Trespassers: a science-fiction novel (41 page)

“
Where
’
s the southeast corner of the property?
”
her voice called out from the kitchen, accompanied by the sound of the kitchen door opening and closing.

“
I like her,
”
Mindy said with a smile.

Dexim wasn
’
t amused.

“
She
’
s right,
”
Stewart said.
“
If the Metraball is here, you don
’
t have a choice. You have to take it with you so it
’
ll be safe from the Mundle.
”

“
You mean so
Earth
will be safe from the Mundle,
”
Dexim fired back.

“
Is that a problem?
”
Stewart said.

The gang joined Sara in the backyard, where she surveyed the land to get her bearings. She had studied the property well, but only in aerial photos and topographical drawings.
“
This must be the start of the western woods,
”
she said, pointing to the tree line behind the house.
“
Is there a small pond just behind there?
”
She pointed in another direction.

“
Yeah,
”
Jeremy replied.
“
It
’
s about two hundred feet that way, just on the other side of those bushes.
”

“
Perfect.
”
This wasn
’
t the Sara he knew. The girl Jeremy had known never even dreamed of being this confident and commanding. He watched in amazement as she led the others down the trail into the back property.

Jeremy sidled up to Web, near the back of the pack, as they filed into the woods.
“
Is there any chance she
’
ll remember me?
”

Web shrugged.
“
Well it
’
s possible. The memories she gathered in those eight months aren
’
t being blocked. They
’
re just hidden away. They
’
re not connected with the other memories, so there
’
s just no normal way to access them.
”

“
Hidden away,
”
Jeremy repeated.
“
So how does she find them again?
”

“
Nobody knows.
”

“
She probably won
’
t,
”
Tobi said, quickening his pace to join them.
“
Like he said, there
’
s no natural link to those memories.
”

“
So, how would you
—”

“
Look, kid,
”
Tobi cut him off,
“
you have less than twenty minutes left with her. Don
’
t waste it. Make sure you say your good-byes.
”
After a few steps, Tobi took pity on him.
“
Okay, you could try to retrace your steps with her. Try to redo moments
—
the strongest memories she might have. But don
’
t get your hopes up.
”

Jeremy nodded and jogged ahead.

“
Poor kid,
”
Tobi said.

“
Yeah,
”
Web replied,
“
it
’
s always tougher being the one who knows than being the one who forgot.
”

At the front of the pack, Sara was leading the way with Dexim watching over her shoulder.

“
There should be a creek running right along this path,
”
she said, scanning the terrain, recalling the aerial maps.
“
And there
’
s a trail that leads east.
”

“
That
’
s right,
”
Jeremy said, jogging up beside her.
“
There
’
s a path that goes into the back property.
”

“
That should take us into a clearing where site 2142 is,
”
she said.

“
2142?
”
Jeremy asked.

“
That
’
s the suspected location of the Metraball.
”

“
Cool,
”
he replied, not knowing what else to say.

As Sara led them through the trails, Jeremy was impressed that she seemed to know the woods better than he did. What a change from the little lost girl he had brought here yesterday. Stepping into a clearing, Sara stopped dead in her tracks, causing a pileup behind her.

“
That
’
s it!
”
she exclaimed.

“
Fort Fear?
”
Jeremy gasped, getting his hopes up where they don
’
t belong.
“
You remember Fort Fear?
”

“
I have a great aerial photo of it. And it
’
s a great landmark, I
’
ll tell you that.
”

“
But you don
’
t remember being here?
”

“
No, I
’
ve never been on the property,
”
she said, sticking a pin into his balloon of hope. She walked toward the fort, gazing up in amazement. It was finally in front of her.
“
When the early test flight crashed, the Metraball was buried to protect it from falling into the wrong hands. Over the centuries, hundreds of planets have been pulled apart looking for it, but never the right one.
”

“
And this is the right one?
”
Dexim asked.

“
I believe it is. The terrain is a match with the topographical mapping in the historical files.
”

“
Even if it were,
”
Lyntic groaned,
“
you still don
’
t have any idea where it
’
s buried out here.
”
She waved her hand at the vast forest.

“
Yes, but wouldn
’
t it make sense
—
if you were trying to hide something
—
to bury it under something solid? Something that would stay put.
”

“
The rock!
”
Jeremy exclaimed.

Sara smiled.
“
The Metraball should be just beneath it.
”
She pointed.
“
Right below the fort. We
’
ll just have to pull it down.
”

“
Pull it down?
”
Jeremy asked.

Sara pulled the wooden case from her bag and extracted one of the quorets. Jeremy recognized it. It was the one that had mangled the water tower. The Sara he knew was afraid of that cube, but this Sara wielded it with a confident skill.

“
Everybody stand back,
”
she announced, as she activated the quoret and pointed it toward the fort.

“
Whoa, whoa, whoa,
”
Jeremy interjected,
“
you can
’
t just
pull it down
.
”

She hardly even acknowledged his protest, as she extended her arm and took aim. The fort creaked and trembled, as if it had been hit by a mighty gust of wind. The wood popped and cracked as the structure leaned.

Jeremy saw the fort in front of him, smeared across the ground like a tool shed that had been hit by a locomotive. So many memories lay shattered in front of him. The most recent ones were of Sara and him
—
their lunch, their conversation, their glances. Sara was oblivious to all that now, as she stepped over the wreckage like forgotten pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The rock was slid out of place, revealing a patch of ground that hadn
’
t seen the light of day for centuries.

“
We
’
ll need some shovels,
”
Sara announced.

Dexim took a moment to think.
“
Okay,
”
he turned to Jeremy.
“
Do you have any shovels here?
”

Jeremy nodded, and after a quick trip to the supply shed, Tobi, Jin, and Lambert were carving holes into the ground where the fort used to be. Dexim checked his watch and the sky. Their ride should be arriving at any time. Mindy asked Stewart what exactly a Metraball was and why anyone would want it. Stewart recounted the legend of the long-lost Metraball propulsion system
—
at least the parts he could remember. He explained how in the early testing phases
—
many centuries ago
—
a plane with the only working Metraball prototype had crashed on a distant planet and the search for the Metraball became a mythological hunt for buried treasure. Lyntic chimed in with the rest of the details, explaining that Sara
’
s research had turned up evidence of that crash here on Earth, including information about the possible burial site of the Metraball.

“
Why was it buried in the first place?
”
Mindy asked.

“
The same old game,
”
Lyntic said.

“
To keep it out of the wrong hands,
”
Stewart explained.

“
So they
’
re digging for buried treasure,
”
Mindy said.

“
Exactly,
”
Stewart and Lyntic replied in perfect unison, which brought a smile to their faces and made Mindy
’
s stomach turn.

Jeremy approached Dexim and Sara and mustered the courage to take a final shot at redemption.
“
Can I have a word with you .
.
. in private,
”
he asked Sara, his eyes shooting back and forth between her and Dexim. Dexim didn
’
t like it, but he nodded at both of them and stepped away, allowing Jeremy to stumble through an uncomfortable story about a stick he used to carry to school. Listening to this nonsense, Sara began to stare at him as if he had lost his mind.

“
Okay, never mind that,
”
Jeremy said.
“
I just
—
could we .
.
. could we just take a walk?
”

Sara knew what the boy was up to. Apparently they had some romantic interlude while her memory was blocked. That was fine, but she had no memory of it now. And at the time, she had no memory of herself.

“
Look,
”
she said,
“
the brief moment we shared, whatever it was, it
’
s not a part of me. I
’
m sorry. I don
’
t know what we did
—
and frankly, I don
’
t think I want to know. Maybe we should just leave it alone.
”

“
I
’
m only asking you to take a walk. It
’
s only a walk.
”

She nodded. Perhaps she owed him that. Dexim kept a close eye on them as they eased down the trail.

“
I
’
m sorry about all of this,
”
she said.
“
I really am. But I
’
m going through a lot right now. I
’
ve lost eight months of my life
—
which still hasn
’
t sunk in
—
and we
’
re on the verge of what might be one of the greatest discoveries in recent history. I
’
m just not in a position to deal with this right now
—
whatever this is.
”