“What was the place that I drew?” said Fintan.
“You’ve never been there,” said Nizhoni, “but maybe an ancestor was, or a spirit is trying to tell you something.”
“I don’t believe in spirits,” said Fintan. “At least I don’t think I do.”
“It’s okay,” said Nizhoni. “Few people outside my Navajo do. My family are great believers in the old ways of the Navajo, indeed my clan is at the heart of a resurgence in our beliefs.”
She stopped for a moment, before continuing. “Because of this place,” she said. “Something important is happening here. Something that we’ve been preparing for a long time.”
“You mentioned a fifth world before,” said Fintan.
“Yes,” she said. “But not now. I will tell you another time. For now, I want to tell you that I believe that you are somehow connected to what is happening. That you are here for a reason, that is somehow connected to the Navajo. That’s why the spirits showed you Spider Rock.”
“Zack mentioned that it’s a sacred place to you.”
“Yes, and it is hard to explain. Maybe in time you will understand us better, and then you will understand, in your heart, why it is sacred, and why it is important that you are dreaming it.”
Fintan looked at the clock. It was nearly 2AM and well past their curfew.
“You’d better go back to your dorm,” said Nizhoni. “Don’t want to get the important dreamer in trouble!”
***
The next day Zack and Ayako left early in the morning. Fintan saw them briefly at breakfast and they gave their goodbyes as they hustled for the transports back to Las Vegas. Nizhoni was nowhere to be seen.
He spent the rest of the morning in the flight simulator room that Nizhoni had shown him. It wasn’t nearly as much fun by himself, and he was already missing her greatly. He returned to the dining hall for lunch.
Nizhoni was waiting for him in street clothes at their usual table.
“You’d better hurry and pack,” she said. “You’ll be late.”
She paused and smiled.
“You’re spending Christmas with the Navajo.”
Chapter 22. The Rez
Fintan was shocked, but happy to see her, not to mention a little nervous at spending some time with her and her family over the Christmas holidays.
It felt good to be wanted. He really didn’t want to go home, and he didn’t want to stay here alone, he’d miss her terribly. It would be a great adventure to go and spend some time with her people.
“But,” he said. “How?”
“Oh don’t worry about that. I have my ways,” she said, winking at him.
Delirious with happiness, Fintan made his way back to his room, and quickly packed his bag. He was grateful to have some chocolates that he could bring as a gift, as well as some US Dollars in case he had a chance to go shopping. However, he knew that Nizhoni lived on a reservation. It dawned on him that she never spoke about it, so he had no idea what to expect. The comical image of him sleeping for the next few days in a wigwam made him smile again. This really was an adventure into the unknown.
He made his way back to her, and she led him out of the dorms onto a train into the city. Fintan couldn’t contain himself – he just couldn’t stop smiling, and that brought a happy smile to Nizhoni’s face too.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Fintan. “Other than ‘Thank you!’ you don’t know how much this means to me.”
“It’s our way,” said Nizhoni. “We can’t let others suffer if there is something in our power to stop it. I could see how much the thoughts of Christmas were tearing you up.”
The train went a little further, and she continued.
“Besides, it’ll be really good to spend some time together without worrying about lessons, projects, or what Zack and Ayako are saying about us behind our backs!”
Fintan laughed.
They got off at a stop in the city center, and Nizhoni led him through an array of streets towards an unknown destination.
“It’s around here somewhere,” she said, standing on a street corner, looking up and down the side streets.
“This isn’t a typical city, is it?” said Fintan. “Not a lot of traffic. Not even that many people.”
“There’s usually more than this,” she said. “A lot of them go home for Christmas too. There’s plenty of room to expand. I guess they thought of this place with the future in mind.”
Nizhoni then grunted in a way that could only be positive, and made her way towards a small building at the end of a long and narrow street. As they got closer, Fintan realized that it, too was a train station, but for some reason it wasn’t connected to the rest of the grid. It was the terminus for a single line that led towards the rim wall.
Despite her cheerfulness, Fintan noticed that as they got closer, Nizhoni was not really at one hundred percent. She stopped a few times, for just a moment, holding her abdomen. Whatever was bothering her, she was hiding behind a smile, but at one point she stopped for a moment, wrapped her arms around herself, grimacing, before going onwards.
Fintan reached out and took her backpack.
“That’s not necessary,” said Nizhoni. “I’m fine.”
“Okay,” said Fintan. “I’m not doing it because it’s necessary.”
She tried to pull it back from him, but he strode ahead.
“There’s really no need,” she said, but he didn’t answer.
They got to the train station just before a train departed. This time, instead of sitting opposite him on the train, she sat beside him, and leaned on him a little. She felt hot.
“Are you sick?” said Fintan. “You seem to have a temperature.”
“No,” she said. “I’m okay. Don’t worry about it,” she smiled and continued the small talk. Whenever Fintan would try to ask where they were going, or what they were going to do on the reservation, she widened her eyes slightly, and changed the topic. He soon got the message. It wasn’t something that they should speak about in public.
The train didn’t make any stops until it reached its terminus. It looked like it was in the middle of nowhere, but as they climbed off the train and got off the platform; they realized that ahead of them was an enormous causeway leading to the rim wall. On all sides they were surrounded by earth, some of which had given away to weeds, some of which looked like it had been tilled once upon a time.
“It looks wider than a highway,” said Fintan, pointing at the causeway.
“Wider than two highways,” said Nizhoni, who walked towards it, clearly following it towards the rim wall.
As they approached the rim wall, Fintan noticed that there was something built into the wall. It reminded him somewhat of the place Simon had taken them during their hazing. “Yeah,” said Nizhoni, reading his expression. “It’s similar.”
“Do you know what it is?” asked Fintan, figuring it would be safe to talk now.
“Not yet,” she said, probably not answering his spoken question. “We’ll see in a minute.”
They walked on in silence because Nizhoni was clearly having some kind of difficulty. Fintan decided not to ask her about it further, but she didn’t protest this time as he carried her bag.
As they got closer to the wall, the scale of the place again awed Fintan. From this vantage point it really looked like they weren’t in a dome at all, as the wall just seemed to go straight up. The last time he was close to the wall it was at night, but now, in the full artificial sunlight he could see it. It was painted a pale blue, and looked just like the sky.
Except the sky didn’t come to a sudden stop about 150 feet off the ground on a sand colored wall. He turned and walked backwards, and smiled at the beauty of the city.
“Look,” he said to Nizhoni, and she joined him in walking backwards.
The city was relatively small by most standards, maybe twenty or thirty tall buildings, surrounded by smaller ones and domes like an army of foothills. It was beautiful, and the bu
ildings gleamed in the false sunlight. The pale blue dome on the far side accentuated the beauty and the slight shimmering haze from the artificial sun above them gave it a dreamlike feel.
“I hope I never have to leave here,” said Fintan. “I’d love to spend the rest of my life in this place.”
“Really?” said Nizhoni. “It’s impressive and all, but, I look at it as a stepping stone towards finding my real place in the universe.”
“Where might that be?” said Fintan, half in jest.
“Someday I’ll learn,” she said very seriously. “Then I’ll know. Until then, I have no idea.”
***
They reached the building. It was big and thick and looked like it could withstand several nuclear explosions. Low down, near the ground at one side was a door. It was locked, but there was a combination lock beside it.
Nizhoni typed something into the lock and the door yawned open. She smiled and walked through it, with Fintan following. Beyond it was a narrow corridor with an elevator that they entered. There were no buttons in the elevator, but as it started moving, Fintan felt his stomach fall towards his knees, and realized they were going up.
It didn’t take long before the doors opened, and they exited. Beyond lay another short corridor and they took it. Fintan glanced behind to see windows flanking the elevator. Through them he could see the city, but could also see the top of the rim wall. They were at the same level as the top of the wall, but moving away from the city into the bedrock beyond the dome.
At the end of the corridor was a hatch that Nizhoni pushed open and they both stepped through. They were in a large cavern with rough walls and ceiling illuminated by floodlights at the sides.
Its purpose was unknown, but it had been hastily converted into a hangar. A few saucers were parked at one side, as well as a larger yellow ship that Fintan didn’t recognize.
In front of them stood a huge man, with folded arms the size of clubs. His etched face bore an expression of shock and surprise, mixed with hostility. He towered over Fintan and Nizhoni and looked like he could tear them apart with just one of his hands.
Fintan gulped as the man stared at him. His gaze turned to Nizhoni and softened a little.
“Hello Nizhoni,” he said in a soft, but strong voice.
“Hello Standing Bear,” said Nizhoni. “It’s good to see you again.”
***
Standing Bear’s gaze returned to hostility as he looked at Fintan.
“Who is this?” he said.
“His name is Fintan,” said Nizhoni. “He’s my friend.”
“Your friend,” said Standing Bear. “Do you know what I’m risking by being here?”
“Yes,” said Nizhoni. “He can be trusted.”
Standing Bear grunted and walked towards Fintan, his glare never breaking from Fintan who felt like he was being studied like a bug.
“How do you know?” said Standing Bear.
“He has saved me more than once. He has my trust, that’s all you need to know.”
“Is it?” said Standing Bear. “What if you are deceived?”
“It was him in the Starball game,” said Nizhoni.
“The one that stopped the other team from ramming you?”
“Yes. He took the hit for me. That wasn’t the only time. He’s proved himself often. He is a friend, and he can be trusted.”
“We agreed Diné only,” said Standing Bear, looking a little annoyed, but rubbing the stubble on his chin, deep in thought.
“Then we’ll just have to make him one of us, won’t we?” said Nizhoni, smiling.
Her smile was disarming, and the big man’s face broke into a smile too.
“You can tell your father, because I certainly am not!” he laughed and opened his arms. She rushed to him and he gave her a bear hug, which looked like it might crush her, but must have been gentle enough not to even hurt her. She was beaming as he let her down.
“And you, my young white boy,” he said, looking to Fintan. “I guess you are coming with us to the reservation, so I say welcome to the Rez.”
He clapped Fintan on the shoulder with a blow that felt like it would dislocate his arm.
“I think my name of ‘Standing bear’ probably sounds silly to you, so you can call me what the other Bilagaana all call me.”
“What’s that?” asked Fintan.
“Bob.”
***
It turned out that Bob worked in the records department and was able to falsify the records so that it looked like Fintan had left and had travelled to Ireland for the holidays. Similarly, he was able to make it look like Nizhoni had flown to Las Vegas and from there on to Albuquerque where her parents would meet her.
“Bob’s a very useful man,” said Nizhoni. “He helps us to come and go as we please. That’s why secrecy is very important. You might be the first non-Navajo that knows about him and what he can do. So please, forgive his hostility, he’s risking a lot to help us.”
“Not the first,” said Bob, “and the others have all been good investments. I hope you will be too.”
He didn’t explain further, instead leading them to some of the saucers that were parked at the side of the makeshift hangar.
“Nobody knows about these,” said Bob. “We’ve cobbled them together out of spare parts and broken, crashed saucers, so they may not handle quite as smoothly as the training ships you’re used to flying.”
As Bob and Nizhoni entered their craft, Fintan climbed into his. Bob was right – it clearly wasn’t in prime condition, but compared to the one that he and Ayako had gotten flying, it was in good shape.
Under Bob’s lead they took off and flew towards the back of the cavern. It was dark, but when Bob turned on his search beams he illuminated a long, dark, tunnel.
“What is this place?” asked Fintan.
Bob’s head appeared on Fintan’s heads up display. “Best we know,” said Bob “Is that it was used when they were building the city. We figure that there had to be a staging area somewhere to remove debris and dirt, and this must be it.”
It made sense when Fintan thought about it.
“I figured the city was built in a natural cavern, or something,” said Fintan.
“It’s possible,” said Bob, “but I think we’ll never know.”
Something about Bob’s voice made Fintan a little uneasy. “Just how old is the city?” asked Fintan.
“Nobody knows,” said Bob. “If they do, they’re not telling.”
“How long have you lived here, Bob?”
“Over twenty years.”
The tunnel they were flying down was darker than Fintan could have possibly imagined. Their lights were swallowed by the darkness and shadows danced at every turn.
“A little further,” said Bob, “and then we’ll have to go up a vertical shaft.”
“Good,” said Fintan. “This place is scary.”
The tunnel narrowed, and Bob led the way into a vertical shaft. Looking up, Fintan could see stars far above.
“Turn off your searchlights,” said Bob. “We don’t want to be seen from the surface. On most maps this is listed as an unused mine shaft. There are always UFO spotters who’d be very excited to see saucers emerging from it.”
“Nobody believes most people when they say they saw a UFO,” said Fintan.
“Nobody in the outside world,” said Bob “but if the folks inside heard about UFOs being spotted exiting a mine shaft near the city, then our cover might be blown.”
“Got it,” said Fintan. “Thanks.”
Slowly they moved up the shaft. It was narrow, so they had to be careful. Finally they made it to the top, and Bob led them up to a high altitude. “It’s not as pretty,” he said, “but we can travel much faster at this height. There are flight lanes in and out of Las Vegas airport that we’ll be crossing, not to mention there are air force bases and bombing ranges around here, so we need to make sure we’re not spotted.”
Nizhoni nodded and Fintan agreed as Bob
led them towards the Southeast. While it had been midmorning inside the city, here it was the small hours, not long before dawn. “We should make it to the borders of the reservation quickly,” said Bob “and once we’re there, we can fly more easily without worrying about being spotted.”
“Why’s that?” asked Fintan
“Because it’s mostly deserted,” came the reply.
It was black dark outside, but Fintan could turn on image enhancement equipment so that he could see the landscape they were flying over. Dark, rocky, mountains gave way to long stretches of desert scrub, occasionally punctuated by a highway or a small town.
They crossed the I-15 over the Moapa River Reservation, and ahead Fintan could see a small town at the edge of a lake. “That’s Overton,” said Bob. “Nice place.” They avoided the town and turned more eastward, crossing the Virgin Mountains. This took them across the border into Arizona, and Fintan noticed the land rising to meet them.
“This is Grand Canyon country,” said Bob. “We’re climbing as there are many plateaus here. You’ll also notice that the ground is getting wetter.”
Fintan nodded. Beneath him the rocky desert was giving way to patches of green. Ahead he could see trees getting gradually thicker.
They dropped their altitude as dawn approached, and flew low and fast along the treetops. To the South, the landscape was spectacular. “That’s the Grand Canyon itself,” said Bob.
“Bob,” said Nizhoni. “I remember when I was younger, you’d come to visit my family every Christmas.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I’d take a break from the city, and enjoy your good company.”
“I remember that you’d sing to us,” said Nizhoni
Fintan smiled. He couldn’t imagine the big guy singing. But then Bob started to sing, and his voice was shrill and beautiful.
Silent night
They flow South, and entered the Grand Canyon.
Holy night
The canyon was a mile deep, and Fintan felt awe at its scale. It made him realize just how big and beautiful the world he lived in was.
All is calm.
Outside all was silent and calm, just like Bob was singing. This terrain had been here, unchanged, untouched for millions of years.
Round yon virgin, mother and child.
It really was mother Earth thought Fintan. He had seen so little of it. His chest felt ready to burst with happiness, only a few months ago he figured that the rest of his life would follow in his father’s footsteps, with the next drink being his only ambition.