Blue Angel

BLUE ANGEL
by
Tony Chiodo




The interrogator sat behind a black desk in a black frock, which made his white skin even paler. The young man, Rhazes sat in a chair opposite the desk, dabbing his bloody lip with a cloth.
“Sometimes our agents get a bit rough. Pity, but our aim is a peaceful community. You have been detained for possession of seditious material.” He held up a dog-eared pamphlet. Church and State: An Evil Marriage. “Practically an antique. We dealt with that fellow a century ago. Where did you get it?”
Rhazes face had a calm demeanor. “On the street, where else?”
He depressed a foot switch under the desk, which caused Rhazes to violently jerk.
“I don’t have time for you. You’ll spend the night in one of our learning cells.” He leaned forward. “Rebels tend to die young, you know,” he whispered, with the hint of a grin.
That night Rhazes sat on a concrete floor, stuffing bits of torn cloth in his ears, while ear-splitting voices preached and howled like banshees, under glaring lights.

They gathered on a moonlit night in a shallow canyon hidden in the Outland. The Blue Angels were performing their monthly homage to the mysterious, melancholy lady of the same name who appeared sporadically on secret wavelengths, always in a luminous blue dress, with a message of hope from a faraway world.
A group of female dancers perched on the canyon rim, fitted with trallium wings for a more sustained flight in the low gravity. A tech started the music, a dreamy ballad, called “Blue Angel”, from the mid-Twentieth century of Gaia, a time of great upheaval among the youth of that planet.
It began with strange words that had been endlessly studied for some hidden significance. Others argued they were simply special endearments lovers used to communicate secretly:
“Sha-la-la, dooby wah, dum-dum-dum, yeh-yeh, um,wah-wah-wah-wah”
On the last “wah” each girl in turn leaped off the rim with a running start, with an exaggerated expression of sadness, each wing brushing each face, as if wiping away tears. They descended in a long arcing curve, touching down gently and forming a moving circle in which they mimicked the words with gestures of the arms and hands and face, rising up and down in perfect unison and with fervent emotion, until they dropped into their signature swan poses at the very end.

The next morning found Sister Vindictus, the principal’s head wrangler at St. Censorius High School, standing in front of the auditorium stage, twirling her rosary, looking over the restless student body, and puffing on a cigarette, Whispers, chuckles, gasps, coughs and grunts filled the air. Sister Justitia, the principal, rarely appeared in the flesh. Her morning pronouncements constituted her sole interaction with the students. Sister Vindictus was her right hand nun and had the stocky build of a linebacker. They called her Sister V.
She wore black-rim glasses underneath a white, tent like thing that surrounded her face in a starched square. She was known to slam freshman boys against a locker to make a point.
“So, another year, kiddos,” she chuckled. “I think most of you know the procedure, except you first year babies, and you will learn soon enough. The handout pretty much spells it all out. I’m already seeing too much leg on some of the senior girls and too much hair on the boys. I don’t want to see that crap by tomorrow’s mass or…” She smacked her fist against her hand with a loud whap! “You people know how I operate. Look sharp, impress me, make your parents proud….what else they got going for them?” she chuckled under her breath. “Stability! Propriety! Uniformity! Say it!”
Everyone dutifully droned Arcadia’s tripartite motto and the nun broke into an insincere smile.

Tranquility World hummed with activity. The sun beamed in the violet sky and Newfound Valley was particularly verdant. The giant Ferris wheel revolved at a prudent pace.
In the chair just coming over the top, Vadim Cassidy and Amanda Aros contemplated their upcoming senior year, and their young lives beyond that.
Vadim sported a pair of tight tan pants, a thin white cotton shirt, mostly unbuttoned, and a headband of luminescent aurelian.
Amanda wore her favorite hot weather lemon yellow sundress, a star necklace, and a glittery silver crescent moon along the right side of her face, all of which made her feel cooler.
She glanced at Vadim.
“What was spinning in your head just now, Vadim?”
“That I will likely die of boredom getting through this year. We’ve both passed all the Phase 4 courses, even the advanced seminars. What are they gonna throw at us now?”
“Camp, of course. Anyone they can’t figure out what to do with ends up there. Free labor.” She grabbed his arm. “Vadim, that would be so transcend. Camp guards don’t give a damn, cause no one’s going to escape into the Outland on foot. They know that.”
“What’s your point?”
“What do you think, honey? More time to sneak off and slipside, and then just lay back and stargaze. The nights out there are so sweet and glittery.”
He punched her lightly. “I didn’t know you were an Outland girl. Gonna find yourself some lizard-brain farmer to marry?”
“Very no to that. Who else could I go easy with besides you, Vadim? I just love to get away from the city, for any reason.”
He gazed westward, beyond the watered valley into the beautiful desolation of the broken up red rock country. A small smudge marred the otherwise flawless sky. Vadim knew it to be an armed military craft, dark and menacing.
“I was re-reading the opening of our old history book from grade school last night. 2211...the year engraved on our brains. Everything was falling apart-raging firestorms, massive floods, refugees seeking underground shelters...and our ancestors, about to depart on the big Providence ship built by the Church to escape the evil secular Earth government...they still called it Earth in those days...”
“And that silly frilly illustration of the ship ascending,” said Amanda, “the massive cross stretching over the hull, with thousands of outstretched hands, yelling, ‘Take us! Take us too!’ Or that’s what some of us wrote on the page.”
“They wrote a lot worse things than that,” chuckled Vadim. “I wonder how it really happened, and if they were all willing passengers, or prisoners?”
They both grew silent, his hand in hers, peering into an uncertain future, with each revolution of the wheel.

Vadim was a fan of Sister Angelica’s Literature class. She always included classic works from Gaia, such as certain Shakespeare plays, benign poets like Longfellow and Milton and, for the first time, some excerpts from Thoreau. He was not in their approved textbook, but in handouts, she had prepared. Vadim had already gotten hold of black market copies of An Essay on Civil Disobedience, but he especially enjoyed the Walden chapters. The verdant landscapes of New England were unlike anything an Arcadian boy had ever experienced. He could not imagine having access to a jewel such as Walden Pond, on a planet of lakes, rivers and seas, and vast continents teeming with exotic creatures.
That morning he raised the issue of personal independence versus communal obligations. “Sister, I think Thoreau would have a rough time in Arcadia of today. He was fiercely independent. I like his statement about how a man might hear a different drummer and not live like everyone else.”
Sister Angelica was one of the gentle nuns, who gave her students more slack in what they could read and say. She was pale and delicate, with old-fashioned glasses and a soothing voice. Nevertheless, she was troubled by Vadim’s words. “Yes, he did say such things, but they aren’t in these pages I gave you. Let us stick to the subject at hand.”
“But would you agree with his different drummer opinion?”
“Insofar as it would not cause disturbances to our social structure. The school is generally quite lenient with personal freedoms, as regards to dress…” subtle whispers and sighs of disagreement... “ahem, as regards to dress and the like. Perhaps not as many as you would desire, but we all answer to higher power that expects us to preserve the order of our school. I want you children to be happy, but I also want you to be safe. Not everyone in Arcadia is as agreeable as we sisters. Thoreau also said this: “I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.”
“Well,” said Vadim, “I can see how he was thankful for the…how does one describe it…the out-there forests and lakes and hills of his home. All the creatures he would see on a day’s walk…those little bird flitters, filling the air with songs. I just can’t imagine it all,”
“I’m just as enchanted as you, Vadim, by Thoreau’s lovely descriptions. How would all of you like to pass the days in his tiny cabin by the pond?”
This led to a lively discussion, but Vadim stayed quiet, standing on the edge of Walden Pond, watching Thoreau in his boat try to guess where the wild loon would pop up.

Amanda studied a small print of “The Kiss”, by Gustave Klimt. A friend had bought it from an infiltrator. Her heart fluttered at the sensuality of the couple’s embrace, enclosed in a golden cloud. She too wanted to wear flowers in her hair, be held by a man in just such a manner, face caressed, eyes closed in bliss. At the same time, Mrs. Sleet was extolling the beauty of an image by Jacques David in the darkened room of Art class. Amanda began to sketch the entwined lovers on a small pad, the reflected light off the image being sufficient for her purposes. It would be a present for Vadim.

Homecoming kicked off in the vast Domitor Stadium precisely at sunset. The gleaming kardite structure was festooned with the colors of St. Censorius. The opponent, Our Lady of the Snows, brought their own decorations, with which they lavished on their tents, which were set up in the adjacent field. St. C and the Snows, they called each other.
Vadim wandered around checking out the food stands, campfire circles and spontaneous musical offerings, spread across their own field on the opposite side of the stadium.
“Vadim!”
He turned around and there was his buddy, Skye Slater, drinking something out of a metal flask up in the stands. Vadim walked over and sat down.
“Want some?” asked Skye, offering him the flask.
Vadim leaned one and took a sniff. “No thanks. Don’t get too zonged on that stuff. We got a lot of football to play tomorrow.”
His pal raised one eyebrow and put on that wise ass look he often sported. “Relax. We still have a nice stash of time before kickoff. How about those new plays coach came up with? Too very very is what I say. Need to do some high flying to pull them things off. You right with it?”
“Why not. Damnation, Skye, we’ve been a team for four years. We are fearful and wondrous! We will strike fear in the hearts of the Snow boys.”
Skye took a swig. “Verily I say, Vad!”
They both stared past the field toward the Outland, the distant mountains.
Skye pocketed the flask. “One of the guys heard they spotted a ship the other night…looked like it was doing maneuvers or something…hanging up there motionless, for quite a while.”
“I get the feeling something is coming.”
A cold wave settled in the valley, but that only made the tents cozier. Some gathered around blazing fires, singing, reliving memories of historic games won and lost. Dancers leaped through the frosty air, their diaphanous gowns trailing, bells and trinkets leaving sparkling notes in their wake. Rebel types, boys all done up in waved hair, eyes blackened, colored stripes down their face, for both sides donned their war paint for the games. The girls, not to be outdone, sported jeweled headbands, stars sprinkled on cheeks and forehead, and elaborate eyebrows of metallic silvers and golds, and a thousand variations of all of these.
There in the darkness, midst the smoke and wind, they unleashed their true natures, which had to be kept under control at school and in general society, apart from dances and celebrations. Nighttime in the Outland, was their freedom time.
The Covert Action Detail, CADS, usually avoided the games.
Inside the tent, Vadim, Skye and Amanda sang their own songs and shared sweet cinnamon cherry wine from the vineyard of Skye’s father.
The couple gazed at each other, restless, sparking eyes. That hadn’t been together for nearly a week.
Skye looked at one, then the other, between sips. “What’s with you two? Besides the obvious.”
“I’d say it was the dreams,” said Vadim.
“You read my mind, again.” Amanda sometimes regarded him as a curiosity.
“Dreams?” Now Skye was restless. “We all have them.”
“These are different, and scary realistic.”
“I was beginning to think I was crazy,” said Amanda.
“What does that mean?” asked Skye.
Vadim turned to Skye. “They’re more interesting than our real lives.”
“Very, very amazing actually,” added Amanda.
“Yeah, I think I’m on to that. I know some others have had these dreams,” said Skye. “But not that many. “He zipped up his jacket. “It’s murky. Very.”
Amanda’s eyes flashed. “It’s scary, Vadim. They come on so fast.”
He reached across and took her hand. “No, no. Don’t be scared, be serene. Enjoy them. They’re not nightmares.”
“But they’re not normal,”
Vadim clapped his hands together. “That’s why I look forward to them. We have enough normal at school. The dreams are like…adventure tales from another world.”
“We’re all going to graduate. Where do we go from here?” mused Skye.
Amanda nodded. “We’re only eighteen.”
Silence.
“Farmer, soldier, tech,” blurted Skye, scorn in his voice.
A head peeked in the tent. Tyrona Fairly. She wore a silvery zarine mask, which swept out from her eyebrows in dramatic fashion.
“A skydance is just beginning. I think this might be a good one. Think transcend!”
They all rushed outside. On the edge of the field, cultivated grass gave way to a semi-wild landscape with a slightly elevated plateau, upon which the dancers had gathered. Three guitarists had set up and began a dreamy melody, which Vadim recognized as “Sleepwalk”, a pirated tune that was going around.
Four dancers swayed in a tight circle, then broke apart as the guitarist produced an achingly high-pitched melody from his strings. One of the girls began to run and launched into an extended leap that elicited a gasp from the onlookers.
Vadim had seen her dance before, but he had never seen her achieve such height and duration. Then he realized that they had waited for a good tailwind which, coupled with the friendly gravity, enabled a gifted dancer to fly for thirty seconds or more.
The wind caused him to pull up the collar of his coat. Amanda leaned against him.
“It’s icy out here,” she said. “And she’s hardly wearing anything.”
“They really exert themselves. She’s probably all heated up.”
“I could get that way, very, very easily,” she whispered.
Vadim smiled and held her close. But the dancer and the music entranced him.
The dancer landed like a feather. All four of them ascended vertically, their azure gowns illumined by the glow of a huge cerulean moon hovering in the west.
“Oh, Vadim, how do they manage such moves?”
After reaching a certain height, they all arched backwards and floated back down like fluttering leaves, then collapsed together in a graceful swoon, to end the song.

The Mayor of Arcadia, Zeno Fragonard, stepped up to the podium just before kickoff on game day. He faced a restless but silent audience, and spoke for barely five minutes, but it seemed like twenty. He wore his old Commander uniform and never looked up from his prepared speech, predictably concluding with: “Stability. Propriety. Uniformity.”
Dead quiet from ten thousand.
He entered a black limo and sped away. Cheers erupted from both stands.
Kickoff. The Snows were big. They used mean phalanxes until their backs got up to speed and pulled off twenty-yard leaps. They did a lot of laterals but St. C’s secondary often intercepted.
St. C looked clumsy at first, but they had the speed, and the crowd fired them up, sparking up the place and dancing in the bleachers. The band wailed “You Can’t Sit Down” and soon they were flying downfield. Skye was one of the speedsters. They did a reverse in the backfield and by the time the quarterback Sandro Spectre launched the ball, Skye was in the air seventy yards downfield. He landed running and sprinted past the hundred-yard line, weaving like mad and following the interference, led by Vadim, as they upended the Snows’ bruisers with sweet precision.
The cheerbabes were in transcendent form, and a surprise treat had them appear one hundred feet above the stadium in shimmery phantasms.
The lead changed hands repeatedly, but speed wore down strength, and St. C conquered.
Invisible army ships floated high overhead, mainly for amusement, and to check out the score.

“Our enemies are threatening.” Sister V paced back and forth, twirling her beads. “The camps will open soon and you’ll notice a difference. More discipline. Mass every morning, mandatory! Don’t give me your sassy look, Slattery or I’ll come over and thwack your head.”
Muffled giggles.
She viciously slammed her pointer against the desk and silenced the class.
Her eyes narrowed. “You naive children know nothing. You have no conception of what is out there. We’ve been lucky so far, but there are signs…there are signs, oh yes. You know enough of the Gaian wars to have some idea of how things can unravel, when morals slacken and discipline is ignored.”
She moved down the first aisle, catching the eyes of each student, came back up the next one. “I’m trying to warn you children, I’m doing you a favor,” she purred with creepy sweetness. “They are going to do more than merely lecture to you in the camps. I am urging you to pray to the good Lord for the strength to endure what is coming.”
She stopped. “What is this Faraday?” and hooked her finger under a necklace around the neck of the pale young man. “Some kind of pagan symbol perhaps?”
“Naw sister, it’s from the ancient—“
“It’s a magus you little deviant!” and with that, yanked the detestable article off his neck and hurled it toward the trash basket.
Faraday nearly fell off his desk, uttering a hurt cry.
The students froze.
She continued to walk up the aisle, a benevolent smile back on her face, sharply turned on heel and moved down the next one.
She paused by Amanda’s desk.
Amanda wore a tight red blouse, which by itself might have gone unnoticed, but it was a warm afternoon and she had left three buttons undone.
Sister V stared down into her cleavage for an uncomfortably long time. The silent tension squeezed the air out of the room, until the girl behind Amanda let go a whimper.
“Miss Aros, my dear, I realize it is your intention to corrupt the souls of these clueless boys of ours, but in my classroom you will take care to COVER YOUR FUCKING BOOBS!”
The force of her scream caused Amanda to flinch, but nothing more.
Vadim was up like a shot, trembling with rage.
“Sit down Vadim,” she warned, without looking up. Skye pulled him back into the desk.
Amanda slowly fastened two of the three buttons.
The nun looked as if she might say something else, but walked back to her desk and began the lesson.
It was as if a war had already begun. The students moved through the halls and the news of Sister V’s blowup moved with them. Something had changed.

Vadim was struggling with a Trig problem when the alarm sounded. There had been alarms before- fire drills, random attack drills during unsettled periods, but this was a louder, more menacing howl.
The teacher jumped up from her desk. “Everyone please move out into the hall in an orderly fashion and follow the monitors that are wearing a red band. Quickly, please.”
Griping and muttering in low voices, shoving, wisecracks, most not taking it seriously. Once out in the hall grim faced monitors in uniform silenced them. Vadim looked for Skye. Amanda, he knew, was in another building.
The students spilled out of various doors into harsh glare of the main plaza. Rows of yellow school buses idled patiently and soon the entire student body sat them, some silent, some giggling, some scared, and some fired up with suspicion and anger. They sat there for nearly an hour while the monitors conversed with each other.
The alarm finally ceased and the students were ushered back to the classrooms. Vadim hurried outside and found his warrior friend smoking with some buddies.
“What’s shaking, Vadim?” He had lost his stern demeanor and flashed his normal cocky smile.
“What was that stunt all about, Marius? Are we supposed to be scared?”
“It was no stunt, Vadim. You’ll find that out soon enough. I’d suggest you take it more seriously.”
“Then why don’t they let us know what the hell is going on?”
He led Vadim away from the group. “Our enemies are getting close. We’re going to take measures to protect Arcadia when the time comes. Everyone has to cooperate and follow orders.”
“Our so called ancient enemies, that are now so ancient they’re in the history books we study. You mean them? I don’t even know what to call them.”
“You want a name? How about the Infidels? They’re against everything we stand for.”
Vadim sighed. “What can we expect? Where are the buses supposed to take us?”
Marius glanced back at his friends. “I gotta go. All will be revealed buddy. Stay cool.”
The drills were repeatedly weekly, the students instructed to move quicker, in tighter lines and in silence.

Vadim found a letter that had been slipped under the door. His heart jumped. “Amanda!” They had had silence between them the past week. But it wasn’t her writing. The childish script read:
Saturday night, the stars are alight, we ain’t going to fight.
Now listen dear ones, you have to walk not run, and it’s going to be fun,
Where the high ridge splits, the old tower sits, there’s going to be tricks.
“The old storage shelter? That thing’s been full of sand forever. Unless Skye got some of his tech pals to blow it out. It’s gotta be him setting this up. I could use some fun.”

He could feel the music before he arrived. The place was tucked between two bluffs, invisible from the road, an ancient stone bunker built by the original settlers long ago for food storage and shelter from dust storms. It had been vandalized over the years and filled with sand dunes. He parked and walked toward the yellow glow of the entrance.
The place had been transformed, swept clean and all lit up inside.
He passed small groups of people, most of them he knew, some were strangers and eyed him curiously. No doubt some CAD agents. Nonetheless, he felt a buoyancy, joy in the air, relief from the repression and rules. Skye grabbed him from behind.
“Hey, hey, young man!”
“Watcher, man!” cried Vadim, breaking free and throwing a mock punch. “Who did all this, Skye?”
“Doesn’t matter. We’ve needed a place like this, and now we have it.”
Vadim looked around.
Skye smiled. “She’s over by the stage, with Tyrona.”
His eyes flashed across the large space and she had no time to avert her gaze. They were locked in a mutual stare.
“C’mon, buddy, let’s quench our thirst.” Vadim took a breath and shook his head, as if to break Amanda’s spell.
A table with a bowl of iced fruit punch sat shimmering in the dim light. They each had a full glass, and simultaneously pulled out a flask of black market joy and added a generous dollop to the next glass.
“Ah, that’s more like it, “said Skye. “Zingo! I have a dear crave for this stuff.”
A group of dancers started gathering. “What’s happening?” asked Vadim.
“The Blue Angels….a new routine. Let’s move closer.”
The lights further dimmed, the dancers took their places in a long line across the room, just as a jazzy sax led into a song Vadim had never heard before, “Town Without Pity.” A figure emerged from the shadows-it was Jovan Stegmann, a tenor who had done some roles for the Arcadian Opera. He wore black, with a jagged blue streak across his chest and painted blue, jewel-like tears falling from his eyes. He began with deep feeling in his voice. Blue spotlights followed the swaying dancers as they launched into the routine, now a line of five couples, the girls in provocatively revealing gowns, the boys in tight tailored suits with unbuttoned shirts.
“This is gonna be hot,” whispered Skye.
They held their bodies impossibly close, and yet moved with an easy grace, exaggerating the motions of their hips and shoulders, legs entwined, tango like, crossing in intricate patterns, their faces dark with the song’s tortured emotions, which Jovan emulated with his aching voice.
The dancers swaying back and forth, so erotically that some of the onlookers were made uncomfortable, the boy’s hand sliding down the girl's leg, the girl’s hand caressing the boy’s chest. It was a paean to the thwarted dreams of the Arcadian youth, a lament for a sweeter world, now vividly acted out in heartfelt choreography.
The ten dancers moved as one and therein lay the power of their performance, as in a grand procession from some ancient rite from their Gaian past.
They broke up into separate couples and sprinted to launch themselves into the air in perfect unison, arms outstretched, hands clasped, heads upraised as if to say, we will take control of our own destiny, each landing at the very end of the room, then repeating it on the return, landing in a perfect line, legs split, collapsing like swans, folding their wings in sleep.
There was thunderous applause, whistles and whoops.
Vadim was awestruck, so caught up in the spectacle that he was not aware that Amanda was standing beside him. He looked down at her, tears streaking both of their faces.
The next day Amanda disappeared.

No one had seen her in class or at choral practice. Tyrona was beside herself, given the troubling events of the last few days. She met Vadim at a soda shop, which was bustling with the after school crowd. They sat in a booth in the back.
Her eyes were red and teary. “Vadim, I’m worried. Sister V is out to get her.”
“I’ve asked around. Skye hasn’t heard anything. What about her parents?”
“Those two alcoholics probably haven’t even noticed. What if she…?”
“She’s all right...they’re probably doing their discipline thing, preaching to her and all that.” His clenched fists and hopeless look belied the reassuring words.
“Hey kids!” Trudy Bibbins bounced up to the table. “Where’s Amanda? We were going to practice a duet at choral? For a minute I thought she was you, Tyrona.”
Tyrona glared up at her, obviously peeved. “Like I resemble her in any way? Get a brain, Trudy.”
“Holy Purgatory, just asking. Scuse me for breathing.” She walked off in a huff.
“Half these kids are just clueless,” said Tyrona. “They ignore what’s going on around them and live for parties and proms.”
Vadim suddenly got up. “I gotta do something. See what the hell is going on.”
Tyrona grabbed his arm. “Let me come too!”
“No...you’re too upset. Go home and rest. I’ll call if I find out anything.”
He rushed toward the door.
“Be careful,” whispered Tyrona.
He drove by the CAD compound a few times, but all was quiet. He found Rhazes at the library, poring over maps. “She wasn’t the only one, Vadim. They are starting to tighten the screws. They must be worried.”
“I almost went to the cops.”
“Blood and thunder, man!”
“But I didn’t.”
“Damn good thing, or we’d be looking for you. It’s unlikely they’ll keep her more than twenty four hours. They don’t want to arouse the resistance. We’ll see what the morning brings.”
Vadim walked home under a seething purple sky. A dust storm was brewing for sure. He skipped dinner, took a hot bath, and lay in his bed with only a candle for light and sipped some wine he had stashed for just such occasions. He blew out the candle, got under the covers and fell asleep. The house shook from the terrific wind gusts and Vadim slept fitfully.
The phone rang before it was light. He knocked over the lamp trying to get to the phone.
“Hello?” He heard a faint sob. “Amanda?”
“Yeah. Just wanted to hear your voice.”
“What happened?”
“They lectured me...about my clothes and things... and how my exposing myself inflames boys and I could go to hell for such things. And they took my kiss drawing.”
“Your what?”
You know...oh, maybe I never I showed it to you...the Klimt drawing of a couple embraced and kissing. I loved that drawing. It gave me hope, somehow that...”
She ended the sentence with a sigh.
“Are you at home?”
“Yes, but I didn’t want to come here. They made me.”
“So you’re okay?”
“At first I was really scared...they just scooped me off the street and I didn’t know what they were going to do. Made me watch some awful Church films, with some nun like Sister V. Some CAD guy I’ve never seen said they had a place for girls like me far away in the Outland, I asked him what kind of girls do you mean? He bent over and whispered in my ear. “Sluts.” He had whiskey on his breath. He was scary.”
“Who was this guy?”
“Calm down, Vadim, It’s over.”
“I don’t think it’s over, Amanda. I don’t think it’s over. I’ll come get you.”
“No, no. They’re watching the house. I’ll see you at school. I love you.”
“Okay,,,okay...love you sweetly.”
Vadim got dressed and walked for a long time, then turned down an alley and entered a dingy little shop with a faded sign that read: Mr. Hawk’s Antiques. The place was a wonderland of junk, jewelry and artifacts from the earliest settlement days. In one corner was a shrine dedicated to the ancient art of Cinema on Gaia. A faded poster of the movie, Metropolis, hung on the wall, preserved behind glass, lit by a single light.
Mr. Hawk could be found awake, or asleep, at all hours in his easy chair, surrounded by bookshelves of his favorite classics, the higher shelves covered with year of dust, which he read continually, with just enough snippets of sleep and food to keep him going. Vadim heard he was 150 years old.
“Young Cassidy,” he said softly in his sonorous voice. “what’s your pleasure?” He pointed to a chair where his visitors could sit and experience the old man’s voluminous memory of history, art, literature, and the like. Vadim took a seat. He looked up at a yellowing rendition of the landing of the Providence ship that had carried the original founders of Arcadia from Gaia. Every classroom had the same picture.
“Tell me again why those people risked the long trip to come here.”
“You know that story as well as I, my boy.” He picked up an old pipe off the table and lit it up, filling the small space with a pungent aroma.
“But how many wanted to come, and how many were forced to come?”
Mr. Hawk narrowed his eyes as if he needed time to answer.
“There was a small cadre of zealous disciples who were anxious to start a colony based on strict Catholic rules, and a conservative but stable era in Gaia’s history. But the majority were torn... things were bad in those days and the window of departure was closing fast, you see.”
“But was anything recorded?”
“We don’t know the details. There are some journals...diaries and such, locked away, but it is no secret people suffered in the early days, then gradually the rebellious element was subdued and absorbed….but never entirely.”
“But the Gaian people, they supposedly implanted some genetic markers so that the memories would survive.”
“Yes, but exactly what they did is impossible to say. I’m a literary man, not a scientist. The technical wizards of Arcadia have been trying to determine that exact thing, and counter it with their own tricks. Why the interest in these matters now Vadim?”
“Sir, you must be aware of the growing unrest and the recent suppression techniques being put in place?
“I’m afraid I exist in my own little universe, and the time I have left, I prefer to devote to things of beauty. The things you mentioned are for the next generation to deal with. Young men like yourself, with endless energy...and I can hear the rebellion in your voice, so perhaps those slumbering markers are beginning to awake, eh?”
He reached up and pulled a slim pamphlet from a shelf. “Take a look at this….a book of quotes from a rabble rouser during the American Revolution, Thomas Paine.”
Vadim took it, looked at a few pages, read some phrases:

“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.
These are the times that try men’s souls.
My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.”

Vadim shivered with a wave of recognition; an unbroken thread stretching back to the dim past came alive in his brain.
“Great Jupiter!” exclaimed Mr. Hawk. He jumped up with an alacrity that surprised himself. “You’ve got lightning coming out of you!”
Vadim stood up, shakily, gazing at his arms and hands, where he could see the silver light through his skin emanate from his fingertips.
“You are touched, my son, they’ve blessed you with some power...but for what purpose?”
“I think I know, Mr. Hawk, and I don’t have any time to lose! Thank you, sir!” Vadim grabbed his hand and the old man’s body convulsed with a jerk as he let out a cry.
“Sorry, sir!”
Mr. Hawk presented the most perfect expression of astonishment on his face, threw away his pipe and yelled, “I feel like I’m twenty years old!”
Vadim left him there in his newfound state, not quite knowing what just happened.

A few weeks later Sister Justitia dropped the bombshell.
“Beginning next week, all students will be required to spend every two weeks in civil service, either in the Agricultural or Defense sector. You will be bused to various bases and farming complexes, where your youthful energy and enthusiasm will be crucial in preparing Arcadia for possible difficult times ahead. Because of the threatening actions by our enemies, certain athletes and others who possess the appropriate aptitude, will receive training as backup reserves for our military forces. Handouts will explain in detail what you may bring and not bring. You must adhere to these to the letter. Always remember that God is firmly on our side. “Stability! Propriety! Uniformity!”

Whatever they brought was carried in one pack. A tense dawn gathering at school by a row of idling buses. By some stroke of luck, Vadim and Amanda were placed on adjacent farms, about three kilometers apart. They lived in rickety barracks, similar to those of farm workers.
The area was stark, and it was a part of the Outland where a low range of the Blue Mountains paralleled the verdant agricultural Salarian Valley. Gusty winds roared down the mountains at night rattling the old windows and making for restless sleep. Vadim gazed at a photo of Amanda under his blanket by the glow of a flashlight
He stayed in Building 3A with forty other guys. Dudley Barlow was their supervisor and set them straight right off. “Don’t even think about sneaking over to the girl’s area. They got fences and they got guards and they will shoot you down. This ain’t no summer camp.”
Barlow hulked around like a typical farmer, and treated Vadim like a stranger even though he was only a few years older. The days were long, and the heat fell like a hammer by noon. Then the winds would pick up and blast them with gritty dust.
Sometimes Vadim took the night shift. When the moon rose above the horizon he would turn off the lights and the greenhouse was bathed in a cool silvery glow. Would plants grow in moonlight he wondered? Of course not, photosynthesis requires sunlight, but it must have some effect, perhaps only on himself.
On weekends, it was possible to bribe the guards and sneak over to the neighboring farm. It was risky, but there were enough depressions and scrub for cover so that you could make your way mostly unseen. Vadim’s frustration and the words of Tom Paine had lit a fire in his heart. He needed to touch Amanda. At sunset, he crept away.
The first post was manned by a guy he had seen herding kids during the drills. Vadim’s sudden appearance unnerved him and he nearly sounded the alarm.
“Hold on. You have a lookout tower and a scope, but I got here unnoticed.”
“So what? I should have shot you on sight.” He fidgeted with his weapon.
“Look, I just want to see my girl for a little while. Here, try some of these” He took a bag of sugar cookies from his pack.
The guard’s eyes lit up and he grabbed the bag. “Now I remember you...always with that babe, Amanda.”
“I just want to make sure she’s okay. She’s kind of, delicate.”
“I bet she is.” He grinned and kept chewing, crumbs falling out of his mouth. “Tell you what, you bring me more of these and I’ll let you go just this once. Be back by dinner. I’ll be looking for ya.”
Vadim took off.
There was a system of irrigation ditches he had to cross, some full, some empty. The empty ones provided perfect cover, but were apt to fill up with fast moving water in seconds. Vadim’s heart raced, but from excitement not fear. He relished the challenge, felt his body respond to the exertion, but there was something else.
Resistance.
The act of trespass, crossing into forbidden territory, stimulated his senses like a finely tuned racehorse. He was beginning to realize that he had been prepared for such a life. His thinking was clear and precise. In what seemed seconds he had reached a windbreak and the dorms were just ahead.
Off to his left people were working in a distant field. He moved cautiously toward the first greenhouse, which lit up as dusk settled in. The smell of fresh damp earth comforted him. He crouched, trying to recognize faces behind the glass. Someone giggled. “I know that voice!” He squinted. A tousled-hair brunette came into view. “Tyrona!”
She wore a pink jumpsuit and was clutching a pot of bright green parsley.
He moved from bush to bush until he was just below one of the glass panes. He looked for one that was open, but they were all locked tight for the upcoming chilly night.
Another worker was about fifty feet away with her nose in some lettuce. He took a pen out of his pocket and began tapping lightly. No reaction. Maybe the fans made it too noisy.
He studied the bright light on the ceiling, then pulled off his watch and worked at reflecting a beam into Tyrona’s eyes. She blinked a few times but kept on working, transplanting the parsley into a larger pot. He kept at it, until she swatted at the light as if were a fly, put the pot down and saw Vadim’s face through the glass. She let go a little squeal. The other worker looked up.
Vadim ducked down and waited. A short exchange ensued, and then silence. He slowly rose up and saw her walking toward a door, subtly gesturing with her eyes. He moved fast in a hunched position. They got to the door at the same time. Tyrona made quick little cat glances around, dropped to a crouch and grabbed Vadim’s hand. “Holy St. Genevieve, Vadim! You crazy or drunk or both?”
Vadim chuckled in spite of the precarious situation. “How do I get to Amanda?”
“You madman…you Romeo wild for your Juliet. If any of my kinsman find thee here…”
“Tyrona, drop the Shakespeare!”
“But this is sooo romantic…okay…let me think.” She began to count the greenhouses. “This is number eight and I remember Amanda remarked that she would be in number four, because she had strawberries today.”
“So four more. What a memory. You’re the sharpest, babe. Thank you.” He planted a big kiss on Tyrona’s lips and bolted away. She sat in the dirt, glassy eyed and grinning.
Vadim moved fast, scampering on all fours, dropping to the ground at number four. He saw acres of red berries, extra intense in color against the white structure. Here, some of the windows were still open and he inhaled a sweet fruity aroma, which made his mouth water.
“Hey, who are you?”
A young freckled face kid he recognized from school stood behind him, his face all scrunched up and his chest puffed up like he was hot stuff.
“Get down here you little moron!” ordered Vadim. The kid quickly complied.
“Someone’s smuggling fruit and I’m here to catch them. You know anything about that?”
“Uh…no. I was just-”
“Just what? Goofing off? I got a good mind to report you. You know what that means?”
The kid swallowed. “Nn.no.”
Means they send you down to the mines.”
“Mines?”
“Yeah, and worse if I have anything to say about it for blowing my cover.”
“I’m sorry sir, I was just-”
“Trying to be a tough guy, I know. You get the hell outta here and if I hear you blabbered about this, the CAD boys are gonna come and get you. You got it?”
He nodded vigorously.
“Then split you little rodent and fast!”
The kid lit out toward the fields.
Vadim shook his head and chuckled. “Okay, eyes do your work.” He quickly scanned the greenhouse, unending tent shaped rows with strawberries trellised on both sides. He honed in on her all alone about one hundred feet away, looking oh so wholesome in her overalls. “They’ll be serving dinner soon. Gotta move!”
He found a door and dove under the trellises. He scooted under the vines straight toward his sweet quarry. A distant bell rang outside. What did that mean? He approached her carefully, wanting to avoid another squeal.
“Amanda,” he whispered forcefully. Her head shot up and she gasped, her eyes darting.
“down here.”
She saw him and clutched her chest, then slowly knelt down. Her mouth hung open, incredulous.
He smiled as if they were on a picnic.
“You are temerarious in the extreme, Vadim.”
“I’m supercharged, baby. Just had to see your face.” He put a finger on his lips and leaned into the trellis.
She parted some of the leaves, pulled off a fat berry and ate it to make a small space. Their lips touched through the tubes and Vadim savored the strawberry flavored kiss, licking every little drop with his tongue.
“Oh, man” sighed Amanda. “This’ll keep me awake all night.”
Vadim leaned in for another kiss. Amanda sighed “Mmmmm…”
Then another.
“Wait!” said Amanda.
“What?”
“There’s going to be an invasion. That’s why this all happened so fast.”
“They’ve been talking invasion since we were kids.”
“No…this one is serious. Zura’s boyfriend is a warrior. He got word to her that he was shipping out.”
“Where?”
“The other side of the planet. Tomorrow.”
“Damnation.”
A door opened on the far side. “Wrap it up for tonight,” yelled a husky female voice.
“I gotta go Vadim.”
“Me too. Adiós, mi amor.”
He made it all the way back to the barracks undetected under the deep blackness of an Outland night.

Vadim and Skye left the city and drove through the blue twilight, which exuded a soft smell of an ancient time. The tranquility put them at ease until a patrol car out of nowhere pulled them over. A grim CAD officer marched over.
“Where you two going?”
He peered into the car, shone a light on the back seat. “What’s this contraption?” He held up Skye’s night vision glasses.
Vadim looked at Skye, “My school science project.”
The CAD looked through the lenses, then back at Skye. “Show me your ID’s...now.”
They handed him their cards. “Slater…you look familiar. Yeah...we roughed up one of your pals the other day...had a bad book on him.” All right, both of you outta the truck.”
They got out of the vehicle.
“I think we better bring both of you in.” He was a pudgy fellow, with a sneer for a smile. He pulled out a transmitter. “Sarge...can we get another car out here, on Tazar Road? What? Where did they spot them? I’m on my way.”
He got in his car and sped away. Vadim and Skye stood there, incredulous.
“We got a heavy break there,” said Skye. “Whew!” Getting no response, he stared at Vadim. The telltale flashes. “What are you getting, Vadim?”
He was breathing fast and looking toward the horizon. “They’re getting something, coming in fast.” He turned to his friend. “I think I saw her.”
Skye slowed down, checked the rear view mirror right before he turned off onto a dirt road that quickly disappeared into a meandering canyon. The walls rose higher the deeper they penetrated. A flash of light told Skye he could go on. After some time they rounded a tall monolith and stopped. “Hurry!” whispered Vadim as they exited the car and disappeared into a slit in a rock face.
The darkness faded into a soft red glow that seemed to hum. A bespectacled figure materialized. It was Rhazes.
“Welcome, friends. There is much to discuss. Come.”
A small group gathered at the back of the cavern, where several screens flashed both sounds and images. Clearly, they were anticipating some kind of message.
“We’ve been receiving spurts of data and the gist of it is... they are coming.”
“I felt it in the car.” said Vadim excitedly. “But what will happen? Will there be a battle?”
“I don’t think so. They’re not like that. They are powerful, but only in self-defense.”
“But CAD isn’t!” said Skye. “They’ll blow them out of the sky at first sight.”
A flurry of staccato flashes overwhelmed the receivers, with images of Blue Angel going in and out of view, until the signal clarified into one shimmery image of the lady.
“I come to you through a secure frequency. It is imperative that you assemble at the coordinates soon to follow.”
It was all to be carried out under cover of darkness, at prearranged points the Resistance had been receiving for some time.
She continued.
“My friends, long ago your ancestors were taken from us against their will, and we intend to restore you, the descendants, to your home planet, which is now habitable in certain areas, and will allow you to live free and in harmony with Gaia, for whom I am but a spokesperson. Bring only what you can carry.”
She paused, a beatific smile upon her pale face. As if on cue, the song “Blue Angel” emanated from the darkness, and the cramped cave became a chapel, for each one had taken her words to heart, even if they had no clear idea of where she was proposing to transport them to, on some magic ship yet to appear.
All their lives they had glimpsed and listened to scattered and random ancient videos and radio clips, smuggled through secret sources, that had thrilled and inspired them. But there was so much they didn’t know, just whispers of theories of how life might actually be on the blue planet, titillating pieces of a puzzle far from complete.
Someone blurted, “How’s this gonna work. We’re gonna be sitting ducks!”
Rhazes stood on a chair. “We are in control. We’ve been planning this for over a year, ever since Gaia started sending instructions of how to sabotage communications and disrupt the gravity drives on the airships.”
“You’ve seen them up close?” said Skye.
“Oh yeah, scary looking devils they are. The timing is perfect. The Christmas dance is tonight. Vadim, you and Amanda are set to do that number, and you’ll do it all right, but with some extra fireworks. We’ve got the whole damn city wired for a massive shutdown. We’ll have our men in all the camp buses that will be coming in for the celebrations. Everything is coordinated with the arrival of our rescuers.”
He started handing out small glass rectangles with keyboards.
“What’s this? asked Vadim.
“Phones.”
“Where’s the dialer?”
“Vadim, they’ve kept Arcadia frozen in a Stone Age suspension for centuries. Surely you’ve guessed that?”
“Yeah, I knew that,” he said, blushing slightly.

Vadim and Skye sped back to town under the cover of night without lights, this time Skye had put on the night vision glasses he had invented himself. He dropped Vadim off at Amanda’s house.
“Keep the faith, comrade,” he yelled with a big smile.
Vadim pumped his fist in the air. “Power to the people!”
Amanda was standing at the door. “What’s going on, Vadim? I’ve heard so many rumors?”
He looked around, not trusting anyone. “Where are your parents?”
“At the country club of course. They may as well live there.”
“Let’s sit down on the couch.”
“Damn, you’re sparking like crazy, baby. You’re scaring me.”
“We’ve both got the power, Amanda. It really hit me in Mr. Hawk’s place. I learned some things there.” He pulled the pamphlet from his pocket. “Who is Thomas Paine?” she asked. “He fired up the Americans during their revolution…we studied it in History class….listen to this: ‘'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.’”.
Amanda looked away. “Death? Will it come to that?”
“There is nothing here for us anymore!” he said, grabbing her shoulders. “We’re leaving Arcadia, tonight. Forever.”
“Is it the Blue Angel?”
Of course, who else. She’s more than just a mirage that people dance to. She’s real, I saw her. She’s calm and wise. I trust her. They kidnapped our people all those centuries ago. She will return us to our blue planet.”
“I always believed in her, even if I didn’t even know what I was believing,” she said dreamily.
Vadim gently put his hands on her shoulders. “Our main task now is to show up at the school and perform, just like we’ve been rehearsing.”
“How can they take us all? That’s not possible. Some people won’t even want to go, like my parents.”
“I don’t know. Our little world is breaking apart. It’s not much of a world. Freedom is worth whatever it takes!”

They packed what they thought they would need and rushed to the auditorium. Everything looked normal. People were dancing, letting loose after all the tension
Amanda looked around. “What’s going to happen? I’m feeling weird.”
“Go with it. Your emotions will guide you. This is what we were designed for. When the anger comes, so will the power.”
Vadim revealed what Rhazes needed and how much time they would have.
Amanda was close to panic. “This is crazy. They’ll put us in prison-”
“No-their power will disintegrate tonight. Amanda darling, it’s your chance to get revenge. Focus on that. These nuns, they ruined our lives.” He grabbed her arm. “Look who's here.”
Sister V strode in looking sinister as ever. She hated music and grimaced as the musicians tuned up.
Amanda’s jaw tightened and she clenched her fists. “Yes. Yes. That nun has humiliated me for the last time.”
She walked over and whispered something to the guitarist, then turned around very slow as the opening chords to “Wild Thing” rang out. She sought a blue spotlight so it would saturate her sapphire gown. Vadim slid to her side and they writhed to the music.
The entire crowd was fixated on them, especially the nuns. The couple moved like serpents in a slow, drowsy circle, Vadim’s leg entwined with Amanda’s long, bare leg.
Suddenly, Amanda stopped and pointed at Sister. “The time of reckoning is at hand!”
The nun’s little slit eyes narrowed even more. “Where’s she going with this?”
They did a little rumba-like step in perfect disco unison, hip out, hip in, head up, head down, straight toward the nun, as the crowd parted to make way for them.
The couple stopped. Nothing was said for a few moments. Amanda locked eyes with Sister V.
“You’re hiding something from me Sister.”
The nun was silent.
“I have no past. I’ve done some searching. My parents adopted me. They won’t tell me anything. I’ve never been outside this little town. Neither has Vadim. I have a feeling when we go on that senior retreat we may never come back. It’s just a feeling you understand Sister. I’m just an eighteen-year old high school girl. It might just be my girlish imagination, it could just be some hormonal thing-but I don’t think so.”
The nun took a deep breath. “Why Miss Aros, that’s just what it is. Your young body is changing so fast. Just look how you’ve”, she stammered,“how you’ve blossomed.”
“No, sister, it’s more, much more.” She whirled, ran a few steps and leaped on the stage with remarkable ease. Her power was rising like an eruption. She grabbed the microphone. “You taught me well, sister. We read all about St. Theresa. We revered her. Her holy ecstasy. You told us to emulate her. Well, I did, but I shared the ecstasy with Vadim and now I’m the sexiest damn saint you’ve ever seen. And, like St. Theresa, I can do magic. See!”
She held out her hands and each one had a tiny red wound with a scarlet drop of blood.
“Oh god, sister. I’ve learned so fucking much!”
The nuns cowered, the crowd gasped, but Sister V only smiled. She retrieved a small phone from under her habit. Her words were barely audible. “Security. Report to the school auditorium, and I mean now! And, prepare for departure.”
The glint of that phone made Amanda’s eye blink. “Vadim!” She held out her hand and he flew up to her side. They came together like magnets, melding together, seemingly having sex right through their clothes, sweat streaming, until siver flashess flew out in all directions from their bodies, and eighteen years of suppressed emotion and rebellion exploded.
Lights flickered, circuit breakers blew. The auditorium erupted in chaos. Screams and shouts ensued. S
Sister V’s piggy voice could be heard uttering curses in a strange tongue. Vadim grabbed a guitar and smashed it against the wall sending a tortuous “twang” resounding through the building. Sister covered her ears in pain
Amanda stood transfixed, then walked toward Sister V like a zombie. For the first time there was fear in the nun’s eyes. Amanda was going in for the kill.
Wild eyed, she broke into a run and careened into the nun with all her might, sending her sprawling, rolling over and over, and right into a group of CAD agents just entering the room, knocking them over like bowling pins.
“Damn, that felt good!” she uttered, breathing heavily.
“Transcendent in the extreme!” yelled Vadim, as he lifted her off the floor in a passionate embrace. “Let’s get outta here!”
They sprinted into the street, horns and sirens blaring, clouds of smoke rising all over Arcadia, which was in near total darkness. Explosions occurred sporadically. CAD copters swooped down with searchlights.
They ran toward the edge of town.
“What now?” Amanda was all lit up with fire and excitement
”Skye said he would find us by the locator on my phone. “C’mon, run faster. I think they’re coming after us.”
An ugly black copter flew in tight circles above, in for a closer look.
“Into the alley! yelled Vadim, nearly dislocating Amanda’s arm.
“Hug the wall!”
His phone vibrated with a squeal. “Vadim, it’s Skye. Can you hear?”
“Yeah, what the hell?”
“I’m coming from the far end of the alley...get ready to jump in the back of the truck as I pass.”
A big camouflaged pickup truck, Skye at the wheel, jacked up with huge tires, roared into the narrow passage. The copter was descending from the other end, guns at the ready. As the truck approached the huddled couple, Rhazes stood up from the back and fired two huge flares through the windshield of the copter, which had fired rounds into the truck, whose metal shield deflected them every which way. Vadim and Amanda jumped as if they were joined, catching hold of Rhazes’ strong outstretched arms and tumbled into the back of the truck, just as the copter careened sideways and exploded above their heads.
“Stay down! Stay down!” screamed Skye. He floored it and scattered a group of armed CADS, bodies and bullets flying, the loud pings and smell of burnt metal filling the air.
He turned west and headed like a bat out of hell toward the Outland.
It was a night when everything happened at once. The solstice always brought strafing winds that kicked up dust and made travel difficult. Concurrent with that was a major meteor storm that was famous for celestial fireworks of exploding fireballs. If that wasn’t enough, the moon would eclipse this very evening.
Multiple caravans were speeding out of Arcadia toward a rendezvous that had been wanted and wished for centuries, and now was coming to fruition-but not if the military had anything to do with it.

General Vizzery came from a long line of military leaders who had covertly snatched the colony away from Gaia in the distant past, and helped create the controlled concept of an idyllic society based on a certain time in Earth history which stressed conservatism to create a prosperous and well-ordered community. He was now marshaling a defense for an imminent attack from the forces of Gaia, about which he knew little, but assumed would be the fight of his career.
ArcZ was a vast underground series of hangars, barracks and armaments, which were created from smuggled weapons and conscripted Gaian scientists, whose knowledge was handed down and expanded.
In a moment of contemplation, he walked through a hangar, which held the War Dragons, huge airships. Vizzery ran his hand along the smooth shiny metallic body, almost expecting it to purr. “Soon you will be put to the test my beauty, and we will obliterate the naive Gaians efficiently and ruthlessly...there can be no other outcome.
A young cadet came running up. He saluted and was bursting to speak.
“Well, what have you to say?”
“Sir, foreign ships have entered the Outer Sector.”
“It’s about time. Go to your post and prepare to make history.”
Vizzery walked calmly until the cadet vanished, and then hustled up the steps to the Command Tower.

Skye hurtled down the road at breakneck speed, but he soon turned off the main road and headed into the hills where they would move unseen, or so he hoped. They stopped briefly to let Rhazes off to join his command group.
Amanda sat in the middle and was dabbing cuts on Vadim’s face and arms. They both had been roughed up in the back of the truck.
“Baby, I’m worried...you look like you’re in shock”. Vadim had an out of body expression, as if somewhere else.
“I’m seeing them, I’m seeing them,” he repeated.
“Seeing who, Vadim...you’re scaring me.”
“I’m in the ships...but which ones...hard to tell...hard to handle this telepathy...uh...”
“Breathe deep buddy...maybe just let things come and don’t try so hard.”
“Why did the meteors have to come on this very night?” cried Amanda? They make everything even more scary?”
Skye swerved. “Damnation, what a fireball!”
Vadim covered his ears. “There’s music...sweet, sweet music...they seem to be smiling or am I imagining.”
“I can hear it too, baby! Yes! It’s utterly very very sweet and transcendent.”
“Play on angels, play on!” yelled Skye. The dust was kicking up and already drifting over the road. “Hard to see...”.
Far above, two formations of Gaian ships could observe lines of dust converging at the pickup sites. The crafts were startlingly different. The smaller ones were dark, but had no obvious armaments visible. They headed straight for the Arcadia's imposing forces. The other group, with larger vessels and practically invisible in the dim nocturnal light, for the eclipse was nearing completion, moved toward the fleeing refugees.
The dark ships veered off to meet the attackers, who were fast approaching, and presented to them one long wall, which changed from dark metal to long curved mirrors. The first wave of Arcadian ships let loose a volley of concentrated rays, which hit the mirrors and were hurled back to their source, weakened, but strong enough to paralyze their offensive capabilities. Again and again, each volley was rendered useless.
General Vizzery stood at the helm, infuriated, and utterly helpless.
Skye stared at his companions. They both seemed to be in a trance, a very calm one, considering the chaotic atmosphere, mouthing words that could not be heard. He checked his coordinates, even though he and his comrades had gone over the escape route many times thanks to constant transmissions from Gaia.
“Gaia,” pondered Skye...”We are actually about to leave our planet, the only home we’ve ever known and somehow travel a huge distance through interstellar space to the place where our ancestors once lived, thrived, until it wasn’t possible anymore. What will we all do? The gravity is stronger...the dancers...scary, this unknown planet.”
A hand clasped his own. He turned to see Vadim’s placid smiling face.
As if out of nowhere, a massive lens shaped silver ship advanced directly toward them. Skye slowed down, awestruck. “Would you look at that blazing thing!”
It made a slow circle, the wind began to die down, and everything was nearly silent, except for a distant hiss of the wind.
Cars, trucks, and buses converged within a giant circle of light that projected from the vessel, accompanied by a haunting atonal musical hum, deep, calm and slow.
“Stop here Skye! We’ll get out and walk.”
The three of them walked, heads tilted up, hand in hand, Amanda in the middle, tears streaming down her face, Vadim’s eyes wide with wonder, and Skye just taking it all in. The strangest thing of all was the near complete silence that had descended, but there seemed to be certain ones who knew what to do.
“We must stand within the circle and keep holding hands,” whispered Vadim. “They’ll take care of us.”
Skye felt surges of energy passing between them, warm and pleasant.
And all at once, they began to rise, like newborn angels at the gates of paradise. Each one could feel a part of themselves fall away, fears and frustrations from years of repression. There was no fear now, only expectation, as if it had been planned for a long, long time. Peace, thought Skye, pure peace.
They rose into what seemed a sunrise of resplendent colors in a vast field of green.
Amanda whispered “Sweet bliss...”

It was as if the Elysian Fields had come to life on the vast ship. They walked verdant paths to keep their muscles toned during the long journey, gradually adjusting to a new gravity. They ate when hungry and slept when tired. A librarian gave them access to a new vast world of literature and science that had been kept from them on Arcadia.
Blue Angel spoke to them and other ships in simultaneous imagery; she reassured those who were experiencing anxiety and emotional outbursts. She wasn’t there, but she was, as real as life. The more they looked and listened, the more human and less godlike she became.
Vadim shook his head. “I guess we did a lot of enhancement in our heads back on Arcadia.”
“She was our great hope,” replied Amanda. “Our savior.”
“Skye smiled. “She’s not so very different than we are. A little older maybe, but not much.”
“But a keeper of Paradise,” countered Vadim. “If this is the ship, what must the planet be like?”
“Verily, Sir Vadim.”
“In good time, Sir Skye.”

The homecoming was close at hand. Gaia was now visible on a telescopic screen, as the ship sped past the outer planets and began its approach to their destination. The light dimmed and all eyes were transfixed on the screen, which then went blank as the surrounding shades fell away, and there below, spun their new home, the blue green planet, beckoning, wrapped in great swaths of white whirling clouds and the deep blue seas.
The three travelers embraced. Words were not possible.
Blue Angel appeared once more. “We are over Europa now, which suffered greatly during the Great Warming. Many brave explorers crossed this vast Atlantic Ocean to discover the so-called New World, which was named after an Italian map maker, Amerigo Vespucci. You know it as America. It too suffered great calamities of violent storms, floods, and fires. But we have been steadily and slowly healing the damage whereever we can.
Indeed, we will slowly fly over this vast continent, because we are at last home, your original home, where I truly hope you will fulfill your young dreams and help us restore the wounded land and water to what it once was. It will take many generations, but we have made a good start, and now you are here to carry on the task.”
Vadim, Amanda, Skye, pressed against the window and stared down at a mostly brown and ravaged land, but then a vast green preserve came into view and the ship began to descend to their New World.
Vadim studied the approaching landscape. He had had an interest in geography and maps from an early age, and often spent hours in the library poring over old maps of America, the original home of his ancestors. The large undulating mountain chain could only be the Rocky Mountains, now mostly devoid of snow.
As the ship descended, the view was an incredible maze of mountains and canyons, but now it seemed to be a high mountain park they were heading to, perhaps one of the old National Parks that were established for preservation.
It doesn’t matter, he thought. This is home. Such a vibrant green as his eyes had never beheld, blue lakes flashing with sunlight, and look, there, a curve of white on some shadowed, north-facing slope-snow! What it would feel like, cold crystals on one‘s skin?
There was no doubt now, as the ship slowly circled a terminal, a strange anomaly in that wild alpine landscape.
“This is it,” whispered Amanda. “The rest of our lives. I’m so excited. I’m also terrified.”
Vadim nodded.
“I wonder how it ended back on Arcadia? “mused Skye.
Vadim glanced at him. “Thoreau said, ‘Never look back, unless you are planning to go that way.’”
He gave Vadim a big hug. “Yes and yes.”
They had landed. Multiple doors opened and stairs unfolded down to the runway.
Pine scented air rushed into the ship and elicited cries of delight. They had never smelled such a startling fragrance. The trio stepped out into the glittering sunshine, a brand new star to awaken them each morning. Hand in hand, they descended, a grassy valley, the radiant peaks, a ribbon of sparkling water, all unfolding before their youthful eyes.