Message From Viola Mari (18 page)

We concluded the broadcast and then glued our focus on the television channels to see what transpired. Now all we could do was wait to see if people found what I’d said believable.

The stunned newscasters immediately coined our broadcast as a hoax. Everyone seemed more interested in tracking down the jokesters than rushing to the beaches. Within the hour though, scattered people had gathered at the beach. “I can send submersibles up now, but you are going to lose so many—I don’t know how else to get their attention,” said Blanuga.

I paused, then bounced up on the balls of my feet. “I have an idea. Is there any way we can connect to the La Jolla site? The young boy who disappeared might be able to provide the emotional appeal we need.”

“Ah, yes, marvelous idea, Marissa. I will have them get Adrian from the game room so we can get him on the broadcast. I just hope his mom shows up. The poor boy misses her so badly.”

Within minutes, Adrian’s face appeared on the screen. His enormous brown eyes rimmed with tears, he said how much he missed his mom and older sister. The young boy sat up defiantly in his chair, jutting his chin forward. “But I’m here for a very important reason. Because I’m going to be one of the people from Earth who travels to Viola Mari instead of staying here and getting blasted to pieces by comets. And I really want my family to come too.” An enormous tear streamed down the boy’s soft cheek. “Especially mom. I miss you and Samantha a whole lot. You’re allowed to bring pets, too, isn’t that right, Blanuga?” Adrian looked at Blanuga, who nodded. The boy smiled, wiping away the tear with the back of his hand as he urged his mom to bring along his hamsters and their dog, Chocolate.

Once again, Blanuga explained what people needed to do before terminating the broadcast. Now all we could do was wait and hope.

“I’m going to send the submersibles to the beaches now,” said Blanuga. Within minutes, clips of the homesick boy appeared on every news station. And images of the beaches showed they were crowding with people lugging babies, pets, luggage and computers.

Live video streams of every beach in the world were projected in little blocks on the 360-degree screen that surrounded us. All at once, I saw the submersibles rise to the surface near the beaches. The Viola Marians escorted the people aboard before they disappeared below the ocean’s surface.

Within minutes, people began bouncing down on the mass of gel. As they did, they were quickly ushered onboard the ships. Justin and I sat huddled together, our gazes roaming over the crowd in hopes of seeing a familiar face. On the screen, I saw my mother and siblings standing in line. I squeezed his hand and pointed. “There’s my mom with my brother and sister.”

We watched Justin’s family line up for their journeys in their various cities. Blanuga had told us we’d be reunited with them once we reached his planet. “We’re going to have to launch the ships in four hours,” said Blanuga.

“I never saw Jennifer,” I said. “If she doesn’t make it to the beach soon, I’ll have to go back for her.”

Blanuga’s hard beak transformed to a frowning mouth. “It would be much too dangerous. We expect the first comet fragments to start entering the earth’s atmosphere within the next hour.”

“But she’s my best friend,” I argued. “She’d never let anything happen to me. She must not have heard the news.”

“Unfortunately, we just intercepted a transmission about her. My people denied boarding access to several individuals they deemed a threat, including the men causing problems for you lately. That nasty Raoul took Jennifer hostage and brought her to Belize the same day you travelled. He refuses to release her unless we give him and his goons safe passage. I gave them the go ahead to let them pass, but now Raoul says he has to talk directly to you.”

“Fine. Then I’ll have to go back. I can’t just leave her up there.”

“That’s much too dangerous.”

“Marissa, no. I won’t let you get away from me again.” Justin pulled me in toward him with one of his strong, muscular arms, pressing his warm, moist lips against the side of my neck.

My eyes pleaded for him to understand. “I have to do this.”

“I know,” he said in words as well as with his eyes. “That’s why I’m going with you.”

We went back to the media room and recorded another transmission, this time arranging to meet with the thugs. The video monitors now showed thousands of deserted beaches. An eerie emptiness had replaced the bustle of activity.

It was dark by the time the submersible rose to the ocean’s surface. We stepped dripping onto the sand at Half Moon Caye. I wished I could walk through the streets of La Jolla once last time to say goodbye. I thought of the empty restaurants and shopping centers, my abandoned condominium, and the Pacific Ocean where I’d never again swim. “It’s sad, isn’t it?” Justin squeezed my hand and looked at me, his green eyes wide with emotion.

I leaned in closer as we waited, relishing the comfort of his proximity. “This is our home. We’ve lived our whole lives on this planet.” My voice shuddered. “And too soon, we’ll leave it behind forever. And all the places we made memories, where we lived our lives will be destroyed. It’s heartbreaking.”

“It feels like we’re in the middle of a nightmare. Only you are the dream.” He nuzzled my neck with his lips. “Oh, Marissa, I’m so glad I found you.”

“I wonder what it will be like where we’re going.” I looked across the expanse of beach toward the picnic tables where the men were supposed to appear. “And at the same time, I realize it really doesn’t matter.”

“What do you mean?”

“When we were here together, Belize seemed like the most beautiful place on earth. And then when I washed up on that beach and they told me you were missing, I could no longer see the beauty in the turquoise water or the brilliant sunsets. Being with you is what brought all the beauty to life.”

“I know exactly what you mean.” Justin threaded his fingers through my hair and held my gaze. A sound of rustling in the nearby shrubs made him jerk away. “Oh, look, I think they’re coming.” He pointed toward dark shapes that moved out of the shadows.

I saw Jennifer first—her eyes swollen from crying, her cheeks blackened with mascara. She sniffled as Raoul pushed her forward with his gun. Beside him stood Michael, Miguel, John, and Matt.

I walked toward her, wanting to hug her, but Raoul put up his other hand to stop me. “What have they done to you?”

“They pulled me into a car when I was out for my morning run. He said he would kill me if I didn’t do what he said.” Jennifer pointed a trembling finger at Raoul.

“Why you…” I pushed against his palm with my chest and took a swipe at his face with my fist. He tipped his head away and grabbed my wrist with his unarmed hand.

“Marissa, don’t,” said Justin. “These people aren’t reasonable.”

“You’re telling me. Just when I think I’m rid of them, they show up again—like termites.”

“That is because we are smarter than you, Miss Scientist. If you want to live, you’ll take us through the transport tunnels right away,” said Raoul.

“Only if you let her walk with us.”

“No deal,” said Raoul.

I crossed my arms over my chest, despite the jab I got from Justin’s elbow. “Okay, well we can just stay here and get blasted to smithereens. You can already see the first comets coming through the atmosphere.” Glowing balls arced across the sky. “These are the small ones. Once Earth approaches the center of this mass of comets, it’s really going to get interesting. Especially if you like standing around blasts thousands of times more powerful than Hiroshima.”

Raoul gazed up at the sky, his eyes shifting nervously. “Fine, let’s get going.” He shoved Jennifer in my direction.

Men without backbone—they’re so easy to spot.
I reached out to hug Jennifer and she fell into my arms, sobbing.

“Oh, Marissa, I was so scared. I’m so worried about my family. And Steve. Do you think they escaped?”

“I’m sure of it. I saw them on the monitors we’ve been viewing the last couple of hours. But we watched and watched and still you never showed up at the beach.”

Jennifer asked me countless questions and I tried to answer them as concisely as possible.

“Enough of this, let’s get a move on,” ordered Raoul. “The rest of you, keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t try anything funny.”

I glanced at Matt. He kept glancing at the sky, his face muscles contracting into a rigid mask of terror. It seemed he’d forgotten about his aim for fame and just wanted to escape before the comets incinerated him.

We walked toward the submersible that floated in the water just off the beach. I jumped at the sound of an explosion behind us.

“Oh my God,” said Matt. “The comets. They’re really coming.”

The sound of another crashing explosion reverberated through the night. “Let’s run for it,” I said. “Things are falling apart.”

We waded through the water toward the open hatch. Over the horizon, several large fireballs arced through the air. One splashed into the water several hundred feet away. Once we climbed aboard, Tornca secured the door and launched the glass-walled submersible toward the ocean bottom. “I hope you’re ready for a roller coaster ride.” As the ship passed through the glowing crater, we swirled at break-neck speed through the shimmering light.

When we reached the launch pad, Blanuga rushed us onto a ship. Raoul still had his gun pressed against Jennifer’s back. I walked just ahead of her, occasionally looking over my shoulder to offer her a reassuring glance.

On board the ship, hundreds of rows of seats formed circles, one inside the other. Most of them were already occupied. People wept, gripped a spouse’s hand or spoke about what was to come.

“Please take a seat and fasten your security belts,” instructed Blanuga. We followed the line of people into a circle of seats and settled in. Occasionally, the ground rumbled as another impact struck the earth. “We are running out of time. Please hurry and take your seats,” said Blanuga. He transformed into a more human shape before descending to his chair.

We pulled the security collars over our heads and fastened them between our legs. The sound of meteorite blasts was obscured by the roar of engines and as the outside of the the ship gyrated faster and faster. Everything inside the center of the ship where we sat stood still.

“This should be an interesting experience.” I leaned in toward Justin. “This ship is going to take us 9.8 million light years away. I’m not sure how they do that.”

Justin grasped my hand and squeezed.

“I can explain,” said Blanuga. He leaned in so both of us could hear. “The core of the earth is the energy source for our ships, most of which we constructed in-situ beneath our tunnels. It will blast the ships through the tunnel openings toward a teleportation relay—a kind of warp bubble we’ve installed on the dark side of the moon, which will transport our ships to our distant planet. We have installed many bubbles, one inside the other, each of which moves at the speed of light. Resting inside the innermost bubble, all our ships will travel much faster than that. We’ve used them before to come to you.”

“But doesn’t this mean we will be travelling in time?”

“Not exactly,” said Blanuga. “In reality, it is the warp bubble that experiences this frame-of-reference change, not anything inside of it. So you will be only a few days older when we arrive at our planet, because the trip will take about one hundred and forty four earth hours to complete.”

“But what are we going to do about Raoul and those other men? Aren’t you worried they will make a wreck of the place?”

“Oh no not at all,” he said. The scales around his face turned up in a smile. “We need them here for a very important reason.”

“And what reason is that?”

“You shall see soon enough. I believe it is time for us to enjoy a beverage,” he said. He pressed a brilliant green button in front of his seat, one that none of the rest of us had. As he did so, trays with drinks lowered down in front of us. “Just watch,” he said.

His resonant laugh made me hypothesize that we were in for an interesting surprise. Everyone sampled their drinks. As I sipped, a relaxed euphoria melted over me. I gazed over at Justin. His lids looked heavy, like he was about to fall asleep.

“This is the drink we concocted to separate those we want to take with us from those we would prefer to leave behind. People who mean us no harm will drift into a peaceful dream state for the duration of the journey. The Viola Marians will remain awake for the trip because we have something very important to do.”

I gave him a baffled stare.

“We’ve been waiting all day to feast on our favorite delicacy—shrimp.” Blanuga waved his hand around the room. My jaw dropped open wide when I saw the seat beside Jennifer, where Raoul once sat was now occupied only by a wriggling shrimp and a gun. A shrimp also squirmed in the seats once occupied by Matt, Miguel, and John. Nearly a fourth of the seats now lacked humans.

“Oh my gosh.” I laughed. “That about serves them right.”

I grinned at Justin. I tipped my head in his direction until it met his. “I think I’m going to like this new planet.”

“Now you two enjoy your sleep. I can assure you your dreams will be very pleasant.” Blanuga raised a scaly brow and smiled. “I’m going to start enjoying my feast.”

Chapter Twenty Two

The drink intensified my senses. As I held Justin’s hand, electric sparks raced up my fingertips and through my arms. “You’re turning me on.”

“I am?” His green eyes glinting with gold, they mesmerized me and seemed to see right through my clothes. “I want you bad,” he whispered in my ear. “It’s been way too long.”

“But we can’t do it here.” I glanced self-consciously at the people around us. Suddenly the rows of seats faded away and we sat hip to hip on a white sand beach in front of a luminous lavender sea. I gasped with astonishment. “It’s beautiful.” An angled row of four moons shone down on the water and sand. Glowing yellow lava erupted on the surface of the largest one, which covered a piece of sky larger than six earth moons.

“Do you think we’ve arrived already?” Justin asked.