Spader had a head start on us and it was tough keeping up with him. It didn’t help that he knew exactly where he was going. We had to keep him in sight or he’d be gone. As we ran across the deck of Magorran I tried to keep an eye on him while taking in the new surroundings. This was a manu habitat, but the factories must have been toward the stern because the area we were running through seemed more residential. There were several tall structures that looked like apartment buildings surrounding a big park. This could have been a normal, downtown neighborhood back on Second Earth. It was strange to think that we were floating. Stranger still was the fact that the place was deserted. There wasn’t a soul to be seen — living or dead. It gave me hope that everyone had evacuated Magorran before they met the same deadly fate as the crew.
Up ahead Spader hurried into one of the apartment buildings. When we entered after him, all my hopes that the habitat had been abandoned came crashing down. Sitting in the lobby were three more bodies. Like in the pilot house, it looked as if death touched them quickly and with complete surprise. They were three men who must have been factory workers because they all wore the same bright blue coveralls. They sat around a table that was covered with multicolored tiles. My guess was they were playing some kind of game when they met their fate. One still held a tile as if ready to make a play. He never got the chance. The whole scene was creepy and I didn’t want to look too closely, but I did see that all three men had the same trace of dried green liquid on their chins. Whatever it was, it must have had something to do with the way they died.
I didn’t want to be there anymore. This was getting dangerously gross. I was all set to turn and bolt back for Grallion, when we heard a crash coming from deeper in the building that sounded like breaking glass. Either it was Spader or somebody was still alive. Uncle Press took off toward the sound and as much as I wanted to run the other way, I stayed with him.
As we ran down a long corridor I tried not to think about what horrors lay behind each of the closed doors we passed. It was like running through a tomb. We finally came to a door that was open slightly.
“You ready for this?” Uncle Press asked.
“No, but we gotta do it,” I answered.
So he pushed the door open and we both entered.
We saw right away that this was an apartment very much like Spader’s on Grallion. It was small and simple, with molded furniture and windows that looked out on the ocean. Nobody was here, so we had to move on into the bedroom.
That’s where we found him. Spader stood in the middle of the room. At his feet was a shattered vase. That was the sound we heard. Spader must have broken it himself, probably in anger. When we entered, he didn’t turn to look at us. That was because he was focused on his father. The man was sitting at a desk with his head resting on the surface. Yes, he was dead. Like the others, it looked as if he had died peacefully. He wore his full aquaneer uniform. My guess was he wanted to look as good for his son as Spader wanted to look for him. My heart went out to my friend. I had expected Spader to discover that his father had disappeared, just as mine had. But this was worse. Much worse.
I think Spader was in shock. His eyes were focused on his father as if he thought he could change the sight before him by sheer willpower.
I had no idea of what to say or do. Uncle Press walked over to the fallen aquaneer and gently closed his eyes. He then looked to Spader and said in a gentle voice, “Don’t be sad, this is the way it was meant to be.”
Though he didn’t know it yet, Spader was a Traveler. As I was told many times before, everything happens for a reason. I didn’t quite buy it yet, but that’s what I was told.
Spader looked into Uncle Press’s eyes and I saw how bad he was hurting.
“This is the way it was meant to be?” he asked with a shaky voice. “I don’t understand.”
“You will,” Uncle Press said gently.
“We’re going to help you.”
I knew what Uncle Press meant. Pretty soon we were going to have to tell Spader about being a Traveler. But I didn’t think it was going to help him understand anything. I’ve known about being a Traveler for some time now, and I’m still pretty clueless.
Uncle Press looked down at the dead man, and saw something. Clutched in his right hand was a small folded piece of paper. Uncle Press gently took it from his hand and read it. He then looked at Spader, and handed the note to him. When Spader took it, I thought he was going to burst out in tears. That’s because the letter was for him.
Scribbled on the sheet was one word: “Spader.” In his dying moments Spader’s father had written a note to his son. It was odd to see “Spader” written out in normal letters. Since Travelers understood all languages, I suppose we could also understand allwrittenlanguage as well.
As Spader took the note I saw Uncle Press put something quickly into his pocket. Spader didn’t see it because he was looking at the note. But I did. Uncle Press had taken something else from the dead man’s hand and didn’t want Spader to see it. He looked at me and gave me a stern look which clearly said: “Don’t say anything.”
“What does the note say?” asked Uncle Press.
Spader showed the note to Uncle Press and I looked over his shoulder to see it too. It wasn’t a written message; it was a drawing. It was a circular symbol about the size of an Oreo cookie. It looked to me like two interlocking letters from an Asian alphabet. I had no idea what it meant or what it represented.
“Do you know what this means?” asked Uncle Press.
Spader shook his head. Uncle Press handed it back to him and said, “If your father wanted you to have it, it’s more important than we realize right now.”
Spader nodded, folded the paper and put it in his pocket. He then looked to my uncle and I saw a change in the aqua-neer’s eyes. He was no longer in shock. He was totally in control.
“I’m going to find out what happened here,” he said with certainty.
“Good. We’re going to help you,” Uncle Press answered.
The moment was broken by the sound of hurried footsteps. A group was headed down the hallway toward us, fast. Seconds later they entered the apartment and I saw it was a group of five aquaneers, headed by Wu Yenza. These guys looked as if they were on a mission. They were all business, and they carried guns. This was the first time I had seen weapons of any sort on Cloral, other than spearguns for fishing. These weapons were sleek, silver rifles with wide barrels.
I would have thought they were kind of cool, if I hadn’t been so worried they might be used on us. Yenza had a gun as well, but hers was a silver pistol in a holster on her hip.
She strode purposefully into the bedroom and scanned the scene. When her eyes fell on Spader’s father, she cringed with surprise and sorrow.
“I’m sorry, Spader,” she said kindly. “I knew your father. There is much of him in you.”
Spader acknowledged this with a nod.
“Magorran is being evacuated,” she then said, clicking into business mode. “All nonessential personnel must return to Grallion.”
“What’s the point?” asked Uncle Press.
“We’re sending in a medical team,” she answered quickly. “The habitat will be quarantined until we determine what caused these deaths.”
Good point. If a virus had done this, it could still be hanging around. It was best to leave this to the experts.
“When you get back to Grallion,” she continued, “you will be disinfected. Do not take anything from here. Understand?”
I was sure that the same thought shot through all of our heads. What about the piece of paper with the round symbol on it? Was Spader going to leave it? The answer wasno. He walked out of the room, past Yenza, without giving up the paper. Uncle Press and I shared glances, then followed him out.
We were escorted back toward the bow of Magorran by two armed aquaneers. We weren’t under arrest or anything, they just wanted to make sure we got back quickly. Spader didn’t say a word. He walked stiffly, looking straight ahead.
When we got near the crushed bow, I saw there was a flurry of activity going on. Several more aquaneers had arrived and were putting on bulky suits that made them look as if they were getting ready to handle plutonium. I figured they wanted protection against any nasty microbe that might be on Magorran. I really hoped those suits weren’t necessary, because if they were, it would have meant Uncle Press and Spader and I were already infected.
