Pandora's Chase

Chapter Fifty

Chase, uncomfortable as he was watching Lendar handle his father's gun, curbed his desire to take it. Any visible interest now might make it more difficult to get it back later. Instead, he tore off a piece of bread, dipped it in the soup for a bite, and then reached for the map.

Scrat whipped out a knife and brought it down between Chase's middle and ring fingers.

Chase didn't even flinch.

"I will stab you," Scrat quietly expressed. He had a crazy look in his eye, but Chase felt he was no real threat.

"I can see that," Chase said dully. "You wanna see how the map works or not?"

Scrat gave the knife a couple failed tugs. When it would not budge, he stood to gain leverage. A couple tough pulls later and it finally popped out of the table. Scrat recoiled, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Chase unfolded the map as he'd done many times before and explained what the dots represented. Lendar finished cleaning the gun and slid it into the holster. He then tucked it away in his pack and sat down to his bread and soup, as the others had already done.

Most of the crew watched as the dots on the map moved into position. Then the counters displayed their information, and Chase decided to eat more before telling them how it worked. Lendar happened to begin eating at the same moment. In perfect unison, they each grabbed their bread with their left hands, tore off a piece with their right, and dipped it into the soup before placing it in their mouths. It would not have been so eerie if it weren't for them both slurping the remaining soup off their fingers in the exact same manner.

There was an interesting pause in the attention on the map as everyone watched this take place one more time before the two noticed everyone staring.

"Is there a problem?" Lendar said, as if to threaten the entire group, trying to play off the coincidence. He stood with his meal and went over to the sink, drinking the remaining soup before he slammed the bowl down.

"Clean that," he said to Tommy and walked back to his chair.

"Okay, that was weird," muttered Scrat.

Chase interrupted the awkwardness, hoping to gain favor with Lendar. He explained what the numbers meant and maneuvered the map to make the target appear.

"It's pretty simple actually. Basically the red dot is where I'm headed and the blue dot represents the maps location. Line up the dots and you find the direction your heading and if you wait a moment," he paused, waiting for the distance to update, "you're shown how far away it is.

"So where does it point?" Braider asked.

"Arboria. And I need to get there as soon as possible."

"We'll get there," Braider said, "on my terms."

Stay focused for Jaxi, think. How could he use his time wisely?

"Here." He handed the map to Braider. "Touch it, try to use it."

Braider fingered the surface of the map, and as Chase wanted to show, nothing happened. Chase then reached over and with his five fingers splayed them on the map, bringing forth a bright blue glow. "Can anyone else here work the map? Would anyone like to try?" He asked all that were standing around, including Lendar.

Scrat unsuccessfully tried but that meant nothing to Chase. He knew that would happen. He wanted to see what Lendar would do, and the fact that Lendar did nothing told Chase exactly what he wanted to know. Lendar, who clearly the map responded to, kept that information to himself. Why does Lendar keep this secret? What does he know? What is he after? Chase thought.

"The disk, the map, and I are bound together," Chase announced. "All I want is to be the one to put it back in the box and be done with it. Once I do that, you can have it. I won't fight you for it."

Braider grabbed the map from Chase. "And what happens if someone else touches the disk?"

"The only other person I know of that did that was killed. So, with that, and considering all the events in and around me opening the box, I believe that would not be a good thing for anyone." He wasn't sure he should tell the next part but he needed all the help he could get to make them hesitate when the time came. "The map is counting down. Look, up in the upper right corner," Chase said, leaning over and peering at the numbers himself. "570210. Every five seconds it goes down by one."

About a month left. I have to let them take me.

"And what happens at zero?" Tommy asked, obviously not believing a word of this.

"Well." He took a long pause. "I believe the disk will leave the place where it rests and return to Earth to destroy it."

There was an uncomfortable break in chatter and just as he suspected, they all ripped up in a laughing roar. All except Chase, Paira, and most curiously, Lendar. Now Chase undoubtedly knew that Lendar knew exactly what this thing was. He knows its power and he wants it for himself.

"You're telling us that a tiny disk thing is going to destroy earth?" Scrat asked, still laughing.

Chase glared at him. "Yes."

Scrat laughed, but Braider only smiled. It was obvious he was considering it as truth. "No one believes that! You ain't touchin' that disk. You ain't locking it away from us in that box!"

Chase tried another tack, "If I'm not the one to grab it, the disk will take off." Chase paused. "As in fly away. Which means you won't have the disk then. I need to place it in the box to deactivate it. Then you can have it."

At least no one said anything in response. That might have been something, but Chase felt compelled to reiterate.

"I'm serious," said Chase with a straight face. He couldn't tell if Braider believed him as he started to walk away.

"Braider!" Chase shouted out. "That's not it."

Braider kept walking. "Yeah yeah, I know. You have to be the one. Earth will be destroyed."

"I opened the box and it tied itself to me." Chase was standing proud. Although this statement was true, he needed Braider to believe it.

"You could be lying," said Braider, turning back.

"Look!" Chase shouted, pulling his shirt collar down exposing the symbol on his chest.

"So what? A stupid tattoo. Everyone's got one," he said showing his own faded tattoo on his forearm.

"Not like this," Chase said with a smile. He then slammed his other hand down on the map and his tattoo flared a burning orange bright as the sun and hot as molten metal. His face cringed with excruciating pain as the entire room lit up in an orange glow.

With all eyes on Chase, no one noticed Lendar crouching in pain. He grabbed his chest as he ducked out of the mess during the commotion. Everyone jumped back and Chase lifted his hand off the map, relieving himself of the torture.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with. Who knows what this thing will do if anyone else touches it?" He paused, gaining his breath. "It will be your peril if you do not heed this warning." Braider and Chase were in a deadlock with their eyes.

"All right," Braider said. "If you don't hand it over, she dies." He added, before ordering Tommy and Scrat to continue with jump preparations.

"Jump?" asked Chase excited to hear the words.

"Relax, we have a few weeks yet," said Braider as he left the mess hall, followed by Scrat and Tommy.

That will leave me with about a week when we get there.