A Girl Called Badger (Valley of the Sleeping Birds) (12 page)

“Fine, fine. I get the point. Just promise me you won’t tell anyone, especially Simpson. Slow your breathing to once every ten count. Think about a really bright light and say:

Eyes made of light

Eyes made of sun

Eyes made of moon

Restore my sight

The door scraped and Wilson was left alone in the dark. He slowed his breathing and repeated the words over and over. He tried to imagine staring into the sun on a hot summer day.

After several minutes he realized his eyes were closed. When opened them, the room was still dark but not midnight coal like before. He could see the outline of a desk and a table. He kept visualizing sunlight and saying the four lines, but the room didn’t brighten much more. Even after he stopped focusing, the room didn’t return to black and he could still see those vague shapes.

Wilson took note of his inventory: one coil of rope, bundles of papers in an old backpack, one hunting knife, one throwing knife, six rounds in the pistol and thirty-three reloads in a belt pouch. Another pouch held a sterilizer, two painkiller packets, and three bandages.

He had no water to mix with the painkiller, but his arm had begun to throb with a sickening pain. Wilson ripped a corner of the packet with his teeth and poured the contents into his mouth. He swallowed the fine powder and coughed.

A knock came from the door and he pulled out the pistol.

“It’s only me,” said Badger. “Lizards don’t knock.”

Wilson stood up and walked to the door, his legs trembling from the painkiller.

“I’m impressed. Can you really see anything?” asked Badger.

“Black blobs on a background of black blobs.”

“The light is better in the tunnel.”

The corridor was a brighter shade of gray. Wilson followed Badger around the corner of the passage. The broken lantern lay beside the dead range lizard. Wilson kept his pistol out and held Badger’s hand as he edged around the corpse.

They passed door after door through the tunnels but didn’t stop.

Wilson squeezed Badger’s hand. “I hear something.”

“It’s only dripping water. Come on.”

The sounds came from a black pit that yawned wall-to-wall in the tunnel floor. Wilson couldn’t see the bottom of the pit or the far side.

“How do we get across?”

“We’re not going to cross it, we’re going down,” said Badger. “Tie your rope here. I’ll go first and help you.”

She disappeared into the pit. Wilson tapped gloved fingers on his knife hilt and watched the gray blob of the passage behind. After a minute he heard a faint whisper from Badger.

“Now!”

Wilson wrapped the rope around his middle. He gripped it with his good hand and leaned over the pit. Badger must have climbed back up, because he felt something guiding his feet to safe ledges. After a few minutes of slow descent over the pile of stone and crumbling earth, he made it to the floor of another tunnel.

Wilson rubbed the fingers inside his gloves. “Is this Level Three?”

Badger shrugged and climbed back up the stone pile. After a moment the rope twitched and dropped. Wilson finished coiling it just as she reappeared.

“This way,” she said.

Badger led him through another gray blob of a tunnel. The echo of water became louder. Next to a black opening in the tunnel wall Wilson’s fingers slid across bubbled and peeling metal. He shoved his face close enough to read the sign.

“Reservoir Access?”

“It’s a way out,” said Badger.

She led him to a concrete pier where a lake the color of midnight spread in all directions. Cold air heavy with moisture touched his face. A droplet of water smacked the surface of the lake and a faint echo bounced from the far wall of the cavern.

“This place is huge,” said Wilson. “But how does this get us out?”

Badger squeezed his hand. “Trust me,” she said, and began to unbutton her jacket.

“You’re not doing what I think you’re doing, are you?”

“Clothes will get soaked and drag us down. I don’t want to lose my knife, either. Strip and wrap everything in your jacket.”

“Yes ma’am!”

Wilson peeled off his outer clothes and shoved his trousers, moccasins, and belt in his backpack. He covered the backpack with his leather jacket and tied everything together with part of the climbing rope.

Badger used the rest to tie her bundle. She stood and held the bundle at her chest, naked except for white underwear bottoms.

Wilson pulled his shirt up. “Wait! You can wear this.”

“Don’t bother, I’m not cold.”

They waded into the cool water and Wilson drank a handful. It tasted strange and slightly metallic. He splashed behind Badger, holding his bundle out of the water with his good arm. The bottom was flat under his feet but slick, so Wilson walked carefully. Badger balanced the clothes on her head with both hands and stayed close to the right wall. The water deepened until it splashed just below Wilson’s chin.

“Can you feel that?” Badger’s voice echoed faintly. “Stop for a second.”

Something tickled the hair on Wilson’s legs.

“The water’s moving,” he said.

They followed the current, wading for what felt like hours. Ripples on the lake’s cool surface were the only clues to Wilson that he moved at all and hadn’t been struck blind.

His good arm burned with exhaustion and the lizard bite started to throb again. Wilson let the bundle of clothes and backpack float on the surface. With each step on the flat, slick bottom he expected a sudden drop-off but it never came. The level of the water remained constant, and at his neck.

“Get ready to swim,” came the echo of Badger’s voice.

The current pulled harder at his legs and Wilson floated more than walked. The bottom sped beneath his toes. A glow came from downstream, enough to light the curved walls of a tunnel overhead. The walls quickly flashed past him in the strong current and Wilson heard a low roar of falling water. The sound grew in volume until there was nothing else.

The tunnel abruptly curved to the left and he was blinded by intense light. Wilson closed his eyes. He immediately flew weightless into space and plunged underwater.

The white froth tossed him in all directions like a puff of dandelion in the wind. At last Wilson kicked to the surface and gasped for breath. Through the searing, painful light he saw trees and splashed toward the shore.

Soft mud squished between his toes. With his hands shielding his eyes Wilson searched the wide surface of the lake.

In the west, the sun turned the clouds shades of pink and orange. Pine forests lined the banks and the high and steep slopes of Old Man rose on his left. Across the lake, a spume of clear water roared from the granite mountain and foamed in white, angry waves on the surface.

His bundle of clothes floated by. Wilson grabbed it and tossed the soaked mess to the bank. He began to wade further into the lake when a dark shape broke the surface and rippled away from him.

Wilson waved his arms over his head. “Kira!”

The dark blob changed course and swam up with a relaxed, freestyle stroke. Badger rose out of the water holding her bundle in one hand and wearing only a smile.

“If I live to one hundred I’ll never see a better sight,” said Wilson.

She put her arms around his neck and gave him a long kiss.

SIX

E
vening approached. Wilson and Badger twisted out as much water as possible before wearing their damp clothes. Wilson checked his backpack. A few of the old papers he’d salvaged had been soaked into oblivion.

The lake was on the opposite side of the mountain from Station and the valley. As night darkened the forest, Badger found a path and they followed it to the perimeter. Two hunters escorted them through the pass and back to the village.

Father Reed waited above the rectory steps with a lantern.

“Wilson! You’ve been gone all day!”

“Sorry, sir. We got lost.”

Father Reed shook his head at the state of the two young people. He led them down the steps and into the bright corridors of the rectory.

“Come to the treatment room where it’s warm. We’ve been looking everywhere for you two. Come on, clothes off! Airman Chen, there are women’s clothes across the hall.”

She left to change. Reed helped Wilson to remove his outer clothing and pushed him to the exam table. Wilson gave his best explanation of what had happened as the priest connected him to the medical monitors. Badger returned wearing a gray sweater and brown skirt. The hunting knives looked out of place around her waist.

“And what’s this?” Reed unwrapped the blood-spotted cloth on Wilson’s arm. A line of messy lacerations stretched across the inner and outer forearm.

“Lizard bite,” said Wilson.

“A range lizard, from the spread and size of it. Move your fingers. Good. I’ll have to clean and dress this. The analyzer states you’re recovering from injected poison and bacterial infection at the wound sites. Plenty of rest and hot tea should clear that up quickly.”

Father Reed looked up to see Badger next to Wilson. She touched his hand.

“Airman Chen, are you injured?”

“No, sir.”

“Then gather your belongings and return to your quarters.”

“Can’t I stay here, sir?”

“I’m afraid not.”

Badger bit her upper lip. “Please?”

Reed shook his head and she ran from the room. Wilson listened to the inner door open and shut. Reed helped Wilson to the sink and prepared a sterilizer. He cleaned the wounds and bandaged Wilson’s arm.

“Apprentice, tell me something.”

“Ouch! Yes?”

“Explain what she was doing in the tunnels with you.”

Wilson touched the soft cloth over his bitten arm. “Saving my life.”

“Don’t be flippant, you’re in serious trouble. No person, not even the apprentice I’ve trained for a third of his life, goes into the tunnels without two things: my permission and a good reason. You’ve obviously seen why.”

“But–”

“To make it worse, you promised to stay away from her and you didn’t. You were supposed to work in Armory today and you didn’t. I’m considering the possibility that the locator was faulty yet again, and the pair of you were swimming at the lake. Now that I think about it, I’d feel much better if you were taking a day to relax. Being my apprentice is a hard job. That’s probably why I haven’t had one for years.”

“It’s not true!”

“Which one isn’t true?”

“We ended up at the lake–”

“I see.”

“Please. We were underground in Levels One, Two, and Three. Range lizards trapped us and we couldn’t return through the hatch. We had to swim through a cavern and it led to the lake.”

“I think this is actually a bite from a rock lizard,” said Father Reed. “They bask on rocks near the lake just like teenagers.”

“If that’s the case,” said Wilson, “Then where did I get these?”

He shoved the dripping papers at Reed. The priest spread them on the counter.

“Are these from my–”

Wilson sighed. “No, not from your library, Father.”

He rubbed his bandaged arm while Reed bent over the papers like a vulture. He moved his lips while reading. At last he rubbed his beard and straightened.

“I was wrong, Ensign, and I apologize. I’ve never seen this before and it makes for a very interesting read.”

“Apology accepted.”

“However, there are consequences for breaking the rules. You’re confined to these quarters for one week. I’m not punishing you as much as I’m giving your body and brain time to recover from what most would say is a bit of madness. I expect you to study and meet your responsibility to help me if anyone has medical complaints. Finally, if you meet with Airman Chen again, during or even after this week of rumination, you’ll be confined for one month.”

“That’s not fair!”

“I think it is. You’re a good student and hard worker. If it were any other person he’d be out on his ear.”

THE NEXT MORNING ROBB knocked on his door with breakfast. Wilson gave him a note for Badger and made him swear to keep it quiet. The teenager gleefully accepted another “secret mission.”

Wilson tried to remember what he’d read in the old documents. One of the old maps in the library had a listing for “Schriever AFB.” He indexed and and found the coordinates on a map. The location was in the plains and east of the sprawling decay of Springs.

Potato soup and a folded note from Badger came at mid-day. She wrote with a simple but precise hand.

Robb waited for Wilson to finish reading. “What’s in the note?”

“Are you still here?” Wilson looked around for something to throw.

“Don’t hit. You owe me big.”

“If you can’t be quiet I will,” said Wilson. “The old man will hear you.”

“His door is shut. Tell me what it says.”

Wilson wrote a few lines in reply and gave the note back to Robb.

“It says, and I quote: ‘I love you so much kissy kissy mwah mwah and hugs for Robbie.’”

“Eww, sick!”

In the afternoon his mother came to see him but didn’t stay long. She brought food but Wilson had little to say.

He tried to combine the strange information from the past with what he’d seen in the crumbling rooms underground. The caskets labeled “out of service” confused him. Xeno-environment? Hibernation? Wilson found the words in his dictionary. He wondered if some of the founders actually traveled to the stars. What use would these implants be?

 Wrapped in his thoughts, he didn’t notice Mina at his door.

“Wilson … sorry to bother you.”

“It’s no problem, Mina.”

She thumped into the chair at his desk and twirled a strand of hair with the nervous energy of a young girl. The bruises on her face and legs were long gone.

“You’re looking very healthy these days,” said Wilson.

Mina nodded. “It’s because of you and Father Reed I feel better.”

“At least take some of the credit. How have you been?”

“Busy here and there.” She gave him a big smile. “Making clothes. I did this back in my village.”

“Excellent.”

She smoothed the skirt of her white dress. “Wilson ... I have news to tell.”