Earthbound (7 page)

A few minutes later we passed an old
abandoned house that had been exceptionally well vandalized. It had
been that way from before I was born. I suppose no one would be
fool enough to go in there now. It smelled of disease.

We passed Colter Falls. For whatever reason,
this was the only falls that our ancestors decided not to stop up
with a dam. The fourteen foot drop got submerged though because of
all the water backing up from the reservoir at the next dam
downstream, but now with the dams busted we’ve got about twelve
feet of it back again. When I was a kid I used to throw rocks down
there and watch them splash. It’s also where my mother’s body
washed up ashore after it rode the current down from Black Eagle
Falls.

A little bit further out the sound of the
approaching falls got more powerful, about four times louder than
Colter Falls. Rainbow Falls was an impressive forty-five foot drop,
so the roar from it got pretty loud. Rainbow Falls is the second
biggest, about half the size of Great Falls. Not sure how it got
its name. Guess someone saw a rainbow there once, I dunno. I just
saw the crumbling remains of what used to be the Rainbow Dam. The
dam used to be one of several that powered the Old City. I’m not
sure exactly how water generates electricity, I’m told they don’t
mix, I dunno, but I’m told that’s how it can work sometimes.

I knew there was an old railway bridge just
west of Rainbow Dam that crossed the Missouri, heading toward the
air force base. It was time for me to take a path I’d never tried
before. The bridge seemed like it was in decent condition. Course I
wouldn’t really know for sure until I crossed it. Seemed like it
was in better shape than Route 87. Maybe since it was built for
trains instead of cars. So I rode forward. I was glad I had
daylight so I could easily see across the bridge. Seemed okay to
me.

The roar from Rainbow Dam grew deafening as I
crossed. I was excited to see it up close, since I’d only seen it
from a distance from the northern shore of the Missouri. It was a
funny spot. To my right was the peaceful river, flowing quietly
eastward. So gentle it looked like you could bathe in it. And to my
left was Rainbow Falls, where the serene water was suddenly
disturbed and fell with great force. I’m told that the dam used to
do a better job of regulating the water flow, but after years of
neglect and disrepair it seemed pretty chaotic to me.

As I reached the other side of the bridge, I
was now in new terrain. The train tracks continued to the west, but
a rusted sign indicated that 67
^th
Street used to
intersect there to the south. There was no telling where the road
used to be underneath the overgrowth, but I took my best guess and
headed off in what I thought would be the right direction. Soon
Charon was running across an open field with tall thick grass. I
think he enjoyed himself. I just tried to keep us heading south. I
slowed us down to a jog as we passed some oversized metal poles
lined up every few yards. They almost looked like enormous men with
their arms stretched out on a cross, like what they have at church.
When I was younger and I saw those poles to the north of our
settlement I thought they were scarecrows. But then I learned they
used to carry electricity from one place to another. I slowed us to
a walk so I could get a good look up as I passed one of the poles.
Some of their wires had fallen. Others were frayed and ready to
snap. Charon stepped right on the wires, which was fine cause I
knew they were harmless at this point. Now they were just dead
giants, bereft of their tremendous power. But I tipped my hat to
the beasts anyway, knowing that they used to be all-powerful.
Although they’re lifeless and I’m still alive, so I guess I was
built better, right?

I traveled south until I found what I was
hoping for – a barbed wire fence maybe ten feet high. I just needed
to find my way in. I slowly spelled out the letters on a posted
sign. I stopped when I felt reassured it said what I wanted it to
say. Malmstrom Air Force Base. KEEP OUT.

I rode along the perimeter of the fence until
I found a gaping hole someone had cut through the fence. Big enough
for Charon to walk through. I ducked my head so I wouldn’t get
nicked by a few metal barbs dangling from the hole. On the other
side was a row of houses. I guessed that’s where the soldiers used
to live. I wondered if their structures were still fairly
hospitable. Probably not a lot of people were adventurous enough to
come here. They might still have some good supplies inside. But I
didn’t have time for that. I passed through a half dozen rows of
houses, then a few more smaller ones, then some official looking
ones that had been walled up with wood covering their windows.
Finally I reached where I wanted to go. I found the airfield. It
was a wide-open stretch of pavement. It was in better shape than
most roads I’d seen, but still it sported cracks a yard wide. When
I looked up I saw something far more interesting though. Airplanes.
Really old airplanes. I’m no expert on planes but I have to admit
it was pretty cool. Even though they were covered in rust. They
were so big. I wondered how they could ever take flight. I don’t
really grasp the physics of it. Not that it matters.

I was kind of hoping to see one of the
spacecraft they used in the Exodus, but those were long gone. They
didn’t leave any of those behind. Too bad, that would have been
cool. But I did see some remnants from the Exodus. Loading
platforms, thirty feet off the ground, that now would lead people
up to where the space transports were supposed to be but were long
gone. Maybe that’s one of those metaphors, I dunno.

I rode through the airfield, amongst the
deserted airplanes. I wasn’t sure exactly where to go, but soon I
just started to follow my ears. I heard something. Faint at first.
Kind of a tinkering noise. Then as I moved north it got louder and
louder. Until I finally came across a smaller pile of rusted metal
in the shape of a jet. Someone stood up on the wing, head buried
inside a hatch, pounding away at the jet’s innards with a hammer.
His white hand tilted upward. He didn’t look surprised to see
me.

“F-48 Lightning V. Near whisper-quiet
electric engine with fuel-powered afterburners. Can reach
supersonic speeds of Mach 2.5. Or at least it could. Now it’s just
junk.”

Pace pounded his fists against the metal
shell.

I reached out to touch the rusted underbelly
of the F-48.

“When’s the last time the doc gave you a
tetanus shot?”

I pulled my hand back. I didn’t remember the
doc giving me any sort of shot since I was a kid. I didn’t want to
get lockjaw just for touching some stupid piece of metal.

Pace ditched the hammer, climbed down to the
edge of the wing, got a toehold on a foot panel a few feet below,
climbed down a few rungs and then leapt the five feet or so to the
ground. He picked up a thick manual of yellowing papers and waved
it around above his head.

“I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix
this thing. For years actually. But I’m here to announce that it’s
not possible. I don’t have the tools, or just a basic understanding
of how this stupid thing is supposed to work!” He kicked the
plane’s flat middle tire. Looked like it hurt.

“So you were hoping to get ‘er fixed and fly
off?” I asked.

“That was the plan.” Pace tossed the
instruction manual to the ground. “I was going to come get you and
ask if you wanted to go with me. And I was going to ask Rebecca
too. Sorry. Not sure what she would have said anyway.”

“Probably eff off.”

We laughed.

“But now, I’m grounded.”

Pace sat on the ground. I dismounted and
offered him some water from my canteen. He took it. I sat next to
him for a moment. The air was warming up. I took of my bison-hair
coat.

“I wish I could have been born 200 years
early,” he continued, “and I went wherever our ancestors went.” He
took another swig of water. “Maybe I could even have been a
pilot.”

I pulled some buffalo jerky out of my saddle
bag and offered it to Pace. I figured he hadn’t eaten and he
hadn’t. He was hungry.

“I got fired from the bank,” he
announced.

I looked at him. Felt kinda bad. “Sorry.”

“Without my father there protecting his
position, they got rid of me. They never thought much of my work
ethic anyway.”

“That effing sucks,” I said. “You did say
though you didn’t really wanna be there anyway.”

“No. I just figured I’d leave on my own
terms. Save up some money first.”

“Now you’re just a poor fool like me.”

“Afraid so.”

“What’s that gonna mean to all the girls who
like you? I mean, you’re not as good a match as you used to
be.”

“Oh I don’t know. I still have my charm and
my looks.”

“Yeah, that’ll get you far.” Pace laughed. He
got up and went over to his saddlebag and pulled out a flask.
Tossed it to me. You now I usually don’t drink other people’s
liquor but what the hell. It was the good stuff. “You’re not gonna
be able to afford this much longer. You think about what you might
do?”

“No,” he replied, sitting back down alongside
me, taking back the flask and having a long swig.

“I can ask my boss if he could afford another
ranch hand. I’d train you myself.”

“Thanks Ash, but I might not have a natural
affinity for physical labor.”

We sat quietly for a while, listening to
vultures in the air, drinking good whiskey.

“I appreciate your helping me, Ash. You
didn’t need to do that.”

“It was nothin’,” I replied.

“It was more than that. Especially since I
just tried to steal your girl.”

“You got that right.”

Pace laughed again. Seemed like I had a good
ability to make him laugh. But then he kinda got choked up.

“So what am I supposed to do now?” he asked
me. I didn’t look to see his eyes, but his voice sounded watery. I
didn’t have much of an answer, so I didn’t reply.

During the day Pace showed me around at some
of his favorite spots on the base. The place where the soldiers
used to eat, called the “mess hall.” Guess that says something
about the food they ate. And the control tower – or the outside of
it anyway, Pace said the roof had caved in on it and the structure
would collapse any time now. And most interestingly, the hangers
where they used to store the spacecraft for the Exodus. Those barns
were massive and miraculously still standing. But they were also
completely empty.

After a time we decided to head back. I let
Pace lead since he knew the fastest route back to Rainbow Dam. Pace
was uncharacteristically silent, so I took that as my cue to tell
him of my plan. The roundup was coming up. It was one of my
favorite times, I gotta say. About ten of us ride out to find the
wild herds of bison, and see if we can get ‘em back to our ranch. I
told Pace how he could be a part of it. How exciting it would be.
Although if my boss agreed, he’d probably assign him to the
chickens for starters. That’s not very manly work but it’s also
hard to screw it up. With the added benefit that it’s easy to
pocket a few eggs now and then. Hard to do that with a bison. Not
that I’d even know how to try. Anyway, Pace had no response for me.
I wasn’t even sure he was still listening.

As we reached Rainbow Falls, we noticed a
lone figure on a horse staring out at us from the other side of the
Missouri.

“Who is that?” Pace asked. “We could get in
trouble for being over here.”

“It’s okay,” I said confidently. “I think I
know who it is.”

As we went across the railway bridge and got
closer to the northern shoreline, my suspicion was correct.

Becca. We were definitely in trouble.

She shouted at me at the top of her voice as
soon as I was near enough to hear her over the roar from the
falls.

“Asher! I can’t believe you left without me!
You did that on purpose!”

I rode up alongside her with my head held
low. And I lied.

“I had to, Becca. Didn’t think the trip would
be safe.”

“Well obviously it was!”

Becca rode her horse away from me and over to
Pace. They had a quiet chat. I couldn’t hear what she was saying,
but I saw her take his hand. I had no right but I was angry anyway.
Had no proof but I was sure they’d seen each other at some point
without me knowing it. I kept imaging their secret get-togethers to
make out – or worse. I wanted to ask them, but at the same time I
really just didn’t want to know the truth. That set me off so I
just rode off for a few minutes. Eventually they rode up alongside
me and we kept going back toward the settlement.

“Asher,” Becca called out. “Everything
okay?”

As if I’d give her the truth of that.

We rode in silence and I kept myself
preoccupied by thinking about the other night when the three of us
were together. Pace wanted to escape. See what was out there in the
Great Plains. In the stars.