Chapter 40
Interventions
"Hey stranger."
Skye barely acknowledged the newcomer as he ascended the stairs and paused beside her. Silas waved a hand in front of her eyes and then followed her gaze back to the marketplace.
"So you've seen him too? Spooky, right? It's like Tarzan's back from the planet of the apes. Wonder who brought him."
"I was under the impression that he brought himself."
Irving leaned on the railing and stared out over the 'town square' (which, if we're being picky, is really more of a circle, but no one seemed to be inclined to pay much heed to that small fact).
"Weird." He mused. "Wonder why."
"Guess we'll find out soon enough." Skye muttered distractedly, her eyes glued to the scene playing out below. Silas stared at her and lowered his voice conspiratorially.
"Did you know the real reason he was banished to the jungle was because he tried to attack an innocent lady?"
Skye lowered her eyebrows at him for a moment, but shrugged as she turned back to the markets. It was close enough to the truth after all.
"Yeah."
Irving shook his head slowly.
"Can't believe they let him back in."
"You really think they could keep him out if they tried?"
Silas glanced at her, then stared wide-eyed at the dinosaur beside Taylor. Even from the Command Centre railing, it looked unnervingly large.
"Scary thought."
"Indeed." Skye watched the ongoing confrontation between Taylor and Lucas with a deepening frown. Every now and then, one of their voices would ring out across the divide, though they didn't appear to have come to blows again after the initial confrontation. She glanced at Irving.
"Keep an eye on them, will you? I have to go check up on my mom. She's had a .. surprising day."
"You can go, Private." A voice from above interrupted Silas' nod. They looked up to see Jim leaning on the balcony railing and watching the same scene taking place near the markets. "We've got eyes on them at all times. If they cause too much of a public disturbance, we'll step in."
Skye nodded slowly.
"Just don't let them kill each other .. please."
"That's the idea." Jim smiled down at her and turned his attention back outward, shaking his head briefly at someone on the far edge of the markets. Skye caught sight of the flickering lights from a handheld radio on his far side and wondered briefly how many "eyes" he had stationed around the place. Jim raised his hand to his mouth and pressed a button on the small transmitter.
"Let them go, Reilly. I have a feeling this is the only way forward for them. Better to let it happen with supervision. Fists and words as weapons, nothing else. If things get out of hand, we won't have a choice, but for now, I'd prefer to avoid the brig if at all possible."
With a last glance across the square, Skye hurried away in the direction of her own house. Irving looked up at Jim.
"You wanted to see me, sir?"
"Yes, I did say that, didn't I?" Jim commented, casting a thoughtful glance down at the young soldier. "Would now be a convenient time for you?"
Silas had the good grace to look embarrassed. He turned away from the railing and stood at attention, grinning sheepishly at his commander.
"The kerfuffle in the marketplace distracted me, sir. Sorry."
Jim nodded, and Irving shifted awkwardly under the stern gaze, but within a few seconds, the hard look gave way to a small smile.
"It distracted us all, Private. Don't let it happen again."
"Yes, sir!"
Irving trotted up the remaining steps and leaned on the top railing beside Jim, staring out in silence. The peace and quiet, however, was short-lived. Silas had managed to pick out several of Jim's guards already, but his frown was now centred on his immediate superior.
"Sir, shouldn't Sergeant Reilly have a heavy duty weapon?"
Jim smiled a little in amusement.
"Why do you say that?"
Irving gestured to where Taylor still stood, the creature hovering beside him.
"If that thing goes for someone again, normal guns won't touch it."
"You are absolutely right." Jim nodded. "Which is why the guards there, there, and there .." he pointed them out ".. have been equipped with hand cannons. Reilly's job is to clear the area of civilians if things go south. I like where your head's at, though, Irving. Keep it up."
"Yes, sir." Silas beamed and settled back to wait.
As it happened, he wasn't waiting long. After another minute or two, the confrontation was over and the two parties wandered away in opposite directions. Most of the surveillance team tailed the former commander. Lucas had also looked a little strange - understandable under the circumstances, Jim thought to himself as he escorted Irving inside. Still, it would probably be wise to keep a closer eye on him in the near future as well.
Over the next week or two, Jim barely slept, getting up occasionally to pace around and monitor the security feeds in the middle of the night. Elisabeth often got up with him and supplied him with tea while he worked, claiming that the night shifts of late had thrown her sleeping schedule out the window as well. Jim didn't believe a word of it, but appreciated the gesture more than he could have expressed.
The patrols had been doubled, more personnel was being swallowed up in surveillance than anyone would have liked, and on top of that, he was having to look after his future son-in-law as well. Maddy's wedding was almost upon them, and Mark had been making stupider mistakes than usual. As a result, and due in part to the increased need in that particular area, he was kept on surveillance duty mostly - a task which happened to be one of Mark's least favourites, but Jim didn't want to answer to his daughter if her betrothed was mauled by a native or somehow managed to topple off a guard tower right before the wedding.
Lucas, for his part, was quieter than usual. He spent most of his spare time keeping to himself, where he could usually be found tinkering with a wide variety of odd-looking devices, the likes of which ended up littering his desk drawers and could even be found on the table near his bed. Upon closer inspection, one would find that those 'devices' could double as makeshift pulse weapons. Evidently he felt safer armed, though trying to defend oneself with the tiny lasers he concocted as a hobby would have had much the same essence as a pheasant attempting to stop an out-of-control bus.
Taylor had managed to collect a small group of loyalists together and had begun planning out and building his pens a short distance from the colony. They were sworn to strict secrecy, and though most of the colony had managed to catch a glimpse of the former commander by now, few knew exactly what he did during his daily disappearances outside the gates. The topic was the cause of many hushed conversations in the marketplace.
Mira and the Sixers, after some consultation with the rest of the colony leadership (the likes of which probably consisted of Mira stating her intentions and promptly leaving the room), set up shop in the town centre, where they took up the burden of teaching the everyday colonists how to defend themselves. They had 'recruits' from nearly every area - even the security team got in on the fun sometimes, lining up to perform drills and share attack strategies with their former enemies. Upon witnessing their success, the Sixers grew more ambitious and began holding workshops on weapons manufacturing and ammunition. They treated it traditionally as rather a chore, but if one watched for a while, one could often catch the hidden smiles underneath the facade. The outlaws were loving every minute of it.
The entire undertaking resulted in quite a festive atmosphere, which Jim was secretly grateful for, though it triggered its own collection of skirmishes to break out and had to be added to the list of closely-monitored locations. If the colony had sensed the approaching darkness, they were amply distracted by the goings on in the marketplace. The heightened morale made the days pass quickly, and when Jim took his daily walk around to check up on the activities, he was pleased with the progress he found.
The day after Taylor's reappearance, Deborah and Elisabeth's afternoon tea conversation on the Shannons' porch was of a considerably more interesting nature than usual. Elisabeth shook her head and took another sip from her hot cup, staring out at the nearby garden rows. The flowers were finally coming back into their own again after the recent disaster, and colour was beginning to explode from every corner. Just in time, Elisabeth noted mentally. Another month or so and winter would be standing on their doorstep .. and if it was anything like last year, it would have trampled on the plants on its way up the path. Each consecutive year seemed to grow even colder. She glanced at Deborah. Her friend had been unusually quiet this afternoon. They both had, she realised. Each lost in their own worlds. Evidently they each had a lot on their minds. Elisabeth gave a short laugh, drawing Deborah's questioning gaze to her.
"I can't believe he's really back."
The corners of her friend's mouth curled up a little.
"You can believe it. I've seen him myself."
Elisabeth studied her for a moment. She looked tired, even more so than usual.
"How are you coping with it all?"
Deborah shrugged and wrapped her shawl more tightly around herself, despite the warmth of the afternoon.
"Oh, I'm fine. He's already come to see me and apologised. It's water under the bridge now." She seemed to drift away for a few seconds, then brought herself back with a smile. "Losing a loved one does strange things to a person. Life's too short to hold grudges."
Elisabeth settled back in her chair and raised her eyebrows as she lifted her cup to her mouth.
"I wish I was as forgiving as you are."
Deborah's smile faded a little.
"I wish I could take credit for it. But there are times when forgiving and forgetting takes a lot less work than holding onto past grievances." She flashed a quick grin at Elisabeth. "Don't think too highly of me. When push comes to shove, I really just accepted the easier option."
Elisabeth laughed.
"Still. Hallo, here's trouble if ever I saw it."
Skye, having failed to wander past unnoticed, grinned in response and trotted up to the two women, perching precariously on the arm of her mother's chair.
"Working hard, I see."
Elisabeth scoffed in mock offence.
"Careful, missy, or I'll start giving your mother some helpful ideas on your upbringing."
Skye raised her hands in surrender, a look of horror plastered onto her face.
"No, please, I'll be a perfect angel, I swear!"
"You'd better be." Deborah laughed, catching sight of a mysterious-looking lump in the bag slung over her daughter's shoulder. She prodded it tentatively. "What have you got here? .. or is it better if I don't ask?"
Skye threw her a tolerant look and opened the bag, revealing an assortment of small boxes. She pulled them out and displayed them one by one.
"Chess set .. cookies .. arrowheads .. and a battery."
Deborah cast a dubious look at Elisabeth.
"A fearsome collection if ever I saw one." Ignoring Skye's laugh of protest, she pointed to the chess set. "Are we to assume you'll be visiting Lucas then?"
"You have assumed correctly." Skye commented. "I was only going to be sitting around bored anyway. Thought I'd go see if he wanted a game."
Deborah watched as her daughter packed away her treasures carefully.
"He might be busy, Bucket."
Skye smiled wryly at her mother's tone. The gentle chiding served as an affectionate warning to be careful. Despite the fact that Skye usually pretended to ignore it, she always took the words to heart. Having said that, her mother did fret far more than was good for her. Skye shrugged easily.
"He's supposed to finish work in 10 minutes, but he never does. Someone has to drag him back into the real world or he'll get stuck there forever." She grinned and shook one of her boxes conspiratorially. "Not today, though. I'm bribing him."
Deborah exchanged a laughing glance with Elisabeth.
".. may I ask with what exactly?"
"Rice fern cookies." Skye responded promptly. "I figured he might as well have them since one of us refuses to eat them."
Deborah choked.
"I don't refuse to eat them! I just prefer .. other things." She turned to explain for Elisabeth's sake, wrinkling her nose a little. "They have .. a particular taste."
Skye snorted and shoved the box back into her bag.
"Anyway, he appreciates them. He never bothers to cook anything himself, so he'll use up practically anything. Comes in kind of useful sometimes actually."
A short laugh came from Elisabeth's direction.
"I'm sure it does."
"Besides .." Skye continued, with a slight frown. ".. he hasn't been himself, what with .. one thing or another. You know. Gotta try to get him out of his own head somehow."
Deborah squinted up at her daughter as the dying sunlight fell across the porch.
"And you've come to the conclusion that cookies will help the situation?"
Skye grinned.
"Don't they always?"
Elisabeth tilted her head and raised her eyebrows at Deborah.
"She's got a point."
As Skye planted a kiss on her head and abandoned the chair, Deborah sighed in mock defeat.
"Oh, very well then."
Skye threw a laughing glance over her shoulder.
"Don't worry, I'll be home for dinner! Bye!"
"Bye! Be safe!"
Deborah and Elisabeth watched in amusement as she made her way lightly down the gravel path, the watery sunlight picking out the occasional gold highlight in her wavy hair. Elisabeth raised her cup to her lips again thoughtfully.
"Do you ever wonder whether she's going to turn around one day and realise she's been taking him for granted?"
Deborah leaned back and sighed a little.
"I think despite themselves, they both tend to take each other for granted." She caught the faint change in her friend's expression and laughed a little. "You're right, though, Skye is worse. For someone who's had to go through what she's been through, she can still be surprisingly naive about people on occasion."
Elisabeth studied the growing frown on Deborah's face and smiled gently.
"You might not be giving her enough credit either. She notices a lot more than she ever lets on."
"That's true." This didn't seem to comfort Deborah much. "And I'm glad of their friendship really. There might come a day soon when they find they need each other."
Elisabeth glanced quickly at her friend's face.
"You make it sound as though you know something no one else does."
"Maybe I do."
Elisabeth pushed away her own jab of worry and smiled comfortingly.
"You're doing fine, Deb. Your last tests confirmed the fact that you were still in remission. You can still enjoy years and years to come. Don't make yourself think morbidly."
"The tests only show up certain things, Elisabeth." Deborah leaned her head back wearily. "I can feel it again. Inside of me. Something is not right, and it's growing stronger by the day. It's only a matter of time now."
Elisabeth said nothing, but reached for her friend's hand a moment later and gave it a squeeze. Deborah accepted the gesture gratefully, but her mind was far removed from the conversation. She wasn't getting any better, whatever Elisabeth might be hoping. Her body seemed weaker by the day. Skye had been busy and distracted of late, but if she hadn't picked up on the fact yet, she soon would. Better if she heard it from Deborah herself first. She looked up at the dying sun and sighed inwardly, coming to her decision. Despite her best efforts, this wasn't going to go away any time soon.
It was time she told Skye the truth.
Author's Note
I know I told several people that this 5-chapter segment would be the end of the book, but I didn't realise how much was left!
I can assure you that I have, in fact, written the end (of this book at least), and that there are exactly 5 chapters left. Chapter 45 is the end of Eye of the Storm. I promise. But in the meantime, have these five leading up to the last five. XD
And thank you so much for reading. And for the people that have reviewed -
*bows*
Hontou ni Arigatou Gozaimasu!
Until next time .. ;)
- George DeWhite
