“Hey, Joey.” Her voice sounded a lot like mine, as everyone’s did, but far more melodic—it had such a sweet tone to it that I didn’t mind the nickname. “Do we have everyone, Jorensen?” The officer gave a nod, gesturing for his team to step sideways, over by one of the doors.
They all filed over, as the team before us vanished through the port. “Proceed through in single file,” said the familiar ship voice, “and please watch your step.”
“We’ll give you a head start,” I tossed out, earning a snort from Jerzy and a grateful glance from Joaquim before he realized I was kidding.
“We won’t need it,” Jorensen’s deep, good-natured voice came from next to me. I was glad I wasn’t the only one participating in the banter.
Jorensen’s team went through, single file as instructed, then it was our turn. “Get ready, guys,” I told my team. “Once we go out there, all bets are off.”
They nodded, and I stepped through.
Going through a port is kind of like misjudging how many steps there are before you reach the bottom. You start to bring your foot down, ready to take another step, and the ground meets you just a little bit sooner than you expect. No matter how careful you are, it sends a jolt up your leg, sometimes rattling your teeth. It’s even more unnerving because you’re never exactly sure where you’re stepping, since you can’t see the ground.
This time the jolt wasn’t as bad, though that was just because my foot landed in a muddy puddle about three inches deep. We’d ported into the middle of a lush, green forest, and it looked like it had just rained. “Mud,” I cautioned, turning to the others as they appeared behind me. “All right, Jai. Where’re we going?”
“Down!” he yelled, and I immediately obliged. When Jai only uses one syllable, it’s serious. Something hurtled over my head, and as I rolled to my feet, getting mud all over me, I realized it was Jenoh. It was my turn to yell.
“What’s the big idea?”
“We’re allowed to sabotage each other, remember?” she responded sweetly, already back in pouncing position. She and Jakon squared off, a growl starting in the wolf girl’s throat.
I looked at Jai, who nodded to the left of me. Okay, then, left it was. I made eye contact with the rest of my team, except for Jakon, and we all took off before Jenoh could try to stop us again. We sprinted through the trees, occasionally squelching in pockets of mud, the mostly playful growls and hisses of Jenoh and Jakon fading behind us.
“J/O, scan for the others!” I half expected him to protest or ignore me, but the bionic boy gave a nod and fixed his cybernetic gaze on the scenery around us.
“Joliette is up ahead, twenty yards northeast.”
“Jo, you want her?” The winged girl nodded, splitting off from us to come from a different angle. I was willing to bet she wouldn’t have cared had Joliette not made the comment about her wing earlier.
“How far are we from the flag, Jai?”
“The device does not indicate precise proximity.”
“Just direction?”
“Affirmative.”
I squinted off into the distance. Through the trees, I could see the sky, the clouds, the sparkle of something that may have been a lake but could just be an optical illusion, and the top of what looked like a very tall mountain.
“I bet it’s up there,” I said as we paused near the edge of the
tree line. Jai squinted as well.
“You may be correct.”
“There’s Jerzy!” Josef pointed. About a hundred yards from us, Jerzy’s bright red feather tips were visible against the lush green grass.
“I love that guy’s head,” I said, which made Jai laugh.
“It does enable us to locate him more easily in this locale,” he agreed.
“Let’s go,” Josef said eagerly, but I paused.
“I bet they’ve got something planned. If we run out there, we’re gonna get ambushed. Jai, can I have the locator?” He handed it to me, looking curious.
“Can you do your ‘we’re not here’ trick on us when we break cover?” He hesitated, then nodded. I knew it was difficult to do on moving targets, but there were only three of us. “You don’t have to hold it for long. Just give us a start toward the mountain.” The little disk was warm in my hand; I felt fairly confident that the mountain was, in fact, where we needed to go.
Jai took a breath, then closed his eyes and motioned to the air around us. “Proceed.”