Looking for the Age of Aquarius
Chap 24 ("Beware the Fury of a Patient Man")
Changing someone's mind takes time. Unless the person you're trying to convince is already conflicted or has doubts about what they believe – believed. But if they are already beginning to see that they might've been deceived it's easier. Especially if they can be shown that they were deluded – that their recruitment and subservience was only precursory means to another's ends and not at all for the propaganda they'd been convinced of. This morning though it took a two hours. Then I'd had to meet with Ian to update him and figure out how to proceed.
I arrived at school late. Really late. I exchanged my things at my locker, but opted to go to Work Study instead of walking into the middle of Biology and disrupt the lesson. Mr. Roubaud accepted my note from Daniel, and I took a seat to read. When the bell rang I went to PE as if nothing extraordinary had happened that morning.
However, my nonchalance didn't fool Julia. "What happened to you this morning?" she asked as we walked to the courts for tennis; not my favorite sport. I'd liked softball. And volleyball. Track – I wasn't very good at track: the running – yes, the other stuff – not so much; enough said.
"Sudden impromptu meeting with some disgruntled Trags," I told her softly. "They were beginning to realize they've been deluded and wanted to meet me, to hear my side of things."
"Did you bring them around?" she asked.
"I think so," I said.
"Word was you'd been abducted," Julia said.
Okay that was a surprise. Didn't Loraine set everyone straight? "Really? At five in the morning – from my bedroom?" I asked with a roll of my eyes. "I share a unit with four other girls."
"You should've told someone. Drake was beside himself; he thought you'd been carjacked by the Red Hawks or the Trags," Julia said as we walked toward an open court. "He and Roman left with Justin."
I stopped in my tracks. "Wait? They came back didn't they? Loraine said they'd left to go look for me – but she spread word I was okay, didn't she?"
"Yeah, I saw them after Trig – but Drake looked upset. They had to go to Gloria's office to explain why they'd run off," she said.
Grrrreeat! Julia had Trig the same time I had Biology! I didn't know when Mr. Roubaud would have taken my absence excuse to the school office; after my third period most likely… or during the lunch break?
"Miss Yeung, Miss Stone, less talking – more playing," Ms. Melendez chastised us to start playing.
I went to my locker after PE, hoping to see Drake, and I wasn't disappointed; he ran up to me on my way to Government. "Where were you? What happened?" he demanded, not exactly the greeting I'd had in mind. "Everyone was looking for you. Loraine called but she only said you were all right, and that you'd be late to school – that was hours ago."
"I'm fine," I replied. He sounded irritated, however I could feel his sense of agitation begin to wane, but not his concern. "I'm fine. I had unexpected business to deal with," I told him. I saw Mason and Arnund down the hall, watching us. Arnund jutted his chin and pulled out his phone. Now they'd all know I'd arrived safe and sound in school.
"What business?" Drake asked, drawing my attention to him again.
"Can we talk about it at lunch when we hav—?" I started to ask, but he cut me off, snapping, "No, now," as he pulled me aside.
"We're going to talk about this right now," he said as he thrust open the door to the men's bathroom and shoved me inside. I immediately turned my back upon seeing we weren't alone, squarely facing Drake's chest, as he barked, "Get out," at a sophomore who was trying to hide his front from me in the urinal he was facing.
I peeked; the boy's eyes widened alarmingly and he blanched. I looked at Drake. Holy crap. An angry Drake was one thing; but to have a fully confrontational Drake glaring down at you is intimidating. The boy zipped up quickly and left.
Drake turned on me. "Now. What happened and where were you?"
"Denny's – to meet Sephen, Byron and Rayne. Sephen called me – it wasn't a big deal—"
"You – missing – is a big deal; you're being targeted by the Red Hawks," Drake stated, looking down at me, still holding my arm firmly.
"I know that," I told him as serenely as I could to calm him. "And by the Trags – apparently. Although, with Vega's arrest, they are cut off and fractured – and they are now listening to reason."
"Really? Trags don't change their minds," he stated.
"You did," I pointed out. Wrong tactic, he looked ready to argue with me, so I immediately tried a new tactic: blatant honesty. "I met a few people, Trags, and they are wavering. I went to try and change their minds about, well, everything. Get them to see the truth," I stated.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, but Marco, a guy in our year, walked in. "We're busy – use another one," Drake snarled at him fiercely. Marco looked as if he were going to refute Drake, but Drake inhaled, making his chest swell, smacking his fist into his palm, his shoulders pumped, warrior visage full on as he glared Marco down, ready to punch something. I couldn't believe that I found it sexy; my hearts were racing at the sight.
Marco shrugged. "Sure man," he said and left.
"We're going to be late to Government…" I told him, trying to remain composed.
"I don't care; start talking," Drake demanded, his fist still pressed to his palm. "Who are Sephen and Rayne?"
"Sephen is Byron's older brother and one of my ochrikujen," I told him since he already knew Byron Walsh was one of my strazhic ochrokuje. I never saw them together, but Drake knew Byron had insinuated himself in with the Trags at Marshall. "Rayne, he's a Vawsak, another of my men; Sephen and Rayne infiltrated the Trags living outside the Sector so we'd know what they were up to – like Byron did. Rayne managed to get tight with Zoeda. Sepehn and Rayne – my ochrikujen – they asked me to go to Denny's to meet some Trags."
"They took you to a Trag meeting?" Drake asked in utter disbelief.
"No, just to talk to them," I clarified.
"So who are these Trags you met?" he asked. Geeze, he was acting like he was my Avizitan Ochrokaje instead of Roman's. Well, I did pick a warrior for a miyutianek.
"Four Trags who'd realized that they'd been deluded by Vega," I said, but the door opened and Drake immediately reacted on pure warrior instinct, barking at the guy to leave. The guy said something about 'doing me' and 'getting on with it,' and left.
"We should go – we're going to attract attention," I suggested, moving to take a step forward, but Drake put his hand out, on my chest to stop me.
"Who are they?" he demanded. The interruptions were agitating him, adding to his concern from the morning. "These Trags, who are they?" he asked dropping his hand.
I told him what I knew about them: Bronn (the man in all black) and Urbin (the one who'd worn the tan shirt and jeans) were Iwabas; they both wanted out but were afraid. "I told them I'd send a message to Jhina in the bayou. They'd be safe there, but the decision will be hers," I said. "In the meantime, Ian put them someplace to lie low. Turning to Jhina might not look like desertion; but if she couldn't take them in, or doesn't want to, I could have them sent to Ukænos."
Drake nodded. "And the other two?"
"A Zwahan named Iain was another," I said; he was the man in dark blue work clothes. "I don't know if you knew Iain? He used to be one of Nox's ochrokuje, well, until Nox was killed."
"Yeah, I remember him," Drake said thoughtfully. "He'd disappeared; we'd thought he'd been sent to the crates."
"No, why would you think he'd been sent to the crates? He told me he'd become dissatisfied with Nox's ineffectiveness and disheartened by Roman's indecisiveness, and joined the Trags to get things done that Nox hadn't been able to. Understandably, I guess, however nothing was going as he'd thought it would. He thought he'd serve Vega in the Sector in the same capacity, but she had his markings bleached and sent him outside to work with a guy named Ludic – but Ludic is dead, presumably. Iain thinks Zoeda killed him. Now that Iain's bleached, he feels trapped, both physically and mentally cut off from his family."
"Be careful of that engrajca," Drake stated. "He's a renepicel; but if he cuts ties with the Trags – they'll kill him."
"I know, Ian said the same thing – he knows too much or is… I dunno. I – he wanted to serve me in some capacity, but I wasn't about to suggest an odrajca like him be an ochrokuje to either Roman or myself. The best option is for him to stay with Byrne, my Avizitan Ochrokaje and the trainers for now," I told him and I could tell that Drake approved.
"The fourth man, Akon, is Vwasak; he may have been involved with Vega's part of the munity. He confirmed what I've suspected of Vega's ambitions to replace Ghianni as the Iwabas Iksen. He said Vega's elevation as Leader of the Trags was her first step to her ultimate goal – to dispose of the Zwahan as the ruling tribe, and then to pursue a bid as Atriarch of the people and become Amwur Atedi, mother of all Atrians."
"He admitted this?" Drake asked, clearly amazed that I'd obtained the confession.
"He and Rayne were the last to leave Denny's. Akon and I really talked, he had a lot of questions, mostly about my position on things and my political standing, my goals and objectives. He was staying with Zoeda and Rayne in that Trag house on Heather Lane, only these government goons showed up after the Suvek incident, collected everything and locked up the house. So Akon and Rayne moved into an old apartment building that had been condemned after Charlotte, that category four hurricane we had four years ago, waiting for contact and instruction – but they've been cut off since Zoeda's death. Rayne's earned Akon's trust, but he's been working on Akon: creating doubt, questioning their objectives, the disorganization of the Trags outside the Sector. I think pæmbek may have been used… but now Akon apparently wants to switch sides – like you did." He wanted to serve me, and I was inclined to accept him. Possibly.
"And you think you can trust these men?"
"Akon – I think so, yes. Iain – something tells me not to – and now you're saying to be careful of him. So it will be up to Ian and Byrne to decide what to do with Iain and Akon; they could be helpful or they will have to be taken care of – technically they are traitors and terrorists. Bronn and Urbin – Jhina will have to decide if she wants to accept them into her community. If not – I'm not going to send them to the crates. I mean, I know that they could be useful to us since they're unmarked… but I'm not all that sure I can trust either Bronn and Urbin, yet. I could have them trained with the scouts…" I shook my head. "That could be asking for trouble. I'll probably have them sent to Ukænos."
Drake stood there, staring at me. He'd listened to me, his expression thoughtful the whole time I'd talked, but he simply stood there, unmoving.
"Sephen, Rayne and Byron do trust them – they've been working on these guys for weeks now. These Trags have come around, sort of, and wanted to meet me, to hear what I had to say – they've come around. From Akon we also learned that Ulsan provided them with falsified papers to obtain driver's licenses; Jhoan was the one who bleached their markings; and two men, Buek and Aiden, are living in a Trag house outside Southdowns. And we know who's leading the Trags in school."
"Teri," Drake said, and I nodded.
"She is, but she's not giving them anything to do, no orders or new missions or terrorist attacks to do. So now the guys on the outside see the Trags as having been disbanded or crippled. I met with Ian – told him what I thought, but I'm leaving what to do with these Trags to Ian, Byrne, Sephen and Rayne – they can handle it," I said, knowing Ian said plausible deniability more than once in our briefing that morning. Iain could pose a problem. "But Akon really seemed disgruntled; he felt betrayed by Vega and Zoeda and venomously said he wanted out – didn't want anything to do with her schemes anymore, and I believed him."
"You could've walked into a Trag trap, you know," Drake stated.
I looked up at him. "Sephen, Rayne and Byron are warriors of my ochrikujen – you know Byron is one of my guards here in school. When we learned about the Trags, they went undercover to protect me," I told him. "I trust the three of them with my life."
"I don't like that you ran off without informing anyone," he said, his anger subsided, but I could sense that he was still unhappy. "You can't do that. You promised me you wouldn't, and you did."
I hung my head. "I did." I looked up at him. "I promise… I'll try. I got caught up in the moment and didn't think. I'm sorry."
"Sorry won't cut it," he said, and again I felt ashamed.
I'd angered him; worse, I could sense his disappointment. I looked down, unable to meet his eyes.
"Come here," he said, reaching out and pulling me to him, and I stepped forward into his arms. "What am I going to do with you?" he asked as he held me.
"Anything you want," I replied, but I immediately realized I shouldn't have; the seriousness hadn't left his eyes. "If you want I'll talk to Ian about putting a tracker in my phone."
"But what if you lose your purse?" Drake asked. "You can't go running off on your own. It's not safe, and I can't always be there to protect you."
I hugged him tighter. That's what bugged him the most – he didn't know where I was so couldn't be there to protect me. "You were there when it mattered the most," I told him. "Besides, you've saved my life twice now."
He looked at me as if he didn't remember.
"The lake; and the day of the parade when that Trag tried to cut me open," I said. "Oh, three – when Vartan spotted us on Ebbingson Road – you pulled me to safety and stayed on shield until the warriors arrived instead of confronting him. I'm always safe when I'm with you."
He huffed a laugh. "Don't make it a full time job," he said and kissed me.
Ah yes, I thought as I kissed him back. Oh, I love the way he kisses. Held comfortably in his embrace, kissing, the world faded away and everything seemed to be all right again.
"What are you doing in here," a gruff voice called out.
We both turned our heads to see Mr. Dreck, the janitor who didn't particularly like Atrians, standing in the doorway. "Ain't you supposed to be in class?"
"Oh, sorry sir," I replied, stepping away from Drake, blushing, like a student should when caught making out in the men's bathroom with her miyutianek. "I – we'll… ah, just go."
"Well scoot. Before I tell the SEU guards he's molesting you in here," he said, glaring at Drake.
"I wasn't molesting her," Drake said defensively as I grabbed my bag, laughing sardonically at Mr. Dreck's misinterpretation that Drake's kissing me was in any way a sexual assault, prejudiced jerk.
"Well, you would've if I hadn't come along," Mr. Dreck insisted.
"Er, right, sorry," I said, rolling my eyes at the idea, and I grabbed Drake's hand to make him come away with me.
"Now, git to class," the janitor ordered, pointing at the door.
As we entered the hall, I looked at the clock. "We've missed Government," I said, realizing we'd missed half the class.
"Yeah, well, I'm only interested in Atrian government," Drake said.
"I'm not, since I'm going to have to deal with those people eventually," I told him.
"C'mon, we've missed half the class anyway," he said, drawing me away... to…?
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Don't you trust me?" he asked as he led me down the hall, not exactly answering my question.
"Are we leaving?" I asked, dumbfounded, as I followed him. "As in leaving school? Bit impetuous, don't you think, considering you were angry for me running off this morning."
"No, we're not leaving," he said. "Just going to someplace quiet."
My second thought was that he was headed for the library, but we turned the corner and ended up at the pool. With no one around, my heels made a loud clatter. For a moment I thought he meant to take me to the locker room, but he pulled out a folding tool that had obviously been made in the Sector, jammed a type of Atrian spring-notch blade in the lock and opened the door. "Human locks are so easy," he said and drew me inside… where the lane lines were stored.
He backed me up against the huge reel. "Now, where were we…?" he asked, leaning over me. "Oh, that's right, I was about to molest you."
"Can you molest the willing?" I asked, looking up at him expectantly with a smile.
"It does make it much more fun if you are," he said. He unzipped the decorative rhinestone zipper down the front of my dress and kissed me soundly, then turned me to unzip the zipper on the back of the dress and unsnapped the clasp of my bra. I turned to face him as he eased my dress off and stared into his blue eyes. I raked my nails down his arms and felt it enflame his desire – in effect, thanks to my link with him – enflaming mine as well. It was so heady, knowing he wanted me as much as I wanted him.
As he pulled his sleeveless pullover hoodie off, I eased my knickers off. I licked his mark over his ribs before I stood up, making him inhale deeply, and I could literally feel the rousing voltaic sensation I caused. He unfastened his pants, letting them drop and lifted me easily, pressing me against the lane lines. Our mouths came together in a hungry kiss, eliciting a groan that could have come from either him or me; it was so hard to tell. I loved the feeling of the fire growing within me, the tightening in my groin and the pulsing need, radiating off him as well as within my own body.
We joined, my legs around his hips and my back on the floats, rolling with some of the buoys as I slid in rhythm to his movements, so lost in each other it was almost as if we'd become one.
~~~~~o~~~~~
Considering what had happened in the storage room at the pool before lunch, Drake and I simply wanted to be alone after school, so instead of going to The Bug or the houses, we went to Black Bear Lake. We didn't talk much as we walked to the same place we'd gone before. We sat down on the ground, legs outstretched, speculating quietly about what it would have been like if we'd landed on an uninhabited planet. After a bit, I laid back, gazing up at the leaves of the tree and the blue sky. Drake lay down next to me and clasped my hand in his. It was nice, simply enjoying the solitude and the natural noises of the lake and its inhabitants. It was peaceful, lying side by side on the grass and leaves under the huge oaks.
"Penny for your thoughts," Drake said, rolling up on his side.
"Just contemplating how nice this is – being here with you," I said as he raked his fingers through my hair. "With everything, it's hard to find time to be alone."
"We seem to manage," he said, but I knew that out there, among the trees, Ian would have posted scouts or warriors. Drake leaned over and kissed me. "But if you want, I'll make more time to be alone with you."
"I'd like that," I said, and he kissed me again.
As we kissed, I heard the splash of a water bird landing and the cry of a heron. There weren't any alligators here as far as I knew, although we did see a whitetail deer earlier, so it was easier for me to relax. That and Drake made it easy to forget anything but the sensual way his lips felt, and the tender strokes of his hand, almost as if we were the only two people in the world. He shifted, leaning over me as we made out under the huge oak tree.
The sound of a branch breaking caught my attention. Drake stopped, looking up in the general direction of the sound as well.
I leaned up on my elbows, looking about, as Drake leaned up to look around. "Do you see anyone?" I asked in a hushed voice.
He shook his head slowly, still listening intently. "Your warriors are on wide perimeter, so it's not one of them," he stated. He looked down at me. "Probably nothing – one of those bears or armadillos," he said and leaned down, resuming our kiss languidly. The park also reportedly had timber wolves, bobcats and raccoons – but forest animals rarely made much noise.
The crunch of the dried leaves under boots was unmistakable. "We're not alone," I whispered.
A gruff male voice said, "You think it's all right for your kind to seduce our women, do you, Tatty?"
Drake rose up, and I turned to see Bertrand, one of Vatran's buddies, approaching us in a flannel shirt he'd obviously torn the sleeves off of and old jeans. "We know what you all want, to use our women – to impregnate them with your spawn," Bertrand sneered as he moved forward. "'Bout time someone did something about you."
"And you're going to do it?" Drake asked as he rose to his feet. I backed up, frightened.
"Hell, yes!" Bertrand said. He pulled out a gun and held it up, pointed at Drake's head.
"Oh my God, no!" I cried out as I scrambled to my feet, wanting to run, but afraid to do so.
"Hey, whoa! You don't want to do this," Drake said, taking a step forward, his hands up nonthreateningly. I wanted to scream, 'Drake, don't,' but he was watching Bertrand intently and I didn't want to distract him.
"Don't I?" Bertrand sneered. "Gun in my hand says otherwise."
"Think about this – it's murder," Drake said conversationally. His calmness in the situation was a lie; I could feel the tension in him, knew he was calculating his move.
"Ain't murder to kill a tattie outside the Sector – where you belong," Bertrand countered.
"I'm one of Gloria Garcia's seven, we're allowed out of the Sector," Drake pointed out. "Killing me is a threat to national security."
I hoped that was true outside of school; I could see that Bertrand didn't think so. "You strut around here like you own the place, and I catch you, rutting on top of one of our girls. Why shouldn't I put you down like the vermin you are?"
"If that's what you want?" Drake said, and I wanted to scream, 'No, Drake, stop antagonizing him!' But in all my training, the warriors taught me to keep quiet and do what I was told. But this was a Red Hawk, and he had a gun – pointed right at Drake!
"Just tell me what you want?" Drake asked as I looked around, frantically hoping for help.
"What I want is for you to leave our women alone, Tatty," Bertrand snarled as I pressed up against the oak tree.
"Isn't that up to the women to decide?" Drake asked as if he were merely confronting Erik – well, how he used to speak to him when Erik used to taunt and bait Drake in school. "It's not like I forced her; she chose me – I merely accepted."
"Right," Bertrand drawled out. "Because you tatties are all so irresistible."
Drake shrugged. "Maybe she likes what she sees."
"Maybe I should just take you out," Bertrand said as he raised the gun level with Drake's face. "Then I can teach her what a real man is."
It happened so fast; as Bertrand threatened to kill Drake and then rape me, Drake moved with surprising speed. He reached out and grabbed Bertrand's wrist as Drake's other hand snatched the gun, rotating it right out of Bertrand's grasp. Bertrand snarled, "Fuck, man," as Drake tossed the gun into the lake.
"You broke my finger, you bastard," Bertrand shouted.
"You shouldn't point guns in people's faces," Drake said back.
Bertrand stepped forward and took a swing at Drake, but Drake must have expected the swing, for he blocked the movement with his arm, then slugged Bertrand in the gut. Bertrand bent forward, and Drake hit him in the jaw with a forceful uppercut. Bertrand stumbled back, but remarkably was still standing. Drake turned to look at me and winked. Really? Now was not the time to be cocky!
But for all that Drake had looked unfazed, I realized that he'd been trained for this.
Suddenly, I saw a flash of metal and realized that Bertrand had pulled out a knife. "You'll pay for that, Tatty," he snarled as I cried out, "He has a knife!"
Bertrand came at Drake with his knife in his fist. Drake moved fast, his left forearm came up to block Bertrand's thrust, his shoulder angled to keep the knife from reaching his body. Drake, immediately slugged Bertrand in the throat, then grabbed Bertrand's wrist with his left hand and rotated his body to disarm him and kneed him in the groin.
Bertrand doubled over, and Drake hit him with an uppercut again, breaking Bertrand's nose, then slugged him again, knocking Bertrand on his back. Bertrand lay there, unmoving as Drake picked the knife up off the ground and tossed it into the lake, then ran up to me.
"Let's get out of here," he said, grabbing my hand and my purse.
We ran down the trail, heading for the car. "Where were the warriors?" I asked when we slowed down.
"With you," he said. "Or didn't you think I could take him?"
"You obviously did," I said, gasping for breath. It had been hard to keep up with him, but the training he went through required him to run at least five miles every day. "How did you know how to do that?"
"It's something called Krav Maga Training – your trainers made me watch the videos, then ran me thorough the steps until I could disarm them," he said, apparently hardly winded at all.
He looked at me and smiled. "You need to start jogging," he said and handed me my purse.
I shook my head. "I'm not allowed to – I've – I have certain restrictions. Jogging puts me out where I can be vulnerable." I inhaled deeply. "Out on the road, even with two or more of my ochrikujen, it's too open and there isn't enough protection. Plus having someone follow me in a car looks suspicious."
"No, I get it," he said as we approached my car. "You okay, we need to leave."
"Yeah, all right." I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Ian, informing them what just went down. This was an actual attack – with weapons. The Red Hawks, well, this one, had escalated to personal attacks.
Drake was leaning on his forearms on my car, watching me. "Well, get in, unless you've changed your mind. But then he might come looking for us."
"No, but – you think he will?" I asked, looking up from sending the text.
"It's possible," he said, grinning. "He isn't dead, only knocked out."
"We'll go to The Bug. It's busy this time of day and everyone will be there," I said, adding that to the text and hitting send. "He won't dare attack you there." I put my phone away. I needed to think of something else. "I can ask Mrs. Parnell if she'll donate to the kids zoo outing."
"That's going to happen?" Drake asked.
"I'm waiting for Miss Garcia or Taylor to announce it, but yeah, it's going to happen." I unlocked the car.
He shook his head and we got in. "You were threatened, nearly attacked, and your first thought is getting donations for the outing to the zoo?"
I turned to face him. "YOU were almost killed! He had a gun! Pointed at your head, and if I don't think of something – anything else – I'm going to freak!" I told him. "You could have been killed – over me!" Okay I was shrieking, but he could have been shot – or stabbed. Except he'd moved like a highly trained warrior, swift, decisive and with amazing control and dexterity… My hearts were still thumping erratically in my chest thinking about it.
"Nah, he was an idiot – talked too much," Drake stated. "So, if you want to talk about something else, tell me how far you've gotten on this zoo outing you're planning."
I looked at him. "Roman's planning!" I said, my voice still a sharp and an octave higher than normal. I inhaled, to try to calm down some. "Isn't he? He did talk to the kids in the Sector school and his Ikseyan, didn't he?"
"He spoke to the Ikseyan, and told him that you and he were arranging it," Drake told me, his voice clam and steady – another ochrikujen training thing: in the event of an event, attack or situation, keep your target calm, speak calmly and get them to relax so they act how you want them too.
It wasn't working. Drake had almost been killed! and Roman was not doing what he was supposed to do – get the parents to agree to the outing. I hit the steering wheel with my fists. "Roman needs to do this," I said and started the car. "So he can show his people that he can make things happen as well. It's imperative he see that."
"So that's what this is all about, establishing Roman's ability to do things whereas his father couldn't," Drake said, finally getting it.
"Yes," I said as I backed the car up. I put the car in drive and drove for the road. "We are running out of time. We need to have progress so I can – so we, Roman and I, can approach the Mayor about allowing more Atrians day passes to leave the Sector, and for us to have the ARDhet back. I want to have it under our control before the humans realize the fleet is coming."
"And if we can't make it happen before they spot the ships?" Drake asked.
"I'd hoped to have the ship dug out and on balancers by that time," I stated. "That way we don't look like prisoners, and the fleet will accept an order to stand down more readily."
We talked about it all the way to town.
By the time I'd put the car in park, I think Drake was finally seeing why it was so important. I hope.
I certainly had calmed down, although it still frightened me how close he came to being shot today. But he was utterly unphased by incident, almost insulted at my lack of faith in his abilities to protect me. "It's not that you can't protect me," I said, and placed my hand over my eyes, thumb and middle finger on each temple. "I-I – you…"
He pulled my hand down. "It's all right. He didn't."
I looked at him, and I know my eyes looked as haunted as I felt inside. "He could have. If he'd pulled the trigger you'd – you'd—"
"He didn't. He wanted to tell me – to belittle me and taunt me." Drake pulled on my wrist, drawing me to him. I scooted over, resting my head on his shoulder. "If he hadn't been blabbing, I'd have been worried, but he is the kind to talk. That's why I had the advantage – he liked to hear himself brag." He kissed my forehead, and I looked up at him. "You did good. Ian and your Avizitan Ochrokaje, Bryne, will be pleased."
"Thank you," I said, knowing that I had tried to do what I should have, but I had still called out, still cried out instead of staying quiet and letting him focus on the threat. I'd be reprimanded for that.
Drake held me tightly for a little bit, then gave me a squeeze. "How about I treat you to some fried foods and sickly sweet Orange Crush?"
"Or some Atrian style chicken strips and cherry lemonade?" I suggested, items on the Atrian friendly menu at The Bug.
"Deal," he said, kissing me quickly and letting go.
~~~~~o~~~~~
I finished my Biology test and opened my iTablet. Kerhone had sent me a text with a link to a website he wanted me to read. NASA astronomers announced that they discovered eight new planets whose orbit around their stars were at a distance considered to be the habitable zone. And from the preliminary data, two of the eight planets were the most Earth-like exoplanets of any known planets found so far outside this solar system. I read the data Kerhone attached on the two planets. They were promising.
Kepler-938b was 540 light-years from Earth; it circled its star once every 235 days, had a diameter that is nine percent bigger than Earth, and readings showed a 70 percent chance of it having a hydo-rocky surface. Okay, good. The year was shorter than Atria or Earths, seasonal cycles would be too short for our plants. We'd have to build huge bio-domes for our medicinal herbs.
Kepler-872b, was 1,150 light-years away, orbited its star once every 192 days, and was about a third larger than Earth. experts reported that there was a three in five chance it was a rocky planet. Not encouraging.
But the one that NASA was most intrigued by was a small planet recorded by one of the Kepler II's jokingly called Kuchner's Water World because its surface readings showed roughly a world possibly consisting of half water and half rock by mass with what might be formation of a mantle of ice, but since it had a less dense atmospheres and lower gravity the surface was mostly all aquatic. I wasn't at all in interested in a water world – we needed land to live on.
I left class when the bell tolled, still reviewing the data on Kepler-938b. It was a little too close to its sun, possibly with temps too high for our comfort zone. I was so engrossed, I nearly collided with a blonde in nectarine. I looked up, startled. "Taylor, I'm so sorry, I—"
"You might want to watch where you're going," Taylor said, waving it off. "I wanted to let you know that Gloria got the approval for the zoo trip, soooo, I was thinking we could push forward and do it this weekend, if you wanted to."
I was shocked – this weekend. "Nooo, Saturday is good. A little… short notice, but doable…" I said. "The kids will be thrilled. Gloria didn't think it was too soon?"
"I told her that you, Roman and Julia have been working on this for a while, and we've got everything handled – except for the transportation, right? You've haven't said how many kids are going. Besides, it's only a fieldtrip to the zoo, not a big deal, right?" Taylor asked, but she had no idea how huge this was for us. "As events go, this one's really simple: transportation, money for admission and food, and signed permission slips. We just have to confirm that we have everything all set up. Unless you foresee there being a problem?"
"No, nothing I know about – I don't see why not. Saturday then," I said. Saturday!?
"We just need to know how many kids are going so we can arrange the transportation and money for admission and food," she said.
Okay, that's easy – all the details had been organized. Roman's committee included: Sophia, me, Drake, Emery, Julia, Erik and Lukas and my 'cousins' from the apartment – including Amilee and Quinn. All we needed at this point was the now obtained permission to allow the kids out of the Sector. I saw Roman talking with Emery. "Well, there's Roman and Emery; let's go ask," I stated, drawing her with me to talk to Roman. I asked him how many were signed up to go to the zoo.
Roman looked thrown for a moment; he'd already told me the count, and I'd relayed the number to Mrs. Parnell, since she'd offered to help provide the sack lunches for the kids. "We have seventy-two that want to go; but some of them are a little older than we agreed on. We ran into a problem where the older siblings in the families participating wanted to go as well," Roman said as he looked at me, adding, "Maureen said it should be all right," and I nodded.
"We should make allowances for older brothers and sisters," Emery said. "It would be unfair to let the younger kids go and not their older siblings. This is a huge deal to them – being allowed out of the Sector for the first time – and it's to the zoo. That's big deal to kids."
"So, seventy-two, which means we'll need to have fourteen adults – plus the seven Atrians that attend school here – they can act as chaperones as well…" I said, but again, this had all been sorted out days ago. "I think Drake said the SEU buss has a forty-eight passenger limit, although it might be more if the little ones sit three to a seat."
"So… we'll need two busses," Taylor said, making a note on her tablet.
"And we have several people willing to drive if it's needed," Emery stated.
"For safety reasons, all the Atrians from the Sector should be on the buses," Roman pointed out, something Drake, Roman and I had already talked about. The kids would board the busses inside the Sector gates, away from the protestors. I hoped the taunting and insults wouldn't upset the kids too much. Who knew what we'd face once we got there.
"I have the money for the tickets," I stated, quickly adding, "donations. I can easily cover all the Atrians going, even the seven from school and the committee."
"I'll buy my own," Taylor stated with a sweeping-flick of her fingers. "But the SEU guards' admissions will have to be covered and a few of Gloria's guests. I'll get a count on how many."
"I've plenty," I assured her. I'd talk to Roathy about having the director of the SEU sign off on covering the guards' admission costs and their lunches from the SEU budget.
"Oh, and Lukas said that The Bug is providing the lunches for all the Atrians. Did your count include the guards? They'll have to be fed," Taylor said.
"I'll talk to Mrs. Parnell; she'd offered to help provide the sack lunches for the Atrians so we wouldn't have to worry about our allergies or accidental poisoning," Roman stated.
"The guards can buy the food at the zoo or bring their own, can't they? My friends and I – we're going to pay our own way, but most of us are planning on buying a sack lunch so we can eat with the kids," I stated.
"Jules, Erik and I can take care of ourselves as well," Emery stated. "I'll suggest brown-bagging it."
"Drake and I can fend for ourselves," Roman stated.
"I know you can, but eating what the others eat would give them assurances that the food is safe," I pointed out. "It's why me and my cousins and friends are buying the sack lunches from Mrs. Parnell." When Mrs. Parnell said she'd handle the food, we'd taken a collection to buy our lunches and pressed the money on Lukas' mom, telling her that we thought it would be fun to go with the kids, but we insisted on paying her. Amilee and Krista were so excited about the zoo trip. But that was a lot of sack lunches to prepare, I'd offered to get some of my friends to help her, but she'd laughed at me, telling me it was not a problem.
"The guards will have to be fed; everyone else will be informed that they will need to buy their lunches," Taylor said, making notation. "Oh," she looked up, "and my favorite boutique has offered to give us money to buy each of the kids a popsicle."
I wondered when she'd arranged that. If the adults wanted one, I'd spring for it out of our general funds.
"Oh, and so you know, Congresswoman Eliza Banks is planning on coming," Taylor announced as if this was a huge coup.
The bell tolled, and we disbanded, Roman and I promising to meet with Taylor at The Bug that afternoon with go over details.
I was so happy, I couldn't wait to text Ihmen and all my cousins – eighty-six Atrians were going to the zoo this weekend.
~~~~~o~~~~~
Roman held a brief meeting at The Bug on Thursday right after school since everyone involved in the zoo outing would be there anyway. I only had to text Taylor and let her know to join us. I was pleased that he was finally taking charge of the event and hoped he was taking full credit for it happening. All the details were nailed down, even to Taylor's satisfaction: money for the tickets – yep, check; Lukas said his mom were preparing enough lunches for everyone – check; the kids had their permission forms signed – yep, check; except the Atrian mothers insisted that injured children be brought back to the Sector, not to a human hospital. Gloria had agreed and signed each waver. Taylor reiterated that the busses would leave the Sector at nine-thirty and it would take over an hour to get to the zoo.
Roman and Drake assured her everything was well in hand on their side; the children were warned to be on their best behavior or there would be no more outings. Sophia said that Drake and Teri told them about the protestors and to simply walk by them quickly and try to ignore their taunts.
"I found a company that would make T-shirts for us," Amilee said with a grin at Emery and Julia as she handed each of them one.
"Figures, aqua," Drake mumbled as he accepted his.
"—with a few extra just in case we got the sizes wrong." Amilee handed shirts to Taylor and Erik.
"It is their favorite color," Erik remarked to Drake.
The words ahycieczka ogrod were written in kwandon under a design of several animal silhouettes.
"I hope you like them. It was a last minute decision. The lettering under the design reads my zoo safari in Sondiv." That was not exactly what it read: ahycieczka ogrod translated literally meant exploration of cages in English, but close enough. "Quinn and I made them," Amilee said proudly.
Roman had raised his eyebrow when I'd handed him and Sophia each a T-shirt. "Why? Don't we stand out enough with our markings?"
"It's like those pictures on the website," Drake stated. "I like it – it's a good idea. Easy to spot who's in the group – for security reasons."
"I really want this outing to be special for the kids. And this way we'll stand out, like a cohesive group," I stated. I knew that Drake had been in on the preparation measures the warriors and scouts were planning; everyone who had been bleached or were naturally ubludnak were going to be at the zoo that day as a precaution. I hoped that someday the kids at the houses could go, too.
Planning the trip, I had spent quite a bit of time on the internet, looking for information on the zoo, and perusing the photos and reviews. "I'd read in the reviews that some of the animals were hard to spot, either they were on the edges of their enclosures or camouflaged by the foliage, so I asked our scouts to lend me thirty range viewers." I turned to Emery and Taylor. "They're a type of Atrian binoculars with a wider, elliptical viewing area, for the kids to use," I clarified. "Not that that request went over well. But I did get them – the older, well used ones, but heck I'm glad to have them just in case."
"All the better to go hunting caged animals," Roman mumbled as he set aside his T-shirt.
I glared at him. Okay that was one interpretation of the Sondiv wording. "No, it's not hunting – it's a safari – but we don't have a word for that, so Amilee and Quinn chose ahycieczka for quest or exploring," I said softly yet defensively in Sondiv.
"No, it's a good idea," Emery said, giving Roman and me a confused look. "Sometimes they can be hard to spot."
"It's not that big of a zoo," Erik stated before I could say anything to Emery.
"Big enough," Drake stated. I knew he had a copy of the map in his bag.
"We'll lunch at noon, and the busses are scheduled to depart at three," Taylor said, trying to get the meeting back on track.
"You can do the whole zoo in under two hours," Erik stated.
"Erik, for most of them, the Sector is all they've ever known," Sophia said. "Believe me, they're going to want to stay as long as possible."
Sophia wanted to get back to the Sector early enough to pass out the T-shirts, and since they were in his car, Quinn offered to drive her.
Drake hung back as Roman and Sophia left with Quinn and Amilee, and I could sense his reluctance. "Not ready to go?" I asked him.
"No," he said softly.
I thought about it for a moment and then said, "How about a normal human teenager type of date?"
"What did you have in mind?" he asked, warily but intrigued.
I chuffed a laugh. "A movie at the Cineplex. Have you been to one?"
"No," he said as he shook his head. "I've seen one, from on top of the crates." I must have looked baffled for he added, "You can see the screen from the top of the crates on the west side, but of course we can't hear anything, it's too far away."
"The drive? I know that in the summer the city has concerts and show movies on the old drive through screen, but they're mostly oldies," I said, thinking aloud.
"Yeah, I'd go up there with – Roman and Sophia and we'd watch the films," he said, but it seemed like he'd caught himself and said Roman's and Sophia's names instead of someone else's.
I laughed, and he bristled. "You do know it's okay if you were up there with a girl," I said, however he looked away. I touched his arm and said, "Drake, I know that you've dated other women, and it's all right." He looked at me, his expression guarded, and I chuffed a laugh. "I'm not prying. But it's unrealistic to think you haven't; you're good looking, confident, intelligent and fun to be with."
His expression softened. "So, you think I'm good looking?"
I patted his arm. "You know you are," I said, now laughing. "Don't pretend you don't know."
He grabbed my hand and pulled me to him. "You are, too," he said as wrapped an arm around my neck, then kissed my forehead. "So, you're asking me to go to the movies with you?"
"Ah-huh," I said, looking up at him.
"Another date? You do know that as the guy, that's my role?" he asked as I pulled out my phone and checked the local listings.
"Okay, if you'd like to do something else…"
I looked up to see him smirking at me. "No, tell me what's playing."
I looked it up on my iTablet. "The Vanishing Game, a young man, Alec, is given ten thousand pounds and a Land Rover Defender to retrieve something from a bank in Switzerland and deliver it to a small church in Scotland and inadvertently becomes the target of several government agencies. Action Adventure; Collin Wellington and Anna Kendrick are in it," I read, then let him watch the preview.
He shrugged. "What else?"
Okay he didn't like that one, I thought and I read the synopsis and showed him the preview for the next three options. It Was Me All Along was about a girl who had to decide on whether to marry the man she's engaged to or the man she met on vacation with her friends; a Romantic comedy with Zoe Kravitz, Ed Westwick and Jarod Joseph. Golden Son of the Red Rising was an action adventure with Logan Lerman, Keegan Allen and Quvenzhane Wallis set in a dystopian future; a young laborer from the mines of Mars who fights against his world's ruling elite. Or Deep Down in the Dark, an account of the experience of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground for sixty-nine days in 2010 and, incredibly, rescued. It was a Drama.
"Well, not the one with the bemogi girl," Drake said, shaking his head. "I'd prefer the Vanishing Game or Golden Son of the Red Rising."
"Okay, let's go," I said. I sent a quick text to Justin, letting him know, and then to Gareth and Ian as well. Justin texted back as did Gareth as we left for my car. "The guys will be showing up."
"Never doubted that," Drake said with a sigh.
Author notes:
The movies listed here are based upon book sources: The Vanishing Gameis a ebook novella but I changed some of the details; It Was Me All Along, is a real title but I made up a different story line so it's be a romcom; however, Golden Sonof the Red Rising and Deep Down in the Dark are books from the Best Sellers lists on .