Duskworld Chapters Eight and Nine

Chapter Eight

Alone in the Woods

  Phel galumphed through the woods as torrents of water rained on him, lugging his bike over his shoulders through thorn and thicket.

  There seemed to be some sort of heads up display in the visor built into the hood, but he couldn’t make heads or tails of it and so flipped the visor up completely. The downpour made it tough enough to see where he was going anyway.

  What am I supposed to tell Charlie, he wondered. Sorry sir, but your favorite pupil has been abducted by aliens. Nothing I could do about it. What do I mean by aliens? Well, you know...people. Except from space. Well, from Earth, I guess. Or did she say Mars?  Either way. They ain’t from here. And Meiki wants to run off with them. I tried to stop her.

  He thought he saw the road ahead, but when he reached it found only a clearing in the woods. There was lightning and some clattering noise followed by what sounded like shouting in the distance. Phel couldn’t make it out because of the thunder. Then came instant silence. No thunder. No shouting. Even the rain had stopped all at once.

  Guess I won’t be needing this, he thought as he took off the raincoat and hung it on a branch.

  Finding his way back to the road wasn’t hard once he could see again and soon Phel was headed to Gates.

Chapter Nine

The Truck Driver

  Meiki landed on something hard. She stood up to find her bike beneath her- unharmed.

  Meiki realized at that moment how alone she was. When Phel had discovered her she was almost relieved. It wasn’t that she wanted to stay. Her plan was still on, no matter what. Having his companionship...and meeting Rashmi and even Junko made it so that she didn’t have to travel alone. Now she missed that. Standing in the pitch black of a forest full of ravenous robot monstrosities had that effect she supposed.

  Meiki lugged her bike to the road. She turned on the light and cycled as quietly as possible for an hour. By then she was more tired than she could remember ever having been. She wished she could have made a dome like Rashmi did. Of course, that may have been what attracted the ghosts in the first place. It was like they devoured it. Maybe something in the tech of it and the suits the aliens wore was appealing to them.

  The thought that Rashmi and Junko were aliens was a funny one. They were aliens from the planet Earth. One of them was anyway. The other was a bona fide Martian, just like in the old Earth movies Meiki used to watch.

 She couldn’t deny that the Earth people had advanced technology.  Meiki knew that the science on Earth would be amazing. Far more advanced than anything on Naya. Sure, She knew technology. She put in hours at a robotics workshop every week and knew how to fix and maintain automated farming machines and more. There were machines that could manufacture clothing, tools, and just about everything one could imagine. Rumor had it that in Newbright they were even building a skyport, but before they faded from history the humans of the old world were inventing fascinating things all the time. When she watched old videos and read stories of the time there was even reference to matter generators and clouds of picobots that could heal wounds and build anything instantly. Those things sounded like magic to Meiki.  Seeing even a glimpse of the wonders mankind had developed while she and her ancestors were digging soybeans out of the ground made her feel like a primitive seed.

  Her legs were starting to feel like noodles and her eyes were collapsing shut. Meiki hadn’t considered this. She hadn’t planned on being thirty or forty kilometers from home late at night with no shelter. None of this fit her plan. If it hadn’t been for Tyson pulling up in the truck she would be in Sagan. She would have been able to find a place to sleep. Instead she was stranded on the side of the road. All because of that truck.

  Headlights appeared down the road behind her. Meiki’s stomach tightened and every instinct shouted at her to run and hide, but her legs were locked in place and there was nowhere to go anyhow. She stood numbly as the truck grew closer. Her heart pummeled her ribcage as the vehicle slowed to a stop before her.

  Once again it was the wrong driver- a woman she had never seen before. She wore a tight blond ponytail and a blue trucker’s uniform.

  “What are you doing out in the middle of nowhere, kid?” she asked through the window.

  “Uh...my name is Meiki” was all she could muster.

  The passenger side door popped open. “Get in.” the woman said.

  Meiki was so relieved that it wasn’t Tyson she didn’t consider for a moment that one is not supposed to accept rides from strangers. She looked down at her bike. “Should I put this in the back?”

  The woman paused then said, “No. It should fit behind the seat. We’re not allowed to open the back while in transit. Well, I’m not supposed to take hitchhikers either, but I can’t leave a child on the side of the road in the dead of night. Don’t you know there’s ghosts out here?”

  “I do now.”  Her bike was light and compact. She easily stowed it then climbed into the seat and shut the door.

  “So, Meiki. Where are you headed?  I’m just passing by Sagan. I can drop you off there.”

  “Actually...I’m going to Newbright.”

  “Oh. Is that where you live? You’re pretty far from home, huh?”

  “Yeah. My ma will be worried sick.”  Meiki hadn’t seen her ma in two or three years. The last time they spoke had been at the holidays. She had to make the call. It was voice only because her ma didn’t own a book with a camera. That made the stilted conversation a little less difficult at least. Most of the other kids went home for the holidays but Meiki stopped going when Charlie stopped making her. He never pestered her to offer an explanation. Meiki appreciated that.  

  She preferred to think of herself as an orphan. It made things easier. Somehow not having parents was better than having parents who didn’t care whether you were around or not.

  “I’ll tell you what. There’s a weigh-in station right outside the city. I have to let you off before I get there or I’ll lose my job. You can ride your bike the rest of the way. It’s not far.”

  “That would be great," said Meiki. “I’ve had the craziest night. I’m happy to not be stuck out in the woods anymore.”

  “What happened to you, dear?”

  “I...I’m actually kind of tired. Do you mind if I sleep?”  She didn’t wait for a response. Meiki was out until the sun tried its best to peer through the olive sky.

The Girl with a Bird for a Heart- Chapter VII

“Tell me, Tula,” said the Muck Witch, “how did you meet the man who did this to you? How did he dress and what did he look like?”

“I sold fish and oysters at the market in Skara Lys to the south. Mine is a fishing village half a day from there. My grandmother and I have sold there for years. We have our own stall. She tends to it while I carry baskets of our wares about the square.”

The Witch poured tea into a pair of mismatched cups and handed one to Tula Petek. Tula admired the cup for its sea-foam color. She held the teacup in both hands and felt its warmth as if drawing strength from it.

“On market day the man approached me. I cannot picture his face. It is as if he used some trick or glamour to make me forget it. His clothing was fine and colorful, but very unusual. He had the bearing of a nobleman, but his attire did not resemble that of the refined folk I would sometimes see in the square. He wore a coat of crimson with golden trim and a tall black hat. He had dark skin. Even darker than mine. He resembled the men from the land to the south, across the Straight of Sutrus...”

“Etarika?” asked the Witch.

“Yes, that’s it. One of the sailors my father fished with came from there. He had skin the color of lamp oil as did the man who...who did this.” she pointed to her chest.

“So the man who stole your heart was a nobleman from Etarika?” asked the Witch. “I have known a few from that land. They have always proven to be fine and joyful people. But as with all folk, some among them are rotten I suppose.”

The girl continued, “The man said he wanted to purchase an entire basket of fish- all I had been carrying. He offered me an extra Lio coin for me if I carried the fish to his home.”

“And you did not question this?” the Witch asked her, “A strange man offering you coin to follow him home?”

The girl set her cup down and looked the Witch in the eye. “What choice would a child such as I have, Muck Witch? Had I refused the man could have struck me for such insolence. Perhaps it is different wherever you hail from, but here in Vatrus people know their place.”

The Witch turned her head away as if looking out a window, but there was none.

“He led me to a narrow street I’d never walked upon and instructed me to set the basket down. Then I looked up and he fell upon me.”

“I’m sorry.” said the Witch, “I meant not to blame you for his actions. What the man did was terrible and his fault alone.”

“I tried to scream but could not make a sound. I did not speak again until today. The worst part was the look in his eyes.”

“The wild-gaze of a madman can be horrifying.”

“No,” Tula said, “it wasn’t that. His face was full of remorse. He apologized as he cut me open. He was nearly in tears as he explained that in thirteen days the world would end. I lost my consciousness while he spoke of the ritual he would perform. I don’t even know why he was telling me. It was as if he were simply lonely and wanted someone to talk to.”

“This man has committed a horrible violent act upon you, girl.” said the Muck Witch, “He is not worthy of your empathy.”

“Thirteen days until the world ends.” said Tula, “That was five days ago. Could it be true? And if so how? And please, no more stories.”

“The man you have described sounds familiar to me.” said the Witch. “I cannot be certain, but many years ago I met a man from Kudra Kai. He was Etarikan by birth and his style of dress was similar to the man who stole your heart.”

“That means nothing.” Tula said. “There could be any number of men in the world who fit that description. Dark skin and a red jacket?”

“That is not the part that got my attention.” said the Muck Witch. “But I know of a man whose eyes are full of sorrow even as he is ending your life. They called him The Baneful Physician or The Friendly Death. You never knew which you would find when you looked upon him.”

Tula sipped her tea. It tasted bitter and strong. She held the cup in both hands once more and asked, “Who is this man? Is he a warlock?”

“Among other things, yes. He has walked the lands of Aris longer than I have. At times he has been viewed as a savior, and others a destroyer. If he is the one who harmed you then I admit I am in fear.”

Tula reached out and placed her hand over the Witch’s.

“Who is this man?”

“His name is Enin.”

The Diary of Wartha Gormley - Day of Camp 2

Diary. This is the part where I really started to understand the hue-men. That’s what the Updwellers call themselves I learned. I think it’s because they come in so many hues. When I was there I saw pink ones and brown ones and...well, that’s all, but I bet they come in other colors. Maybe some of them are ordinary green like me. I hope so.

I found out lots of stuff about them around that time and yet I’m still a might confused about most of what they do and what they say. One hue-man can be as kind as your own mother on Gashwhisker day and another could be more ornery and dangerous than a mondohusk with a sore tooth. The worst part is you can never tell which is which until it’s too late.

Anyway, there I was in the forest shooting my mouth off at the girls. I said before, I just couldn’t help myself to hear them disparage goblinkind like that. I know it was just a story. Updwellers probably know as little about us as we do about them, but it still got me all riled.

Red was the first to speak up, “Ker! don’t be rude.” she said, “It’s probably just a girl from one of the other campsites that got lost.”

The adult hue-man, or maybe it’s hue-woman, looked up at me through the fire. I could tell the light was in her eyes  by the way she held her hand over her face to get a better look at me.

“It’s okay, honey.” she said, “Are you lost?”

Red stood up and walked over to me. It was too late for me to dive back into the brush, so I stood there gape jawed. Her eyebrows got all scrunched up when she was close, but she didn’t say anything. The light from their fire made it hard for me to see just like how the darkness made it hard on them. With red up close to me in the shadows I could make her out more clearly. Her skin was a light pink color and her face had little brown dots on it. She had hair the color of sand and her eyes were covered in a weird little mask. It was no good at hiding her face. It was just a hard little frame that rested on her nose and ears. The eye holes were covered in thin stone- so thin that I could see right through them like they were made of water. More Updweller magic, I reckon. They eyes behind them were a grayish-blue color, not a normal color like red, yellow, or even green.

She walked right up to my face and held out her hand. It held one of those meat tubes wrapped in a thicker, beige tube that almost looked like a rolled-up mushroom.

“Are you hungry?” asked Red.

I grabbed that tube and shoved it into my face hole faster than wingtooth snatching up a korbi chick. I almost swallowed it whole. The dang thing was so soft it barely warranted any chewing.

“I guess we answered that question.” said Red, smiling. “I’m Red, what’s your name?”

“Wa-Wartha.” I croaked. I almost forgot how to speak, being on my own all those days.

The hue-woman stood up and said, “Miri and Red, why don’t you girls take Wartha back to her camp? I’m sure her troop-leader is worried sick.” She handed yet another tube to Miri who stood up and walked right over to Red and me.

“Do you know which way it is?” she asked as she held the tube out in front of me. She clicked on something with her thumb and a cone of light spat out of the end of it almost as bright as the sun.

“Gah!” I yelled and covered my face. I was afraid that if they got a good look at me they’d know I wasn’t really like them at all.

Red stood between me and Miri and said, “Jeez Mir, you’ll blind her like that! Her eyes aren’t used to the light after walking around in the dark.”  She had no idea how right she was.

“Oh sorry!” said Miri as she turned her magical cone of light toward the forest. “This way, right? I remember passing the other troop on the way in. We can find it.”

“Be sure you stick together, girls, and come right back here!” said the big one as the two hue-girls led me off into the forest.

We got a ways into the forest. Miri led and Red and I hung back a ways.

“It’s ok,” said Red quietly to me, “I know what you are and we won’t hurt you.”

I looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“You’re a goblin, aren’t you? Like in the story? My dad told me all about you. He said you don’t hurt kids and that you really live underground. Is that true?”

I nodded my head in silence.

“I knew it. You’re safe with me. Are we going the right way to get to your cave?”

“No,” I whispered back to her, “but that’s ok. I’m not going to my cave.”

“I can hear everything you guys are saying.” said Miri from about ten feet ahead.

“No you can’t!” said Red.

“Uh-huh. You called her a goblin and she didn’t say anything but she must have nodded because you said, ‘I knew it.' Then you told her she was safe with you. Jeez Red, you don’t whisper very soft.”

“Miri,” said Red, “you promise not to tell anyone, right?”

“Are you kidding me?” Miri said, “She’s a Woods Girl, just like us. Even if she’s not hue-man. We take care of each other.”

Miri slowed down a bit and Red and I caught up with her. She shined the flashlight on me, but not directly in my face. Her eyes got as big as soup-bowls when she saw my green skin and big pointy ears.

“Oh wow.” she said, “You truly are a goblin! You’re for real!”

“It’s ok,” said Red, “She’s friendly and she’s a Woods Girl. Let’s get her home.”

“I’m not going home.” I said, “ I just need to get back to my...friend.”

“We can take you to your friend.” Red said

I wasn’t so keen on that. They already flipped out the first time they saw Drucilla.

“Maybe I should go the rest of the way alone so you girls don’t get lost.”

“No way.” said Miri, “There’s a giant cockroach running around in the forest. We saw it!”

 I realized then that I couldn’t be secretive with these girls anymore.

“Miri, Red,” I said, “do you promise not to scream if I show you something.”

“Yes, Girl’s honor!” they said in unison.

“Ok. Stand right there.” I said and I stepped further into the woods a bit and whistled.

Silent as a stalactite Drucilla crept out of the trees, the leash still around her from when I tied her up.

“Oh my God!” gasped Miri. Red didn’t say anything, but she stared at Dru like she was a shadewolf with two heads.

“This is Drucilla, my spider mount.” I told them, “She didn’t mean to scare you earlier, she was just curious.”  It was a little bit of a lie, but not too much.

“Hi Drucilla.” said Red and she held out her hand for a second but thought better of it. “Does she bite?”

“No.” I told her, “Even if she did her venom sacs were removed when she was a pupa.”

“I don’t really like, bugs.” said Miri. “No offense. They just gross me out a little.”

I was about to correct her on the difference between insects and arachnids, but then Red said, “Actually, she’s kind of cute! Very fluffy. Can I pet her?”

“Sure!” I said, leading Dru toward the girls on her leash. “She likes it best right in the middle of her thorax.”

Both girls tentatively rubbed Dru’s back with their hands. Miri looked away and scrunched up her nose like she was putting her hand in a pile of sick, but she was a good sport about it.

“Oh wow,” she said, “It’s actually soft and warm. Like a puppy.”

“What’s a puppy?” I asked and they both laughed out loud.

“It’s like a-” started Red, but she stopped in mid sentence when she noticed light coming up from their camp. “Oh crap!” she said, “Looks like they sent someone else after us. It’s probably Ker! You should probably go. She CANNOT keep a secret.”

I hopped on top of Drucilla and unfastened her leash from the tree.

“Thank you so much for being so kind to me.” I said to them. “Here.” I reached into my pouches and pulled out two nightraptor feathers. They were nearly as long as my forearm.

“They’re beautiful!” said Red. She took one and handed the other to Miri. “I love how they sparkle in the flashlight!”

“RED! MIRI? Where are you?” came the voice of Ker from the woods.

“Goodbye friends!” I said, “May the Dark Hob look over you!”

“Bye Wartha!” they said together. Dru and I slipped off into the night before Ker came close.

I wish all hue-men could be as kind as those girls were.

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Duskworld - Chapter Seven - Junko

  Just beyond the trees a vessel the size of a small car hovered. It bristled with floodlights and what looked to be guns poking out from much of its surface. It floated silently for several seconds before a voice came as if through a loudspeaker.

  “Rashmi Kapoor!  Vi estas sub aresto pro krimoj kontraŭ la homaro. Vi ordonis resti ankoraŭ por preno..”  

  “I can’t understand them, Rashmi!” shouted Meiki, “What are they saying?”

  Rashmi stood still with her hands in the air for several seconds. She said nothing but nodded upward at the hovercar.

  A hatch opened in the underside. A young looking woman dropped down from it. She wore clothes similar to Rashmi’s except with blue circuit marks on black material. The fabric covered her entire head like a mask.

  The interloper spoke some more gibberish and Rashmi dropped to her knees.

  The woman strode toward Rashmi like a panther. From her belt she produced a cylinder the size of a linker. The woman began to poke at her with the small device at strategic points on her body. As she did so the glowing parts of Rashmi’s suit became dimmer.

  The stranger continued to speak but Rashmi said nothing. She seemed to be looking deeper into the forest.

  “Phel!” said Meiki, “We still have to find him. Those things....the ghosts.”

  The masked woman said something sharp but undecipherable to Meiki then continued her work. The device seemed to be disabling Rashmi’s suit.

  Meiki had never felt so helpless. Her best friend was lost in the woods and her new friend apparently being arrested.

  In the brush something moved. Meiki hoped to see Phel...stumbling onto the scene. Then she noticed beaming eyes in the darkness.

  The woman in black howled as a ghost leapt from the woods and onto her small frame. It tore at her uniform like the other had torn at the dome. In shock the woman spun and kicked it with colossal force.

  The broken machine-thing shot across the clearing into a maple tree- it’s leg-like appendages bent at even odder angles than before. It whirred and sputtered before collapsing.

  A tear ran down the woman’s outfit, revealing the flesh of her back. She suddenly appeared painfully vulnerable.

  In the forest a wall of beaming eyes appeared and gazed at them with intent. A chaotic mess of dark and mangled machines crashed through the branches and bramble, descending upon the clearing.

  Rashmi grabbed Meiki’s arm.

  “Run!” she shouted to Meiki and dragged her in the opposite direction of the things.

  They had gone at least fifty meters when Meiki looked back. She could see the ghosts did not follow them, but the uniformed woman was not so lucky.

  “We have to go back for her!”  Meiki implored to Rashmi.

  “What?”  she said.

  “That lady!  We can’t let them eat her!”

  “They probably won’t!  She’ll be ok...we need to get away from her...remember?”

  Rashmi continued running, but Meiki stopped. She could never match her speed anyway.

  She dashed back to the clearing. The woman held her own against the flailing mass of twisted metal and plastic that attacked her, but it was clearly a losing battle. Her vehicle hovered low to the ground and some sort of foamy substance sprayed out of the guns that covered its hull. The ghosts were slashing at it and the woman. All was a shamble of metal and plastic.

  Meiki remembered her own cloak. Perhaps these creatures wouldn’t notice her with it activated.

  She crept up to a tree near the battle and turned it on. The graphene fibers altered their surface impedence which would have caused Meiki to disappear to an onlooker.

Invisible, she grabbed the woman by the hand and pulled her into the forest.

  The two ran.

  After two hundred meters or so Meiki removed her hood. She stopped running. The ghosts didn’t seem to be following her.

  “You can see me, can’t you?” she asked.

  “Jes.” the woman replied.

  “How?”

  “Mia vizion etendas en la transruĝa spektro.”

  Meiki held her hand to her face in exasperation then held the woman’s hand up to her mouth.

“Testing. Testing. One. Two. Three. My name is Meiki. What’s yours?”

  The woman tilted her hooded head to the side for a moment then seemed to understand.

  “Denove.” she said and held her palm to Meiki’s mouth.

  “Ummm..hello. I’m Meiki. I come from the town of Gates on the planet Naya. Who are you and where are you from?”

  “Greetings Meiki. My name is Junko. I am an agent of the Republic. I have come to stop the fugitive known as Rashmi Kapoor. The woman who was present before those...things attacked.”

  “Speaking of...we should probably get moving....there are ghosts all over and my friend, Phel is lost out here somewhere.”

  “Ghosts?  Is that what you think those strange machines are?  How stupid are you people on this backwater world?”

  “We ain’t backwards. We know there’s no such thing as ghosts...at least I do. That’s just...never mind. We need to go.”  She hustled on.

  Junko stayed behind.

  “What’s wrong with you lady?” said Meiki. “Those gh- things are right behind us!”

  “I detect no sign of them in the area. My skipper’s auto defenses would most certainly have incapacitated them by now. I believe it is safe for us to return.”

  “You Mars people are something else.”

  “I am from Earth. Born and raised on Philadelphia Island.”

  “Philadelphia Island? Never mind...that’s not important right now. You’re certain that the ghost-bot things are not a threat right now?  So that means Phel is probably safe?”

  Junko paused and said, “If your friend was alive at the time of our attack then he is probably not in any danger of being harmed by any hostiles in the immediate area.”

  “How are you sure that your...skipper...could handle those things. Look what they did to your suit- wait...it’s fine!”

  Junko didn’t bother to glance over her shoulder at where the outfit had been torn. She seemed to be confident it was in perfect condition.

  “My uniform is self healing...I come from a technologically advanced culture...it is made of-”

  “Yeah Yeah...’zepto-scale foglets’. I know already.”

  “What else did Rashmi Kapoor tell you?”

  Meiki considered what Rashmi had said about the Catena and about chains. She decided it best not to give away too much.

  “She just said that she was here on a research mission...and that someone was chasing her.”

  “Meiki,” said Junko, “you must come with me. You are a witness to her crimes and I will require a full account of your experience.”

  “If I come with you will you help me find my friend, Phel?  Make sure he’s ok?”

  “Where did Kapoor say she was headed?”

  “Answer my question first, lady.”

  The portion of Junko’s uniform that masked her face faded away revealing a stern pair of eyes. “I’m the one who asks questions here.”   

  “Well, I’m just a kid. What are you going to do? Torture me?” Meiki said with defiance.

  “Oh, I wish," said Junko. “I’ll tell you what. Come back with me to my skipper. We’ll comb the area for your friend. He can’t be too far from here. Then the two of you will help me find the fugitive.”

  They didn’t speak again until they got to the clearing.

  “What happened?” asked Meiki as she surveyed the scene. It was a jumble of machine parts and downed trees. The skipper seemed to have collapsed under the weight of the ghosts that had tried to devour it, but remained mostly intact. All around were massive mounds of what looked like mashed potatoes with broken black bits of ghost-parts sticking out.

  “It’s a defensive foam," said Junko, “The skipper expels a chemical sprays which hardens and immobilizes attackers.”

  “Oh...so it’s a non-lethal weapon?”

  “Non lethal as long as the attacker doesn’t require oxygen.”  

  Was that a joke? Meiki thought. She looked to see if Junko was smiling but the mask had reformed leaving only a disturbing faceless visage.

  Meiki had an uneasy feeling around Junko. It wasn’t every day that she met an alien from another world, but two in one day could make anyone feel like the ground had been pulled out from under her. Something about this one made her harder to trust than Rashmi. Maybe it was the way she kept her face hidden most of the time or her single-minded pursuit of her goal. Meiki wanted nothing to do with this woman.

  Junko reached into the wreckage of the skipper and pulled out a small pack. She looked inside it as if making sure the contents were still intact.

  “What are you going to do?” asked Meiki.

  “I already said. I’m going to find your friend and then Kapoor.”

  “But then what?  You’re going to drag her back to Earth?  Put her on trial?  And how?  Your spaceship is trashed!  How are you getting home?”

  “This isn’t my ship," said Junko. “This is just for getting around swiftly. We travelled to your world with-”

  “With what?”

  “Never mind...” she clipped the pouch to a previously non-existent latch on her suit. Junko looked through the trees. “We need to find your friend, remember?”

  Meiki saw the raincoat that Rashmi had made for Phel. It still hung from a branch half covered in solidified foam.

  Rashmi had said it was a trap right before everything went crazy. The raincoat was the bait. That meant Junko already knew where Phel was.

  “What have you done with Phel?”  

  Junko glanced at the raincoat. “He’s safe. For now. Once we capture Rashmi Kapoor we will question all three and you and your little friend will be set free.”

  “Where is Phel now?  And how many of you people are there?”

  “I’m not going to be interrogated by a child. I’m the one who asks questions. You answer.”

  She held her hand out in Meiki’s direction as if it were a weapon. It probably was.

  “Where is your Nebcore?”

  “My what?”

  “Your Nebula Core?  The local hub that connects your world to the Neb?  It’s what allows you to communicate instantaneously with other worlds.”

  “We can’t do that. Ever since this colony was founded we haven’t heard a peep from the rest of the universe. We figured you people blew each other up in a war or something.”

  “That’s ridiculous. All of the colonies have Nebcores.”

  “Not this one.” Meiki said. “We’ve been on our own for centuries. How would that even work? How can you communicate with us from Earth anyway?  It’s light years away. There’s no way to do so instantly.”

  “It uses a thing called the Spukhafte Exchange...I don’t know. Something to do with quantum entanglement...I’m a government agent, not a scientist. Don’t ask me how it works.”  Junko shook her head with frustration. “Just tell me where your oldest and largest settlement is. That’s the most likely place to start looking.”

  “Wait. You came here in a spaceship but you didn’t have the wherewithal to figure out where this Nebcore thing was before you landed?  You don’t even have-I dunno- a satellite or something that can help you find Newbright without my help?”

  “I don’t have time for this. My skipper is damaged and I don’t have contact with the dropship...and, yes you people have GPS satellites but they use such an outdated protocol that I can’t even get a fix. Newbright?  That’s the name of the settlement I’m looking for?  That’s where Kapoor is headed?  You’re taking me there.”

  “Oh get real, lady," said Meiki. “That’s where I’m going anyway. But you promise me Phel is somewhere safe?”

  “Your friend is safe. He is under protection until we have cleared up this situation. Lead me to Newbright and you will both be released.”  

  Meiki led Junko to where the dome had been. Not much remained of it save a handful of scraps, but she found what she had been looking for- her backpack. Her book was still inside- untouched by the ghosts. Maybe they hadn’t noticed it or it just wasn’t the sort of thing they were interested in. Meiki wondered what exactly the ghosts were interested in.

  “Here,” she said as she showed the book to Junko, “it’s a map showing the way to the city in relation to our current location.”

  Junko waved her hand over the map and said, “Got it.”

  “That’s it? You just recorded it?  What else can that outfit of yours do?”

  “Watch this.” Junko said in a way that sounded like she may actually be smiling.

  From the pack she had attached to her suit she pulled out a small tube and threw it to the ground. In a flash it took the shape and size of a small hovering motorbike. Junko hopped on it.

  “That’s insane.” Meiki said. “You guys can do things that don’t even make sense. I mean...we have makers. But you can produce whatever you want with...with nothing.”

  “Not whatever we want," said Junko.

  “Still, that thing’s pretty small. It’s not like we can both ride it.”

  “Good point," said Junko. “Luckily for me, I don’t really need you.”  She kicked Meiki to the ground.

  “But. What about our deal?  What about Phel?”

  “I lied. I have no clue where your friend is. See ya.”  She sped off into the forest faster than Meiki imagined possible.