Skyland by Aelius Blythe Read Free Book Online Page A

made his eyes well up. It was too much. He
missed her. He missed his Sky.
    Harper sniffed.
    "The first ship left Skyland today with
almost five thousand passengers–"
    Five thousand?
    Harper had trouble believing the tally on
the broadcast. Surely, there had been millions crowding the dock.
He shook his head. He'd never seen that many people. He'd never
even seen five hundred together.
    "–Flight plans indicate the ship is indeed
bound for Union Proper, but it remains to be seen which planet will
take the settlers."
    He listened anyway.
    "Oh... ah, this just in–"
    One hand twitched in his lap. He held it
tight in a fist. His eyes moved to the news projection on the
observation deck window.
    "–Den has said they will take the refugees.
They have yet to say whether they will take all Skyland
settlers or whether the eight ships to follow will have to seek
refuge elsewhere–"
    Harper's fist relaxed.
    He closed his eyes. The blackness of the
night Sky whispered behind their lids. He opened them again
quickly. One heavy breath escaped like a sigh.
    "– Den has a lower population density than
most other planets in the Union, a quality that factored into their
decision to accept this shipload of Skylanders."
    A hand touched his shoulder, an arm rested
on his neck. Zara. She stood behind him now and leaned silently
against his back, cradling his head against her chest, smoothing
his hair, brushing her slender fingers against his cheeks. She
didn't speak.
    "–The refugees will be subject to the
immigration regulations and assimilation requirements, but Den
authorities say they look forward to welcoming the newcomers with
open arms."
    "My Sky." Zara's voice was a croon, a sweet,
soothing coo that didn't dispel the fear of the black spaces but
worked at the rough edges of his fear, smoothing them out just a
little. He leaned his head back into her chest. His eyes closed
again and this time, with her voice floating into his head, he was
comforted. "Why are we still here, my Sky? Let's go and rest.
Tomorrow, this will all be less unsettling."
    "No."
    "Harper..."
    "I am waiting."
    For what? Come on, it is late."
    "Hah! Late? You can't tell morning from
night up here."
    "No, but I can read a clock. It is late."
    "Then you should go to bed."
    "Not without you."
    "No."
    "My Sky..."
    "Not yet."
    "What are you waiting for? You need your
res–"
    "For my father."
    There was silence behind him for a moment.
The hands on either side of his face stilled. Zara's chest raised
with a breath. Then another.
    "No," she said. "You will not hear from him
again."
    "I will. The whole universe will."
    "Harper..."
    "It will."
    "But who will do it? Not everybody
will..."
    "They will find someone."
    "Maybe not..."
    "They will. And if they do not, then my
father will do it himself. All the Sky Reverends would."
    "But maybe... maybe they will be delayed.
And if they are delayed long enough, then maybe their plan will
never happen."
    "They have been planning the destruction of
the ships since the city first began making them. They are
prepared."
    "Then there is nothing you can do."
    "I can wait."
    "My Sky..."
    Her voice was working its way through his
brain, softening more of the edges of his fear, calming him. He
opened his eyes. Then he turned away from the black space outside
the window and looked up into her dark eyes, more familiar, more
comforting than the holy night Sky of the same color.
    But he flinched away.
    She doesn't know.
    The darkness outside the window scared his
wife as much as it scared him. Harper knew that. But she didn't
have its reflection inside her. He did. And he could not expect her
to see that or to understand it.
    His body's clock had hit zero.
    The ship had taken off, him inside it and it
had reached up to the Sky, just like it was supposed to. But it
wasn't supposed make it to the other side. He wasn't
supposed to make it to the other side. It was his job to make sure
that didn't happen. Now hours after launch, flying through