“Kasha would never admit it, but I’m a better pilot than she is.”
I didn’t need convincing. I pushed past him, headed for the small helicopters. Boon jumped in the pilot seat of one, while I strapped into the passenger side. Boon immediately toggled the ignition switches. The overhead rotor whined to life.
“Wait,” I exclaimed. “There’s no sun. What’s powering this?”
“Like I said, it’s new technology,” he explained. “This is something the gars came up with. They didn’t even have one back in Leeandra. The gars added a device for storing the energy. We’ll have about an hour of flight time.”
That news actually made me angry. It was more proof that the gars weren’t animals. The merger of the two tribes, the two species, had been a huge benefit for all the beings on Eelong. Until Ravinia.
Boon added, “Let’s hope the dados don’t know how to use the radio cannons.”
Oh. Right. Those things.
Boon pulled the control stick back, and we lifted off… just in time. The door leading to the roof burst open, and three Ravinian dados ran out, their weapons up and firing. I felt the ping of energy as the underside of the gig was hit. They weren’t radio cannons. They couldn’t stop us.
“Take us up high over the village,” I called to Boon. “I want to see what’s happening.”
Boon lifted the small gig high into the night sky, directly over the dead center of the village. From there we had a perfect view of the entire valley. It was like looking down on a football game from a blimp. I saw the flume that had burned into the mountainside. Light continued to spew out, along with more dados. The numbers were incredible. The dados had pretty much filled up the entire space between the flume and the outer ring of the village. They stood poised to completely overrun the place.
Several dados ran through the streets. They must have been the advance troops. They were fast and mobile, searching for signs of life. They weren’t having any luck. The village was totally empty. Boon circled around so we could scout the entire place. I wondered if the gars had built a shelter in the mountains, where they could retreat in case of an attack. That seemed like the most logical answer. Maybe Courtney had finally convinced them that the attack was inevitable, so they decided to hide instead of joining us. If that was the case, how long could they hold out? Not all the gars and exiles were candidates for fighting a war. There were kids. And babies. And older people. Would they be able to stay hidden until the dados gave up and left? It seemed like a temporary solution, at best.
“Now what?” Boon asked. “We don’t have enough power to stay up here forever.”
I looked to the south and the farm. Even from as far away as we were, I could make out the dark, round shadow that I knew was the mouth of the Travelers’ flume.
The gig lurched. I knew the feeling. Boon did too.
“I guess they figured out how to use the radio cannons,” I said.
“We’ve got to fly out of here,” Boon said, and pushed the gig forward.
The craft rocked two more times. Boon fought for control.
“That way!” I shouted, pointing toward the farm.
Boon struggled to keep the gig in the air. We spun to the right. He fought to keep us headed south.
“I’ve got to put it down,” he declared.
“No!” I shouted. “Keep headed south!”
“But we’ll crash!”
We got hit again. The gig spun the opposite way, snapping my head to the side.
“We’re going to find out just how good a pilot you are,” I called out. “Head for that hole.”
“Hole?” Boon screamed, terrified. “What hole?”
“Trust me.”
We were losing altitude fast. If we crashed, there was no guarantee we’d walk away from it. I knew we only had one chance. We had to fly the gig into the flume.
Boon spotted the flume and directed the gig toward the gaping hole. “I don’t think I can put it in there without clipping the side,” he cried.
“Yes, you can. Concentrate.”
The dark hole of the flume grew larger as we got closer. We were dropping fast. The mouth of the tunnel was big enough for the gig, but Boon would have to drop it in the dead center.
“Pendragon!” he cried out.
“Do it!” I screamed.
Boon eased back on the throttle, and we dropped down. I winced, waiting for the rotor to catch the rim of the tunnel. I didn’t know whether Boon was in control or we were falling.
“Third Earth!” I screamed out over the whine of the engine.
The tunnel lit up beneath us.
“Pendragon!” Boon screamed again, this time in terror.
“Just get us close,” I called back to him.
“I’ve lost control!” Boon shouted.
“It’s okay,” I said calmly. “You don’t need it anymore.”
The rock walls around us melted into crystal. The gig twisted. Instead of falling down, we found ourselves flying forward. We were in the gig, in the flume, flying to Third Earth.
I glanced at Boon. He was looking forward, fixed on the tunnel with huge cat eyes. “You did it,” I said.
“Did what?” he gasped. “What is this?”
“You’re taking your first flume trip.”
His paw was wrapped around the control stick in a death grip. I put my hand on it and coaxed him to let go. He did reluctantly. The gig stayed upright and charged through the flume. It turned when the tunnel turned, dropping and rising with every curve. The rotors still spun, dangerously close to the edges of the tunnel. I didn’t worry. I felt sure we would make it. We were surrounded by stars beyond the crystal walls. The multiple images of Halla were no longer there.
“It’s beautiful,” Boon declared, finally relaxed.
“It better be. We paid a steep price for this little construction job.”
Boon gave me a puzzled look, but I didn’t bother to explain.
Up ahead I saw light. We were nearing the end. “Grab the stick,” I ordered. “When we come out, you’re back in control.”
I had no way of knowing where the flume opened up on Third Earth. A sick thought hit me that if it opened in a subterranean cavern, we were in trouble. I had assumed that it would be out in the open, like the other larger flumes. But we wouldn’t know until we emerged.
“Get ready,” I said. For what, I didn’t know.
The light grew brighter. I held my breath. The gig flew into the light. I felt gravity take over as I was pressed back into my seat. A few seconds passed. We didn’t crash into anything. That meant we were outside… and climbing fast.
“Level out!” I commanded.
We had flown out of the flume, nose first, headed skyward like a rocket. Boon took control and pressed forward. For a moment I felt weightless as we blasted over the arc and finally went level. It was a hell of a ride. My stomach was in my throat and my head felt twisted. The disorientation was complete.
“Try to hover,” I said, though it wasn’t easy, because my brain was scrambled. “We need to see where we are.”
Boon wasn’t suffering the same effects that I was. He masterfully kept control of the gig, stopping our forward movement. I closed my eyes, hoping that my brain would stop spinning around inside my skull.
Boon laughed.
“Don’t laugh,” I said. “I feel like puking.” “I’m not laughing at you,” Boon said. “You gotta see this.”
I cautiously opened my eyes. The first thing I realized was that it was daytime. Gray clouds traveled overhead. It looked like we were back on Third Earth.
“What am I supposed to see?” I asked.
“Down there!” he shouted.
I shifted my weight and peered over the side of the gig. The derelict buildings were proof that we were hovering over the city. We had made it. We were on Third Earth. Directly below us was a large, cleared, square space. Many of the buildings surrounding it had been laid to rubble. One structure stood out because it was in the cleared square, untouched. It was a large, marble archway. I recognized it. It was the arch in Washington Square Park.
“Can you believe it?” Boon laughed.