Gob's Arc

Chapter 8 of 11

The tear hung open in the void. Past it, the true dark sky stretched over the hills. But every saucer left had seen the gap tear. Now they turned as one and dove toward it. Gob drifted in Potbelly's jaws, so dim he could barely feel his own light. His parents had sensed his signal and come. He had brought the fleet with them. That guilt still sat in his chest. "They'll reach the gap first," said one of Potbelly's heads. "Then it closes," said the other. Hoola pushed off into the black. She had spent her whole summer landing one impossible trick, and she wore that same stubborn face now. "No. No way. We open it wider." She grabbed the nearest saucer's own tilt and shoved. "Push them at each other! Same as before!" But Gob had almost no light left. Without a bright target, the saucers had nothing to chase. He opened his mouth. Only a weak flicker came out. PomPom hung in the dark, arms crossed, watching the saucers cut their turns. She had studied a hundred rival routines frame by frame, and she read the fleet the same way. "They're sloppy. All of them aim at the same spot." She pointed at the gap. "Make the gap the bait. Not Gob." Fluroess understood first. Their light flared bright, then dropped dark, marking a false path along the tear's edge. The lead saucers swung to follow the flash. They crowded the same line. Then they clipped wings and spun. "Again," PomPom said. "Left side. They always crowd left." Fluroess flashed left. The saucers piled into each other. One by one they cracked and drifted, dead metal in the dark. The last few pulled up short. They could not find a target worth a beam. Slowly they turned and fell back into the void, hunting easier prey. The gap stayed open. The sky beyond it went from black to a soft blue as the false void thinned around the edges. Real air moved through the tear. The hills waited on the other side. Potbelly carried Gob to the opening. Fluroess floated close. "We're sorry," Fluroess said quietly. "We came down here to take this town. That was wrong. We should have looked for you instead." "We fixed what we broke," said one of Potbelly's heads. The other nodded at the calm blue sky. "It's right again." Gob's mouth flickered. He wanted to fly through with them right now. But his light was nearly gone. He could not lead. He could not even glow enough to see the path. "Rest," Fluroess said. "We carry you now." So they passed through the tear together, into real air and blue sky. The town lay quiet behind them. Ahead rose the hills. But the way up was long, and Gob had no light to climb it.