Chapter 46: Volume II: Chapter 13: The Tail Part 1

“I hope you know landings better than your launches,” Will said clutching one of the panels as the ship settled into its course.

“Sorry.” Chleo shot him a sheepish smile. “I misjudged the thrusters a bit.”

“Among other things,” he muttered under his breath.

“Don’t worry, we have two days, more than enough time to learn the landing sequence,” she said flipping a couple of switches and spinning the pilot’s chair toward the door.

“Learn?” he asked watching as she walked toward the exit. “You said you read the manual, Chleo. Chleo?” She was already gone. “Unbelievable.” He let out a laugh, the buzz up his spine returning as he turned to look out the window. Nothing but stars stared back. “Well Mrs. Mathews, ready or not, here we come.”

~*~*~

Jack stared back at the village, his mule packed to the brim as it hovered beneath him. On Luna, he’d bought a steam bike to replace his mule, spending years missing his favorite mode of transportation. Having it back made him miss his steam bike. He wondered if it was still sitting among the Shack’s junk piles or if King John ordered everything destroyed.

Pushing the mule forward he set out marking their course. Eelock spared enough funds to help him purchase a space skimmer and Dai offered to tag along. She insisted he was terrible at negotiating and needed her to ensure he got a fair deal. He shrugged, and said the more the merrier.

He suspected her interest was more to do with the destination than the purchase. The Tail was known for its superior coffee beans, and Dai was known for her superior coffee tastes. Her mule ran to his right programmed to follow his lead, Mic’s ran to his left running whatever program he felt it needed.

It hurt traveling without Melody. He missed her, unused to dealing with crises on his own after their life on Luna. She became his rock after their excitement on Terra, no longer having to run off on missions that stole her away for months at a time.

He glanced to his left as the countryside flew by, lit only by Luna’s light and Dai’s glow. Mic sat with a glazed look as they rode, probably working on some code or query he thought would prove useful. Melody would be so proud. Jack couldn’t wait to reunite them. The loss had hit her hard during their first months on Luna.

They had a day’s ride ahead of them. Hopefully, they would broker a deal quickly, and their flight back would take half the time, leaving Chleo and Will alone on a ship they certainly didn’t know how to fly for two days at least. The same amount of time it took to reach Umbra.

He closed his eyes against the rolling hills and cheerful fields dancing in the breeze as they skimmed over them. Catching up would take too long. The kids would find Melody’s coordinates and land before they could reach them.

“I’m in,” Mic yelled over the wind.

Jack’s head snapped toward his son. His son, the thought made his chest warm with pride. “How? I thought you said you needed a back door.”

Mic built shields against any and all signals trying to reach into their ship, even his own. It housed a backup of his knowledge base and he wasn’t taking any chances. Usually, he left at least one bird inside to use as a backdoor to monitor the security systems, but with Lute wandering through the village, he’d sent all of them out to find the kids.

“A hacker never reveals his tricks,” Mic shouted back, repeating Melody’s token line. A pang of longing shot through Jack, even as he smiled. He pushed the mule’s thrusters farther. They needed to go faster.

~*~*~

Chleo sat in the cafeteria, legs hanging off the edge of the kitchen counter, as she waited for the freeze-dried burgers to cook in the skillet. They sizzled and popped in a way raw meat never did, and she wasn’t altogether sure if the stovetop was the right approach. Either way, they would have food, already an improvement to some of their days on Luna.

She flipped to the next page of the ship’s manual doing her best to multitask. It was a fascinating section on blockers that she should probably skip, but couldn’t seem to look away. The series before C looked like technical marvels for their time, the first blockers to affect ships if only at a limited capacity, and if C hadn’t been discontinued due to a manufacturing error that resulted in overheating when introduced to an external power source, it would have-

Will chuckled over his own book, pigments dancing across the cover gathering where his fingers held it open. A greenish glow swallowing them as he read.

“I’m doing it again, aren’t I?” she asked biting her lip.

He looked up, eyes sparkling with humor. “A bit.”

A smell wafted through the air, sharp and ashy, the burgers. Chleo abandoned the manual rushing to flip the meat from her spot on the counter. She misjudged one sending it flying to the floor, the other landing in the pan with nothing but black char covering the top.

“Son of a snitch!” She hopped down grabbing the burger off the floor, hissing as the cooked side burned her hand. Dropping it on the counter, she held the still frozen side to the irritated skin.

“Are you all right?” Will’s voice said closer than anticipated, causing a shiver to ghost through her.

“Yeah, just a burn.” Moving to her side, he took her hand off the patty to take a look.

“We should put some ointment on it. I think Dai had some in the med bay. I can go get—” he turned to leave, but she grabbed his arm, a sudden need for company hammering away at her heart. “Chleo?” he asked, concern filling his eyes.

“I just—” she started not sure how to explain herself. She was being needy. Why? She turned back to the burger still on the skillet. “It’s nothing. It should heal in a few minutes anyway, no ointment needed.” She lifted her hand, the skin already darkening to match the rest. “Quasi-human, remember?”

“Chleo,” he said expecting a better explanation. She stalled, poking the burger as it cooked, one side burnt, one side done, and a frozen center… great. She felt an irrational tear fill her eye, trying to blink it away before Will noticed.

“We didn’t have anything on Luna,” she said softly, wading through her emotions as she explained them. “Food was a luxury most days, and Putter…” she rolled her eyes. “He was a nightmare on the best of days, but at least I knew how to cook the food,” she said stabbing the patty with more force than necessary, tossing it onto a plate. “At least, we had the junk piles, and lessons… and my parents,” she finished muttering the last glaring at the ruined burgers.

You are reading story Neon Chronicles at novel35.com

She heard Will sigh beside her, letting him tug her against his chest. “I miss it, too,” he said into her hair. “Luna was home, for all its faults.” He pressed a kiss on the top of her head. “Here, I want to show you something.”

He pulled the book he’d been reading from an internal pocket on his jacket. She raised an eyebrow. “I figured I shouldn’t just leave it lying around so I sewed a custom pocket in,” he said holding it out for her to take.

“Are you sure? I thought it was just for…” she hesitated motioning toward him, not wanting to repeat all of his titles. They were a mouthful.

He laughed. “I am. It’s for me and anyone I wish to share it with. Besides, from what I can tell, it has a pretty effective security feature.” Reaching out to take it, she let her eyes carry the question. He answered. “The stories seem to match my mood, and they only appear one at a time. I figure if someone wanted to misuse it they would get the same story every time.”

“Huh,” she let out an impressed breath, looking down at the book. The pigments circled her fingers blue and yellow glowing brighter to reflect green across her skin. The blurred letters on the front solidifying into a title The Book of Namo. She cracked it open.

The words copied the cover, taking a moment to blur before scrawling across the page forming in the moment.

Three Birds and a Bull

The man stood, ax primed, the taste of wood gleaming from its blade. Three birds sat atop a bull hidden in the safety of a shrub.

“How sad,” the first bird sang a note of sorrow. “The tree is our home. Where will we go?”

“Fear not,” the second bird sang a note of courage. “The tree may shelter us from storms, but we shall find another.”

“Be glad,” the third bird sang a note of hope. “Perhaps, we will find an even stronger home to protect our eggs.”

The bull beneath them thrilled in the sound of their harmony.

“My friends,” he hummed happily, “look no further.

“I am strong and fearsome. I can protect your eggs.

“I am sturdy and dependable. I can shelter you from storms.

“I will be your home. You shall stay with me.”

Together they left, marching to the beat of the man’s axe, the melody of life leading them on.

It was short, no more than a page, the words after blurring into obscurity. Chleo stared at the story, reading it for a second then third time, drawing strength and comfort from each pass.

“See?” Will said taking one of her hands. “It’s all right to miss where we’re from, but with friends like ours we’ll always have a home.” He took a step closer tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “With you, I know I’ll always have a home.”

She met his eyes, treading in their depths. Diving, she drifted closer, his lips a resting invitation. He dipped lower meeting her halfway. They kissed.

He was sweet and soft, comfort and warmth. She never wanted it to end, not when it felt like home.

“Come on,” Mic’s voice rang through the cafeteria. They sprang apart. Chleo found herself missing the contact despite the surprise. “I don’t want to see that. Take it to one of the crew quarters next time,” he grumbled. “Chleo, what did you do to my ship?”

“Mic?” she asked, logic escaping her as she stared at one of his birds. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? Did you really think I’d let you steal my ship?” he asked. She could almost hear the eye roll. “Now, why can’t I connect?” His voice lowered to dangerous levels. She heard her chances of him programming her new filter idea for her goggles shrink with it.

“I,” she started haltingly, “wasn’t sure if you had a backdoor built in or not… so I disconnected the system from the navigation cortex.”

“You. Did. What?” he asked, the floating gear and tube littered ball drifting closer with each word.

“It’s just until we’re close enough to land,” she defended herself. “I wanted enough time to prove something’s there.”

“By disconnecting the system?” he asked his voice suspiciously neutral. “Are you insane?” he shouted. She caught Will staring at her from the corner of her eye looking thoroughly unnerved.

She shrugged. “It seems to have worked. You were going to turn us around, right?” She didn’t wait for him to answer. “Now, you can’t.”

Blowing a gasket suddenly had a literal interpretation.

You can find story with these keywords: Neon Chronicles, Read Neon Chronicles, Neon Chronicles novel, Neon Chronicles book, Neon Chronicles story, Neon Chronicles full, Neon Chronicles Latest Chapter