by J.P Jackson
*
"How can I help you?”
The question repeated and Taylor groaned as he opened his eyes. He clutched at his head and wished away the worst headache he had ever experienced.
Orange evening light peeked through holes in the hut, giving an angelic glow to Yellow Jack's feathers. “You asked me to come see you, Ham Taylor. I have done what you asked.”
Taylor propped himself up over the pit, groaning at his aching bones. “What did you do?”
"I sabotaged the grate in the arena, allowing your escape, consequently saving your life.”
Taylor rubbed at his tender ribs. “Did you have to stick the boot in?”
"Apophis suspects that I harbor sympathy for your kind. I had to make things convincing, and furthermore, I felt you deserved it.”
"How did you do it? The grate I mean?”
Jack bent beside him, “I smeared a corrosive solution onto the grate before the event, weakening it's structure to the point that it would fail catastrophically when a mass equal to your own was applied.”
"Clever” Taylor stated, matter-of-factly.
"Simply a matter of forethought and patience. You convinced me of your identity and after I witnessed your memories I decided to aid you. I know everything there is to know about you now.”
Taylor winced as he dabbed the back of his head. The pulsating growth was currently the size of an apple. “In the ship, they put this thing on my head. What is it?”
"You don't know what it is,” Jack said, “because I have yet to inform you of it.”
Jack was right. Taylor first heard about the parasitic mesomite when sharing a cage with a featherless Yellow Jack. Since their original encounter was discarded to the waste basket of time, the memory had been erased from Taylor's mind, and as such the parasite and its abhorrent effects were news to Taylor.
Yellow Jack recounted the details of the mesomite, it's consequences and the solution as he joined Taylor at the edge of the pit. He dropped down into the arsenal and perused the collection of weaponry on display, nodding in approval.
"You're saying,” Taylor gagged, “my head is going to explode?”
"And in spectacular fashion. You have hours left, Ham Taylor. No more than a day.”
Jack selected a bauble from a wooden box and studied his warped reflection in the surface. “It must have taken the Earthling slaves some time to amass this collection. The Pride would slaughter everyone in this village if they became aware of such activity.”
"You’re saying my head is literally going to explode?”
Jack held up a small glassy bauble. "This device is used to shatter mountains. This single orb could vaporize us, there are 10 orbs in this box.” Jack's eye wandered over a compact black disc. “Complete with detonator.”
Jack tossed the bauble up at Taylor, who tensed when he caught it against his stomach.
"The orb is harmless until activated,” Jack continued, brushing his talons against a golden levitation device. “Items have been going missing since our arrival on this planet. It all gets filed under irregularities. There have been increasing irregularities as of late.”
Taylor dangled his legs into the cold pit as he passed the bauble back to Jack. “Seems the slaves were working on some kind of revolt. Guess they lost their nerve at some point.”
Outside activity stirred Taylor to his feet. He carefully removed a board covering the window and watched as adolescent slaves lit torches, while fathers and mothers carried water buckets and crying lambs to the temple.
Yellow Jack joined Taylor at the window as a parade of priests arrived from neighboring villages. The scent of aromatic spices and sizzling meat wafted from the narrow temple door, but only the priests were allowed inside.
"They have pleased their God Apophis,” Jack said, baulking when he caught a whiff of the smell. “Tomorrow the capstone will be placed on the pyramid and work will be completed. Tomorrow...everyone will die.”
"Do they know?” Taylor numbly asked, squinting at thin slaves and fat priests.
“All they have been told is that their king and queen will be reunited, guiding them all to a greater glory. They do what they are told, and they tonight they celebrate a job well done.”
Jack exhaled a weighty breath as the day's dying light danced over his face. “The mothership contains the ark, the rarest object in our universe. And before you ask, I believe it would be irresponsible to share further information with you.”
Taylor turned from the window. “Why the hell not?”
"Ham Taylor your kind has not yet discovered the true workings of the universe, my kind has. To inform you of such things long before time would change human history. The implications are simply too staggering to contemplate.”
"Or maybe,” Taylor argued, “you tell me and I keep my bloody mouth shut. We're in this together Jack, up to our bloody fucking necks. Trust me to do the right thing.”
Jack stared into Taylor's eyes, convinced by his sincerity. “I have your word that the information I impart dies with you?”
Taylor placed a hand over his chest. “Cross my heart. You want a pinkie swear? I've got one left.”
Jack stepped back, sealed the window, then shared a fundamental secret of the universe. “In layman's terms...universes are born out of black holes. Mass falls into the hole and is compressed, this compressed matter is ejected from the black hole into a newly formed pocket of space, where it expands in a big bang, birthing a new universe. Do you understand?”
Taylor nodded, but scratched his head after a quick calculation. “Jack, at a conservative estimate, there are a 100 million black holes in the Milky Way. You're telling me that each has another universe billowing brand new out the other side?”
"Not in every case, but the majority certainly. Matter is not destroyed by the singularity, it is simply rejuvenated in the form of a new universe. Black holes create universes and universes create black holes and so on and so forth.”
"The chicken or the egg,” Taylor uttered. “And the ark? What about it?”
"The ark, simply stated, is a fragment that survived it's trip through the black hole and the birth of this universe. It is an object of immeasurable power that isn't subject to the laws of reality, at least in this universe.”
"Like the cork in a champagne bottle?”
"I am not familiar with champagne, thus I cannot confirm your analogy.”
"Well I'd tell you Jack, but since your kind has not yet discovered the true workings of champagne and my kind has, I'd hate to be responsible for the consequences.”
Jack tilted his long head sideways. “You really are a spiteful little creature, aren't you?”
"Is that a question or a statement, since you've already seen inside my mind? By the way, can you remind me where I parked my car the night of November 7th 2018? I only remember waking up on my Maw's kitchen floor.”
"Certainly. You drunkenly drove your vehicle into a lake. And yes, I have seen inside your mind and know exactly what you are capable of. You are a gifted and disturbed individual, Ham Taylor. Extremely disturbed.”
Taylor shook his head as if disappointed in himself. “I loved that car. Jack what can we do to stop the ark? You do want to stop it, right?”
Yellow Jack answered without hesitation. “If I have the means then I cannot allow Apophis to wipe out all life on this planet. That is the purpose of the pyramid, it is a perfect polyhedron, a geometric lens that will channel the ark's power. At dawn's light, Apophis' deceased wife Aquinas will be placed in the pyramid's lower chamber.”
Taylor nodded with wide eyes. “My people call it the queen's chamber.”
"Appropriately so. The ark meanwhile will be placed in the chamber above. This chamber contains a stone coffer built specifically to house the ark. It is a very precise mechanism. Everything has to be in perfect harmony for the process to work.”
"And how does it work?”
"When a stream of sunlight hits
the coffer, the pyramid will burn bright on the inside and the outside. The inside will act as a regenerative device, returning life to the dead.”
"And outside?” Taylor asked, fearing the worst.
"The mirrored casing of the pyramid will reflect the ark's power, blasting it's light to all corners of the Earth, draining the life force of everything it touches, regeneration on the inside, annihilation on the outside. The Earth will be wiped clean and Aquinas will live again in the heart of the pyramid.”
Taylor started, wide-eyed at Jack. “He's going to destroy all life on Earth just to get his wife back?”
Yellow Jack's pensive eyes penetrated Taylor's. “The price of returning life to the dead is substantial. I have seen inside you, and perhaps you would pay the same price?”
"Penelope,” Taylor said bluntly, “is not dead.”
"My point...is that you and Apophis are more alike than you would care to contemplate. You are both creatures in mourning, both ruined by loss.”
His words sat heavy in Taylor's heart. He searched internally and asked himself the question: Would he destroy a planet if it meant regaining Penelope? No, was his immediate response, but that was as far as Taylor was willing to ponder.
"This ark,” he whispered, shaking off the idea. “I've seen it Jack. I touched the bloody thing.”
Jack raised his hand in a dismissive manner. “Nonsense. Touching the ark would have vaporized you, there would be nothing left.”
Taylor faced him, in no mood for argument. “I touched it Jack. It attracted my torch like a magnet, charged it up and then propelled me through time. Forwards then back again. I've got 2% percent left in the torch, enough to zap me from one end of a room to the other, but the 21st century? Forget it.”
Jack stared at the torch then placed an index finger against Taylor's neck. Examination complete, Yellow Jack gave Taylor the same serious expression he had just received.
"You are telling the truth. Somewhere, somehow...” Jack rubbed his beak, unsure of his response. “Ham Taylor this is something I have never encountered.”
"Conclusions?”
"I would be hasty in making any assumptions but it seems the torch device is now a part of your physiology. Light flows throw your veins. I will say without hesitation that you are unique to your species. Nature, however, rarely gives without taking back, thus I have complete confidence in saying there will be consequences to your metamorphosis.”
"Figures,” Taylor said, squirming in pain and disgust as he touched the growth. "Jack I need to get this thing out of my head. For that I have to get back on that ship.”
“The only way onto the ship is by commandeering a shuttle. Shuttles only travel in the morning. We will have to hope your head does not explode before the sun rises.”
Taylor sighed as he considered the several added hours he would have to endure this grotesque abnormality squirming around in his head.
“Fine,” he whispered, pointing his hand to the arsenal, “we get the shuttle in the morning. I plant the bombs on board and you blow the ship to kingdom come. Bish, bash, bosh.”
Jack pressed a finger over his beak as if to quench forbidden words. “You want me to destroy the ship? My own people?”
"It has to be you,” Taylor insisted. “After I plant the bombs, I'm going after the ark. I touch the thing and jump back home, leaving you to pull the trigger here in the past. It has to be you.”
Yellow Jack selected a thin compact disc and turned it over in his hands. “It is true,” he muttered, “that the Jackanine onboard are lost to drugs. It is also true that destroying the ship would save Nido from any future atrocities Apophis may perpetrate. However I would still be guilty of mass murder. The act would haunt me to my dying day.”
"Then we'll both be haunted by our sins.”
Their conspiring hearts jumped when a knock at the door signaled an arrival. Taylor opened the door and Mesha was startled to find Yellow Jack amongst the contraband, potentially placing her in a lot of trouble.
Taylor reached out but Mesha recoiled. Suddenly, Jack spoke in her native tongue, and what he said appeared to relieve her mind.
"What does she want?” Taylor asked him
"You saved her husband's life. We have been invited to supper.”