AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We’re home, baby,” she whispered to him.
She hoisted herself up to the bench of the sleigh and looked around.
“Wow, it’ll be like living under the sword of Damocles, huh?” she joked weakly, looking up at the massive island that floated overhead.
Jhon didn’t laugh.
She scanned the open tundra around them.
Gorgeous, flowered lichen covered the ground in every direction.
But there wasn’t a single structure.
“Where’s the house?” she asked him tightly, trying not to panic.
Did they expect her to build a house? With nothing but lichen and the sick sense of despair rising in her chest?
His eyes slid up to the island hovering above them.
“No,” she breathed, realizing what was happening. “No, please, I can’t.”
“In a place like Sigg-3, the highest ground is always the safest,” Jhon told her calmly.
“I had my eyes shut on the shuttle most of the way here,” she moaned. “I couldn’t even look. And now I’m supposed to live up there?”
“Just think of it like an apartment in a tall city building,” Jhon suggested.
“Terra-13 doesn’t have tall city buildings,” she told him, the tone of her voice rising.
“There’s no need to panic,” Jhon told her, fishing a rope out of the sleigh, along with a three-pronged metal hook.
Was he serious?
“How can you tell me not to panic, when you’re clearly planning to use a grappling hook and a rope to get up there?” she yelled.
Bo began whimpering quietly in his sleep.
She snuggled him closer, feeling fresh tears prickle her eyes.
“Look,” Jhon said. “I’m going to climb up there on my own. And then I’ll power up the chute so you can come up that way.”
“What chute?” she asked.
He pointed, and she saw that in the shadow of the island, she had missed a large platform, big enough for the whole sleigh.
“Does the deer come up with us?” she asked.
“Of course,” he told her. “There’s room for the whole sleigh, deer included. But you’ll have to take his harness and lead him on, and then make sure nothing is hanging off any of the sides.”
She eyed the deer suspiciously.
He looked tame enough, but he was awfully big. And the antlers were enormous.
“You’ll have a bit of time while I’m climbing and getting the chute powered up,” Jhon said lightly.
She sensed something in his tone that implied it was time for her to learn to do something for herself.
And if this was where she was going to live, she needed to be able to load and unload the chute properly.
