Song of the Red-Legged Birds: Chapter 38: I'm on a plane

Luke makes a break for it

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With gratitude, Bill

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Last week, in chapter 37, Luke went missing

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Chapter 38: I'm on a plane

After debriefing with Desmond, Luke told Careen he would take a walk on his lunch break. It was a beautiful day with a clear sky; he needed to get above ground for a bit. As usual, tourists were milling about and taking photos of the landscape.

He started walking down the road with his thumb out.

He’d been walking for ten minutes, checking over his shoulder every few seconds, when he came upon a car parked in a side area designated for picture taking. A man who had just finished shooting a photo of his new bride against the distant ocean backdrop asked Luke if he needed a lift down the mountain. He accepted, and the three conversed politely about all the must-see things in Maui until they dropped him at his little place in Paia.

Luke was glad to see that there were no cars in the driveway. No one’s home, good. He went to his room, which was bare except for a bed, a desk with a computer, and a pile of laundry in the corner. A large FlakFest 3084 poster was pinned to the wall beside a closet. He opened it, grabbed a small backpack, and threw in a change of clothes and some toiletries. Then Luke made quick work of the desktop computer, cracking it open and removing the hard drive. He unscrewed a secret compartment inside the system. There was a small stack of cash, a burner phone, a fake ID, and a passport. Before zipping the bag closed, he tossed in his tablet and charger.

He raced out of the bedroom, then paused momentarily, gripping the front door handle. Luke turned around to fix a picture of the apartment in his mind, his first real home. He hoped he’d reach out to his roommates someday, but not today.

Luke locked the door and dashed down the street, glancing at the Flyer map on his watch as it synched to his location. He took a right onto Baldwin Avenue and was happy to see the Flyer still waiting at the stop. He bounded into the open doors as they snapped closed behind him. A few wide-eyed tourists eyed the local as Luke took his seat. He relaxed with a sigh into the leather chair, then panicked. Luke pulled his work phone out. It was set on silent. He’d forgotten about it. There were nine text messages from Careen wondering where he was, and they grew increasingly panicked. The last one said, “WTF!”

He pulled out the battery and pried the phone apart with the edge of his house key. Then he removed the logic board and twisted it until it cracked apart. He put the pieces in his backpack, then looked to his right to see two older tourists with oversized floppy hats and fanny packs eyeing him.

He smiled and shrugged, “Piece of junk, time for a new one.”

They nodded and faced the other way. The man on the aisle scooted the shopping bag on the floor closer to himself.

Can’t believe I’m doing this. High-paying job coding, living in paradise, a real home, and I’m running away.

He thought about Careen and realized that it hurt to leave her. It was no secret that he had a crush on the punk developer, but she’d come to feel like family, someone who looked out for him. That made the pain even worse.

I’ve got to let her know I’m okay, someday.

The gentle swaying of the Flyer lulled him into a dream, and he woke with a start when they reached Kahului Airport. He wiped the sleep from his eyes and jumped into the aisle, saying, “Have a great vacation!” to the traveling couple, who regarded him with fascination.

Luke dashed across the walkway of the open-air airport and right up to a ticket kiosk. He took a long, purposeful breath of the warm island breeze before pressing the ‘Ready?’ button. The machine asked for three things, identification, destination, and payment. He had a boarding pass within five minutes and was on the way to the gate.

While planes had become close to cattle cars, the experience at most airports had improved quite a bit. Security was still present but unobtrusive. The improvement was partly due to the government bailout of the airline industry in reaction to the Airports Suck boycott of 2093.

As he walked to his gate, an automated drink bot sidled up and asked if he’d like a beverage. “Yes, please, water,” he said, and a cup appeared on its surface. “Have a nice flight, sir,” the bot said and dashed for the person ahead of him.

He finished the water and tossed the empty cup in the general direction of a PowerTrash can. It spotted the debris in the air and sucked it in like a lizard capturing a bug, then glowed with a green smiley face.

Ahead, a little store beckoned with its display of books, bottled water, and souvenirs. Luke took a moment to look at what was for sale without intent on buying anything. Reminding himself that he was on the run, he thought a hat was a good idea. Shouldn’t I have a disguise? There was a small selection to choose from. He picked a dark blue one with a brilliant cyan azure wave crashing across the brim that rode onto the face. Maui Nō Ka ʻOi embroidered onto the wave. He paid, put it on, and pulled it down low. Luke stepped out of the store, looked right, then stepped to the left, walking directly into Careen.

“Oof, nice hat, slugger.” She said, staggering from the impact.

His backpack fell to the floor, somewhere close to his jaw. “Uh…”

“Yeah. Come sit with me,” she said.

Careen had a black hoodie with ‘Meat is Murder’ written on the back above a posterized photo of a soldier. Jeans cutoff below her knees revealed an eye tattooed on each calf that Luke hadn’t noticed before. He followed her as she led them to a couple of seats away from other people.

They sat down, and she waited.

He fidgeted with the new hat, then took it off. “How did you know?”

“Wrong question, my friend, but I’ll answer it. I know because you and I are similar. We don’t confront, and we don’t ask for help. We run when we’re scared, and you’re scared. You’ve basically told me as much. When it was obvious that you were gone too long to be walking, I knew that you must have seen the news and bolted. I stopped at your apartment first. When you weren’t there, my gut told me you were here.”

“The news?”

“About Boston.” As she said the words, she realized he didn’t know.

“What about Boston?” He put the hat down on top of the backpack.

“Wait a second. Luke, why are you running?”

“What about Boston!” he said.

“Fuck,” she said and took out her phone. Careen pulled up a news story about how a terrorist blew up a floor of the Prudential building. She handed it to Luke.

He scanned it, eyes widening in horror as it clattered to the ground. “That’s where it was; that’s where he was! Careen, that’s the location I gave Desmond! What did they do? What did I do!” He rocked back and forth with his head in his hands. “Oh god, oh god, I killed him! I killed people! They died because of me! No no no no no…” his words turned into sobs.

Careen put an arm around him. “It’s not your fault, Luke, honey, it’s not your fault.”

“Of course it’s my fault! They wouldn’t have found him! Why would they do that?” Luke gripped his hair with both hands.

Careen noticed a couple of people watching. “He’s okay, thanks for staring, that really helps.” They moved along, pretending they were looking at something else.

“I don’t know, Luke. Maybe it was an accident? We can’t be sure, so let’s not assume the worst, okay?”

“An accident,” he said, calming down and glancing at her. “You think?”

“Could be. An accident is as much a possibility as anything else.”

Luke wiped his nose with his sleeve.

“Gross, dude,” she handed him a tissue from her pocket. “Luke, if you didn’t know about this, why are you running?”

He sat straight with widening eyes, “I’m not going back. You can’t make me.”

“Relax. I care about you; this is what people who care about you do. They try to help, they worry, they ask questions, all right?”

“I guess.” His shoulders slumped.

“So?” Careen said.

Luke took a deep breath and looked around. He leaned in close. “The pulsing, it’s not coming from outside of the Earth. It’s coming from inside. Whatever we think we’re protecting humanity from is already here.”

Careen wrinkled her brow. “That… that doesn’t make sense. What’s causing the pulse then?”

Luke slumped forward and closed his eyes.” Look, I wasn’t completely honest about my discovery of The Red Foot Network. I mean, when I discovered it. I didn’t tell you until a day later. I spent that first day reading a ton of the content. I mean, I read a lot.” He pointed to her phone. “That dude, Wake, he’s a friggin genius—the real deal. I know people think I’m smart and stuff, but Wake is…” he swallowed hard.

“He’s what?”

“I just wanted to meet him, maybe have him teach me. I thought we could be, like, friends or something, or maybe he’d let me work for him. Careen, he’s a good guy... or was.”

She touched his arm.

“Wake described how he figured out that the pulse is a diversion. It’s meant to bring the world together, to care for each other instead of killing one another. To make us think about larger things than our petty differences.” Luke’s watch beeped. “My flight is boarding.”

“You’re still going?”

He nodded.

She looked at the floor.

“Can you come with me?” he said, brightening.

She smiled. “Maybe, but not today. I told Desmond that I’d find you, that I figured you might need to clear your head. I’ll go back and say that I found you resting at home. That’ll at least buy you some time. You’ve got to disappear, Luke. They’ll figure out where you went.”

“I know. Wake wrote a great deal about how to do that. I’ve got some reading for the flight.” He patted his backpack. “And some videos to watch, this cool TV series called Firefly, you’d love it.”

“Good choice, I’ve seen it. How can I contact you?”

Luke reached into his backpack and took out a pen. He pulled the tag from the hat out of his pocket, scribbled the number of his burner phone, and handed it to her.

She pocketed the scrap after looking at it. “What’s your plan–now that Wake is gone?”

“I’m not sure. But, one of the last things he documented was that those two people, Holly and Takeda, had met with him and left to find her mother in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She’s in some sort of trouble; there weren’t any details. I’d like to find them, tell them they might be in danger, and talk to them about Wake. And, learn more about what they know, what they’ve seen.”

He looked down at his watch; it buzzed again. “Five minutes, I better get to my gate.”

They got up together and started walking. Boston Flight 309 was boarding a few remaining passengers at Gate 35 when they reached it.

She turned him by the shoulder and took his hands. “You know it will be too dangerous to call me, so don’t. I’ll contact you first. I plan to come to help you, but I’m not sure how that will play out yet. In the meantime, I’ll run interference.”

Luke smiled. “You’ll come?”

“Of course, if you don’t mind me tagging along. I mean, the work here suddenly got kind of boring; I’d like to see what you’re up to.”

She leaned close to his ear, he blushed almost immediately as she whispered, “I know you’ve got more secrets to share, more that you’ve learned.”

Careen hugged him and held on until he finally relaxed and hugged her back.

“Good luck, Luke, be safe.”

The attendant at the desk swiped his boarding pass. “I will.”

He turned to walk down the jetway while she watched him. Luke stopped and turned to face her. “Careen! It’s the trees. The trees!”

The door to the jetway closed.

Next week in Chapter 39, “Afterlife sentence,” Remembering Wake, and hatching a plan.