“And that’s the heart of it, isn’t it? They can’t explain things, so they just attribute it to some God. They think some magical, invisible hand brought Carlee here. My mother and my brother both believed. Even after they learned what pressing really was, they believed. Said it didn’t hurt anyone to have faith, but it sure didn’t help them.”
It was the first time that he had ever heard Stefani talk about anything personal. He wanted to know more, but those conversations had a way of becoming a two-way street, and he didn’t want to talk about his past.
“I just figure that if there is a God, he sure doesn’t care about us,” Jeff said. “I heard someone back home talk about how we were his children. That never felt right to me. I always felt like the Apostles would have been his children.”
Stefani crushed the yellow flower in her hand and dropped it to the ground.
“The only people worse than believers are the Apostle worshipers,” Stefani said. “Pisses me off just thinking about them.”
“Couldn’t agree with you more.” The Apostles were the living embodiment of evil. They had killed billions and stolen the planet from humanity. He had always feared the Apostles, but now that Horus and the white Apostle had taken everything he held dear, he hated them.
After he killed Dane, Sean, and the mayor, he’d use his pressing skills to topple the false gods that had destroyed his family. Although seeing Carlee help people tempted him, begged him to dedicate himself to a more peaceful cause, he wasn’t strong enough to take that path, as Carlee would call it.
“She helps them,” Stefani said, nodding to where Carlee had reappeared from another yurt. “Even the Apostle worshipers. She’s never turned anyone away.”
Jeff waved with his good arm when she made eye contact with them. It was getting dark now, and she hadn’t eaten yet. Carlee made it a few steps toward them before another villager grabbed her and pulled her in a different direction.
“Why does she do it?” Jeff asked.
“You’ll have to ask her. I just keep her safe.”
“And why do you do that?”
“Because it’s what I want to do.”
A woman started playing the violin, and cheers broke out across the small village. The villagers piled some torches together in the middle of their yurts, as they didn’t have any energy cells, and people started to dance. Soon the celebration spread to everyone in the village; even some of the teenagers guarding the fence joined them. Matt was dancing closely with a thin, curly-haired girl, and Jeff couldn’t help but smile for the boy.
“How can you do it?” Jeff asked. “I thought pressing somehow attracted the Apostles. Shouldn’t we be running away right now?”
“We might be.” She didn’t ridicule him for his question, and her tone wasn’t even condescending. It was surprisingly pleasant talking with her. “We don’t know exactly how they detect when we press. Jane and Carlee think that they can sense changes in matter and energy. When we press in something, like that slab of metal that stopped the laser from making me look like you, they can sense that matter was added. It sets off their sensors, and they come flying in for the chance to squash some vagrants.”
“But . . .” Jeff began, leading her on. He was going to learn to press one way or another, but he needed to know how to not get himself killed while he learned.
“But when we press something on top of an existing object, there is a smaller change in net matter. If we control it well enough, the Apostles don’t show up.”
“That seems risky.”
“Oh, it is,” Stefani said. “For more reasons than that.”
“Like?”
“Nothing is free. Not even pressing.”
“Besides Stefani’s ridicule,” Carlee said. “Otherwise, she’d be very rich by now.”
She held a plate of food in her hands and took a seat on a stump next to Stefani. After her time helping the sick people, she looked upbeat and recharged. In fact, she looked more energetic now than Jeff had ever seen her.
“I’m the richest person I know,” Stefani said. “Of course, that doesn’t mean much when you travel with a girl who keeps rocks in her pockets.”
He smiled at the cleverness of it. Carlee kept rocks in her pockets and then pressed the stuff she needed in the space they occupied. It was safe, and it had the added benefit that if people searched her, they wouldn’t find anything of value.
“I thought you were saying you were rich because of all the great friendships you have,” Carlee said.
“Well, if wealth is measured in friendships, then I think I better try to add to my retirement fund,” Stefani said. Her voice was coy as she stood up and walked into the darkness.
“What does that mean?”
“It means she’s going to go scout around because she doesn’t trust these people to keep us safe,” Carlee said. “And probably try to find a special friend for the night.”
“Oh.” It wasn’t the answer he was expecting.
“Don’t worry,” Carlee said with a laugh. “She’s rarely successful. Her standards are too high, I think.”
“I . . . that’s . . .” He gave up on trying to find something to say.
“That’s Stefani. She acts all tough and brooding. But there’s more to her than that.”
“I like her. I think.”
“Good—because she likes you.”
“Really?”
“She hasn’t stuck a force-field knife through your thigh yet. I’d take that as a good sign. Which reminds me, don’t ever agree to play games with her.”
“You two are good friends. She’s very loyal to you.”
“And I to her,” Carlee said. She smiled at Jeff after taking a bite of a beautifully cooked piece of chicken. Apparently, the villagers had favorites. “She’s my oldest and best friend. I’d do anything for her. We’re family.”
“I thought I had a friend like that. I pushed him out of the way of Horus.”
“When you were injured?”
“Yup. I saved his life, and then he left me for dead.”
“I’m sorry you went through that,” Carlee said. “I wish I could have been there to help you.”
“You did help me. I was a dead man. In fact, I thought I had actually already died before you found me.”
“Well, I’m glad we did find you,” Carlee said. “Your path didn’t end there.”
“Where does it end? Dallas?”
“You can stay here instead if you’d like. I’m sure Jane would be fine with that. This is a good village that could surely use your help.”
“I’d like to travel with you for as long as I can.”
She smiled at that, and Jeff replayed the words over in his head by reflex.
“I mean with the vagrants.”
“I know what you meant,” Carlee said, but there was a slight twinkle in her eye. She was beautiful.
The dancing was still going strong in the middle of the village. They looked like a group of people who hadn’t had something to celebrate in a long time. He was jealous of their lightheartedness. And of their ignorance.
“Why do you help them?” Jeff asked.
“Because they need help, and I happen to be able to give it to them,” Carlee said. “Trillions and trillions of decisions were made in the past by countless good people that presented me with the rare opportunity of becoming a vagrant. In this path, I am able to help put others on a better path themselves. I feel a responsibility to do so.”
“But to what end?” Jeff asked. “They are a small village. It’s unlikely they’ll survive. And Heather, you might have saved her for now, but she will die eventually.”
“As will you, but do you regret that I saved you?”
“Not yet. But truthfully, that may change.”
“Everything changes, but the one thing that remains constant is that we all select the path we go down.”
“Where did you learn to talk like that?” Jeff asked.
“Like what?”
“Like that. I mean, I’m not even sure what it meant, but I was touched by it.” They both laughed, and Jeff found himself staring at her.