The Search For WondLa (4 page)

CHAPTER 5: ABOVEGROUND

Wiping ash
and grit out of her burning eyes, Eva Nine stumbled away from the Sanctuary’s underground exhaust vent and into the surrounding wood. She knelt down next to the thick trunk of the nearest tree to catch her breath.

“C-cold,” she stuttered. “I c-can see my breath.” Eva wriggled her fingers through the mist coming from her mouth and watched it dissipate as it drifted away above her. She fell backward and looked up through the boughs of the trees and saw stars, millions of them, speckling between the patches of thick clouds in the night sky. The soft glow of the moon permeated through the cloud cover as Eva absorbed the utter enormity of the evening sky stretched over her. She was witnessing it all for the first time.

“It’s so big!” She gaped in astonishment. “And brighter than I thought it would be.”

The crisp night air smelled moist and mysterious. Eva felt the climatefibers in her clothing tighten to warm her body as her tunic announced the outdoor temperature and her body temperature. She ignored the report and peered into the woods that surrounded her.

Huge wide, squat trees—almost as big as her Sanctuary—grew in broad clusters. Their cup-shaped branches swayed and creaked in rhythm with sounds of odd chortles and burbles coming from deep within the dense undergrowth. Spindly bulb-tipped plants had sprung up in the spaces in between the trees and were swaying gently in unison as if moved by a midnight breeze.

A familiar booming sound rocked the forest, causing the unseen residents to squawk and croak in fright. The shadowy creatures rustled about all around the girl. Eva crawled behind the trunk of the tree and hid. She jumped when she heard the muffled chirp of her Omnipod. With jittery hands she rummaged through her satchel and pulled the device out. Risking a peek around the trunk of the tree, Eva whispered into the Omnipod, “This is Eva Nine. Proceed.”

The device whispered back, “Greetings, Eva Nine. You have one unplayed message from Multi-Utility Task Help Robot zero-six. Sent twelve minutes ago. Shall I play recorded message?”

“Yes.” Eva felt loneliness creep into her being.

A three-dimensional image of Muthr projected over the device. “Eva, dear,” the hologram said, “this message was recorded on the chance that you have successfully escaped the Sanctuary. I know you have yet to explore the surface, but you need to listen very carefully: Get as far away from the Sanctuary as possible and hide for the night. Once you find shelter, begin signaling to the nearest settlement, HRP underground facility fifty-one. I need you to remain hidden and wait for either a live message from me or a return message from those coordinates. Remember, your Omnipod will help you in the interim. Eva, stay strong.”

“End of message,” finished the Omnipod.

“I’m not waiting.” Eva sent the distress signal, returned the device to her satchel, and peered back around the tree trunk. A thin ribbon of smoke drifted up from the exhaust vent into the night sky. In it were the burnt, atomized remnants of her Sanctuary. Perhaps even of Muthr.

“Stupid robot.” Eva wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. “I knew we should have explored the surface sooner.”

Another large tremor rippled up from the shaft, followed by the emergence of a dark, burly figure from another opening in the ground, farther in the distance. “The main entryway,” Eva whispered, remembering the floor plan that the Omnipod had showed her.

The large, shadowy figure remained still at the entryway as it surveyed the forest. Eva couldn’t make out many details from her vantage point, but whatever this intruder was, it was big and had many legs and arms. It lifted its large head and snorted loudly, then abruptly stopped. Turning, the intruder raised a long rodlike apparatus right in Eva’s direction. She could hear a distinct electronic hum rising in pitch, followed by a
woom
sound of intense sonic vibration. The tree trunk Eva was hiding behind exploded, throwing her backward.

The concentrated sound wave had blasted a hole, the size of Muthr, through the thick trunk. Digging herself out of the debris that had dropped down onto her, Eva heard the groan of the weakened trunk as the tree began to topple. She scrambled out of the way, and the sprawling treetop crashed into the ground behind her, sending leaves and branches flying in all directions.

She got up and took off, running through the dense woods. Soon Eva could hear only her footsteps padding across the soft forest floor.

Is he gone? Did I outrun him?
she thought.

Just to the right of her another tree was reduced to splinters by a sonic explosion. She was being followed.

She ran for some time, zigzagging through the undergrowth. Her lungs burned from the crisp, chilly night air. As she dashed around the enormous trunk of a tree, Eva tried to locate her attacker. She leaned against a low branch and caught her breath, wondering where she was.

Eva looked up through the wide leaves above her. In the shadowy forest there wasn’t enough moonlight for her to take in her surroundings and find a safe place to hide.

Perhaps if I get to a higher vantage point, I can see more.
She grabbed on to the branch. Like she had done many times on the monkey bars in the Sanctuary’s gymnasium, Eva lifted herself onto the branch and tested her weight on the platform of hardened leaves: They held her.

Eva hopped from leafy platform to platform. In moments she found herself on the moonlit top of the irregular tree. Peering over the edge of the topmost bough, Eva could see the swift-moving tapered shape of her assailant below.

Once again the intruder stopped and sniffed the air. It circled the neighboring tree trunks. Though her tunic and jackvest kept her warm from the cool of the night, Eva shivered from fear and slid back onto the leafy platform to hide.

I have to lead him away from me,
she thought.
But how?

She peered back down below her. In the wan light she could see that the intruder was still in the area, poking around in the bush with his bulb-tipped weapon. Some ways away a covey of birds, silhouetted in the night sky, fluttered up. The intruder froze and listened. Hunting.

A distraction,
Eva thought.
But with what?

She opened her satchel, and discovered that there wasn’t much inside: the Omnipod, lip balm, Glitterglow nail polish, a hydration kit, a drinking container, a few electra-notes … and the package of foodstuffs Muthr had given her. Curious, Eva opened the package. It was a pouch full of food: SustiBars, Pow-R-drink packs, water purification tablets, and nutriment pellets.

Nutriment pellets. Perfect,
she thought, picking up one of the large brown pills.

Eva glanced back down, spying the intruder still circling below. Moving ever so quietly, she sat up and threw the pellet. It pinged as it banged off a distant tree. The dark intruder bolted through the undergrowth toward the disturbance.

Eva waited a beat.

One more,
she thought.
This time throw it as far as you can.

She stood up and hurled another pellet out into the darkness, but she heard nothing and sat back down. As she waited, Eva looked down at the surrounding ground for signs of the intruder. Hours passed. Inkblot shadows of the canopy swayed and rolled on the forest floor in the cloudy light, almost as if the ground itself were moving. The swaying movement began to have a hypnotic effect on the tired girl. Eva curled up in the wide cupped leaves of the tree and waited for morning.

CHAPTER 6: OMNIPOD

Eva was
summoned from her sleep by a chorus of soft, low hoots.

She jolted upright, startled. “Where am I?”

Though it was still fairly dark, most of the stars had faded into the early morning predawn, and Eva could see that thick clouds still hung above her. The cool, misty breeze that wafted over her face smelled sweet, like flower-scented soap.

As she took in the dimly lit world around her, Eva spied the source of the hooting. Three distinctly marked birds were roosting on a leafy platform right next to her. Eva leaned over for a closer view in the dusky light—each was nearly as large as she was. One of the creatures flapped its finlike wings and warbled a warning, but did not fly off.

“Wow, birds. Actual living birds. Right here. Right next to me,” whispered Eva. As she watched them preen themselves, Eva pulled out her Omnipod. She whispered to it, “This is Eva Nine. Initiate Identicapture, please.”

The device glowed as it responded, “Identicapture enabled. Proceed.”

Eva aimed the Omnipod in the birds’ direction and the device emitted an electronic ping. Seconds later, a perfect three-dimensional hologram of the bird, with its three pairs of wings, floated like a model over the Omnipod’s central eye. Underneath the hologram, charts and menus fluttered as the Omnipod attempted to identify the creature. At last the device reported, “Kingdom, phylum, and species: unknown.”

“That’s weird,” Eva said. She examined the Omnipod for damage. “I thought you could identify anything.” As she flipped the device over, a glimmer of bright light reflected from its lacquered metallic finish, spooking the roosting birds. Eva watched as the flock chattered loudly and flew off toward the horizon. She then discovered the source of the reflected light. Beneath heavy, hazy clouds a colossal ball of brilliant white appeared in the sky. Beams of light erupted from its fiery core, skewering the purple-blue sky as they illuminated it.

“Oh, no!” cried Eva. She cowered into a ball on the leafy platform. “It’s too big! It’s too big!” Eva covered her eyes with her hands. “It’s much brighter than the holos. It’s going to burn me!” A warmth radiated into her body, and cracks of orange light leaked in between her pale bony fingers. After she dared a peek through them, Eva drew in her breath and sat up. The sun rose in the moody morning sky, unveiling the surrounding landscape as it did so.

Far to the east, just below the rising sun, a jagged horizon of mountains poked their enormous pointed backs up toward the hazy atmosphere. As far as Eva could see, a forest thick with interlocking trees stretched to the north and to the south. From the forest edge, gravel and stones peppered the plain, which surrounded Eva’s tree in all directions. Behind her, to the west, more thickset irregular trees—like the one she was perched in—were clustered together. Their entire mass was a rich olive green, and as Eva studied them closely, she realized that they were … moving.

Moving?

She scooted to the edge of her leafy platform and gaped down at the ground below. Lichen-plastered rocks and loose gravel scrolled underneath at a steady pace as the tree ambled on hundreds of small rootlike legs. It reminded Eva of the holograms she had seen of millipedes crawling over the ground.

“Walking trees? I don’t remember studying those,” Eva said, perplexed, her brow furrowed.

Her tunic chirped, “Your hydration level is low, Eva Nine. Please hydrate immediately. Thank you.”

Eva sat up and tapped the patch on the shoulder of her tunic to confirm that she had received the message. The animated shoulder patch showed a graphic of Eva with statistics, such as height, weight, body temperature, and the time.

She scanned several of the cup formations that made up the tree’s leaves. The birds’ roost had a small puddle of water at the bottom of it—like a sink. Eva hopped over to the wide leafy platform and dipped her hand into the puddle. She lifted the chilled water to her nose and sniffed it as it ran through her fingers, but smelled nothing. After pulling out her drinking cup, she scooped up the water and stuck her tongue into it. A faint taste of cabbage was present; otherwise, the water was unremarkable. She dropped in a water purification tablet and drank.

Eva paused, wondering if she’d waited long enough for the water to become purified.
Is this water poisonous? Am I going to get sick?
She tried not to focus on the water, or the expanse of the illuminated dawn sky above her, and pulled out her Omnipod. “Check for messages, please.”

“You have no new messages—voice or otherwise.”

“Can … can you send a message to Muthr?”

“Attempting voice connection to Multi-Utility Task Help Robot zero-six … ,” said the Omnipod as the little lights began to flicker around its central eye.

“Come on.” Eva picked at the medi-sticker on her thumb. “Be there, please.”

“I am sorry, Eva Nine. I am not receiving a reply,” the Omnipod said. “Would you like to leave a message?”

“No, thanks.” Eva stood up and scanned the forest. She squinted through the wandering trees and flocks of flying creatures.

Where am I?
she wondered.
I was in the woods last night, but not anymore. How long have we been traveling?

In the far distance she saw it.

To the southeast, a small wisp of smoke curled and evaporated just above the treetops—the smoke from the Sanctuary’s exhaust vent.

Muthr.

Eva scrambled down the wandering tree and hopped onto the pebbled ground. As the tree lumbered on, she stepped out from its shadow and onto the winding open plain that lay between her and what remained of her underground home.

CHAPTER 7: LIFE-FORMS

Eva inspected
the round, smooth stone cradled in her hands, half-expecting it to disappear in a cloud of light motes—but it did not. She turned it over and over in her hands. For one thing, the brown and blue striped stone was heavy, much heavier than Eva had imagined it would be when she’d picked it up from the ground. This was contrary to everything she’d ever held in the holography chamber. There, everything was as light as the filtered air that filled the Sanctuary.

This is real,
she thought as she held the stone out in front of her,
all of this.

Sand and gravel crunched under Eva’s sneakboots as she marched across the winding plain. The odometer on the shoe’s heel clicked as it counted out the distance. She stopped and checked her progress. “I’ve gone almost two kilometers. That’s the farthest I’ve ever walked.”

Eva looked back over the plain. The tree she had been traveling on had now joined the others and was indistinguishable from the rest. They were like a holographic herd of green elephants. Looking up at the sun’s rays, which were trying to force their way through the overcast sky, Eva felt a wave of cold numbness overtake her. She felt vulnerable and frightened—she had never been in an open space this vast.

Ever.

Her sweaty grip loosened, and Eva dropped the stone. She stood, frozen in place.

I need to run,
she thought.
Run as fast as I can back home.

“But I can’t do that,” Eva said aloud. “I need to be strong.”

I wish I could fly. Then I could explore the whole world from the safety of the clouds.

“I wish I was safe back in my room.” Eva swallowed. “I could be watching
Beeboo and Company
right now.”

But now I am free. No one can tell me what to do.

“No one? There is no one here! Where is everybody?” Eva shouted.

I must search for them. I must find them.

“I’m tired. I don’t know if I can do this.” She looked down at her rock and moped.

I need to prove to Muthr that I was right and she was wrong.

The numbness passed. Eva wiped her damp palms on her tunic. She turned toward the distant smoky column and began walking again, thinking of the robot as she trudged forward. “Muthr was right. I’m a failure. I don’t think I am ready for surface exploration,” Eva said, pulling out her Omnipod.

“Eva Nine,” the device greeted her. “How may I be of service?”

“Begin transmission signal,” she commanded. “Coordinates are at HRP facility … number … um … Hold on. Can you replay Muthr’s message from last night?”

“Of course,” chirped the Omnipod.

“Eva, dear,” Muthr’s recording said as the projection of her head reappeared, “this message was recorded on the chance that you have successfully escaped the Sanctuary. I know—”

The Omnipod shut off abruptly as Eva stumbled over a rough inconspicuous rock lying on the ground in front of her. The rock began chattering as it scuttled out from under Eva on its numerous legs. Its stony exoskeleton opened up, revealing a pair of brightly colored membranous wings. It buzzed as it flew away, and then it landed near a large hole some ways off. Eva watched it settle, changing its color to match the cluster of ivory-colored stones and sticks that surrounded the hole. “The rocks walk too?” Eva asked. “Maybe I do have a lot more training to do.” She rechecked her position and hiked toward the forest where her Sanctuary was nestled.

Eva studied the odd-shaped congregation of plant life up ahead, and then her gaze drifted up to several birds circling a weeping tree adorned in long, droopy branches. At the center of the topmost bough was a bright object, which Eva concluded was some sort of fruit. She restarted Identicapture, in hopes of getting a better holo-scan of the birds, but then one of the birds alighted on the fruit. As fast as whips, all the dangling branches on the tree snapped up, muffling the bird’s cries as they smothered the animal.

“Agh!” Eva stepped back, horrified. “What is that?” She aimed the Omnipod at the tree and waited for the device to capture an image. A hologram model was rendered in vivid detail, rotating over the Omnipod’s central eye. Once again the device replied, “Kingdom, phylum, and species: unknown.”

“Unknown?” Eva asked, astounded. “How can that be? It’s clearly some sort of tree.” Her eyes were wide as she witnessed the tree devouring the bird.

“Its size, form, and coloration do not match any of my records,” the Omnipod reported in its chirpy tone. “If anything, its basic form and actions are similar to that of an animal from the genus
Hydra
—”

“So that’s what
this
is, then?” Eva stared at the hologram of a hydra floating over the Omnipod. Its thin wispy tentacles waved about in a free-flowing fashion over its tubelike body.

“However,” continued the Omnipod, “all species of this genus are miniscule. Most are microscopic.”

“That,” Eva said, pointing to the tree, “is hardly microscopic.” The tree relaxed its branches back to their original position. The bird was gone.

“Agreed,” the Omnipod said, “which is why I concluded it was unidentifiable.”

“But you said it looks like that hydra thingy,” Eva said. “So it must be an animal.” She watched more birds circle the fruit. She realized that the weeping bird-catchers were everywhere in the forest.

“Its coloration and texture are similar to a large group of plants called algae, but I cannot make a definite conclusion,” the device added. It now displayed various types of algae with arrows pointing to various ponds, lakes, and seas where the plants could be found. Another bird squawked in the distance as another tree ate.

What is going on?
Eva wondered.
Why didn’t I learn about these? They are more dangerous than the stupid holographic snake that bit me.
She felt another wave of numbness chill her down to her legs. “I’ve got to get back to the Sanctuary.”

The Omnipod replied to Eva’s statement, “There is a Sanctuary entryway approximately five hundred and sixty-eight meters straight ahead and slightly to the south. I can synchronize the distance with your sneakboots if you like.”

“No, thanks,” Eva said as she surveyed the forest edge. In the morning shade of the bird-catchers, she saw what appeared to be a large boulder, angled at one side and half submerged in the earth—the ground-level entrance to a Sanctuary.

But it was not
her
Sanctuary.

Eva ran across the gravelly plain toward the entryway. Like the holograms she’d seen of underground subway entrances, the open doorway led down into the earth at a gradual angle. Its outside walls were splotched with large lichens. Enormous pale mushrooms grew from the entryway’s pitted roof. The door itself was nowhere to be found. Eva concluded from the entryway’s eroded appearance that the Sanctuary had been vacant for a long time.

She pulled a strand of brown-blond hair out of her eyes and peered down into the descending entrance. The darkness below revealed nothing.

Perhaps there is someone in here who can help,
she thought,
someone like me. Maybe their transmitter is broken just like ours was, and they’ve been trying to reach Muthr and me all these years.

Eva called down the shaft, “Hellloooo!” The sound echoed as it bounced down into the dark depths.

A high-pitched squeak answered from below, and out burst a swarm of ugly tiny flying crab-things. Eva shrieked, holding her hands up to cover her face. The twittering critters fluttered up into the morning sky above her. Next, a deep, low bellow sang out over the entire landscape. A gigantic shadow darkened the entryway from above.

What appeared to Eva as an enormous flying whale drifted high up over the open plain. With its massive maw the air-whale consumed the entire swarm of flying crabs. It then continued on its way, buoyed by a pair of mighty air sacs. Stunned at the sheer size of the whale, Eva cowered. She didn’t raise her Omnipod until the air-whale had disappeared over the treetops on the far side of the plain.

Eva caught her breath and leaned back against the side of the pitted entryway. She said to the device, “This is Eva Nine. Initiate LifeScan. Please sweep the area for any other detectable life-forms.”

“Initiating LifeScan.” A radar image floated over the Omnipod’s central eye. Eva bit at the medi-sticker on her thumb and watched a blueprint of the Sanctuary entrance rotate in front of her. She saw several tiny dots appear scattered about—and one large dot, glowing brightly. The Omnipod reported, “There are several small life-forms of no serious consequence. However, there is a larger, active life form that is making its way toward the entryway stairs from below.”

Eva’s throat clenched. “Is it human or robot?”

“Unknown.”

Standing tall, Eva scanned the immediate area. Though the entryway was near the forest edge, she was still a ways from the line of trees.

“Life-form almost to the surface.” Eva detested how the Omnipod maintained its cheerful tone.

This might be the intruder from last night,
she thought.
What do I do? What do I do?
She scanned her surroundings. “I can’t run for it. I’m too far away,” Eva whispered through fast breath. She looked back at the glowing dot on the Omnipod.
Whatever this is will make it to the surface before I get to the woods.

“Heart rate BPM acceleration detected, Eva Nine,” her tunic announced. “Please—”

Eva tapped the shoulder patch, silencing its report. She ran to the sloping back of the Sanctuary entrance, throwing her Omnipod into her satchel. After grabbing hold of the stalk of a large mushroom, she pulled herself up the back of the entryway and scrambled onto the tiny angled roof.

The footsteps became louder as whoever—or whatever—it was approached the surface. Eva held her breath and curled up tightly in a ball. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She could
feel
the thing near her.

Maybe it won’t see me. Maybe it will leave.

Time stopped as she waited, her body curled with her hands over her head. Her neck began to hurt. There was no sound to be heard at all except the far-off chortling of the birds.

Has it gone back down?

“Ovanda say tateel?” a voice barked.

Eva slowly unfroze from her position, and dared a peek over the edge of the roof.

There her eyes met the gaze of a being she knew her Omnipod would also not be able to identify.