The Nibiru Effect

by G Sauvé

  The grey-haired soldier keeps himself busy. The first day was spent updating both the military and the Atlantean Council on the details of our trip to the past. After that, he resumed his duties as leader of a small platoon. I’m not sure why a peaceful city like Atlantis needs a military force, but Jonn takes his duties seriously. He gets up at the crack of dawn and returns late at night. I find the behaviour odd, but Kara claims he’s always been this way. Only one thing matters to him; taking down Avalon.

  I continue my casual stroll until I notice a whale swimming beneath my feet. Like the dome that protects the city, the ground is made of glass—or some other see-through material. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if not for the fact that the city is elevated from the ocean floor. It not only tricks your brain into thinking you’re walking on water, but it allows you to study the marine life without having to get wet. It’s fun but not as immersive as taking a dip in one of the dozens of public swimming pools scattered throughout Atlantis. It feels like you’re swimming with the dolphins and the sharks without actually having to put your life at risk. It’s one of Kara’s favourite activities.

  Kara and I spend most of our free time together. Since she doesn’t have classes to attend or a job to perform, she’s pretty much free all the time. She took advantage of this to show me various areas of the city and prove she can cut loose and have fun when lives don’t hang in the balance. Of course, that only made me like her more, which will make our inevitable separation that much more painful. More than once I considered admitting my infatuation, but things always seemed to get in the way. In the end, I stopped trying and focused on enjoying Kara’s company. But the kiss we shared was always in the back of my mind. In fact, that’s why I chose to take a stroll. I need to clear my mind and figure out my next move.

  I reach the edge of the city and take a seat on one of the countless benches that line the dome’s perimeter. I now have a breathtaking view of the ocean. At first, being so deep underwater kind of freaked me out, but now seeing the vast expanse of water fills me with ease. I let my gaze wander and allow my mind to do the same.

  My eyelids eventually grow heavy as boredom sets in. I don’t fight it. I close my eyes and focus on my breathing. My heart beats to the rhythm of my contentment. I’m about to nod off when someone calls my name.

  “Will!”

  A surge of adrenaline shoots through me as I’m yanked from my near-slumber. I glance around and spot a child running toward me. At least, he looks like a child, but I know for a fact the man is older than me.

  It’s Kidd.

  When I first met him I thought he was insane, but now that I know who he truly is, I kind of like him. Sure, he’s scatterbrained, but what genius isn’t? He’s also loyal to a fault and a hoot to be around. The first thing he did upon meeting me again was apologize for allowing Avalon to steal my mother’s ring. I could have blamed him for the role he played in my misadventures, but the truth is without my mother’s ring, my friends and I never would have escaped the past. But the main reason for my friendship with Kidd is the fact that he kept my mother’s letter.

  I read and re-read it dozens of times. It’s the closest I have come to having a conversation with my mother, and studying her handwriting allows me to feel close to her. But soon I won’t need it anymore. Soon, I’ll get to meet her for real. That is if Kidd succeeded in performing the favour I asked of him.

  “I did it,” says Kidd as he reaches me.

  My heart skips a beat, and my lips curl into a smile.

  “You did?”

  He nods.

  “I figured out where the Chicxulub asteroid came from,” he announces proudly.

  Dammit! I was hoping for something else, but I nonetheless nod for Kidd to share his findings.

  “Believe it or not,” he says as he takes a seat next to me, “the Chicxulub asteroid is a fragment of Nibiru.”

  “Really?”

  Kidd nods.

  “It took me a while to figure it out,” he admits. “It wasn’t until I tested the age of the fragment that I finally understood.”

  “Understood what?”

  “The Chicxulub asteroid is from the future.”

  “The future? How can you tell?”

  “The fragment you brought back isn’t the first sample we’ve recovered,” says Kidd. “According to our previous tests, Nibiru and Earth are the same age, but the fragment you gave me is three passings of Nibiru older than it should be.”

  I do the math in my head.

  “Are you saying the Chicxulub asteroid somehow came from ten thousand nine hundred and fifty years in the future.”

  “Actually,” says Kidd, “it’s twenty-one thousand nine hundred years, give or take a few years.”

  Right. I forgot Atlantis is nearly eleven thousand years in the past. Well, my past.

  “How does this discovery help us?” I ask.

  “I’m not sure,” admits Kidd, “but it tells us something major will happen in the future.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s devastating enough to destroy a planet that’s nearly seven times the size of Earth.”

  The prospect of Nibiru being destroyed bodes ill for the future of our planet, but there’s nothing either of us can do about it. By the time this catastrophic event occurs, we will be long dead. At least, Jonn, Kara, and I will. Given the anti-ageing potion Kidd ingested, there’s no telling how long he will live.

  “What about our other project?” I ask. “Any news?”

  Kidd smiles.

  “That’s why I’m here.”

  I’m so excited I’m speechless. After nearly a week of waiting, I will finally get to know what happened to all those humanoids we left behind.

  After the euphoria of survival passed, I was left feeling guilty for abandoning Korri and the other humanoids we encountered along our journey. Jonn and Kara asked the Atlantean Council for permission to return to the past and aid our friends, but they refused, stating the safety of Atlanteans as a reason. I resented them for their heartlessness, but I understood. The Chicxulub plague wiped out seventy-five percent of the world’s living organisms and the odds of infection were too great. Still, my feeling of guilt persisted.

  I approached Kidd and explained the situation. He agreed returning to the past was too risky, but revealed there was another way to learn what had become of our friends. He wouldn’t tell me what he was up to but promised to help put my mind at ease. All he asked is that I lend him my mother’s ring and be patient.

  I did, and now my patience is about to be rewarded.

  “Ready?” asks Kidd.

  I nod.

  He presses his right index to his left wrist, and a holographic screen appears above his palm. Unlike most Atlanteans, Kidd had his virtual computer implanted directly into his body, allowing him to access his files without having to carry his tablet around. It’s cool, but also kind of freaky.

  Kidd taps away at the screen and, with a final swipe, sends a file flying through the air. It hits the glass dome and morphs into a large reproduction of Kidd’s tablet. A video file is open and ready play.

  “How did you do that?” I ask.

  Kidd chuckles.

  “That’s not important. Just like it’s not important how I got the footage you’re about to see.”

  “What footage?”

  “This,” says Kidd as he inputs a command into his tablet, “is a mashup of the past week’s events.”

  The video starts playing before I can ask anything else. There’s no sound, but the images fully make up for it.

  The first thing I see is the Chicxulub asteroid. It’s still high in the sky, but it’s inexorably heading toward the Mountain of Fire. It’s only a matter of time before it collides with Earth and releases the plague it carries.

  The image changes and I now see Arkania being overrun by lava. Buildings burn. Wood turns to ash. Rocks melt and turn to lava. The river that used to split the city in hal
f is now nothing more than a dry riverbed. The once grandiose palace is but a pile of rubble.

  I’m about to ask what happened to the arkanes when the image changes again. It now shows the korrigan village. It’s deserted. The river is dry, and a large fissure sections the field of burrows in half. Not even the cave where my friends and I spent our nights was spared. It has been destroyed by the fractured earth. Only the painting which prophesized my arrival remains, though it’s now split in two. It seems oddly fitting.

  The next thing I see is the Mountain of Fire being destroyed by the Chicxulub asteroid. In less than thirty seconds, the volcano is obliterated. A vast cloud of dust rises, swallowing both the crater and the asteroid that created it.

  I can’t take it anymore. I tear my gaze from the horrific images and focus on Kidd.

  “What happened to my friends?” I ask.

  “See for yourself,” he says, nodding to the screen.

  I focus on the video just as the image changes.

  It’s a close-up of Korri’s face. He looks tired, but he’s smiling. I don’t understand why until the camera zooms out and his parents are revealed. More korrigans soon appear, both lava and forest. There are also dozens of arkanes. I spot King Kanto and a young female arkane I assume is his daughter. Nearby stand the two guards who released my friends and me when all hope seemed lost. High above them, Korrigana and her children soar, watching over the humanoids. The end may be near, but my friends are still alive, and as long as they work together, everything will be all right.

  It’s not until the video ends that I realize I’m crying tears of joy. Even in the worst of times, life goes on. And now that I know my friends are safe, it’s time I do the same.

  It’s time for me to go home.

  Memory 101

  I t’s time. Time for me to forget about time travel. Time for me to forget about Avalon and the threat she made. Time for me to forget about all of this insanity. It’s time for me to go home.

  Kara, Jonn, and Kidd are gathered around me as I take one last look at my surroundings. Atlantis is a beautiful city. I’ll miss it, but I’ll never forget it.

  “Goodbye,” says Kidd.

  We hug, and he takes advantage of this to whisper something into my ear.

  “Don’t forget our deal.”

  Once I’m reunited with my mother, I will no longer need the time travel ring she gave me, so I will hand it over once I have safely returned to my time. Jonn and Kara don’t know this. They think they’re accompanying me so we can say farewell.

  “Don’t worry,” I whisper back. “I won’t forget.”

  “I’ll always remember you,” I say once I pull away.

  “Me too,” he says. He’s smiling, but I can tell he’s sad. So is Kara. Only Jonn seems unaffected by our impending separation.

  “Ready?” he asks. “We don’t have all day.”

  Kara shoots him an angry look but says nothing.

  I chuckle. I’ll miss their fighting. I’ll miss a lot of things about them. But what I will most of all is Kara. More than once I considered staying in Atlantis, but I knew I would forever regret it if I did. My desire to meet my mother—and possibly my father—is what has pushed me to overcome my limitations time and time again, and I can’t bear the thought of passing up such an opportunity. After years of fantasizing, I’m finally going to be reunited with my parents.

  “I’m ready,” I say as I twist the first triangle. I take a deep breath and rotate the second triangle. It clicks into place. They now form an hourglass symbol. It’s identical to the one on my wrist. I still don’t know what it means, but I suspect that will change once I meet my mother.

  I wait for the ring to activate. It doesn’t. Nor does the portal appear. In fact, nothing happens. My heart starts beating faster as I realize what this means. I try activating the ring again, but nothing happens. I try a third time before finally accepting the truth.

  I’m trapped in the past.

  Uh-oh!

  W ill Jr. awoke just as the memory organizer detached from his wrist. It fell onto his lap, the metallic legs that once protruded from the device having retreated into it. Will Jr. stared at it, breathing heavily.

  “W-what just happened?” he muttered. His voice was hoarse and his throat dry. His head throbbed softly. How long had he been sitting there, reliving his father’s memories? Minutes? Hours? Days? Time was impossible to determine in this dark, dust-filled attic. For all he knew, it was the middle of the night.

  Something was wrong with Will Jr. He had spent so much time reliving his father’s memories he no longer felt like himself. He now felt like Will Save, saviour of the forest korrigans and prisoner of the past.

  Will Jr. shook his head and massaged his tired muscles. He cracked his knuckles and did stretching exercises to ease the tension in his neck. He even yawned a couple of times. By the time he was done, he felt like himself again.

  The confusion caused by the momentarily displaced identity was gone, yet Will Jr. was still confused. Reliving his father’s memories had allowed him to get to know the man in ways he had never dreamed of, yet he now possessed more unanswered question than he had before.

  What happened to Will Save? Why was he trapped in the past? What of Avalon? Where was she, and what did she have planned next? Was that really Will Jr.’s mother when she was young? She seemed so different. So did Jonn—his grandfather. Will Jr. had always known him to be a kindhearted, easy-go-lucky kind of guy. It was difficult for him to accept the Jonn he had seen in his father’s memories was, in fact, the same man.

  So many questions, and not a single answer. But Will Jr. did not regret reliving his father’s memories. He now felt much closer to him. Not to mention all the incredible things he had witnessed. For the first time in his life, Will Jr. realized how vast the world was. He had heard stories, but now that he had seen it with his own eyes, he felt a voracious desire to explore it. Doing so in real life was too dangerous, but there were other ways to travel.

  Will Jr. grabbed the memory organizer and placed it onto his wrist. He waited for the metallic legs to appear and encircle his wrist, but nothing happened.

  “Oh no,” groaned Will Jr. Was the memory organizer broken? What if he could never relive the rest of his father’s memories? How could he go on not knowing what had happened to him?

  Maybe the disc is full, he theorized. Maybe the next set of memories are on the second disc.

  Will Jr. flipped the memory organizer and twisted the two metallic triangles that adorned it so their tips were facing away from each other. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then the flaps flipped open. Soon after, the rest of the metallic device split into thin points and opened up like a flower, revealing the silver disc it contained. The Roman numeral “I” was engraved on its surface.

  Will Jr. reached for the disc, hands shaking. It took a few tries, but he finally managed to extract the memory chip. Moments later, it was returned to the wooden box that contained the other nine discs the teenager’s father had left for him. The memory organizer sealed itself as soon as the disc marked with “II” was inserted into it.

  Will Jr. hesitated for a moment, then twisted the triangles. They clicked into place, forming an hourglass. Moments later, the memory organizer came to life. A dozen metallic legs erupted from the disc’s perimeter and started flexing and feeling around.

  “Yes!” yelled Will Jr. victoriously. In his excitement, he sent the memory organizer flying across the attic. It vanished behind a dusty dresser but came scurrying back after only a few seconds. It crawled up Will Jr.’s leg and tried to attach itself to his wrist, but the teenager would not let it. It was not that Will Jr. did not want to know what had happened to his father, it was just that he wanted to know how many more discs contained memories.

  Were all ten memory chips full or was this the final one? Determined to find out, Will Jr. deactivated the memory organizer and inserted the discs one by one. The device turned on time and time again until he i
nserted the eighth disc. Instead of sealing shut and coming to life, the memory organizer remained inert.

  “It must be blank,” muttered Will Jr. as he removed the disc and replaced it with the one marked with “IX.” Like before, the memory organizer remained dormant. The same also happened when he inserted the final disc.

  Will Jr. did the math and concluded seven of the ten discs contained memories. Since he had already relived the first set, only six remained. It did not seem like much given how they were all that remained of his father, yet so much had already happened Will Jr. could barely even fathom what could happen next. But he was eager to find out. It was thus with a sense of excitement that he slipped the second disc into the memory organizer and waited for it to seal itself. He was about to twist the triangles into place when something caught his ear.

  It was a soft thud. Will Jr. could easily have ignored it, but he chose not to. He looked up, just as a shape emerged from the shadow cast by a nearby stack of boxes.

  “Uh-oh!” muttered Will Jr. at the sight of the woman standing before him.

  It was his mother.

  To be continued…

  The Journey Continues

  W hy is Will trapped in the past? Will Avalon return? Will Kara and Will finally admit their love for one another? Find out in The Virtuality Theory, the second installment in the Will Save series.

  Will Save

  The Nibiru Effect - January 15th 2019

  The Virtuality Theory - February 2nd 2019

  The Individuality Gene - February 20th 2019

  The Fruit of Good and Evil - Coming Soon!

  The Inverted Evolution - Coming Soon!

  The Cerebral Captive - Coming Soon!

  The Games of Destiny: Part 1 - Coming Soon!

  The Games of Destiny: Part 2 - Coming Soon!