Sean and Jessica had been walking across
the wilderness since four in the morning. Now the sun had already driven away
the cold of the night, and they were making good time. As usual the day was
quite silent, except for the ambient noises that were always present. They made
light conversation as they walked along.
“Where did you say we were headed?”
Jessica asked.
“When I was on top of that butte, I saw a
valley through my binoculars that would be a good place to lay low during the
day if we have to,” Sean answered. “I was the only one able to get to the top
because I had rock climbing equipment in my backpack, remember?”
“Oh yes! I remember now. You said that the
valley appeared to extend for miles and that we may even be able to keep moving
in it if it’s long enough.”
“Right.”
“How far is it now?” Sean stopped and
looked through his binoculars once again and scanned back and forth.
“I can’t tell, there are too many rocks in
the way. We’ll have to find a higher vantage point.” They trudged up the next
incline and looked down into a large patch of cackle brush. The three-foot
high, thorny bushes blocked the way directly in front of them.
“Do you see a way through, Jessica?” asked
Sean. Jessica searched the rocks, but she couldn’t see anything either.
“Let’s start walking around,” Jessica
suggested. They cleared two smaller patches and soon reached the end of the
blockage. They continued until they reached the undulating side of the hill. In
front of them, in the distance, the valley loomed. The sun shone off the
distant ground, making the great ravine look as if it had emerged right out of
the light itself.
“There it is,” Sean said. “It looks like
just a few more miles until we reach it. We should be there before seven.” He
glanced down at his watch just to make sure. They descended the hill together
and began to talk again as they inched towards the valley. Jessica hesitated
for a moment before speaking to Sean.
“Sean, some people at school say…well,
you’re somewhat of a mystery. Uh, you seem to pay a lot of attention to
people…to me. Yet you don’t talk to us much. Why don’t you do a lot of things
with the others back at home?” Sean turned a little red in the face at such a
personal question, but continued to answer her.
“Well you see,” Sean began slowly. “It’s
sort of a clash of interests. My mind works a little bit differently than most
people. I’m kind of a visual, slash, analytical person. While most people are
sitting around talking with their friends, I communicate better in a less
‘crowded’ situation where I have more freedom to ‘think’ while I’m talking. I
like to analyze the subject and situation in order to give a better answer or
ask better questions. Also I tend to be a bit absent-minded a lot of the time
because of my strangely vivid imagination, which causes me to be so easily
distracted by sounds, sights and other things. That hinders me a bit because my
mind is somewhere else a lot of the time. That's why I appear to be less social
that most people. The absentmindedness is one annoying habit that I really
should work on, though. It can cause trouble sometimes, especially around
others.
I guess I don’t do stuff with many people
because I’m just worried that they won’t be able to accept the different way
that I look at things. I don’t think that they’ll understand me.”
“You need to trust people more, Sean,”
Jessica encouraged. “I’m sure that most of us would be happy to try to
understand you. You seem to be a very nice person to me.”
“Really? That’s cool. I’ve actually
thought the same of you for a long time now.”
“Just out of curiosity…why do you glance
at me so much…I mean, I don’t mean to intrude…”
“No, it’s okay.” Sean flushed slightly
again but smiled as he began to explain.
“I just like to ‘observe’ people a lot.”
“Observe people?”
“Yeah, I’m interested in what other
people, do and I observe people to see how they act in different situations,
how they respond to trouble, and how they interact with each other. I look for
good qualities that I can imitate and identify bad behavior that I should
avoid. As for you…I see a lot of those good qualities that I respect.”
“Really? Like what?”
“Well, you’re not loud like the others.
You’re down to earth and you don’t take yourself so seriously: you can take a
joke and you don’t overreact when things don’t go your way. You just seem very
mature to me and very reasonable as well.”
“I didn’t know you thought about me that
way. You know, I have my faults too…”
“See! You’re so humble.” Sean broke into a
wide grin. “You become yourself so well.” Jessica smiled sheepishly and cast
her eyes to the ground. Now it was her turn to flush. She remained silent for a
moment and then she changed the subject.
“How many miles does it look like the
valley is now?” Sean looked through his binoculars.
“The readings on my binoculars say
approximately five miles left to go.”
“How does a five-mile run strike you?
Maybe I can get there before you do.”
“Are you suggesting a race of some sort?”
“You think you got the right stuff?”
“Of course I do but…”
“Then I guess I’ll be seeing you at the
finish line then!” She broke into a sprint towards the valley.
“Hey, what’s this? A head start?”
“Look buddy, I’m not stopping,” Jessica
called over her shoulder as she ran. “Are you coming?”
“Come back here, you lunatic!” Sean began
to sprint after her. Jessica laughed and kept running. “I was the champion
sprinter at my other school on Earth, you know!”
Sean and Jessica ran swiftly towards the
ravine for several minutes. Eventually Sean caught up with Jessica and they
fell into pace with one another, now each depending on the other to keep them
going rather than competing. They jogged for an hour before finally reaching
the mouth of the ravine. The shaded dark of it stretched infinitely inwards. As
they began the descent to the floor of canyon, they kept their eyes wary for
any signs of loose rocks or other dangers above or ahead of them. The high
walls and the narrowness of the ravine provided, at least in part, welcome
relief from the hot sun.
“Doesn’t it seem like walking right into
the jaws of a really long snake, Jessica?” Sean asked jokingly.
“Yeah, actually it does.” Jessica answered
with a smile. “Except I think someone ripped the hide off its back.”
“I believe the snake would be quite dead
then. I don’t suppose we can be swallowed by a dead snake.”
“Oh, really? How do you figure that?”
“Gee, I don’t know. It sort of just occurred
to me. What a revolutionary idea, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, really revolutionary.”
“We’re so smart, aren’t we? Since we
figured that out, let’s go unlock the secrets of the universe now!”
“Yeah!” They laughed at themselves as they
traveled onward. Sean began to fall behind slightly.
“I think we can stand to take a rest,
don’t you,” he spoke up, still chuckling. “It never ceases to amaze me how much
energy you have. Are you going to slow down a bit for us humans?”
“Okay Sean, I’m actually feeling fatigued
myself.” They walked over to the western wall of the ravine and sat down in the
shade. Sean reached into his backpack and pulled out a canteen of water,
handing it to Jessica.
“Want some?”
“Sure, thank you.” She took the bottle and drank her fill, and gave it back to Sean. Sean took it and did the same. “Wow, it’s really hot today; the hottest I’ve felt in a long time.”
“That’s only because you’ve been running so much.”
“Wait a minute, I haven’t run that much.”
“Whatever! What classes have you taken recently? Bad liar 101?”
“Heh,” Jessica laughed involuntarily. Embarrassed, she covered her mouth with her hand.
“You know, you have a really cute laugh.”
“I do? …Cool!”
“I thought you said it was hot.”
“It is…Sean! You pinky! Jessica shoved Sean playfully, nearly pushing him off the rock.
“Did you just call me a pinky, Jessica?” Sean looked at her with a wide-eyed, mock expression of shock.
“I…oh brother!” Jessica hit her forehead with the palm of her hand and shook her head wearily. “That was a doozy.”
“You called me a…pinky,” Sean repeated with mock indignity. “Well you’re a…you’re a-a…r-r-ring finger!”
“Alright, funny boy. Let’s get going before we stupid each other to death.”
“Oh so now its funny boy, is it? Well I’ll be!”
“Move it,” Jessica ordered, laughing as she shoved Sean off the rock.
“Okay, okay, let’s go then.”
Sean got to his feet he and Jessica continued on their way for several hours when their progress was interrupted. They heard, distantly but surely, the sound of an engine. A few seconds later, they could distinguish the sound of two engines.
“Looks like we have company,” Jessica
said. She and Sean crouched close against the wall and waited for the craft to
come. Two hoverjets roared over the top of the ravine, followed closely by a
skiff. They crouched, clutching their rifles tightly. Jessica pressed herself
as closely to the wall as she could. She stared up at the retreating craft, her
teeth gritted together in an expression of malice. When the hoverjets made
another pass and then left, her tensed features relaxed and she sighed with
relief. She then turned her head to find Sean looking at her with a raised and
furrowed brow.
“Are you alright, Jessica?” he asked in a
concerned voice.
“Why? What do you mean?” she responded
with some puzzlement.
“You were really tense and you were
trembling like crazy.”
“I was?”
Jessica was surprised.
“Yeah, what was wrong?”
“I…don’t really know. I was just watching
the pirates fly over and I was just overcome by this eerie feeling of
apprehension and anger. I’m not sure what caused it.”
“Are you okay now?”
“Yes, I’m okay.”
“Are
you sure? Because we can stay here a little while longer if you’re not ready to
move yet".
"No really, I'm fine. Let's go."
Jessica stood up straight.
"Okay then let's move." The kids
resumed their journey through the shaded gorge. After a long time, they came
upon an obstruction in their path that stretched the entire width of the ravine
ahead of them. It was a high wall of what appeared to be large chunks of rock
pilled helter-skelter atop one another.
Sean and Jessica stopped before it and scanned its face.
"Where did all these rocks come
from?" said Jessica, looking at Sean and then back to the wall.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “I don’t see
any source for an avalanche. The canyon walls seem undisturbed. It doesn’t seem
too steep to climb; maybe we’ll find our answers on the other side.”
“I think I see a good path.” Sean looked
where Jessica was indicating.
“Yeah, you’re right. Those boulders right
there look stable enough. We’d better start climbing.”
“With pleasure,” he said. Sean and Jessica
began to find footholds, and had gotten about halfway when Jessica noticed
something peculiar about the rocks that they were climbing.
“Hey Sean, you might want to look at
this.” Jessica called to Sean who was slightly ahead of her. Sean came down and
joined her where she stared at the stones beneath her feet.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Look at the shape of these rocks. See the
straight edges?” Sean looked closely. “I don’t think these rocks are natural.”
Sean felt along the edges of the nearest boulder and noticed the same thing.
“Yes, by the lack of chipped off pieces,
it almost seems as if they were cut by a fusion-cutter. Look like they’ve been
around a while, the corners are a bit weathered. Let’s look under this boulder
for more clues. Here, help me lift it.” Jessica slid her hands under the rock
as far as they would go and together, she and Sean lifted it away and sent it
tumbling down the way the slope behind them. To their surprise, there appeared
several chunks of azurestone. The blue shine had, over time, died down to just
a dim glow.
“Azurestone,” Jessica breathed. “I believe
this is the remnants of an abandoned mining operation. I happen to know that
Holocomm doesn’t have any Base Camps in this area. If there was an outpost in
this area before the mining ceased, we probably won’t find much of its ruins.
Surely the weather has sent into history by now.”
“Hmm…I’m no expert, but this looks like a
lot of excavation for an outpost,” Sean commented.
“Oh yes, you’re probably right. Maybe we will find some ruins of a Base Camp. We
should try to find it; see if we can salvage anything from it.”
“I agree.” They continued until they
reached to top of the obstruction and emerged from the ravine.
“Wow,” exclaimed Jessica when they reached
the top. “This landfill is huge!” The jagged tops of boulders extended several
hundred feet ahead. Jessica observed the drop back into the ravine, in the
distance. They both started heading for the other side. They hadn’t got past
halfway when they were stopped once again. This time it was by several craft,
flying through the sky in their direction. Jessica was about to shout something
when the crafts shifted course to fly directly at them.
“Man, those pirates are perceptive! How in
the world did they notice us so fast! Quick, head for the other side!” Sean
didn’t need to hear it; he was already running, leading Jessica by her arm.
When Jessica had caught up fully with Sean, he let go and allowed her to run on
her own.
“Thanks,” she breathed. “I needed a
boost.”
“Don’t mention it,” he returned. The three
hoverjets put on afterburners and sped closer. They soon overtook the running
figures and used the same classic move that the pirates always did, nearly
chopping the heads off their victims as they forced them to the ground. They
fired a few shots near the two teenagers as they did so. Jessica knew these
were tease shots. Jessica was soon on her feet again and looked fearfully
towards the hoverjets that were turning to make another pass. When Sean fell,
his rifle had slid across the ground and landed in a narrow crack between two
boulders. As Sean struggled to recover his weapon, Jessica looked down at the
rifle in her hands. She realized with dread what was going to have to be done.
This was the real thing, no more fun laser tag. Everything seemed to slow down
as Jessica’s mind and emotions tossed about wildly in her head. She became
keenly aware that she had never held a real deadly weapon before, a revelation
that didn’t make her feel any better. As the hoverjets inched closer, Jessica
began to replace her erratic thoughts with sheer determination. She pushed her
fears out of her mind to focus on her task. “Please God, give me strength!” she
called out. As the hoverjets flew low again, she jumped to the ground and fired
at the lead hoverjet. The recoil of the first shot threw her aim off balance
momentarily, but after a couple more shots she soon got the hang of the rifle.
The hoverjets flew past, and she stood up to fire after them. Two bolts grazed
the wing of one of the hoverjets. Jessica tensed up as the thrill of battle
grew in her. Her mind went back to that last weekend, fighting
Conflicting emotions of jubilation and
regret passed through her mind as she realized that she had just killed a human
being. She was forced to recover herself quickly in order to fend off the
remaining two pirates. Undeterred by the mishap, both hoverjets flew at her.
Four bolts hit the cockpit and wings of the lead jet head-on. Jessica jerked
her head around to look behind her. Sean stood there, rifle smoking. Soon, that
hoverjet, too, had fallen. No one emerged from the wreckage. As the third flew
by, Jessica released a volley that hit the craft. The jet tried to keep control
but it ran into the ground, skidding to a smoking halt. A figure jumped out of
the wreckage and began to limp away as fast as he could. A fire flashed through
Jessica's eyes and she raised the rifle and took aim. Suddenly she stopped
herself. “What in the world am I doing!” she asked herself aloud. She lowered
the rifle and stood watching the pirate fade into the distance. Jessica sighed
heavily and dropped to her knees on the ground. Sean watched her fall and he
hurried over to her.
“Jessica! Are you okay,” he exclaimed.
Jessica sat there, listless and didn’t answer. “Jessica please, what’s wrong?
Are you hurt? Jessica!” Jessica slowly turned her head to look at towards him.
She blinked as if coming out of a dream.
“No Sean, I’m not hurt...I just killed
someone, Sean. I can’t believe what I just did. I’ve never killed anyone in my
life.” Sean kneeled there with a hand on Jessica’s shoulder, letting her sort
out her emotions. Jessica laid her hand where his rested on her shoulder. After
a few minutes of silent contemplation, Jessica ventured a question. “Was it
right, Sean? How can I justify it?” she asked him.
“You had no choice,” he began quietly.
“Those pirates would have either killed you or taken you back to their base
again. You had to defend yourself…we
had to defend ourselves. I had to do the same thing, Jessica. I don’t feel good
about it either, but you shouldn’t beat yourself up for it.”
“But it’s so foreign, alien. I never I
knew I had such a capability in me. And you know what’s really bad? For a
second I wanted to kill them. It was
the same sensation I felt in the valley when the pirates passed by:
anger…hatred, hatred for what they had done to me and to my family. I don’t
know how I am going to forgive myself for that, for wanting to kill that
helpless person who escaped from the last hoverjet. Can God ever forgive me?”
Sean was unsure how to answer.
“Uh…I see. I guess I understand a little bit
better now. Well…God will forgive you
if you ask, I know that. Confess and turn from it further and God will forget
it forever.” Jessica’s face brightened up a little.
“I guess I actually knew that. I’ve been
so dumb about this whole thing. Will you help me repent, Sean?”
“Sure I will, Jessica.”
“And Sean, I also better forgive…them.
Just as Christ forgave me. I don’t want to feel this way anymore,” her voice
began to choke with emotion. “This hatred, this…terrible emotion. And I…want them to be free. I want to pray for
their souls.”
“You’re absolutely right Jessie,” Sean
soothed. Sean hugged Jessica tenderly and they knelt down, and prayed with each
other. When they were done, tears were falling from Jessica’s eyes. Sean tried
his best not to show his. He stood up and offered his hand down to her.
“Come on Jessica, we should start moving
again.” Jessica stared across the horizon at the setting sun momentarily, then
she took Sean's hand and he gently helped her to her feet. Jessica cleared her
eyes.
"Okay, I'm ready," she said.
They continued down the other side of the landfill and descended back into the
valley. As they walked in the dimming light, they came across more finely cut
boulders and rocks strewn about the valley floor. Presently there was a
scuffling sound in the darkness just
ahead of them. They both tensed up. Sean drew a small flashlight from his
utility belt and shined it apprehensively into the dark. The light illuminated
several pairs of beady glowing eyes that quickly vanished. A series of
high-pitched yips rang out and echoed off the canyon walls following shortly
after their disappearance. The eyes appeared again, a little farther away this
time, and stared at the travelers warily.
"D’warps!” gasped Jessica under her
breath. “I hate these feisty things! They can be very dangerous.”
“D’warps, you mean those canine creatures
that hunt negiar,” Sean asked.
“Yes, they’re the negiar’s only natural
enemies. They don’t pack much of a punch singly, but in packs they’re deadly.
We need to stay very alert if we’re going to get past them. It looks like
they’re scared of us now, but they get confident quickly.” Sean cocked his
rifle and began to walk forward, and Jessica followed closely behind him. The d’warps
retreated with more shrill yaps from the flashlight beam that Sean swept back
and forth before himself and Jessica as he advanced. Some of the d’warps began
to flank them and went around behind, still keeping their distance. One darted
in towards Jessica, but then it retraced its steps, returning to the darkness.
Jessica fired into the pack, and the d’warps scattered. The eyes and the yaps
disappeared again into sounds of hasty scuffling. Sean and Jessica looked
around, and soon found themselves alone...for the moment. They proceeded a
little further when all the beady glowing eyes began to appear once again. Some
of the impish little canines began to growl fiercely, illuminating their white
teeth to Sean’s beam. “Not good,” Jessica whispered.
“I think you’re right,” he concurred.
Suddenly d'warp leapt and hit Sean from behind, knocking him down. The d’warp
snarled as it tore at Sean’s shirt with his dagger-like teeth. Jessica hit it
over the head with the butt of her rifle. It yelped and fell off. Jessica
quickly helped Sean back to his feet and they began to run. A d’warp caught one
of the legs of her chinos, tripping her and then leaping upon her. “Not again,”
Jessica shouted as she fell. It seemed to her that gravity had a huge grudge on
her these past few days. All of a sudden two shots rang out and two of the
d’warps fell dead. All the d’warps stopped dead in their tracks. Two more shots
and the d’warp that was on Jessica was thrown to the canyon floor, a smoldering
hole in its side. The rest of the d’warps had had enough; they all scattered
into the shadows from whence they came. “Hulooooooooo!” came a voice from
somewhere in front of them. They saw someone standing in the darkness. The
figure turned on a spotlight attached to his rifle. They quickly ducked out of
the beam. “How’s out thar?” it asked. Sean and Jessica raised their rifles
warily. “Who are you?” Sean demanded.
“Hey, yer the one who’s on my land. Let’s hear ‘bout you first.”
“I am Sean Westcliffe and this is my
friend, Jessica.”
“Come on inta th’ light and let me take a
look at ya.”
“Lower your rifle first, and then we’ll
talk.”
“Ready when you are, mister.”
“How about let’s put our guns down
together. Agreed?”
“That’s jus’ what I was ‘bout ta recommend.”
“Okay, I’m putting it down.” Sean and
Jessica released the rifle straps from their shoulders and put them on the
ground. The stranger unhooked the spotlight from his weapon and put his down as
well. The inadvertent trespassers stepped into the spotlight. The stranger
moved closer until he could see them clearly. When he came into view the kids
could see that he wore a wide brimmed hat, a pair of dusty Jeans and a worn
Holocomm jacket.
“Well dip me in molasses!” he exclaimed.
“Yer jus’ young’uns. I never seen ya ‘round ‘ere ‘for. Where you from, kids?”
“We’re from Base Camp 3,” Jessica said.
The stranger’s eyes grew wider than they were before and his mouth dropped open
in a gawk.
“Well throw me in a pile a feathers and
call me a spurrow! Base Camp 3? Yer from Holocomm? Well I’ll be darned. We
ain’t seen nobody from Holocomm in…well…it’d be a good twenty years now! How’d
ya’ll get way out here ta Base Camp 00052? I thought Holo’ had left us fer
good.” Sean and Jessica became just as astonished as he was.
“Base Camp 00052?” Jessica exclaimed. The
legendary lost base camp?”
“Well, I wouldn’t ‘zactly call us
‘legendary’ an’ certainly not ‘lost’.”
“But I thought Holocomm lost contact with
this base during an ion storm and the remnants were never found.”
“Oh, I see now. We asked Holocomm not to
tell nobody where we gone. I mean, after we broke off and all.”
“Broke off? Holocomm never lets base camps
break off.”
“They let us do it. ‘Bout twenty years ago
we’d run outa azurestone but we’d been here so long, we couldn’t bare ta leave
the place that’d been our home fer years. We asked Holo’ if we could go at it
on our own. Since they didn’t have no more use fer us, they let us do it. We
didn’t want too many people to know ‘bout us be’n’ here. We wanted to have a
bit of peace and quiet. But we don’t mind visitors though. It’s always
in’er’stin’ to see people from outside. Why don’t you kids come meet my family
and friends? Mamma’s prob’ly got supper ready by now.”
“Oh we really don’t want to be any
trouble…”
“It’s alright. You look exhausted. Come
git a bit ta eat.”
“Okay, we will. Thank you for your
kindness.”
“Don’t mention it, ‘jus follow me. Oh, I
‘spose you can have yer guns again.”
“Thank you,” She and Sean returned their
rifles to their shoulders and turned to follow their guide. “Uh, Mr…”
“
“Mr. Hopkins, we’re being followed by
pirates. We may have to hurry this along before they find all of us.”
“Pirates? They still have pirates raidn’
azurestone ‘round here? Times don’t change much, do they? Our camp is perty
well hidden; it should take them a while to happen upon it. But I guess yer
right, we should move it along a little. Have they seen ya lately?”
“Yes, we just finished fighting them off a
few minutes ago.”
“Don’t worry, we’re well hidden.” They
continued to follow
“I don’s see any shield generators, Mr.
Clyde,” she observed. “Where do you keeping them?”
“Oh we don’t have not shield generator,”
“What? No shield! How do you survive the
storms?”
“Simple. Jus’ look up.” Jessica looked up
and saw azurestone lining the top edge of valley walls. “Oh I see. But why
hasn’t Holocomm taken the azurestone?”
“Not enough left to make a profit on; an’
besides, how could they let us be if we had no p’tecton?”
“Good point.” Sean and Jessica looked
around again and saw several doors in the cliff face on either side of the
gorge.
“Oh my, who are your guests,
“This is Sean and Jessica from Base Camp
3, Mamma.”
“Base Camp 3? I thought ol’ Holo’ was done
with us long time ago.”
“They weren’t sent by Holo’, Mamma.
They’re jus’ run’n’ from pirates.”
“Well I’ll be! Pirates are still causn’
trouble all these years later. Well, anybody that makes an enemy outa
azurestone pirates is welcome in my home. Come on in kids an’ eat a quick
supper, I’ve got it ready in here.” Sean and Jessica laid their weapons outside
and modestly stepped into the