James Scotson - Planets Falling

“So, you are a ghost.”

“Not yet, thankfully. However, I can only stick around for a short while before I begin to fade away, back into the ether. I belong in there and what lies beyond.” He gestures to the lake.

“Will I be able to see the dead?”

“Yes, Amy. You’re mother is eager to see you.”

I feel cold, thinking of her death.

“I bid you good luck, Amy Marksman. You mother will be very proud of you when you meet.” He turns and bounds along the wall. He jumps over, falling an impossible height. I run, looking over the railing. He’s vanished in the mist hanging from the lake below.

I must have been a little drunk because I have a wicked headache and really want water. I walk cautiously back to my room in the darkness. There are a few lamps in the streets, but they are unable to penetrate the strange absence of light here at night. I wonder whether the lake is sucking the errant evening light into it — a giant vacuum for the energy around us.

I fetch a drink and lay back on my bed. I’m drifting off to sleep when Wenn stumbles in. “Amy, wake up. We’ve got to talk.”

“I’m not sleeping, Wenn. We can talk when you sober up.”

“Now. Not later. How dare you embarrass me in front of everyone? You think I’m a coward. But look at this place. The people here consider me their leader. They need me.”

I’m exhausted and want this stranger to leave. “Wenn, I don’t know who you are anymore. You left the village a sweet man. Now, you are selfish and, worse, self-important. I’m done with you.”

“Wife. You dare not speak to your husband that way.” He walks toward me with his hand raised.

I should feel fear, but nothing but pity and disappointment well up. Wenn strikes me across the face and my mind reaches out finding Etch nearby. He hits me again and again, although I float above the pain. Finally, Etch and Theo bound through the door, knocking Wenn on the floor.

Theo holds my face, “Are you alright?”

Wenn stands, slurring, “I knew it. Theo, you’ve stolen her from me. Amy, he’s wanted you all his life. Once I’ve turned my back, at no fault of mine, you leap.” He lunges at Theo but Etch holds him back effortlessly.

“Wenn, you have made an enemy of me tonight. This is not to be taken lightly. If you touch Amy Marksman again, I will tear you into pieces.”

Etch releases my husband who scurries out the door into the suffocating darkness outside.

“Thanks you two,” I sigh. “I don’t know who he is anymore. What are we going to do? We need him to convince the villagers to help us defeat Thresh and defend this place from the outsiders.”

“I guess we’ll be evicted from Yellow Stone in the morning.” Theo dabs my bloody lip with a cloth. “Any ideas ‘bout what we ought to do?”

Etch rubs his chin. “I think that I should pay Wenn another visit.” He leaves, with Theo and I looking perplexed and a little concerned.

“What do you think Etch’s got in mind?” Theo asks.

“I don’t know, but please lie down with me.”

As we rest listening to our breathing and the gentle lapping of the lake on its shore, we jump slightly at the sound of the Fuerst lifting off. “There goes Etch and Wenn,” I surmise as I drift into slumber.

I shouldn’t be surprised that sleep would be eventful so close to the portal, but I am. Within moments, I’m in the body of something new. It feels like a grub but it’s more intelligent, dangerous, and huge. I turn its head to have a look around and see Yellow Stone shimmering dimly across the lake. I smell decay and sulfur all around the place. Looking down, I see that there’s a huge camp of buildings assembled haphazardly with rough-hewn pine boards. Creatures, both dead and alive, shuffle among the buildings with cautious purpose. A feel a rush and there’s Thresh.

“Well, hello Amy. Trying to highjack my friends again?”

I think to myself, if she only knew what I could do to her mind. “Thresh. You have no chance. Give me back Eliza and you can slink in the lake. Go somewhere far away and disappear. Otherwise, you will die.”

Thresh giggles in the void. “You have no plan, Amy. Give up while you can. Eliza is growing quickly. She’s beginning to talk up a storm. In fact, she called my husband, Jonah, daddy today. We’ve become a very close family. And I’m teaching her so much.”

I try to push away and re-enter the beast. I could inflict considerable damage with that thing. Light bursts forward and I’m free from Thresh, but I’m not in anything. Rather, I’m floating in some strange limbo, not unlike the sensation I had while disembodied in the Raven’s circuitry.

“Hello again Amy, good to see you so soon.” Warm comfort engulfs me. Fromer’s here with me, although I can’t see him.

“Where am I?”

“It’s time for your lesson.”

“What are you going to teach me?”

“How to kick Thresh into hell. You’ve been dabbling with these abilities. But it’s time for you to master them.”

“Where’s Thresh?”

“She’s like you, playing with powers that she hardly understands. In the Institute, children identified with the power to be pilots are recruited early and train for years before being given a ship. Not only do you have to learn how to commune with a ship like the Raven, you need to learn how to control the telepathic pathways this portal is giving you. Even I don’t know the limit to your abilities.”

“I don’t want this, Fromer.”

“You don’t have a choice Amy. Luckily, you have a teacher and that evil woman does not.”

After what seems like days in this weird dream, I awake to Theo’s even breathing. From the look of the sky, I’ve been asleep for no more than an hour.

I wrap myself in Theo’s large shirt and head outside. The constellation of the archer is low in the sky, reminding me of Bets for some reason. I climb the stairs and stare at the lake. After Fromer’s tutelage in my extended dream, the lake is no longer chaotic to me, but organized. I can see pathways swirling in the currents. I can hear voices drifting in the wind.

“There you are. And there’s my shirt.” Theo’s standing next to me, shirtless and looking cold.

“Sorry. I’ve no idea how long I’ve been standing here.”

“It’s nearly dawn.” He peers at my face. “Dear gods. That bastard really went to town on you. If he touches you again, he’s dead.”

“I think Etch has the first rights,” I laugh, hurting my mouth.

As if on cue, the Fuerst appears in the sky, landing in the same spot. Theo clucks. “Etch and Wenn are back. I wonder what they did?”

“It’s probably best not to ask.”

At dawn, a bell rings in the town square. Sleepy villagers assemble in the moist, morning cold. Wenn stands on a platform, dressed in his finest clothes. Etch is absent, but I suspect he’s watching remotely.

Bets and Minns join Theo and I in the back of the crowd. “What’s Wenn up to?” Bets murmurs.

Wenns puffs up. “People of Yellow Stone. As you know, we have important visitors. They are here to purge the evil amassing at the lake’s edge and allow us to take back our land and water.”

The crowd begins chattering. We receive curious glances. An old woman asks, “Where’s the one that looks like Fromer? Is he here to save us?”

Wenn nods. “His name is Etch. He is very old and wise. He’s traveled through the sky and will help us.”

“What happened to the other ship? The one with Captain Leo?”

“The Captain will return with more items to trade. Our relationship with the ones called the Institute remains strong. In a fortnight, we will attack the ones camped on the west shore. We have another guest, who is of great importance. She is the keeper. She’s come to banish the fog and its illness from our world.” He points at me and the entire crowd turns, staring at me and my bruised face. What must they think of the tiny beaten woman wrapped in a worn blanket? “Amy Marksman, please come forward.”