Free On My Way to Paradise by David Farland Page A

closet was a large teak chest decorated with
elephants and tigers; it was large enough to hold Tamara. I lifted
her and laid her in, surprised at how light she was; with her small
bones and underdeveloped muscles she could not have weighed more
than thirty-five kilos.
    I dragged the chest outside and sat beneath the
papaya tree to wait for the shuttle. My muscles had become knotted
and I was breathing hard, so I stretched out on the grass and tried
to still myself. It was getting dark, and two fruit bats had just
reached the papayas above me as the shuttle landed.
    Outside the shuttle was a security scanner. As I
reached the scanner a mechanized voice said, "State your
destination and prepare for identity scan."
    I fumbled for the specimen bottle with the clear
synthetic blood, and then pulled out the eye of Arish. Even with
the oxygen provided by the blood, the proteins in the eye had begun
to whiten. I put it in my palm and held it up to the retina
scanner, trembling, and gave my destination. "Lagrange star
station, inbound Concourse One."
    The scanner said, "Welcome, Arish Muhammad
Hustanifad. Insert your bank card and we will deduct 147,232
international monetary units from your account. We hope you enjoyed
your stay on Earth."
    "Thank you," I answered quietly, "I did enjoy my
stay. I shall miss Earth very much."
    I fed Arish’s bank card into the computer.
    I heard Rodrigo’s door open as he came out of his
house to see me off, and I shoved Arish’s eye back into my pocket.
Rodrigo hurried over, embraced me, looked down at the large chest
and pointed at it with his foot. He said, "You won’t be returning,
will you?"
    "No," I hung my head and whispered, "I cannot come
back. You may hear bad things about me, but no one must know where
I’ve gone."
    Rodrigo shook his head solemnly, and looked at the
ground. "You have always been a good friend, and a good neighbor.
If I am asked, I will say I saw you leave for the feria this
morning, as you always do. But listen to my warning: Your voice
carries a tone of desperation. You’re afraid—perhaps with good
reason. But don’t let your fear get in the way of clear thinking,
don Angelo."
    "You have also been a good friend," I whispered in
his ear. "I cannot tell you more, but you must take your family,
get off-planet. Get beyond the Alliance." I looked in his eyes and
saw his disbelief, saw that my vague warning would do no good.
    He nodded kindly, as if to a reactionary or a
lunatic, and helped me drag the chest aboard the shuttle.
    The shuttle was piloted by computer and had no
cockpit, so it was roomy inside. On the flight up I kept the chest
open to let Tamara get air. Her eyes had opened, but remained
unfocused, staring at the ceiling, zombie-like. I told her jokes
and rambling stories from my childhood, and promised to take her
far away, to a planet where fish swam in the rivers and fruit trees
were as thick as weeds. Sweat was pouring off me, and I began
imagining what would happen at the space station when the customs
officials opened my trunk and found a zombie inside. I imagined
trying to shoot my way out of the station or trying to hijack a
ship, and became even more agitated. I knew it was a crazy idea, so
I considered my alternatives: the only alternative was to leave the
trunk somewhere with Tamara in it—perhaps outside the station’s
infirmary—and hope the trunk would not be her coffin. But even if
the doctors there managed to save her life, someone else would
manage to take it. There was nothing to do but try to smuggle her
aboard a starship, and that did not seem plausible.
    So I turned away and tried to ignore her as I played
with the money in my pocket and watched the view outside. The sun
had set in Colón, but I could see the shimmering platinum of the
banana plantations, among the lights of thousands of cities. A line
of shadow marched across Earth; the world darkened beneath me.
Comlink tones sounded in my head; I ignored them for a while, and
then