Chapter 45
Boom!!!
Caryell ran out of his room, and met Roloff as he was rising from the couch. They looked at each other, and without speaking, both raced out the door. The boom, and the lights going out, seemed to coincide; as they left the door, they could see a trail of black smoke rising from the direction of the Lodophins’—the location of the substation. They both ran with all of their might.
They weren’t the first on the scene, but there were not many there yet. Everyone was standing in awe at the destroyed substation. One woman had fainted, and a few were attending to her. Roloff ran closer to the substation. He could see something that concerned him. As he approached, he saw the charred remains of a body, and some shoes.
“Bellerie!”
The heat and the smell kept him from coming up any closer. He looked on in dismay. More people were approaching the area. Roloff was dumbfounded. It did not instantly occur to him that this could have anything to do with the visitors. Still, he had been prepped on the risks associated with the substation, and he did not see how something of this nature was possible.
The woman, who had fainted, had revived, and her witness sent chills down the spines of all present. “It was a craft. It instantly appeared in the air, along with two others. It sent fire out, and the fire destroyed it. Then it disappeared. The other two disappeared shortly thereafter. Why did they do this?”
She was delirious, but her witness was true none the less. She was being fanned by a woman and her daughter, as she sat up and rubbed her head where she had fallen and injured it.
Thoughts raced into Roloff’s head. What have they done with Aspiria? Where are the Lodophin boys? Is this all my fault? We should not have signaled them. Are they coming back?
A man’s voice could be heard above the crowd. He was making his way toward Roloff. Roloff turned, and could see that Bastian was making his way toward him. He had a look of surprise and anger on his face. As he approached, his gaze went from Roloff to the remains behind him. Roloff could see the expression on his face change instantly. He whitened, and then his countenance fell. Visible, and then audible sniffles were apparent. Roloff’s heart melted. Bastian was the younger brother of Bellerie. They fought like wildcats, but loved each other deeply. Roloff embraced the broken man, and Bastian took the needed embrace. His sniffles turned to sobs, but only briefly. The men separated slightly, but Roloff kept his hand on Bastian’s shoulder, and continued to look at him. Bastian reached up and whipped his tears with his thumb, and then his nose with his index finger.
“The boys…where are the boys?”
Roloff did not know, and did not know what to say. He scanned the growing crowd. Bastian looked up and tried to make eye contact. “They aren’t…”
“No, I don’t think so,” said Roloff with some assurance.
“What are we to do with them? They have no father, and now…” he covered his mouth with his hand. “I…” Bastian’s wife began to make her way up to them. She was short, but otherwise a nicely-figured woman with a particularly unhandsome face. It always gave the impression of a scowl, even when she was pleasant and trying to smile. Bastian turned to her, “She’s dead.”
“The boys are by the brook, they are coming up. Should we stop them? I don’t want them to see this,” said his wife in a serious tone.
Bastian closed his eyes, wanting, that by so doing, to close out this tragedy and make it go away. The crowd was growing, and Roloff began to be concerned that the danger was not past. The idea that there were three crafts, and they instantly appeared and disappeared, had struck him. Why the aggression? Why attack his people? His heart was still full as he looked on at Bastian and his wife; they had embraced and were speaking softly with each other. Really, she was talking, and he was nodding, with the look of a child.
