D. MacHale - The Pilgrims of Rayne

The first Flighter arrived. He jumped onto the skimmer, headfirst, and tackled Siry. Siry hit the deck at my feet. I turned, grabbed the grungy little guy, and heaved him over the side. More were on the way. I looked right at Siry, who was lying on his back, staring up at me with wide, fearful eyes.

“Hold on,” I commanded.

He rolled over and grabbed on to the side of the skimmer.

The two pontoons dipped into the water. I grabbed the handlebars and bent my knees.

“Hobey-ho, let’s go,” I said, and twisted the throttle.

The next Flighter leaped onto the skimmer just as we launched. He didn’t stand a chance. No sooner did his feet touch the deck than he was thrown off balance by the force of the skimmer rocketing forward. His stay on board lasted about a second then he fell over backward, into the water.

“Whoaaaaaa!” Siry yelled as the skimmer flew ahead.

We sailed over the water as smoothly and effortlessly as I remembered skimming over the waters of Cloral. I didn’t even look back at the pier and Rubic City. We had jumped the next hurdle. We were on our way back to Ibara.

I’m going to end this journal here, Courtney. I’m finishing it while sitting in the Jakill clearing on Ibara. We made it back, no problem. Okay, maybe there was a little problem. As far as the people of Rayne are concerned, we’re outlaws. We had to find a quiet stretch of rocky beach and land the skimmer without being seen. That was fairly easy, because we didn’t get back until after dark. I’m guessing this was exactly how the various scouting parties of Flighters traveled from Rubic City to Ibara.

The trip was much quicker than on the pirate ship. Skimmers are fast. Part of me didn’t want the people of Rayne to even see the skimmer. I guess I’m still holding by the rules that say territories shouldn’t be mixed. The skimmer represents technology these people shouldn’t know about. I suppose that’s a pretty idiotic concern. Soon they’ll be seeing a whole bunch of skimmers. Siry and I have got to figure out a way to get to the tribunal and warn them about what’s going to happen. It’s the right thing to do, though I have no real hope that the people of Ibara can repel an invasion of dados. Ibara will fall, which means Veelox will fall. Again. There’s only one thing that might prevent that.

Find Mark, Courtney. If you can stop him from introducing Forge technology to First Earth, it might change history back to the way it was meant to be. It might stop the dados from being invented. It might stop the invasion. Might.

I’ve got to figure out what the second turning point of Veelox is. It can’t be the attack of the dados. That doesn’t fit. There has to be something that was naturally going to happen on Veelox that Saint Dane is trying to influence. If I can learn what the turning point is, there might still be hope. Again, might.

I’ll close by saying one more time that I’m sorry, Courtney. I should have stayed on First Earth. My ego brought me to Ibara. To Veelox. I don’t believe Saint Dane even cares about me anymore. We escaped from the Lifelight pyramid a little too easily. Am I finished? Is my value as a Traveler gone? Has Saint Dane beaten me? I can’t accept that. I’ve got to keep fighting, no matter how bleak it looks.

Find Mark. Stop him. I believe it’s our last and best chance.

END OF JOURNAL # 30

The elegant ocean liner Queen Mary was escorted safely through New York Harbor by six small tugboats. Its enormous hull dwarfed the feisty little crafts as they pushed and prodded the floating city past the Statue of Liberty, through the Verrazano Narrows, and into the deep trench of the Atlantic Ocean, where they peeled off and bid the grand liner a farewell as it continued under its own power toward England.

Courtney and Dodger didn’t see any of that. They had found a quiet little restaurant on a lower deck of the ship that had not yet opened for business. Soon the place would be busy with passengers eager to sample the delights of the renowned kitchens. Until then, it was the perfect place to sit quietly and read Bobby’s journal.

Courtney finished first. She left the pages with Dodger and gazed through a round porthole at the ocean. She had never been on an ocean liner and didn’t know what to expect. She didn’t sense any movement at all, only the steady thrum of the ship’s engines. As she looked out on the horizon, she knew what she had to do, but had no clue how to go about it.

“That settles it,” Dodger said with finality. “We made the right move. We should be on this ship.”

“It’s hard to know what to think,” Courtney said wistfully. “I’m not sure what’s right and wrong anymore. Saint Dane has broken down the barriers between the territories, and it’s about to lead to the final destruction of Veelox. But Mark and I interfered with Eelong and it saved that territory! Now I’m on a ship from the past, trying to change the future back to what it was in the first place. It’s all becoming so incredibly… impossible.”

“Becoming?” Dodger asked.

He joined Courtney at the porthole. “All I know is what I read in these journals and what you tell me. I can’t say if it’s okay to monkey with one territory over another. It’s all science fiction to me. But I know the difference between right and wrong. Saint Dane is going to take those dado things and hurt a lot of people. That’s about as wrong as it gets. If we can stop him by stopping Mark, well, we ain’t got a whole lot of choice.”

Courtney looked at Dodger. Her eyes were watery. Dodger didn’t ask why, and even if he had, Courtney wouldn’t have had an answer. The list was too long. “Do you really think we can save Veelox by stopping Mark?”

Dodger chuckled. “I guess it’s possible, but you’re asking the wrong guy. Besides, what else are we gonna do on this tub? Play shuffleboard?”

Courtney laughed in spite of herself. “This is going to be tough. We’re stowaways, but we can’t hide. We’ve got to search the ship.”

“Not a problem,” Dodger said with confidence. “Hiding is the worst thing a stowaway could do. I say we stroll around like we owned the ship. Let people see us. Nobody will know if we’ve got a cabin or not. You’re with the right fella, Courtney. This ship is a floating hotel. I know hotels. We’re going to find Mark. The hard part comes after that.” “What do you mean?”

“We’ve gotta stop him. I can’t help you there.”

Courtney looked back out at the ocean. The biggest question was still not answered. Why had Mark left Second Earth to change history? Until she learned that, she didn’t know how she would convince him to stop.

“We don’t have much time,” Courtney cautioned.

“Nah, we got six days till we dock, plenty of time.”

“But it isn’t,” Courtney said quickly. “History said that a body from the Queen Mary washed up in New Jersey. Maybe it was Mark and maybe it wasn’t, but whoever it was, unless you believe a body could float from the middle of the ocean all the way back to New Jersey, the shooting is going to happen while we’re still close to the United States.”

Dodger whistled in awe. “Hadn’t thought of that.”

“So on top of everything else, we’ve got to solve a murder before it happens,” Courtney concluded.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s get cracking,” Dodger announced enthusiastically. “I say we split up. You search the decks. I’ll bet Mark is out walking around right now. You don’t take a cruise to sit alone in your room.”

“You don’t know Mark,” Courtney cautioned. “He’s probably in his cabin eating carrots and reading.”

“Carrots?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Yeah, well, that’s where I come in,” Dodger said confidently. “I’ll get hold of the passenger list and find out what cabin he’s in.” “How?”