageway through them to erect the next colony close to the
seaside. With any luck, there’d be fish and seafood. And since his
employees were on a mission to save them all by building a temple,
he had to do it on his own. There was no way he’d get behind
schedule because of superstition. He’d been at it ever since dawn.
Now the sun was high in the sky as he fastened the last wire and
started the time fuse. He set it on three minutes; time enough to
make it to a safe distance on horseback.
02:59
Carefully he placed the small timing device
in a narrow hole in the wall, deep inside the cave the workmen
claimed to be the entrance to the Underworld. Then he ran outside
as fast as he could.
02:24
He met them when he turned the chestnut
around. John and an auburn-haired woman on the deaf manchado made
the front. They were followed by the captain and for some reason
Dr. Wagner, the geologist. Captain Eleven shouted something Simon
didn’t catch, but John repeated it for him when he came to a full
stop in front of Simon’s horse.
“Stop the detonation!”
02:02
“You must be kidding!” said Simon. “Turn
around now, or the blast from the explosion will kill you. Who the
Hades are you?” The last question was directed at Eugenia, who
lifted up her chin and replied, “I am your Goddess.”
“Is this the crazy kid from the
hospital?”
But John ignored his comment. “Behind the
mountains lies the sea.”
Simon grinned, albeit strained. They needed
to get out of here, but John had him trapped, moving the manchado
in sync with the chestnut, thus preventing Simon from riding off
into the forest.
“I know. That’s why I’m doing this in the
first place. Look, man, we have to get out of here before—”
“Simon, stop it!” Finally, Captain Eleven
caught up with them. She was followed closely by Dr. Wagner.
Simon laughed, panicky now. “What is this?
What are you doing? This is a blasting site!”
01:44
“One small explosion might cause a giant
blow-out,” Peter explained. When he saw Simon’s dumbfounded
expression he elaborated, “We found gas in place in the rocks
around the waterfall. This whole range is basically one giant
mountain, so it is entirely possible that there are more gas
pockets. We should test this area before we blow anything up.”
“Too late,” Simon replied, his face ashen.
“There is no way we can reach the timer in time. I stuck it way
back in the cave. We can only pray and run.”
With that he put spurs to his horse and
dashed off to the safest distance. Emily followed him closely. She
recognized a lost cause when she saw one. The next best thing to do
was to warn the settlers and start preparations.
01:28
Peter and John exchanged a glance.
“Oh, please, John. You are not just thinking
what I think you’re thinking!” Peter groaned, torn between the
desire to run away and the reluctance to leave his friend and past
lover in harm’s way.
“If it helps,” Eugenia piped up. “I know what
he’s thinking, and you are right, Peter.”
“No, Eugenia, it doesn’t help.”
“I can make it on horseback,” John said.
“Take Eugenia.”
Peter and Eugenia gave their veto in
unison.
“You’ll never find the timer!” Peter said at
the same time Eugenia cried, “Stop thinking of leaving!”
01:00
John looked at Peter. “It cannot be that hard
to find a bomb.” To Eugenia he said, “Since you’re already in my
head—look harder, will you, woman?!”
Her face fell when she did as he told her and
found what she had been looking for. John was going to leave, he
thought of little else these days. But he wasn’t going to leave her
behind.
“With me,” she whispered.
“Yes, with you. After rescuing you from
drowning, did you really think I’d let you out of my sight again?
Now, get off my horse.”
“Suicide,” mumbled Peter, but he didn’t know
how to stop John.
Eugenia slid down from the horse. As soon as
her feet touched the ground, though, the two horses suddenly rose
and galloped into the woods as if on a voiceless command. Carrying
their horsemen with them.
00:43
On her own now, Eugenia raced towards the
entrance of the cave. She knew where the timer was and how to stop
it, she had seen it in Simon Jones’ head.
00:31
In the distance she heard John holler her
name through the woods, but she knew the animals wouldn’t stop
until they were far enough away and safe. All she could think about
was that John was going to take her with him. It was all she
wanted, she was surprised to find out.
00:24
Even if her people didn’t worship her, even
if she had to live with the constant pain in her head; nothing
mattered, because he would be with her, and that was all she would
ever need.
00:17
The cave was enormous and dark, making it
harder than usual to see. Her eyes weren’t used to the darkness
anymore; they had slowly begun to get used to the brightness of the
day. The sudden change in lighting made her blink in confusion. She
stumbled and hit the ground running.
00:09
Quickly she scrambled up again. The timer was
in a small hole in the wall at the far end of the cave. Not long
now.
00:04
Her fingers, seeking hold, flew along the
wall. She was close, she had to be close. It was too dark to see
and too silent to get by on hearing. All she had was the rock wall
to hold on to and the map of Simon Jones’ mind.
00:01
And then nothing.
* * * *
When John was done cursing the manchado to
Hades and back, he began yelling at Peter to make the horses stop.
But even the geologist, who grew up on a farm and knew horses like
the back of his hand, was at a loss. Never had he seen animals
behave like this.
“She commanded them to run to safety!” John
shouted against the airflow.
“I know she has you wrapped around her
little, lovely finger, John, but even you should know that no such
thing is possible!”
“With her anything is possible.”
“I think you’re making it worse by trying to
steer the poor thing.” Peter obviously meant the horse. John tried
to get her to turn around, or turn any way except the direction
they were headed. But all he accomplished was that the mare
whinnied in distress; foam started to bubble around her mouth.
“Sorry, old lass.” He let go of the reins and
patted her soothingly on the neck.
The explosion was bloodcurdling. It wasn’t
just one blow, although that was how it started. One blow. Then
another and another, a whole symphony of them, overlapping each
other as the gas in the rocks ignited and broke free.
The only thing louder than the blasts of the
explosion seemed to be John’s howl as he cried out, knowing Eugenia
wouldn’t hear him anyway.
Finally the animals stopped. It took him a
second to realize it, then he yanked on the reins once more and
drove the horse back towards the detonation site.
He never reached it.
The water came flooding through the woods. It
took all his strength to get himself and the mare out of its
way.
* * * *
Suddenly, it was hours later. Peter only
found him because the manchado kept neighing, either in attempts to
make its rider move, or desperate cries for help. In any case,
Peter found him on a fallen tree, staring at the mossy ground. Just
sitting there, like he was waiting for something to happen; or
everything.
He told him they kept looking for Eugenia,
but parts of the mountain had crumbled and buried everything,
including, luckily, the passage to the sea; so at least the
flooding had stopped. Perhaps she was trapped under the rocks.
Perhaps she wasn’t fatally wounded. Perhaps she could still be
saved.
But John knew they wouldn’t find her; and if
they did, she’d be long dead. She wasn’t in his mind anymore, and
he realized now she had always been there, from the moment he had
first set foot on this planet that was now no more than a forsaken
rock like every other in the endless night of the universe.
The crazy girl with no name was no more. He
felt he should be running away as fast as the ground would carry
him. But he found he couldn’t move a single muscle.
* * * *
FADE IN: INT. HEADQUARTER—DR. s DELUCA’S
ROOM—EARTH—NIGHT/DAY
Tom de Luca is pacing up and down in the
tiny chamber, while Phil deLuca is showing General Fatique the
equipment.
PHIL: See that little red light? There? Over
the monitor?
FATIQUE: I am hardly blind, Dr. deLuca.
PHIL: Of course,
sir. But, you see, it should be green.
FATIQUE: And what does it mean when it’s not
green but red?
Tom stops his pacing.
TOM: It means Jack is offline. Again.
FATIQUE: Jack?
PHIL: I prefer Tony. The wormhole. We can
open a connection to any place in the database—
FATIQUE: (interrupts) We only need the
concoction to Alternearth.
PHIL: (continues) —except Alternearth.
FATIQUE: Please. Doctors. What are you
telling me? Elizabeth is over there right now!
PHIL: Remember when the connection to
Alternearth got severed before? Well, that’s what’s happened again.
And try as we might—
TOM: And we did try, sir! For hours!
PHIL: We can’t get it to reopen.
TOM: It’s just like what happened
before.
PHIL: (softly, to Tom) I just said that.
TOM: (the same) And I said it again.
PHIL: (the same) Are you telling me I didn’t
say it right?
TOM: (the same) I was repeating. Not
correcting.
FATIQUE: (oblivious to their banter) But you
got it working again before, eventually?! Just do whatever you did
last time.
TOM: We didn’t do anything.
PHIL: Tony, sorry, Jack reopened by itself.
We had nothing to do with it.
FATIQUE: Well, if it reopens by itself, then
we’re good, aren’t we? We can just wait and bee.
TOM: And then when it did reopen, all the
settlers were gone and everything was weird.
FATIQUE: Great Ceres! This is a
nightmare!
PHIL/TOM: (unison) You took the words right
out of our brain, sir.
FATIQUE: Do something, doctors! And do a
better job then last time. We sent over two hundred people through
that gateway, gentlemen; we’re responsible for their well-being. Do
whatever you have to do to and get me those settlers back!