Deborah shivered as
she finally got up on top of the platform. A new family? Was she
really that desperate? No, she wasn’t, at least she hoped not. In
either case, she was still stuck without a clear answer to the
problem. She pulled the glasses from her pocket and cradled them in
her hands. The answer, it would seem, would have to come through
another means.
The actual diving
board had been sheared off earlier, leaving the platform and a couple
holes behind for the bolts that were also gone. There was no sign of
the board either down in the pool or elsewhere. The pool looked
strange now, and it took a moment for Deborah to realize why.
Before, when she had first come in, it was not only full, but green
and full of plant life. Now, though, it was completely empty, the
few remaining plants had been cooked brown or black and the sealant
material that was blue, but severely pitted and torn by the fight now
raging.
Deborah put inched
toward the edge of the platform and looked down. Explosions were
occurring everywhere, rattling through the building in an almost
continuous rumble of thunder. Up now on her feet, but still
crouching low, almost uncomfortably so, she put the glasses on and
looked again. Now she could see L’lorne and Ritch ‘arrd in their
static poses of combat. With a sigh, Deborah began to let her eyes
follow the action on their own.
The flashes rumbled
across the floor, but Deborah held her head steady, trying not to
follow the action with anything more than her eyes. She could only
see them in glimpses as her eyes quickly moved to the next flash, but
she could see their faces. L’lorne didn’t seem angry, but she
was intense, in poses where her weapon was being swung, she seemed to
be yelling. Ritch ‘arrd was almost calm, but stern, scrunching his
face only when forced to hold back a blow as if it were a heavy
weight.
Back and forth across
the floor they went, down into the pool, up onto the remains of the
blocks Ritch ‘arrd had, long ago it seemed now, lifted out of the
ground for cover. They barely looked like blocks anymore, just piles
of sand that seemed to explode randomly. They weren’t randomly
placed either, now that Deborah could see them from above, they were
rather regular, almost looking like the pieces on a chessboard,
though not quite.
Actually, the whole
thing looked like a game of chess in a weird way, and as Deborah
thought about it, she realized she was looking at it very much like
she did when she was playing. Like that day in the park with
L’lorne, as she stared at the board, trying to figure out the next
move and then suddenly knowing it and all the subsequent ones. All
back to that again, chess in the park. What if she hadn’t done
that? Hadn’t chased L’lorne through the city, what if she had
simply never met L’lorne at all?
Would she have been
beaten up by that drunk in the ally? Maybe, hard to say. Definitely
she would have gone for help, probably dragged to some orphanage or
foster home somewhere. Dropped into the system just as Ritch ‘arrd
said he had originally planned. A foster family would probably have
followed, a relatively well to do one, and a higher class of
education would come out of it. Her own aptitude for chess would
probably come out soon after and off to schooling for that.
Mr. Davis, the man who
taught her chess in between sessions with her mom, often talked of
tournaments for chess players, though never if he had ever
participated. After a spell learning chess specifically, she could
see herself at such a tournament, probably stunning the crowd with
her almost unnatural talent. Would she see Mr. Davis at one such
tournament? Would he even recognize her? Probably better if not,
but even so, it’s unlikely either would say anything. A
championship or two later she would likely be introduced to the
Minister of Education, Malcolm Donalds. From there. . .
Deborah grunted in
frustration. Why was she still going over all this in her mind? She
should focus on the now, not on what might be, what could be, and
what might have been. In mere minutes none of that could matter, the
world would be gone in a flash. Even as her mind had wandered, her
eyes had not, and suddenly every muscle in her body tensed. She felt
it and her heartbeat shot up in anticipation.
Deborah jumped off the
high dive platform.
A split second later
the surprise of having jumped hit her and she nearly screamed. Her
arms shot out from her sides and she charged the ground at the speed
of gravity. The wind of the fall blasted past her face, the ground
shot up near her and all she could think of was if this was the end.
Suddenly, it was all
gone. The fast moving wind was replaced by a slight breeze, chilly
but not terribly so. The oncoming floor of the pool was replaced by
a view of clouds off into the distance. What was out there? As if
on command, the clouds parted revealing a vast field far, far below.
She turned around and looked up. A mountain, huge, dominate and
vanishing into the clouds above her stood looking back. It seemed to
go on into infinity, disappearing only as the cloud density grew
tighter.
She turned back to the
field and looked out. From here, she could just see specs moving
against the green hills. People, she supposed, going about their
daily lives. How did she get here? What was this? Then she heard a
voice from behind her. It was young, but old, oh so very old. She
could hear his age in it, and knew, without knowing why, that she
understood that age better than anyone else had ever understood it.
She felt old now, so very, very old, older than she could ever
imagine. Worse yet, she could feel that however old she felt, he was
far, far older. Despite that feeling, it was the words that shook
her most.
“Are you going to
jump?” Quinn asked.
She turned to reply,
but before she saw him, the mountain was gone and she was falling
again. She knew to start closing her arms, and did so, but something
else caught her attention. It vibrated beneath her, back and forth,
and she stretched out for it with something she had never felt
before. Catching it, she pulled it close and knew this was the
answer she was looking for.
Questions
Not this time. Let's leave it for the finale.
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