Autonomous Skies, Chapter One-Gian

Autonomous Skies, Chapter One-Gian

“Another missing.”

I’d gotten used to hearing those words.

Our town’s population had been declining, albeit slowly. People had been vanishing ever since my neighbor, Tee, was taken two years before. How do I know they were taken? Well, I highly doubt that any of the people here, paranoid as they were, would wander so far as to get lost. That was how I knew.

I was sitting in my kitchen when my mother picked up the paper and sighed. “Another missing,” she said. I got up, taking my dishes with me.

“I saw.” I set them in the sink and started the water, a strand of hair getting in my face. I brushed it away. “It was Tee’s mom.”

“Please tell me you aren’t still on about the ‘kidnapping’ theory?” She, like the rest of the town, thought I was nuts. They were just getting lost, they said. Because of the odd location, being near a fountain of youth (a few had been discovered about ten years before) people strove to find it. We had it cloaked when I was four, so it couldn’t be found unless you had one of our chips implanted. It allowed for one to see our tiny little town. It’s tiny mostly because no one’s dumb enough to live here. We have one tree, in the middle of town. No one knows what it is, other than a tree. There is no wildlife. No plant life, save for that tree. Just the stupid townspeople, and there aren’t even a lot of those. Once we had all been kidnapped, like I knew we would be, this fountain would be left alone, and its secret would die with us. Our future was naught but bleak, and my pessimism didn’t make it look any better.

“Mom, I know we’re being picked off,” I said defiantly. “Why else would people be vanishing at this rate?” It was stupid to ask her that. I knew what she was going to say before she said it.

“Their chips have malfunctioned, that’s all. They just can’t find the town.” Her voice was soft as down, gentle and polite, as always. I mouthed the words along with her; she'd said them so many times.

“Then why haven’t our chips malfunctioned? We’ve had them for years! Why doesn’t the village just disappear?” I was irate, shouting angrily. As always.

“We’ve had this argument before! I don’t want to have it again today!” Her round face had gone all white, a stark contrast with the dark brown bob-cut that framed her face. Her eyes were wide as they stared at me.

“Why not today?” I yelled, throwing my hands up in the air. “It’s just like any other day!”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not.”

My anger suddenly melted. “Why not, Mom? What about today? And… and why are you so pale all of a sudden? Haven’t you been taking your medicine?” The creep of dread came crawling into my stomach like so many ants trudging over the dirt.

She nodded feebly, fiddling with her necklace. “I have, but it’s getting less effective. The--the doctor scheduled an appointment today... I don’t want to have an attack today...”

I felt tears starting to sting my eyes. Anger began to bubble in my gut again, replacing the dread as quickly as always. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why? I thought you were getting better!”

“I was going to, dear, but you’ve been happier of late. I--I didn’t want to ruin it for you. Besides, I was getting better... I was...”

“Dammit, I hate you!” I stomped off to my room, fuming, seething. She was being so stupid. Wouldn’t I just get angrier if she neglected to tell me, like I had just done? It didn't matter if I got upset. At least I’d know what the hell was going on. Still raging, I walked into my room and slammed the door.


After a few hours of sleeping off my anger, I got the nerve to go apologize. I pulled my face off the pillow and stood up, walking slowly so as to remain upright. I wobbled a bit on the way to the door; I seemed to still be a little drowsy from my nap. As I stumbled out, though, my fatigue vanished. I saw a pot bubbling on the stove, but my mother was not standing before it, looking tearful like she always was after our fights. Instead, the stew inside was gurgling out from under the shiny red lid, and a meatloaf issued black smoke from inside the oven. Mom never lets this happen... I thought. I ran out into the hallway, slid on the kitchen carpet, and stopped at the front door.

There I saw my mother’s necklace, lying on the floor.

My father had given her that necklace, before he left. She wore it at all times. And there it was on the floor.

“No...” I murmured. “No.” I backed away slowly. “This... this isn’t happening...” I tripped on the carpet that had bunched up when I slipped. “No...” It became a long, hoarse cry erupting from my abdomen.


My mother was gone.


• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •


I had blacked out. How long had I been out for? The clock on the wall told me I'd been unconscious for two days. Two days? Mom could be anywhere. In any condition. Oh Jesus, she could be dead for all I knew.

I sat there and panicked. I panicked good. But, eventually, I got over the shock, then got up and walked briskly to my room. I undressed, then pulled on the gray, skintight body suit that I usually saved for swimming. I stuck a pair of ankle-high black boots on my feet, pulled my straw-colored hair back into a ponytail. After all that, I pulled out my gloves. Reinforced with Kevlar grips, spiked knuckles brightly polished, they packed quiet a punch. Yes, I was paranoid. But I wanted to be prepared for anything. I walked back out and picked my mother’s necklace up from the floor. I clasped it around my neck and looked around. I might not see my home again, but I didn't have the luxury of time. I was going to get my mother back.

I walked out into the square and stepped up to the platform, then reached up and rang the old, rusting bell.

People began pouring out of their homes, looking bewildered. I saw people looking to each other, whispering about why exactly I was calling a meeting. This curiosity got them to gather more quickly. Good.

“People!” I shouted. “I have shitty news.” Mothers covered their children’s ears. “My mother, Juliana, has been taken. I cannot ignore this anymore! I know that our people are not just getting lost!”

“How do you know?” someone interjected.

“Look in my house! See the pots on the stove? You know my mother! She would never leave things like that, not without telling me!” The people looked away. I narrowed my eyes. “I know some of you believe me entirely, and all of you believe me a little! Now, I’ve had enough! I’m going to the Capital, and I’m getting the Ruler’s help!” There was a collective gasp of disbelief. We weren’t really allowed to leave; information might leak. And here I was, saying that I was going to go to the largest city on the continent. Oooooh. How scary. Pansies.

“You can’t do that!” another person yelled. I glared at him.

“Yes, I can. I have to.” I turned to the rest of the group. “We all have to! Especially you!” There was poison in my words as I spat them at the man who had just spoken. “Your wife was taken just yesterday. Your daughter was taken two years ago, and you’ve done nothing!” As he turned away, there were tears sparkling in his eyes. “I’m going, no matter what!” I continued. “Who’s coming with me?”

The silence didn’t surprise me.

“Then I’ll go alone. I don’t care.” I stepped down from the platform. As I got to the last step, I heard a little “Ahem,” from my side. I turned and saw a little old woman standing there, holding a rucksack. I recognized her as Tee’s grandmother.

“I’d go with you, love, but I’m afraid I’m far too brittle for much travel.” Her eyes found mine, and she smiled. I hugged the tiny aging woman, and she patted my head in return. She then pulled back and placed the sack in my hand. “John would help too, but he’s a little distraught, and a pansy at that. I never was sure what my daughter saw in him.” Tears streamed down her face, pooling in her wrinkles like tiny lakes as she smiled again. “Make us proud, and if you would, bring my babies home.” There was an uncomfortable pressure in my chest. I just didn’t have the heart to tell her that I was going for my mother, and that, with no help, bringing everyone else that had been captured was nigh impossible. I swallowed and nodded, and something in the way she gripped my hands around the sack told me that she already knew. I looked at all of the people, then walked away towards the outskirts of town. As I neared it, I could swear it flickered, but I didn’t have time to doubt myself. I needed to find my mother, and I needed to find her soon.


• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •


Almost as soon as I was outside, I heard clapping.

“Nice speech. Lovely work, that was. Makes me wonder if you wrote that ahead of time, because, if you didn't, you are a genius.” I turned to see a boy; he was probably a year or so older than I was. He had wild, vivid blue eyes, so blue they were almost white. They fit like a jigsaw puzzle with the impish smile he was wearing. Shaggy, dark, red-orange hair framed his pale face, altogether making him a rather attractive specimen, but I could tell that he was going to be a pain in my ass.

“What do you want?” I asked, ignoring his previous idiocy. He smiled again.

“You don’t waste time, do you?”

He obviously didn’t understand my situation.

“I can’t afford to. So, are you going to tell me what you--”

“Can I come with you?”

The question hit me like a brick in the face. Come with me? The whole town, who knew, loved, and respected my mother, had turned down that offer. Why did this stranger, this nutcase, want to come?

“What’s in it f--”

“I know where your missing townsfolk are,” he cut me off in a mocking, singsong tone.

“As I was trying to ask, what’s in it for you?” I finally finished the question.

“Can’t throw you off, can I?” I chewed on that for a second before sticking it in the back of my mind and pressing on.

“Answer me.”

“All right, all right! Someone I care about was taken, and I want to get them back. I heard your speech, and just figured we could go together. You know what they say; two heads are better than one.”

Honestly, I had no idea what he was talking about. “Liar. Go by yourself; I don’t have time to waste on you.” I walked past him, letting go my curiosity and remembering my objective. I heard his footfall crunching in the leaves behind me.

“You’ve already wasted time on me, why not let me tag along?” I ignored him and kept walking. Maybe he’ll get the picture soon, I thought.

About an hour later, he continued to follow me. He purposely crunched behind me now, making himself obvious. Just to spite him, I ignored his comments, his presence; I ignored his existence entirely. Well, I tried to, at least. My stupid pride came before common sense--and that is how I met Donree.


• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •


“If you’re going to follow me anyway, you can at least tell me where to go.” We were a couple of miles away from the village, called Dera. It was at that point that his pointless, incessant chatter was wearing on my nerves to the point that I knew they would break. Well. If he was going to talk, he might as well say something useful.

“And I thought you didn’t like me!” he said cheerily. “Really, though, you don’t like hearing about the rectal functions of slugs?”

“I don’t.”

“Is that about the slug butts or me?”

“Both.”

“Oh. Well, if you really must know, they’re all being held at the Capital.”

“They’re at the Capital?”

“Yup.”

“Why?”

“My guess, it’s a personal project of the Ruler’s.”

My head spun. The Ruler was the newest form of government; he made most decisions, which were monitored by the Council. The two never disagreed.

“What is he trying to do, scare us into giving up the Fountain?”

“What fountain could be so important that he’d kidnap to get his hands on it?”

Crap.

“Nothing. Forget I said anything.”

“Ok. Ow...”

“What?” I turned and looked at him, and saw that he was bleeding. It had seeped through the left side of his shirt and jacket, forming a large, wet-looking red circle.

“Oh… you weren’t supposed to see that,” he mumbled. He then folded his arms in such a way that the bloodstain wasn’t visible. I thought back and realized that his arms had been held like that for most of the trip.

“You idiot!” I chastised. I grabbed his arm and pulled him into the forest. We’d been headed there, anyway.

“No, really, I’m fine. Just a little dizzy... and sleepy...” he yawned. I slapped him unmercifully before shoving him into a sitting position at the base of a tree.

“Stay awake. I don’t want to put up with you dying on me.”

“Put up with? Geez, you’re nice...”

“Hey, hey! Stay awake! I said awake... damn, what is your name?” I figured small talk would keep him awake, and therefore, alive. Besides, knowing his name would help if I was going to be traveling with him. I pulled his shirt off to get a better look at his wound.

“Don’t even know my name and you’re undressing me... it’s Donree.”

“What was that?”

“My name. It’s Donree. Don-ree.”

“I see. Mine’s Gian. Do you feel this?” I prodded his wound, a set of three slash-marks. I was quite curious as to how he’d obtained them, as well as what from, but that really wasn’t the time for questions. Not complicated, story-length ones, anyway.

“Ow, god, yes, I feel that. Really, though, I should get injured more often,” he said, smiling.

“Why’s that?” I poured water from my canteen over the wound to wash off the blood.

“Well, other than the occasional prodding, you’re downright pleasant.” He continued to smile. Didn’t he know he was losing blood, and quickly at that?

“Shut up.” I wiped the watered-down blood off. There was a lot of it, too.

“Ah, there’s the Gian I know and love.”

“You don’t know or love me, so don’t say that you do.” I pulled bandages out of the bag I’d packed.

“All right. The Gian I’ve grown accustomed to?”

“That’s fine.” I wrapped them loosely around Donree’s waist.

“All righty!”

“So...” I swiftly tightened the bandages, and heard him inhale sharply. “Where did you come from? Why are you following me? How did you know they’re at the Capital? Jesus, how do I know you aren’t lying to me?”

“Ow, I can’t answer you when you’re doing that! Ah, god, ow ow ow ow!”

I released my grip and went back to wrapping. “Ok. Tell me now.”

He sighed. “I’m actually from the Capital. I see people being taken in every day, that’s how I know. I was looking for someone when I came across your town...”

“How could you see it?” I hissed. I refused to mask my suspicion.

“Ah, Jesus, that hurts, leggo!” Apparently, in my anger, I’d pulled on the bandages again. Wuss. I let them go again so I could get my answer.

“Speak.”

“Okay, okay. One of the people I saw being taken gave me this.” He held out a small black box with an ornate “D” etched into it.

Dera.

“So someone just gave you a seeker?”

“If that’s what it’s called, then, yeah. They did.”

I grabbed him by the neck. “How’d they get it?”

“They were being dragged away; I couldn’t exactly stop to ask them!” His eyes were rather wide, and fearful, too, and in that moment, he resembled my mother, like she was when we’d argued. My fingers let him go before my brain could get that far.

“God... My mother...”

“Um, yeah... now that you mention it, she did look a lot like you...”

I turned away, feeling the burn of tears in my eyes. I refused to let him see me cry. Still, though, he put his hand on my shoulder.

“Are you--I...I’ll finish the wrapping. Thanks.” He sat back and continued what I’d begun. I nodded pointlessly, then stood up and walked to the other side of the tree. He had met my mother, seen her… she was ok. In Dera, she had been given the task of keeping the seekers. They were given to visitors, so they could see through the cloak, almost like temporary versions of our chips. I sniffed, and, wiping the new tears out of my eyes, walked back over to Donree.

I was a little taken aback when I saw him. While I had been bandaging him, I hadn’t noticed much else other than his wound. When I was really looking at him, though, I saw his washboard stomach, his lean, muscled figure. Most guys weren’t like that, or even in shape. Technology took care of everything, why use any motor functions at all? I took another peek and noticed a few tattoos I had missed before. On his left pectoral, he had “00” imprinted. There was also a vine-like pattern going down his neck, beside the numbers, and down his abdomen before disappearing below his beltline. I cleared my throat to get his attention before I got too curious.

“Oh, hi! You’re back!” He sat up and picked up his shirt, motioning to put it on.

“Give me that!” I snapped, holding out my hand.

“Why?” His eyebrows arched dangerously beneath his bangs.

“We are in a forest,” I said. “That has blood on it. Blood attracts carnivorous animals. I’m not in the mood to be eaten today.”

“How about tomorrow?”

“The shirt, if you will.”

“Where are you going to wash it?”

“Ugh, give it here!” He handed me the shirt just seconds before I had the chance to whisk it out of his grasp. Hints of what I was learning to be his trademark devilish smile were appearing on his face. I looked around and saw a small stream nearby. I went over and kneeled beside it, working the blood out of the fabric while I kicked at small piranhas as they swam near.

“Wow.” Donree walked up behind me. “You’re a pretty handy girl... housework, medical care, and spunk all in one. You’d make a great mom.”

“Too thin.”

“Huh?”

“I’m too thin to bear children. Besides, they’re pests.”

“Oh.”

I stood up and handed him the wet shirt. “Here. Hang it up somewhere.”

He smiled and took it. “Thanks again. You’ve saved my life and my shirt.”

“There’s rope in the front pocket of the grey bag. String it up between two trees to hang the shirt to dry. We’ll sleep here tonight.”

“But the Cap--”

“I’ve been awake all day, I’ve been panicking all night, and I’m tired. When we get to the Capital in the morning, I’ll be fresh and awake.”

“If you say so...” he replied, shrugging. “Say, if you’re ‘fresh and awake,’ will it make you nicer?”

“No.”

“Somehow, I knew you were going to say that.”


• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •


Later, I pulled out the blankets and handed him one. His expression softened, and took on a whimsical, but serious look.

“You really came prepared, didn’t you, sunspot?” He'd started calling me that sometime earlier, after one of my less polite comments. Still, he wasn’t teasing, wasn’t mocking, possibly excepting the “sunspot” bit. If anything, it sounded like admiration.

“Yeah, I did,” I replied. He smiled, and it was a real smile. No imp was hiding in this one.

“You must really care about your mother.”

“Well, yeah. I almost have to.” I immediately felt terrible for saying it like that.

“What do you mean?” His voice was soft, without judgment.

“Well, I... My dad left us when I was really little... my mother has a heart condition that makes her very weak, so I take care of her. Living in such a small town, away from the excitement of the city, is good for her. Too much excitement can kill her.”

“Go on.”

“Since we’re alone, I’m all she has, and vice versa.” I hiccupped, trying not to cry. Dear god, I hated crying.

“Would you be offended if I gave you a hug?” he asked. I shook my head. He moved closer, folding his long arms around me and pulling me easily into his lap. He was warm...