A cool breeze whispered though the tall grass, making it sway back and forth gently. Crickets chirped to each other, and the scent of wheat drifted from surrounding fields.
Ebbe and Anthony were sitting in the meadow, their backs to the crashed helicopter, both munching silently on energy bars he had scavenged from the wreckage. To the right of them, Art, Jake, Krank and James had congregated, and were also chewing contentedly on the bars, chatting and joking as they did.
Ebbe gazed up at the sky, purposely trying to clear her mind from the buzz of recent events. The day she had driven home in her Land Rover, to be confronted by a group of armed men, tasked with her, and her loved one's, slaughter, seemed an age ago. It seemed a million more mysteries than she had contemplated had sprung up over night, like a dam being deluged with more water than it was designed to retain, slowly cracking and beginning to leak. That meant the water was certain to burst through shortly, but what that actually meant was still beyond her mental reach.
It doesn't matter, she concluded. Watch the sky Ebbe, watch the sky. That's where the mystery began, and that is where it shall end.
Clouds had lackadaisically filled up the light blue expanse, leaving only small gaps where pillars of light streamed out, highlighting random patches of countryside like a spotlight.
"Rays from heaven," Anthony said for no reason, as if sensing what she had been looking at.
Ebbe nodded in agreement, she may not believe in heaven, but the sentiment seemed fitting. Anthony had not yet asked how Moon Face was walking and talking, nor had he asked how they had appeared from thin air. She appreciated that right now. Especially because the desire to know was written all over his face. His green eyes were practically quivering with intrigue every time he looked into her own. He also kept glancing over his shoulder at Moon Face, who was currently laughing raucously with Krank.
"Moon Face," she whispered under breath, thinking maybe she ought to refer to him by his actual name. Though perhaps saving a man's life was enough to allow you to call him whatever you liked.
"Do we still need to go to this observatory?" Anthony questioned after a long silence.
Ebbe turned and studied his tired face, wondering how gaunt she must look herself. He had asked a good question. The whole point of going to Keilder was to show what she had learned, but now things were so advanced, it seemed a moot point. But yet, she could not truly explain the phenomena that had filled up their lives with so much recent drama. She could explain what was wrong with the view from that telescope. And ultimately, if a mission to fix the problem was to be arranged, the money men needed to understand how far reaching the issue was. Men of power tended to have isolationist viewpoints that didn't allow for the sort of thinking she would require for her ultimate goal to be realised. Facts that even a layman could understand were needed. She had a team of laymen, ready to have their minds expanded. There was one more man she also needed to convince, and she may now have a way to get him where she needed, without having to send in her new recruits to extract him from his always well-guarded locale.
"We do Anthony," she confirmed, turning her eyes back to the rays of sunlight streaming through the clouds. "Fearless Leader," she added, more to herself, with a little chuckle. She couldn't really remember when she started assigning nicknames to people, rather than use their own. It was just more efficient in her mind. Names were arbitrary, random designations. Her nicknames had reasoning and logic behind them. What did Anthony mean? Beyond being a random collection of vowels and consonants. Fearless Leader was so much more dramatic and descriptive. Gives a man something to aspire to.
Ebbe turned and surveyed the rest of her team. Grim Reaper, Moon Face, Chum, and young Ganymede. Those names all meant something to her. Jake, Art, Krank and James; they meant nothing, just a sound.
"What's my name?" Ebbe pondered out loud, lying back, crushing the stalks of grass behind her.
Anthony turned and almost looked as if he may lean over her and land a kiss on her lips, their eyes locked in a brief tryst, before he too leaned back and stretched out with a content sigh.
"Ebbe!" he declared, baffled about having to state the obvious.
"No, I mean, what name would you give me?"
Anthony's thick brows sunk low with confusion.
"I don't get you," he admitted, sliding his left leg up and crossing the right over it.
"You're Fearless Leader, Art is Moon Face, Jake is..."
"Grim Reaper," Anthony chucked, "I remember." He sat back up and studied Ebbe with such intensity she was certain she was starting to blush.
"I don't know," Anthony said with a sigh, "Brains?" he shrugged in defeat.
"Oh please!" Ebbe grumbled, "be original!"
Anthony waved his hand, his way of showing he couldn't do any better. Ebbe smiled and also sat back up. She caught him eyeing Moon Face again.
"It was the machine below the house," she decided to offer, "it cured him."
Anthony shook his head vigorously.
"No," he retorted bluntly.
"No?" Ebbe replied in confusion.
"No! It was you," he explained, fixing his stern green eyes upon hers, "I know it was you. Whatever you may have used, however you may have done it, It was you." The pair allowed the words to linger in the late morning air momentarily. Ebbe found herself unable to respond, taken aback by the sheer earnestness of his declaration.
"If you say we need to see this observatory I trust you also have a way of getting us there quickly?" he finally continued, as if he had been giving her time to digest his initial statement. Ebbe swallowed, and offered a gentle bob of her head to confirm his assumption.
"In which case, Miss Nystrom, my team is your team," he broke his attention from her, and stood, turning immediately to offer his hand to her. She waved his hand aside and picked herself up. The pair stared out at the countryside.
"It looks so ordinary," Anthony commented. Ebbe agreed with a single nod. "You're wrong you know," he added, causing Ebbe to turn to look up at him, his frame suddenly seeming more impressive and comfortingly muscular. "I'm not Fearless Leader," he paused, his ocean green eyes unblinkingly focused on her, "you are."
