The Strike Trilogy (8 page)

“Yes, sir,” Rigel’s voice crackled through the speaker.

Pleased with himself, and with how the surveillance mission had succeeded, Vincent looked back to the screen with a smile. But then he watched Orion: the old man brought his coffee mug to his mouth, but his hand was trembling so much that he had trouble sipping from it without it spilling. He was younger than Vincent, but looked so much older.

Vincent watched the image in silence. The smile was now gone from his face.

CHAPTER NINE

A
fter taking off from the roof of Orion’s apartment building, the Sky-Blade was in the clouds again, soaring to its next destination. In the cockpit, Keplar was using the time to catch up on his sleep, with his cowboy hat pulled down over his eyes and his feet propped up on the control panel, while Scatterbolt was standing on the pilot’s chair next to him, doing his best to steer the ship along its way. The robot’s metallic arms were just about long enough to reach the controls, and it was a bit of a struggle, but he didn’t mind, as flying was one of his favorite things to do in the world, right up there with playing poker and reading about frogs.

In the cabin of the ship, Tobin was sitting all the way in the back, as far away from the others as he could possibly be. Orion was also in the cabin, but he was sitting up near the front, sharpening his arrows with a square stone.

“You must be very frightened still,” Orion said, trying to get the boy to open up. He had barely spoken since they left Quantum City.

“No,” Tobin said, his arms across his stomach. “Nauseous. Dizzy. Kinda feel like I’m dying. But that’s about it.”

Orion chuckled. “That sounds like fright to me.”

“I guess. Either that or my body is collapsing in on itself. One of the two.”

Orion laughed again. “You haven’t asked me any questions about what Scatterbolt told you back at the library. I thought there’d be plenty of stuff you’d want to know more about.”

Tobin grabbed the sides of his chair as the vehicle banked and picked up speed, then looked across the cabin at Orion. The old man looked human, but that hadn’t been the case with almost everything else Tobin had seen so far, so he wasn’t taking any chances.

“No offense,” the boy said, “but I don’t really feel like talking. To anyone. I just…want this over with.”

Orion nodded. “I understand. But if you want to talk, I’m here.”

A silence passed. Orion looked out the window next to him. “All right, Scatterbolt. You can take us down now.”

“Here?” the robot asked. “But we’re not near the city yet.”

“I know.” Orion stood up and slung his quiver onto his back. “But we’re gonna walk the rest of the way. It’ll be safer.”

“Okey dokey,” Scatterbolt replied. Then, with an easy push of a lever, he brought the ship slowly downward.

Once the Sky-Blade’s engines turned off and it came to a stop, Tobin walked out its side door and down a long metal ramp that jutted into the ground. Scatterbolt had landed the gleaming sky-ship in a forest, but it was the swampiest forest Tobin could ever imagine: the ground was nothing but brown sludge, with large, random patches of moss resting on top of the sticky sludge like bizarre islands. There were also thick, winding trees crawling out of the moss islands, which seemed to be scratching at the drifting clouds with their brittle, leafless branches. Heavy thickets of fog were floating through the area above the ground, like curious residents inspecting the new arrivals in the sky-ship, and strange animal calls and insect clicks were bleating out from all around the deep darkness.

“Well,” Tobin said, stepping onto the mucky ground, “this is the creepiest place I’ve ever seen.”

Behind him, Scatterbolt walked off the ship, and his big, round feet sunk into the mud, all the way up to his ankles.

“And the grossest,” he added with a sneer.

Next, Keplar walked off the ramp, waving his hand at the football-sized horsefly buzzing around his nose.

“And buggier than hell, too,” he grumbled.

Finally, Orion walked off the ship, picking up a long skinny tree branch and using it as a walking stick. He moved ahead of the others and toward the dark forest, as if it was a completely normal thing to do.

“Which is exactly why it’s safe for us to hide here,” he said. “Follow me, everybody. A friend of mine is waiting for us up ahead.”

Following the old man, Tobin stuck close by Keplar, as he was growing more nervous with each new sound coming from the trees.

“You guys actually know somebody that
lives
in this place?” he asked the dog.

“Yeah. Her name’s Aykrada. She used to be a superhero in this place not too long ago, but now...well, there’s not much of a place left.”

To his right, Tobin noticed a couple of small, shanty-like houses on the edge of the forest, but they were rundown and abandoned, as if nobody had lived in them for months.

Tobin was just about to ask Keplar another question when the football-sized horsefly returned and landed on the boy’s shoulder. He turned and saw its kaleidoscope eyes staring back at him.

“Aaaaahh!” Tobin screamed. “Get it off, get it off!”

Jumping up and down, Tobin waved his arms and stomped his feet, until finally the bug flew away, letting out an insulted little buzz as it zoomed into the forest.

Keplar laughed loudly, throwing an arm around Tobin’s shoulder. “Ain’t hanging out with superheroes fun?” he asked with a grin.

Behind Tobin and Keplar, Scatterbolt was doing his best to keep up with the group, but his feet kept getting stuck in the mud, and he had to pull them out with loud, sticky
SHLURPS!

“Hey!” the robot called, shaking the mud from his foot. “Hey, guys, wait up! C’mon, wait for me!”

Stepping forward, the robot avoided another deep puddle of sludge, but then the horsefly returned again and landed in front of him. This time, as it blocked the robot’s path, it licked its lips and drooled.

“Oh, no,” Scatterbolt said, holding his hands out. “Stay back, boy. Don’t you get any funny ideas.”

But, the horsefly was too curious to regard the robot’s warning, and it stepped closer.

“All right,” Scatterbolt said with a shrug. “You asked for it.”

Suddenly, the robot’s arm quickly drew back into his body. Then, after a few
whirs
and
clanks
, a new arm popped out—this one had a spray can on the end of it where its hand should be. A label on the can read:
BUG-BE-GONE!

“Open wide,” Scatterbolt said with a smile.

The nozzle on the can descended, and instantly a toxic spray shot out from it and enveloped the horsefly. The bug flew away, coughing and hacking, finally taught its lesson to keep its distance.

Relieved, Scatterbolt ran forward through the mud and caught up with his friends.

“Hey, guys! I almost just became something’s dinner! Hey, guys, c’mon! Wait for me!”

After a short (but skin-crawlingly creepy) trek through the dark forest, Orion, Tobin, Keplar, and Scatterbolt came upon a faded billboard:
WELCOME TO GALLYMOORA!
it said, and underneath the words there was a picture of a lively, tree-lined city, awash in sunlight and home to a magnificent marble fountain. The city looked nothing like the area Tobin had seen so far.

Then, looking down from the billboard, Tobin realized somebody was waiting for them underneath it: it was a beautiful woman, wearing a long, brown dress. She was about forty years old, with friendly green eyes and wavy, brown hair. When she saw the group approaching her, she walked toward them with a smile.

“That’s not a cane, is it?” she asked. “I know you said we were getting old, Orion, but, geez, it can’t be that old, can it?”

Orion laughed and embraced her in a hug. “No, not for you, but definitely for me.” He looked her in the eyes. “Thank you for helping us, Aykrada. It really means a lot to us, more than you could ever know.”

She waved him off. “Don’t be silly, Orion. You know as well as I do that we need your help much more than you need ours. We’re thrilled to have you here.”

The old man led Aykrada toward the others.

“I’m sure you remember Scatterbolt,” he said, motioning toward the robot.

“Of course. How are you, Scatterbolt?”

“Fine, thank you! Nice to see you again!”

Orion smirked. “And then there’s Keplar.”

Aykrada gave the dog a once-over, narrowing her eyes. Tobin noticed that Keplar was very nervous.

“Hi, muh-ma’am,” the husky said, offering his paw for a handshake. “It’s very nice to see you again, ma’am. I hope we can help you out while we’re here. Ma’am.”

Aykrada ignored the paw a moment, but then shook it, laughing. She wasn’t really angry, Tobin realized.

“I hope things will go better this visit?” she asked Keplar.

“Yes, ma’am,” the dog replied. “I’ll be far away. So far, far away. People will be like, ‘Hey, who’s that?’ and everyone will be like, ‘I don’t know, he’s so far away, I can’t tell.’”

Aykrada laughed. “I’ll make sure to tell my husband that. But be careful: if he even senses you’re thinking about it, he will—”

“I swear,” Keplar blurted out, “I had no idea she was your daughter, ma’am! If I knew that, I never would have—”

Aykrada covered the dog’s mouth with her finger. “All right. Just stay away. Far away. Got it?”

Keplar nodded. Tobin was eager to hear more about the story, and when he looked to Scatterbolt, he saw that the robot was trying not to laugh, snickering through clenched teeth.

“And this,” Orion said, “is Tobin.”

Tobin quickly looked up, finding Orion and Aykrada standing in front of him.

“Oh, hi,” the boy said, extending his hand. “It’s, uh, nice to meet you, Miss…Aykrada. Nice to meet you.”

Aykrada smiled, but with a bit of sadness. Then, surprisingly, she wrapped Tobin in a hug.

“It’s an honor to have you here, Tobin. As long as you are a guest in this city, you are welcome to have anything you need. Just ask me and you’ll get it. Okay?”

Tobin nodded, uncomfortable. “Uh, sure. Thanks, thanks...”

With a laugh, Aykrada grabbed Tobin by his cheeks, gave them a squeeze, and then walked away with Orion.

“He looks just like him, O,” she said. “Just like him.”

“I know,” Orion replied. “I promise we won’t be here long, Aykrada, just a day or two. Is everything I asked for ready?”

“Yup. Anytime you need it, Orion.”

As the two of them walked down a brick path behind the billboard, leading deeper into the woods, Tobin and the others followed.

“Wow!” Scatterbolt whispered. “Did you guys hear that? Aykrada said Tobin could have anything in the city that he wanted!”

“I know,” Tobin replied, scratching his head. “What was that all about? It kinda freaked me out, to be honest.”

“Just ask for her daughter,” Keplar said. “Trust me.”

The dog winked.

“What was that?” Aykrada asked from up ahead.

“Nothing!” Keplar said quickly. “Nothing!”

As the dog ran up to the others, Tobin and Scatterbolt shared a laugh.

“So,” the boy asked, “there’s actually people
living
in this place? I can’t believe anyone would want to live here.”

“Well,” the robot said, “it wasn’t always like this. And some of them do wanna leave, so Aykrada’s been helping them out until we can find a new place for them to live. But there’s a lot of them, so it’s taking a while.”

“Oh.”

Ahead of Tobin and Scatterbolt, as he walked with Aykrada, Orion turned around. He watched as Tobin said something with a grin that made Scatterbolt burst out with a loud laugh.

The old man turned back to the brick path. For a moment, it felt as if he was once again on an adventure with his best friend.

After walking down the brick path, Aykrada led the group into the city of Gallymoora. As Tobin scanned the area, his stomach turned, and he nearly forgot to breathe.

There was a small city in the middle of the forest, but it was a wasteland. The houses were hollowed out and boarded up, and the cobblestone streets were littered with potholes. The giant marble fountains in the center of the city were covered with algae, and the largest fountain—the one from the billboard—was cracked into pieces and bone-dry. Worst of all, Tobin realized, there were people living here, dressed in rags and pale and beaten down. They were regular human beings, but so starved and ill they appeared to be ghosts shuffling through the wreckage.

“Oh, Aykrada,” Orion said. “I had no idea it had gotten so bad. I am so sorry.”

Aykrada looked over the city. “Since the flood we have made almost no progress. Every day, more people get sick, and every day more people are lost. It is heartbreaking.”

Tobin watched as a mother crossed the street with her two sons. One of the boys was about four years old, and the other was an infant, who was being pushed in a wobbly, barely-standing stroller.

“This is my fault,” Orion said. Tobin spun to the old man, surprised. “I should have never given you that damn thing to watch over. It was my responsibility, not yours.”