Novum: Revelation: (Book 4) (4 page)

“Because of what Vee said, about why those invisible fences are here.”

Jake looked at her a moment before he figured out what she was implying. “You think we are being treated as livestock here? Why? By whom?”

She leaned in close and whispered, “I have this weird feeling that we were brought here as breeding stock. To add ‘genetic diversity’ to the humans already living here.”

His mouth dropped. “Wow. Have you been eating wild mushrooms or something?”

She pointed to the curved ceiling. “This could be just another zoo, Jake. Just like the one where we found Jane, only a lot bigger and a lot older. I think your mother knows this and she’s actually helping them.”

“Them?” He shook his head. “You think those Isopods brought us here to help create babies? Again, mushrooms. Either you’re hallucinating from something you ate here, or maybe I’m not the only one who’s suffering from the aftereffects of hypoxia.”

“Listen, Jake. I’m serious. I…” She stared at him oddly. “Wait, what were you just saying?”

He looked down at the berries in his hand. “I can’t remember.” He looked up at her. “Was it something about mushrooms?”

She cocked her head. “Don’t eat the mushrooms, Jake. I was told that some of them—”

“Can make you hallucinate,” he finished. “Does it seem like we had this conversation before?”

She nodded then shook her head. “I’m feeling really hungry. Let’s get these back to the others.” She threw a berry at him and then ran off. He tried to hit her back but ended up dropping the bunch he was carrying. He bent down and picked them up then used the front of his shirt to carry the rest to the tree where they agreed to meet.

Their first meal of the trip was pretty bland: the blueberries Jake and AJ had collected, a bunch of wild carrots discovered by Dr. Wood and Jessie, and a few small potato-like tubers that Vee and her grandfather had dug up. Jane brought the only unique item, a piece of rotting wood. When Jake asked why, she showed him the dozen or so large beetle larvae wiggling around inside. Jake wasn’t sure what she planned to do with them, but when she put one up to her nose to smell it, he quickly turned his back to her and focused on his carrots.

No one talked much while they ate, but when they finished, they appeared to have a renewed sense of purpose. AJ was the first to stand up and put her pack on.

“Well, the sun’s not slowing down for us, so we had better get moving.” She glanced up at the sky. “I’m guessing we have three to four hours before we need to start looking for a place to make camp. Let’s see how far we can get before then.”

They walked single file for several hours, pausing only when they passed a stream to drink from. Jake guessed that everyone wanted to get as far as possible before dark. He was glad that he saw Vee checking her ember pouch every so often. Without fire, it would be a long, cold, and very dark night.

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, or maybe it just passed quickly because there wasn’t much to see. The terrain there was beautiful, of course, but it wasn’t really that different from where his mother’s village was located. In fact, as he thought about it, he realized there was a sort of pattern in the landscape. It was as if he were walking through the same area, over and over, but with parts randomly changed. For example, two hours ago they crossed a shallow stream that angled off to the right. Then an hour later, they crossed one nearly identical, except that it angled to the left.

“You’ve noticed it too?” Raines asked ahead of him, looking back over his shoulder. “The repetition?”

“Sure sign that this place was made by people, right? Our ancient ancestors?”

Raines shrugged. “Not necessarily.”

Jake’s eyes went wide. “What? Don’t tell me that a man of science like you believes in higher powers like my mother? Spirits didn’t build this torus. Humans did.”

Raines smiled. “Don’t worry, Jake. I wasn’t born this morning, as the saying goes. And as much as I like and admire your mother and what she has accomplished here, I haven’t let her beliefs influence me.”

“So, if humans didn’t build this terrain, who did?”

“We may never know,” he said, “but the repetition in the design of it almost seems like the logic of a machine.”

That made sense to Jake. “I guess that’s more evidence that this place might really be ancient, since we know the Pre-Fall world had technology far beyond what we have now.”

Raines patted him on the shoulder. “I’m proud of you, Jake. That’s a decent bit of deductive reasoning.”

Jake nodded. “I’ve had a pretty good teacher this past year.”

“
Pretty
good?” Raines scowled.

“All right, that’s enough for our first day,” AJ called back from the head of the line. “That clearing we passed a few minutes ago seemed like a good place to make camp.”

Jake looked back at the area she was referring to. She had picked a clearing far from any trees or water sources. Then he looked up at the sky and realized it was still several hours till dark. “Why there? Why go back?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Do you have a problem with it, Jake?” It wasn’t like her to use his first name around the crew, even when they were off the ship. She walked back to him. “Sorry. You need to trust me on this, Captain,” she said in a more hushed tone.

That was all he needed. He and his first mate had developed a silent language between them, even without planning to do so. Something was up with her, and she obviously didn’t want to discuss it in front of the crew. “Okay, let’s go back and make camp, people,” he called out. Then he looked at her. “Want to help me gather wood for a fire?”

She waited until the rest of the group were on their way back. No one seemed too bothered to be stopping early. Their full-day hike was already much longer than any of them had walked since arriving there.

“Come with me,” she whispered, taking him by the elbow and pulling him in their original direction. When she had walked a few steps, she stopped. “Do you feel it?”

When he shook his head, she pulled him a few more steps forward. “Now?”

“What exactly am I supposed to be feeling?” he asked, but then it hit him. Something very dangerous lay ahead. He could feel it in his bones.
Don’t take another step,
his inner voice cried out. He backed up, and the feeling dissipated a bit. He tapped her on the arm, and they both jogged back to where they had started. “It’s gone,” he said.

“Another fence,” she said. “I was at the front of the line, so I felt it first.” She looked at him. “I didn’t want to spook the others this close to dark.”

He patted her on the shoulder like Raines did to him, but quickly realized how awkward it felt. “You did the right thing stopping us,” he said.

She raised an eyebrow. “Of course I did,”

He looked back at the clearing she had chosen. “Still doesn’t seem like the best place to camp,” he said.

“And you would know that because of all of your wilderness camping experience?”

He nodded as if he really did have experience. “There was a pretty good-sized park in Capitol City,” he said. “My friends and I used to spend nights there when my aunt had to work the late shift.”

“Not the same thing, you realize,” she said.

“Maybe not, but I do think we should camp near tall trees if we can.” He pointed to a small stand off to the north.

“Why?” she asked. “So a limb can fall off and crush us during the night?”

“No,” he said, “so that we can climb up them if there is danger.”

“Danger? Your mother’s people have been here over fifteen years. I think if there was anything dangerous in Eden, it would have been discovered by now.”

“They haven’t been in
this
part of Eden,” he corrected.

“Fine,” she said. “We’ll camp by those trees, but you’ll understand if I don’t sleep directly under one.”

He smiled. “I understand. Let’s tell the others before they get too far into setting up camp.”

Fortunately, no one had actually started anything, mainly because no one had any idea what “setting up camp” meant. When they relocated to the stand of trees, Jake picked a large one with branches low enough to use for climbing. He didn’t tell anyone his reason for choosing it, because the last thing he wanted on their first night out was worrying about a danger that probably only existed in his mind.

AJ sent everyone off to gather food while she and Vee used the embers they carried to start a small fire. Since they had nothing to cook and the evening air was warm, the fire was more for boosting morale than anything else. Jake put himself in charge of building a makeshift fire pit, with a large pile of dead branches to keep the fire going all night and four large logs surrounding it for people to sit on.

He also grabbed a number of longer branches and made makeshift spears out of them. Again, he didn’t explain his actions to anyone, and placed them along the back side of the logs, where they wouldn’t be noticed, but at the same time would be within easy reach. He knew his concerns were probably just the result of being so close to the invisible fence, but he felt a bit more at ease knowing he had done something to protect his people.

Just after dinner, when everyone was sitting around the fire, relaxing from the long day’s walk, Raines began one of his many stories about life as a young boy in the days before Civica Colony sealed its borders. Life seemed so carefree back then, and Jake began to daydream about his own childhood, when he heard a familiar sound off to the south. He had heard it a few times before, sitting next to his mother at the village fire pit, and she had described it as “wind howling through a distant tree.” Back in the village, it was a soothing sound, but so far from the village, it sounded more ominous.

Maybe it was a single tree that made the sound, and maybe they just happened to be closer to that tree. Maybe it was, again, the proximity to the fence that made the sound seem almost menacing. Or perhaps it was the fact that there was no wind that night. The air was as calm as the park in Capitol City. When it sounded again, everyone else heard it.

“What was that?” Jessie asked, sliding closer to Vee, who was sitting next to her.

“The wind,” Jake said, though he wasn’t sure himself.

Again it came, this time a bit louder and more to the south. If it were a tree, it wouldn’t be moving. And again they heard it.

“That’s not the wind,” Dr. Wood said as he stood up. Jake didn’t even pause to think when he reached behind his log and grabbed three spears. He tossed one to Wood then handed another to AJ.

Two more howls came at once from opposite sides. Everyone jumped up and put their backs to the fire, facing the darkness, fists raised in self-defense. “Got any more of those?” Raines asked.

Jake quickly circled the group, pulling out his hidden stash of spears and handing one to each of his crew.

“How many are there?” AJ asked.

“How would I know?” Jake replied.

“I mean, based on the direction of the howls. How many do you think?”

“Four,” Jessie said. When Jake glanced at her, she added, “I’m good with sounds, remember?”

Something howled directly in front of Jake’s position, and it was close. “Make that five,” he said.

“There are still four more out there,” Jessie said, turning her head back and forth and cupping a hand over one ear. “They’re not speaking, but I can hear them moving through the dead leaves.”

“That’s five of them against seven of us,” Vee whispered. “That’s not too bad, right? Plus we have spears.”

“And they probably have teeth,” AJ said, “and I wouldn’t exactly call these sticks ‘spears.’”

“We also have fire,” Raines said, glancing back at the small fire behind them. “Most animals instinctively fear fire. If we had only thought to make torches.”

“I think we’re lucky to have these sticks,” Jessie said. “You’re always looking out for us, aren’t you, Captain?”

Jake started to answer, when the bushes in front of him moved. Low growls could be heard all around them.

“Here they come,” AJ warned.

“Everyone stay calm,” Jake said. “Keep your spears raised and your backs to the fire.” He paused. “We’ll get through this together.”

As he looked around the fire, he realized that they probably wouldn’t get through it. In fact, they were all going to be dead, or dying, in the next few seconds if he didn’t come up with something quickly. Something brilliant.
Or something obvious,
he thought as he looked up at the tree next to the fire—the tree he had picked out specifically because it would be easy to climb in an emergency.

“Everyone up the tree!” he yelled. “Jessie, you’re closest, so you first. Everyone else keep your spear raised and back towards her.” When no one moved, he yelled, “Go now!”

Jessie grabbed Jane by the hand and pulled her towards the tree. When they reached the trunk, they both dropped their spears and shot up. As each member headed up the tree, Jake realized that he was the farthest one away and therefore would be the last one up. As he passed by the fire, he grabbed one burning branch and held it out in front of him.

The growling was all around them now. Why the creatures hadn’t yet attacked was anyone’s guess. He hoped that Raines was correct and that the fire was keeping them away. He glanced back and saw the engineer behind him. He was the only other person still on the ground. “What are you waiting for?” Jake asked.

“You first, Captain,” Raines said.

Jake saw two yellow eyes in the darkness ahead of him, and he backed up a step. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of heights,” he said.

“You’re the captain,” Raines said. “You’re needed more than me,”

“You’re right about one thing,” Jake said. “I am the captain, and I just gave you an order.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Norman. I’ll be right behind you.”

The attack came so swiftly and silently that Jake didn’t even know what happened until it was over. One moment he was facing his engineer, the next he was staring at the biggest dog he had ever imagined, lunging through the air, straight for his face. At the last moment, almost as if he were watching in slow motion, Raines dove his spear into the creature’s open mouth, impaling it.

The creature’s momentum completed its arc, landing on Jake’s lap. Blood and drool splattered his chest and face, and the dog took its last painful breath. Around the fire, the bushes erupted with motion as the remainder of the dogs came for them. With strength that can only come from a rush of adrenalin, Jake jumped up, grabbed Raines by the arm, and scrambled for the tree. He pushed the older man ahead of him then climbed after him so fast it was like he was still a child playing in the park. He didn’t stop until he reached the rest of his crew high in the tree.