What I saw didn’t add up. It was the first time I took a close look at the robot. He was one of the dados that had been holding Mark up on the gallows platform. Now that I was close to him, I saw that he had the stubble of a beard. He sat staring at the line of dados. There was a long, silent moment.
Then the dado spoke. “Wow,” he said, breathless. “It actually w-worked.” He looked down, gave me a big smile and said, “Can we get out of here now?”
Yeah. It was Mark.
Chapter 26
Thy best friend was alive.
He wasn’t hanging by his neck inside that silver tube. You’d think I would be hit with an overwhelming sense of relief and joy. Don’t get me wrong. I was. But at that moment, the overriding feeling was more one of total confusion.
“Wha-” was pretty much all I managed to gasp.
Mark shrugged. “This is the first time I’m okay with those dados looking like me.”
Elli gasped. “They executed a dado?”
“Yeah. He’s probably not even hurt.”
I glanced at the line of dados who had arrived to wipe out our escort party. They stood together, holding their weapons up, waiting for a command.
“They were ordered to protect me,” Mark explained. “Dados are handy to have around, so long as they’re on your side.”
I was still in a state of shock. “But… how?” “Nevva,” Mark said. “Nevva Winter?” I gasped.
Mark actually laughed. “You know anybody else named Nevva?”
I glanced over at Elli. Judging by the way she looked and the way I felt, we were both pretty stunned by that revelation.
“The plan was hers,” Mark continued. “Nevva saved me.”
The impossible truths kept getting more impossible. I couldn’t think fast enough to keep up.
“But why?” I croaked out. “What did she say?”
“Only that she wasn’t going to let me die. These dados will protect us until we get to the tunnel out of here, which we should do right now.”
I turned to Elli, thinking she would be even more thrilled by this news than I was. But Elli was gone. I looked around quickly to see that she was several yards away from us, running. She was headed into the Taj Mahal.
“Hey!” Mark shouted to her. Then to me he said, “What is she doing?”
I got to my feet. “She must be going after Nevva.”
“She can’t!” Mark went to run after her, but I stopped him.
“No, you gotta get out of here.”
“What? No! You can’t go after her. I don’t think Nevva’s going to protect you too.”
“It doesn’t matter. We’ll be okay. Elli and I can leave whenever we want. But not with you here. I hate to say it, Mark, but you’re a liability.”
“Uh… what?”
“I told you, we don’t need flumes to travel anymore. We can just leave. But you can’t. If these dados are going to get you to safety, you’ve got to go.”
Mark weighed my words. I knew he didn’t understand, but he wasn’t about to ask for an explanation. At least not then. There wasn’t time. We were still surrounded by a world of dados that weren’t programmed to protect him.
“Go back to your people,” I continued. “Keep searching for the exiles. If we want to help them, we have to find them.”
“And what’ll you do?” he asked.
“Get Elli and get out of here. After that, I don’t know. We’ve got to come up with a plan to stop that army of dados.”
I walked to one of the downed dados and picked up his weapon. He wouldn’t be needing it anymore.
“So this is it,” Mark said. “The turning point of Third Earth is also the final battle for Halla.”
“It’s sure looking like it,” I replied.
I hated to say good-bye. I’d already lost Mark once that day, I didn’t want to go through something like that again. “Go,” I said. “We’ll find you.”
Mark threw his arms around me. “I wish Courtney were here,” he said, his voice cracking.
I didn’t agree, but I didn’t say anything. This was actually the last place I wanted Courtney to be.
“Get back safe,” I said. “Don’t do anything dumb.”
“Dumb? Me? You forget who you’re talking to.”
Mark pulled back. There were tears in his eyes. I knew what he was thinking. It felt as if this might be the last time we would ever see each other.
“We’ll probably get back before you do,” I said, trying to be light.
Mark nodded, but he didn’t believe that any more than I did. “Bobby, I d-don’t regret a thing.”
Hearing his stutter made my heart break. This was still Mark Dimond.
“I know, Mark.”
“And I’m proud of you, man.”
“Thanks. And thanks for being my friend.”
Mark shrugged.
“Now go,” I commanded.
Mark nodded and looked at the line of dados. He stood up straight and fixed his Ravinian cap on his head. His new, confident self was back. “C’mon, boys, let’s go knock some roboheads.”
The dados turned in a group and followed Mark. He took a few steps backward, gave me a smile, then turned and jogged off. I watched him for a few seconds, hoping I wasn’t seeing my best friend for the last time.
I had to pull myself away. Standing there feeling all forlorn wasn’t doing anybody any good. I sprinted after Elli. I suppose I should have acted more dado like, but I didn’t care about blending in anymore. I wanted to grab Elli and get the heck out of there. What I told Mark wasn’t entirely true. Eventually I planned on joining him, but I didn’t want to do it alone. I had to go back to Solara and get Uncle Press. Hopefully the rest of the Travelers would be there as well. If everything was going to play out the way I expected, our final stand was going to be on Third Earth. We had to stop the army of dados before it could march on the exiles, wherever they were. For that, we needed to be together. But first I had to get Elli.
I entered the Taj Mahal on full alert. The place seemed deserted, but I knew it couldn’t be. I didn’t start yelling out Elli’s name. That would have been the quickest way to get some dados landing on my head. As it turned out, the search didn’t take long. I made my way through the forest of fancy columns that led to the center of the Taj Mahal, and heard the soft sound of someone crying. I followed the sound until I came upon a sight that took my breath away. Sitting on a bench between two huge columns was Nevva. She was in the arms of her mother, Elli. Her head was buried in Elli’s shoulder. It was Nevva who was crying. Since I had known Elli, dating back to when we first met on Quillan, she had been a troubled woman. Her history was a sad one. She wore every moment of it on her face. She was a beautiful woman, but the many tragedies she had lived through had taken their toll. Her expression rarely varied. I think it was the only way she could keep going. It was as if she had turned off her emotions because none of them were good. As I watched her sitting there, cradling her daughter, I saw a different woman. Her eyes were closed. Her entire being had softened. She was at peace.
I didn’t want to disturb the moment. I think Elli must have sensed my presence, because she opened her eyes and saw me. She smiled. Elli actually smiled. She looked alive in a way that I hadn’t seen before. I’d been through a lot in these past few years. There were more triumphs and tragedies than I could count. But looking back on it all, I think that simple moment of seeing Elli at peace is the most beautiful thing I ever experienced.
Nevva turned and saw me. She instantly stiffened and stood up. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.
“I’ve come for Elli,” I explained. “And to thank you.”
“What I did was for Mark,” Nevva said, trying to regain her composure. “Things haven’t changed.”
“But they have,” I said. “Your mother was right, Nevva. You do have a heart.”