The Battle for WondLa Page 3

  “Well, that is a little over the top. But I can see why she wanted it.” Hailey slouched back down and adjusted the cap back over his face.

  “What? You’re siding with her!”

  “I didn’t say that.” Hailey interlaced his fingers and rested his hands on his chest. “I just think your sister wanted to take control of something—anything—in her life. The truth is, Cadmus controlled both your lives since you were hatched from test tubes. But somehow you, Eva, were able to break away from that control.”

  The truth was, everything in Eva’s life now seemed beyond her control—the invasion of Lacus and Solas, the animosity she’d received from the fleeing Halcyonus, her failure to warn Arius. It had caused Eva to feel helpless, frustrated, and angry.

  She kissed the locket and tucked it back into her coveralls. “I forgive you, Sister,” she whispered.

  CHAPTER 5: RETURN

  It had been several days since the Bijou had crashed in the middle of the flats. Regardless, wisps of smoke still wafted up from the wreck as the wandering tree arrived at their final destination.

  The ship lay on its starboard side, its bulbous form rising from the sandy plain. Perforations, caused by bullets, crisscrossed the scorched hull. The domed cockpit windshield, which formed the nose of the ship, had loosened from the wide cowling that had kept it secure. As they neared, Eva watched several creatures, smaller than turnfins, fly in and out of the wreck through the broken windshield.

  “Oh no! My poor ship.” Hailey groaned, and climbed down from the tree. He stood for a moment taking in the battered remains, then bent over and studied something half buried at his feet. Hailey picked up an L-shaped hunk of machinery and frowned. “All my hard work. Even the pitot tube is busted,” he muttered, and flung the piece of wreckage back to the ground.

  Eva joined him at the nose of the Bijou. Her broken reflection greeted her from the cracked cockpit windshield. I’m still a dirty disheveled mess, she thought.

  “I’m sorry you lost her,” Eva said as she looked over at Hailey.

  His eyes remained fixed on the broken hull. “Me too,” he said. Gusts of wind, rushing over the open plain, made the wreck creak and moan in protest.

  Eva remembered the dismantled airship back in the cavernous hangar where Hailey lived. She figured he had built the Bijou from scratch. “To be honest,” said Eva, “I’m amazed you didn’t crash—er . . . land sooner. How did you end up way out here?”

  “After I jettisoned you guys in the life capsule, I flew right smack into the middle of a mega-pod of air-whales. The warships wouldn’t fly into the pod, probably because those whales are bigger than the ships. I bet the warships use a collision-avoidance system of some sort to stay clear of other flying objects. Especially objects that are larger than they are.” Hailey picked up another small unidentifiable scrap of wreckage. He turned it over in his hands, seemingly in thought, and then put it into his pocket.

  “I remember seeing some air-whales after we landed,” Eva said.

  “I stayed close with a group that broke off and veered toward the forest. I remembered Huxley saying that Lacus was somewhere east of the forest, so I went as far as the Bijou could carry me.” Hailey reached out and traced his fingers over the ship’s name painted on the pockmarked nose. “She was a good ship.”

  Eva went to place a sympathetic hand on Hailey’s shoulder but gave pause. A chorus of high-pitched squeaks chattered overhead. More flying creatures fluttered to and from the cockpit. “Uh-oh.” Eva pointed to the cockpit. “I think knifejacks have decided to roost here. We need to be careful.”

  “Knifejacks?” Hailey watched the colony flying into the ship. “Oh yeah, we had those living in the cave back at camp. They’re kind of cute and furry, right?”

  “No, not really.” Eva remembered her encounter with the temperamental creatures when she and Rovender were hiding from Besteel back at the ancient ruins.

  “Well, if you can keep them occupied with your ‘powers,’ I’ll go get what we came here for.” Hailey led Eva around the nose of the ship toward the belly.

  Parked next to the opened loading ramp of the Bijou was a large, floating covered wagon. Crates from the Bijou’s cargo hold had been stacked around the ramshackle craft, and panels from the ship’s hull were arranged on all sides to provide shelter. The embers of a cooking fire smoldered at the center of a camp.

  “Get back,” Eva whispered, and grabbed Hailey by the arm.

  Hailey pulled free from Eva’s grasp. “Nobody’s taking anything from my ship.” He stomped toward the camp. “Who’s here? Come out!”

  Eva crouched down under the nose of the Bijou, closed her eyes, and focused. What is hiding on the ship? She could sense a large congregation of knifejacks roosting inside the wreck. Otherwise, there seemed to be no other creatures in the near vicinity.

  “Eva, come here,” Hailey called out.

  She slunk into the camp, fearful that a warbot—or Loroc himself—would jump out.

  Peeking under the canopy that stretched over the hull of the wagon, Eva realized she had seen vehicles similar to it before. “This could be from Solas,” she said. It was hard to find any indentifying marks under the cargo of crates, baskets, and barrels that overloaded the transport. These containers were festooned with a myriad of found objects. Broken bottles, rusted machinery, and discarded pieces of tech adorned every square centimeter. A wind chime, hanging from one of the bows that supported the canopy, tinkled in the breeze. Eva recognized the chimes as forks and spoons. The Dynastes Corporation logo was stamped into the handle of each polished utensil, just like those from Eva’s Sanctuary.

  “I don’t think anybody is here,” Hailey said.

  Eva nodded. “For the moment.”

  “This looks to be some sort of salvager.” Hailey inspected the open crates from his ship. “Whoever it is, they’ve gone through all of my stuff!”

  “Do you see your Omnipod?” Eva peered into a thin-wired cage. Within it several knifejacks hung from the top in their usual upside-down position. The small creatures watched Eva with beady eyes set on the ends of long eyestalks, giving the impression of the holograms she had seen of crustaceans. Like crustaceans, the creatures had an exoskeleton and multiple clawed legs, though the front pair had evolved into wings. One of the knifejacks let out a chirrup from a serrated beak.

  “No Omnipods.” Hailey stepped up onto a stack of crates that formed makeshift steps to the open hatch leading into the Bijou’s hold. “Hopefully, my stash wasn’t found.” He crawled through the hatch and into the ship. “Keep an eye out, will you? I’ll be right back.”

  “Stay out of the cockpit,” said Eva.

  “Oh, right. The knife-things,” Hailey’s voice echoed from the inside.

  “Yes. The ‘knife-things.’ ” She put a finger into the cage and called to the knifejacks. Faster than a blink, one snapped at her finger. “Ouch!” Eva watched a scarlet drop of blood bead on her fingertip. She put her finger into her mouth.

  There was movement inside the ship.

  “Everything okay?” Eva called out.

  “Yeah. Just . . . moving . . . stuff.” Hailey grunted between words.

  Eva rubbed her finger. “Do you need a hand?”

  “No. I got it. I’m good.” Something inside obviously fell over, from the racket emanating from the ship. “Sheesa! What a mess!”

  Eva combed through the crates. Most were filled with machinery and ship parts. She discovered a bundle of blankets and an all-weather poncho. “This we can use,” she said to herself, and deactivated the life-monitoring patch. A shoulder pocket on the opposite arm held hydration tablets, several Sustibars, and a phosphorescent liquid light pen. As she pulled the drab poncho over her head, Eva sensed something. Munt-runners?

  A loud crash inside the Bijou was followed by a cry from Hailey. Instantly Eva’s senses were flooded with the same message.

  Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder, cried th
e knifejacks inside the ship.

  The knifejacks in the cage joined in the chorus.

  Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder.

  Eva ran up into the hold. Chittering cries reverberated throughout the entire ship.

  Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder.

  Hailey jumped down from the ship’s galley and bolted toward Eva. He swatted at the hundreds of knifejacks diving and biting at him.

  Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder.

  The alarm of the knifejacks overwhelmed Eva, preventing her from breaking the connection with them. Before she could get out of the way, a flailing Hailey ran right into her. Both tumbled from the Bijou’s hold onto the ground below. Eva scrambled to her feet and dashed away from the chaos, with Hailey right behind her.

  Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder. Danger. Intruder.

  The cries assaulted Eva’s ears. She shook her head in an attempt to disconnect her senses from the swarm. Although most knifejacks returned to the ship, several angry individuals still gave chase. Eva and Hailey ducked around the nose of the ship. As they rounded the cockpit, they lurched to a halt at the loud, sonic WOOM that erupted over their heads. Three knifejacks fell from the sky to the ground at Eva’s feet. She knelt down to inspect the creatures, no longer able to hear their voices. Hailey tapped Eva on the shoulder and pointed.

  On the other side of the Bijou, a grotesque heavyset alien with bright blue wattles stood between two horned munt-runners. His boomrod, ornate and polished, was aimed directly at Eva.

  “No one-you moves and no one gets hurt-killed,” he said from his tusked mouth. Eva tapped the vocal transcoder in her pocket. It seemed to be performing erratically its task of translating the alien’s heavy accent.

  Hailey pointed an accusatory finger at the alien. “Why don’t you put that thing away, and then you won’t get hurt!”

  “Hailey, I—”

  “No, Eva. That is my ship! And my stuff,” yelled Hailey.

  “You-human leave it. You-human lose it,” said the alien in a matter-of-fact tone. As he approached, Eva heard the haunting familiar hum of his charging boomrod.

  Hailey yanked his flight cap from his head and balled it tight in his fist. He spoke between clenched teeth. “I may have left it, but now I am back to claim what’s mine.”

  “No. Now it-ship is mine.” The alien sneered and aimed his boomrod at Hailey.

  Hailey seized the muzzle of the gun and pushed it away. He stomped up to the alien and stood toe-to-toe with him. “Hop into that junk sled of yours and get outta here!”

  The alien replied in an icy tone, “I will leave-go when I am ready. I will seize-take what I want. You can do nothing to stop me.”

  Eva tried to reach out with her senses to the alien, hoping she could communicate with his thoughts; but it was to no avail. He is not of the forest, she thought. It seemed clear that there were limits to her abilities.

  “There are two of us.” Hailey puffed out his chest. “You have no idea what we can stop.”

  “You cannot stop this!” The alien jammed the boomrod’s muzzle into Hailey’s ribs, causing him to fall to his knees. “Enough bluffing. I do not want to hurt-kill, but if you two don’t go, you leave me with no choice-option.”

  Eva stood over Hailey and held up her palm. “I am Eva. Eva Nine.”

  The alien blinked. “That is a Cærulean greeting-welcome.”

  “Yes, I know.” Eva kept her voice calm and stood still. “We are friends of the Cæruleans and their leader, Antiquus.”

  “You-humans are friends with the Cæruleans?” The alien clucked. “I do not buy-believe it.”

  “I think you are friends with them too,” said Eva.

  “You-human think so? Why is that?”

  “You have a pair of Cærulean munt-runners.” Eva pointed at the two mounts. “Judging from their markings, I’d say they came from Faunas.”

  The alien lowered his weapon. He looked over at his munt-runners, then back at Eva. “I barter-trade for them in Solas. But, yes, they come from that Cærulean village.”

  Eva gestured at Hailey. “We have come from there too. And we have friends there now who are worried about us.”

  “Friends? The friends who-that destroyed Lacus and invaded Solas?” The alien lifted the boomrod once more and aimed it at Eva. “I see-witness what your friends can do.”

  “We are not part of that,” Hailey said in a calm tone, similar to Eva’s. He slowly rose to his feet.

  “Really? Is this not a warship-deathship used for invasion?” The alien pointed at the Bijou with the boomrod.

  “No,” Eva replied. “We were not part of the invasion. We were trying to stop it. We were on our way to Lacus to warn the Halcyonus and Arius.”

  “Arius?” The alien gave pause and studied Eva. “How is it that you-human know of Arius?”

  “I stayed with the Halcyonus,” said Eva. She counted off on her fingers, “I know Arius, I know Zin, I know—”

  “Zin! You know where curator Zin is now-currently?” The alien’s wattles trembled.

  “Right this minute? No,” said Eva. “I met him only once at the Royal Museum.”

  “The museum. Where do you-human think all this artifact-stuff is going?” The alien gestured to the crates surrounding his camp.

  Eva remembered Zin explaining that the artifacts in the museum had been obtained by outside help, from those traveling from the ancient ruins. “You’re one of Zin’s explorers. You sell these items to the museum, right?”

  “He’s a junk dealer?” Hailey spat.

  “Treasure hunter-finder,” the alien corrected him. The alien turned off his boomrod and holstered it. “I am me-Caruncle. Obtainer of fine antiquities for Her Majesty’s royal collection.”

  CHAPTER 6: CARUNCLE

  The sun dipped closer to the flat horizon. As it sank down in the lavender sky, it turned the clouds a fiery orange. Despite the absence of thunderheads, distant rumbling could be heard to the north. The sound of thunder was soon lost to a noisy congregation of turnfins roosting on the top of the Bijou.

  “It’s not in here.” Hailey finished rummaging through a crate filled with debris from the wreck. “Any luck?”

  “No.” Eva started putting the items back into the crate in front of her. “Just a bunch of parts.”

  “And that’s everything you’ve found?” Hailey turned to Caruncle.

  “That is all-it,” Caruncle replied, and dropped a hunk of wood onto the campfire. He grabbed a long metal rod, which Eva recognized as a piece of the Bijou, and used it as a poker to stoke the embers. The lazy flames reawakened and began consuming the wood. “If it is not here, then perhaps it is remaining-still on my ship.” Caruncle pointed to the Bijou with the poker.

  “You mean my ship?” Hailey added.

  “My ship, your ship. Does it matter? It is not going anywhere anytime soon,” Caruncle said, and laughed softly to himself.

  “Yeah . . . well, I looked in there already,” Hailey said in a sheepish tone, and adjusted his flight cap.

  A smile formed on Caruncle’s tusked mouth. “And no luck?”

  “You could say that.” Eva sat on her blanket near the fire. “So, Caruncle, this stuff that you scavenge—”

  “Steal,” Hailey corrected her.

  “Discover,” Caruncle corrected him.

  “This stuff that you discover . . . what do you do with it?”

  “I trade or sell for provisions-supplies. It keeps me out of trouble-debt.” Caruncle unwrapped a thick scarf from around his jowls to reveal a small pair of secondary arms underneath. With these arms he withdrew a long-stemmed pipe from his tattered coat. Three bowls were evenly spaced along the pipe’s stem. “Usually I trade-sell to curator Zin. But not now.”

  “Because of what’s going on in Solas?” Eva asked. Far away more thunder rumbled.

  Caruncle nodded. “Zin
has disappeared-vanished. No one can locate-find him.” He pulled a weathered pouch from his pocket. He unclasped the pouch to reveal a variety of spices, each stored in its own ornate container. The containers reminded Eva of the offerings that had cluttered the floor of Arius’s home. Caruncle began packing the spices into the bowls of the pipe. “The queen, she search-looks everywhere for him. Is he alive? Is he dead? She order-sends all sorts of trackers out from the city. No one knows where he-Zin is.”

  Eva thought back to Loroc’s boasting about his plans to capture and consume Zin as he had done with Arius. In light of Caruncle’s news, it seemed that either Loroc had succeeded or Zin really had escaped.

  “I hope-wish he turns up soon,” said Caruncle. “I could make a fortune selling him some of my discoveries.”

  “Perhaps among my things that you planned on selling, you discovered this?” Hailey took the poker and drew a picture of an Omnipod in the sand.

  “What? Seeing Eyes? That is what all this fuss-whining is about? That is what you are search-looking for?” Caruncle handed his pipe to Eva. “Hold this.” He waddled over to his transport and started sliding containers around.

  Eva turned the pipe over in her hands. It was scrimshawed in a pattern she had seen before, like in the mural painted on Hostia’s ceiling in Lacus. The contents in each bowl were different. One held a claylike substance, another dried leaves, and the third was some sort of brownish jelly. The scent took Eva back to Hostia’s home. Perhaps someone there also smoked a pipe.

  “Here! Seeing Eyes.” Caruncle shoved a bin into Hailey’s hands and returned to his seat by the fire. He retrieved his pipe from Eva. “Much gratitude-thanks,” Caruncle said with a nod.

  Hailey pulled the lid off the bin and gasped.

  “What?” Eva craned her neck to get a better view.

  “Omnipods,” he said, and pulled a device from the bin to show her. One by one Hailey removed the Omnipods and lined them up on the ground. Eva scooted closer to help.

  “Omni-pods?” Caruncle lit his pipe. “Is that what you-humans call them?”