The Traveler

“I’ve never met your father and I don’t know where he is,” Maya said. “But I just wanted to say that-maybe he did this to protect you. Your house was destroyed. Your family went underground. According to our spy, the Tabula thought you were dead. You would have been safe if Michael hadn’t gone back on the Grid.”

“That might have been the reason. But I still…”

“You want to see him.”

Gabriel nodded.

“Maybe you’ll find him one day. If you have the power to become a Traveler, you might meet him in another realm.”

***

GABRIEL CLIMBED THE ladder to the loft bed. He tried to sleep, but it was impossible. As a cold wind came down the canyon and rattled the window frame, Gabriel sat on the bed and tried to become a Traveler. None of this was real. His body wasn’t real. And he could leave it. Just. Like. That.

For an hour or so, he argued with himself. Assuming that I have the power, then all I have to do is accept that fact. A plus B equals C. When logic didn’t work, he closed his eyes and was swept away by his own emotions. He could find his father and talk to him if he could break away from this cage of flesh. Within his mind, Gabriel tried to walk from darkness into light, but when he opened his eyes he was still sitting on the bed. Feeling angry and frustrated, he pounded his fist on the mattress.

Eventually, he fell asleep and woke up at dawn with the rough wool blanket wrapped around his body. When the shadows disappeared from the corners of the loft, Gabriel pulled on his clothes and climbed down the ladder. No one was in the bathroom and the bedroom was also empty. He went down the hallway to the kitchen and peered through a crack in the door. Maya sat with her sword case on her lap and her left hand flat on the table, staring at a patch of sunlight on the red tile floor. The sword and the intense expression on her face made him feel as if the Harlequin was cut off from any real human contact. He doubted if there could be a more solitary life: always hunted, always prepared to fight and die.

Maya turned slightly when Gabriel entered the kitchen. “Did they leave us anything for breakfast?” he asked.

“There’s tea and instant coffee in the cupboard. Milk, butter, and a loaf of bread in the refrigerator.”

“That’s enough for me.” Gabriel filled a kettle and placed it on a burner of the electric stove. “Why didn’t you make something?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Do you know anything about this Pathfinder?” Gabriel asked. “Is he young or old? What’s his nationality? They didn’t give us any information last night.”

“The Pathfinder is their secret. Hiding him is their act of resistance against the Vast Machine. Antonio was right about one thing: this community could get in a lot of trouble if the Tabula knew we were here.”

“And what happens when we meet the Pathfinder? Are you going to hang around and watch me fall on my face?”

“I’ve got other things to do. Don’t forget, the Tabula are continuing to look for you. I’ve got to make them believe that you’re somewhere else.”

“And how do you plan to do that?”

“You said your brother gave you money and a credit card when you were separated at the clothing factory.”

“Sometimes I use his card,” Gabriel said. “I don’t have any of my own.”

“Think I could borrow it?”

“What about the Tabula? Aren’t they going to trace the card number?”

“I’m expecting that,” Maya said. “I’ll use the card and your motorcycle.”

Gabriel didn’t want to lose the motorcycle, but he knew that Maya was right. The Tabula knew the bike’s license plate number and a dozen other ways to track him down. Everything from his old life had to be discarded.

“Okay.” He gave her Michael’s credit card and the motorcycle key. Maya looked as if she wanted to tell him something important, but she stood up without a word and walked to the doorway. “Eat your breakfast,” she said. “Antonio is going to be here in a few minutes.”

“This might be a waste of time. I might not be a Traveler.”

“I’ve accepted that possibility.”

“So don’t risk your life and do something crazy.”

Maya looked at him and smiled. Gabriel felt like they were connected to each other at that moment. Not friends, exactly, but soldiers in the same army. And then, for the first time in their relationship, he heard the Harlequin laugh.

“It’s all crazy, Gabriel. But you find your own sanity.”

***

ANTONIO CARDENAS SHOWED up ten minutes later and said he would drive them to where the Pathfinder was living. Gabriel took along the jade sword and the knapsack filled with his extra clothes. In the back of Antonio’s pickup truck were three canvas bags of canned food, bread, and fresh vegetables from the greenhouses.

“When the Pathfinder first arrived, I spent a month at the site setting up a windmill to power a water pump and electric lights,” Antonio said. “Now I just show up every two weeks with food supplies.”

“So what’s he like?” Gabriel asked. “You haven’t really told us.”