Part 9 (1/2)

”You ready for this?” Uncle Press asked.

”No, but we gotta do it,” I answered.

So he pushed the door open and we both entered.

We saw right away that this was an apartment very much like Spader's on Grallion. It was small and simple, with molded furniture and windows that looked out on the ocean. n.o.body was here, so we had to move on into the bedroom.

That's where we found him. Spader stood in the middle of the room. At his feet was a shattered vase. That was the sound we heard. Spader must have broken it himself, probably in anger. When we entered, he didn't turn to look at us. That was because he was focused on his father. The man was sitting at a desk with his head resting on the surface. Yes, he was dead. Like the others, it looked as if he had died peacefully. He wore his full aquaneer uniform. My guess was he wanted to look as good for his son as Spader wanted to look for him. My heart went out to my friend. I had expected Spader to discover that his father had disappeared, just as mine had. But this was worse. Much worse.

I think Spader was in shock. His eyes were focused on his father as if he thought he could change the sight before him by sheer willpower.

I had no idea of what to say or do. Uncle Press walked over to the fallen aquaneer and gently closed his eyes. He then looked to Spader and said in a gentle voice, ”Don't be sad, this is the way it was meant to be.”

Though he didn't know it yet, Spader was a Traveler. As I was told many times before, everything happens for a reason. I didn't quite buy it yet, but that's what I was told.

Spader looked into Uncle Press's eyes and I saw how bad he was hurting.

”This is the way it was meant to be?” he asked with a shaky voice. ”I don't understand.”

”You will,” Uncle Press said gently.

”We're going to help you.”

I knew what Uncle Press meant. Pretty soon we were going to have to tell Spader about being a Traveler. But I didn't think it was going to help him understand anything. I've known about being a Traveler for some time now, and I'm still pretty clueless.

Uncle Press looked down at the dead man, and saw something. Clutched in his right hand was a small folded piece of paper. Uncle Press gently took it from his hand and read it. He then looked at Spader, and handed the note to him. When Spader took it, I thought he was going to burst out in tears. That's because the letter was for him.

Scribbled on the sheet was one word: ”Spader.” In his dying moments Spader's father had written a note to his son. It was odd to see ”Spader” written out in normal letters. Since Travelers understood all languages, I suppose we could also understand allwrittenlanguage as well.

As Spader took the note I saw Uncle Press put something quickly into his pocket. Spader didn't see it because he was looking at the note. But I did. Uncle Press had taken something else from the dead man's hand and didn't want Spader to see it. He looked at me and gave me a stern look which clearly said: ”Don't say anything.”

”What does the note say?” asked Uncle Press.

Spader showed the note to Uncle Press and I looked over his shoulder to see it too. It wasn't a written message; it was a drawing. It was a circular symbol about the size of an Oreo cookie. It looked to me like two interlocking letters from an Asian alphabet. I had no idea what it meant or what it represented.

”Do you know what this means?” asked Uncle Press.

Spader shook his head. Uncle Press handed it back to him and said, ”If your father wanted you to have it, it's more important than we realize right now.”

Spader nodded, folded the paper and put it in his pocket. He then looked to my uncle and I saw a change in the aqua-neer's eyes. He was no longer in shock. He was totally in control.

”I'm going to find out what happened here,” he said with certainty.

”Good. We're going to help you,” Uncle Press answered.

The moment was broken by the sound of hurried footsteps. A group was headed down the hallway toward us, fast. Seconds later they entered the apartment and I saw it was a group of five aquaneers, headed by Wu Yenza. These guys looked as if they were on a mission. They were all business, and they carried guns. This was the first time I had seen weapons of any sort on Cloral, other than spearguns for fis.h.i.+ng. These weapons were sleek, silver rifles with wide barrels.

I would have thought they were kind of cool, if I hadn't been so worried they might be used on us. Yenza had a gun as well, but hers was a silver pistol in a holster on her hip.

She strode purposefully into the bedroom and scanned the scene. When her eyes fell on Spader's father, she cringed with surprise and sorrow.

”I'm sorry, Spader,” she said kindly. ”I knew your father. There is much of him in you.”

Spader acknowledged this with a nod.

”Magorran is being evacuated,” she then said, clicking into business mode. ”All nonessential personnel must return to Grallion.”

”What's the point?” asked Uncle Press.

”We're sending in a medical team,” she answered quickly. ”The habitat will be quarantined until we determine what caused these deaths.”

Good point. If a virus had done this, it could still be hanging around. It was best to leave this to the experts.

”When you get back to Grallion,” she continued, ”you will be disinfected. Do not take anything from here. Understand?”

I was sure that the same thought shot through all of our heads. What about the piece of paper with the round symbol on it? Was Spader going to leave it? The answer wasno.He walked out of the room, past Yenza, without giving up the paper. Uncle Press and I shared glances, then followed him out.

We were escorted back toward the bow of Magorran by two armed aquaneers. We weren't under arrest or anything, they just wanted to make sure we got back quickly. Spader didn't say a word. He walked stiffly, looking straight ahead.

When we got near the crushed bow, I saw there was a flurry of activity going on. Several more aquaneers had arrived and were putting on bulky suits that made them look as if they were getting ready to handle plutonium. I figured they wanted protection against any nasty microbe that might be on Magorran. I really hoped those suits weren't necessary, because if they were, it would have meant Uncle Press and Spader and I were already infected. Suddenly the idea of being disinfected was sounding pretty good. We had to get back to Grallion, fast.

One of the aquaneers stopped us and said, ”We'll get you on a boat for Grallion. Wait here.” He took off, leaving the other aquaneer to make sure we stayed put.

As we stood there I glanced over at the pilot house and saw something strange. Two agronomers were standing outside, away from everyone else. They were arguing. It was the man and woman whom I recognized from Grolo's. The man seemed to be pleading with the woman. He was angry and waved his arms to make his point, but the woman didn't want to listen and kept turning away from him. I had no idea what they were saying because we were too far away, but I wanted to remember what I saw.

A transfer boat brought the three of us back to Grallion. But we weren't allowed to go home right away. They first brought us to a medical building and made us give up our clothes. I think they burned them, because I never saw them again. We were given replacements though. We also had to empty our pockets. This was going to be tricky. It meant giving up my Traveler ring, not to mention Uncle Press's ring and whatever it was he took from Spader's father. I also wondered what Spader was going to do with the note. It could be a vital clue as to what happened on Magorran and I feared it would be destroyed.

The rings proved easy. They were sent through a sterilizer and given back to us. As for the other stuff, I wasn't sure. Before we got dressed we had to shower with some foul-smelling soap that stung my skin. Some medical personnel watched us the whole time to make sure we washed all the nooks and crannies. Nice, huh? To be honest, I didn't mind. I would have scrubbed myself with acid in Yankee Stadium if I thought I might be carrying a microbe that was deadly enough to do the damage I saw on Magorran.

Once we were released, all freshly scrubbed and stinging, we walked back toward Spader's house. Spader wasn't saying much and I figured it was because his thoughts were with his dad. Well, his thoughts may have been with his dad, but that's not why he was so quiet. As soon as we got away from the medical unit, I saw the real reason. He opened his moutha and pulled out the note from his father. He had folded it and got it through without anyone knowing. Smart guy. We asked him to come for dinner, but he wasn't in the mood. He wanted to be alone. Can't say I blame him. Uncle Press and I went back to our apartment and I finally got the chance to talk with him in private.

”What happened over there?” I asked right away. ”Was it Saint Dane?”

”It could have been,” answered Uncle Press. ”Or it could just have been a horrible accident.”

”Accident?” I shouted. ”How many people died on Magorran? Two, three hundred? That was no accident.”

”You might be right, but we've got to look beyond the tragedy here. Saint Dane doesn't wreak havoc just for the sake of it. He always has a plan. If he caused those people to die, it's because it served some overall scheme. Remember, he's about pus.h.i.+ng a territory toward chaos. If we're going to find his hand in this, we've got to figure out what his overall plan is.”

”What about Spader?” I asked. ”He's in bad shape. It's going to be hard to tell him about the whole Traveler thing.”

”But he's got to learn soon. He's the only Traveler from Cloral now.”

”You mean he wasn't before?”

”Up until he died, Spader's father was the Traveler. Now it's Spader.”

”Oh, man!” I blurted out. ”Spader's father was a Traveler too?”

”Yes,” said Uncle Press softly. ”And he was a friend.”