The Soldiers of Halla

Chapter 35

I knew it was the end.

I felt it in the core of my being. There have been many times over the past few years that I felt we might be nearing the end, only to have another wrinkle appear. Another surprise. Another door opening that we didn’t even know existed. Each time, the struggle continued. This time would be different. There would be no second chances. No do-overs. No hope of salvaging victory from defeat. We were gambling it all, which meant there could be only one of two outcomes: We would either vanquish Saint Dane and begin to rebuild Halla, or Solara would be destroyed along with the Travelers. There would be no in between.

Uncle Press was right. It had all been leading to this moment. Every battle, every territory in jeopardy, every twist had been nothing more than prelude. As I looked back on it all, it seemed impossible that it could have been any other way. Saint Dane had brought out the darker nature of mankind, promising Utopia in exchange for freedom. In the end it proved too tempting for too many people.

I wondered if the Ravinians, those who benefited from his evil quest, felt that it had been worthwhile. Would they have made the same choices if they could have seen the future? We’d never know.

Now the last hope rested with those who did not accept that vision of Utopia. Would the spirit of mankind, the spirit of free will and compassion, be strong enough to triumph over the dark power of repression and persecution? That’s what this battle would be about, and it would start with the exiles. If they backed down, the battle would be lost right then and there, for it would mean they no longer were willing to fight for what they believed in. Their spirit was keeping Solara alive. I feared that if they did not accept the challenge, it would be a sign that that spirit had already diminished. If they accepted it, I believed that act alone would help to reinvigorate Solara. I felt certain that if the exiles accepted the challenge, Solara would be able to provide us with the means to fight one last battle.

As to who would win, I had no idea.

Being there, at that moment, felt right. For me, that is. In the beginning I had been frustrated that I didn’t know every truth. Uncle Press told me that I needed to learn through experience, and he was right. I had to go through it all to become the person I was. If not for all that I had learned, all that I had seen and suffered and lost, I would not have had the strength or conviction to fight the battle before us. I had truly become the lead Traveler. The others looked to me for strength and guidance. I didn’t have all the answers, but I had grown confident enough to make choices. And I chose to fight. I believed that this was the way it was meant to be.

I was ready.

My first stop was not Eelong. For this battle to work, we needed to lay the groundwork. Instead of going right to Eelong, Patrick and I went to Third Earth. I needed to see Mark.

“Something’s happening,” Mark told me.

He was on edge. Much more so than when I had seen him the last time. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he began stuttering again. The three of us were together in the Manhattan warehouse where his band of rebels made their base. We sat in front of one of the stolen Ravinian helicopters while many of his friends watched us from a distance, trying to hear our conversation. I didn’t want them to be part of this. We needed Mark’s sole attention.

“The dados are being moved out of the factory,” he continued.

“To where?” Patrick asked, surprised.

“They’re gathering outside the walls of the conclave. They’re activating them long enough to bring them out, then shutting them down again. Bobby, I think they’re making room so they can build more.”

That was a sobering thought, but I didn’t think it was correct. There were already thousands of those robots.

Mark continued, “If they march on Manhattan, they’ll wipe us out.”

“They’re not going to march on Manhattan,” I said with confidence. “That’s why we’re here.” I had Mark’s full attention.

“I need you to be my eyes, Mark,” I said. “We need to know exactly what’s happening with those dados. Patrick will stay with you. If something happens, he can blast out of here and let us know instantly. Can you do that?”

Mark shrugged. “Sure. I can have eyes in every one of those tunnels around the conclave. We’re organized, Bobby. If somebody so much as farts, we’ll know it.”

“You can keep that to yourself,” I said with a chuckle. “Anything else, let Patrick know immediately.”

“And I’ll let the Travelers know,” Patrick added.

“What’s going on?” Mark asked. “If they’re not going to march on Third Earth, what’s the point?”

I told him flat out. “The exiles are on Eelong. In Black Water. Saint Dane is going to create a flume and send the dado army to attack them there.”

Mark squinted, thinking, working to get his head around the idea.

“Okay. Not good,” he concluded.

“No, and we’ve come up with a plan to stop them.”

Mark sat silently, anxiously waiting for my next words. It was time to drop the bomb on him.

“We’re going to attack the Ravinian conclave.”

He stared at me with a blank look, as if he didn’t understand what I’d said. He didn’t move for a solid ten seconds.

“Mark? You there?”

He shook his head and said, “Yeah. Wow. For a second I thought you said you wanted to attack the Ravinian conclave.”

“I did.”

He blinked once. And again. “L–Listen, Bobby,” he stuttered, and instantly reacted to it. “Damn! I hate that.” “It’s okay. You should be nervous.”

“I’m not nervous. I’m stunned. And you’re crazy. We’ve got rebels hiding all over the area. We’ve built up a pretty decent armory of stolen weapons, too. But to defend ourselves. We don’t have the manpower to attack that fort. I admire your guts, Bobby, but it’s suicide.”

“I’m not asking you or your rebels to join in the attack,” I said.

Mark frowned. “Then who the heck is going to do it? You? The Travelers? It might be different if we could enlist those seventy thousand exiles, but short of that, no way.”

My answer was to smile at him. It took about five seconds until I saw the look of realization change his expression.

“Are you serious?” he asked with a mixture of hope and disbelief.

“Deadly.”

“They agreed to attack the conclave?”

Patrick and I shared looks.

“Not yet,” I admitted. “That’s my next stop.”

Mark winced. My boast of leading an overwhelming attack force suddenly appeared not only crazy, but hollow. I figured it was time to let him know exactly where we stood. With everything.

I had briefly explained it before, but this time I laid it all out in detail. For the next hour Patrick and I told him about Solara and the force of spirit that helped guide mankind. We explained how Saint Dane corrupted that spirit into giving him the power to create a new universe. I even explained our plan to create a flume that would bring the exiles to Third Earth. We told him everything. Mark didn’t question a word. I think that as incredible a story as it was, we were filling in the blanks that had been confounding him since he was fourteen years old. He had been just as involved with this war as I had. He understood. He accepted. Mark Dimond was up to speed.

When I finished, the first thing he said was, “So whatever chance we have, we owe to Nevva Winter.”

“Without her, the exiles would be dead and so would Halla.”

He shook his head in dismay. “That may be the most incredible thing you’ve told me. Nevva Winter. Geez.”

“Kinda makes you think there might still be hope for mankind, doesn’t it?”

Patrick added, “But we still have to convince the exiles. Without them, none of this works.”

We let Mark work the information over in his head. I knew him. He was calculating possibilities.

“How long?” he asked.

“No idea. But I’m thinking that if they’re moving dados, Saint Dane is getting ready to make that flume and move on Eelong.”

“Doing recon is cake,” he said. “If something happens, you’ll know it.”

“That’s all I’m asking,” I said.

“It’s not all you’re going to get,” Mark added.

“Excuse me?” Patrick asked.

“You see how we live. Hiding, running, wondering when a helicopter might show up to blow us away. We live like rats waiting to be exterminated. Up until now we’ve only thought about survival. I can tell you, if given the chance to strike back, we’re going to take it.”

“We’re not asking you to put your friends or any of the rebels on the line,” I said. “Your weapons will be welcome, but I can’t ask you to risk your lives.”

Mark laughed. “Risk our lives? This is no life! Bobby, you’re looking at a bunch of people who’ve lost hope. Hearing what you’re saying is the first ray of light we’ve seen in a very long time. Do you think for one second that if there’s a chance to fight for ourselves, no matter how impossible it may seem, we wouldn’t go for it?”

I felt like I was being watched. Looking around, I saw that several of Mark’s grungy rebel friends had been hanging around, eavesdropping. At least twenty men and women stood to the rear of one of the helicopters, staring at us. They heard every word we were saying.

“Is it true?” I called to them. “Are you willing to attack the conclave?”

They exchanged tentative looks. At first I thought it was because they weren’t sure how to answer. I quickly realized it was more about deciding who would be the one to speak. Finally a girl stepped forward. It was Maddie, the crazy cabdriver. Her eyes blazed.

“Say when” was her simple answer.

Patrick smiled. “Looking better all the time.”

Mark was all business. “We can offer more than reconnaissance. We’ve been making plans to cause some trouble on our own. Maybe they can fit in with yours.”

I looked around at the eager faces of the rebels and answered, “At the risk of losing any faith you might have in us, there is no real attack plan. We’re figuring this out as we go along. So if you’ve got any ideas…”

Mark looked at his friends. I expected to see disappointment all around. Just the opposite happened. They seemed even more charged up than before.

Mark said, “Maybe I should tell you what we’ve been planning.”

He went ahead and detailed a series of guerrilla attacks they had planned to carry out on the conclave. They didn’t expect them to be any more than a nuisance to the Ravinians, but coupled with the addition of an able-bodied army, these small-scale attacks suddenly felt like they could be the foundation of a very large-scale invasion.

We shared our own ideas on how we might be able to pull off the impossible. After batting around all the ideas, we came up with a plan.

“It could work,” Mark said. “It relies on a lot, but it could work.”

“It has to work,” I added.

“I’ll call in every last able-bodied person within a fifty-mile radius and start the wheels in motion,” Mark explained. “We have weapons stored all over Manhattan. Will the exiles be armed?”

“They have portable weapons that neutralize dados” was my answer.

Mark’s eyes lit up. He looked at his friends. They were just as impressed.

“Those would be handy,” he said, understating the obvious. “Not worried about mixing territories?”

“Not anymore,” I answered. “The Convergence has made Halla one under Saint Dane’s thumb.”

Patrick asked Mark, “Where should we gather? Seventy thousand people need a lot of room.”

Mark thought for a moment, then said, “Most of our weapons are stored downtown. I think the best rallying spot is Washington Square Park.”

“Done,” I said. “That’s where we’ll create this end of the flume.”

“Assuming you can,” Mark said, letting a bit of skepticism show. “And that you can convince the exiles to join up.”

“We can,” Patrick said with supreme confidence. “And we will.”

Patrick Mac had come a long way from being the tentative teacher who lived the perfect life on Third Earth. Maybe more so than any of us, his world had been turned upside down. While all of us witnessed the social upheavals caused by Ravinia on our homes, Patrick’s territory had gone through the most dramatic change. There were times when I worried that he could keep it together. But he always met each challenge head-on. Being able to work through his fears proved that, in many ways, Patrick was the bravest of us all.

Patrick and I left Mark and his people to begin making preparations. We stepped outside for one moment alone.

“Looks like you were right,” I said to him.

“About what?” Patrick asked.

“It’s come down to Third Earth. The last territory. It really is your turn.”

Patrick got a faraway look in his eye. I believe that for those few moments, his head went back to what Third Earth was before. His true home. The way it was meant to be. He came back to reality with a look in his eye that was as determined as I’d ever seen from him.

“Then I guess I’d better make the most of it,” he said, almost cocky.

The Traveler from Third Earth was ready to go.

I had one more moment with Mark. My friend and I had been through so much, together and apart, even before I had become a Traveler. He was my oldest friend. He was my brother.

“So… she’s okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, she’s good. Better than good. You can ask her yourself pretty soon.”

“You think she’ll come here with the exiles?” he asked, daring to hope.

I laughed. “Are you serious? We’re talking about Courtney, right?”

Mark laughed too. “Yeah, dumb question. She’ll probably lead the way.”

The two of us looked at each other. Neither knew what to say. Instead, we hugged.

“You know something,” he said softly. “The memory of our life back at home is the only thing that’s kept me going.”

“I know. I think that goes for everybody.” “I miss it.” “Me too.”

“Are we going to win this one?” he whispered, so none of the others could hear.

“We have to” was the only answer I could give.

He pulled away from me. His eyes were watery. “We better. I want to go home.”

“I do too,” I said.

It was the first time I had been less than honest with Mark. Of course I wanted to go home. To Second Earth. To Stony Brook. To my old life. But win or lose, that wasn’t possible. I wasn’t from Second Earth. Not really. I was only a visitor. My life back there had been fabricated. It tore me up to accept that. There was no way I’d say that to Mark. At least, not then. Our friendship meant too much to me.

Patrick joined us. It was time to get going.

“Be alert,” I said to them. “And be ready.”

“Good luck,” Patrick said.

I gave one last look to Patrick, then to Mark, then stepped off the territory to begin the most important mission I’d ever undertaken as a Traveler. I had to convince a multitude of civilians that they had one more battle to fight.

Whether they wanted it or not, they were the final hope for Halla.