The Never War

FIRST EARTH

The shot came from somewhere ahead of me, toward the incomingHindenburg. I stepped onthe gas and headed that way. I soon saw a cluster of small wooden huts. They were probably storage sheds. But more than that, they looked like the perfect place where somebody could hide and set up a rocket. I gunned it for those buildings, not really sure what I would find when I got there, or what I would do.

That’s when I saw the motorcycle Spader and the gangster had taken off on. They were here, all right. I pulled the car up to the motorcycle and slammed on the brakes. Instantly the car bucked and stalled again. I didn’t care. It had gotten me here.

Then I heard another shot. It was coming from around the corner of the small building closest to me. I jumped out of the car and cautiously made my way forward.

TheHindenburgwas now almost directly overhead. The loud drone of its multiple engines filled the air. Since the floodlights were all on the far side, this side of the ship was thrown into shadow. It felt like a huge, ominous cloud was settling in.

When I rounded the corner of the building, my heart leaped. Right in front of me, crouched down behind some wooden crates for protection, were Spader and the gangster. The two were peering out at another wooden building about twenty yards farther ahead.

I knew Farrow must have been hiding there.

I then heard another shot. A nanosecond later something hit directly over my head, and a splinter of wood was torn away from the wall. I ducked, then took a closer look. The bullet had embedded itself right over my head. Now I knew why Spader and the gangster were hiding. Someone was shooting at them. I crouched down low and ran to join them.

“Spader!” I called out with a loud whisper.

Spader turned toward me quickly. So did the gangster. The thug had a gun and pointed it right at my nose.

“Pendragon!” Spader shouted with surprise. He pushed the barrel of the gun away from me. The gangster saw it was me and quickly turned his attention back to his enemies.

“Farrow’s right over there!” Spader said quickly. His eyes were wide with excitement. “There’s two of ‘em.”

“There’s only one,” the gangster corrected. “I already plugged one. Farrow’s alone.”

Oh, great. There was already blood spilled.

“It’s a tum-tigger, mate,” Spader said breathlessly. “He’s going to fire the rocket any second.”

“Not if I can help it,” the gangster declared.

He then did something I couldn’t believe. He jumped up from behind his protection and made a kamikaze run toward Farrow. Man, this guy was dedicated. He was making a suicide run to protect Max Rose and his criminal empire. This guy should get the gangster of the month award.

Though he was being very brave, he was also incredibly stupid. There was a twenty-yard stretch of open grass between our hiding place and Winn Farrow. The charging gangster had no protection. He only made it a few steps when three shots were fired. The gangster spun and went down hard.

“No!” Spader shouted, and made a move to jump from behind the crates and do the same thing himself. But I grabbed him.

“You can’t!” I shouted.

“He’s going to blow up the ship!” he shouted back. “Saint Dane is going to win!”

“No!” I said while holding him back. “This is exactly what Saint Dane wants. He wants us to stop Winn Farrow. Didn’t you hear me before?”

“That doesn’t make sense!” Spader shot back. “How could you know that?”

I looked Spader right in the eye. There was no way I could quickly explain to him all that we had seen on Third Earth. There was only one way I could convince him. I spoke calmly and directly. I didn’t want to let emotions get in the way.

“Do you trust me?” I asked.

“You know I do,” Spader answered.

“Then believe me. Our job is to make sure the ship blows up. I know it’s horrible, but it’s the truth. We’ve been through a lot together, Spader. You know me; you know what it means to be a Traveler. You’ve got to put your faith in me.”

Spader and I held eye contact. I tried to will him into believing me. I could tell he was wrestling with feelings of trust in me, and what his brain told him was reality.

It kills me to say this, but his brain won. He pushed me away so quickly I didn’t have time to brace myself, and I fell back on my butt.

“Sorry, mate,” he said. “I can’t let this happen.”

“Spader, don’t!” I shouted. It was too late. He jumped over the wooden crates, headed for Winn Farrow.

I cringed, ready to hear the gunshots that would hit him like they hit the gangster. But they didn’t. I scrambled to my feet, gazed over the crates and saw an incredible sight.

Spader wasn’t running. He was standing stock-still in the clearing between the wooden crates and the small hut. He had stopped because Gunny was blocking his way. Gunny had picked up the pistol from the fallen gangster blocking his way and now stood between Spader and Winn Farrow.

Overhead theHindenburgwas floating closer to the ground. Guide lines were thrown out from the zeppelin and workers scrambled to grab them and control the huge ship.

“I’m sorry,” Gunny said calmly. “I can’t let you pass.”

I couldn’t believe it had come to this. One Traveler was holding a gun on another Traveler.

Spader glanced up at the airship. He knew he didn’t have any time left. He looked at Gunny and said, “You won’t shoot me, Gunny. You can’t.”

Gunny flinched. Spader was right. There was no way Gunny would shoot him. It was a bluff. Gunny slowly lowered the pistol.

“The ship has to be destroyed,” Gunny said.

Spader wasn’t listening. He ran forward, determined to get to Winn Farrow. Gunny bent his knees and tried to grab him, but Spader was too strong. He hit the older man like a fullback and knocked him flat on his back. Now there was nothing to stop him. I expected Farrow to shoot him, but no shots came. He was either out of bullets or focused on his rocket.

I jumped out from behind the crates and sprinted after Spader.

“Spader! Stop!” I shouted. But he couldn’t hear me over the roar of theHindenburg’sengines. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. He was on a mission, and no amount of yelling from me would stop him.

When I got to the building, I saw that Spader had nailed Farrow the same way he hit Gunny. He had barreled into Farrow and knocked the crazy little guy to the ground. Now the two of them wrestled in the dirt.

I saw something else. On the ground, a few feet from them, was Farrow’s rocket. It was nailed into a board that acted as a makeshift launch pad. Its nose was pointed up at the incoming zeppelin, and the fuse was lit. The deadly rocket was poised and ready to bring the airship down.

The fight between Farrow and Spader was one-sided. Farrow was small, but he was a battler. Spader wasn’t. The gangster was too much for him, and the fight only lasted a few seconds. Farrow quickly had Spader pinned to the ground with an arm twisted behind his back. There was no way Spader could get to the rocket now.

My friend arched his neck and saw me standing there. The pained, desperate look on his face made me cringe.

“Pendragon!” he cried. “Don’t let those people die!” His voice cracked with emotion. Tears welled in his eyes. In his mind, we were about to let thirty-six people die. He didn’t understand the bigger picture.

And at that moment, neither did I.

The reality of what was about to happen hit me like a punch in the gut. What was happening? I suddenly had the lives of thirty-six people in my hands. All I had to do was lean down, move the rocket, and they would be saved. It would be so easy. Farrow wouldn’t be able to stop me because he was tangled up with Spader.

“Nothing you can do about it now!” Farrow laughed. ”Max Rose is gonna go down in flames, just like this ship!”

“Please, mate!” Spader begged me, in tears. “They’re all going to die!”

I looked up at the ship. The lights were on in the gondola. That’s where the people were. The people whose lives would soon be filled with terror. I looked down at the rocket. The fuse was nearly burnt, but I still had time. All I had to do was kick it out of the way. Simple as that. One move from me and the ship would arrive to the cheers of all the spectators. The newspapers would carry a very different, triumphant story and thirty-six people would still be alive.

It was at that moment I realized I couldn’t let them die.

The concept of history changing so that the Nazis would develop the atomic bomb and win the war seemed impossible at that moment. But those people up in that airship were very real. They were about to die, and I could save them. So I bent down and reached out to move the rocket.

“Pendragon,” came a soft, calm voice.

I turned to see Gunny standing behind me. He was as calm as if standing in the lobby of his beloved hotel greeting guests. He looked at me with his warm, knowing eyes and said the one thing that made sense. It was a phrase I had heard many times before. It was supposed to help explain our lives and the lives of all Travelers. It was supposed to give the feeling that all was well with Halla, and we were on the side of right. It was supposed to explain our sorrow and loss. I heard it when my uncle died, when Osa died, and when my family disappeared. It always seemed to come at the worst possible times.

Gunny said softly, “This is the way it was meant to be.”

I held his gaze for a second. He smiled. I looked back at the rocket. A million thoughts flashed through my head. But one thought rose above all the others. I couldn’t let those people die. I didn’t have it in me.

“I’m sorry, Gunny,” I said. “I can’t do it.”

I took a step toward the rocket, prepared to kick it away. I’d worry about the consequences later. I was a second away from saving theHindenburgwhen I felt Gunny’s arms wrap around me in a firm bear hug.

“Then let me do it,” he said softly.

He was stopping me from kicking the rocket! I struggled to get away. All day I had been desperate to get here to make sure history played out the way it was supposed to. Now I was desperate to save that ship and those people.

“Gunny, let go!” I pleaded. But Gunny held firm.

“No!” screamed Spader in anguish.

An instant later the fuse hit the powder, and the rocket flamed to life. It blasted off its wooden launch pad and streaked into the sky, headed toward a very big target.

(CONTINUED)