Two of a Kind Read online

  “We’re looking for a Talent,” bellowed the guard. “One of those illegal mutants!”

  Suddenly Fisher stopped. He closed his eyes and stood quite still. Her brother swayed, like he might fall over. Then his intense blue eyes snapped open, and he stared straight at the man. The man’s eyes looked past him though, back the way they had come. Then rage showed on the man’s face.

  “That way!” he yelled. “I see them! Follow me!”

  He ripped the communication headset out of his ear and charged past them down the wide corridor, back towards the security gate. Most of the other guards ran that way, too, leaving the departure area almost clear of them.

  “Let’s move,” he said tugging her towards the exit. “We need to get out of this building and onto the landing pad. We’re going to get onboard the spaceship from the luggage area.”

  He led them in amongst a group of people. They walked with the crowd for a few minutes until they were able to get near enough to a side door. Fisher yanked on it but the door was locked. He put his palm to it and tried again. The door released and they slipped out onto the tarmac.

  Hand in hand, they walked past the towering rocket ships, looking for the one labelled FEE62, the one that would take them to their family on the colony world of Kappa.

  The bag was getting very heavy on Faith’s back. She wasn’t use to walking so much. Faith hoped that Lucky was doing okay in her brother’s pocket. She didn’t hear him meowing so she hoped that meant he was just fine.

  Finally they saw the ship they were looking for. Spaceport staff were loading luggage into the bottom of the carrier. The men threw the bags from a cart into the cargo area of the ship.

  “This way,” Fisher whispered.

  They stepped past the men and ducked into the opening in the bottom of the ship. Fisher led them to the side, away from where the luggage was being put on board.

  “We’ll need to get up there.” Her brother pointed up the long shaft towards the front of the ship. “This whole area will be vacuum once we leave the planet’s atmosphere,” he explained.

  They made sure their backpacks were on properly. Then they began the long climb. Fisher led the way. The rungs were made of painted metal. The ladder went up and up and up. Faith was really tired. The bag on her back felt like it was pulling her away from the ladder. Her leg muscles ached. They climbed and climbed and climbed.

  Faith looked up to try to see how much farther she had to go. Suddenly she was slipping. She cried out. Her fingers clawed the air. She was falling! Something smashed into her mid-section. Arms flailing, she tried get hold of what she had fallen into.

  “Faith!” called Fisher. “Are you okay?”

  Faith opened her eyes. Her arms were wrapped around some heavy cables that hung across the shaft.

  “I think so.” Faith had both arms wrapped around the cables and was holding on tightly. The pack felt very heavy.

  “Let me see if I can reach you,” said her brother.

  He climbed down the ladder, level with her. Fisher looked across to where she clung to the cables.

  “I can’t reach you this way.” He climbed down further and then called up to her, “Let go!”

  “No! I’ll fall!”

  “I’ll catch you,” he promised.

  Faith could see that, from where she was, she would not fall towards the ladder but would go straight down instead, crashing into the luggage, now so far below.

  Unexpectedly, a picture formed in her mind of her flying through the air with a great smile on her face. She laughed out loud.

  “Let go!” he called again.

  Faith let go. She knew she could trust him. It frightened her though, as she fell through the air.

  “Faith,” cried her brother, “open your eyes!”

  She opened her eyes just in time to see the ladder rushing towards her. Faith reached out, caught the rungs, and scrambled to get her footing. Safe and once again on the ladder, she breathed a huge sigh of relief.

  “It’s easier for me to push something that’s already moving,” Fisher explained from beneath her on the ladder. “Let’s get up there and find a place to stow away.” They began to climb again.

  Finally, they reached the entrance to the cabin area. Faith hit the control to open the panel but the door stayed firmly in place.

  “Put your hand on the door,” Fisher instructed.

  Faith touched the door. She felt her brother’s hand on her ankle. The hatch whooshed open. Exhausted, Faith hauled herself through the opening. Fisher followed her and closed the portal behind them. They found a quiet place to hide in a large, empty, storage compartment. In several hours, they heard the rumble of the massive rocket engines. The ship was taking off, bound for Kappa.

  Chapter 8 - The Journey

  Faith thought that the metal storage compartment made a fine home. Lucky liked it there too. The little kitten slept sprawled across her neck. Fisher had sealed the hatchway so that no one would be able to open the door but no one had even tried. The water-recycling scheme that Fisher had devised was working well. They kept the processing bottles off to one side of the little area. Faith and Fisher divided their time between talking and practicing their talent.

  “What did Dad mean, ‘the way of the cross’?” she asked him one day.

  “You don’t know?” he asked her.

  “No. Does it have something to do with this?” She touched her necklace.

  “You can ask our family when we get to Kappa. I think they all believe in that kind of thing.”

  Faith looked at him. Her brother was angry.

  “But you don’t believe in ‘that kind of thing’?”

  He sighed. “I think I liked it better when you didn’t talk so much.”

  I want you to tell me what our parents believed, she thought at him.

  Fisher laughed. “Trying mind control on me?” He came to sit beside her. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you. It is a beautiful story. I’m just...not sure it helps.”

  Her brother told her what their father had taught him. Faith was very serious and attentive while he spoke.

  “So Dad said you have to believe in Him and that He will help you when you pray,” Fisher concluded.

  Faith touched the cross pendant again.

  “And Mom believed that too?”

  “So Dad said...but just look where it got the two of them.”

  Faith felt an anger radiating from her brother. Through force of habit, she took his hand as she closed her eyes to concentrate. In her mind’s eye, she saw a twelve-year-old boy, weeping in the darkness, all alone.

  “No one was there to save you,” she said finally.

  “No.” He pulled his hand away.

  “I’m sorry, Fisher.”

  “Yeah...well...I try not to dwell on the past.”

  Faith was quiet for a while as she thought about the things that he had said. She wanted to be like her mother and to believe what she believed. But she wanted to be like her brother, too. Faith didn’t know which to choose. She wanted it to be true that there was someone powerful out there who loved her and would protect her. But Fisher was right. Her parents were lost to them. She felt, deep down inside, that it probably was true. Something was out there. But she was afraid. What if that something wasn’t benevolent like her parents had believed? She pushed that line of thinking out of her mind. ‘The way of the cross’. She did like the sound of it. Faith decided she would ask her family about it.

  If you are real, she offered up to the air, I want to believe in you. And I really hope...that you like me.

  Her brother just looked at her strangely.

  Fisher had said that the easiest thing to practice talent with was a ball so that is what they had mostly used at the start of the trip. But Faith found it boring. And she also found the ball hard to grip. It seemed slippery to her mind. So she took to practicing with Lucky instead. He really liked flying. She got to the point that she was able, without even touching Fisher,
to make the kitten do little hops.

  “Just don’t explode him,” remarked her brother.

  “Don’t say that, Fisher!” She turned her intense blue eyes on him.

  “Sorry!” He held out his hands in a gesture of surrender.

  “Fisher...” But then she stopped herself. He was just bored, that was all, just teasing her.

  “What kind of name is ‘Fisher’, anyway?” she asked him, her irritation still bubbling under the surface. “Isn’t a fisher the same kind of animal as a weasel?”

  He smiled and his eyes sparkled. “Very funny.”

  Then he grew serious.

  “Our parents named us religious names. Faith, of course, means believing. And Fisher - well they hoped I’d be some kind of evangelist. That I’d become ‘a fisher of men’.”

  “Oh.” Faith was sorry that she had made fun of his name.

  “It’s okay, Sis,” he said. “I like my name...and yours...just because our parents gave them to us.” He smiled at her again, and Faith liked him even more.

  They were both glad when the time came near for the ship to land on Kappa. Though the water recycling had worked perfectly, there seemed to be a constant stench in the little compartment. The fact that neither of them had been able to wash in all this time made things even worse.

  “So,” said Fisher, “we should be landing any time now.”

  “I can’t wait,” said Faith. “I wonder what our family will be like?” she mused.

  “I think they’ll be nice,” he replied.

  “Do they live close to the spaceport?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “How will we find them?”

  “Like draws like. We’ll find them or they’ll find us.”

  The humming of the ship changed pitch. They began to feel some turbulence as the ship entered the planet’s atmosphere.

  “We need to be really careful when we are getting off the ship and out of the spaceport on Kappa,” Fisher warned. “It will be very dangerous since they have extensive video surveillance and scanning.”

  Faith nodded.

  Chapter 9 - On Kappa

  They waited for several hours, after the ship had landed, before Fisher opened the door of the storage compartment. They didn’t see anyone. Their bags were empty now as they had eaten all of the food and left the water bottles behind. Faith carried the kitten in her arms. Fisher took her hand. Quietly they made their way through the large, now empty ship. Instead of going down the ladder and out the luggage area, they exited by the ramp that led into the Kappa Spaceport. They passed no one on their way.

  The Kappa Spaceport was much smaller than the one in Berea. They saw one security guard as they entered the building. The area was nearly deserted. Fisher pulled his sister quickly through the open areas.

  “I think we should have tried to leave with the crowd,” he whispered.

  Faith clutched Lucky closer to her chest with one hand. Then they saw another guard at a security station. He was speaking into his headset and sweeping the corridor with his eyes.

  “I think security has spotted us on the video feed,” Fisher said quietly, as he started running. “It will be more difficult for them to find us if we’re a moving target,” he explained.

  Abruptly, he turned a corner and they were running down a long, narrow hallway. From the other end of the hall appeared four security guards holding an iScan. Fisher stopped and turned. Three security guards now blocked their retreat at the other end of the hall.

  “They’re in here,” called one of the guards.

  Fisher charged towards the group of three guards, pulling Faith along with him. He ploughed into them and tried to push past. But one of the large men caught a hold of him and held fast. Her brother pivoted, still holding her hand, and used her momentum to fling her away from the group out into the larger corridor. Faith stumbled and fell.

  “Run!” he called, still struggling with the guards.

  As she pushed to her feet, she saw one of the guards take out a syringe and inject something into her brother’s neck. His body went limp and he slumped to the ground.

  “Fisher!” she cried. “No!” The other guards had reached him now. There was no chance he would be able to get away.

  Please, she called out with her mind, oh please! If you are really out there, please help me! I don’t want to lose him!

  Her hesitation had cost her. Now security guards were approaching from every direction.

  Take hold of your brother, a voice in her mind said.

  Faith dashed forward, dropping the kitten from her arms. She had to save him. She pushed into the throng of guards but they caught her with their large, rough hands.

  “No!” she howled. “No!”

  The brother and sister were dragged down the corridor. They didn’t inject her. Perhaps they could tell that she wasn’t able to wield the talent. Faith mourned inwardly. Now she would lose her brother and the chance of finding the rest of her family.

  Help! she cried mentally. Oh, please, help!

  Take hold of your brother, she heard the voice in her mind say again.

  But it was too late. She couldn’t reach him. Fisher was out cold. Their situation was hopeless.

  You can save him, Faith. You must. Reach out to him!

  She stretched out her hands towards her brother’s unconscious body. Faith lurched against the guard who held her and grabbed hold of a fistful of Fisher’s blond hair. The guard tried to pull her away from him.

  “No!” she screamed.

  An otherworldly silence flashed out from where she stood. Beginning with those nearest to her, the guards sagged and fell over, unconscious!

  Faith reached through the tangle of arms and bodies and grabbed hold of Fisher. Fighting panic, she put them into stealth mode. She shoved her arms under his armpits and clasped her hands together at the front of his chest. Faith walked backwards, dragging her brother towards the exit. He was so heavy! Tears streamed down her face as she frantically pulled him along the hall. Each step was like a small, painful triumph. There was no one about. She expected to hear the sound of heavy footfalls pounding down the hallway after them but the strange silence still rang in her ears. Her back ached but adrenaline and fear forced her to keep going.

  Reaching the exit, she pulled one arm free to press the button that would open the door. She wiped at her eyes to clear her vision and prayed that the door would open. The glass panel whooshed aside and Faith heaved her brother out, into the parking lot. She saw a yellow hovertaxi near the exit and pulled her brother towards the vehicle. The man inside had the window open and was watching her.

  “Please drive us away from here,” she sobbed.

  The man looked at her face carefully.

  “Get in,” he said. “Let me help you with the boy.”

  The man got out and lifted Fisher easily into the cab. Faith slipped into the backseat with her brother. The man got back in and slid the hovertaxi into drive. The vehicle glided away from the spaceport.

  Faith buried her face in Fisher’s chest and wept in relief. Her brother was already starting to come to. He put his arms around her.

  “What happened?” he asked, his words coming out thickly. “Where’s Lucky?”

  “We lost him,” Faith sobbed.

  The taxi driver spoke from the front seat, “But she saved you! That’s one brave sister you have there.”

  Faith looked towards the man and saw that he had golden hair. She looked at the reflection of his eyes in the rear-view mirror. Startlingly blue eyes looked back at her.

  Chapter 10 - Family

  “I presume you’re Faith and Fisher,” said the man.

  Faith nodded.

  “I’m your mother’s brother...your uncle. Uncle Mac. That was incredibly brave and strong of you, Faith. I didn’t think the two of you were going to make it! I couldn’t come in to help you because that would endanger my whole family...I’m so sorry I couldn’t come to your rescue...but t
hen, you did just fine yourself, didn’t you?”

  “How did you know we were in trouble?” Faith asked.

  “I heard you calling. I came as quick as I could...but I just didn’t see any way that I could help. I’m so glad that you made it out!”

  “You encouraged me and told me what to do,” said Faith. “Without that, I know I wouldn’t have been able to get away.”

  The man turned and looked at her strangely and then finally spoke, “I didn’t say anything to you.”

  Faith locked eyes with the man and felt confused. Who spoke to me? she wondered.

  “Don’t worry. You’re safe now,” said the man, turning back to the road. “I’m taking you to meet the rest of the clan.”

  They drove away from the spaceport and the city. Faith watched the landscape zip by and Fisher slept with his head leaning against her shoulder. After several hours, they turned down an old gravel road. They skimmed down that road for an hour and then the car turned up a long, country driveway.

  “This is the place,” announced their uncle, coming to a stop in front of a large farmhouse. “Your grandmother lives here. And all the kin are gathered to meet you.” He turned off the cab and the vehicle settled to the ground.

  Fisher stirred beside her and then awoke, taking in their surroundings. He stretched and then looked at his sister.

  “I think I’m going to like living on Kappa,” he told her.

  They got out and followed their uncle inside. When Faith entered the home, she smelled the scent of baking apples.

  Apple pie!

  Yes, I made it especially to celebrate your arrival!

  An old woman with a kind face approached them. Her vivid blue eyes took in Faith’s form.

  “Why it’s remarkable!” she said. “You’re the spitting image of your mother...And you even have her cross necklace!” She gathered Faith into a fierce embrace. “I’m so glad you’ve come!”

  Their grandmother released Faith and then regarded Fisher, sombrely.

  “I feel you have a great destiny,” she said finally. “There is something important that you will do.” Then she smiled and hugged him tightly.

  “These are your cousins.” She motioned for a group of children to come forward.

  There were seven blond-haired, blue-eyed cousins. Five of them belonged to Uncle Mac. Two of them belonged to their Aunt Tanya and her husband, Jasper, who lived with their grandma in her large house.