D. MacHale - The Pilgrims of Rayne

Twig took a deep sniff and said, “There’s nothing here that grows.”

“Really,” I agreed. “I think it’s been that way a long time.”

“How do you know that?” Siry asked.

“Because Twig’s right,” I answered. “There’s nothing organic here. We’re not seeing any life, but we’re not seeing any death, either.”

“What does that mean?” Loque asked.

“There’s no bones,” I answered glumly. “Everything organic has turned to dust. That doesn’t happen overnight.”

“What do you think happened?” Loque asked.

“Let’s try and find out.” I took the lead, making my way through a labyrinth of destruction. I scanned for the remains of an explosion or an earthquake or any other clue as to what might have happened. Nothing jumped out at me. It seemed like the only destructive force that had visited these buildings was time.

“We should go deeper,” I said. “Maybe into one of the buildings.”

“It all seems so fragile,” Loque said thoughtfully “Anybody want to turn back?” Siry asked. Nobody did. We walked on.

I lead the group toward the first line of tall buildings and the one street that looked fairly clear. Stepping past the first building was like walking into a canyon. The buildings on either side of us created giant walls that cut much of the light. It was a lot cooler in there because of that. We passed a few cars that were nothing more than skeletons of metal. The interiors had long since dissolved to dust.

Loque asked, “What should we be looking for?” He spoke softly, as if we were walking through a graveyard.

“Signs of life,” Siry answered.

We continued on, crossing a few streets, moving farther into the city. The ground level of the buildings looked like it once held shops. My curiosity said to go inside and check one out. My common sense told me it might be suicide. We passed block after desolate block with no clue as to what had happened. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The city was simply abandoned. I saw only one thing that didn’t quite fit. It was far ahead of us.

I couldn’t tell exactly how far, because there was a haze of dust in the air that made seeing long distances difficult. It looked like a black wall. Stranger still, the slope of the wall seemed to be at a forty-five degree angle to the street. All the buildings were more or less boxes with vertical or horizontal lines, making this black diagonal slash stand out. I didn’t understand why, but the sight of this black wall made me uneasy. I wanted to get there and find out what it was when Siry put on the brakes.

“Stop,” he ordered. “We’re getting too far away from the ship.”

“Just a little farther,” I suggested.

“No,” Siry said quickly. “There’s nothing here for us. We could search for hours and still find nothing.”

“What about your quest to discover the truth?” I asked. “We can’t turn back now.”

“We’re not turning back,” he bristled. “I’m thinking we came to the wrong place for the wrong reason. There’s nobody here. These buildings look ready to collapse. We don’t want our quest to begin and end here.”

Loque agreed. “The only reason we’re here is because it was the closest point on the map. Maybe we should sail up the coast.”

It was hard to argue with their logic, but I wanted to keep going. I kept staring over Siry’s shoulder at the distant black wall. What was it?

“I’m hungry,” Twig added. “We haven’t eaten since yesterday.”

“It’s true,” Loque added. “We need to find food and fresh water.”

“I have an idea,” Twig said with excitement. “Let’s sail back to Ibara, wait till dark, then send a small party to shore to steal supplies.”

Siry said, “And what if they start firing that weapon at us?”

“If they wanted to sink us, they would have yesterday,” Loque said. “Maybe Twig’s idea is a good one. I can swim to shore with a small group. Half of us can steal provisions while the others find a small boat and-“

“Wait,” I said abruptly. I had been half listening to their debate, but something Twig said finally sank in. “What did you say. Twig?”

She looked at me uncertainly. “I said maybe we should go home and steal some food.”

“No, I mean what did you say exactly?”

The three of them looked at me quizzically. They didn’t know where I was going with this. I wasn’t so sure either.

“I don’t understand,” Twig said.

“Where did you say we should sail to?”

“You mean Ibara?”

“Yes!” I exclaimed. “You said we should sail to Ibara.” “What’s the problem, Pendragon?” Siry asked. My pulse started to race. “Twig said we should sail back to Ibara. Why did she say that?”

“To get food,” Loque said impatiently.

“No! I mean why didn’t she say Rayne?”

The three again exchanged confused looks. Loque answered, “Because Ibara is the name of the island. What’s the problem?”

Now my mind was racing along with my pulse. I hoped there was an easy explanation for this.

“You call the island where Rayne is ‘Ibara’?” I asked.

“Yes!” Loque answered. “Ibara is the island, Rayne is our village. Didn’t you know that?”

Obviously not.

“Then what do you call everywhere else?”

Siry scoffed. Loque stared at me. Twig looked a little scared. To her this was crazy talk. I hoped she was right.

“What are you talking about, Pendragon?” Siry asked.

I felt as if I were about to hyperventilate. “This planet. This world. Whatever. The whole place, not just the island. Is there a name for it?”

Loque laughed, “Of course!”

“Is it Ibara?” I asked hopefully.

“Is this a game?” Loque replied. “Ibara is the name of our island.”

“Then what’s the name of this planet?” I screamed. Siry said, “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but-“

“Humor me!” I shouted. “What’s the name of this world? The whole world.”

Siry answered with one simple, shattering word. “Veelox.”

Nothing moved, though it sure seemed as if I’d been swept up into a tornado. It felt like the buildings around us were suddenly spinning. They weren’t of course. It was all in my head. That word hammered so hard, I nearly fell over. I could barely breathe.

“Veelox?” I managed to say in a small, pathetic voice. “Siry, the name of this territory is Veelox?”

Twig and Loque looked to each other, holding back nervous, confused giggles. As far as they were concerned, I was insane. At that moment I agreed with them. I felt insane. Siry frowned. I guess he didn’t like my reaction.

‘Are you all right?” he asked.

I couldn’t answer one way or the other. I guess that meant no.

“Rubity,” I stammered, thinking out loud. “It’s not Rubity. It’s Rubic City. This is Rubic City.” “Uh-oh,” Loque said. Yeah. Uh-oh. That’s one way of putting it. “What now?” Siry asked.

I lifted my eyes to Loque. He wasn’t giggling anymore. He looked dead serious. Any thought about crazy old Bobby Pendragon spinning out of control and ranting about the name of the planet was gone. He wasn’t even looking at me. He was looking past me to something that made him get real serious, real fast.

Holding back his emotion, he said, “We’re not alone.”

(CONTINUED)

It was the first unique sound I’d heard since we’d landed at Rubity. Strike that. Rubic City. We were on Veelox. It was impossible. It was the truth. It made no sense. It didn’t matter. At least not just then. We weren’t alone. That mattered. The sound was a sharp swish, followed by another and another. I was still too far out of my mind to register what was happening. Reality charged back quickly. ‘Ahhhh!” screamed Twig.