Cry For Tomorrow (30 page)

When all that was left was a bloody carcass lying in a pool of blood and gore that covered the planks of the surrounding deck, the Sil warriors retreated.

“Princ-ccee Rainooor, it is goood to see yooou baack in the Ciiity again,” greeted one of the golden-maned men. “Weee haaave beeen traaacking this paaair of rooogue gaarrs for severaaal daaays. Weee are soorry thaaat they maaade it into the ciiity before we could neutruliiize theeem.”

“Commander Loren, it is always a pleasure to meet with the Sil.” Rainor clasped the tall warrior’s shoulder in greeting. “I am sure you and your warriors did everything possible to stop this pair before they became a problem.”

The Sil nodded his head in acknowledgement and signaled to his warriors. “Weee wiiill be on our waaay now.” He gave Rainor a quick bow before following the others to the edge of the dock, where each of the Sil warriors slipped gracefully into the lagoon.

Before the ripples left in the water by their entry had disappeared, the group of humans had gathered around Rainor, demanding an explanation.

“Who were those, uh, men?” demanded Jake.

When he seemed reluctant to explain, I stepped around Jake so that I could watch his eyes. I couldn’t let him continue to mislead us like this. “Rainor, we have a right,
a need,
to know who and what we will be dealing with if this merging is to take place.” I put one hand on his arm and made him face me. “We want to help, but you’ve got to be honest with us.”

Rainor looked away, staring down at the dead gar-shark for several moments as if he was trying to come to a decision before letting his eyes meet mine.

“The Sil warriors live in small underwater cities in the channels between the larger islands. We exchange land-raised crops with them for some of the deep-water plants and fish we are unable to harvest on our own. They also take care of policing the channels and controlling dangerous, sea-going predators like the gar-sharks,” he explained.

“It looks like there are a whole lot of things you haven’t told us about your world,
Prince
Rainor,” Jennie commented as she slid in between me and Jake.

“Yeah, she’s right,” Jake nodded in agreement. “This under-world is proving to be a much more complex place than we were led to believe, and now we discover that you’re not just an agent, you’re some kind of royalty.”

“Please, I know that I owe you all some explanations. If you will just give me a little more time, I will explain everything,” he pleaded.

“Prince Rainor, a word with you, if you please.” Graemer limped into the middle of our gathering, inadvertently interrupting our discussion. I noticed that he’d wrapped his wounded leg with bandages he’d retrieved from what appeared to be some kind of first-aid station at one side of the building, but the bandage was already stained a deep red. Leaning close to Rainor’s ear, he spoke in a tone we could not overhear for several minutes before stepping back. “Sire, it is always a pleasure when you return to the City, and, too frequently, an adventure.” He grinned. “But then, you always have had a flair for the dramatic.”

“Thanks, I think.” Rainor smiled back.

“Under different circumstances, I would escort you to the palace, but I need to stay here and supervise the clean up. If it’s any help, you are welcome to take the flitter I have outside. I’ll just pick it up at headquarters later on.”

“Thanks Graemer, your help is much appreciated. Make sure you take time out to see a medic about your leg.” Rainor clasped hands with his friend before turning to face the pool where Orin was walking up the ramp to join us.

The small pod of steeds that had accompanied us splashed and chattered softly in the pool behind him. “The steeds are shaken, but none were harmed in the rampage,” Orin told us as we gathered at the edge of the pool.

“That’s good,” Rainor said in relief. “Orin, I can’t thank you enough for your assistance today. Will the damaged tube be a problem on your return trip?”

“No. I’ve instructed the steeds to meet me outside the terminal in the canals. We’ll have to swim island to island to avoid the damaged tunnel, but it will certainly be safer.” He turned and frowned at the gory mess still covering the deck before looking to me and the girls at my side. “I’ll tell Misty that you are all safe when I get back to the village.”

I wasn’t sure if it was proper or not but I decided I didn’t really care, I threw myself against his big, wet chest and hugged him anyway. “Thank you Orin, we would have been in a whole lot of trouble back there without your help.”

Orin shook back his mane of russet hair and grinned. “It was my pleasure to assist you. If there is ever anything else I can do to help, you just call out.” He nodded at the dolphins watching us from the edge of the pool. “We’ll hear you, if you do.”

I was sorry to see Orin and the steeds leave us. Their presence had made this world seem just a little bit safer. With a final look at the man and steeds disappearing under the gentle swirls of water, I joined Ben and, together, we followed Rainor toward the exit at the far side of the terminal.

Glad to get away from the rancid odor of the shark carcass, I followed the men through one of the many open doors leading to a wide passenger loading deck. I could see the flitter waiting for us in the nearby parking area, just as Graemer had promised, but suddenly I wasn’t in such a big hurry to move on. I slowed my steps and let the men move ahead of me.

“Halie, is something wrong?” Ben stopped and looked back when I didn’t follow.

“I’ll catch up in a few minutes,” I said with a shake of my head. He nodded in understanding before resuming his walk to the flitter.

Relieved to have a minute to myself, I made my way across the wooden planks of the deck to lean against the top rail of the waist high fence encircling it. Everything had been happening so fast that I just needed some time to collect my thoughts. I was also hoping for a chance to get Jake and Jennie alone long enough to get their opinion on a few things.

Kelly slid in beside me and stared out at the alien city surrounding us. The green eyes she turned up at me were wide with wonder. “What do you think, Sissy? This place doesn’t look that much bigger or safer than Misty’s village to me. I was really scared when those sharks attacked!” she rambled nervously.

“I think the kid is right, this place isn’t very safe at all,” agreed Jennie, “and who would’ve thought of sharks with legs?” She leaned against the railing at my side and turned to face me. “Halie, the fact is that I don’t see how this merging of the worlds that Rainor’s been going on about is going to help
our
world at all.” She lowered her voice to a near whisper, as if afraid that we might be overheard. “Maybe we should investigate a little bit more. There has got to be
some
way to prevent this collision.”

“I hate to admit it, but I think she’s right,” agreed Jake. “The whole point of merging the two worlds was to make life on our own world better.” He shook his head and waved his hand at what was visible of the city. “If this is their
Big City,
then I think we are in
big
trouble!”

“I agree,” I said thoughtfully. “But before we make any decisions I think we should also talk with Rainor again, maybe give him a chance to explain a few things.”

“So, which one of you is going to make him tell us what’s going on?” Kelly asked with a smirk. “Talk is cheap, guys. Who’s going to get the answers?”

I poked my little sister in the ribs as I walked past her and whispered, “Watch it, kid, or we’ll make you do it.”

“So,
Prince
Rainor-you’re not exactly an
agent
for under-world, now, are you?” Jake interrupted the intense discussion Ben and Rainor were locked in when we joined them.

Rainor had the grace to look embarrassed when he turned around and faced us. “I’m sorry, my intention was never to mislead you in any way. The fact is our society is complicated, and I was afraid you wouldn’t come with me if I told you too much, too soon. Everything that I’ve been able to learn about your culture led me to believe that you might not respond well to a person you perceived as royalty, so I chose a station that you would, hopefully, interact with a little more freely.” He waved his arm to include the city around him. “White Rock City is the main seat of government for this sector of the world, but just as the over-world has several powerful sectors controlling your economy and politics, so does ours. My sister, Selena, is the ruling entity in this sector, but
I
am not currently in a position of power. In fact, with the way things are right now, my sister is just as likely to have me assassinated, just as she did my older brothers.”

“So let’s put this bit of your
lack of power
aside for a moment and move on for a bit.” Ben’s face had grown red and he was visibly gritting his teeth. “What you’re telling us is that
this—”
he waved a hand to encompass the rambling collection of buildings stretched out before us, “is the largest and most powerful city in this sector?”

We all returned our attention to what we could see of the city around us. The narrow, two-lane street running along the front of the depot, and the network of streets leading into the city, were lined with an assortment of buildings, none of them more than three stories high, none of which was very impressive. We could distinguish a food store, several clothing shops and various other small business between the scattered groups of people milling about in the streets, but there were no department or large groceries stores, or
large
anything to be seen. The maze of canals flowing between the clusters of buildings and streets reminded me of pictures I’d once seen of an ancient city. As with so many other places and things, it no longer existed. And if that were not enough to make us worry, well, then there were the
people
. To my eyes, the population of this city looked like escapees from a really bad nightmare. The phantoms and humanoids seemed oblivious to the throngs of ghouls, of both sexes and many sizes and types, that were freely wandering the streets.

“Please, tell me that we’re just passing through some half-abandoned section of town and everything important is on the other side of the tracks?” Jake pleaded.

“Yes, please do, and while you’re at it, explain to me where all the people are. You know, all the people you are going to bring to over-world to provide the work-force that was promised to return us to the modern world we lost when the worlds collided forty years ago!” Ben demanded.

“I don’t know if I have the right words to make you understand,” Rainor began before turning way, evidently trying to collect his thoughts.

In an effort to give him a little time to work things out, I nodded at the others before leading them to the edge of the small park lying between the depot and parking area. From this vantage point we were able to observe the streets, canals and clusters of buildings surrounding us. Our hearts grew heavier as we took note of the thin stream of bicycles and hover-craft on the hard streets, and the assortment of small air-boats and sea-horse drawn chariots on the water course.

“Hey, I-I’m really sorry,” Rainor said when he rejoined us. “I felt that I had no choice except this deception. Would you have consented to accompany me if you’d known that Tereus had so little to offer in exchange for your help? The fact is,
we
are not responsible for the event that shifted the over-world off its axis and out of its natural orbit. The population of the under-world has been captive in your gravity and ravaged by the radiation emanating from your world for these forty years now. The merging is our only hope.

“Since the beginning of this event, our scientists have tried everything in their power to find a way to either break away from the pull of your world, or to enact a merging, but we don’t have access to the level of technology that you have. Compared to your own culture, we’re pretty primitive. Our only mode of fast transportation is the hover-craft, as you see now.” He pointed at a passing flitter. “And we stole that tech from the over-world. The fact is, most of our world is covered with water and many of our
sentient
beings actually live in colonies under the seas. And, just as the Sil that you met earlier, they’re not truly human, either.” He held out one of his own hands, flexing the fingers to reveal the retractable webbing between his fingers. “Even less than we are.”

“So, basically, you felt this justified your tricking us all into coming here, is that right?” demanded Jennie angrily.

“Okay, now everybody, just wait a minute,” Ben interrupted. “Now, fact is that due to my current high security rating, I have been made aware of certain information. One of them is that there have been agents moving between the two worlds since the beginning, keeping track of things. Something changed about six months ago and this whole situation has turned critical and it no longer matters who was responsible for what. The two worlds have now reached a point where they
must
be allowed to merge to prevent a major seismic event involving both dimensions. What I don’t know is why there’s such a power struggle going on between the various branches of both governments. My sources have not been able to provide me with a viable answer to any of my queries.”

Rainor coughed and turned to face us. “Let me enlighten you as to the true motivation behind it all.
My
informants have told me that this power-struggle will determine who gains control of the untapped wealth of metal ores and petroleum fields that are bigger than many of your continents, and the army of ghouls they will need to hold that control.”

“And there will be another war,” Jake rumbled in dismay. “Maybe his time they can destroy life in
both
dimensions.”

Ben’s face had grown red with anger. “Okay, humanitarian issues aside, I can see why my government’s military is so anxious to get their hands on this potential army, but, if I understand correctly, if these ghouls gain entry through a torn curtain, they will be much too violent to ever be controlled or trained to hold even the most menial jobs. Do you have any idea how the Company expects to utilize the raw materials they hope to acquire without a labor force?”