Page 49 of Blightfall

In the middle of it all, the woman stared at the gate, clutching the child to her side. Her face wasn’t clear from this distance, but from the way her shoulders shook, it was obvious she was sobbing.

“Wait,” I said. “Where did he go?”

The man in front of us was too distracted with cheering to notice my question—which I probably should have known the answer to—but I almost wished he would notice, because then he could tell me what I was missing.

What the scud was Elysium, and where did that gate lead?

Interlude

Bob hid. Bob hid in Alanik’s bag. It was warm in Alanik’s bag, warm and dark. Bob did not mind being in Alanik’s dark bag, though Bob wished he had a friend to snuggle. That would have been better.

Bob could hear his friends. He could hear his slug friends nearby in other bags. He could hear his human friends talking outside the bags. His human friends fit in this human place. But Bob did not fit in here. That was why Bob was in the bag.

Bob could hear more humans who were not yet his friends. The other humans were loud. The other humans were many. If Bob tried to snuggle the other humans, it would take a long, long time. But Bob was up to the task. He would snuggle all the humans later, when he did not have to hide.

Bob’s human friends were saying something. They were saying something about a gate. Bob could not see the gate. Bob could not hear the gate. Bob tried to listen, tried to hear, tried to feel the gate his friends were talking about.

Ah! Bob found the gate. One of the humans who was not yet Bob’s friend passed through the gate. He passed through the gate with some other not-friends. These not-friends were not human. These not-friends were some of Them.

Bob did not like Them. They hurt slugs like Bob. They hurt Bob’s human friends. Bob listened closely. He listened high above. Bob listened for the ships, the ships that got directions from the slugs in the Cloud. There was one, far above. Bob talked to his new slug friends in the Cloud through the ship in the sky.

Bob’s new friends could not drop the Cloud in the sky. They did not cause it. The Cloud in the sky was caused by Something Else. Bob’s new friends would need to come to Bob.

Are you ready to come to us? Bob asked his New Friend.

We can’t, Bob’s New Friend answered. She will hurt us.

She was one of Them. She had hurt Bob’s human friends, with her ships in the sky.

We will help, Bob said. We will make it safe.

Soon, please, Bob’s New Friend said.

Bob did not know how to make it safe. He did not know how to stop Her. Bob’s human friends would have a plan. Bob’s human friends were good at saving slugs.

Bob was patient. Bob hid in Alanik’s warm, dark bag. Bob prepared to cuddle new friends.

Bob hoped his human friends would hurry.

Part Three

Fifteen

Sadie

We remained in place as people began streaming out of the coliseum, many stepping over our knees to reach the aisle and the stairs. I hugged the backpack with Nope close, careful not to let anyone crush her.

Once the area around us emptied, I figured I could safely speak. “Where do you think that doorway leads?” I asked Arturo, leaning over Nedd so I didn’t have to shout.

“No idea,” Arturo said. “Anyone ever heard of Elysium? Sounds familiar, but I can’t place it.”

“It’s a mythological heaven from ancient Earth,” Suki said quietly from Arturo’s bag. “It featured heavily in the philosophical writings of Jason Write, who brought humans onto the galactic stage using cytonics.”

“And created the AIs that later became delvers,” Arturo said.

“Huh,” Nedd said. “If they’re using ancient human rhetoric and training people to fight…wouldn’t the Superiority have intervened? Ivy is egging them on, not opposing them.”

“It does seem like Ivy has influence over the humans here,” Alanik said softly. “I don’t think it would be wise to approach them. They may not be friendly to our cause.”