there.
“What’s the occasion?” I asked. “Got a date?”
I then noticed that Spader had more energy than usual. Believe me, for Spader that’s really saying something. He was pretty much bouncing off the walls as he worked. It was like somebody took his power dial and notched it up a few amps.
“Big day tomorrow, mate,” he said with excitement. “My father is coming by. Can’t let ‘im think I live like a dirty old crocker fish!”
This was the first I heard about Spader’s family.
“Where does he live?” I asked.
“He’s an aquaneer on Magorran,” he said while continuing to clean up. “It’s a manu habitat. Schedule has it swinging by tomorrow for supplies.”
“Manu habitat?”
“They build things. Pieces for machinery and skinners and whatnot.”
“Is that your home?”
“Home? No, mate. Home is Panger City. Lived there my whole life until I went to the Aquaneer Academy. My mum’s still there. Haven’t seen either of ‘em for… hobey, can’t remember. It’s been a while.”
I was beginning to get the bigger picture about what life was like on Cloral. These habitats were like cities and people left home to work, just like back on Second Earth.
“Dad’s a real spiffer,” Spader continued. “Gave me the aquaneer bug. Had me around skimmers my whole life. They wanted to make him an officer but he turned ‘em down — didn’t want to leave the docks. His tour’s up soon so he can get back to Mum. Hobey, I can’t wait to see his face again. Give me a hand here mate, would you?”
I helped him lift a couple of large water sleds he had been working on and put them into a closet.
“You never told me about your parents,” said Spader.
Uh-oh. Up until now I’d been able to dodge questions about home. I’m not a good liar. Uncle Press and I made up a story about how we came from a distant habitat that was a university. We said it was full of intellectuals and professors, which explained why I needed to learn so much about working in the water and how the “real world” worked. Whenever Spader couldn’t believe how little I knew about Cloral, I’d shrug and say: “I didn’t get out much.”
I hated lying to Spader, but I knew the truth would come out soon enough and hoped that when it did, he’d understand. But now he was putting me on the spot again by asking about my parents. I was going to have to come up with some version of the truth, because the whole truth would have blown Spader’s head off.
“Dad’s a writer,” I said. “Mom works in a library.”
That was the absolute truth, and it made my heart sink. This was the first time I had spoken about my parents in a long time. What made it worse was I had to pretend as if nothing was wrong. I couldn’t tell Spader that they had disappeared, along with my sister and my dog. I think Spader must have sensed my anguish, because he didn’t ask any more questions. That was good for all sorts of reasons.
“It’s tough being away from loved ones,” he said softly.
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“Tell you what, come with me to meet Dad tomorrow! You’ll get a knock out of him, you will!”
“Sounds good,” I said, but with a touch of sadness. I missed my family.
Uncle Press said that Spader was the Traveler from Cloral. I wondered if his parents had raised him to be a Traveler the same way Uncle Press said my family did for me. If so, did that mean they would disappear the same way my family had? Spader obviously cared about his parents. As we worked to make his house a little neater, I hoped that when the habitat of Magorran arrived the next day, his father would be on it.
The next day Uncle Press and I made the long walk forward to the transport docks to be there when Spader’s father arrived. I could tell that Uncle Press was disturbed about something. As I told him of my previous day’s adventures under the waters near Grallion, he stared straight down at his feet and didn’t say a word. His mind was definitely somewhere else.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” came his thoughtful answer. “I’m feeling… uneasy, and I can’t put my finger on it.”
“What? Now you’re psychic?”
“It’s just a feeling. Don’t you sense it?”
I thought. I felt. I looked around. Nothing.
“Uhh… no. Should I?”
“Maybe,” he answered. “It’s a Traveler thing.”
“You mean we can predict the future, too?”
“No, but you’ll start to realize you can pick up on things. It’s like walking into a room and knowing right away that there’s an argument going on, even though you haven’t heard a word spoken. It’s just picking up on the signals that people send out. No big deal.”
“And you’re picking up bad signals right now?” I asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
“I’m not sure. I just have this sense of… dread.”
“I don’t like dread,” I shot back. “Dread is bad. Could this have anything to do with Spader’s parents?”
“We’ll find out soon enough,” he said while pointing forward.
I looked to where he was pointing and saw it.
Magorran.
The manu habitat had appeared on the horizon and was steaming toward Grallion. Though it was still far away, I could tell that it was a different type of habitat than Grallion. It didn’t seem as big. It might have been a third of the size. But the buildings on deck were taller. I guessed that these were some of the factories that Spader told me about. The closer it got, the larger these buildings loomed. It was pretty impressive. Uncle Press and I picked up the pace and hurried to the forward dock area to be there when the first advance boats arrived.
When we got there, we saw that several aquaneers stood on their skimmers, ready to shoot out to meet the advance boats. Uncle Press saw something down on the dock and pointed it out to me. I looked, and couldn’t help but smile.
It was Spader. It wasn’t weird for him to be down there or anything. It was the way he was dressed. Spader wasn’t much for wearing his aquaneer uniform: the black long-sleeved outfit with the yellow stripes on the cuff. He normally wore his sleeveless shirt that was cut off at the shoulders. But today was different. Today Spader was here to greet his father and he was decked out in his best uniform. It was clean, too. I even think he took the time to comb his hair. To use one of his sayings, he looked pretty spiff.
As we stood above the docks, waiting for the first boat from Magorran to arrive, I began to have the same sense of dread that Uncle Press was feeling. I wasn’t being overly insightful or anything, it was because I sensed a stirring among the aquaneers who were gathered below on the floating dock. Up until now they had been casually chatting and laughing. Suddenly their body language grew more tense. All eyes were focused out on the water and at Magorran.
I then looked up at Magorran. The habitat was drawing nearer. Most of the habitats that came to Grallion for supplies stayed far away. Grallion was anchored and stayed in place while the other habitats hovered about a half mile away. It was a safety thing. The habitats were so big that they didn’t exactly turn on a dime and you never knew when the current would change. So all things considered, it was smart to keep the habitats far apart and send smaller boats between them.
But now something was wrong. There was confusion. It looked as if the aquaneers weren’t sure of what to do. I didn’t know what was going on, but whatever it was, it was bad. The answer came quickly. Wu Yenza, the chief aquaneer, ran out onto the upper platform near us. Her eyes were wild with excitement — and fear.
“Perimeter breach!” she barked out. “Warn them off!”
The aquaneers scattered. A moment later a piercing horn sounded long and loud.
“What’s going on?” I asked Uncle Press.
Uncle Press didn’t look at me. His eyes were focused on Magorran. When he spoke his voice was soft and calm. It was the voice of someone describing the inevitable.
“It’s not stopping,” was all he said.
I looked out onto the water and saw what he meant. Magorran, this giant habitat, was headed right for us. It
