The Survivors | Book 15 | New Beginning

by Hystad, Nathan

  Slate eyed the computer, and I shrugged. “We don’t have any power.”

  “I might be able to help.” Slate ran off, returning a couple minutes later with his bag. He fumbled through it, setting a power pack on the desk. “Problem solved.”

  “Good work.” I climbed under the desk, unplugging the computer, and jammed the cord into the pack he’d recovered from the lander. Taking a seat in Kind’s chair, I pressed the monitor and tower on. Luckily, it worked.

  The fan choked and coughed, worrying me that the entire thing was about to give up the ghost, but the desktop opened, and I saw an assortment of files. It froze momentarily, seeking a network that no longer existed, but eventually, I was able to click on a folder.

  I searched through an index, finding a list of names, and ended up with “Lauder, Carolyn.” “This is it.” I double-tapped it, but a password prompt appeared. “Damn it. That’s the end of the road. Looks like we’ll have to bring this home with us to…”

  Slate lifted a device, connecting it to an earpiece. “Suma… yeah, it’s Slate. I need your assistance. Dean and I are on Earth, and we need to crack a password. Right. I’ll connect you to it now.”

  “What would I do without you?” I asked him, impressed at his ingenuity.

  “Boss, you’re good with certain things, and I’m good with others.” Slate plugged a miniscule device into the power source. It would link Suma to the computer from her remote tablet. I watched the screen as Suma took control of the mouse. She moved quickly, adding a sequence breaker to the password, and it scrolled through millions of potential combinations, so fast they were nothing more than a blur.

  Slate tapped the headset and smiled at me in the dim lantern light. “Great work, Suma!”

  The program beeped through the old speakers. The password had settled on BeKindRewind1977.

  “I get it. Her name is Kind,” Slate mumbled. “Thanks, Suma. See you soon.”

  He dropped the earpiece and communicator into the pack, and we scrolled through our target’s file. “It says she came for ten appointments over the course of eight weeks. Probably a couple of emergencies.” I found the first visit’s notes and skimmed them. “Kind thought Carolyn had a typical case of dissociative disorder. She didn’t want to be at home with her negative parents and a brother who constantly picked on her. To cope with it, her mind separated, creating some place to escape to. Carolyn mentioned bright lights and a room where a figure watched her, but the doctor disregarded it as fiction. A made-up story.”

  “What if Carolyn was taken by someone? A person? What if something terrible happened to her?” Slate asked.

  “It could have. She did mention seeing someone in her mirror.”

  “Let’s keep exploring. Skip ahead,” Slate suggested.

  “More of the same, recalling her childhood, and Kind thought it was all fairly routine. Still assumed that this place she keeps referring to wasn’t real. Decided that perhaps hypnotherapy would help.” I read on, hitting session six. “Okay, Carolyn demanded Kind cover her mirror.” I glanced up, seeing the very same mirror on the wall. It was round, hanging at eye level across the room. “She declined to hide it, telling the patient there was no harm in a reflection, and Carolyn refused to be hypnotized. She returned two days later, more withdrawn and skinny. This is where Kind makes notes that perhaps the parents are neglecting her, and she considers contacting child services.

  “Kind covered the mirror and started hypnosis. The girl’s tale was shocking…” I stopped, letting Slate take my seat. “You better read this.”

  Slate picked up where I’d been and spoke softly, reading the entry verbatim. “Carolyn shows signs of trauma, but it is unclear what occurred. On the night of July eighth, she was coming home from her friend Jessie’s. The walk is roughly seven blocks, and she crossed through a playground. She said it was late, past her curfew, and hot. She recalls her shirt sticking to her skin, her hair plastered to her forehead as she marched over the mosquito-infested grass.” Slate peered up at me, his gaze wary. “Boss, what the hell is going to happen?”

  “Keep reading.”

  Slate nodded, and continued. “She was past the playground equipment, and there was no one in sight. She identified something above her and peered at the sky, seeing thousands of stars and a nearly full moon. Carolyn felt peaceful in that moment. Then it all changed. I had to talk Carolyn down at this point. She was crying, her lips trembling, her hands shaking. A light came, freezing her in place. She claims to have lost three hours, getting home at two in the morning. I ended the session then, sensing trouble if I continued. I wanted to film the next round, to pursue that moment, but our time ran out today.”

  Slate sat back, pushing a cheekful of air out. “She was abducted?”

  “We heard about that from the hybrids. The Kraski took people, using their genes to model hybrid humans after them. Maybe it was something like that,” I said.

  Slate touched his throat. “I don’t know. This seems different.”

  A terrible conclusion crept into my mind, and I leaned toward my friend. “Slate. Did something like this happen to you?”

  He swallowed but shook his head. “I don’t think so. I can’t remember it if it did,” he told me, and I believed him.

  “Let’s find this video.”

  Slate used the mouse, accessing the single footage file in Carolyn’s folder. The camera showed a young girl, her eyes shallow and dark. Her lips were pale, and it looked like she hadn’t showered in days. Her hair was greasy to match her forehead. We watched the footage as Dr. Kind questioned that time during the three-hour window. By the end of it, we sat in awed silence.

  “A room with bright lights, and a long-armed being administering something. That’s the thing she drew, and what followed her in her reflection,” I murmured.

  “Boss, what if that happened to me too? Maybe I was abducted like she was.”

  ____________

  With the files from Dr. Kind’s office stowed in my pack, we used the portal in Egypt to travel to Haven rather than return home. We had too many questions to wait another day, and I sent a message to Jules, letting her know I wouldn’t be at the house until after she was asleep.

  It was late on Haven when we arrived, and I sent Regnig a communication, making sure the old bird was awake. He instantly replied, welcoming us for a visit. As we flew for the Academy, I glanced at Slate, who was taking this better than I’d imagined. He clutched the controls, focused on bringing us to the landing pad near the school, and I peered at the city in the distance, knowing Mary and Hugo were safe at the condo we’d rebuilt.

  The Academy was tall and majestic in the night air. A few people walked the safe pathways, discussing tomorrow’s classes and their futures as Gatekeepers as we headed for the library below the massive campus.

  “You think we’ll find anything?” Slate asked.

  “Who knows? If anyone can determine if this has occurred elsewhere, it’s Regnig,” I told him confidently.

  Hello, Dean and Slate. The voice entered our heads even before the elevator doors sprang open, and Regnig leaned on a small cane in the main library’s foyer. Come in, come in. He waved a talon, inviting us to enter.

  “How are you holding up these days, Regnig?” I asked.

  I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, Dean. He hobbled forward, taking us through the dark library. Only a few lights remained on in the students’ half of the facility, and it had an ominous feel in the late evening. Extensive rows of copied texts from all over the universe lined the many shelves, giving the Alliance of Worlds their largest compiled collection of books.

  I walked up to the first section, tugging a volume free. Its title was etched in ancient Padlog, and I flipped it open, starting from the rear of the book. Their literature was read back to front, bottom to top. I wasn’t sure if I could train my brain to find that normal. There were various drawings inside, depicting battles with other creatures on a desert-like terrain.

  Did you kn
ow that the Padlog were one of three intelligent beings on their planet, vying for supremacy? Their Compass Wars lasted three centuries, and in the end, the Padlog stood victors. Regnig tilted the book lower and pointed to the two beings on the page. One walked on four legs, a horn protruding from under its chin. The other was tall and thin, with dark beady eyes and sharp-looking weapons. They were all worthy foes, but the Padlog adapted to their styles of fighting. Eventually, after their own numbers were depleted, they realized they didn’t need to beat them in combat.

  “What did they do?” Slate asked.

  They poisoned their water sources. Rumor has it, their Supreme had thought of doing it decades earlier, but they found it too unscrupulous. After much loss, their new leader decided it was the most prudent solution.

  “And what happened to the rest of these races?” I asked, unsure I wanted the answer.

  They were killed. With their soldiers gone, it wasn’t a difficult task.

  “That doesn’t seem like the Padlog we know,” Slate suggested.

  “I wouldn’t say that. You saw what it was like under the hive. The bar fighting, the drug overdoses. They have issues as every race does.”

  Dean’s right. The Padlog are a great partner, but they have a history of criminal behavior. Regnig began walking away, making me close the book to return it to the proper location. He’d have a fit if I set the volume in the wrong spot.

  “Why do I feel like there’s a lesson here?” Slate asked after the birdman.

  I could sense it coming as well and waited for Regnig to spill it. He stopped near the secret entrance to his real library, the one no one was allowed to see. It contained the universe’s most closely guarded mysteries, and the students had no access.

  War is often a grueling process, and sometimes the only effective path to victory is to do something out of character.

  I didn’t see how this involved us currently, but kept my mouth shut as I entered his side of the facility. The hidden panel slid shut behind us, and I instantly smelled the rustic scent of old books. “We have a problem.”

  Does this have anything to do with the incident at the other night’s party? Regnig glanced at us with his large eye and shuffled to the kitchen, where he began heating water for tea.

  “Don’t call it an incident,” Slate said wryly.

  “Yes. That’s what it’s about.”

  Why don’t you two have a seat, and we’ll discuss things over tea. Regnig poured the cups of steaming water and sat at the circular wooden table near the edge of the kitchen. He left the lights low, and I told him about Carolyn’s mutation, and how we’d found the same thing in Slate. He seemed extra curious about the abduction ramifications from our findings in Arkansas, but he kept quiet until I was done telling the story.

  “What do you think?” Slate asked.

  There could be a few explanations. The mutation might be as simple as you hope, but I fear the coincidence is too strong for that to be viable. On a planet with so many people, it would have needed to affect more than you and her. Have you tried the Locator device on Haven?

  My eyes snapped open as I shook my head. “No. I didn’t even think about it. Slate, do you have the device in your—”

  He pulled it out of his pocket, passing it over to me on the table. “Of course you do. The ultimate Boy Scout.” I flipped the tool on, and a minute later, it began a search for something matching the DNA strands found in only two subjects so far.

  A light blinked red, indicating a dot at the north edge of Haven’s capital. “You have to be kidding me. Looks like you have a sibling,” I told Slate, getting a frown in return.

  “Can you stop with the jokes?” Slate took the device, spinning it in his palm. “We need to find this person.”

  “We will, but first, we seek Regnig’s advice,” I assured Slate. Regnig sipped from his cup, tongue lapping from his long beak. “Why don’t you seem surprised with the results? How did you know to check?”

  It was a guess. Odds were, someone on Haven would have the matching changes. I would suggest scanning Earth and any other place where humans are residing. Perhaps it extends past your race, but at this time it’s best to focus on you first.

  “We were just on Earth. We should have done it then,” Slate muttered.

  “Hindsight. Can’t change what’s done. Okay, Regnig, say we bring this person in.” I tapped the red dot on the round screen. “What does it mean? Do we interrogate them?”

  Have you interrogated Zeke?

  “Why would he question me?” Slate asked.

  By this logic, you have nothing to worry about, which is wrong. Carolyn tried covering something up, and our Recaster here claims another version of him wanted to kill every edition of the woman. There’s a reason she was selected.

  I wasn’t quite following the guy. “Selected?”

  If the account from the teenage girl is trustworthy, she was abducted by someone. Back then, aliens were a thing of H. G. Wells’ imagination, but now, you know there are beings everywhere. The idea that one of them went to Earth, targeted this girl, and added something to her isn’t unheard of. The same thing would have…

  “Happened to me,” Slate finished. “But I don’t recall anything like that.”

  “Doctor Henrick Swan. Let’s check if he’ll hypnotize you, and see what we find,” I suggested.

  Slate’s eyes shrank, and he seemed to melt into his seat. “I don’t know… I’m scared of being hypnotized.”

  To be controlled by someone out of your power? What if that’s what this mutation to your coding is all about? What if you were chosen to do a task for whoever did this to you?

  Slate paled, and it clicked for me. “He’s right, Slate. Carolyn was a normal girl. Then she had this event take place, and she labored to hide it all, to change her story. She worked in engineering on Terran One. She helped Lom in the other dimension. Someone flipped a switch, and she turned.”

  “Into what?” Slate leaned on the table, almost spilling his tea.

  “That’s what we need to find out.”

  Regnig looked around the room, and for the first time that night, I noticed he seemed on edge.

  “Regnig, is everything okay?” I asked him.

  I’m fine. I’m afraid there’s something I’ve been looking into for the last few months, and it runs deeper than I originally suspected. His beak closed.

  Slate intertwined his fingers on his lap. “Anything you want to discuss?”

  Not at this time. It’ll be all right. I may have to take a trip in the next while, but rest assured, I won’t do so until I have more details for you.

  “Thanks. Good luck with the project.” It was time to leave.

  Five

  “This place is incredible,” Magnus said, stopping to gawk at the front statue. Jules’ legs were tired from the hours of walking, but it had all been worth it. The school closed hours ago, and they’d had the run of the place for that duration, showing Magnus each and every classroom.

  They’d also sent him through the virtual tour of the seven recorded training programs for fourth-year students to prepare for their first missions through the portals. He’d taken to it like a kid in a candy store, and Jules eventually had to drag him out of the demonstration, assuring him they’d replicate it at their Terran Thirty site.

  “You kids went here for all those years?” he asked, staring at the school from the front courtyard. The soft downlights around the building gave it a majestic glow in the night.

  “We sure did,” Dean told him.

  Natalia moved beside her son, putting an arm around him. “We were so proud of our boy. He was one of their best students.”

  “Was it difficult being away from the kids?” Magnus asked her, and Jules suddenly felt like she was in the middle of a conversation she shouldn’t be hearing.

  Natalia let Dean go and walked ahead with Magnus. “Patty dropped out...or was kicked out. She wasn’t happy here, but she’s starting her medical training on Sh
immal soon, so I’d say it all worked out in the end.”

  Jules took Dean’s hand, slowing her steps to let the adults move ahead.

  “What are you doing?” he whispered, and stopped, smiling. “Oh, I get it. You want a kiss.”

  He started to lean in, and she stuck a finger up, blocking his lips. “That’s not it. I wanted to give Magnus and your mom some time to talk without us lingering.”

  “Why would you do that?” he barked. “Wait, you can’t be thinking… that isn’t why you brought him with you, is it?”

  She pictured the sadness in his eyes after the battle on Shimmal and shook her head. “That isn’t it. But they have a bond, and I don’t want to interfere with their conversation.”

  “Jules, that isn’t my dad. Let’s not pretend it is.” Dean let go of her hand, marching forward to catch up to his mom, leaving her behind.

  Jules used her breath to calm her. She might not have the Deities’ abilities, but she’d been trained by the best. Jules could find her center in any situation, and she wanted to remember that.

  By the time she made it to the shuttle, the three of them were waiting for her. Hugo would be at Karo’s right now, and judging by the hour, he’d be sleeping soundly. As annoying as he was, she kind of missed the kid.

  “Jules, is there anything else we need to do?” Auntie Natalia asked.

  “If we’re all done, let’s go home.”

  Magnus flew for the portals, and Jules’s eyelids had drifted closed by the time they landed.

  “What did you think, Magnus?” Dean asked.

  “I think we’ll have a kick-ass facility by the end of this year.”

  ____________

  With Regnig working on a research project for us while we investigated this further, I felt more confident. He’d seek out any record of sudden changes in people from around the surrounding galaxies, as well as any indication of abductions between races. It was going to be a lot of work, but he claimed it was something he could offer to a few students for extra credit.