Chapter Nine
THE GROUP, BY MUTUAL AGREEMENT, allowed Jade to be the first one out. After all, she had been the one to make the discovery.
She stepped firmly through the door, heart pounding with anticipation, eyes wide with excitement. Tally followed her out, looking around with interest. The rest of the group piled out behind them, gawking around at the landscape. Which was somewhat anticlimactic. It really wasn’t that much to look at.
The area immediately around the door looked like an ordinary forest clearing, open and grassy with a few rocks strewn around. Small white stones were interspersed in the grass. They could see the starship glinting in the mid-morning light through the sparse quana trees ahead.
A damp breeze was blowing toward them, coming in off the unseen ocean from the direction of the ship. The light from the sun felt a little more intense to them, seeming a little redder, but that could have just been their imagination. After all, they subconsciously expected it to feel different.
Maggie and Sparrow sent the message back to the guards that they’d gotten through the door and were - so far - safe. Maggie used one of the communication devices they’d brought with them, Sparrow used mind-speak. They got acknowledgements both ways, indicating both methods would work. They moved out into the clearing. Kendis, who was controlling the hover-cart now, brought it to a halt.
“Where will we go first? To the ship?” he asked.
He, like Alex, Jade, and Ro, had spent the past two weeks preparing to come on this trek and none of them had been in on the planning.
Rachel answered. “Yes, that’s the plan. The ship is about eight miles straight ahead. It won’t take long to get there. We don’t know what condition it’s in, but we think that’s the best place to start. We have a device that might help us gain entry. If this one is in bad shape, the plan is to head for the next nearest one which, as you know, is farther away, in the north-western district.
“Even though the ships were built to withstand an assortment of adverse conditions in space, they may have deteriorated beyond usefulness. After all, they’ve been subjected to all sorts of weather for over two millennia.”
Gaining entry to one of the ships was acutely important to them. Once the Dome went up around them, all communications with the ships had ceased, which meant all communications with Earth had ceased, also. They were going to try to locate the communications device that had been used to maintain contact with Earth.
Their records, while not complete, did indicate there should be one on the ship ahead of them. Those things had been built to last but even if it had deteriorated, they thought they may be able to get it to work, or at least be able to take it back to the Dome for study on how it worked so they could do a reconstruction.
Sparrow had been mandated by its Leader to try to establish a telepathic link to its home world but would wait until they reached the ship and set up their camp. It would have to go into a trance to send a telepathic message that far. It would also need the help of Tally and Dots.
They set out walking with a new-found sense of freedom.
“Just out of curiosity, Dots,” asked Jade as they moved along, “Why didn’t you make yourself small when we picked you up from the work camp? Why have us rearrange all that gear and retract the seats?”
Dots looked at her sheepishly. “I would’ve, but after th’ driver said I’d never fit in the van, it got to be a challenge for me.” She grinned. “I did he’p find places where all the stuff could go, and once the seats were retracted, I did fit in.” Her black button eyes danced with amusement.
Jade laughed. Alex, who was walking in front of them beside Ro, chuckled. He was beginning to like Dots. Maggie smiled and shook her head. Jade also caught a mental snicker from Tally.
The group had been moving along at a pretty good clip and were over half way to their goal when the sky started getting darker. Sparrow looked up at the forming clouds, frowning.
Inside the Dome, the seasons and the weather had pretty much followed what was happening outside but were much milder. No devastating storms, floods, or droughts; no really intense weather at all. The weather in the Dome, apparently, was controlled. Now that they were out, they would be subjected to the uncontrolled elements.
Currently, it was late spring, which inside the Dome meant warm days, cool nights, and nice, gentle rain showers. They were about to learn what “late spring” meant outside the Dome.
“We need to stop and set up our shelter now,” it said.
“Huh? Why?” asked Morgan, brow furrowed. He had thought they wouldn’t be stopping until they got to the ship. The plan was to make camp when they got there.
By now, Maggie was looking at the sky too. “Look at those clouds, Morgan. We’re going to get awfully wet if we don’t get the shelter up - fast.”
The wind started picking up, getting stronger by the minute. Suddenly, a vivid flash split the sky and the loudest thunder they’d ever heard crashed around them, gradually dying to a rumble followed almost immediately by another flash and an even louder boom. Slowly, large drops of cold rain started falling on the heels of the second thunderclap.
Jade jumped in total shock, mouth agape. She found herself clutching someone around the waist and realized she had grabbed Kendis. She turned him loose fast, blushing profusely, and mumbled, “Um…sorry, that kind of took me by surprise.” She turned to look for Maggie, saw her near the hover-cart and dashed in that direction. The rain started coming down harder and the drops were cold.
Maggie hurriedly climbed up on the cart, pulled a large bag open and took out three long silver tubes. She quickly assembled them into a single pole, pushing the tubes into one another with a fast flick of her wrists. She pressed a spot near the bottom and the shelter sprang up fifteen feet over and four feet out from the hover-cart. She set the contraption into a recess in the bottom of the cart and lowered herself into a sitting position alongside it. She gazed around the sheltered area.
She had barely gotten the thing up in time. The rain was coming down furiously now, and anyone still outside would be soaked. She saw most everybody had managed to get to the shelter without getting too wet. Tally was actually bone dry. Sparrow was the wettest but didn’t appear to mind. It sat on the side of the cart with its feet on the ground, staring thoughtfully off into the driving rain.
Kendis settled himself down on a crate next to Jade. “You know, you certainly have some strong arms,” he remarked with a grin.
Jade, who had been staring mesmerized at the sheets of rain, was jolted out of her reverie. She turned to face him and her heart speeded up.
What is wrong with me, she thought irritably. She had never been the type to get all goofy around guys. Granted, she hadn’t been all that interested in the opposite sex until fairly recently but she had dated and she’d had no problem interacting with those guys - except Reece when he’d wanted to interact further than she’d wanted to. She hadn’t even hesitated to call one up once, and ask him out.
So why was she suddenly feeling flustered, shy, and tongue-tied, around this one? Yeah, he was extraordinarily attractive, and that voice…oops. She realized she was just staring at him and hadn’t responded. And the silence was beginning to stretch out.
“Um, well, thanks - I think,” she said with a lopsided smile. “I work out.”
Oh, just brilliant! she thought, disgusted with herself. Such scintillating conversation, such lively and interesting words coming out of my mouth…arrgh!
She stopped kicking herself mentally when it occurred to her that she was being really silly. No way he would be interested in her in any way except as Alex’s little sister.
Bet he’s got women crawling all over him, she thought enviously. And Earth only knew what Alex had told him about her. She gave a mental sigh.
“Are you hungry?” she asked, “Because I am.” She looked around. “Anyone else ready for lunch?” She jumped up from the crate w
ithout waiting for an answer.
They had brought food with them and most of it was of the field rations kind, or what one might find at a rest station.
But she’d also packed some real food, sort of a picnic, with sandwich materials, potato salad, burgers, and had even stashed away some of her mother’s sweet potato pie. She’d put it in a portable stasis unit where it would keep indefinitely.
She navigated her way over to the crate where the unit was located and pulled the lid open before remembering it had taken Alex and Ro to help her get it in there in the first place.
“Hey, guys, some help here,” she called. She had to get a little loud because even though the shelter shield blocked out the wind and rain, it barely muffled the noise from the storm. She saw Ro was already headed in her direction. Alex - and Kendis - got up to follow.
“Good idea, Jade,” said Ro as she came up. “I wuz beginnin’ ta think I wuz th’ only one! I’m starvin’!” She peered into the crate.
Kendis reached them before Alex got there. “Ladies, allow me to get that for you,” he said smiling, and reached in and lifted the stasis unit out as though it weighed nothing.
Jade and Ro watched in astonishment.
“Wow!” exclaimed, Ro. “Not only did you grow a foot in the last three years, you also came up with some serious muscles! That thing is beyond heavy!”
Alex walked up and said with a raised brow, “Well, it looks like I’m not needed. At least not for lifting.” He looked around the bed of the hover-cart. “Hmm, put it over there, Kendis,” he said, pointing at a column that was raising itself up from the floor a few feet in front of them.
Kendis, his eyes twinkling, put one finger under the stasis unit and guided it onto the table-like column.
Jade suddenly understood. “Ah ha!” she cried with realization. “Telekinesis! You’re a lifter. You’re from Village Three, aren’t you?”
Kendis grinned at her and nodded. “Yes, I am. Most people in my village can lift, though the ability varies in strength among us. I could move small things even when I was eleven but only started being able to handle larger objects within the last couple of years. I’m still not so good at it. Sparrow is teaching me how to control it better. It says soon I’ll be able to move and guide objects without touching them.”
“Hah! He’s just being modest,” chuckled Alex. “He’s very talented at this. Probably the strongest in his village and he hasn’t reached the limits of his potential yet, either.”
He smiled ruefully. “He and Sparrow have been trying to teach me to move things for the last couple of months but…” he laughed, “so far, if I lift my feet high enough, I can walk.” He shrugged, smiling, “I’ll keep trying, though.”
While they were talking, Jade had been removing foodstuff from the stasis unit and setting it out on the table-column. The food came out of the unit in the condition it had gone in. If it had gone in hot, it came out hot.
Ro rummaged around in another crate and come up with disposa-dishes and utensils. She pushed some small bags aside and raised up a table sized rectangular column on which to set them. Maggie and the others wandered over.
“Sometimes, you do get good ideas, Jade,” said Maggie, as she surveyed the food. “I see you saved some of the pie, too.”
“Pie? Did you make it, Maggie? I want some of that!” This came from Morgan.
Everyone served themselves. Ro was thrilled to find that Jade had thoughtfully put hot coffee in, along with the tea, which meant she wouldn’t have to find the coffee maker, yet.
Sparrow, who was still sitting on the edge of the hover-cart, smelled the coffee as soon as it was brought out of stasis. It got up and come over to the table. It peered solemnly down at Jade.
“Jadewyn, may I please have some coffee,” it asked hopefully, hands humbly folded together.
Jade grabbed the largest mug in the crate, filled it to the brim and handed it to Sparrow while trying her best to keep a straight face. With its tall, stick-like build, Sparrow, standing there hands folded, begging for a cup of coffee, looked very much like a praying mantis about to spring on its prey.
Unfortunately, her shields wobbled and the image leaked - just briefly but long enough for Sparrow to catch it.
Despite having developed on another planet in an entirely different galaxy, the Elvwists were surprisingly similar in emotional make-up to Humans. Fortunately, most Elvwists have never taken themselves too seriously and some do have a keen sense of the ridiculous and can laugh at themselves. Sparrow was one of these.
It started to do the Elvwist version of a chortle, sort of a whistling wheeze. Of course, when Sparrow started to laugh, Jade lost it altogether. She howled. Ro, gratefully sipping her coffee, was looking at her puzzled until Jade shot her a picture and she too started laughing.
The others stood watching the three of them laughing themselves silly. Jade, wiping tears from her eyes, sent a tendril of thought out by way of explanation. As each one got the image, their faces relaxed into a laugh or a smile. They ate their meal in good spirits.
The storm was winding down as they finished lunch. Kendis and Alex volunteered to do clean-up and by the time they finished putting things away, the rain had all but vanished, and the sun was beginning to break through the clouds. Maggie broke down the shelter-shield and put the tubes back into the crate.
They climbed down off the cart and resumed their hike to the ship.
******
Montford got the message the advance expedition had gotten through the door at the same time as the rest of the Dome citizens. He hadn’t been able to get one of his men on guard duty at the cottage yet, but he was working on it. He was satisfied to hear that it actually was a door since that fact had been questioned. He would wait to hear what was found at the ship, then he would make his plans.
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