by J. L. Wood
“So he’s still alive on Lerner,” Missy said, her eyes bloodshot and tired. “How do we get him?”
Michael leaned back on the couch. “I don’t know yet. I’ve been trying to find Jessica and Justin. The roster says they checked in, but their plus-ones haven’t seen them.”
“Maybe they were shielded,” Lucas said.
“What’s shielded?” Missy asked, her voice cracking. “Delilah left them behind and kidnapped me. They’re still at Don’s house.”
“Well, that’s good news,” Amy replied. “Not the kidnapping, but that they aren’t here.”
Missy’s eyebrows shot up. “How can you say that?”
“See? That’s what I was telling you guys,” Lucas said in a matter-of-fact tone. “No one knows it’s happening.”
“What’s happening?” Missy asked, her voice heightened.
Lucas sighed. “All is not well in Amity. Our leaders and the NASA Collaboration have been murdered. This station, or all stations, now belong to someone else. Who, we do not know. Anyone who is unwell, considered noncompliant, or an authority figure, is being literally pushed out of the station into the protective shield to die a horrible death.”
“Oh my God,” Missy whispered. “Delilah’s kids.” Her eyes widened. “Delilah brought four plus-ones, including two kids. I reported them. The clerk…the clerk said they would just be quarantined. Are they getting shielded?”
Lucas shrugged. “Maybe.”
Amy shot Lucas a frown. “We don’t know that. But if Delilah plus-foured, I wonder if she checked two in under Jessica and Justin’s names.”
“I…I need a moment,” Missy said. “I’m sorry, this is…this is a mess.” She left for the bathroom, and the remaining group sat in silence. Amy could hear water splashing in the sink, and after nearly five minutes, Missy returned.
“I fucked up,” Missy said. “I thought I was doing the right thing with the kids. I’m a teacher. I would never…” She looked up and blinked. “I want to make it right,” she continued as she peeled back the bandage on her forearm. “Maybe I can look them up. The clerk said she activated mine in advance. I don’t think it’ll fully work until I’m healed, but I can try.” Missy hovered her hand over the implant and pointed her index and middle fingers. The small device in her arm projected a barely lit 5″ x 5″ screen.
“Whoa. How did you learn that?” Michael asked.
“The clerk uploaded the manual to the device, and I immediately learned it, or more like, it felt like I always knew it.”
Lucas and Michael gave each other a surprised look.
“I know,” Missy said. “It’s weird.”
Amy thought about her brother and leaned over Missy’s shoulder. “Please look up Aidan Boughan first.”
Missy touched the keys on the projection and then downloaded his file. “He’s on Amity 1. It says his status is alive and his amisow is live.”
Amy’s eyes lit up. “He complied,” she whispered. “Thank God.”
“Justin Sage and Jessica Koland,” Michael said.
“Oh,” Missy whispered while downloading their files. “I should have mentioned Delilah turned Justin in as a terrorist. It says he’s here, status: wanted. Jessica is listed as here, status: alive.”
Michael slapped his knees. “I’ll think about that later. Can you search keywords for NASA Collaboration?”
Missy searched through the amisow. “Absent, absent, absent… They’re all absent but five.”
Michael grabbed his tablet and searched through the roster. “This says they’re all here. They aren’t announcing it yet. They could be the real terrorists. Can you search government offi—”
Amity’s alarms began to ring, catching everyone’s attention. Missy jumped to her feet. “What’s happening?” she yelled over the shrieking alerts.
“I don’t know!” said Michael.
After nearly half a dozen chimes, the television turned on, and the window in the room faded from a sunset to the familiar clear view of space. The barrier around the station activated, a dull red hue now the only thing that could be seen out of the window.
“Amity citizens,” a voice called from the speaker system, “we have visual on Earth. The attack is underway. I repeat, the attack is underway. Our safety shields have been activated as a precaution, but at this time, we have no reason to believe that we are in any immediate danger. Please return to your cabins and prepare for emergency procedures. I repeat, at this time we have no reason to believe that we are in danger. Our satellites are simply broadcasting a view of Earth.”
The television’s channel was snowy, an image barely visible. Missy, Michael, Lucas, and Amy stared at it in anticipation. As the snow cleared, a view of thousands of the creatures from Messier 83 swarmed through space and down to Earth.
Amy gasped, distraught, as the creatures blotted out the surface of the planet. They swarmed through the void, reminding her of a weather map showing an approaching hurricane, and finally rested in several spots on Earth. The group continued to stare at the screen for what Amy felt to be nearly an hour, until the creatures began to swarm again. They then spread out, enveloping the planet whole, and turned a bright pink.
“Oh my word,” Michael gasped, clutching his chest. “It’s like a barrier.”
“To keep them in or keep them out?” Lucas whispered.
“To keep them safe. Look!” Amy yelled, her eyes wild. Thousands of asteroids struck the shield, each one being obliterated as they made contact with the creatures.
“They said they were coming for us,” Michael yelled in excitement, his fist in the air. “But they weren’t coming to conquer us. They saved Earth! Amity was all for nothing!”
Everyone in the group cheered but Amy. She looked up, her eyes filled with fear. “But who will save us?”
Missy grabbed her hand. “We will save us.”
– 37 –
Unity
“Make room! Make room!” Chris yelled as he and Justin carried Jessica into Don’s bedroom. Jessica’s vision was blurry, and she could barely stay awake. She watched as Mary ripped the blanket from the bed, sending glass from the broken bedroom window all around the room. She heard the crunching of glass and swearing from Chris. She felt herself being placed on the bed, the sign wreaking havoc on her insides with even the smallest of movements. It hurt too much to cry, and she had to focus to not make a sound.
As her eyes began to close, she felt Justin’s hand on her chin, shaking her. Pleading with her. “Don’t fall asleep, Jess,” he cried. “Come on. Stay with me. Stay with me!” She squinted to see him, but the darkness was fading in, welcoming her like the perfect hug. So comforting. So reassuring. She could feel him shaking her again, and she smiled through the pain. “Did you see it?” she asked. “It was so…so beautiful.”
“I saw it,” Justin said, his voice breaking. “It’s still there. We can see it again. Just please…”
And then Justin was ripped away from her, and Sherrie was there, pulling back her eyelids.
Jessica felt liquid as it poured out of the corners of her mouth. Was that blood? “Did…did you know?” she asked, then spat out blood. “When you smiled…”
Sherrie’s eyes softened, and she stroked Jessica’s hair. “I saw us here. And I saw us later.”
Jessica clenched her teeth and smiled. A soft grunt escaped her lips. “It was…worth it. I can…I can check this off my bucket list.”
Jessica’s eyes closed again, and she could hear arguing. Yells from Justin and a scuffle, then a call for Lois. Then there was the creature, the thing that had saved her world, no larger than a penny in Sherrie’s hand. She tried to turn her head away, but the movement shot pain through her body, and she grunted. Sherrie pried Jessica’s mouth open and shoved the creature inside. She tried to scream, but it was muffled behind Sherrie’s hand. Her stomach erupted in pain as someone ripped the sign out of her, and she felt a pressure on her stomach. She opened her eyes in terror and saw Mary was on top
of her, pushing a towel into her stomach. She couldn’t breathe.
The darkness returned, and Jessica panicked. Her body was being torn apart from the inside. She flung her arms and legs around, but hands were holding them down. The pain began to subside, and Jessica welcomed the darkness. It held her and kissed her. It whispered her name. And then she saw him. Justin. The man she’d never thought she would grow close to. The chameleon, the comedian, the eccentric genius. She ran to him through the darkness.
*
“Welcome back,” Justin whispered as Jessica opened her eyes. She looked around the room to find her new companions huddled around her. “A souvenir,” Justin said, holding the dead dikap in his empty hand.
Jessica tilted her head as she looked at the tiny creature. She reached out to touch it, then pulled her hand back.
“Don’t be scared,” Lois said. “It was mine. It fixed you, and when it was done, you threw it up.”
“Fixed me?” Jessica grabbed at her stomach. She slowly lifted her torn shirt and rubbed her fingers over her skin. It was smooth. She sat up and stared at her stomach. Her eyes grew wide, and she looked around the room. Everyone was smiling. “I’m healed,” she said. She twisted her torso to the right and to the left. It didn’t hurt. She crawled out of bed and stretched her arms to the ceiling. “You saw us later,” she whispered, looking at Sherrie.
Sherrie nodded. “The storylines.”
Mary tossed a clean T-shirt to Jessica. “Sorry, there’s no pants here. Missy is kinda short. Get changed. We’re heading to the first pillar.”
Jessica turned around and pulled her bloody shirt off. “What are we doing there?” she asked, pulling on the clean tee.
“You were out for four hours. Sherrie explained the unraveled storylines. They show the children protecting the pillars from scavengers.” Mary gave Jessica a warm smile. “You will understand when we get there.”
Justin grabbed Jessica’s hand and led her to the dining room. There was a blanket nailed over the window. Small gusts of dust continued to flow through its gaps and settled on the surfaces nearby.
“Put these on,” Justin said, handing her a stack of clothes and a pair of swimming goggles.
Jessica looked back toward the window. “I think I learned my lesson,” she said. “Maybe we should wait.”
Justin put on one of Don’s leather jackets. “Looks like the dikap sucked out your sense of adventure.”
Jessica punched his shoulder, and he smiled. “The winds have died down, but it’s still strong,” he said, putting on a pair of safety glasses. “There’s lots of dust but also small pieces of rock. You need to cover up.”
When Jessica completed dressing in Missy’s clothes, she tied a scarf around her nose and mouth. “So, do we just go to the pillar and stand there in the middle of the dust storm?”
Justin shrugged. “I’m just along for the ride. I could barely listen to Sherrie when she was explaining it earlier. You know, with you dying and all.” Jessica rolled her eyes, and he continued. “She saved you, so I’m going along. It’s weird, but what hasn’t been weird so far?”
Chris yelled from the garage that it was time to leave. “After you,” Justin said.
Lois and Ariel chased the dogs to the garage. When Jessica opened Don’s SUV door, her jaw dropped. The SUV was filled with supplies from the house and the supply room. “We’re not coming back?” she asked.
Justin shook his head.
“We can’t stay in the storm forever.”
Sherrie hopped into the front passenger seat. “It’s not forever. The Fall will last eighty-seven days.”
Jessica looked at Justin, bewildered. “We’re leaving a house to be vagrants?”
Sherrie turned in her seat and looked at Jessica. “Please trust me. If you decide not to join us at the tower, you can come back. We will give you supplies.”
“That sounds fair,” Jessica replied as she scooted into the middle seat to make room for Mary. She looked in the back at the girls, who were hugging the dogs and giggling. She wasn’t sure what she would find at the pillar or what the plan was, but her curiosity would not let her stay behind.
When everyone was buckled in, Sherrie rolled down the window and blew a cloud of dikap into the air. The dikap swarmed beside the truck and slowly grew in size. Jessica couldn’t take her eyes off the creatures. She thought of Keener being ripped apart and herself being saved. They were dangerous but also giving. She had to learn more about them. Mary gripped Jessica’s arm as the dikap began to turn a light pink. She could see it in her eyes; she was scared and fascinated by them too.
As the garage door opened, the dust swarm forced its way into the garage. The dikap swarmed the area, lighting up a path for Chris to follow. In the rearview mirror, she could see Chris’s eyes darting left and right. He feared the creatures, and that made her feel one with the group. It wasn’t just her that was driven with a childlike curiosity and fear; it was everyone without the dikap, masking it in their own personal way.
The pillar wasn’t far from the house, but the destroyed area made travel difficult. Jessica held on to her seatbelt as the truck hit bumps and medians in the road. The dust storm continued to tear through the air, at times hissing, other times making loud scratching noises as the small rocks tore at the truck. At times the storm would break, and she could see the pink barrier of the dikap, her new view of Earth’s sky.
Jessica looked back to check on the girls. They were sound asleep, their heads leaning on one another. She poked Mary to look, and her companion’s eyes softened. Mary started to whisper something and then stopped, holding her hand to her chest. Jessica felt it too. A short sensation in her chest, akin to the one she’d felt at the house but lighter. She looked at Justin, and he shrugged.
The truck broke through the dust storm, giving way to the pillar. Jessica stared in wonder. Hundreds of thousands of dikap were nestled against one another, shifting slightly as some exited toward the sky. It was a beautiful beehive. Jessica leaned over Justin and opened the door. She nearly pushed him out as she ran to the tower and placed a hand on half a dozen dikap. They shifted, and it tickled her palm. She stared at her hand in amazement, surprised that they were not prickly and rough.
The area surrounding the pillar was undisturbed, unaffected by the storm, the grass green and lush. Jessica tried to orient herself but could not see beyond the storm as it ravaged the area around the safety of the pillar. And then she saw them, hundreds of dikap, swirling in a circle around the area of calm, protecting the pillar. Protecting them.
She stared at the illuminated pink sky, holding fast as the meteors collided on it. The group joined her, taking in the sight. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered, her eyes misty.
“It is,” Sherrie replied as her dikap returned to her.
Jessica held her hand to the tower again. She could feel its pulse running through her. She didn’t understand it, but she didn’t want to leave. She wanted to stay there in that moment forever. It pulled and pulled at her, filling her heart with a sense of security and fulfillment. “It’s mesmerizing,” she whispered as the dikap around her hand lit up.
Sherrie smiled. “Yes,” she said, gently pulling Jessica’s hand away. “That’s why we need to protect it.” The dikap swarmed around Sherrie and decreased in size, turning their normal brown. She inhaled them and closed her eyes. The group huddled around her, forming a semicircle, confused and curious.
“What did you see, Guide?” Ariel asked.
“I saw eight pillars and the eight Chosen,” Sherrie said. “I saw the land devastated by the dust storms from the Fall and then replenished. I see the barrier still standing on day eighty-eight. Eighty-nine. Nine hundred.” She paused. “I see the barrier for…” She sat down on the grass and closed her eyes. “Ambassador?” she whispered.
“What’s happening?” Justin asked, looking around at the group.
“He said he’s not strong enough to see,” Sherrie said, her eyes clenched shut. �
��We need to move forward with the plan.”
Mary scratched her head. “What exactly is the plan, besides standing here?”
“The Akabko already made a sun for Lerner 4. That world is growing. We need to protect the towers and unite the humans on Earth with the dikap. When the new world is ready, those with the dikap will be allowed to leave. We must choose wisely which adults we give the dikap to. We are to be peaceful on Lerner.”
Justin fidgeted with his hands nervously. “There was a lot of we in what you just said.”
Sherrie nodded. “Will you all join me in the hive? You can help sort through the storylines to find the people who will join us on Lerner. Good people. Honest people. They don’t deserve to stay behind. The more people who sort through the storylines, the faster they will unravel.”
“You know I will,” Chris said, stepping forward.
Sherrie smiled and fumbled in her pocket, pulling out a vial and syringe. She filled the syringe and injected it into Chris’s arm. “The immunosuppressants,” she whispered.
“People can change,” Mary said. “If we read the storylines and they are not fit, if they do honestly change, can they join us?”
Sherrie nodded. “I want to warn you, though. Although we can change a chapter, a minor storyline, it is incredibly difficult to change a major one. Every change has an effect, sometimes worse than the original scenario.”
Mary stepped forward. Chris picked up the syringe, filled it again, and injected Mary.
“Oooh,” Justin said, making a face. “You don’t want to change that needle?”
“There is no disease with the dikap,” Sherrie said. “If you are ill, you will be made well. Injured, you will be restored.”
Jessica looked at Justin. “I’ll do whatever you do,” he whispered. She placed her hand on her stomach and thought about the black sandy beaches and vibrant sky on Lerner. “Will I live to see it?” she asked.
“I cannot see past the barrier, but the dikap will keep you young and healthy. Whenever you are tired, you can release them.”