Captain Alkine leans back in a large leather chair behind his office desk. A window of blue sky fills the wall behind him. It’s twelve hours since they picked me up in Kansas. I’ve barely slept. I haven’t even had time to process. And Alkine thinks it’s a good idea to pull me into a meeting.
“I’ve spoken with our medical team,” he starts. “Except for some residual energy floating around his skin, your friend seems completely normal. Human, even.”
“Who said he’s my friend?” I slouch down in my own far more unimpressive chair.
“Wrong choice of words.” Alkine pauses in thought, staring off into the corner of the room. His right arm’s bound in a dark cast. “I want to apologize, Fisher.”
“No need,” I reply. “I get it. You wanted to keep me safe from Madame and the Unified Party and all the other big bad monsters of the world.”
“That’s true,” he says, “but I should have done more. We all should have. We were so concerned about Pearls that we neglected to consider the personal effect this would have on you. When we found you down in Seattle all those years ago, I was convinced that there was some sort of connection with the government, or the terrorists even. I never dreamed that it would stretch any further than that. I should have spent more time investigating. If we had known the truth about Pearls… ”
“Yeah? Well, now you have a chance to make up for mistakes.”
“My thoughts exactly.” He nods. “Beyond your mother’s message, we’ve been unable to extract much from our visitor. His English is limited and comes out in spurts. As soon as we know more, we’ll have a better idea how safe these people are.” He sighs. “I hope you believe me, Fisher. We had no idea what was inside of Pearls. Everything would have been different if we-”
I raise my hand to stop him. “It’s okay.”
He nods. “Now that we know what you’re capable of, we can tailor our resources to help you. We’re more than able to take on this rescue mission. That is, if you’re interested.”
“You’re asking me?”
He shrugs. “After so many years of keeping things from you, it’s only right that I give you the choice.”
I drum my fingers on the armrest. “What about the Tribunal?”
Alkine sighs. “As soon as they find out I broke through the Skyline to help you in Seattle they’ll be furious. I’ve decided to go off-grid for the time being. We’ve already begun to move westward. By the time they realize we’re gone, we’ll be out of Skyship Territory and over the Pacific.”
I wince at the thought of it. Going against the Unified Party is one thing. We’re used to it. But running away from the Tribunal is something mass new. I never thought Alkine would make such a bold move for me. Maybe I was wrong about him. Maybe he is looking out for my best interests. But if he really wants to help, there’s one more thing he needs to do. “Avery,” I say. “We have to find Avery.”
“Likely back at the Lodge by now,” his voice lowers. “I had my men search the city, Jesse.” He grimaces. “Look, I know you two were close, but it’s not in our best interest to-”
“ You don’t wanna find her,” I interrupt. “You’re afraid she’s still working for Madame.”
“That’s not it. We’re not even sure if Madame’s alive. But launching a full-scale assault on the Lodge would be a huge mistake. I’m already pulling operatives from several Chosen Cities. We need to disappear until we get this thing figured out.”
I grit my teeth, meeting his eyes. “I don’t wanna go without Avery.”
He shakes his head. “They would be expecting us, Fisher. We’re outnumbered.”
“So bring the ship down like you did in Seattle.”
His eyebrows raise. “Over a Chosen City? They’d blast us out of the sky without so much as a warning, cloaked or not. We’re not Atlas, Jesse. A Skyship this size doesn’t stand a chance against a Chosen. We got away with it over a deserted area. It won’t happen again. Even so, I’ll be paying a price for it. Now it’s your turn to give something up. Avery Wicksen’s a smart girl… sneaky, too. She can handle herself. You have more important things to worry about right now.”
“My parents,” I mumble.
“Excuse me?”
“They’re coming to Earth… if they’re still alive. They could be in any of them… any of the Pearls.”
He nods. “Then you better be damn sure the government doesn’t get their hands on them first.”
I take a deep breath, realizing that he’s right. It’s a matter of time. And we don’t have much time to waste.
I glance out the window at the wisps of clouds streaming by. “So where are we going?”
“Eastern Siberia,” he responds. “I have contacts there. Survivors of the fallout from the Chinese-American War. Both the Tribunal and the Unified Party will be looking for us in the air. We can hunker down for a while and get this project up and running. We’ll need supplies, and a space for our… visitors to settle.”
I bristle at the word “visitors,” and wonder if that’s what Alkine thinks of me, too. A visitor. A tourist on my own planet. “You really want to go through with this, then? I mean, it’ll change the world.”
His eyebrows raise. “Is that really such a bad thing?” He clasps his hands. “I want to do this if you think you’re ready. If it’s safe.”
I nod. “It’s safe. The people I’ve met so far… they don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“We’ll confirm it, and we’ll move ahead cautiously. I’ll instruct all units to prepare for Project Pearlbreaker. And you will need to get your butt in training. Slacking off is not gonna cut it, Fisher. This is important.”
I sink down in my chair. “Project Pearlbreaker?”
“Military code name,” he replies. “Gives the people a sense of purpose.”
“No uniforms, right?”
He smiles. “Not unless you want one.”
I shake my head, pausing for a moment. “Are people gonna know? About me, I mean.”
Alkine chuckles. “Fisher, this is Skyship Academy. People are going to know. In fact, I’ve heard a few rather unpleasant rumors filtering around the ship already. You might want to nip that in the bud.”
I tense up, imagining what people like August Bergmann are going to have to say after what happened in Seattle. Puny Jesse Fisher needs an entire Skyship to save him from a middle-aged woman.
“I’ll keep you informed if we manage to extract anything useful from our friend down in the infirmary. No more closed-door meetings, Jesse. I promise you’ll be involved from now on.”
I fidget in the chair. Even though he’s being all warm and fuzzy, I still feel like I’m at a meeting with the principal. Plus, Alkine and promises don’t exactly fit together the way they should.
“Took a lot of guts going down to the Surface,” he says. “Initiative. I hadn’t seen it in you before. It suits you.”
I force a smile, realizing how strange it feels to be complimented by Captain Alkine. He clears his throat and crosses his arms. “Is there anything else we need to discuss?”
I shake my head, eager to leave the conversation on a good note.
Without a goodbye, I pull myself up out of the chair and head for the door. I feel Alkine’s eyes bore into the back of my head as I leave. Creepy. As. Ever.
–
Late evening. A blanket of stars stretches around the ship beyond the Level Five windows. I stand in the outer corridor, hands in my pockets, and stare out into the night. I wish I had a telescope so that I could see farther.
I try to imagine hurtling through the stars, on my way from the laboratory of some unknown planet. It’s too ridiculous to visualize, but it happened. Pearls-I was inside one of those things.
I lay my fingers on the fiberglass and trace the stars. Connect the dots. There are worlds out there, maybe hundreds of them. Worlds as chaotic and troubled as our own. Worlds where people lose things they love. Worlds with families and children. Sisters.
Brothers.
I hear footsteps down the corridor. A voice interrupts the silence. “I’d kill to know what’s going through your mind right now.”
I bring my hand down to my side and turn around. “Eva.”
“Evening, Fisher. I thought you’d be in your room.”
“Nah. I needed some space.”
