The Maze of Madison (scifi story): Chapter Eleven - Without a Solution

Chapter One: So it Begins
Chapter Two: Into the Dark
Chapter Three: Confounded by a Lock of Stone
Chapter Four: The Ponderous Path Home
Chapter Five: Fleeing the Immolation
Chapter Six: Weathering the Firestorm
Chapter Seven: An Aftermath of Exhaustion and Cinders
Chapter Eight: The Bitter Cold Night That Lasted a Month
Chapter Nine: Deals with the Dav-Vel
Chapter Ten: The Dav-vel's Due

Chapter Eleven: Without a Solution

At first I fumed. I was so angry I didn't notice the cold. I didn't notice the burnt plastic smell. I didn't notice the ash. I also didn't notice I had been dragging Tobias along at a furious pace. One that, while he was significantly bigger, he also was stumbling to keep up while I had ahold of him. It was a combination of the pace and my iron grip on the poor guy. Fortunately, that went better than ought to have been expected over icy, ashy roads and paths. Unfortunately, it was noted upon later.

I was so angry, so furious, so full of hatred and disgust towards Daniel Davis Dachnovi I wasn't pay much attention on a conscious level where we were and where we were going and how. All I knew was I hated him. Despised him. Had he and I been in a desert, I'd not peed on him for fear it'd give him the moisture he needed to survive. That's how much I hated him.

When the rage receded, when the disgust slowly died away, when the hatred subsided, I was left keenly aware of Tobias being dragged along behind me. And that we had no way to get the equipment we needed. We would have been found out if we placed our data on the greater net and used the public analytical engines. The bots would have noticed and we would have been pulled in for questioning. Not because we were doing anything illegal, but rather because we were still kids without full privacy rights and the unknown on an alien planet was always a danger.

I realized that, too, as I slowed down. We could have been facing something really, really dangerous. If this find, this adventure, was really about aliens, like we both hoped but dared not to say, or even tink, then this would change everything. No intelligent aliens had ever been found. No aliens life forms smarter than dogs had ever been found. Don't get me wrong: dogs are pretty smart, but they won't be building starships or even figure out how to build a decent stick thrower.

If this was about aliens, and I'm not saying it was about aliens, but we were thinking it was about aliens, then the adults would take over. There was no way in God's bright galaxy, that two teenagers were going to be allowed to conduct first contact. Not then. Not now. Not in the future. And there was also no way two teenagers would ever have not tried to be the first contactors if they had any choice. We were no different.

However, it was now painfully clear, I might have screwed this up. I began to panic. My place in history, my moment and I might have blown it. I might have seen my great destiny and failed to grab it and hold on tight. I stopped and Tobias all but rammed into me, even at our slower pace. I began to shake. Badly. And it had nothing to do with the cold. I could have started to curl into a ball and had a breakdown, a meltdown, or a freeze up, given the temperature.

But then, Tobias put his big hand on my shoulder and squeezed. He knew what I was thinking and knew I was panicking and knew what I was thinking. He just tinked good thoughts and let me know he didn't think I'd screwed things up. We still were going to do this and we were going to do it without having to compromise who we were. Screw the Dav-Vel. He wasn't going to get anything and we were still going to get our adventure.

I calmed down and smiled at him. I knew we could do this. I just had no idea how. I knew he didn't know how either. We were up a creek, no paddle and probably without even a canoe. We needed at least a canoe. A proverbial one.

I slid his hand off my shoulder and we walked slowly and quietly back home. We parted ways when it was close to mid point between our homes. He went his way. I went mine. We would have normally tinked at each other the entire way after we separated. However, we were at a loss and I couldn't quite lose the feeling I might have screwed everything up. It was a frustrating feeling. It was a humiliating feeling. It was even more humiliating for knowing why and who had caused it.

And that...sparked another fire within me. No one should have to put up with that nonsense. I was certainly not going to. Therefore, I was going to find a way to solve the puzzle. And I was going to make sure after it was all done that the Dav-Vel would have to know he screwed up badly. Jerk was not a strong enough word for him. Not by a long shot and pig was maligning the scrumptious source of bacon.

My fury then blinded me again, because I ran smack into Tristan, the person everyone called the Tortoise.