The Search For WondLa (6 page)

Free.

Come on.
She closed her eyes.
Please just move back and you’ll be free.

Others. Free. Run.

“Move!” yelled Eva. “You have to move back!”

The behemoth stopped. It started shambling backward. The tension on the snare around its foot loosened. Losing her balance, Eva tripped as she pushed, and fell flat on her stomach. Disoriented, she snapped out of her trance, and looked up.

On the opposite side of the campsite, the huntsman reappeared from the forest. He threw down the Omnipod and bolted straight toward Eva Nine.

CHAPTER 10: RUN

Nassa Ruzender
Keet!” The huntsman leaped over the loot pile toward Eva.

Eva scrambled to her feet.

Run. Hurry. Free.

She dashed around the backside of the armored animal. As quick as lightning, the huntsman was on top of the behemoth’s plated back, lance in hand as he searched for his quarry. Eva dropped, crawling between the massive legs under the animal’s girth. Ducking under its thick, fan-shaped tail, which was tucked and hidden under its belly, she grabbed the now loosened noose and pulled it off the behemoth’s bloodied foot.

You’re free now,
she thought to it.

“Tista baffa fooh!” shouted the huntsman over the behemoth’s bellows. He squeezed a lever and the lance began to charge, its hum growing loud.

Eva heard a loud
BOOM
.

She put her hands over her head, waiting for the weight of the dead behemoth to crush her—but the animal did not fall.

Instead she heard a familiar voice: “Ovanda say tateel?”

Eva opened her eyes and met the gaze of her lanky blue companion. He was kneeling down alongside the armored animal, his hand outstretched. As he pulled Eva out from underneath the behemoth, she saw that he had the huntsman’s other weapon—the sonic rifle used on Eva’s Sanctuary—in his other hand.

“Gabu Baasteel!” The creature spat, throwing the rifle down to the ground. He pointed up toward the orange sky. Eva saw that the sun was setting in the murky cloud cover.

The lanky creature hopped around the camp, cutting the snares of the other captives and freeing the contained insects.

Eva walked over to the stunned and fallen huntsman. His massive arms were limp as he lay on his side breathing in a slow rhythm next to the carcass of the butchered animal. She felt a nudge from behind and a now familiar song in her mind.

Am. Free. Little one.

Eva’s gaze traveled to the severed head of the slain animal. Its lifeless open eyes had clouded over and its beaked mouth was slightly agape. Flies danced on the dried white saliva that was caked on its chin and barbels.

Run. Free.

Yes,
Eva thought back,
we must run … or …
She looked at the lance lying on the ground next to her feet. It was a thin ivory rod, much longer than the huntsman’s rifle, and had a dark lever mounted at its midsection. The coiled electrical cables were tangled around one of the huntsman’s legs. As she studied the bloodied tip, Eva thought about how easily it had cut through thick flesh. She thought about the knives in the kitchen and how they were tools.

Simply tools.

Now her kitchen had been destroyed and an innocent animal had been slain. She bent down to grab the lance.

No. Little one. Free.

“Feezi!” her lanky companion yelled. “Zaata! Zaata!” He pointed to the woods with his hat. With his walking stick as a crutch, he hopped toward her, grunting from the effort. Eva saw that his discolored foot was swollen and raised in such a manner that he could not put any pressure on it.

“Let me help you,” she said.

“Dat, dat, dat,” the creature said, shaking his head. Once again he pointed into the woods. “Feezi zaata.” He turned and pointed in the opposite direction and said, “Ruzender zaata.”

“No.” Eva picked her Omnipod up from the ground. “You won’t make it. And I don’t know where I am. You said you’d help.”

“Bluh,” the creature said with a sigh, and threw up his hands.

A groan came from the huntsman’s direction.

“Oh, no!” cried Eva. “He’s waking up. Let’s zap him again.” She scanned the site for the sonic rifle. It was lying on the ground near the heap of loot. The behemoth let out a low hoot.

Free. Now. Run.

Eva looked over at it. The animal regarded her, hooting again.

I take. You.

“Zaata! Zaata! Zaata!” The lanky creature ambled over toward the rifle.

“Wait!” Eva said.

I take. You. I take. Him.

She nodded at the behemoth, then looked over at her companion. Balancing on his good foot, the lanky creature knelt down and grabbed the rifle. Eva heard a distinct hum as he started to charge it.

Groggy, the waking huntsman sat up, his lemon eyes blinking rapidly. “Grasset de fugill Ruzender!” he bellowed.

“No!” Eva ran over to support her companion. “Use me as a crutch.”

The bristling huntsman grabbed his lance. He pulled himself up, charging his weapon.

Hurry. Little one.

The lanky creature aimed the humming rifle at the huntsman as he and Eva stumbled toward the armored behemoth.

Get. On. Little one.

The huntsman was now on his feet, snorting loudly. The combined charging hum of both weapons rose to a grating pitch.

“We’ll make it,” Eva said as they reached the behemoth. It knelt low to the ground, and she grabbed on to the armored plating, pulling herself up.

“Come on! Hurry!” she shouted with her hand held out.

With an unsteady aim the huntsman pointed the lance at them as the lanky creature climbed up. The humming was so loud now that it vibrated Eva’s entire body. She ignored the noise as she helped her lame companion scramble up onto their mount’s armored back. The lanky creature fired the rifle. It was so charged that it kicked out of the creature’s hands and its blast toppled a stack of cages behind the huntsman.

Jump. Free. Hurry.

“Go!” screamed Eva.

The huntsman released the lever on the sonic lance. The intense sound wave was so loud that it rocked the surrounding forest. The huntsman’s lanterns exploded, and several trees in the line of fire were reduced to heaps of green shredded pulp.

Eva’s eyes watered, and long tears streaked backward over her cheeks as cool wind buffeted her face. The behemoth descended through the dusky light in a gigantic leap, like a humungous grasshopper. Though Eva was holding on to the animal for dear life, she had a giddy smile on her face.

Despite its immense size, the armored animal landed gracefully in a clearing and tucked its thick, fanlike tail underneath its body.

Free. Jump. Again.

“Hold on!” she said to her lanky companion saddled alongside her on the animal’s back. With a feeble grin he held tightly on to the behemoth’s armored plates.

With tremendous force the animal snapped down its tail, sending them all soaring up into the sky. Birds and other flying creatures flapped about, screeching from the disturbance. The behemoth arced over a copse of wandering trees and landed more than a hundred meters away. In moments the trio had cleared the woods completely and now found themselves on the rocky plain right at the forest’s edge.

Safe. Now. Little one.

“We did it!” Eva threw her arms around her companion.

“Ewa seetha tadasha,” he replied, patting her on the back. He let out a long sigh of relief, and pulled a bottle out of his rucksack. After uncorking the top, he offered a drink to Eva.

“Um. No, thanks.” Eva could smell the curdled scent wafting out of the bottle.

Her companion shrugged and took a swig, and then smacked his lips in delight. “Ta! Feezi!” He held up one finger as an idea dawned on him. “Zuzu, zuzu,” he mumbled as he rummaged around through his rucksack. Eva realized that their armored mount was quiet, grazing on the lichens that grew along the forest edge.

Thank you,
she thought to it, watching twilight soak the landscape.
Is it time to join your others?

Not now. Quiet. Rest.

“You’ve been through a lot.” Eva slid off the back of the animal. “We all have.”

“Oeeah!” The lanky creature found what it had been searching for. He dismounted, joined Eva on the mossy ground, and reached for her hand. Into her palm he dropped a heavy metallic ball. “Kip!” he said.

Eva inspected the object, furrowing her brow. She glanced back up at her companion.

“Kip! Kip!” he repeated, pointing to his whiskery throat.

“What? Do you want me to eat this?” Eva weighed the sphere in her hand. “I don’t think I can eat metal.”

“Dat, dat, dat, feezi,” said the creature, moving Eva’s hand with the ball closer to her mouth. “Doot, doot … ba kip!”

“Talk?” Eva said. As she spoke, the ball lit up in a pattern of tiny micro-lights. “Wow. What is this?” She watched the illuminated pattern dance across the small device. A miniscule cloud puffed out of a tiny pinhole at the top of it. Eva moved it away from her face. “What’s it doing?”

“Dat,” whispered her companion. “Peesa tobondi feezi, ta kipli.” He moved Eva’s hand back to her face, the dust cloud drifting toward her. He sat back and inhaled deeply, then pointed to Eva.

“You … you want me to breathe this dust in?” Eva grimaced. “I … I don’t know. Thanks anyway,” she said, handing the ball back.

Shaking his head, the creature muttered, and blew the dust into Eva’s face.

“Ugh!” She coughed repeatedly. “What are you doing? Are you trying to kill me?” She could taste metal in her throat and feel it in her sinuses.

The creature sat back and chuckled.

“Oh, it’s funny, is it?” Eva threw the metallic sphere at him. “Well, you can just keep your stupid glow ball! I have to get back to my wrecked home now.” She walked away in a huff.

“Tes, continue kipping,” said the creature.

“Wait a second!” Eva stopped, turning back in his direction. “Did you just say ‘continue’?”

“Zazig. I try to peebla foo,” her companion said, picking up the ball. It was speckled in wondrous tiny lights.

Eva took it back, mesmerized. “You—you want me to talk more, don’t you?”

“Yes, continue kipping,” he answered with a toothy grin.

Eva blinked in astonishment as she put it all together. “You want me to talk into this ball, right? Because it is recording my voice, and if I do—” The sphere chirped and startled Eva, who dropped it to the ground.

“If you do,” repeated the creature, picking her sphere up again, “you hret graaveem my speech.”

“It’s a translator! I get it! It allows you to understand what I am saying.” Eva squealed with joy as she grabbed it.

“Understand.” The creature nodded. “Geefa. I now understand.” He opened his other hand. It held an identical device, also aglow with numerous tiny lights.

The cerulean creature with backward-bending legs held up his palm. “I am Rovender Kitt, an old creature in a new world.”

“I am Eva … Eva Nine,” said Eva with a smile, mimicking his gesture. “I am a new creature in an old world.”

PART II

CHAPTER 11: WOUNDS

So the weied
tasting dust, that’s what’s allowing me to understand you?” Eva Nine had been hiking behind Rovender as they journeyed along the forest edge. She carried her remaining sneakboot in her hand.

“Yes, yes. The ‘dust’ is actually tiny transmitters. They send the signal to the ball, the vocal transcoder, which I gave you,” Rovender answered. He hobbled along through the muted moonlight as if he were searching for something. “Most everyone has one. Keep that transcoder near you at all times, and you’ll understand whomever you encounter.”

“Wow. Everyone, huh? Can I talk to the trees with it?” Eva looked at the tiny transcoder, excited.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rovender said. “Everyone knows that the trees here speak a language only they understand.” He squatted down on his good foot and inspected a clump of moss growing on the twisted roots of an immense tree. He pinched off a sprig and brushed it over his nose, which Eva could see was nothing more than a pattern of pores on his narrow snout. “Let us stop here for a few moments,” he said.

Rovender pulled off his rucksack and eased down into a sitting position under the tree. Eva flopped down on the padded ground next to him.

“So, who was that big scary guy? Why is he after us?” she asked. Still a bit shaken from her escape, Eva was nonetheless excited to be speaking with another living being that was not a hologram or a robot.

“Ah, the Dorcean?” Rovender yanked up a handful of the moss. “His name is Besteel. He claims he hunts for the queen. He’s a ruffian and a thug as far as I’m concerned.” Rovender paused. He raised his ragged ear as he listened to the forest’s nocturnal sounds. His ear dropped and he returned to his task of gathering moss.

“Why did he destroy my home? Why is he hunting us?” Eva furrowed her brow. She shuddered at the memory of Besteel eating the organs of the slain animal.

“Us? I don’t know if he’s after
us
, Eva Nine.” Rovender shook the dirt from the clutching roots of the moss. “I believe he’s after
you
. For some reason he thought I was luring you away from him.”

Eva let out an incredulous gasp. “After me! What?” Her eyes went big. “I didn’t do anything to him! This doesn’t make sense.”

“I wish I could tell you more,” Rovender said as he opened up his rucksack. “But there is nothing more to tell. Besteel is not one to disclose such things.”

Eva turned away. She could feel that coil of dread slither down and settle in her stomach. Disregarding it, she watched as the armored behemoth approached them at a slow, steady gait.

Rovender glanced up from rummaging through the belongings in his pack. “I think you have a new friend,” he observed.

“Oh, Otto?” Eva said, smiling at the behemoth. “He told me he’s watching over me in return for setting him free.”

“Ot-to? Told?” Rovender blinked in astonishment. “Does he speak to you?”

“Oh, yes. Can’t you hear him?” Eva fanned her ears with her hands. “His voice is like a soothing song in my head.”

“I cannot. But
he
told
you
his name was Otto?” Rovender eyed her, seemingly suspicious. He pulled out a ball of twine from his rucksack.

“Naw, I named him that,” Eva said with a smile. She gazed over at Otto as he scratched his ear with his back paw. “I have always wanted a real, living pet, and now I have one.”

“A pet! That?” Rovender exclaimed. “Eva Nine, I have heard stories of beasts telepathically imprinting onto others—like wild dargs becoming tame for frint farmers—but what you call a ‘tardigrade’ is no pet.”

“I didn’t call him that. I told you that’s what the Omnipod identified him as: a species of tardigrade, also known as a ‘water bear.’” Eva waved the Omnipod at Rovender for emphasis.
It also said water bears are microscopic,
she thought.
Why is everything so gargantuan? Have I somehow shrunk in size?
She dropped the Omnipod back into her satchel and pulled out a handful of nutriment pellets.

“Well, Otto should return to his herd. He’ll be safer there.” Rovender grabbed a bottle from his pack of belongings.

“I told him he could leave, but he refused,” Eva said, popping the pellets into her mouth, like candy. They tasted like potatoes. She glanced back over at Otto, who was now cleaning his wounded foot. Eva continued, “He said he was separated from his herd, and they have moved on, far away from here.”

“Bluh, so you say. He should leave anyway. Besteel will easily track you otherwise,” Rovender said as he unwound a length of the twine. It spooled down next to the gathered moss and the bottle that lay near his swollen ankle. Eva could see that Besteel’s snare had left a raw, open lesion cutting through Rovender’s thick calloused skin.

“Are you going to make a fire?” She picked up a clump of moss. “I can help.”

“A fire? No.” Rovender took the moss from Eva and set it on his wound. “I need my ankle to heal so that I may lead you back to your home, and continue on my way.” He uncorked the bottle. Eva saw Rovender wince as he soaked the moss, letting the cloudy liquid run over the cut on his ankle. After blowing on the wound to lessen the sting, he took a drink and grabbed the length of twine. He began wrapping it around the makeshift dressing.

“Um, I think there’s probably a better way to tend to that injury,” Eva remarked. She watched him lean over and cut the twine with his peg teeth, finishing with an elaborate knot to hold the dressing in place.

“I am fine, Eva Nine. This will do.” Rovender admired his handiwork.

“Hold on.” Eva pulled out her Omnipod. “This is Eva Nine. Initiate IMA,” she said.

The device flickered on. “Individual Medical Assistance initiated. Is this an emergency?” it asked.

“Ha! I remembered it!” said Eva, grinning. “Now I’ve got to figure out how you do the rest of this.” She scanned through a few menus within the program. “Hmmm … It’s not an emergency… . I just want to add a new patient.”

Rovender settled back and grabbed a pouch full of seedpods from his pack. He offered some to Eva.

“Naw, I’m okay.” She continued fiddling with the program. “Aha! Here it is! New patient registration. Maybe I can figure out how to heal your foot.”

“Don’t worry, Eva Nine,” said Rovender. “Really, I will be fine.” He wriggled his toes. Eva ignored him, focusing on the Omnipod. Rovender dropped a handful of seeds into his mouth.

“New patient,” Eva said to the Omnipod. “Name: Kitt, Rovender. Age: uh … How old are you?”

“Almost eight trilustralis,” he answered, spitting seed husks out of the side of his mouth.

“Trila … How do you spell? Wait, how long is that?”

“Ah, there must be no word for it in your language. You see, if the transcoder cannot find a suitable translation, it will use a similar word from your root language, whatever that may be,” Rovender explained.

Eva stared at him, confused.

“Never mind,” he continued. “The celestial time for my clan must be recorded differently than it is for yours. I am not sure what moon and star cycles your clan uses, but our trilustralian cycle is the same one that our ancestors used for generations.”

Eva set the Omnipod down. “Isn’t your home in that old Sanctuary where I … um,
met
you today?”

“That abandoned cave?” Rovender spit the rest of the husks out. “That was just shelter for the night. No, my home was quite far from here.”

Eva looked out into the night. She didn’t feel as vulnerable and scared as she had during the day. In the dark, things appeared closer. Cozy. More comfortable. And now she was no longer alone, just like in the picture on the WondLa. She thought of Muthr. “Do you have a family back home, Rovender?”

“A family?” He took a drink, swallowing audibly. “No family. Not anymore.” Rovender’s voice sounded distant. Lonely.

Eva sat quietly for a moment. She didn’t want to pry and upset him, or give reason for him to abandon her again. “I never had a family,” she said softly, watching Otto. “I always wanted one—but I never got one.”

“Then you are lucky, Eva Nine.” Rovender gathered his things and stood, pulling his rucksack back over his shoulders. “Come. It is time to go.”