Trapped (6 page)

Leo said, “We built this. My grandfather wanted me to be off the ship.”

“Had you ever been off the ship before?” asked Marco.

Leo shook his head. “My parents wanted me to have a chance to stand on land in case…” He trailed off.

“In case what?” asked Sarah.

“In case this mission didn't work and we didn't make it back home.” Leo waved a hand around. “We lived here. We grew things. Grandfather traveled with the ship to collect every animal species he could. He chose this island as a base because no one ever came here.”

Marco said, “That's why there are so many trees that don't belong here.” He wanted to bring up the animals again, but had the feeling Leo would get to that.

Leo nodded. “We've been here for over a year, growing different things, making sure we can help them survive on our planet.” He pointed out to sea. “My grandfather and I have been finding everything our planet needs to start again.”

“You mean
taking
what you need,” said Sarah.

“Yes.” Leo faced Sarah. “But don't you see? If we can fix our planet, we can help you fix yours. If that time ever comes.”

Sarah and Marco exchanged a glance. Marco wanted to say that things here would never come to that, but realized there was truth to Leo's words.

Nacho obviously knew it too, because he said, “You mean like climate change. The icebergs are melting. The bees are dying.”

“Well, thanks for that picker upper,” said Sarah.

Nacho shrugged. “Just being honest.” He turned to Leo. “So what happened?”

Leo stared down at his feet. “Growing the plants and trees went well. So did the collection of the animals. But then Grandfather realized he couldn't find them all.”

Leo's eyes glittered with tears. “On our ship, each container was already prepared for each species. But when we'd finished, there were still empty containers.”

“What was supposed to go in the empty ones?” Marco's throat felt thick, and he didn't want to know the answer.

Leo recited, “The Tasmanian tiger. The passenger pigeon. The Steller's sea cow. The—”

Nacho interrupted. “Those are all extinct.”

“We figured that out,” said Leo.

“Why didn't you just go home?” asked Sarah. “You must have hundreds of species.”

“The ship is programmed to take off when those containers are full. And communication between my home ship and here is disrupted by the solar flares of your sun.”

Marco asked, “I thought your technology was advanced.”

“It is,” said Leo. “But our power sources are limited. If we used any more for communication, to overcome the disruption, we'd lose life support. Plus fuel we need to get home. We have no way to tell them that we can't complete our mission. So Grandfather did the one thing he'd been told not to do.”

“What was that?” asked Sarah.

“He tried to replicate with only half the progenitor.”

Leo released their hands.

Memory over. They were back at the beach.

Leo wandered down to the edge of the water and gazed out onto the waves. The sun was bright, reflecting off the water.

The boy looked so forlorn that Marco felt bad. He picked up the weapon, then went and stood beside Leo. He reached into his pocket and extended his hand out flat, revealing the perfume flacon.

Leo gasped and slowly reached out for it. He took off the top and inhaled. Although Marco didn't hear them, he knew the words that Leo absorbed.
Please come back.

“My mother gave this to me when we left the ship. When I had to leave the cabin so fast, I forgot it.” Leo's fingers closed around it. “Thank you.”

Sarah joined them. “Why did you have to leave so suddenly?”

Leo said, “There's one more thing to show you.”

“Are we going to like it?” asked Nacho.

Leo shook his head. “No. Not at all.”

 

9

Sarah was willing to bet that whatever happened next would not be pleasant to witness.

Ahab barked in the direction of the trees at the edge of the beach.

Sarah dropped to her knees beside him. “You're fine.”

But the dog began to growl.

Something crashed in the underbrush.

Marco grabbed Sarah and pulled her up. “We need to go!”

Leo and Nacho ran farther down the beach, hugging the tree line. Sarah grabbed Ahab's collar, but he wouldn't budge.

Marco said, “Sarah, come on!”

“I'm not leaving him!” She yanked on Ahab's collar again.

Marco grabbed the dog's collar too. Finally, Ahab relented and ran with them as they caught up to the other two, who had ducked into the woods.

Leo dodged in between a couple of thick tree trunks. “This way!”

Sarah was nearly breathless when they reached a thick stand of bamboo. Leo slid in and they followed.

Sarah dropped to her knees on the ground, arms around Ahab. The others joined her in the hiding place.

Marco held a finger to his lips.

The crashing continued, growing louder as it neared them.

Sarah's heart pounded. The boys all had wide eyes, and their chests heaved from their dash off the beach.

All was silent.

A snorting noise cut the air.

Ahab growled low in his throat.

Sarah set a hand on his head to try to calm him.

Marco held the weapon up as if he planned to use it.

Leo set a hand on Marco's arm and vigorously shook his head.

Marco lowered the weapon and set it aside. Then he crawled forward and peered out through a gap. He beckoned to them. Slowly, Leo and Nacho joined him.

Sarah held Ahab's collar with both trembling hands. She didn't want to know what made that sound. Whatever creature was out there probably wanted to eat them.

Nacho gasped and covered his mouth.

After another snort, the crashing started up again. Everyone was still as the noise began to retreat. The boys sat up.

His eyes huge, Nacho whispered, “That looked like a rhinoceros with a unicorn horn!”

Sarah glanced at Marco.

He nodded. “Our rhinocorn.” He turned to Leo. “Where did it come from?”

It sounded as if the rhinocorn was tearing branches from trees. Leo whispered, “Well, we're stuck here until that thing goes away. I might as well show you.” He held up his hands.

Sarah grabbed his hand and held her free hand to Nacho. Nacho took it and held out his hand to Marco, who took it and hesitated for a moment before holding out his other hand to Leo, waiting for the boy from the stars to complete the circle.

Sarah felt a lurch as Leo connected with all of them.

They stood in the clearing by the little cabin from before. The sun was hot. A slight breeze rippled the leaves of a nearby palm tree. A bald man knelt on the ground, his back to them as he seemed to struggle with something.

He stood up and faced them. The man had gills, tiny ears, and webbed fingers.

Nacho sucked in a sharp breath.

Leo's hand stiffened in Sarah's as the door opened. He marched down the stairs, only he wasn't their Leo. He was the Leo from the stars, with gills and webbed hands like his grandfather's.

Leo spoke softly. “Grandfather had begun to try and replicate creatures to fill the empty modules so our ship would take us back to our people.”

Leo's grandfather held something in his hand. Sarah squinted, trying to see what it was, but like some of the other memories, the object was blurred.

“Only the eyes of my people can look directly at the progenitor. I'm protecting you,” said Leo.

Sarah focused on the bald man's hands. A moment later, a flutter of feathers flew from them. Red feathers. Four wings flapped as the bird took flight.

Marco said, “My bird!”

Sarah gasped. “You made all those weird creatures?”

“You've seen others?” asked Leo.

Sarah blew out a breath. The image of that shark on crocodile legs rushing toward Marco flashed in her mind. She shivered. “We got a very good look, believe me.”

“Why did they turn out so … freaky?” asked Nacho.

Leo said, “With only half the progenitor, my grandfather was guessing.”

Marco asked, “But did you even see if it would work? Putting them in the modules?”

“Tricking the codes?” Leo nodded. “We tried. But the technology is smarter than we are.”

Sarah asked, “Then how did you get my dad and Nacho and Ahab in the modules?”

Leo said, “There were some blanks. In case we discovered species our people were unaware of. So I put them in and set the lock and…”

Marco said, “And it's just like the other codes.”

Leo nodded. “None of the extras count for the final tally.”

Sarah was about to ask if her dad counted for the final tally when a black squirrel with a red-and-white-striped tail brushed by Sarah's leg. She screeched. “So you just let them run around the place?”

Leo's eyes narrowed. “No. We didn't just let them run around.” He let go of her hand and Marco's.

The four of them were seated, surrounded by bamboo, as if they'd never left.

The rhinocorn still rustled around nearby.

A fat tear slipped down Leo's cheek and he brushed it away. He sighed. “Grandfather would make one creature at a time. I'd shoot a net to immobilize it, then we'd take it to the cave to see if a module would accept it.”

“What did you do with the ones that didn't work?” Nacho pointed toward the noises. “Like
that
one.”

Marco said, “Nacho, I think he's trying to tell us that
none
of them worked.”

Leo shook his head. “But we kept trying. And my grandfather made a valley for them.”

Marco glanced at Sarah. “We saw that too.” He cleared his throat. “But some of them weren't in the valley.”

“I know.” Leo was quiet for a moment.

Sarah set a hand on the boy's arm. “Show us what happened.”

Once more, the four joined hands.

But this time, instead of the clearing by the cabin, they were deeper in the woods. Leo's grandfather was hunched over the same blurred object as before.

The other Leo, the alien version, clutched a white tube aimed straight at the old man.

His grandfather said, “I know the last one got away, but this one will be slower.” His voice was calm and reassuring.

“I'm ready.” Leo narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the weapon.

A hum began. The vibrations increased until they rippled down Sarah's neck. Suddenly, a flash of black fur burst from the object.

Sarah gasped.

A black panther crouched before them, with a beard of scarlet and an equally red tail. The creature turned toward Leo and growled low in her throat.

Sarah recognized the big cat from earlier, in the valley.

Leo's hand tightened in hers.

“Stay calm,” said Leo's grandfather. “Take care of her now.”

The other Leo concentrated, and then frowned. “It didn't work!” He shook the tube.

The monstrous cat snarled and took a step toward him.

He froze. “What do I do?”

“Try again,” said his grandfather.

Again, Leo aimed. But again, nothing happened.

The tube trembled in his hands as the cat took another step toward him.

Sarah's own heart pounded faster. If she didn't know that Leo was safe beside her, she would think she was about to see the boy's demise.

Crack!

Sarah jumped at the sound as the cat bolted, disappearing into the woods. Leo's grandfather held a stick that he had smacked against a nearby tree.

Leo dropped the white tube. He ran to his grandfather and threw his arms around the man's middle. “I'm so sorry.”

“Not your fault.” His grandfather patted his head. “Nothing we can do now.”

“What if it comes back?” asked Leo.

“I'll scare it off again.” His grandfather ruffled his hair.

Sarah waited for Leo to do something, but he dropped her hand. They were back in the bamboo, the sounds of the rhinocorn finally beginning to fade into the distance.

Sarah studied Leo as he simply stared at the sand. She wanted to know what happened, even if that something was awful. “What happened after that?”

“I don't want to know,” said Nacho.

Marco shook his head. “Me neither.”

“But it's necessary for you to know.” Leo sighed heavily. “I'm not sure you all believe how much I need your help. Seeing will be—”

“Believing?” asked Marco.

Leo nodded.

“Wait.” Nacho held up a hand. “Someone needs to explain why the old guy”—he pointed at Leo—“and you, had gills.”

Marco said, “Leo, you don't have to keep pretending for us. You can be yourself.” He met Sarah's gaze. “Right?”

As much as Sarah was freaked by Leo's true appearance, the boy shouldn't have to pretend to look human, just because he thought it made them more comfortable. So she nodded. “You are who you are. That won't change just because you look different.”

Leo faced Nacho. “Please don't—”

“Freak out?” Marco grinned.

Leo nodded.

Nacho's forehead creased.

Leo's face slowly changed. Gills appeared as his ears decreased to small holes on the sides of his head. He held up his hands and spread out his fingers, revealing webs between them.

Nacho's eyes grew large and he whispered, “Aquatic apes.”

Leo frowned. “What?”

“Never mind.” Nacho shook his head. “As long as you don't try to freeze me again, I can deal with this.” He shrugged. “It's pretty cool actually.”

Leo smiled a little.

“Show us the rest?” Sarah didn't really want to see what happened, but not knowing was worse.

Leo held up his hands. “Ready?”

Sarah held her hand out to Leo. He took it in his webbed one and squeezed.