They hiked on for what seemed like months.
They usually walked hand in hand, talking endlessly, stopping whenever they wanted to study more closely some little amazing thing, of which there was an endless supply here.
When they did stop, it was not to rest but just to lie next to each other and admire the sights.
Sometimes they would watch the twilight from a mountaintop or hill and descend as soon as the sun appeared again. Sometimes they would lie naked in a shallow stream and allow the pure, crystalline water to run over them. They made love incessantly — in the heavenly way, that is. Hunter was always left panting at the sight of Xara's perfect and pert body. She, always in a perceptible glow, before, during, and after.
This was love in Paradise, perfect and beautiful. Who would not want to stay in this place forever?
What could ever make anyone want to leave?
They came to a particularly interesting river valley.
The sky seemed extremely blue above it. The colors of the meadow were extraordinarily bright, and the grass, as always, vividly emerald. They found flowers blooming in colors they'd never imagined before. The beauty was incredible. There seemed to be a soft white light glowing from everything within.
It was almost as if they could see life itself inside the petals of the flowers.
They walked farther through these fields and were soon upon a river, near a grand apple tree, beyond which was a gently rolling hill.
This would be a good place to wait for the twilight — and this is where they found themselves now.
Strangely, Xara fell asleep soon after they'd arrived.
Hunter could not recall her doing this before, but the last thing he wanted was to disturb her. He caressed her as she lay, softly breathing. The dusk arrived, and the stars came out.
But this time they looked different…
Instead of the ever-changing, swirling constellations, filled in with meteorites, comets, and swiftly moving moons, this twilight sky was static and nearly empty. There were only a few bright lights above him, and just one, solitary moon.
It took Hunter a while before he realized what he was looking at. This was a recreation of the night sky above Earth! It was the view above Big Bright City, the capital of the Mother Planet and the place where Hunter and Xara first met.
Hunter took this as a romantic sign. He held Xara even closer. But then something else began happening, something else he'd never seen here before: the sky above had become cloudy.
These were not puffy white clouds that might produce an amazing colorscape at sunset. These were dark, ominous clouds, angry and so close, Hunter felt like he could reach up and touch them. They didn't last long, dissipating as the sun finally came up again.
But for the first time, Hunter thought things didn't seem so perfect here in Paradise.
He finally woke Xara. She was astonished to realize she'd actually gone to sleep. He explained to her what had happened and how the sky had changed, and how the dark clouds had made an appearance.
She startled him by saying she'd dreamed nearly the same thing, only the clouds had been bloodred.
Shaken by this experience, she suggested they head back to Happy Valley. Hunter agreed.
They started walking east. Over a river, and through a field, they found themselves moving much quicker than on the out-bound trek. It was a very peculiar feeling. Then something told Hunter they could get there faster if they tried running. So they started running, and they were amazed at how fast they were able to run. Soon they were covering the distance across a valley in remarkable time.
Then the thought struck Hunter that if they started leaping— doing running jumps — they could cover more ground even quicker. So they began leaping together, and suddenly they were doing jumps that defied all manner of gravity, if in fact it was gravity that kept everyone's feet down here. Soon, with each leap, Hunter was putting his hands out in front of him and finding that whenever he did this, he would stay airborne for unnaturally long periods of time — ten to fifteen seconds at least. Xara started doing the same, both of them laughing madly.
The farther they leaped, and the more they were able to stretch themselves out, the more distance they could cover while airborne. Finally, they took one huge leap together, put their hands out in front of them, and stretched their legs out— and they stayed airborne like this, just a few feet off the ground, for what seemed like a very long time.
That's how Hunter and Xara discovered that, without needing an airplane or even a pair of wings, they were able to fly here in Heaven.
7
High Hill was deserted when Hunter and Xara returned.
This was odd. The hill looked out over Happy Valley and as it was the highest vantage point above the hovering ships, some of the principals of the UPF could always be found up here or at least nearby.
Happy Valley itself seemed strangely empty, too. A twilight had set in just as Hunter and Xara arrived back home. No one saw them land. And while a few figures were moving around in the dusk below, usually a large part of the 40,000-man UPF contingent could be found beneath the hovering ships, lolling about the emerald grass or congregating around the apple trees. But now the fields seemed virtually devoid of troopers.
This was not good. There was a standing order that should the status of their position here in Paradise ever change in any way, the principals of the UPF should head immediately for the fleet's flagship.
And that's where Hunter and Xara found them. Waiting in the combat center of the lead blue-and-chrome warship, America.
The entire inner circle was there. But no one was looking particularly happy or enlightened at the moment.
Erx and Berx, the nonnally jovial pilots who had found Hunter on Fools 6 so long ago, now appeared very troubled and even pale. They barely looked up when Hunter and Xara walked in. Calandrx, the great warrior and pilot turned poet and Empire bon vivant, also looked uncharacteristically down-cast.
The Great Klaaz, star hero and the oldest of the group, looked very old under the low lights. Zarex, the explorer, and Pater Tomm, the space monk, were staring at their hands folded tightly on the table before them. Steve Gordon, the CIA man who had traveled out from Planet America with them, was going through the motions of writing something down.
The pilot just stared at them. Finally he asked a question almost never heard in Paradise: "What's wrong?"
Tomm was the first to reply. His voice was very solemn.
"Brother Hawk," he said. "You must hear this man's story."
He pointed to the person sitting at the far end of the table almost in the shadows. It was Gym Bonz.
Hunter fell into one of the hovering seats directly across from Bonz. Xara took a seat next to Vanex, the Imperial Custodian, who was sitting by himself off in a corner.
Bonz recited his tale. He began, as always, with his being assigned the spy mission inside the SG No-Fly Zone, how he found no SG activity within the forbidden area nor evidence of any battle. He told how SG troops riding in crimson ships wearing red uniforms executed him. His description of the battle between SF and SG ships that followed was particularly vivid.
When the SF3 agent was through, a dark silence fell upon the cabin. The lights grew a bit dimmer.
"You know how things work here, Hawk," Tomm spoke up finally. "Nothing ever goes wrong in this place. There just aren't any mistakes. And as you know more than anybody, this place is so vast, it really does seem to go on forever. And quite possibly it does. Yet of all the spots Mr. Bonz here could have crossed over to, he arrived here, right in our midst. It just can't be a coincidence that he has fallen into our laps."