But not this time.
"Oh Lord," the giant explorer moaned now as it all began to sink in. "We are looking down at the whole thing. Or up as the case may be. That flood in the center must be the Ball, the streams on its edge the beginnings of the arms. But we must be thousands upon thousands of light-years removed from the swirl to have such a view!"
He shook once, from head to toe, then whispered, "Brothers, this is truly an unnatural place for us to be."
But the flood of stars was not the only unusual thing going on over their heads. Rising off to the east, breaking through the last of the clouds, was the strange planet's only moon. It seemed overly large, very close and familiar somehow. Bright white, with many craters in evidence, it was traveling so fast across the very starry sky, they could actually see its movement.
And still, that was not the strangest thing above them. Strangest of all was the string of heavenly bodies that stretched across the sky, roughly east to west, like a necklace of gigantic white gems. It was hard to tell just what these things were, or how far out from the planet. From their size and brightness, they seemed almost close to orbit. Yet the way they were aligned across the entire sky indicated they were much farther out.
Zarex began madly pushing the buttons on his quadtrol now. This was getting too crazy. He had to know where he was. But his device started going haywire. It made a very strange noise, and then it shut down altogether. All three men let out a gasp. A quadtrol going bust? They'd never heard of such a thing before.
Both Hunter and Tomm quickly retrieved their own quadtrols, but the effect was the same. Their devices took a few readings, delivered the unprecedented news that they couldn't fix their own location, then began beeping and whirring until fizzling out for good.
The three travelers stood mute in amazement. Then reality came flooding in. They still didn't know where they were… and without any quadtrols, they were like ships on the ocean without a compass. They really were lost.
Hunter swore under his breath. Damn, this was not going well at all. It wasn't just that they didn't know where they were. It was the planet itself. It just didn't look the part for this great adventure. What had he imagined their ultimate destination to be? A world inhabited entirely by valiant soldiers like the Freedom Brigade meres? No, not quite. But certainly, he'd expected some kind of advanced civilization, maybe even u/fra-advanced. A place that was impressive and exotic. An entire planet that looked like Big Bright City. That had been his fantasy. Buildings, air machines, towers, floating cities, and billions of people, waiting with open arms for him and others who had been called back home.
But this definitely did not seem like home. Surely his psyche would be flashing all kinds of signals, that yes! He'd finally made it to the end of what was supposed to be an impossible journey. But none of this was happening inside him now. Just the opposite, in fact.
But did this mean they'd ended up on the wrong planet? It was obvious the people here had never been contacted, either by locals from planets nearby or by anyone else. They were totally ignorant of other life in space. How could the Freedom Brigade come from such a place then? Had Hunter and his friends been tricked? Had the poof steered them off course on purpose? Or had she miscalculated somehow?
Or could there be some other explanation entirely?
Was this the place he was supposed to be?
Looking up at the very strange sky now, Hunter knew there was only one way to find out.
They would have to take Agent Lisa's advice.
9
It was fourth down and inches to go.
There were six seconds remaining on the clock. The score was twenty-fourteen. A touchdown here would give Mayfield High a tie. The extra point would win the game.
Tension gripped the stadium. The boisterous crowd had become eerily quiet. Two thousand people, collectively holding their breath. Even the vendors were paying attention. Along the home sideline, some of the Mayfield cheerleaders were crying. This was the biggest game of the year. The opposing team, the hated Smalltown High, had been their rival for like, ages.
Those cheerleaders not crying were either praying or trying to induce others in the crowd to pray. AH except one, Ashley Woods. She was the squad leader, and this was a moment of big responsibility for her. Yet she was not thinking about the game, the crowd, or her squad. She was thinking about a dream she had had the night before.
She was walking down a long, straight road somewhere near her home. She met a very cute guy walking in the other direction. He didn't scare her. She talked to him for a while. They had a few beers. They kissed. Then, they did it___
It!
They… did… it.
She'd never had a dream like that in her life.
She was blond and beautiful, the prettiest cheerleader on the squad, thus her elevated status. But she was not stuck up, not a clothes freak, not a druggie, not a smoker. Not an angel, either, but close. Some things tempted her. Mostly she thought of herself as a normal seventeen-year-old kid. She loved old movies. She loved Saturday morning cartoons. She loved dancing.
And she liked boys. A lot. She didn't have a boyfriend, and never really had one. Not a serious one, anyway. She had kissed a few, though. And done a few other things. Not much, but some.
But dreaming… about doing it?
Never…
The referee's whistle knocked her out of the trance.
She looked to the end zone just as the ball was being hiked. What happened next came like slow motion. The last six seconds begin ticking away. The quarterback — Billy Rogers, class hunk — gets the ball and drops back to pass but everybody is covered. Billy starts scrambling. Two seconds tick away. Billy is running for his life, half the Smalltown squad is chasing him. Two seconds to go. At the very last instant, Billy changes direction and heads for the end zone. He makes a great leap, twists in midair — and is stopped, dead, by one, two, three opposing players. Slammed to the turf, eleven Smalltown players pile on top of him.
He is still a half a foot away from the goal line. The last two seconds tick away. The horn sounds.
The game was over.
Ashley went back to thinking about her dream.
The other girls on the Mayfield cheering squad took the loss very hard. Even a half hour after the game was over, they were too distraught to do anything but cry some more and then eat.
So it was up to Ashley to pick up the squad's equipment— pom-poms mostly. But by the time she'd finished policing their area and gathered her own things together, she found herself alone in the stadium. All the fans were gone. The cheer squad bus, which was supposed to drop them all off at their homes, had left as well. Even the janitors were gone.
"Must be my lucky day," she thought.
Then she slung her gym bag over her shoulder and began the mile and a half walk to town and home.
It was a warm fall day, and after a while, she didn't mind the walk at all. Thoughts bounced between her pretty little ears as she sauntered down the barely paved road, looking everywhere but straight in front of her. There were at least ten parties she could go to tonight Some with booze. Some with pot. Some with both. Some with none. All might be tres boring. She considered just staying home and renting a scary movie. If she went out, what would she wear? She was so sick of her jeans these days, but a skirt might not work, as all the parties would be outside, and it was starting to get cold these nights. So if it was her jeans then, which shoes? Which top? Would she need a jacket? Did she have enough money to chip in for beer? What if…