D. MacHale - The Soldiers of Halla

“Defensive structures,” Courtney explained. “Like I said, we’re ready.”

I didn’t know what kind of defense these wooden huts offered. I didn’t think they would do much against a dado-klee army, but it wasn’t the time to point that out. That would come soon enough. As we walked toward the center of the village, the structures became smaller and looked more like homes. I saw kids in the street playing catch, riding skateboards on paved roads, and generally running around. I could almost imagine this to be a suburban street back on Second Earth. The lineup of homes with front yards looked right out of suburbia. The idea that this quiet, hyper normal community was about to be under siege was almost too much to comprehend.

“These outer rings are where the Yanks settled and made their homes,” Courtney explained.

“Yanks?” I asked.

“That’s what they call themselves. I was more of a Mets fan myself, but considering how they got here, I guess the name fits. They’ve become an important part of the Black Water community. There are people here with all sorts of skills. Carpenters, teachers, plumbers, farmers. This isn’t the Black Water you remember.”

I looked around at the new structures. Though the general style was the same as when I had last been to Black Water, there were subtle differences that showed the hands of skilled craftsmen. Black Water had improved. You could even say it evolved. I had mixed feelings about it.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Courtney said. “We’re not supposed to mix the territories. Get over it. That ship sailed a long time ago, thanks to our demon friend.”

She was right. Halla was in shambles. It was no longer what it should have been, thanks to Saint Dane’s Convergence. I figured that at this point, any positive move was a good one, even if it meant mixing technology and know-how from one territory with another’s.

Many people called out a friendly “Hi!” to Courtney. She was well-known and liked. Of course, that was quickly followed by a sudden change in attitude when they saw two klees walking with us. It’s not like they ran into their homes and slammed the doors or anything. But I could read the confusion on their faces. Klees had become the hated enemy once again.

We arrived at one of the small cabins in the outer ring of what was the old village. The huts beyond seemed older and crude. This was the dividing line between the old Black Water and the ring of new cabins that the exiles helped build. The Yanks. Incredible.

“Wait here,” Courtney ordered.

Boon, Kasha, and I did as we were told as she went to talk with the gars who had been escorting us. After a few words they cast us dark, worried looks, then reluctantly backed away and left us alone.

Courtney returned and spoke to Boon and Kasha. “Don’t take it personally. They just don’t want to be eaten.”

“Understood,” Kasha said.

Courtney opened the front door and motioned for us to enter. “This is my home. It’s small, but it’s strange.”

We entered to find a two-room home. The first room had a living area with some rough chairs and tables. Across from it was a sink and a fireplace. The door beyond led to a small bedroom.

“Not exactly like what you’d find in Stony Brook,”

Courtney said. “But it’s all I need. Who’s hungry?”

As much as I wanted to eat, I had other more pressing things to worry about. “Uh, you do get that the klee army is on the way, right?” I asked.

“I told you, we’re ready,” she answered. “How do you think you were shot out of the sky?”

“Yes, how did you do that?” Boon asked.

“We developed a weapon that fires a short, intense burst of radio waves,” she explained. “Some of the Yank geeks used the link radio technology that the gars developed and found a way to direct and control it. Don’t ask me to get more technical than that. It doesn’t affect living things, only mechanical devices.”

“So it’ll shoot a gig out of the sky, but it won’t stop a living klee?” I asked.

“Pretty much,” Courtney answered.

“What about a dado klee?”

Courtney gave me a dark look. I had finally given her a bit of information she didn’t already know. “You’re kidding, right? Dados?”

“I wish.”

“You mean that klee army on the way here might be dados?”

“Sorry to give you the bad news,” I said. “Bad news? That’s the best news I’ve gotten in forever!”

“Uh, it is?”

“Eat first, business later.”

Courtney set out a meal of fresh fruit that was harvested from the farms that circled the village. She even grilled some fish from the stream. Boon and Kasha preferred to eat their fish raw, which was kind of disgusting, but who am

I to judge? I’m not a cat. Or a sushi guy. Courtney was all sorts of bubbly as she worked. Giving her the news about the dados seemed to energize her. How weird was that? I couldn’t speak for my klee friends, but I was starving. I was dying to hear Courtney’s story, but after all that had happened, I didn’t think it would hurt to eat a little. Or a lot. We didn’t speak much while Courtney busied herself cooking, but once we sat down to enjoy the meal, I couldn’t take it anymore.

“You’re killing me here, you know,” I said.

Courtney put her food down and looked off to nowhere in particular. It felt like she was winding her thoughts back. From the hard look in her eyes, it was clear that she wasn’t bringing up happy memories. Her light attitude was gone. When she spoke, she rarely made eye contact with us, as if she weren’t really in the room, but drifting through the past.

“When the Ravinians threw us into the flume, I wasn’t scared. Not at first, anyway. I’d been through the flume before. The only thing strange about it was that I was flying along with other people.”

“Were they the people Naymeer chose from outside the conclave?” I asked.

“I guess. They were terrified. That much was for sure. I tried to calm them down and tell them that everything was going to be okay, though I wasn’t so sure about that myself. I figured the flume would send us to some territory that I knew about through your journals. That’s what I kept telling myself. It was going to be okay. I spent most of the journey trying to refresh my memory about all the various territories I’d read about.”

“Did you see Mark?” I asked.

Courtney shook her head. “The last I saw him was when he was trying to reach me in the crowd outside of the flume.” She sighed and continued. “We flew for a long time. Longer than the other flume journies I’d taken. Slowly the people I was traveling with separated. Some shot ahead faster. Others lagged behind. It wasn’t like we had a choice. We were totally at the mercy of the flume. It wasn’t long before I was alone. That’s when things started getting scary. Outside the crystal walls, the images of Halla were everywhere. It was like the entire universe was out there, jumbled together, looking at me. I saw a light far ahead in the flume. I thought I was nearing the end, but realized that the light was moving. Toward me. It seemed as if we were going to collide and that would be the end of the trip, and me. I covered my head, but the thing streaked by me in a blur of light and music. I looked back to see it disappear behind me. It was followed by another, then another. Some came from ahead of me, others caught up with me from behind and shot past. After a while I got used to it. No, I looked forward to it. Those streaks of light were the only things that kept me company and broke up the monotony.”

“What do you think they were?” Kasha asked.

Courtney shrugged. “All I can figure is that they were other people traveling through the flumes.”