Chapter 1: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-1/
Chapter 2: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-2/
Chapter 3: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-3/
Chapter 4: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-4/
Chapter 5: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-5/
Chapter 6: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-6/
Chapter 7: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-7/
Chapter 8: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-8/
The Algae Voices of Azule
Chapter 9
Charles was impatiently waiting on the sidewalk, Billy standing next to him.
“Come on, let’s go,” he snapped, then turned and headed up the street.
Billy waited for his sister then followed their father, shoulder to shoulder.
‘So much for the understanding, accepting father we had at the hospital,’ Billy thought to his sister.
‘Yeah, it was nice, while it lasted,’ Ali thought back. ‘Come on, let’s catch up.’
The twins walked quickly and caught up with their father, following right on his heels. The street was a bustle of activity, with people on the sidewalks walking quickly to their destinations, heads down, wanting to stay unnoticed. Traffic was thick on the road, with hover trucks and ground speeders zipping by, the glow from their anti-gravity generators lighting the street a soft blue. It was busy on the street, too busy for Charles’ taste. It was good to disappear in a crowd, he thought, but he also liked it when he could see a threat coming from far off and with this much activity, the Inquisitors or soldiers could sneak right up on them, and they’d never see them coming.
Turning off the main street, Charles led them through deserted alleyways and narrow streets, keeping off the busy boulevard and staying to the shadows wherever possible. They walked for a while in silence, Charles peering into the shadows, looking for threats, while Billy and Ali listened with their Gifts, trying to sense Inquisitors nearby. Suddenly, Charles stopped and pulled his two children into the doorway of a deserted shop.
“Stay here,” Charles said, his voice edged with the sound of command. “I’m going to get us some transportation. When I whistle, come running.”
He ran off before the twins could respond.
“Are you OK?” Billy asked, seeing a look of fear on his sister’s face.
“I’m scared, Billy, really scared.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “What’s gonna happen to us? Where are we going to end up?”
“I don’t know, but Mr. Dirac seemed like he had it all figured out. We can trust him.”
“I know, but…Are we ever gonna have what we had back there? A place to feel safe in?”
“Who knows? I guess we will …”
Just then a loud whistling sound pierced the air; it was their father. Stopping in mid-sentence, Billy grabbed his sister’s hand, turned and ran toward the sound. They darted out of the alleyway and zigzagged around pedestrians on the sidewalk. Some gazed angrily at the two youths that had almost knocked them down, but the twins never saw the annoyed stares. They just ran.
Billy could see their father, his large frame behind the steering wheel of some old dented ground speeder. It was moving slowly down the street, one of the doors open. They bolted toward the street, running between two parked ground speeders, their anti-gravity generators glowing under the vehicles and shading the ground with a warm cobalt blue glow. This was in contrast to the sickly blue light coming from the speeder their father had stolen. Clearly he hadn’t taken the best of the lot.
“Come on!” he shouted, waving to the twins.
Billy and Ali shot toward speeder, their backpacks bouncing against their shoulders, and dove into the back seat. As soon as they landed, Charles hit the accelerator and the ground speeder shot down the street, the acceleration slamming the door shut. He sped down the road and took the first turn, then the next and the next, so that any witnesses wouldn’t be sure which way they went.
“Alright, Dad!” Billy exclaimed.
Charles turned his head and scowled down at his son briefly, then turned back to watch the road.
“Sorry, I mean father.”
“Where did you find this, father,” Ali asked.
“It was just parked in front of a shop,” Charles explained. “The owner was probably shopping, and didn’t feel like turning the speeder off and locking it. It serves them right.”
“What now?” Billy asked.
“We head east and try to make it to that place Mr. Dirac mentioned, Haven,” their father explained. “You two try to get a little sleep back there. I’ll wake you up, when we get there.”
“OK,” the twins replied and tried to get comfortable.
‘You feel like sleeping, Ali,’ Billy thought.
‘No, not in here,’ she thought back. ‘This car smells like the inside of my shoes. I’m a little afraid to put my face against the seat.’
‘Yeah, it might stick.’
The twins giggled. Billy looked up and saw their father looking into the backseat with the rearview mirror and frowned, a confused look on his face, like he was trying to figure out what they were really doing.
‘He doesn’t get us,’ Billy thought. ‘I’m not sure he ever will.’
‘He hates the Gifted so much. I don’t think he’ll every fully accept us, Billy. He’ll always have that look of distrust and suspicion, no matter how hard he tries to hide it.’
‘Maybe as we get older, he’ll come to accept our Gifts…accept us,’ Billy thought hopefully.
‘That is IF we get older,’ Ali projected, her thoughts resonating with the fear she was feeling.
‘Sometimes you’re so cheery,’ Billy thought with a giggle, then grunted when Ali elbowed him in the ribs.
“Cut it out back there and get some rest!” Charles barked. “We’ll be …”
Just then, a loud siren pierced the air followed by bright, blinking red lights that lit the interior of the ground speeder with oscillating shades of crimson.
“What’s that?” Ali asked, almost yelled.
She sat up and peeked over the back of the seat and out the dirty rear window of the speeder. Behind them was another ground speeder, painted jet black with a single red strip through the center of the vehicle. Angry red lights blinked on the top, their intensity too bright to look at, a black clad man behind the wheel; an Inquisitor.
“Oh no,” Ali moaned and scrunched back down in the back seat.
“What is it?” Billy asked, but could see that his sister was overcome by fear and couldn’t answer.
Sitting up, he slowly leaned his head over the stained backseat then quickly scrunched back down again. His heart sank and all hope drained from his soul.
“A Hearse,” Billy said, answering his own question; it was what people called the ground speeders that the Inquisitors drove.
“No…” Ali moaned, almost pleaded.
It was the worst thing that could be following them, and Inquisitor in their own ground speeder; undoubtedly faster and more maneuverable than this thing their father had stolen, and probably loaded with weapons and communications. There was no way they could get away from this pursuer. They were doomed.
