Earth: Population 2 (Paradise Lost Book 1) (15 page)

I checked my watch. “Ten o’clock. We slept in.”

“We sure did.” He pulled himself up. “Guess this alien ship is more comfortable than it looks.” He winked at me and climbed into the pilot’s seat. “Still have that rock?”

“You bet.” Trying to act all normal about how we’d just cuddled together all night, I dug in my backpack for the rock. I climbed into my seat and stuck it in the control panel. The ship hummed to life.

Gale smiled with amusement. “So you didn’t break it.”

“Break it? I saved our butts.”

He chuckled, reminding me of when Jay Dovetail pulled a prank on Ironleg, his first mate. “Calm down, Julie. It was just a joke.”

He pressed something on the panel, and the stick came up from the floor. I tightened my grip on the seat.
Here we go again…
I was never a big fan of roller coasters, Turkish Twists, or even merry-go-rounds that went above five miles an hour.

He pulled the control back, and the ship teetered back and forth as it hovered off the ground.

“Let’s see if I can remember how to fly this thing.”

I opened my mouth to remind him he’d just flown it last night, and I stopped in my tracks. He was joking again, and I wasn’t falling for the bait this time. “Take us away, Captain.”

Gale raised his eyebrows at my own attempt at humor and pressed the blue light forward.

We surged ahead, dodging the other cars in the tunnel. Sparks flew as he nicked the left wing on the side. I held on tighter. “Watch out!”

“Hey, I’m trying my best. It’s not like I actually passed out of flight school.” In a few seconds, the sun shone down on us, and the waters of the bay glimmered on our right. If it wasn’t for the wreck of cars on the road and Gale’s precarious flight techniques, I could pretend we were taking a joy ride of the big city.

I watched the tall buildings shimmer in all their glory. A wave of melancholy hit me as I thought of everything humanity had achieved, just to be wiped out by some electromagnetic mass annihilation. And for what? So the Sparkies could harvest the ocean?

I turned around and looked at the shiny storage containers in the back. “What do you suppose is in those?”

Gale shrugged. “One thing’s for sure. When we get back, we’re opening them.”

We landed on the cultured lawn right in front of the statue of Michelangelo’s David with his manly nakedness right at eye level. I tried not to stare. Why a naked statue made me uncomfortable in Gale’s presence, I had no idea.

We opened the hatches and the cool morning air smelled so fresh after being in that small ship all night. I stepped onto the lawn and breathed, spreading my arms to the sun.

“I’d say it’s a step up from the Jaguar, wouldn’t you?” Gale rolled one of the storage containers on the lawn.

“You sure you want to open that? I mean, it could have hazardous waste, or acid.”

Gale raised an eyebrow. “Or it could give us a clue about who we’re dealing with.”

If I could learn any more about saving Mom, then the risk was worth it. “All right.”

I helped Gale unfasten small latches around the lid. Gale pried the top off, and he fell back with the force. I caught him and helped him stay upright as he dropped the lid on the ground. We’d backed away too far to see inside.

“Let’s see what these aliens are here for.” Gale took my hand, and we stepped closer.

I didn’t know what to expect; body parts, blood, alien babies. All sorts of awful things crossed my mind.

As I peered inside, disbelief rattled me to the core.
That’s it?
White grains of sand filled the container. Gale stuck his hand in.

“Gale, don’t!”

He wiggled out of my grasp and touched his finger to his tongue. “Salt.”

“Salt? Really?”

“Yup.”

“They invaded Earth for salt?” I kicked the container. “Damn. I could have just told them to go to the baking aisle.”

Gale scanned the back of the ship where the other containers sat. “From the looks of it, they needed more than any grocery store can carry. Think of the giant gear harvesting the ocean water. It’s actually a great plan when you think about it. Eliminate all the natural inhabitants then take what you want without a fight.”

Fury burned through me. I wanted to grab a Sparkie and strangle it. “Cowards. That’s what they are. Can’t even face their enemy. We’re not going to let them get away with this.”

Gale put his arm around me as if trying to protect me from the evil in the world. “That’s right. But we have to eat our SpaghettiOs first.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

TEST FLIGHT

July 8, 2013, 12:15 p.m.

Day 14

“So, tell me more about Missy.” I sat in the cockpit as Gale maneuvered the ship in the air and over the mansion. We’d decided to try a few practice runs before invading the alien’s main ship. We’d only get one try, and the fate of the world rested in our hands.

No pressure.

“I’m supposed to be concentrating.” He brought back the controls, and we rose quickly, sending butterflies dancing in my stomach. The forest surrounding the electric fence stretched below us in a soft green mass, and, in the distance, the Atlantic Ocean gleamed.

Excitement and exhilaration gave me goose bumps. I had to remind myself we weren’t joyriding for fun. We had a mission to accomplish. “You’re going to have to fly under pressure. You need to see how you handle distractions.”

He gave me a sideways glance. “You’re distraction enough.”

Was that a compliment or an insult? I shifted in my seat. “Over there. See if you can fly around that lighthouse.”

“Okay.” He turned the ship, and we tilted in the air. “I found Missy on the set of
Wings of Justice
,
one of my movies.”

“Oh.” The poster happened to be plastered on my back wall, next to my closet. Gale stood in front of a fight jet wearing a bomber jacket like some 1940s flying ace. I used to imagine myself standing next to him, dressed in a glamorous suit coat and skirt with a ribbon in my curled hair.

“She’d come up to us asking for scraps when we ate our lunch outside. I’d always give her a piece of my sandwich. I thought she belonged to a member of the crew. When filming wrapped, I asked around and no one claimed her, so I took her home.” He smiled. “She had this cute light patch above her black nose. When I threw her a French fry, sometimes it would miss and bounce right off that patch of fur. She was never good at catching. So I called her Missy.”

He breathed heavily and focused on flying. The roar of the wind filled the silence between us.

I reached over and squeezed his arm. “You’ll see her again.”

He glanced over, and hope shone in his eyes. He believed me. He believed in us and our plan. “Tell me about the people you miss.”

“The people I miss?” I leaned back and watched the ocean glimmer below us. Where would I start? “Well, I don’t have any pets unless you count the mold in the fridge.”

He rolled his eyes. “Tell me about your friends. What are they like?”

Why Gale was interested in my boring life, I had no idea. “My best friend is Hailey Scott. She’s going to UCLA next year for college. Or, at least she was.”

“She’ll go.” Gale tapped his fingers on the controls as we approached the lighthouse. “So, why did you two become friends?”

I thought back to elementary school. I could still see Hailey’s pink sweater with roses on the neck. “I sat next to her in sixth grade. I was little and scraggly with unkempt hair and secondhand clothes, and she had the nicest, color-coordinated outfits. Her golden hair glowed in the sun, perfectly braided. I was shy back then, and even though I always wanted to talk to her, I couldn’t bring myself to say hi. One day, during a spelling test, I was having trouble, making mistakes and crossing them out. She passed me her rainbow eraser, risking Mrs. Hildabroom’s wrath. After that, I knew she was a keeper.”

Gale smiled. “That’s a nice story. I always wanted a normal classroom experience like that.”

“You didn’t go to school?”

He shook his head. “I was always on set. I had tutors most of the time. Some of them were nice, but some of them just wanted to use me to get into the industry themselves.

“Really?” I’d never seen this side of Gale before. His self-reflection intrigued me.

“Yeah. I remember this one time my mom caught my favorite tutor, a young guy named Jake, talking to the producers when he was supposed to be teaching me. Turns out, he was selling pictures of me studying my textbooks to TMZ. She fired him, and it broke my heart. I thought he was my friend, that he came to see me. But he used me. It’s common in showbiz. It’s hard to tell who likes you for you, and who likes you for your fame.”

“So that’s why you don’t like your fans?”

“It’s not that I don’t like them. I wouldn’t be successful without them. I just don’t like the way they treat me.”

The puzzle of who Gale was underneath that Captain Jay Dovetail façade came together, and I totally understood him. I would have been the same way in his shoes. I wouldn’t trust a single stranger, thinking they were all out to make money off of me by selling my autographs or pictures taken in the private moments of my life. It must be awful.

My stomach sickened as we circled the lighthouse and started back for the mansion. I was one of those fans. Even though I wouldn’t sell a picture of him to TMZ, I would have posted it all over Twitter bragging about how I got to meet him. I hadn’t liked him for who he truly was, I’d liked him for his persona, his status, his fame.

Even though I was way beyond all that now, I could never tell Gale the truth.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

EVIDENCE

July 14, 2013, 11:14 p.m.

Day 20

“Haven’t you seen enough?” I played solitaire with the deck of cards on the roof as Gale watched the Sparkies’ flight patterns. It had been nine days since we stole the ship. Did Gale actually want to go through with this, or was he getting cold feet?

“We’re only going to get one shot. I want to make it count. I’m not going to risk our plan because my flying skills aren’t up to par.”

I placed the last card down and finished the game. “We spent all day practicing in that thing. I’d say you’re ready. We’re ready.”

Gale stared at the horizon for a long time. When he turned back to me, determination set in his eyes. “Then, we should celebrate.”

“Celebrate?”

“Our last night on an empty Earth.” Melancholy tinged his voice. Did he really mean our last night together? Was that why he didn’t want to leave? Because of our developing relationship?

In a way, he was right. Even if we saved everyone, we’d go back to our previous lives. I’d go back to Save ’n Shop, and he’d go back to being a movie star. It’s not like we had a chance in the world of even staying friends.

I collected the cards and stuffed them in my backpack. “What should we do?”

“Something special. Something normal—so we can pretend for a moment we’re just hanging out.”

Could he get any sweeter? Boy did I wish we could have a chance together. A real chance. Not this twisted nightmare our world had become. “I’d like that.”

“Good.” He smiled with relief. “Let’s watch a movie on your laptop. Pete has a bunch of DVDs downstairs, and I hate to waste power on the big electronics.”

“Sure.” I dug my laptop out of my backpack and turned it on. “It’s gonna take a while to boot.”

“Bring it downstairs, and we’ll choose a movie together.”

“Sounds good.” It almost sounded like a date. A tiny tug of memory bothered me about my laptop, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. Maybe I was just embarrassed I’d found it in a garbage dump and a large crack went down the screen.

We climbed down to this private movie room complete with rows of leather seats and a large screen with red curtains on either side.

Gale unlocked a cabinet with every movie ever made from the black and whites to
Transformers
. “Too bad the power isn’t working, or I’d show you how cool this room is.”

“That’s all right.” I scanned the movies and my eyes shot to
Pirate Crusader
. Bet Gale didn’t want to watch that one.

Gale turned to me. “So what are you thinking? What kind of movies do you like to watch?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” All the movies I watched had him in them. I picked up a James Bond flick. “How’s this?”

He turned the movie over and looked at the back. “James Bond, really? I thought you weren’t the gun type.”

“I’m not.” Busted. My eyes scanned the movies desperately. “Or how about this?”

“Jackie Chan?”

“Yeah.”

Gale gave me a confused look like he thought he’d had me all figured out and then, bam, I liked kung fu and guns. “Have you ever seen this movie?”

“No. That’s why I picked it. I thought we could see it together.” There. That made sense, didn’t it?

“Okay.” Gale raised both eyebrows, but closed the door to the cabinet. “Jackie Chan, it is.”

My computer beeped. Under my arm, Jay Dovetail shouted, “all hands on deck! Prepare the ship. We have a rum smuggler to catch!”

Oh no.
My chest tightened.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
The last time I had my computer on, I was watching
Pirate Crusader
.

Gale glanced at me in confusion. “Why is your computer talking?”

I started backing up toward the door. I wasn’t sure what I’d do. Throw the thing off the roof before he could see it? There really wasn’t anywhere for me to go outside the electric fence. “It’s nothing. It’s just…I….”

Gale held out his hand as if disappointed. “Let me see it.”

Anxiety built up inside me. I had to get the truth over with. I couldn’t keep covering up the lie. I sighed and handed him the computer. I had to tell him sometime, but this was not the right way and definitely not the right time.