Ch19: Track 'er Down, Boys

Back on Sundancer, Beck is helping Sikowitz and some of the other gen. passengers and ECs unload the ship. Sikowitz has yet to step down from his position as leader, but he is still needed while Jade surveys the land.

As the dark haired boy is consulting his Intelli-Tab on what is still left, there's a loud clattering and whispers running down the line. Liz comes to stand next to him, her eyes filled with worry. The young man jumps as Victoria pushes through the crowd and launches herself into Liz's arms, tears streaming down her face, her wispy copper hair in complete disarray.

"Babe, what's wrong?" Liz asks, running her hand through rivers of light copper. "You gotta tell me what happened." Victoria just clings to her shirt, tears staining the navy blue shirt.

"Tori and Jade are missing," Sebastian explains, his face red from running after her. "They went off into the woods to explore on their own. We heard a scream and when we got there, this was the only thing left." The older man hands Liz a broken arrow shaft and the raven haired woman clutches it to her chest like it is the most important thing in the universe. "There looked to be some signs of struggle, like the arrow shaft… or a few drops of blood."

Liz gasps and she can feel Victoria's arms tightening around her neck, more tears and sobs escaping her pink lips. The taller woman clings to the sobbing mess of a wife as their tears mix together.

"Wait, so Jade's gone?" Beck speaks, looking up from his Intelli-Tab to the arrow shaft. "But what about settling down? We're almost 100% unloaded and ready to start building."

"I think they've been taken by the sentient beings of the planet," Jared says, fiddling with his necklace as she looks sympathetically at the couple crying in the middle of the hallway. "I don't think they are in any danger."

"But Jade's our leader!" Beck argues looking scared for his best friend. "She has to be here to oversee the building of the colony."

"My boy, there's nothing we can do," Sikowitz comes up from behind him and puts a hand on his shoulder. He sighs. "Jade has the standard A1 Tracker implanted in her arm. We can track her from there." As he is saying this, Avan comes in holding a strange tool belt.

"I unscrewed the knuts and bolts you wanted". What's—" He blinks when Victoria sobs into Liz's shoulder. "Mom, what's wrong?"

"Y-your sister…" Liz swallows back her own tears, knowing that it will only affect her wife more. Taking a shaky breath, she lets it out as a sigh. "She and Jade are gone."

Avan freezes. His sister is gone? His doppelgänger is thinking the exact same thing but about Jade, his best friend. "Is there any way we can see where they are?"

"The Tracker!"

"The dog tags!"

Sikowitz and Liz speak at the same time. Liz turns to Avan while Sikowitz turns to the Navigator.

"Mom, I can't track Tori with the chip in my neck. It can only track me, not the other way around," Avan tells his now frowning mothers.

"Well, maybe Tori's with Jade," Sikowitz tries to placate the copper haired woman and her companion. "Each person on this ship has a Tracker implanted in their arm at birth. The muscles tissue grows around it so that it technically becomes part of that arm." Beck pulls up a list that he has access to on the Intelli-Tab and keys in Jade's name and identification number—he's had to use it so many times to find her for hide a seek that he's memorized it. When he comes to a block, he hands the Tab to Sikowitz. Liz notices and is confused.

"What's wrong?" she asks, handing the fragile woman in her arms over to her son.

"Nothing's wrong," Sikowitz reassures her, tapping at the screen for a few more seconds before handing it back to Beck. "I just needed to type in an access code that will give him the ability to search more in-depth for Jade." Liz nods and the young man plugs the Intelli-Tab into the computer with the map.

"Look," Avan points with the hand not holding his distraught mother, "on the Dragon's Spine, in between the two tallest peaks!" Beck zooms in and there's a holographic image of his best friend, huddled inside something they can't see.

"W-where's T-Tori?" Victoria asks, walking over to take Liz's hand.

"We won't be able to see her on the map because she doesn't have the Tracker. But Jade seems to be curled around something…"

I'm so sorry I haven't been able to update this in a while but last week was really busy for me. I'm not gonna go into detail because it might be boring. SO, anyway, please review and tell me what you think. Next chapter we find out what will happen to Tori and Jade on the zenith (sunset in the alien language)

P.S. The idea of the hologram of Jade and her location came to me from Spy Kids 2.