The Sky Drifter (29 page)

The shrill alarm pounded inside my head as we exited through yet another door into a small cylindrical space, which extended up and down as far as the eye could see into darkness. Directly in front of us, as well as above and below, was a short metallic walkway leading diagonally down to another door, beyond which was another long, dim tunnel.

Despite the mysterious girl’s hurried pace, and the constantly-sounding alarm, we had yet to see any attackers. I wondered if she’d over-estimated the situation. Maybe these creatures, which according to her, were the Morex I’d known, weren’t as cold and blood-thirsty as she thought. If they were, wouldn’t we have already seen some signs of them? Aside from the shadowy figure that had ambled past us in the large, misty area earlier, there hadn’t been a single other encounter. Where were they all? Not that I wasn’t glad, just that I questioned whether we needed to hurry as much. Maybe, I thought, we could stop and rest a while, and the mysterious girl could finally reveal all she knew.

“
Where…going
?” shouted One from behind me.

She just kept running along the tunnel, possibly unaware of his question. Wondering the same thing myself, I placed some weight on my heels to try to slow her down and repeated One’s question loud enough for her to hear.

“
We’re getting…of here
!” she cried back, frowning.

When the mysterious girl made to run again, however, I planted my feet firmly on the oily, metallic surface, causing her to spin round and look at me with puzzlement.

“
Why are we running? There’s no one here
!” I shouted.

“
I’m taking…entrances! They won’t be…Are coming
!” With those barely audible words, she tugged my arm so hard I thought it would rip out of its socket, and we resumed our escape.

In that moment, I realized just how much faith I placed on the tall yellow-skinned girl. As her long, green hair swayed behind her, the thought that this new world began and ended with her distressed me. If this was all some bizarre game she played, why go through all the trouble? What purpose could it all possibly serve? No, I couldn’t believe it. The very notion seemed ridiculous.

I remembered how worried she’d been when we’d met in the alleyway following the explosion. If the
Sky Drifter
really had been an illusion created to study One and me, then I could see why she would have been worried when I’d asked questions about her. Whatever the mysterious girl’s role in this place was, she’d clearly been going against the Morex’s wishes by having direct contact with me.

If they were as savage as she claimed, she really must have been fearing for her life as well as mine. Why had she contacted me at all? Just who was she? If my reasoning was correct, and she helped us escape our false reality at the possible cost of her own life, she had to be a friend. I didn’t just need to trust her—I wanted to.

Soon after, we entered a wide corridor, along which blue dials flashed on a series of control panels along both sides. The shiny black metallic floor clanged with our every hurried step as I continued
trying to avoid touching the many mossy strands that hung from above.

All of a sudden, a piercing, agonizing cry came from behind me. I swung round, forcibly shaking my hand free of the mysterious girl’s grasp. Standing with his eyes and mouth open wide in surprise was One, his body jerking uncontrollably as long, blue bolts of electricity wrapped around him.

“No,” I uttered, breath catching in my throat. Our gazes met, and he mouthed something.

Before I was able to react or even think, One crashed onto the floor where he remained, unmoving.

Every sound, every movement, faded until all that remained was the thump of my beating heart. Not only had I witnessed my own horrible demise mirrored in One, but I’d lost my only anchor to the only reality I’d known and loved. Despite our past differences, the game had changed for us, and even if we hadn’t had the chance to say it, One and I had found silent acceptance and solidarity in each other. I hadn’t thought it possible, but the ache my heart felt at the loss of One would leave a hole that would never again heal.

The mysterious girl tightly grabbed my hand again, and with a forceful jerk, forced me back along the corridor with her.

“
We have to keep going. Come on
!” she cried as we scrambled forward, the severity of the situation now firmly branded in my mind.

***

The cold grip of fear seized my heart as in my mind unimaginable terrors were relentlessly gaining on us with every step we took. A surge of energy fueled by fear flowed inside me, making my legs feel numb.

As I found myself speeding on ahead of the mysterious girl, I heard her cry, “
Turn here
!”

We dashed and snaked through a labyrinth of dim, hazy corridors until finally we reached a large domed archway. As I crossed its threshold, I was astounded at the sheer magnitude of the area in which I now stood. The metal and stone cylindrical area was at least three or four times that of the one I’d first seen, and like it, extended above and below as far I could see.

I found myself standing on a long narrow metallic walkway, at the end of which was another archway. As I frantically ran along it, it jarred slightly and began to retract into the dusty stone wall on the other side.

I turned, realizing I hadn’t heard a word from the mysterious girl for what felt like too long, and saw her lying on the threshold to the archway, blue liquid gushing from her leg. Her hand, grasping the wound, was also saturated in her blood. My heart sank as I looked up into her tearful, defeated eyes.

“
No
!” I cried. “You are
not
giving up! Jump! Get up!
Jump. Get up
!” Hot tears streamed down my face as I watched her stare sorrowfully back at me.

In that moment, my world extended no further than her. She was my saviour, my guide, and the only friend I had. She was all I had left, and with every passing instant that the walkway retracted, the possibility became greater that I would lose her, too.

“
Jump
!” I screamed so loudly my throat hurt as I stretched my hand out as far as I could as if I could grab her.

Why wasn’t she moving? Despite my pleas, she continued to gaze lamentably into my eyes, tears streaming down her face. I couldn’t understand why she was giving up. She’d ripped me from the illusion of the
Sky Drifter
and brought me to this point. Why give up now? After all this? After all she’d done?

No. There was still time. With the walkway retracting farther and farther with every passing moment, there was no more time to think. I’d lost everything and everyone I’d ever cared about and I was
not
going to lose her, too. I knew then just how important the mysterious girl had become, and the thought of losing her sent a cold shiver down my spine into my core. My mind was made up.

With no time to hesitate, I took a couple of steps back and then threw myself forward across the dark void below me, landing just next to her.

“You are
not
doing this. You are
not
giving up!” I cried, stooping down to her side and then throwing her arm over my shoulders, forcing her to her feet.

“
Go
!”  she screamed violently. Despite her efforts, she couldn’t hide the unexplained sadness in her eyes. “Leave me!”

“Stop it!” I shouted, matching her anger. “Get to your feet or we
both
die.”

The anger she’d tried to convince me she felt faded from her face as a certain look of wonder merged with her sorrow. Both were gone in a flash and replaced with a refreshed determination that glinted in her eyes.

Along the corridor behind us distorted growls and clangs echoed ominously in my ears. Without another word, we looked ahead, took a few steps back, and one arm around each other’s waist, ran as fast as we could, leaping toward the retracting walkway. It had receded too far to land on, and we began falling toward the dark abyss below.

I instinctively extended my arm up in blind hope and my hand connected with the platform. I grasped the cold metallic grid of its surface, and as the full weight of our bodies hung suddenly from my limb, my shoulder popped violently out of its socket.

I screamed in pain at the searing feeling that instantly spread around my arm. Just as I felt my grip slipping, I saw the mysterious girl reach up and grab the other end of the walkway.

“Hold on,” she said firmly. With incomprehensible strength, she pushed us up as she held a firm grasp of my waist until my chest was level with the edge of the walkway.

“Go.” She grunted.

With all the strength I could muster, I pushed myself up with my arm, propped my knee on the surface and stood. My arm throbbed with pain so intense I feared I’d pass out. I tried to shake off the feeling and turned, extending my good arm to the mysterious girl, who was already lifting herself onto the walkway. Dark blue blood flowed from the gaping hole in her leg, forcing her to limp as she walked forward.

“We have to keep going.” She winced.

I hurried forward and forced her arm over my shoulders to support her, which she seemed to reluctantly accept.

We walked through the domed archway on the other side just before the walkway had fully receded into the stone and metal wall. Beyond it was a large room whose black floor, walls and ceiling glistened as if they were liquid. If not for the ever-present blobs of pulsating moss, the room would have looked very clinical. Directly ahead, a series of circular holes, whose diameter would have easily accommodated Pi, lined the wall. I wondered why she’d fought so hard just to take us into that room and suddenly felt like caged prey.

“Watch the entrance,” she cried with authority. After letting go of me, she hobbled over to the control panel, which stood against the left wall and spanned its length, streams of blood flowing from her leg and onto the floor.

“What are we doing here?” I asked nervously.

“We’re leaving. Watch the door and tell me when they’re coming.”

As though her very words had triggered it, the sudden light rumble of the platform sounded from just beyond the door. I turned and hurried to its threshold to see as it steadily began extending outward. I raised my head and saw what I feared I would. Looming in the darkness just beyond the archway were the steady, yellow orbs of the Morex, every single pair fixed unblinkingly on me.

“The walkway is extending!” I cried.

“I know. Just tell me when they step on to it,” sharply replied the mysterious girl as she continued furiously typing on the control panel in front of her. I didn’t understand what she was doing. She’d led us to a dead end, and now the murderous Morex, or whatever they were called, were soon to reach and kill us. Terrifying as the situation was, however, I wanted to trust her. I
needed
to trust her.

Soon the walkway had almost completely extended, and was moments away from giving the Morex direct access to us. “Whatever you’re doing, do it fast.
They’re coming
!”

I turned toward the mysterious girl, feeling my limbs seizing up in fear as my arm continued to throb painfully. Just as I’d begun walking toward her, I heard the faint bang of the walkway reaching the other side. I felt like a trapped animal about to be viscously devoured, grasping to the hope that there was still a way. That we’d somehow still escape.

Turning rapidly toward me and grabbing hold of my arm, the mysterious girl exclaimed, “
Done
!” She limped to the back wall. Before I could formulate any kind of question, she placed me roughly in her arms and threw me legs first down one of the holes.

I slid down a steep, dark tunnel until I dropped into the middle of a surprisingly soft surface. My gaze darted all around as I tried to absorb my new surroundings. The space was tight but large enough for two bodies of around my size. Above me, four long windows were divided by a cross frame, which extended seamlessly down to the surrounding walls. I lay on a type of firm, black mattress that went halfway up the sides.

I heard a sudden noise coming from the hole above me, and quickly moved aside in time to avoid the mysterious girl landing on me.

“What n—” I began to say as the capsule we were in exploded forward at tremendous speed, pinning me tightly in place. From beyond the windows above, thin, curved strips of white light flashed successively by as the craft whooshed rapidly along.

Moments later, the long tunnel gave way to the vastness of space. Still the vessel hurtled forward through it at great speed. It was only then that I noticed the mysterious girl held tightly on to my hand.

Looking up outside, I knew my eyes were seeing something they never had before. The stars, planets, nebulae, all seemed brighter, more vivid somehow. Without moving my head, I asked, “Where are we going?”

“Your planet,” she replied softly. My heart frantically beat as a strange, electric feeling surged in my stomach and chest.

“My planet.” I exhaled with wonder. My mind reflexively conjured images of what I believed to be the planet I’d been born on, only to remember that it, like the beauty of the universe I’d seen aboard the
Sky Drifter
, was nothing more than an illusion created for me.

“Is it the same?” I asked, still clinging to the hope that what I saw in my mind was, at least, true.

“It was once,” replied the mysterious girl regretfully. “The memories of the land you hold in your mind are those extracted from your mother.”

“
My mother
?” I exhaled, turning my head to face the mysterious girl.

She looked up at the endless space outside. The pain in her words were reflected in her sorrowful face. She sighed, and began, “The Morex came to your planet to reap it bare of all they considered essential or useful to them, killing and destroying at will anything they deemed ‘useless’ like many planets before. On yours, however, they found a resistance they hadn’t expected. A terrible war ensued with both sides sustaining great losses.