Lightship Chronicles Chapter 10 : Last Horizon, Page 5

Fat Mo, but he looks dazed and completely discombobulated.

  "What did you mean, vanish?" Andee stares at him hard, but the man is gone. He is in shock. His jaw is shattered. No response is coming.

  The people around start approaching, many hunched forward in gratitude. Some kicking and punching the injured guys, who are now struggling to remove themselves from the crowd.

  "Thank you-We're grateful-Thank you so much." Everyone's shouting over everyone else. "He was horrible-Fat Mo terrorized us for months-He took our credits-As protection-From him!" All of them talking at the same time. Some are spitting on Mo while the rest are shouting and surrounding Andee and Nayaa grateful beyond measure.

  "Thank you so much. You two are heroes. You saved us. Here." And the man hands them some cloth from his stall. Suddenly, all of them start giving them gifts. In minutes Andee and Nayaa are overloaded with clothes, tools, food, and all manner of things. Among the gifts there are a couple of baskets which are not enough to fit all the rest of the stuff given to them, so they share the excess with random people.

  Overwhelmed and grateful, Nayaa and Andee thank everyone and toss up the full baskets onto their backs and head for home. They walk quietly out of the market while people continue to cheer and applaud them. Nayaa finally speaks as they head up a stairpath.

  "You know, I feel better." She turns to Andee with a satisfied nod.

  "Yeah, I guess we needed that."

  "For sure. After what that blue weirdo did to us, I thought maybe we were losers. But now I feel like myself again. Plus we got lots of cool stuff." She ends her statement with a happy grin.

  Andee nods, then glares at Nayaa. "Did you hear what that guy said? Vanish."

  "Yeah, and he kept saying Parzor."

  "I know." Andee mutters.

  "Why do you think?"

  "I have no idea." Andee responds and looks west at the giant red sun setting behind the Crags. "Look. We better hurry to your house. We don't have long until first horizon and we still have to get to dome rock." Nayaa nods and they start jogging up the stairpath with the full baskets on their backs.

  Andee and Nayaa are resting on top of dome rock. Both have their Parza staffs attached to their tights. They seem relaxed, both looking up at the huge blackstone walls of the city up on top of table mountain.

  "I never really looked at that thing. Those blackstone walls are huge."

  "They're not walls."

  "What are they?"

  "I guess a foundation. Ricio's house is on the south side, right on the edge. There's no wall. The Salt Sea, the Crags, even the Bitani stands below, everything is visible from there."

  "Really?"

  "Yup."

  "I want to visit his house. I want to see the whole city, actually."

  "I know me too."

  "Then lets sneak up there."

  "How?"

  "Climb."

  "Up that wall?" Andee points to the massive blackstone blocks.

  "You said it wasn't a wall." Andee gives her an incredulous look. "Fine, whatever it is. We can climb that."

  "I doubt it. Those blocks are huge, they're not like normal sized bricks... Oh-hey look!" And Andee points excitedly.

  "Is that a lightship?" Nayaa asks.

  "It's got to be Ricio. He's probably going to pull up in the driveway where the prave usually is." And like two giant ghimurs both, start hopping down the stone with relaxed ease. They skillfully clamber down to ground level just as the lightship pulls in. Andee stares at it a bit confused, but Nayaa is looking at it with a welcoming smile. It's not the Silver Sickle. It's a smaller ship, like the ones that usually park in front of the prave. It's beautiful, clean, and very similar to Ship12, the Pear Beauty. It stops in front of them. The canopy slides back, elegantly folding over the back. The lightship is now a convertible. Ricio jumps up off the seat and onto the pilot-side door sill.

  "Hey guys. It's good to see you Nayaa." Ricio greets them. She responds with a big goofy shy smile.

  "Where's your..." But Andee never finishes his sentence.

  "Gone." Rico responds.

  "How? What happened?"

  "You happened." Ricio responds with a smirk. Andee looks at him with a frown. "My dad found out I brought you into our house. He took my racers away. I'm no longer a race pilot."

  "What?" Is all Andee can say. Rico shrugs his shoulders. Andee is suddenly nervous-agitated. He looks around for a moment, takes a deep breath, and then continues. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what to do-what to say. This is all my fault."

  "It's not your fault."

  "Yeah it is. Man, I don't know what to do. I ruined your life. I don't... I don't know how to fix this. I'm so sorry man. I am so sorry." Andee is struggling to enumerate the ways in which he feels responsible. Nayaa puts her arm on his shoulder with a consoling look on her face.

  "Andee!" Ricio snaps at him. "Hey, it's not your fault. It's my dad's fault. And I owe you an apology, but it looks like you're OK now." Ricio stares at them with a squint.

  Andee returns the look with a confused glare. "Apology for what?"

  "Here, let me show you."

  Rico taps a vidrom like screen in the center of the steering-wheel. A 3D hologram appears over the dash. It's a recording of the fight. Andee and Nayaa watch themselves battling the man in blue wide eyed and shocked.

  "Where did you get that?" Nayaa asks baffled.

  "Those little recorders. They're still following us." Andee responds, and Ricio nods.

  "I'm sorry guys, but my dad hired that weirdo to follow you guys around."

  Andee stares at Ricio for a moment. "Why are you telling us this?"

  "Because it isn't right. Nothing about his is right. I don't like what's going on between our people, and I don't get it. It doesn't make sense."

  Andee nods but doesn't know what to say. Nayaa on the other hand is admiring the lightship, especially the interior. Unlike the racer, which is spartan and functional, this ship is luxury exemplified. The interior is elegant and profoundly ornate. Nayaa takes in the details, looks like she's about to say something, but then hesitates. Ricio catches her looking.

  "Want' to jump in?"

  "Me?" Nayaa looks at him with a shocked but beaming smile. "Of course." And she leaps over the side into the passenger seat. She looks around amazed. She starts touching the soft leather on the arm rests, but then snatches her hand away and looks at Ricio. "Can I?" She asks timid. Ricio nods with a smile. Nayaa is enthralled by the beauty of the interior.

  Ricio looks up to Andee. "Jump in. I know you guys want a ride." Andee jumps in the back seat.

  Ricio takes them on a ride first heading towards the Crags, now aglow with orange light from the setting sun behind them. Andee and Nayaa are in a beautifully lit heaven as Rico leaves solid ground and make a huge turn over the Salt Sea. He pushes the civilian ship up to 400kph as he heads back onto land. He flies between the mesas and rides up sideways on the long curve. Nayaa shouts in excitement with a huge smile on her face. She's clearly having the time of her life. Andee is equally happy in the back seat. After about ten minutes of riding around the mesas, Ricio slows down to a comfortable 100kph and continues their conversation.

  "So who's that guy following us?" Andee asks leaning forward between the two front seats.

  "I don't know." Ricio responds looking at Andee in his rearview mirror.

  "But your dad hired him."

  "Actually, it was the Commander, the man in charge of the Sentinels. But yes my father gave the order."

  "Why? I don't understand. Why is he following us?"

  "Can I ask you something first?"

  "Sure."

  "Why did you attack that man?"

  "Because..." But Andee stumbles.

  "We didn't attack him." Nayaa interjects.

  "I'm sorry Nayaa but in that recording he was just leaning against that wall when both of you attacked him."

  "Yeah, but if you look at the recording earlier, you'll see that
we were just trying to figure out where he was." Nayaa counters.

  "Unfortunately, I don't have more of the recording. This is all my father gave me."

  "OK, I guess we did attack him." Andee answers. "But that's only because we were trying to catch him.

  "Yeah we didn't want to hurt him. That's why I hit him in the foot. So he couldn't run." Nayaa ads.

  "Why didn't you just talk to him?" Rico asks.

  "Because he was invisible?" Nayaa answers nearly annoyed. Ricio turns to her with a frown.

  "Can you play that recoding again." Andee intercedes a bit agitated. Ricio restarts it. They watch the whole thing again without a word.

  "What the hell is going on?" Andee shouts.

  "This is messed up." Nayaa adds.

  "What are you two talking about?" Rico counters confused.

  "He's not invisible!" Nayaa responds agitatedly pointing at the 3D display with both open hands. Ricio stares at her suspicious.

  "When we fought him he was invisible." Andee continues.

  "I don't understand. How could you fight him if he was invisible" Ricio asks confused.

  "I'm telling you. He was invisible. We're not lying." Nayaa insist becoming agitated. "Look at the beginning, before the fight started. You can see how we were searching for him.

  "I told you. This is all I have."

  "Then your father must have the rest." Andee ads.

  "Look at the people." Nayaa interjects excitedly pointing at the replaying 3D image. "Look at them. You can tell they couldn't see him. They thought we were fighting each other, high on cactii."

  "I don't know. It's not that I don't believe you, but look at the fight. You guys are on him the whole time. If he was invisible how did you know were he was?"

  "Because we figured it out. I mean we could see him, but it wasn't