The Search For WondLa (22 page)

A dazed Rovender Kitt was hog-tied and strapped to the back of the hovering glider. Besteel stood, patient and unmoving, with the muzzle of the boomrod aimed at Rovender’s head.

“Oho! She comez!” Besteel gloated. “She iz smart one after allz, eh, Cærulean?”

“Don’t do as he says, Eva Nine,” Rovender shouted. “Save yourself and Muthr. Get out of here!”

“Enough!” Besteel pistol-whipped Rovender with the butt of his boomrod. He shoved the muzzle back into Rovender’s face. “You getz down here and on ze glider, leettle prize, or dis one dies. Now!”

Eva slid down Otto’s back toward his head.

Tunnel biters. Not. Safe.

Otto,
Eva thought, stopping on the water bear’s head,
tell the herd to back up.

The water bear hooted, low and gruff.

“No more stalling,” Besteel growled, pointing the boomrod at Otto. “Or I finish whats I started wiz dis cow. Get down here! I do not ask again.”

Otto’s herd backed up and created an open sandy circle around the huntsman.

“Yez, dats more like it,” Besteel said, waving his weapon at the herd. “Now come down here, leettle one.”

Eva stood, pulling out the Omnipod.

“No, no, no.” Besteel wagged a clawed finger at her. “No trickz wiz your toy. Give zat to me. Come on.”

Eva held the Omnipod up high.

Besteel aimed his boomrod at her.

A hot, gusty desert breeze played with Eva’s thin beaded braids as she glared at the huntsman.

Besteel squinted at her, his heavy chest heaving with each breath. The humming, charged boomrod remained aimed at the girl, unwavering.

She glared.

He squinted.

Eva blinked, then slumped her shoulders with a sigh. She threw the Omnipod down. It landed in the sand out in the center of the sandy circle created by Otto’s herd.

“Very goot.” Besteel approached the clicking device slowly and steadily. With one pair of arms he groped around in the sand for the clacking Omnipod, never taking his eye, or his aim, off Eva. Besteel scooped up the device and held it tightly in his talons. “Now comez down here and we leave. Nize and easy.”

Eva crawled back up to the top of Otto’s armored back. She turned to the huntsman and folded her arms. As she did so, the herd opened up even more, giving Besteel more space.

Eva stood silently. Watching.

“You leettle shrew! No trickz!” Besteel yelled. “Getz down here NOW!”

Eva held her ground. All that could be heard was clicking.

“So be it.” Besteel’s voice was cold. “I kill your friend.” He turned around toward his glider to shoot Rovender, but found himself face-to-face with an enormous sand-sniper clicking to the cadence of the recorded call playing on the Omnipod.

Before the huntsman could fire his weapon, a pair of spiked forelegs pierced his body. Stunned, Besteel let go of his boomrod and tried to wriggle free.

The boomrod fell next to the giant sand-sniper just as dozens of juveniles surfaced from the sand. They, too, sunk their pincers into the huntsman and clicked in high-pitched chirps.

Besteel was dragged below the dark desert sands of the wasteland by the sand-sniper and her brood, never to surface again.

CHAPTER 40: DARKNESS

Rovee! Rovee!
Are you okay?” Eva jumped down from Otto and ran to the huntsman’s glider. The herd of water bears broke up, hooting and calling out as they rejoiced in the demise of Besteel—he who had hunted them.

“A bit black-and-blue, but it’s nothing a little moss and drink won’t fix,” Rovender said with a weak grin. He wriggled in his binds. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and dried blood was smeared above it, caked with sand.

“Hold on,” Eva said as she rummaged through Besteel’s belongings. “There’s got to be a knife in one of these bags.”

Rovender rolled over. “Here. Try the back pouch on my belt.”

Eva found the familiar shape of the small curved knife, the same one she had used to free her friend from the huntsman’s camp. Rovender was free in moments.

“I’m so happy you’re okay.” Eva buried her face in his jacket, staining the shoulder with her tears.

Rovender broke the hug and looked around. “Where is Mother?” he asked.

“Muthr!” Eva put her arm around her friend. “Come on, hurry!”

Together the two limped over to the twisted wreckage of the Goldfish.

As they both knelt down next to Muthr, Eva could see that more of the thick liquid had run out of the braincase, soaking into the sand all around her. Eva gingerly put the palm of her bandaged hand over the crack, as she had done previously, and lifted Muthr’s head. A golden glow returned to the robot’s eyes.

“Look. This happened before,” Eva said. She gazed at Muthr’s face and waited for her to speak. “If I hold her back here, she comes back on.”

“It is your energy, the electricity within you, Eva Nine, that temporarily revives her,” Rovender said. He looked at the fractured braincase. “I am afraid, though, that she may be damaged beyond repair.”

Static hissed from the robot’s mouth.

“Eva, dear.” Muthr’s voice sounded far away and dreamy, different from how Eva had heard her speak before. “I get to see you one last time. Is Besteel gone?”

“Yes, he’s gone,” Eva replied.

Rovender ran his thick fingers over Muthr’s face. “He will bother no one ever again, thanks to your resourceful daughter,” he said.

“We are free and we’re going to make it,” Eva said as she tried to stay strong. “You’re going to tell us what to do, and me and Rovee are going fix you up. You’re gonna be okay.”

“Eva . . . ,” Muthr said, reaching up to hold Eva’s hand tightly. Her grip was cold and metallic. Muthr paused as an electric current danced over her open braincase, prickling Eva’s skin. “Eva, you have to let me go.”

“No, no,” Eva said. A long tear streamed down her face, like a crystal brook on her grime-smeared cheek. “You will be fine. We will fix you.”

Muthr turned her head to gaze into Eva’s eyes. “You did fix me, Eva. Do you not see that?”

“No, this is my fault. We should have gone to the other Sanctuary.” Eva’s voice was barely a hush. “I’m so sorry. None of this would have happened if I had listened to you.”

One of Muthr’s arms was half-buried in the sand. Now it emerged clutching on to something. With a great grinding effort she handed a worn scrap of panel to Eva.

It was a picture of a girl, and a robot, and an adult. Smiling. Moving forward.

“My WondLa?” Eva took it. “I don’t understand.”

“Eva . . .” Muthr’s voice was soft and slow, like a clock whose batteries were running down. “Did you know that
my
WondLa, my wish, was to experience this wondrous world with
you
, my daughter? My triumph. My joy. All I ever wanted was for
you
to be happy and safe. That is all I ever wanted. . . . And now I know that you will be all these things.”

Eva wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “But without you I—”

“Just let me go, Eva,” Muthr whispered. “Just let me go.”

Eva slid her hand out from under the braincase and laid Muthr’s head down.

“You will always be my mother.” Eva leaned over and kissed the forehead of the machine. “And I will always love you.”

“I love you, Eva. You will grow up to be an amazing woman.” Muthr’s voice was but a breath. Static on the wind. “I am . . . so proud of you.”

With that, Muthr’s eyes went dark.

CHAPTER 41: TRUTH

A small fire
crackled brightly against a magnificent lavender-hued sky at the campsite in the ancient ruins. As she sat under a long-forgotten steel archway, Eva Nine stared into the dancing flames and thought of her life before she’d left the confines of her Sanctuary. She thought of Muthr. A hollow pang of loneliness crept over her.

She felt the familiar nudge of a beak on her back and heard the sound of a purr. A warm, knobby tongue began licking her head.

Little one, you are safe.

Eva rose and wiped her face with her sleeve. She turned, expecting to see Otto, but instead she met with the ancient face of another giant water bear that observed the girl with cataract-clouded eyes. Its carapace was covered in numerous gouges and dents, patched over with rich thick growths of moss and algae. Behind this beast were the many faces of the herd, huddled close to see Eva. All began to hoot in unison.

You are the one,
they sang,
the one who risked your life to save one of us—the one who would treat us as your equal.

Eva blinked as their thoughts flooded in and filled her. They awakened and energized her.

Now you, little one, are one of us. We are one. So shall it be.

A large behemoth stepped forward. Eva smiled as she recognized the benevolent face of Otto. She placed her palm on his pebbly forehead.
You will always be my friend, Otto.

Herd. Must. Go.

“I understand,” Eva said, holding back her tears. “Maybe I’ll see you again, someday.”

Just. Call.

“Oh, I love you, Otto.” Eva wrapped her thin arms around his large neck. “And I will miss you.”

Me. Too. Little one.

The herd began moving away from the ancient ruins, across the dark mysterious dunes. As he turned to leave, Otto looked at Eva with his large bulbous eyes.

Go. See. Truth.

The water bear shuffled away to join the rest of his herd. Behind him, the enormous tunnel that he had excavated below the lion sculptures waited in the shadows as twilight flooded the land.

Eva grabbed a lantern and wandered out into the silhouettes of the ruins, toward the giant tunnel. “Rovee?” she whispered.

Sitting up on one of the lion sculptures, alone in the dusky gloam, Rovender Kitt stared out at the skies as the top of the sun sank below the inky landscape. Eva could hear him talking to someone, though it was hard to discern who it was because his back was facing her.

“Hey,” she said, approaching him.

“Hello, Eva Nine.” He took a swig from his bottle. “How are you?”

“I’m . . . okay . . . I guess. I don’t know.” She climbed up next to him. “How about you?”

“I am sad for you, and for me,” he said, and swallowed more of his drink. “I grieve for Mother.”

“I am sad too.” Eva pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her arms on them. She was missing a piece of herself she knew she’d never find again.

“It’s funny. We have adapted ourselves to live in a
new world
. A
new land
.” He took another gulp. “We have traveled far, overcoming many dangers . . . many obstacles.”

Eva was quiet.

“And what happens? What is our reward for such a demanding journey? This?” Rovender let out a sarcastic laugh as he gestured at the towering ruins surrounding them.

Eva’s eyes were downcast.

“It’s not fair!” Rovender yelled, throwing the bottle. It exploded against a lone standing wall. “You did not deserve this.”

Eva put her head down.

“It should . . . It should have been me!” His voice was angry. “It’s not right!”

“Don’t say that, Rovee.” Eva sniffed. Her body felt numb.

“No!” Rovender stood up, shouting, “I should have died! It shouldn’t have been Mother. It shouldn’t be
any
mother . . . not with little ones.” He crumpled back down, his head in his hands. “Not with little ones. They don’t deserve this. It should have been me.” He sobbed, “It should have been me.”

Eva scooted over to Rovender and put her arm around him. They sat quietly as a full blue moon drifted up through the clouded night skies of Orbona.

Eva awoke to the crackling of the campfire in the middle of the night. Balled up under a thick wooly blanket given by Hostia, she peered out into the camp. Rovender sat near her and gazed, as if hypnotized, into the fire. Alongside him, his large rucksack was wide open, its many contents spread about.

One by one he picked up an item and tossed it into the blaze. Eva blinked out the sleep and sat up. “Rovee, what are you doing?”

His voice seemed calm, at ease, as he spoke to the flames. “I am, at last, cleansing my spirit, Eva Nine.”

She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. “What?”

Rovender picked up the ornate necklace from his rucksack. “These things are nothing more than that—just things,” he said, and dropped the necklace into the campfire.

Eva sat in a ball of blanket as she watched the flames consume the necklace.

“They are not memories. . . .” Rovender dropped a handful of belongings into the fire.

“They are not alive. . . .” He scooped up an armload.

“They will never replace the ones we’ve lost.” He stood and emptied the last bit of his old possessions into the growing fire.

Eva got up, still wrapped in the coarse blanket. She grabbed her satchel and walked over to the campfire, turning it upside down. The remaining nutriment pellets, water purification tablets, Pow-R-drinks, and SustiBars tumbled down into the roaring blaze. She sat down next to Rovender and smiled. Her smile wasn’t so much one of happiness; it was more one of understanding.

Something else struck her at that moment. Eva crawled over to her sleeping mat and grabbed a small, flat object that was tucked under her balled-up jackvest. She studied the WondLa one final time before she moved to toss the picture into the flames—but a calloused hand caught her wrist.

“Not that.” Rovender’s tone was serious. “You must honor Otto, myself, and your mother by seeing to it that you find what it is that you have searched for.”

“But . . .” Eva blinked in shock. “What does it matter now?”

“
Now
is when it matters most, Eva Nine,” Rovender replied as he released his grip. “Honor yourself.” She saw the tattered friendship bracelet tied around his wrist.

Eva rose, staring at the fire as it finished eating all the effects of her past life . . . of Rovender’s past life. Soon these ashes would be indiscernible from the black desert sands that surrounded them. She dropped the WondLa to the ground and grabbed her jackvest.

“Where are you off to?” Rovender stood. “It’s past midnight.”

Eva slipped on her jackvest and lit a lantern. “I’m going to finish what I’ve started.”

One of the stone lions was buried under the enormous mound of excavated sand that Otto had dug. As Eva’s sneakboots crunched over the fine grains of sand, she looked up at the now cloudless sapphire sky. The celestial Rings of Orbona glowed like wide ribbons stretched across the heavens. She stopped at the entrance to the tunnel leading down. With her lantern raised over her head for a better view, Eva shuddered, realizing it barely illuminated the darkness around her. Another lantern light bobbed up from behind.

“You didn’t think I’d let you do this on your own, did you?” Rovender said, catching up to Eva on his backward-bending legs. “Are you ready?”

“I’m ready.” Eva looked at him in the golden flickering light. “I need to know the answer to the puzzle.”

He smiled a toothy grin. “I know, Eva Nine. That’s one of the things I like about you.” As Muthr had done, he reached out his hand, and Eva placed hers in it. They ventured into the giant tunnel.

The enormous shaft went straight down for only a short length, then turned, becoming a more gradual angle down. It wound into the dank, cold ground, eventually leveling out into a subterranean walkway.

“Oeeah! Quite a digger, that Otto is!” Rovender observed the tunnel walls with his lantern, now hooked on the end of his walking stick. “Look at all of this.”

Eva knelt down. The earth below her was hard and firm. She brushed the sand away with her hands and discovered numerous little cobbles set in a perfect pattern. She looked up at the earthen walls and roof. “That looks like the Goldfish, doesn’t it?”

Rovender added his light to hers. The face of a hovercar peeked out from the sand-packed walls above them. Its empty headlight sockets watched the two as they passed below. They continued down the tunnel path, where Eva recognized numerous items that silently greeted them from their resting places: traffic signs, more hovercars, and even the corroded remains of another robot. Up ahead, a darkened arched portal closed off the end of the tunnel.

Rovender brought his lantern close to the arch. Eva realized it was a pair of large closed doors, encrusted with ancient dirt and grime. Even though one of the doors was still half-buried in the sediment, there was something written on it that was familiar to her.

She wiped the dirt away from the exposed door with the sleeve of her tunic. In perfectly preserved printing, it said:

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

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