Page 5 of The Outcast
“What model is this?” one of them asked and was answered by a man who pointed to the artistic emblem with Tristan’s name.
“It’s a Tristan Royal like the one the future ruler has. I’ve seen it on a show.”
Sparrow and I gave courteous smiles to the group, but we didn’t stay to discuss the design of the drone.
While flying across the Northlands, we met a large number of other drones, but once we left their territory, we were on our own. There was no international traffic between the Northlands and France.
“Wanna see something else that’s neat about this drone?” Sparrow gave a command to the drone and had me in awe at the transformation. The framed windows around us disappeared and there was now a complete half sphere of see-through material. Reaching out, I touched a corner that had been visible before. “How is that possible? It’s like the corner disappeared, but I can feel it.”
Sparrow laughed. “You’ll have to ask Tristan about the details, but it’s some kind of illusion with cameras. He wanted to create an experience of flying on a magic carpet without compromising safety.”
I turned my body to see nothing but sky all around me. Not even the information that was normally displayed in the windows was visible. “This is freaky.”
“I know. When Thor showed us, I didn’t like it at first. You get the feeling that you’re in danger of falling out, but as I said, it’s an illusion.”
Patting the window one more time, I nodded. “Yeah, I can see why it takes some getting used to.”
“The good thing is that we can look out, but no one can look inside.”
Sitting next to each other in comfortable seats, we snacked and talked for hours. Sparrow was curious and wanted to know everything about my childhood and our culture. I had plenty of my own questions for her as we moved across the sky and daylight turned into nighttime.
“It’s weird to me how interested you are. By now, you know more about me than most of my friends,” I said.
Her smile brought out a dimple and lit up her beautiful eyes. “I’ve told you plenty of things about me. It seems fair that you return the favor.”
Just then, my brain implant fired up. “Ah, speaking of friends, my connection to Val is back. He just sent me a message.”
“What is he saying?”
“He’s asking if I’m okay. I just showed him that we’re headed for the valley and that I’m with you.”
“When can he get there?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
After another hour of flying, we reached our destination. I pointed downward to the valley that I loved so much. “I know it’s hard to see now that it’s dark, but there’s a stream of water crossing through a sea of wildflowers. I can’t tell you how magical the spring is here. It’s breathtaking with old trees blossoming with pink and white colors. And in the fall, oh, it’s a gorgeous painting of red, yellow, and orange.”
Sparrow looked down. “I can’t wait to see the valley when the sun comes up.”
The drone landed perfectly with hardly a bump.
“Are you tired?” she asked. “We could convert the seats into a bed if you want to sleep.”
I could think of other things that I wouldn’t mind doing with Sparrow, but she was so innocent that touching her would be wrong.
“Sure. If we can’t sleep, we can stargaze.”
It took less than thirty seconds for the drone to convert our seats and then Sparrow and I lay side by side pointing out star constellations.
We talked about alien life, old-time astronauts, and space travel. We talked about dreams and hopes, and when Sparrow told me about a time when she fell through ice and thought she was dying, her emotional story made me take her hand.
With a sad smile, she asked. “Do you ever feel scared that you’ll die young and never experience all the things you dream about?”
“All the time.”
“Because of your dangerous job?”
“Mm-hmm. Each year at least three to four explorers die on missions. I’ve lost nine of my closest team members over the past ten years, two of them while I was captain.” The heaviness in my chest from thinking about it made me sigh out loud. “Those two fatalities were the worst. They were freak accidents, but I still feel responsible.”
