It settled, the surface shivering to a smooth dark green. He touched it, noting it was still soft to the touch. But when he tried to push it off, it didn't budge. It didn't feel tight, more like soft velvet against the skin, but it definitely didn't want to budge.
He tried to get a finger between it and his skin. "Brilliant. How does it come off?"
Sasha shrugged. "We worry about that once we're out of here. Now we'll be able to understand the things going on around here."
Zach stopped trying to pry it off. "It's a big problem. We don't even know what these things really are or who they belong to."
"Admiral to the bridge. All crew report status," a voice over them said.
"Crew?" Sasha asked.
"Bridge?" Zach echoed. He bit a lip. "I feel like I'm in a bad dream. Fell asleep on the couch again during a late night movie-fest."
"Sounds like military. See, I told you these things would come in handy," Sasha said, waving her left wrist.
Zach stopped himself from challenging her on what military specifically. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. Better to get out and figure things out from a proper distance.
He went around the counter to the door. Looking around the edges, he found the hall empty in both directions.
Pulling himself back in the room, he turned towards Sasha. "It's clear. Time to get out of here."
She nodded, following him down the hall the way they'd come. Two more turns and they reached the limit of what Zach could remember. Sasha remembered two more.
They stood at a corner of a corridor, looking in all four directions. Nothing looked familiar.
No, not quite right. It all looked the same. Down each hall was just one door placed in the same spot. Zach's mind classified the area as having rather big rooms, and judging by the big doors, they held big stuff.
"Storage rooms?" Zach muttered.
Sasha walked to one of the doors and tried it. "All locked. I hope the robot doesn't reappear."
"We can't wait here to be found. We make a decision and go for it."
"How about we each pick a direction and look down the crossing corridors to see if anything looks familiar? We might get lucky."
He couldn't help but roll his eyes while his right hand massaged the new blob on his left wrist. "Sure. The way we've been lucky all night."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
AFTER THE WILD snow machine ride through the Aurora lit Alaska night, the entrance into the small town of Salmon run was a bit of a let-down. The pack of riders rejoined the railroad tracks at the edge of town and a small road running next to it. Up and over the tracks and they were on the main street of Salmon Run.
The first few buildings sat close together, most of them boarded up. Scattered among the dark lonely buildings were a few with porch lights illuminating the berms of snow lining the main road and small driveways.
Further on Hawk saw the shape of larger buildings, but only one of them held the inviting lights of civilization. The two story building stood on the left side of the street with a good sized parking lot in front and to the side. Light flowed out of the wide windows on the ground floor while above the porch two small lights illuminated the words "Salmon Run General Store" in large block letters.
A big truck sat in the side parking lot, but all the other vehicles were snow machines.
He laughed to himself. An Alaskan town with more snow machines than vehicles. Just the sort of place Hawk had hoped it would be. Zach might think he'd accepted the inheritance only to then sell the place later for a profit. It was more than that. Hawk hoped to slow down a bit and again find the boy he used to be out in the farm country. And, in the process, give Zach the kind of childhood he deserved.
Doc stopped the snow machine in front of the store. Other snow machines were getting checked over and refueled. Four turned and went back the way they'd come, he assumed to pick up more Solar Express passengers.
Hawk climbed off the back of the snow machine, trying to get the feeling back in his legs. He pulled off the helmet and handed it back to Doc who stored it away in a compartment in the back of the seat.
Doc motioned towards the General Store where several kids in snowsuits were playing in the high berms on either side. "Head on in and warm up. They'll have hot drinks for you."
"Hot sounds good." Hawk looked over the other machines that had stopped with them. With all the helmets he couldn't tell which one might be Zach. But as the helmets were removed and given back to the snow machine drivers, he found Zach not among them.
"Where is Zach?" Hawk shouted at the group.
Doc looked back, "They were right behind us."
"Who are we looking for?" One of the other drivers asked.
"Sasha Neeley and her passenger, on the Zombie," Doc said.
"It might have bogged down at the edge of the pond, with it being so heavy," one of them suggested. "We can check on our way back."
Doc waved at Hawk. "Get inside. They aren't about to get lost with all the machines going back and forth. I'm sure they'll be with the next pack."
Hawk had to move out of the way of the machines coming and going. He watched as Doc topped off his machine with fuel and turned to head back out of town.
Hawk waited for the next group to arrive, not caring about the cold air or the insistence of Mr. Dunn to come into the store. The next pack held two familiar passengers, but not the one he hoped to see.
Darnit sat in a sled towed behind a white snow machine, sitting upright with his face full into the wind. And looking like he was having a fabulous time with that horrific grin on his face. McRoyal was right. Darnit needed to stop doing that. It just didn't look right.
McRoyal climbed off the machine and hobbled back towards the sled. He reached for Darnit's collar and pulled. "Down, you mutt."
Darnit jumped off, but not without pulling back once. Hawk stepped off the porch, but couldn't make himself walk any closer to the dog. He shouted, "Did you see Sasha and Zach on the Zombie?"
McRoyal pulled off the helmet and handed it back to the driver. "Why would I have seen them? They were with your pack."
"Not when we got here." Hawk's heart sunk. He studied the other snow machines, having trouble keeping track of them with so many coming and going.
"Doc looking for them?" McRoyal asked as he joined him at the base of the porch.
Hawk nodded. "Said something about maybe bogging down near the creak?"
McRoyal nodded. "Could have happened. It was soft up that ways." He raised his voice and shouted, "Stewie, The Zombie is missing. Keep an eye out!"
The man waved, turning to shout the same warning to a few others. The warning jumped from one side of the parking lot to the other.
"Darnit, get away from that sled!" McRoyal shouted. Darnit froze in the act of jumping up on one of the sleds of a snow machine leaving the parking lot. "Darn dog. If he had a chance he'd be pulled all around town all day long."
"A sled dog that prefers to ride," Hawk said numbly. Yes, a stupid dog. And a stupid father who wanted such a great Alaskan adventure only to lose his son before even getting into town.
He felt a hand on his arm pulling him towards the store. "No point in freezing out here. You can watch the comin's and goin's from inside."
Hawk let himself be led inside by McRoyal. He felt numb. And horrified. Yep, reality was sinking in hard and good.
Double doors led into an entryway with a place for coats on the right and a bench underneath. Beyond the second set of double doors the full warmth of the store assaulted both his body and mind.
A lethargy set in that he didn't like. He had to stay awake. He shook himself and tried to turn to go back outside. Who cared if the porch was covered with dogs.
McRoyal kept tight hold on his arm, leading him to the right of the store and into a small caf? area. "No you don't. Sit by the window."
A window with a great view of the parking area. Hawk sat down hard, suddenly too tired to stand. He studied everyone and everyt
hing outside, trying to keep awake. A hot mug of what turned out to be almost scalding coffee was shoved into his hands. He drank at it without even turning to see who had given it to him.
"You are letting despair overwhelm you."
Hawk looked up to find Grandpa Neeley sitting in the chair directly across from him.
With the heat of the coffee came the heat of anger. "Two kids are lost in a frozen Alaskan wilderness, and you aren't worried?"
"Of course I worry, but I do not let it overwhelm me." He set his hands calmly in his lap. "They are fine, I feel it."
"Nice to be so assured."
"It is not a feeling based on fantasy." He smiled. "Many in my clan have the gift of sense. Sasha inherited it from both myself and my late wife. When I say I 'feel' it, I refer to that gift not an arbitrary emotional feeling."
And Hawk wanted to believe it, but it was a bit hard to take Still, if only... "That's a bit generic. Any specifics? Such as where they are?"
"No locations, it usually doesn't work that way." Grandpa Neeley stared off into space. His mouth quirked. "Fine, and perhaps excited. An adventure, perhaps? But fine."
"But fine," he repeated. Still too generalized to take much hope in. He took another big gulp of coffee, nearly burning his mouth.
He needed more than 'fine.'
Where was Zach?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
ONE HALL ENDED in a three-way corner, the other in a large door blocking the way. Zach couldn't recalled anything like that in their mad dash through the place.
The lights took turns blinking. Static over the speakers usually preceded all the lights going out at once, but this time the doors did not open and close at random.
Zach wished they would. It would give them a better chance of finding the room with the snow machine. Or a door leading out of the crazy place. Or even a new place to hide if the robot reappeared.
He retraced his steps and joined up with Sasha.
Retreating the way he'd come he found Sasha standing at another hall juncture. She pointed at three doors spaced close together. "I remember that. I think."
"My way definitely wasn't right."
A turn and the hall grew wider, running at a gentle arc to the left. Zach looked back the way they'd come, whispering, "This isn't right, either."
She waved a hand at him frantically, moving to one side of the hall. Zach sucked in a breath, looking both ways while following her. Where was it? She must have spotted the robot.
Only he didn't see anything. But, he could hear something. A soft whining along with the clatter of something metal falling through a wide open door.
Sasha's sharp in-take of breath when she looked around the edge was enough for Zach to get to his hands and knees so he could see into the room.
A room much larger than any he'd seen. No wonder there were so few doors along that side of the hall, the room on the other side extended far out of sight.
He didn't recognize the vehicles inside, either. One of them looked like a mini-van of some sort without any tires. But the other one defied classification. He could only see one end of the big dark thing, but the appendages coming off the sides of the top didn't make any sense.
"What did you do?" someone out of sight demanded.
"The alignment is sound. Stop blaming others for your shortcomings." The source of the second voice came out of the end of the large vehicle, waving a long metal tool in a big fist and baring his short polished white pointy teeth.
A mottled green fist. With the folds of a drooping pouch under his neck quivering. And a wide stocky body clothed in coveralls that might look at home in a mechanics shop. Only he'd never seen tools like those hanging from the creature's belt, with all the odd bulbs, hooks and forks.
No way.
Zach pulled back, his mind trying to classify and make sense of it all. He had to be dreaming. He just had to be.
"Go and do it right!" the other voice shouted so loud it echoed down the hall.
Sasha jerked, taking a step back and almost stepping on his leg. Zach got to his feet, running with Sasha in the other direction.
"This isn't funny," Zach panted as they turned a corner.
Sasha turned another corner. "This hasn't been funny since it started."
She stopped in the middle of a four-way branch. One of the directions a curtain of glittering lights blocked the way.
No way. This couldn't be happening.
He reached out to touch it, but Sasha snatched his hand away. "Are you crazy? You don't know what that is."
"If I were in a science fiction movie, I would guess some sort of force field." Zach bit at the inside of his cheek.
"We're not in a movie."
"Well, this can't be real life. We just saw an alien and maybe smaller alien ships or shuttles. And that means that somehow we are in an alien spaceship," Zach said in a fierce whisper. "What other option is there other than a dream?"
Sasha scrunched up her nose. "I'm not in your dream, you would have to be in mine. And I don't watch movies like that. Wait, maybe we are both dreaming the same dream and somehow met while dreaming?"
Zach rolled his eyes at her. "That made no sense at all."
"Strange things happen under the aurora."
"That's it," Zach said, his eyes widening. "I leaned my head up against the window and fell asleep. When I wake up we'll be in Salmon Run."
He smiled, proud of himself in coming up with a solution. It solved all of this. He ignored Sasha looking at him like he'd lost his marbles. Of course she would look like that. His mind was remembering her interfering and annoying ways from the shop.
He let his hand hover flat along the field. He couldn't detect any heat coming off of it. No tingles, either. Also of interest was that the blinking lights and static over the speakers wasn't affecting the curtain's appearance or transparency. Maybe using a different power system?
Sasha grabbed his arm. "Is the robot a part of your fevered dream, too?"
He snatched his hand away from the curtain. "Of course it is."
"So, if we stayed still and it fired on us, it wouldn't hurt us? That mind over matter thing?"
He reached into his pockets, looking for something to probe the curtain with. "It also means I can dream the robot away."
"Then do it quick. It's still glitching, but it's here," Sasha said, emphasizing the last word.
Zach turned. And sucked in his breath hard.
At the end of one of the hall stood the robot. At least, he assumed it was the same one. It didn't really matter, as he did recognize the same weapon that fired on them before.
The head tried to turn, hitching as it did. The arm with the weapon jerked along all its joints.
Out of the corner of his eyes he judged the two corridors open to them. The one on the left was the hall they'd come from, and he already knew how few options lay in that direction. The hall to the right branched at least twice before ending in a three-way juncture.
He reached out with his left hand to grab Sasha's right, tugging her slightly to his right. The lights blinked hard, accompanied by a loud screech of static and darkness.
Zach took the cover of darkness to take a big step to the right.?
"Targets acquired," the robot said.
Sasha didn't bother with big steps. She broke out into a run. Zach followed, a zap preceding an impact against the curtain behind them.
He glanced behind to see the remains of the shot fizzing against the streaming curtain. He smiled. He'd been right about it being a type of force field.
He almost missed Sasha making a turn. The boots kept traction, but his ankle almost rolled over at the sudden change in direction. Again, he wished for a pair of sneakers. The weight of the boots made him feel as if he were running in slow motion. The sound of fast steps behind him didn't help the sensation.
And trying to actively change the dream wasn't helping, either.? Otherwise they would be on a beach in California enjoying the warm sand under their bare feet.
Zach pulled Sasha down another corner, not liking how close the steps behind them were getting. Then another quick corner, his eyes watching for another open room to duck into.
Sasha yanked him another direction, almost knocking him off-balance. His feet stomped against the floor so loudly he was sure the robot would have no trouble following them at all.
And came to a stop in front of a big white furry body standing on two legs, large dark eyes looking down at them from over a long white snout.?
Zach's frozen mind acknowledged only one thing: Polar bear.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SASHA HAD SEEN a polar bear at the Alaska State Zoo in Anchorage. She'd seen plenty of black bears and grizzlies.
But never this close. And never with a tool belt around the middle.
A tool belt?
She looked down from the snout full of teeth and the claws smoothing out the vest over its upper body. Yep, it was a tool belt, complete with pouches, slots and loops to hang stuff, although she didn't recognize any of the tools.?
"Do be careful. Halls are not where we run," a gruff voice said.
Sasha could feel her eyes get even wider.
And then Zach yelled. A long wild yell, complete with wide and terrified eyes. She covered her ears, flinching away from him. It petered out into a pathetic whisper.
"What was that for?" the bear demanded, throwing its head back and blinking furiously.
"Neutralize all intruders," the robot hiccuped from behind them.
Sasha whirled, finding the glowing end of the weapon aimed straight at them. And the weapon was held much too steady. The robot might still be having trouble with its speech, but it no longer had the twitches in its motor control.
She didn't like that. She wanted it to have trouble walking.
"Deactivate your weapon! Do not point it at me," the bear said so sharply and loud that Sasha jumped.
"All primitive native life-form intruders will be neutralized," the robot said.
"I don't care what your orders are. Deactivate now!"