WORLD 4: AWAKENING

Three days later, I was cleared to leave Med Lev with strict instructions from Kai not to come back until my shoulder and hand were completely healed. I probably could have still worked, even with only one arm, but he knew the emotional healing would take far longer than my physical wounds. That, and the new awkwardness between Ty and myself. He’d avoided Med Lev while I was recovering there, which was fine with me — I didn’t want to face him. I still felt terrible for hurting him so deeply.

The next couple of weeks were spent mostly outside with my father and Baylen. A team had been created just for building sturdier, more permanent shelters. Maxx heard about it and jumped at the chance to help. He’d built homes back on our world as a career and loved the idea of getting back into it again. My father reluctantly agreed to move into one with me as soon as they were done. Baylen and Wes had no problem living outside. Wes had recovered faster than expected, most likely because of his uplifted spirit from getting to be an outdoorsman again.

I made sure to visit Jinna and her kids regularly — they’d been too afraid to stay outside for more than a couple hours at a time. Little Sam didn’t even know what to make of the sunshine and wind, and Kasley and Jinna were terrified of another Arison rising up.

I mostly did the boring task of planning and organizing. Baylen promised to take me out on an adventurous day-trip away from camp as soon as my arm and shoulder were back to normal, and I was making sure that I held him to it. Expedition teams had been going out non-stop since order had been restored, venturing further out to explore the planet. It was fascinating to see everything they were finding. Every time one of the Science Officers went crazy over a new kind of tree or flower, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness for Soren — I knew he would have loved to be there.

I’d just finished a meeting with the building team and went to find Baylen in Tech Shelter before a late dinner. The place was mostly empty with only a few officers bent over their work.

I greeted Baylen’s supervisor by the door. “Hey, Cass!”

She gave me a quick hug. “How are you? Your arm’s better?”

I glanced over at my right shoulder and hand; I’d been able to go without my sling for a few days. “It’s definitely still healing, but I can move it more. I just got really sick of that sling.”

“I don’t blame you at all, girl!”

I smiled at her. “Is Baylen around?”

“Yep!” said Baylen, coming to me from the far corner. He greeted me with a kiss.

Cass peered at me through her choppy, blonde bangs with a sly grin. “Just so you know, this guy never shuts up about you. I think he must like you or something.”

Baylen shoved her lightly and she burst out laughing. “Thanks, Cass. I’m pretty sure you’re right.”

I laughed and held onto Baylen’s waist.

“Oh!” said Cass. “We finally finished organizing the artifacts if you want to go take a look.”

I let go of Baylen and gasped. “They’re in here?”

“Yeah, Science Shelter is full of plants and dirt and whatever else they think is amazing, so they put everything in here with us,” she said and pointed. “It’s all over there.”

I practically sprinted to the table against the far wall. A long row of artifacts laid out, cleaned and cataloged for display.

Baylen caught up with me. “I think Brynn helped a lot with these.”

“I bet it’s been hard for her to work on all of this without Soren.”

Baylen sighed. “Yeah, I’m sure you’re right.”

The first artifact I came to was the map that Wes had found. It had been cleaned off as well as it could be, but still was laced with cracks and cloudy, splintering pieces.

“So my dad was right, this is definitely a map of the planet,” said Baylen.

“It’s amazing.” I ran my fingers over the different masses of land. “I wonder what these other parts of the planet look like.”

“I’m sure they’ll use the Colony ships to explore these places eventually.”

My face lit up. “If that happens then I’m definitely going to be the first to sign up.”

“Ha!” he laughed. “Why does that not surprise me?”

The next object was one of the long bones from the skeletons we found. Baylen picked it up carefully. “Brynn did some more sophisticated tests on these and you were right — they’re about seven thousand years old.”

“That’s incredible,” I said, touching the bone in his hand. I still couldn’t believe there were people like us who’d once lived on the planet.

“Well, seven thousand, one-hundred and two years, to be exact.”

I chuckled. “Good to know. Have they tested the age of the other stuff?”

He gently placed the bone back onto the table. “Yeah, that’s what’s weird. Everything natural we’ve found varies in age, but none of the bones or artifacts are younger than the seven thousand years. It’s like everything just stopped all of a sudden.”

I groaned. “I wish I knew what happened to them.”

“I’m sure we’ll find out someday. There’s enough left behind that we could probably piece it all together.”

I lit up as I saw one of the balls I’d found in the field. “Oh! What did they find out about these?”

“Not sure, just the age I think.”

“I’m positive it was a necklace of some kind. Oh no!” I cringed as I remembered something important. “I totally forgot, I found a ring and stuffed it into in my vest. Please tell me it didn’t get thrown out.”

“Nope.” Baylen smiled. He pulled me over to the end of the table. My ring sat shiny and beautiful under a light. “We found it, luckily. Gabring searched through each pocket while he was going through everything in our transport and saw it. Your picture, too.”

I glanced at the picture of the man I’d found in the relic room, shaking my head once as I re-lived the astonishment. Then I turned to the ring again; I picked it up with a huge grin smeared on my face. The metal was old and rough, but to me, it was gorgeous. “I think this is my most favorite artifact from the entire planet.”

“Well,” said Baylen, taking it from me. He glanced around the room with a sneaky half-grin and stuffed it into my pocket. “I don’t think it’s a big deal if it just kind of disappears, right?”

“Right,” I said and took his hand.

“Hey, Baylen,” said Miles. He hurried over, eager as always. “What are you guys up to?”

“Just looking at this stuff, it’s pretty amazing,” I said.

“I know!” he exclaimed with a girlish giggle. “Hey, Baylen, have you had any luck with that stick thing?”

Baylen walked down the table a bit to the artifact he’d brought back from the relic room. He picked up the small, short, rectangular stick and studied it carefully. “I haven’t had a lot of time to look at it, unfortunately, but I do know that it’s some kind of technology.”

Miles scowled. “Oh man, I wish I knew what it did.”

I put my arm around Baylen. “If anyone can find out, he can.”

“Yeah,” he said with a chuckle. He set the object back down on the table. “I’m pretty sure our Senior Tech Officer could do it faster than me, but I’m not letting anyone else touch it. I’ve got something to prove.”

Miles jumped and he gasped. His eyes became incredibly wide. “Did you hear what one of the teams found the other day?”

I jerked a little in reflex at his dramatic display. “No, what is it?”

“Oh wow, they found a mass grave!” he said, incredibly animated. “Like a hundred bodies in it at least! It was about twelve hours away in some valley, eroding from the hillside.”

My eyes became as wondrous as his. I let go of Baylen and took a step closer. “Are you serious?! What else did they find? Where are the remains?”

Baylen snickered behind me and got a hard elbow thrown his way. “You get as excited about skeletons as Brynn does with leaves, I think,” he said.

Miles pointed at him and snorted in amusement. “All I know is that they found the grave, not sure if there’s anything else with it,” he explained. “I heard they’re bringing the bones back in small groups at a time, after Science goes out and studies them there. So it could be a few days at least.”

“Well, the second they come back here I’ve gotta go see those, I wonder if we can find out what killed them off.”

“Maybe,” said Baylen. “Cass was telling me she thinks they might be able to translate the language someday if we can gather enough pieces of it.”

“Sounds like a longshot,” I said.

He shrugged. “Yeah, maybe. But we have to try, right?”

I kissed his cheek. “Absolutely.”

“We’ve got to get going, Miles,” said Baylen. “See you later.”

“Bye, guys!” He waved happily as we made our way out of Tech Shelter.

We began our walk to dinner in quiet. I couldn’t stop picturing the remains we’d found in the relic room. The way the bones were intertwined together on the floor, almost like they’d been huddling together as they died. The skull that seemed to look straight into my eyes. Now that I knew about the mass grave, I imagined a hundred of those skulls, staring at me, begging me to figure out their story. I had to know.

“Hey!” Baylen nudged me and laughed. “Come back to reality.”

“Huh? Oh, sorry,” I said. I’d been totally zoned out. I pointed at Baylen’s arm around my shoulders. “Is this our new reality?”

“Yep. Get used to it.”

I rested my head on his shoulder. “I guess a girl could get used to a life like this.”

“Oh wow, May, look at this!” he said, turning to the field.

The sky was a gorgeous swath of color. Hues of orange, red and purple swirled and blended together against the clouds. The few rays of sunlight left were brilliantly illuminating the dramatic display.

“Wow!” I gasped and pulled him into the field. “Let’s go watch it just for a few minutes before dinner.”

We slowly marched through the grass, taking our time and not speaking. The view was so unbelievable, I felt like it warranted a silent audience. We made it to the same large boulder we’d kissed on for the first time.

“They’re serving real food, you know,” said Baylen. We climbed the boulder’s slope and took a seat. “Don’t want you to miss it. We both know how crazy you get if you miss dessert.”

I nudged him, keeping my eyes glued to the sky. “Very funny. Correct, though. We’ll just stay a few minutes, then go eat. This is too good.”

He put his arm around me and I grabbed his knee. The planet had been more than I ever imagined. The beauty, the danger, the mysteries — I’d been through more extreme adventure and unique experiences in only a few weeks than many go through in their entire life. And Baylen — the way I felt about him had been one of the best gifts the planet ever could have given me. He was my home. My other piece.

I turned to look at him, illuminated in the glorious colors of sunset. I grabbed his scruffy jaw and turned it to me. “I love you, Baylen.”

He grinned, running his fingers through my hair. “I love you, too, Mayla. Forever.”

I pulled him in for a kiss, then pressed my forehead to his and stroked his face again. “Should we go eat?”

His smile widened and he kissed my cheek. “Sure.” Pulling me up by my good hand, he turned to the sunset one last time, gesturing to the gorgeous view with his sweeping arm. “So what do you think, May? You think this can officially count as our planet now?”

I shook my head with determination and stared out at the glowing horizon. “No, it’s not our planet…it’s our world.”