“I would someday like to hear how that came about,” Enele said. “But we haven’t time now. You have two hundred soldiers?”
“Almost two hundred, though we’re not much for soldiers. We’re mostly salesmen and professionals. But we are willing to fight and die for our country.”
“That is good,” Enele said. “We have an army. Did you see any drones as you came in?”
“No,” Ostin said.
“Good. That is how they watch us. Come in. Have you eaten?”
“Yes,” Vishal said. “Likely better than you. We have supplies and weapons on our boats.”
“Adam,” Enele said. “Take a hundred men and help our friends unload their boats. Then hide their boats wherever you can. There is a mangrove forest a mile north of here; they might be safe there. Then hurry back. I am convening a war council.”
“Yes, sir,” Adam said.
43
Fate Favors the Bold
Adam returned to find Enele seated around a long table with Jack, Ostin, Nazil, Tomas, Raphe, Captain Pio, Alveeta, and Vishal.
“You are just in time,” Enele said. “How did it go?”
“We brought in about two hundred guns and ammunition and about a ton and a half of food.”
“That is good,” Enele said. “Now please close the door and be seated.”
Adam shut the door, then sat down at the end of the table. Enele stood. His eyes looked tired but hard, and his voice was weary but clear.
“Soldiers of Tuvalu, this is our situation. We are stranded here. We have seven hundred and fifty-eight soldiers with weapons and ammunition. If we carefully ration, we have enough food to last perhaps just over two months. That is basic survival. We have new boats, but it would take several—at least four—sorties of all the boats to move our soldiers from here to Funafuti. It is doubtful that we could make so many trips without being seen by the Elgen drones and attacked before reaching land.”
“. . . And we are low on fuel,” Vishal said. “We could not make the trip four times without refueling.”
“There is that, too,” Enele said. “This is our predicament. If the Elgen decide to wait us out, we are at their mercy. We will eventually run out of food, then be forced to either surrender or attack, with only a portion of our army against their strongest island. By that time it is likely that Hatch will have rebuilt most of his forces. I’m afraid it will not go well.”
“That would be a highly uncharacteristic stratagem for Dr. Hatch,” Ostin said.
The men looked at one another. “What did he say?” Adam asked Jack.
“He means Dr. Hatch probably won’t do that because he doesn’t like to wait.” Jack looked around the table. “I’m learning to speak Ostinese.”
Ostin continued. “It would be the logical thing to do, but it’s not Hatch’s way. He likes to strike hard with speed and force and take what he wants. Just like he attacked Tuvalu.”
“Then why hasn’t he attacked already?” Tomas asked.
“Because he’s rebuilding his forces,” Vishal said. “He is bringing in his guard from around the world. In Fiji there are Elgen guard everywhere. They are coming from Samoa and Taiwan and many other places.”
“He has more than just guards,” Jack said. “He’s using other governments’ militaries. Like the Philippine Navy that captured us.”
Enele looked grim. “The elder was right. The evil one has already grown stronger than we realized.” He breathed out slowly. “So, my friends. What do we do?”
“I have an idea,” Raphe said.
Everyone turned to hear what he had to say.
Raphe was one of the youngest in the room and looked around the table nervously. “I don’t like the idea of sitting here waiting for them to come kill us. At night, the drones only pass overhead once. We could take two boats and sail them outside of the drone’s flight pattern to the northeast shore of Funafuti. It is a wooded area. We could take a hundred people each night and slowly amass our army and weapons.
“We would leave enough men here, just a half dozen or so, to give the appearance that we are all still here. As you said, Hatch strikes with speed and force. He will send all his men to the depository, leaving none back. When he leaves, our army attacks the plant and captures it and all its weapons. Then we blow up the dock to slow their return. We will have the advantage, and we can call all our people to us. We will have thousands of soldiers.”
“It will be a death sentence for those who stay,” Adam said.
“I don’t think so,” Raphe said. “It is no more dangerous than for those who fight. The ones who stay here will lock themselves in with more food and supplies than they could ever use. If we fail and the Elgen destroy us and then come back to reclaim Plutus, our men can slip off in the night amid the many soldiers.”
The room was silent. Enele looked around the table, then said, “What do you think?”
“It makes sense to me,” Nazil said.
“And me,” Tomas added. “I think if we just wait, we are playing into the Elgen’s plans, not ours.”
“Captain Pio?”
The captain nodded. “We can make the trips, but we still have the problem with fuel.”
“We would have to find some in Funafuti,” Raphe said. “Do we have enough to make two trips?”
“We do,” Vishal said. “But if we’re just taking two or three boats a night, we could take fuel from the other boats until we find more.”
Enele looked at Vishal. “Vishal? Alveeta? What do you think?”
“I like the idea,” Vishal said.
“Me too,” Alveeta said.
“Jack?”
Jack looked vexed. “I think it’s crazy.” Everyone looked at him. “But what choice do we have? If we just wait here, we’ll die for sure.”
“Ostin?”
Ostin shook his head. “Jack’s right, it’s risky, but not riskier than doing nothing. It’s a little like what we did in Peru. I need more time to process it.”
“What do you think?” Adam asked Enele.
“I’d like to think it over as well,” Enele said. “I think you are all correct in saying that to wait for the Elgen’s time line is suicide. They won’t attack until they are certain to achieve victory.”
“There is one more possibility,” Tomas said.
“What’s that?” Enele asked.
“We could take the boats not to Funafuti but to the other islands and disperse our forces. We could then practice the Bati Kadi, attacking the Elgen as individual cells.”
Enele thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No. Tuvalu is too small. Once the Elgen have rebuilt their force, they would hunt us down and exterminate us as well as all those who provided for us.
“Right now I am leaning toward Raphe’s plan, but I must think more on it. Does anyone else have anything to say?” He looked around the room. No one spoke. “No? Then get your lunch; we will meet again in a few hours.”
The men all stood to leave. As Jack and Ostin were about to walk out of the room, Enele said, “Jack, Ostin, please wait. I’d like to speak with you.”
“Sure,” Jack said.
Once everyone else was gone, Enele said, “Shut the door, please.”
Ostin closed the door, and he and Jack sat down. Enele looked at Ostin. “What is it about the plan that you don’t agree with?”
“I didn’t say I disagreed. I said I needed more time to process.”
Enele nodded. “I need to ask you something very important.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How did you know to find us here?”
Ostin hesitated, unsure of how Enele would respond to the truth. Before he could answer, Jack said, “We had a dream.”
Enele looked at him. “A dream?”
“Don’t think I’m crazy,” Jack said. “It happened.”
“I don’t think you’re crazy. You’re here; that’s proof in itself. Was there anything more in the dream?”
Ostin and Jack glance
d at each other, unsure of how much they should share. Ostin said, “There were a few things. We were told that we would be attacked by the Elgen. But . . . someone would help us.”
“Who?” Enele looked incredibly eager. Still, Ostin was hesitant to answer.
“. . . Why are you afraid to speak?” Enele asked.
Ostin fidgeted. “Because it sounds crazy.”
Enele looked back and forth between them. “Tell me, friends. What really happened back at Hades? What caused that explosion?”
Ostin said, “We can’t be completely sure, but we’re pretty sure it was Michael.”
“Michael Vey set off the explosion?”
Ostin shook his head. “Michael was the explosion.”
Enele’s brow furrowed. “Explain.”
“Michael was one of the electric kids.” When Enele didn’t respond, Ostin said, “One of the Glows. Do you know what that is?”
Enele nodded. “Yes, I know about the Glows.”
“But he was different from the others. Something about the way his body handled electricity. He could hold it.”
“Like a battery,” Jack said.
“Exactly, except, with his power, he could increase it. What I think happened, Michael knew we were about to be overrun, so he climbed the radio tower in order to get hit by lightning. That’s when he sent us to the bunker. I think he was struck by lightning and managed to hold it. Maybe for just a fraction of a second, but long enough to amplify it. He turned himself into a bomb. And blew himself up along with everything else. It was like the biggest lightning bolt ever struck the island and blew everything away.”
“That would explain why the sand turned to glass,” Enele said.
Ostin nodded.
“So let me ask you this—perhaps it is what you are afraid of speaking. What do you know of the lightning god?”
“Uira te Atua,” Ostin said.
Enele’s eyes grew wide. “How do you know that name?”
“Michael told us in the dream. But we don’t know anything about it. What do you know?”
“The elder told me that even though we had beaten the Elgen army at Hades, Hatch was not as weak as we believed and had already brought in other armies to serve him, which you verified today is true.”
“Straight up,” Jack said.
“He said that we should take shelter here, on this island, because we would be fiercely attacked. He said that there would be an opportunity for success when Uira te Atua came.”
“What is the Uira te Atua?” Ostin asked.
“There’s something you don’t know?” Jack said.
“As smart as Ostin is,” Enele said, “he could not possibly know the meaning of that word. The word is sacred and not often spoken in public. It is not even Tuvaluan. It’s from a language even older than ours, long before there was writing, when our history was handed down in stories from the elders. The word refers to an ancient legend that someday a great one would come to save us in our troubles. Uira te Atua, the lightning god.”
“The lightning god,” Ostin repeated.
“The elder said that when Uira te Atua came to deliver us, we would know that it was time to expel the evil one and liberate Funafuti. Now you tell me that your friend, Michael, was struck by lightning and . . . comes to you in dreams?”
“We believe so,” Ostin said.
“But he is dead?”
“Anyone else would be dead. But Michael’s not anyone else.”
“The dream we had,” Jack said. “We’re not sure it’s a dream.”
Enele slowly shook his head. “Do you think Michael could be . . . the lightning god?”
Ostin scratched his head. “I don’t know. He’s no god; he’s just our friend.”
“If he can hold lightning, he is a god. Perhaps not the God, but to us, a god all the same.”
“So what do we do now?” Jack asked.
Enele shook his head. “I was hoping you could enlighten me.”
“Logically,” Ostin said, “Raphe’s idea makes the most sense. But it seems counter to the elder’s prophecy.”
Enele thought for a moment, then said, “Perhaps it is a problem that people don’t have faith in prophecy, so they try to make their prophecy happen, instead of trusting in it. Destiny is chasing us, not the other way around. We cannot guess destiny’s mind nor her course. In such cases, we must move ahead and make the best decisions we can. Fate has always favored the bold.”
Jack nodded in agreement. “I agree.”
“Okay,” Ostin said. “Then we’ll follow Raphe’s plan unless something else comes up.”
“Then it’s agreed,” Enele said. “There’s no time to waste. We’ll send out our first boats tonight.”
44
Payload
Enele’s war council met again a little after sunset. They decided that since the first trip would be the riskiest, they would start with just one boat and ten men to find a place to gather in secret. The boat would leave right after the drone had passed by, since it had been coming fairly regularly at about three a.m. Captain Nikhil volunteered to take his boat and captain the first sortie.
“You are brave,” Enele said.
“It is why I came,” Nikhil said.
“You must get some sleep while the others prepare your boat.”
“I’ll take watch,” Jack said.
Enele nodded. “If you are willing, I will leave you in charge of the fortress tonight.”
“I’m willing,” Jack said. “Good night.”
“Good night,” Enele replied.
As Adam and Enele walked to the sleeping quarters, Adam asked, “Are you okay leaving such a young man in charge of our defense?”
Enele looked at him. “Of course. In the last battle I worked for him.”
* * *
Ostin and Jack went up to the open fourth floor. The stars shown brilliantly above them like a million pinpricks in a black velvet canvas. There were three other watchmen, one at each wall.
“Do you have any idea how close we are to our friends?” Ostin said.
“No.”
“Really close. Just sixty miles. If we had a telescope, we could see Funafuti.”
“They might as well be on the moon,” Jack said, looking out. He turned back. “Do you think Ian can see us?”
“Yes.”
Jack nodded. “Somehow that makes me feel good.”
“If he’s still alive,” Ostin added.
Jack sighed. “Well, that did make me feel good.” He walked over and looked out the west side of the floor. He could see the men preparing the MAS. He said back to Ostin, “Did you ever figure out what ‘MAS’ stood for?”
“ ‘Men at sea,’ ” Ostin said.
“Could be,” Jack said. “It’s a lot better than what I just came up with.”
“What’s that?”
“ ‘Mexicans and Spaniards.’ ”
* * *
Two hours later Vishal came up to the fourth floor carrying a woven basket filled with food. Seeing how Enele had greeted them, he had gained even more respect for the two young men.
“I brought you some food.”
“Thanks,” Jack said. “You should be sleeping.”
“I know. I couldn’t sleep.”
Jack looked through the basket. There was salted fish and small loaves of bread. He took out a loaf and ripped it in half, then put a fish inside. “Look at us,” he said to Ostin. “A raw fish sandwich in the middle of the night. Could you imagine eating something like this back in Idaho?”
“I can’t even imagine Idaho,” Ostin said. He turned to Jack. “Do you think we’ll ever see Idaho again?”
Jack thought for a moment, then said, “Keep it in your mind, and you will.”
Vishal looked back and forth between the two, then said, “You mean Uh-Idaho in California?”
Jack laughed. “We’re not good liars.”
“No. You’re not.”
Just then one of the other men sh
outed, “Drone!”
Jack walked over to the east wall. The drone was approaching. Jack lifted his radio. “The drone is approaching. Prepare for sortie, Alpha.”
Ostin lifted his binoculars to examine the drone. “You may want to belay that order,” Ostin said.
Jack turned around. “Why?”
Ostin handed Jack the binoculars. “That’s not an observation drone. It’s carrying payload.”
Jack looked through the binoculars, then said, “We’ve got more than that.” He quickly lifted his radio again. “Everyone, inside the compound. I repeat, get inside the compound. Abort sortie. Abort sortie. Nikhil, are you there?”
“I’m here, Jack. What’s wrong?”
“Wake Enele. Tell him we’ve got an armed drone and a fleet of Apache helicopters incoming. The Elgen are coming.”
45
Hellfire Missiles
The first wave of Elgen attack helicopters consisted of the same twelve Apaches that had taken out the rebels’ boats. Jack guessed that the Elgen had spotted Vishal’s flotilla and had come to sink his boats as well. But if the Elgen knew about the boats, they ignored them. Instead, for the first time, they fired on the building.
Two Hellfire missiles streaked across the night sky, exploding against the east wall of the fourth floor, filling the open room with smoke and spreading shrapnel and chipped stone within yards of where Jack and Ostin were positioned.
“Get below!” Jack shouted. “Everyone, go below.”
They all hurried down to the mostly enclosed third level.
“Can those missiles knock down these walls?” Jack asked Ostin.
“Not one of them,” Ostin said. “Maybe not a dozen. But they can chip away at it.”
“We could use Tanner about now,” Jack said.
“We could use the whole freakin’ Electroclan,” Ostin replied. “And Michael.”
In spite of the machine guns Jack and Ostin and the Tuvaluans shot at them, the helicopters confidently hovered around the island for nearly forty-five minutes, some dropping as low as ground level. They blew up all of the outer fences, destroyed the depository’s few vehicles, and fired six missiles into the thick metal walls of the loading docks, which dented them but didn’t penetrate.