Skyland (24 page)

"We're going to have a sniper on you, in
and out of there"
the angry man had said.

Harper's eyes kept darting left and right to
the growing shadows, kept flicking upward to the ships above, kept
whispering snidely in his mind at the invisible Union soldiers
watching him.

Come on out, why don't you?

But he was glad no one stepped out to
accompany him. Of course it would have been stupid – what would
happen if his father or another Sky Reverend were watching from the
shadows? What if they decided on a confrontation with the invaders?
With the Reverends' hatred of off-world soldiers, Harper did not
want to see the two come face to face.

And he was glad to be alone.

He was glad of the open air around him. He
was glad of the wide Sky above his head and the barren countryside
stretching out around him. He was glad of the hot whisper of a
breath of wind, cooling ever so slightly in the absence of the
sun's rays.

As he walked, he craned his neck, tilting
his face up to the Sky.

Are you there?

The Sky was deep blue-purple now, the stars
beginning to wink into sight. As he looked into the deep helm of
nighttime, Harper's heart swelled. Flying in the emptiness of
space, hovering over the clouds, piercing the heavens in the
abominable machines, it was easy to forget the Sky. He felt closer
to Her here than he had flying. Here under Her beautiful fields,
the fields he could
see,
under the pinpricks of light, the
lights he could
see
, it was easy to feel Her beautiful
presence.

She is here... She is here. Maybe not in
space. But here.
Thank you for watching me.

He stumbled a bit as he walked, looking up
and ignoring his feet. He turned his attention back to walking, but
he could still feel the presence above watching over him.

She is here.

The giant needle-ship that served as the
base loomed ahead. Then the fence around it resolved in the
dark.

Harper glanced at the guard who stepped
silently aside and let him pass. A few moments later, he was
inside. The door slammed behind him.

The glow of artificial light assaulted his
eyes. He blinked a few times and kept his eyes down. The gentle
light in here was not comforting – it did not come from the Sky. He
walked around corner after corner, headed to the tiny room.

They can come find me if they want.

Still no one approached him and he walked
through the quiet halls alone.

"That was less than useful."

Harper jumped at the voice. He looked up
from his footsteps. The angry man, glared at him from the doorway
of the tiny room. Harper's steps faltered. Then he pushed past the
soldier and collapsed onto the bed.

"Less than useful?" He spoke to the ceiling.
"The dirt stores are in the same place. As for the rest of the
information... No one tells a traitor anything."

He sat up. His head dropped into his hands,
he didn't want to look at the angry man leaning against the
doorframe. There were footsteps, and Harper looked up. A tall
soldier, wide in the shoulders and well-muscled stood in the hall
opposite the door. He smiled. He leaned a long rifle against the
wall.

Huh. So there was a sniper.

The angry man whispered something to him.
Harper didn't catch it. The other soldier smiled wider and left,
taking the weapon with him.

The angry man turned back to Harper.

"That was
not
useful. That was not
all we wanted. We were listening, did you forget? You will have to
go again. You did not even tr–"

"I told you I would tell you about the dirt
stores. That I would help with the weapons. Not the people
.
Now I have."

"You don't even know that! You didn't
ask!"

"I know because my father would have me use
them. It is the only thing he would see as reconciliation. I know.
They are in the same place."

"The place you pointed out on the map?"

"Yes."

"You know that for sure?"

"Yes."
He would have told me otherwise...
to give me the chance to redeem myself.

"Is that all there is? In the stores you
know?"

"Yes." Harper looked down at his fingers,
interlocked on his knees in front of him.

The angry man turned to leave. He spoke into
a phone for a moment, again too quiet for Harper to catch the
words.

They will destroy the ships.
"Wait."

The angry man turned around. "Yes?"

"Those aren't the only ones I know of."

"The only weapons?"

"There are other stores of the dirt. The
ones I showed you, that is the biggest collection, but there is
some elsewhere, too."

"Where?"

"I don't know–"

"Are you playing games with me, farmer?"

"
I
don't know, but I know there is
more. There is a lab. I don't know where it is. Not exactly. But I
know that's where the fertilizer come from. A lab at the
University. I have never been there."

"Your father told you this? The Sky
Reverends?"

"No, not them. But I... heard of this place
before."
Before I was going to blow up the first ship.

"Then you will have to find it."

"I can't
.
I cannot help you with it.
I don't know anyone who can get me into the lab or even into the
University.

"You will have to try."

"I can't... they would know I don't belong
there. I can't get in. They'd throw me off the campus before I got
two feet in."

The angry man leaned against the wall. He
smiled, and Harper cringed inside. He stared at the angry man who
didn't look even remotely angry anymore.

What?

"So." The soldier looked down at Harper who
said nothing. "Are you sure? Are you
sure
that you can do
nothing to get into the University lab?"

"Nothing. I am sure. By telling you... I
have done everything I can."

"I see."

"I am not lying."

"Well then. We will have to get to it
ourselves. Thank y–"

"What do you mean get to it yourselves?"

"That's none of your concer–"

"Will you torture more old chair makers til
you find one who can help you?"

"That is not your concern. You have been
very helpful, Harper Fields. Thank you."

"What are you going to–"

It shook.

The base shook.

The walls trembled, the shadows of the bed,
the door, Harper's own figure, the shadows shifted as the lights
moved on the walls.

Just for a second. A half-second.

Harper grabbed the edge of the bed frame.
His hands tightened like vices on the sharp metal edge. But it was
only a trembling. A slight shaking. A half-second tremor.

A trembling that shook a giant ship.

Harper's hand shook more.

Father? Was that you?

He looked up at the angry man. The soldier
smiled. Silently. Harper's heart beat so fast it felt like it was
trembling. His breath had stopped. His lungs spasmed as he tried to
restart them.

"What–what was that?"

"Don't worry. It's okay," the smiling angry
man said.

"
Don't worry
? What was it? What–"

"You really don't have to concern yourself
with that. Your cooperation has been greatly appreciated."

"My-my... Wait... no, no..."

Something shook inside Harper, something
worse than his father, worse than the revenge of the Sky
Reverends.

"No...."

He was on his feet. The angry man watched,
leaning against the wall, arms crossed, relaxed, looking at him
with a slight smile.

Harper ran.

Out the room, two steps and he was at the
end of the hall. Around the corner, he pelted through the hallways,
spun around corners, tried to remember the way out, squeezed the
memories out through the panic, backtracked, ran some more. Then,
finally, the door was ahead and he was through it, past the guard,
past the checkpoint without even a glance this time, out into
scorching heat of Skyland, dry earth pounding under his feet.

Nobody stopped him.

Smoke rose on the horizon.

He could see the curls of smoke rising in
the glow... the glow of something burning far off.

He ran.

Even in the dim light of the early night –
the night which had been set alight – even in the dim glow, the
heat of the air burned him after the coolness of the ship. And the
glow on the horizon... the glow, distant, almost gentle, burned
into his eyes.

And he ran.

Out in the dark, out past the village, out
past the fields. He ran.

Until...

He stopped.

His feet stood on the blackened edge of a
crater. The ground dipped away before him, down, down, down into
smoke and smoldering rubble. He teetered on his toes on the edge of
the smoking hole. Pebbles still rolled around the edges. Any minute
he would fall. The dirt beneath his feet would crumble, the stones
fall away and he would be tumbling down the crater's slope.

Something thundered in the air behind him.
He jumped, almost slipping down the slope into the crater. Then he
took a step back.

Not thunder.

He breathed in the smoke. He coughed.

On his periphery, other lights glowed in the
dark. He turned around. On the horizon there was a darker plume of
smoke. Fires had sprung up around the country, and further off in
the city.

And he ran.

Chapter Twenty
Seven

in which there is a
decision
...

"Father!"

The door stood ajar. Harper kicked it the
rest of the way open.

"Father!"

No one answered.

The house was empty.

Harper tore out the door, ran through the
streets he had passed in a panic only minutes before. He shouted
till he was hoarse. The streets were deserted. He banged on doors,
kicked them open, ran up and down stairs. The houses were deserted.
He looked around the flat landscape, whipping his head around this
way and that, squinting in the dim light. The fields were
deserted.

They know they are under attack.

At the edge of town he turned northeast and
sprinted until–

He stopped so short he stumbled a little
over his own feet.

No.

There were shelters, underground like the
dirt stores, shelters that had been built before the famine. Harper
had been running, without thinking, towards where his father and
the villagers must –
must
– be hiding.

Someone will be watching, will be following
me. Someone will want to know where they are hiding.

He stood with his foot hovering in a
half-step for a moment then spun around.

No. I did not come to help the invaders
destroy the country. I am not a traitor.

Even now –
even now
– after lying to
his own father and cooperating with the Union, something forced
Harper to stop, forced him away from the spots he knew the Sky
Reverends were hiding with the rest of the country folk.

Let them hide. And hide well.

He would not betray them all.

He ran back through his village, ran back to
the base then past it, ran back towards the city, back over the
bridge, back to the docks where he ran straight into a crowd of
people.

Just days before the docks had been empty of
Skylanders, save for the defense units. Now there were people
everywhere. Trotting here and there. Standing confused. Staring
into the night. And asking, asking, asking.

"What is...?"

"Why?"

"Who did....?"

"What...?"

Harper's heart beat hard in his chest. And
glanced wildly around. But the panic he felt in his chest, he did
not see in the Skylanders around him. It was soft confusion. Not
fear. Not panic.

Do they know the planet has a new crater in
it?

Here, where the glow of city lights bathed
the docks, the light of fires could not be seen. But Harper smelled
smoke. And farther away from the buzzing docks, in some more
distant neighborhood of the city, there were cries.

"Clear out, folks, clear out!"

Someone nudged Harper from behind. He turned
and his eyes fell on the blue neck band of the Skyland soldier who
had spoken.

"You are safe. Everything is taken care of.
Out of the way, now, out of the way!"

He moved around the docks herding the
confused crowd back to the city streets, away from the ships.
Harper looked around and saw other soldiers doing the same. People
jostled together, moved where they were herded, bumped into each
other. Whispers floated through the crowd.

"It's gone..."

"The University... it's gone."

"They said... just gone."

Harper stomach clenched. He doubled up,
hands on trembling knees, trying to keep himself from falling on
the ground.

"Move along now, move along."

The blue-banded Skyland soldier had a hand
on his shoulder, pressing him up into a standing position, pushing
him back towards the inner streets of the city, off the docks.
Harper ducked away under his arm and ran back to the bridge, then
over it, then out into the country, back towards the base.

The confusion of the crowd faded behind him.
The cries lingered longer, then faded as he walked. They faded into
the distance, a vague, high-pitched hum, like bird calls from
afar.

Then it was quiet.

As soon as he passed the checkpoint and
crossed the threshold of the base the hum disappeared completely.
Inside the ship, all was calm. The halls were still hushed, some
people lingered, walking here and there, chatting. Some laughed.
Some yawned.

Ahead, the angry man still leaned against
the wall, as though he had not moved at all, as though he had stood
there waiting for Harper to return. Even the sickening smile was
still sitting, waiting on the pouchy face. It stretched as he
opened his mouth to speak.