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  Chapter 4 - The Preparation

  When Faith woke up, the lights were still on but she was alone. At first, she felt panicky, but then she noticed the now-familiar thrumming in her chest. She knew her brother must be close by.

  She fetched the orange ball from across the room and sat down on the pallet again, with the ball in her lap. Faith looked at the ball. She thought about the ball. Nothing happened. Then the door opened and Fisher walked in.

  “Hey! Where were you?”

  “I got us something to eat.”

  Triumphantly, he held up a plastic grocery bag and came to sit with her on the pallet. Fisher leaned over and showed her the contents.

  “Doughnuts!” cried Faith with delight. She was famished!

  “They’re only a little over a day old,” said Fisher. “They’re practically fresh. And they were right on the top of the dumpster so they’re totally clean.”

  Faith grabbed one of the sticky pastries. They were good!

  “Eat as much as you can,” Fisher advised, helping himself to a second doughnut. “We’re going to need energy and strength for what is ahead of us, and we may not get to eat again for a while.”

  As they ate their fill, Fisher explained what they were going to do.

  “We need to get to Kappa. The spaceport is in Berea and we will have to stow away on a spaceship. We will need to remain hidden for the entire flight. I think it will take about two weeks. If they catch us, we will be arrested! We have to make sure to take enough food and water for the trip. So, first of all, we need to gather supplies.”

  Faith nodded.

  “Hmm...” he mused. “Perhaps you would be more comfortable in travel gear.”

  “That would probably be best,” she said, looking down at her dress.

  Fisher was rummaging through his dresser again.

  “I think I have some old clothing that would fit you.” He pulled out a pair of faded jeans and a navy sweatshirt. “Will this do?” he asked.

  Faith tried on the clothes in the washroom. When she came out, he smiled at her.

  “Let’s get going.” Fisher had a backpack slung over his shoulder. “I’ve got your dress in here,” he said, patting his bag.

  Faith followed her brother out the door and up the stairs. The light was fading but, even in the dimness, she could see the filth that lined the streets. They walked two blocks and came to a large, run-down supermarket.

  “Wait here,” he instructed.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked.

  “I’m going to get us the food and water we need.”

  “Do you have any money?”

  “Not exactly,” her brother replied.

  Her mind groped for a way out of the situation. She didn’t want to have to steal again. Surely theft is an unlucky way to begin an adventure, she thought. Fisher scowled at her.

  Inspiration struck her. “Perhaps we could sell my dress!”

  He hesitated. “It would fetch a price,” he conceded. “Come on, then. I know of a pawn shop that will still be open.”

  Faith kept in step with him as they walked along down the now-dark street. Most of the lamps overhead were out. Faith was afraid but she felt no such insecurities from her brother.

  “Here,” he said and took her hand. “Now we are invisible to all. You are safe.”

  They reached a small shop where a neon pink ‘open’ sign glowed in the front window. Fisher released her hand and held the door open for her to enter first. There was a large man behind the counter.

  “How much can we get for this?” asked Fisher, pulling the pink, frilly dress from his bag.

  “Oh, that?” asked the fat man. “Why, that’s not worth anything at all. But I could give you five dollars for it.”

  “I suggest you take another look,” said Fisher, shoving the dress towards the man.

  This time, the man actually looked at it. He felt the material and held it up for inspection.

  “I can give you 75 dollars,” he said. “But, in a nicer area of town, it would sell for more.”

  “We’ll take it,” confirmed Fisher.

  Once they were back outside, Faith confronted her brother.

  “What did you do?!”

  “I just made him treat us fair. That’s all,” said Fisher. “He wanted to cheat us. I changed his mind.”

  They walked in silence for a few moments.

  Then Fisher spoke again. “We’ll have to hurry now. It’s getting late.” He held out his hand to her and Faith gladly took it as they walked more quickly down the darkened street.

  Back at the supermarket this time, they went in together. Faith had never been in a store before. It was a great feeling - being able to select the things they needed and knowing they had the money to buy them. They bought another backpack, twelve bottles of water, and a lot of apples, granola bars, cookies, beef jerky, and oranges. After they had paid for everything, they walked back outside.

  It then occurred to Faith that they would not have nearly enough to drink.

  “Twelve bottles of water is never going to be enough for two weeks,” she remarked.

  “True,” said Fisher, “but we wouldn’t be able to sneak on board carrying 56 water bottles, which is the minimum we would need for such a long trip.”

  “But what are we going to do?” asked Faith.

  “You’ll see at our next stop,” he replied. “It’s on the way to Berea.”

  Chapter 5 - On the Way to Berea

  “We need a ride to make time,” Fisher said, as they walked hurriedly along the dark road. “Now, don’t go soft on me, Sis. We’re just going to borrow it.” He was checking out their options as they walked.

  “There!” Parked at the side of the road was a shiny, red, sport hovercar.

  “Can you drive that?” Faith whispered.

  “Of course. I’m sixteen.”

  Fisher touched the handle and the door clicked open. He shoved their packs into the car and then guided Faith into the vehicle before he ducked in and closed the door.

  “Put your seatbelt on,” he directed. “And be very quiet. I really have to concentrate now. I will need to mask the sound of the car’s engine as we drive away.”

  Fisher closed his eyes as he touched the steering column. The hovercar purred smoothly and glided up off the pavement. He drove the car slowly onto the road and away from that neighbourhood. Fisher continued to drive very carefully as they made their way out of the city.

  “I don’t want to attract any attention,” he said. “It’s okay to talk now. I just didn’t want the owner of the car to come chasing after us.”

  “This is sure a nice car to be parked in such a bad area,” Faith remarked.

  “Yeah,” he said casually, “it must belong to some criminal.”

  “Oh!” she exclaimed, very glad that the owner had not come after them.

  Before too long, they were zipping down the highway, heading away from the city.

  “We’re almost there,” he announced.

  “To Berea?”

  “No.” He chuckled. “To the waste water treatment plant.”

  Soon they were pulling into a gravel parking lot. Faith saw a low brick building with a fenced area behind it. Fisher parked the car at the side of the building where it wouldn’t be seen from the road.

  “Wait here,” he told her, opening the door of the hovercar.

  Fisher looked back at her. Their blue eyes met. He was not afraid. It would be okay. He got out of the vehicle and clicked the door closed behind him. Faith noticed that he had taken one of the water bottles with him. Now he cracked it open and spilled the fresh water out onto the dirt beside the building. Then he jammed the empty bottle into one of the large pockets in his pants. Fisher crouched low and sprang in one quick motion, jumping higher than she would have thought possible. His hands made the top of the wall. He hoisted himself up and scrabbled over.

  Faith waited. It was nearly ten minutes before she saw him a
top the wall again. He dropped down and re-entered the car.

  “I found it,” he whispered, conspiratorially. “Look!”

  He pulled the bottle from his pocket. It now contained a greenish liquid.

  “What is it?”

  “Waste water!” he exclaimed, triumphantly.

  “Waste water?” she echoed.

  “Yes, it contains organisms the city uses to purify wastewater. In six to eight hours, this will be clear,” he said, sloshing the contents of the bottle. “By that time, we will need to give these bugs somewhere else to live or they will die. We need to have a way to recycle our wastewater while we are stowed away on the space ship.”

  Faith looked at the water in the bottle. Drink our recycled wastewater? Yuck!

  Better than dying of dehydration came the other voice in her mind.

  Her brother was smirking at her. It was odd, being with someone who could read your thoughts. They pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the highway.

  “Next stop, Berea,” announced Fisher, as the scenery flew past them.

  Fisher shifted the hovercar into autocruise pilot. Then he drew the small orange ball out of his pocket and tossed it to her.

  “Here, practice.”

  Faith caught the ball with her hands.

  “Not like that,” he said. “Like this.”

  The ball floated up and settled on her nose. She giggled and grabbed it in her hand again.

  “Let me try.” Faith held the ball in the flat of her palm and looked at it. She tried to concentrate. Nothing happened.

  “Mom started to teach me before she was taken away,” Fisher explained. “I’ll help you the way she helped me.”

  Her brother took her hand. Abruptly she could see and feel the ball in a different way. She pushed against it in her mind. The ball wiggled. She pulled at it. The ball shot up several inches and hovered there.

  “I’m doing it!” she exclaimed. “It’s working!”

  Suddenly the ball exploded, sending orange, plastic bits flying in every direction. Faith gasped and closed her eyes.

  “Wow,” said her brother, regarding her seriously. “You did it, alright.” Then he smiled at her. “There was power behind that!”

  “Maybe I shouldn’t be trying this. What if one of us had gotten hurt?”

  “Of course you need to practice,” said Fisher. “You’re doing fine!”

  “But I destroyed the ball!” Irrationally, Faith felt close to tears.

  “Sis,” his blue eyes held her gaze, “you can do this!”

  Fisher pulled another orange ball from a pocket and released it into the air.

  “I’ve ruined more than one ball during practice sessions,” he said with a laugh.

  The ball raced past her and Faith caught it with her mind and held it there. She practiced moving the ball up and down and from side to side. Faith pushed the ball slowly and then quickly. She spun it on its axis. All the while, she held Fisher’s hand. He was helping her to learn to focus in this new way. It was tiring. After a few hours, she let the ball drop and handed it back to her brother.

  “You did very well, Faith. I’m impressed. I wasn’t able to learn so quickly.”

  “Thanks,” she said weakly.

  “You can rest now,” he told her. “I’ll guide the hovercar to the Spaceport.”

  Gratefully, Faith leaned back, closed her eyes, and quickly drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 6 - The Spaceport

  When Faith opened her eyes, the hovercar was slowing. It was day now, and she was hungry again.

  “We’re here in Berea,” he announced. “This is the spaceport.

  The car glided to a stop in a huge parking lot. Faith see couldn’t anything beyond the sea of cars that surrounded them. Fisher cut the engine with his thoughts and the vehicle settled to the ground.

  “Here.” Her brother threw her a granola bar from the backpack. “We’re going to stay here for a bit while I catch a nap,” he said. “You can rest more or you can practice.” He tossed her the orange ball. “Wake me up if there’s trouble.”

  Fisher tilted his seat back and closed his eyes. Faith noticed again the thrumming in her heart. It felt very good to be with him. She ate the granola bar and looked at the ball half-heartedly. No matter what she thought at it, the ball just sat there, stubbornly, in her lap. She touched one finger to the back of Fishers hand. He continued to breathe deeply. She looked at the ball again. This time, she did feel a difference in her mind. The ball soared upwards and hit the roof of the car.

  “Hmm....,” she mused.

  Fisher shifted in his sleep. She put the ball away.

  Looking out the car window, Faith noticed a scrawny, soft, gray kitten. It was meandering among the cars, stopping to sniff the ground as it went along. Faith’s heart went out to it. That kitten doesn’t have anyone...it’s all alone. Quietly, she released the catch and pushed the door open. The air outside was chilly. She crouched down, put her hand out, and made kissing sounds towards the little animal. The kitten ran to her eagerly. Faith stroked his soft, matted fur. Scooping up the kitten, she got back into the car and quietly closed the door. She had never held a pet before, although she had seen animals. The kitten made a thrumming sound as she stroked his small head. Faith concluded that he would be the perfect addition to their family. She took another bar from their bag and fed pieces of it to the little gray kitten. Faith rested again then, with her tiny new friend curled up in her lap.

  When she awoke, it was past noon, and her brother was saying something.

  “What’s that?”

  Sleepily, she opened her eyes and saw that he was looking at the kitten.

  “That’s our cat!” she announced.

  “Faith,” said her brother patiently, “taking an animal with us will make things more difficult.”

  “Please?” she said. “This little guy has no family. He’s all alone.”

  Fisher looked at the kitten. Then he reached out and stroked him.

  “I think we should call him ‘Lucky’,” said Fisher.

  “That’s a great name!” said his sister.

  “We’ll need to be extra careful,” he told her.

  Faith nodded.

  “Let’s get into the spaceport,” he said. “We need to find a ship.”

  They got out of the car and donned their backpacks. Faith carried Lucky in her arms. Fisher led them towards a large building in the distance.

  Her brother stopped a little ways off from the front entrance. They waited.

  “We’ll go in with a crowd,” he explained. “We’ll be in stealth mode so they won’t see us but we need to go in with a group so their bodies will hide us from the video cameras at the front doors.”

  The day was a little warmer now, though Faith still felt a chill through her sweatshirt.

  Soon they saw a large family headed towards the spaceport building.

  “Let’s get invisible. Take my hand,” he instructed.

  She did so and they joined the family, easing their way into the center of the group as they walked along. They passed through the main doors with no incidence. No one tried to stop them. They continued on with the family until they reached the ticket area.

  “Give me the kitten,” said her brother. Fisher tucked the kitten into a large pocket on the inside of his jacket as he scanned the monitors hanging from the ceiling. “There’s the ship we want,” he told her, indicating the board. “FEE62. It’s destined for Kappa.” Fisher shifted the pack on his back. “Walk slowly,” he instructed. “Try not to look suspicious. Security will be able to see us through the video monitors.”

  They walked slowly, hand in hand, towards the departure area, with the large packs on their backs. When they got to the scanning area, they stopped and Fisher observed the procedure.

  “I think this is going to be the tricky part,” he admitted. “Let’s go sit on the bench there, while I try to think this through.”

  They sat down a
nd held the bags on their laps.

  “We’re going to have to walk through the scanners,” he said finally, “but somehow not get our bags scanned. We wouldn’t be allowed to take some of our stuff through the security area - like the water...or a cat.”

  “Just explain to a security guard that your bags can’t be scanned and that he should just bring them around for us,” Faith suggested. “You know...just do the thing that you do.”

  “Yeah,” said Fisher. “It’s dangerous but...I think it would work. The only other option would be to jump the counters and run for it...but the guards monitoring the security footage would certainly notice that.”

  “We should try to keep a low profile,” said Faith.

  “I agree,” said Fisher. “Let’s try this your way.”

  Just then, Faith saw an older security guard walking past.

  “Tell him,” she prompted.

  Fisher stood and approached the man. He explained the situation. Faith noticed that her brother reached out and touched the guard on the arm as he spoke. The man nodded and smiled in a friendly way. Fisher handed him the bag and motioned for her to do the same. She got up and brought her pack over to the security guard.

  “Thank you,” said Fisher.

  “No problem,” replied the man.

  Fisher and Faith joined the line up of people waiting to walk through the scanning archway. The security guard walked through the back way, and they saw him waiting for them, with their bags, on the other side. None of the other security guards asked him what he was doing.

  They both scanned through with no issues and collected their packs from the man.

  “Thanks again,” said Fisher.

  “Have a safe trip,” said the man, turning and striding away. They watched him go.

  “He won’t remember that,” murmured Fisher. “Come on.” He took her hand again and they made their way to the departure area.

  Chapter 7 - The Departure

  It was then that Faith noticed a security guard near them, speaking into his mouthpiece and scanning the room.

  “Something’s going on,” whispered Fisher.

  He hurried them past the man. Within minutes, the security near the departure gate had more than doubled. Her brother just kept them moving.

  “They’re looking for us,” he said.

  “Everyone stay right where you are!” shouted one of the guards near them.

  The security officers drew their stun weapons.