Under the evening rim, at long last, Jessica, her friends, and the Woodsmen arrived at their destination. They found a shabby, old ranger outpost surrounded by cedars and draped in leaves. Little more than a series of dilapidated beams and old towers. Closer inspection revealed a network of metal barricades and trench networks.
Indescribably, a sensation of an invisible presence motioned toward the greater labyrinth of the forest.
Gideon strolled up to the ruin, Danielle still slumped over his shoulder. With the tip of his foot, he tapped around a leaf patch until the hollow drum of metal resonated. Scattering the leaves revealed a cellar door; he stood silently by as two woodsmen lifted the handles. A series of concrete steps disappeared into a hollow space.
"I'm noticing recurring abstract imagery here," said Shannon.
Gideon stared over his shoulder. "Are you noticing hospitality?" With the golden hour done, the leader of the Woodsmen led the way down. His men stood guard, waiting for their guests to step below.
Shannon paused. "It's as if the darkness just keeps landing in front of us, this ominous representation of personal fate: indomitable, impalpable, and we are impassive to it. Like Yin without Yang."
Silence.
Hand on her chin, Jessica placed Shannon into her contemplative crosshairs. Thinking about it, her girlfriend's sixth sense never steered them awry. For the most part, Shannon was a premonitory cookie.
"Hmmm..."
"Don't let vague signs tell you how to live your life, girl," said Valerie. "If you don't go with the flow, you get blown away, and we're being blown away."
"Hmmm..."
Jessica entered the cellar, then Dexter, then Valerie, then Raptor, and Shannon last. Their entry preceded candle auras in the pitch black. With a flicker, Gideon lit another, then another, and another. In no time, the furnishings of an antiquated lounge shaped before them.
Newfound visibility landed everyone on a hardwood floorboard furnished with tables. Some stools lined a bar countertop, behind which rested a marvelous rack decorated by shot glasses and bottles in every shape and size. Two adjacent sofas lay within reach—one of which comforted Danielle's splayed body as she slept. This half of the interior was reserved for leisure. The other half, the back, housed several crates, and gallons of water. Jessica found it exceedingly unremarkable until her eyes wandered to the scattered Christmas decorations. "How very Anglo," she remarked.
Gideon unfurled a map and pinned it to the center of the round table with a knife. He offered a chair to Raptor, and as the operative approached, he gestured for everyone else to sit on the available couch. He tossed Jessica's gravity board to her. "Skater girl!"
Jessica caught the board. "Ja?"
"You seem to be the brains. Have a seat."
"How formal and abnormal." She looked back, noted Woodsmen guarding the entrance, then casually accepted one of three seats. Scrunching between Raptor and the vacant seat, theirr knees nearly touched his. Meanwhile, Gideon strolled over to the bar and procured a bottle and three glasses, which made Jessica wince.
"Y'all can take a seat and park it," Gideon reiterated, staring at Jessica's friends. The three of them casually waited by the sofa, hesitant.
Awkwardly, Jessica's gaze meandered to the animal heads on display behind the counter. She then turned to her friends on the sofa. Anxious mugs, albeit Dexter had a twinkle in his eyes. A thud later, she found Gideon parked next to her. Lazily, he eyed the lot of them before starting.
"Why are the pointy ears after ya?"
Raptor emptied his handgun chamber then lay it flat on the table. "Goliath doesn't like people who rock the boat, or armed organizations who threaten their proud infrastructure."
"Besides that."
"Caught them in a lie," said Jessica.
"Ha! Which one?"
"Which one should we discuss?"
"It's the kind of secret that keeps us on our toes, wherever we go," Raptor returned. "So, you probably don't want us in your house a second longer than necessary."
Gideon's deep blue eyes grinned then rolled between both guests. "Where're my manners?" He stared past Jessica and directly at Valerie, Shannon, and Dexter. "Wouldja like somethin' to kill yer dehydration?"
"Whatever you got," said Shannon. "I would ask for something light on the calories, but the hell with it, know what I mean?"
"Anything sealed," said Valerie.
Dexter thought carefully. "What do you have?"
Gideon stood from his chair. "Shoot, what do I have?"
After a brief inventory inspection, Gideon returned from his rack holding a particularly large bottle. Naturally, it came with three more shot glasses. He distributed these to Jessica's friends before tossing the first bottle over to his subordinates by the entrance. A few popped caps later, he sat down and set one jar on the table, from which he proceeded to fill Jessica and Raptor's glasses.
I knew I didn't like where this was going.
"They say alcohol distills honesty!" Gideon said ceremoniously. "Makes for the perfect drink between strangers, wouldn't cha say?"
"What about underage strangers?" said Jessica.
"What? You 'fraid some alien's gonna come in the middle of the night, stuff you into a room, and punish you for under-age drinking?"
"Among other things..."
"If this'll get us where we need to be," said Raptor, examining his glass.
Jessica pensively brought it to her mouth, but the powerful scent made her slam it back down, gagging.
"It's just moonshine!" said Gideon. "It ain't gonna bite. Might kill you, but it ain't gonna bite."
Jessica breathed. "It's like inhaling poison with a side of poison!"
"No need to exaggerate."
"My scan indicates a 75.7% alcoholic volume," said Babel.
"No one asked yer robot's opinion. Drink! And don't forget to breathe, missy. It's very important."
As Jessica planted herself on the chair, she peeked at Raptor and saw the empty glass beneath his chin. She had no idea how he did it, but as soon as he looked up at her, he cracked his first-ever grin. The world turned upside down, and Gideon locked his gaze on her. Accepting fate, Jessica breathed through her mouth, wrapped precision fingers around the glass, and sipped.
She coughed all over the place. Shannon even ran over to help when she seemed ready to unload on the floor. In a stunning recovery, however, Jessica sat back down and waved Shannon away. "Go drink your own poison," she rasped.
Moments later, perfectly composed, the girl sat upright with a crooked smirk.
Gideon glared past her. "Y'all aren't drinkin'. Wouldja prefer some moonshine?" When he waved the bottle, Valerie, Dexter, and Shannon gulped down their glasses and replied respectively:
"Con esto estoy bien, senor,"
"No, whiskey is fine, thanks."
"I'm cool, man."
"And I am incapable of consumption," said Babel.
"He wasn't talking to you," said Jessica.
"Then, like the rest of the room, you can forget I am here."
Jessica rolled her eyes. "I guess someone's feeling talkative."
"I detect no Azareans nearby, therefore no risk."
"Then why didn't you talk when we were alone in the forest, earlier?"
"Dexter was present, and by monitoring your heart rate I deduced that—"
"Hahahahaha!" Jessica clasped her watch. "Run a diagnostic, Babel, and shut up while you do it."
"You done?" Gideon said.
"Ye..."
"Now, where were we?"
"We were formulating a hypotenuse through the wilderness, ideally one that circumnavigates urban centers. While I may—can hack monitoring installations throughout Azareans zones of control, the gambit is getting from point A to point B while maintaining zero-grade notoriety, thus keeping your people and our people out of the government's proverbial crosshairs. Beyond point B, we'll work with the underground to mass-distribute information centripetal and detrimental to the alien indoctrination scheme, thereby rocking the foundations of the Union and their cyberinfrastructure. Only then will people lose faith in their regime, and we can effectively supplant their epistemological violence."
Silence.
Smugly smiling, Gideon fingered the jar of moonshine. "What I tell ya? Don't know what she just said, but I think the case is closed."
"We have to get to our people, the quickest way possible, the stealthiest way possible," said Raptor. "Maybe, you can help us."
Silently, Gideon crossed back to the rack and returned with another bottle. "Here's some chaser," he said, refilling Raptor's glass. All the while, a quiet groan rose from the sofa.
Danielle was waking up.
ns 15.158.61.50da2
