Only Human (Themis Files #3)(3)
—Can’t you switch places with Ekim? He can guide you through the commands on the console.
—He said it’s complicated. He had me at “orbital defense system.” I don’t think I—Got it! But I’ll never be able to close the front. Let me put the helmet on, see if it works without the braces closed.
—Any minute now … We have to GO!
—Yes! She’s powering up. Go! Go! Ekim, punch it in. Eyyots!
—How long until …
—Whoa.
—What? Vincent, where are we?
—I don’t know. I think we’re … It’s nighttime. Trees all around us. Ekim, is this Earth? Akt eyet Eteyat?
{Ops eyoktiptet.}
—What did he say?
—Euh … It’s an expression. Beats me. Something like that.
—Look at the stars.
—What?
—Look at the stars. Do you recognize anything?
—I don’t see anything familiar … Yes! That’s … la grande ourse. I don’t know the constellation names. The big bear?
—The Great Bear. Ursa Major.
—Yeah, that. We’re here, Rose. This is Earth.
—Wow. I can’t believe we made it. Eva, say something.
[Dad, what did you do?]
—Not now, Eva.
[Tell me what you did!]
I said not now. It won’t be long before someone notices us. Let’s lay Themis down so we can get out.
[Just tell me?]
Eva, what do you think they’ll do to Ekim if they find him here? He needs to get back. Ekim, eyost yeskust ak eyyots esat.
{Eyekant ets ops. Ethemis eyet onsoks.}
—What did he say? Empty Themis?
—He said Themis is empty. Drained. She used up all her energy to get here. There’s enough left to power the helmets but I can’t move the arms anymore.
—How long do we have to wait, Vincent?
[Dad, I’ll kill you if anything happens to him.]
—Easy, Eva. When you and I drained her in New York, it took only a few minutes before she was able to move again. Looks like we’re in the middle of nowhere. With any luck, no one’s spotted us and we can get out before the sun comes up. Heck, it might take days before we’re found. Just like last time.
[Last time we almost died.]
Then not like last time. Look, there’s nothing I can do. If I knew how to speed this up, believe me I would.
—Go talk to Ekim, Eva. You have some time. You should talk to him. You might not see him again after he’s gone.
[I hate you, Dad. I really hate you.]
—I know.
—She’ll get over it, Vincent. Just give her time.
—I don’t know, Rose. What we did, it’s … Anyway, she’s home, that’s all that matters. Now we just need to get Ekim home safe.
—He could stay here.
—No, he couldn’t. They’d put him in a cage, stick needles in him all day. A hundred million of us died the last time his people were on Earth. It’s been a while, but I don’t think folks here would’ve forgotten.
—What will happen to him when he gets back home?
—Well, he’ll tell them we kidnapped him—we did. Hopefully, they’ll end it at that.
—Do you think they’ll believe him?
—I don’t know, Rose. What would you have me do? Write him a note?
—He looks scared.
—He’s a kid! He’s millions of miles away from home, and he may have just committed treason. I’d be scared too.
—You put a gun to his head.
—Like I said, I’d be scared too.
—We just traveled millions of miles ourselves, you know.
—Weird, isn’t it? We’ve waited all this time, then, boom. We’re here.
—Our … friend once told me it took ten days to get from there to here. It just feels instantaneous. I’m not sure how they’d know.
—Know what, Rose?
—How long it takes to get from there to here.
—They’d probably check the date?
—How? We can get the date here, but what we’d need to know is the date over there, now. How do you get that? You go back, divide by two?
—I have no idea. I …
—You did what you had to do, Vincent.
—Did I? Did I have to do this?
—Don’t go there, Vincent. Don’t.
—What’s worse is I don’t feel nearly as bad as I think I should. Shit.
—What?
—Can’t be. Not that soon.
—What’s happening?
—Lights. There are a bunch of vehicles coming our way. Trucks, maybe. Ekim, eket eyyots apt aks.
[Who’s coming, Dad?]
I don’t know, but they seem to be in a hurry to get here.
[Yokits! Now what? We can’t do anything!]
Well, if it’s just trucks, neither can they. We’re fifteen floors high.
[They can bring a crane.]
It takes days to put together a crane this high. A crane isn’t what I’m worried about.
[What then?]
They might just be locals in some pickup trucks. If they are, we’re still good. We can just transport Themis when she’s charged and disembark somewhere else.