SAR ASCENDANT / Book 1: Incursion of the INDEN

Chapters 39 to 41

Chapter 39

"Look what I've found!" Jax is sitting at the kitchen table. Spread out before him is an array of treasures he's collected from the nooks and crannies of the house. Jona joins him and Jax starts to hand him his finds. Letters, photos, packets of seeds, a tin containing strange metal clasps that, when released, reveal sharply pointed prongs. Jona takes the time to examine everything, smile at Jax, and offer words of encouragement and admiration.

I'm exhausted, slip away, find a quiet spot in the parlor under the ship photos. There's a big comfy chair and a blanket remarkably free from dust. I curl up, collect my thoughts.

Even if Willow was wearing the WristComm, there's little chance he still is, which means he's truly hidden it and we might never find it, until it's too late. I console myself with the knowledge that he'll be unable to access and use the boat. Allgo has seen to that. What else has Allgo seen to? He definitely knows about the AirTrack. His comment about the fly, followed by a wink, established that. He didn't ask for the receiver, which means he's quite fine with me tracking the boat. I could activate the receiver to pinpoint the AirTrack's whereabouts, but right now that seems like a betrayal of Allgo's trust. Perhaps the time will come, and I'll recognize the opportunity he's allowed me. Or the necessity.

My thoughts turn to the door. I tell myself, I need to know.

I think about the boy in the driveway, about Marvel. The lost ones. How many more? It has been just a few days since I last watched a SocMed Twint. Everything was going to hell. I wonder what it is like on the city streets. Is Guro-man alive? Is the BotMart and Jax's school even open? Is my house still standing? Hazel told me Marvel would have taken all this in stride. Like you, she said. No, not like me. She was wrong.

I get too angry.

In stride describes the farmer. What describes me? I think. I plumb my thoughts. There is a disc on a thin edge, spinning, and I can't see beyond the motion. I wish it flat, but it won't cooperate. It won't slow, release itself to a stillness. There, that describes me perfectly.

It has been a long day. I close my eyes, looking for the moment last night when I closed my hand over Jona's. I can't quite find it.

Spinning.

***

"Sar!"

I'm instantly awake, ready.

"We have to move quickly." Jona's voice is full of urgency. A blast cutting through the fog.

"What's happened?"

"It's the weather. It's coming in fast. Allgo was here a little while ago, said we have to gather our things, make our way to the lab."

"What could be that bad?"

"A tornado," says Jona. "Big one."

I jump up. "Shit! Where's Jax?"

"I couldn't find you. I looked upstairs, outside. I was worried. So I took Jax to the lab and asked Allgo where you were. He tracked your energy, told me you were curled up in here. I came back for you."

"I'm sorry, Jona. Do we have time to get our packs?"

"Already done," he reassures me. "On the porch. Let's go."

The wind is picking up. Spray from the lake lashes our faces, our clothes flatten against our bodies, we have to lean forward to reduce our surface area. We struggle to reach the lighthouse just as rain begins to drive horizontally across the island and obscures our vision. Soaked through, we pull open the grate over the stone steps leading down to the Shimmer protecting the lab.