Revelation 04
When Jake woke, the first direct rays of the sun were just peeking around the upper corner of the curved inner wall to the east. He gently moved Jane’s head from his lap then stood and surveyed his crew. Everyone seemed to be sleeping soundly. Then he realized that Ash was not there. “AJ,” he whispered, tapping her shoulder with his foot then jumping back. He didn’t want to make the mistake of being too close to her when she woke.
“What’s up?” she asked, eyes still partly closed. The morning sun on her face made the small tattoos on her temples stand out.
“Ash is gone,” he said.
Jessie must have been eavesdropping, because she suddenly jumped up. “Where is he?”
AJ sat up and stretched. “Sure that wasn’t just a dream?”
Jake looked at her. “Unless you believe in shared dreams, I don’t think so.” The rest of the group began to stir. “Does anyone know where Ash went?”
“Right here, Captain,” Ash said as he strolled in through a space in the bushes off to Jake’s left.
“Where were you just now?” AJ demanded.
Ash walked over and gave his sister a hug. “You don’t trust me, do you?” he said to AJ.
She shook her head. “It’s not about trust. I just asked a question.”
He sat down on one of the logs. “Well, it just so happens I was making our morning walk a bit easier.”
“How exactly were you doing that?” Jake asked.
He pointed to the west. “There’s a barrier just ahead. I’m guessing you found it last night, which is why you camped here.”
AJ nodded. “We found it.”
“Well, there is a way to pass through it without taking the full effect. You have to make a sort of zigzag pattern. I dropped some rocks along the route so you can just follow them through.”
“How do you know how to get through the barriers?” Raines asked. “Did someone show you?”
“Did someone show me?” Ash repeated, as though he didn’t understand the words. “No. No one showed me. I’ve been here for a couple of months, so I’ve had time to work out a few things.”
“That reminds me,” AJ said, “you never explained how you knew we were out here.”
He looked confused. “Yes, I did. I told you I saw your fire.”
“From a day’s walk away?” AJ asked. She obviously didn’t believe him.
“I was much higher than we are now,” he said casually then looked to the west. “You can almost see it from here. A small plateau on the inner mountain range.” He pointed, but Jake couldn’t see what he was referring to. “In a space this big, you can see farther from higher elevation.”
“Really? I didn’t know that,” AJ said sarcastically.
“Are we all ready to go?” Ash asked, ignoring, or missing, her sarcasm. “As I said, it’s a long walk.”
“Can I eat something first?” Jessie asked.
“I‘ll second that,” Vee said.
“I’m sorry,” Ash said, “but there won’t be much to eat today. We’ll be heading into a semiarid region, mainly sand, scrub brush, and thorny desert plants. I’m afraid that there’s not much that hominids can digest there.”
“Hominids?” Vee asked.
“Sorry, I meant humans. People. Anyway, there are a number of clean streams along the route to drink from, but if you all can make it until evening without food, I promise you a feast when we get there.”
The idea of any sort of meal being called a feast made Jake’s mouth water. The edible plants available at his mother’s village were nutritious and plentiful, but they were also boring and tasteless. “I can do it,” he said.
“Well,” Vee said, “since it looks like we don’t have a lot of choices, I guess I can last as well.” She looked at Jessie. “I’m not promising we won’t complain from time to time, but I can do it.”
Jessie looked at her brother. “I would go a week without food if it meant bringing you back to me.”
“That’s sweet, sis,” he said. “Now let’s get moving before you change your mind.”
The walk was uneventful, and even though they had nothing to eat, other than nibbling on what little food they carried in their backpacks, the time seemed to pass quickly. Nobody spoke at all, and Jake assumed they were like him—eager to reach this building of Ash’s and even more eager for the supposed feast. The sun was far ahead of them, and the shadows were getting long, when Ash finally came to a full stop.
“Please tell me we’re almost there, Ash,” Jessie said. “Agreeing to walk all day without much food is one thing, but actually doing it is another. I’m tired, and I’m hungry.”
“I’m sorry,” he replied.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I know I shouldn’t complain so much.”
“No, I’m sorry that I didn’t manage my time with you very well.” Jake turned to see what Ash was talking about then saw him literally fall apart. One moment he was staring at his sister, and the next he had dissolved into a pile of dust that fell to the ground. Something small and bug-like rose up from the dust, lingered for a moment, then shot straight up into the air.
“What the bilge?” Jake cursed.
“Ash!” Jessie yelled, reaching for the empty spot where her brother had been standing. On the pile of skin-colored dust below, Jake saw a small metallic cylinder.
“What just happened?” AJ asked, turning to look at them. “Where’s Ash?”
“Apparently, he was never here,” Raines said as he picked up and observed the cylinder. “I believe what we have been speaking with was a simulation of some sort, like we have in our rec room.”
“Utility fog?” Vee asked. “Out here? A simulation out here? How is that possible? There are no computers or power sources to run a simulation.”
“This could be its power source,” Raines said, holding up the cylinder to examine it in the fading light. “Perhaps it was used to power the nano-particles.” He looked down at the dust pile and then at Jake. “Impressive.”
Jake looked down at what was once his navigator. “Did anyone see something rise up out of that?” Everyone shook their heads. Had he imagined it?
Vee looked over Jessie’s shoulder. “Utility fog doesn’t fall apart like that when the power is cut.”
Raines shook his head. “The fog particles used on our ships and in the colony are programmed to remain locked when they lose power,” he said. “This could simply have been programmed differently.”
“So, this is my brother?” Jessie asked, kneeling down to scoop up the particles in her hands. Her eyes were filled with tears.
Raines walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. “That is most definitely not your brother, my dear.”
“But I don’t understand. I touched him. I smelled him. I heard his voice, the inflections. There’s no way he was a simulation.”
Raines rubbed his chin. “The technology to create what we just saw is beyond my comprehension, but there’s no other explanation.”
“Thn he really is dead?” Jessie asked, standing up.
Jake knew he had to be but didn’t say so. “Actually, we don’t know that,” he told her then looked at AJ. “Right now, I think we don’t know much of anything.”
“For instance, why did that thing brought us all the way out here,” AJ said. “It could have left us to die last night. Why did it lead us here?”
Jessie turned to AJ. “Don’t call him a ‘thing,’” she said. “That was my brother, no matter what you all say. I know my brother.” She still had a handful of the dust in her hand.
“I’m sorry,” AJ said. “It’s getting dark, so we had better find a place to make camp. We’ll have to go without a fire again.”
“I was so looking forward to a shower,” Wood said rather callously, even for him. The doctor had been so quiet; Jake had almost forgotten he was there. Then he looked for the other quiet member of the group but couldn’t find her.
“Where’s Jane?”
“Sh
e was right behind me,” Vee said.
Everyone spun around looking for her, but she seemed to have vanished as quickly as the Ash simulation had. “You don’t think...” Jessie said.
“What?” AJ asked. “You think Ash took her somehow?”
“How could a simulation do that?” Vee said.
“That’s not what I meant,” Jessie said. “I mean, what if she was a simulation too?”
“She’s been with us for almost a year now,” Jake said. “How could she not be real?”
“No,” Jessie said. “I mean, what if someone captured her last night then replaced her with a simulation?”
“That’s absurd,” Dr. Wood said.
“Why, Doctor?” Jessie said. “My brother looked real. How can we know Jane was real this morning?”
“She was really quiet this whole day,” Vee said.
“Well, if that’s the case, then how do we know if any of us are real?” Wood said. “Maybe more of us were swapped out for simulations last night.”
“Jane’s not missing,” Jake said, staring over their heads towards the mountains to the north. He pointed to a small figure in the distance, running away from them. “She’s right there.”
“Jane,” Vee whispered. “Where are you going?”
Jane!” Jake yelled as loudly as he could, but he knew she was too far away to hear.
“What do we do?” AJ asked him.
“Follow her,” he answered without hesitation. No one asked for a reason, but he gave them one anyway. “We have to stick together, and since she isn’t coming back to us, we need to go to her.” He looked at Raines, then AJ. “Besides, we’re out here in the middle of nowhere, with no food or shelter. Maybe she knows something we don’t.”
“She does seem to have a knack for figuring things out before the rest of us,” Raines agreed.
“Grab your gear, everyone,” AJ ordered. “Looks like we’re moving again and I don’t think we’re coming back here.”
They started walking, but it became obvious that Jane was moving away from them at a good clip. Without suggesting it, they all began to walk faster, then a bit faster, and eventually they were all in a full run.
“Where is she going?” AJ asked between breaths.
Jake looked ahead and realized she was heading straight for the base of the mountains. He looked up and saw what looked like a flat ledge halfway up. Was that the plateau Ash had mentioned? “Up there, maybe,” he replied, panting from the run.
“We’re not going to catch her before dark,” Raines said as he slowed to a stop. His face was red, and his breathing was labored. “At least not with me slowing you down.” He looked at Jake. “You go on ahead without me.”
“We’re not going without you,” AJ said, and she stopped beside him. Vee came over and helped him sit down on the dirt. Sweat was pouring off his forehead, and Jake was worried the elder man was going to have a heart attack.
“Take deep breaths,” Dr. Wood said, coming over to help. He placed his index fingers against Raines’s neck and counted aloud. “Your heart is racing, but you’ll be fine.” He looked at Jake and shook his head.
“All right,” Jake said. “We’ll take a break and then walk from here on.” He pointed down to the ground. “She’s leaving a good set of footprints, so she’ll be easy to track.”
“Where is she going?” Jessie repeated as she watched Jane’s figure disappear into the distance.
“I’ll be ready to go again in a few minutes,” Raines said. His breathing had slowed, and his color was coming back.
“We’re not in a rush, Grandfather,” Vee said, patting him on the shoulder. “You heard the captain. We can follow her wherever she goes.”
Jake looked ahead. He thought he could see a figure moving up the face of the mountains, heading right up to the ledge. He hated the idea of Jane going up there all by herself.
“I know what you’re thinking,” AJ said, “and I think it’s a good idea.”
“What’s a good idea?” he asked, having no idea what she was talking about.
“That you go on ahead. By yourself, you might be able to catch up with her.”
He shook his head. “I’m not leaving you here.”
She stood tall and faced him. “You’re not going to tell me how we need you here to protect us, are you?”
He quickly shook his head again. “No! No, of course not.”
“Then go,” she ordered. “We’ll follow your footprints just like you said. See you in a few hours.” He started to protest, but then Jessie added, “Go, Captain. She’s all alone up there. She might need your help.”
He took a deep breath. “All right, but start walking as soon as you can. I want you to reach the foothills before dark. If I can’t locate her, or if I spot any sort of danger ahead, I’ll double back to you.”
“Go already!” Raines said, giving Jake a thumb up.
He took one last look at his crew and then turned and started running towards the mountains.
He ran for well over an hour, stopping only occasionally to catch his breath or relocate the path of Jane’s small footprints. She was barefoot, of course, and didn’t weigh much, so she didn’t leave much to follow. When he reached the steeply sloping base of the mountain range, the dirt gave way to bedrock, and her trail disappeared altogether. Fortunately, he saw a very distinct set of stairs carved into the rock face straight ahead. Who had carved them, and why Jane had known to run straight for them, was anyone’s guess.
The stairs went up the side of a nearly vertical rock wall at a steep pitch. Halfway way up, he had to stop to stretch a pulled calf muscle. Even with all of the running he had done back when he was on the ship, which included running up several sets of stairs between decks, he was not in shape for such a steep and lengthy climb. In addition, the steps were less than a meter wide, and the fear of falling to his death made the climb that much more difficult.
When he finally reached the last step, he collapsed to his hands and knees on the glass-smooth floor of the ledge, without even bothering to look around. Only when his heart stopped pounding in his throat did he look up to see Jane sitting cross-legged less than ten meters away. She had beads of sweat running down her face.
“If it’s any consolation,” she said, “the climb wasn’t easy for me either.”
He rolled to his back and stared up at the darkening sky. “It isn’t,” he said between breaths. “Why the bilge did you run off by yourself?”
“You didn’t see it?”
He closed his eyes and tried to slow his breathing. “See what?”
“That’s why I ran after it. No one else saw it rise up from where Ash disappeared?”
“The bug?” He thought he had been the only person to see it. “I assumed that it was just something on the ground that reacted to the dust pile falling on it.”
She stood. “It wasn’t an insect. It rose up and flew towards the mountains. I knew that if I stopped to explain what had happened, I would have lost sight of it.”
“Raines mentioned that a self-contained simulation would need a controller and a power source,” he said. “We found the power source.”
“I think the bug thing was the controller. Probably designed to return home if something went wrong.” She looked at him. “Did I mess up, Jake?”
He stood as well. “No, Jane. You did exactly what you should have done.” He looked around the ledge, which he now realized really was oddly glass-smooth on top. “So, where did this controller-bug of yours go?”
She looked back at the rock wall behind her. “I don’t know. It flew up here, but by the time I made it up the steps, it was gone.” She looked back at him. “Maybe it was all for nothing.”
He squatted down and ran his fingers over the smooth floor. “This ledge certainly isn’t natural, and neither was that staircase coming up here. This place has to be here for a reason.”
“You mean there are people here? Other people?”
He stood and nodded. �
�Someone sent that simulation to meet us and bring us here.” He walked over to the rock wall. “There has to be an opening here—some sort of door.” As if on cue, a section of the wall a few meters away dipped in and then slid to the side, revealing an oval-shaped opening. “Tell me that I did that,” he whispered.
“Door,” Jane called out. Immediately, the opening resealed itself. She repeated the word, and the opening reappeared.
“That was too easy,” he said.
“Perhaps it was meant to be easy,” she replied.
He looked at her. “You think we’re being invited in?”
She nodded and started for the door.
“Wait,” he said. “Let’s not rush in, okay? I’m feeling a little bit like a small animal being lured into a trap.”
“We’re in someone else’s structure,” she said, “without access to our ship. I think we’re already trapped.”
He nearly smiled. “You’re right, of course.” He looked back at the top of the stairs behind him. “But, I’d like to wait for the rest of our crew to get here. Okay? I’d like AJ’s input on all of this before I proceed.”
She looked at him then sat back down on the floor. “You’re the captain, Captain.”
He ordered to door to close again then walked over and sat beside her. If Raines hadn’t already died from the exertion, they probably wouldn’t have to wait too long.
The sun had already disappeared around the wall of mountains to the west when they heard voices from the far side of the ledge. Jake jumped up, but the stabs of pain in both of his strained calves kept him from reaching the stairs before Jane.
“Hey, old man,” Raines said as he topped the staircase first.
Jake smiled. “Glad you could make the party, young fellow.”
“Find anything interesting?” AJ asked as she came up next.
“Definitely interesting,” he replied, reaching out a hand to pull Vee and Jessie up the last step. Wood came up last, looking more annoyed than tired.
“More important than interesting,” the doctor said, “did you find us shelter for the night?” He looked around the barren ledge top. “Honestly, I’d be happy with a cold, damp cave tonight if it doesn’t have wild dogs trying to eat me.”
Novum Chronicles: A Dystopian Undersea Saga Page 29