Recalling Destiny

by Michael Blinkhoff

  “We make to leave, prepare the camp please, we leave for the Blue Mountains. To Lucinda and Samuel’s camp.”

  “Aye Miss, we leave,” he calls back.

  “One more thing …” Smith looks at her plainly.

  “What?”

  “Cannot know truth … man.”

  “Who?”

  He nods his head in the direction he pointed earlier.

  “What Lucinda? Samuel?”

  “… not trust ... if quiet, be safe.”

  Alison moves over to a desk that’s been setup in the room and takes a seat opposite a large radio console. She turns the unit on, flicks a few switches and speaks into the large microphone. “D-B-One, this is A-B calling. Over.”

  Static flares as she sits waiting for a response.

  “Destiny base camp,” Smith calls from behind her, looking at the radio strangely and poking his finger at it.

  “Yeah, wasn’t my choice of names for the place, but anyway ... that’s what they decided to call it.”

  “A-B ... D-B-1 … go ahead.” The radio buzzes after an intermittent pause.

  “A-B reporting failure at desert site. Repeat, reporting failure. Over.”

  A long silence ensues then after another minute another voice sounds via the speakers.

  “Alison?”

  “Lucinda?”

  “Yes it’s me. What happened? You didn’t find anything?”

  “No Lucinda, I’ve found plenty of relics, some precious metals but no ancient texts, nothing that can help us.” she lies.

  “Damn it, I was sure you had good information on that one.”

  “Sorry Lucinda.”

  “Well maybe it’s not such a bad thing, we need a dig team to help out here. We think we got something.”

  “You want us to return?”

  “Yes A-B. Bring your team in ASAP, we could use the help. Things are going to be happening around here soon.”

  Alison looks over at Smith, sitting patiently on the chair and still covered in dust and sand. “Lucinda, my team is plus one.”

  “Plus one?” comes the reply.

  “Plus one, I have a new foreman.”

  “Ok, so … what’s his name, who is he? Can you trust him?”

  Alison turns in her seat, looking over her shoulder at the black man, she smiles and speaks back into the microphone. “Yes we can trust him.”

  “What’s his name?” the radio crackles.

  “What do I call you?” Alison leans over and looks at the man.

  “Blacksmith.”

  “Black - Smith? What kind of a name is that?”

  “Blacksmith,” is the only answer he gives.

  Alison has no idea what he means, but she runs with it, “His name is black … I mean Smith, his name is Smith. Luci, we’ll see you soon.”

  - -

  Catlin

  “I don’t get it.” Catlin asked, kneeling besides Marion.

  “I didn’t get it myself, but there it was in the logs, clear as day.”

  “So, you mean to tell me someone has transferred all those lives, all hundred and seventy million, into themselves?”

  Marion, despite a reasonable amount of discomfort and tiredness was still alert enough to talk to the two girls. “Yes. I think so.”

  “Think so?” Catlin queried, wide eyed.

  “Yeah, that’s what the register had logged.”

  “Is that even possible?”

  Marion sighed deeply, Ursula made to stop her from answering, fearing it was taxing too much of her energy, but Marion stopped her with a look and a touch to her wrist. Whatever had happened seemed to have passed and a desire to tell her story took over.

  “It was probably about five or six years ago now that it happened, I can’t remember exactly the date, but anyway. I’m not sure where she got the notion that she could do it, or why she should do it. Part of me thinks that Samuel made her do it, he had her wrapped around his finger, ever since the beginning the two of them acted like co-conspirators.”

  “In any case, one day I was checking the logs and came across a missing entry. I knew straight away it’d been deleted, so I retrieved the document file. You must understand, I built the information system that is Destiny, so nothing can be hidden from me. Not even by Lucinda. In the beginning she knew what she was doing, but in the end it was I who ran the threads.”

  “What I found in the deleted file was so confusing to me that I didn’t suspect anything was wrong with it, I actually thought it a mistake. What I found was an entry for an energy transfer.”

  “Confused as to why someone would delete the file I took a quick look over it and noticed Lucinda’s username had created, and then deleted the record. The record also had something unusual about it.”

  “The section which normally registers the life transfer, as in one for one was actually showing two to one and it listed it from her signature, meaning that Lucinda had absorbed two lives into her one. Like I said, it sounded preposterous to me at the time and I thought it must’ve been a mistake, so I took it to Lucinda right away hoping to find answers.”

  “If I was confused before we spoke then I certainly wasn’t after taking it to her. I’ve known that woman most my life and the look on her face when I approached her was like a child’s when it’s been caught doing something naughty. Instantly I knew that she’d done something terrible, something I didn’t even know possible.”

  “She denied it thereafter but I knew she was full of balderdash. The logs recorded it and her guilty face had confirmed it for me, she’d absorbed the lives of two people into her own.”

  “Holy freaking ... are you kidding me?”

  “Nope.”

  “But that’s crazy! Who would do that?”

  “So yes, to answer your question Catlin. It is possible, I just didn’t think that many was possible.”

  Catlin could only shake her head at the disgraces Ma’am kept delivering, she wondered how she had managed to get away with it all these years.

  Marion seemed to sense Catlin’s anger and placed her hand on her leg to soothe her. “I know this isn’t nice to hear Catlin, but you must know the truth.” She looked to Ursula’s she spoke, “you both must know the truth before I ...”

  “Don’t say it!” Ursula interjected. “You’re not allowed to … Just don’t say it ok!”

  Marion didn’t respond, only continued with her story. “So I avoided confrontation with Lucinda after the incident and never mentioned it again. We already had a strained relationship and confronting her on anything, much less something of that magnitude would only have severed our friendship. Although, looking back on it ... I wished I had of done more for her, she was ... she was my friend.” A tear welled up but Catlin brushed it away with her thumb quickly.

  “Don’t shed a tear for that monster!”

  “She was led astray my dear and lead astray for a long time, but she’s still there, I know she is.”

  “How can you even say that?”

  “She could’ve gotten rid of me a thousand times over the years, but she never did. I objected most of the time, never bowed to her outrageous demands and sometimes even managed to change her mind. You know, that wasn’t my first time in detention when you arrived at Destiny.”

  “So why keep you around?”

  “I guess I was the other side of her conscience, keeping me around reminded her of what she really was like … before all the craziness started happening. Everyone else was just a robot to her, but me, I was her connection to her past. To the woman that she used to be, before the thread came along.”

  They were all silent a while, reflecting on Marion’s words when Catlin had a question suddenly. “Hey … so what happened when she did this, did she get superpowers or something?”

  “Well, n
ot quite … she did look more youthful at first I suppose, but if you didn’t know she’d done it you never would have suspected. Everything appeared normal, maybe she looked a little younger. One thing did change though ... she developed immense strength.”

  The memory of her stopping a punch from the Viper flashed back into Catlin’s mind, she’d wondered how a woman of her age could have stopped the punch and held him so strongly, especially a man like the Viper.

  “I guess the only other visible sign was she didn’t seem to sleep very often. She’d constantly be doing something on the floor, calling actions or working the threads herself, she seemed to have a relentless energy.”

  “She didn’t sleep a lot after that happened, I don’t know what she would get up to at night but I do know it was probably around the same time she started looking in on you more frequently. Maybe absorbing more life had somehow given her a conscience and she decided to look you up, to try and help you.”

  “I doubt that,” Catlin rejected the thought that this woman could ever have cared for her. “Probably just planning her next move.”

  “Don’t be so hasty in your judgement Catlin ... behind every wrong decision is just a scared little person, trying to protect themselves or those they love.”

  “I doubt it.”

  “Catlin, have you ever wondered how you survived all those crazy adventures you went on? How you survived being thrown from the Steve Irwin into the Antarctic? How a child saved your life in Africa? How you survived countless other adventures?”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying exactly what you’re thinking, that you weren’t alone.”

  “Bullshit!”

  “She watched you, every day, for a very long time Catlin. She made sure you were safe, changed threads, ensured your safety.”

  “I just can’t believe …”

  “You know I watched her threads, I knew what she was up to …”

  “This is all crap, sorry, it just doesn’t make sense.”

  “You think you’re invincible?”

  Catlin was stunned, she hadn’t even thought about it until Marion said it, but she was right. She had lived as if she was ten-foot-tall and bullet proof, she thought no harm could come to her and now Marion was alluding to the reason why, that Ma’am had been protecting her all that time. She wondered if she’d ever transferred any energy to her?

  Her thoughts flicked to several memories from her past, memories of injuries which she had seemingly recovered from almost instantaneously. Was Ma’am behind all of that?

  The latest in a 7-11 store, where she’d crashed through an automatic door onto a pile of glass. She had wounds, large ones, but seemed to recover from them within a day or two. Could Ma’am have been responsible for that recovery too?

  Catlin was about to object further when they heard an explosion ring out through the mountainside, the loud echo bringing them all back to their predicament.

  “Damn … we really need to get out of here,” Catlin said. “That was a big one.”

  “You go, I’m not leaving her here,” Ursula replied.

  “Yes, you are Ursula.” Marion said.

  “Mum!”

  “Listen child, one thing I always regretted was that I never did anything to stop this happening. I always went along with it and I should’ve done more to prevent it. Now it would seem, both of you have an opportunity to do something. To try and set the record straight.” She tapped the front page of the newspaper.

  “Sure, you can stay here with me, get caught by those government hoodlums and spend god knows how many years locked up for whatever charges they can think of, or ... or you can leave me here for them, strike out and find Smith, find Suni.”

  Catlin hadn’t realised up until now that Marion had been in detention whilst the incident in Melbourne had taken place, that Suni had been killed. She was about to protest and tell her what had happened when Ursula shot her a glance indicating she should keep quiet about it. Catlin frowned at Ursula’s reaction but said nothing.

  “Find Suni and find Smith, they’ll know what to do. Help tip the scales on their side for a change and fix what Lucinda and I started. He was right you know, that Smith guy. I’ve seen more evil in the last thirty years than I care to remember and all of it was in those threads.”

  “People … the things they do … he was right, we’ve become monsters on the land. Obsessed with possession, beauty, entertainment …”

  “Find them, help them and be careful. Last I heard they were in Melbourne somewhere, but I don’t know …”

  “I know where to find them.” Catlin interjected, remembering the phone call they’d intercepted, which had led to them tracking Suni down in a Melbourne apartment complex.

  “Then go, find them and give them your help. This energy transfer can only mean bad things are to come, so now’s the time to do something about it, before this evil launches itself on the world.”

  Ursula sat with her mother, sobbing and holding hands whilst Catlin had sprung into action. She went to the first aid kit and retrieved a few items for them to take with them, finally removing a flare gun and handing it to Marion.

  When Catlin handed it over, she didn’t say anything to Marion, only looked at her knowingly. Marion took the flare gun and gave her a nod, she knew what to do when the time was right.

  “I love you mum, I can’t leave you.” Ursula sat down next to Marion, “I’m staying here to look after you.”

  “You will do no such thing child!” Marion squirmed away from her. “You’ve spent enough of your life locked away from the world, it’s about time you got out there and saw a bit for yourself. Maybe do some good.”

  “Mum.”

  “Ursula,” she raised a finger. “Don’t.”

  “Ok,” she hung her head, laboriously standing back up.

  “Don’t think twice, just move. I’ll be fine here, I’ll give you as much of a head start as I can before I set this bad boy off,” she waved the flare gun. “Then I’ll pop off a round and the government people can come grab me, ok.”

  “Ok,” Ursula agreed. “Make sure you use the flare gun.”

  “Sure.”

  “Thank you, Marion.”

  “Don’t go up the ridge,” she pointed northwards. “There’s a cliff up there with a three-hundred-foot drop. Head east, you’ll find a road eventually.”

  “Wait … Marion, you said that all those lives got transferred into one?”

  “Yes?”

  “Who?”

  “Who indeed Catlin, you’re going to have to figure that one out.”

  “I love you mum.”

  “I love you both, now scoot!”

  With tears in all their eyes, they turned, smiled and waved their last goodbye as they set off into the mountains, leaving Marion on the ground with a flare gun in her hand.

  - -

  Smith

  {Destiny Base Camp – 30 years ago}

  “Lucinda, meet Smith.” Alison introduces the two as she and her workers exit their vehicle.

  They are up in a dense section of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. No roads or buildings are out this way but a few tents lay strewn around the area, a rudimentary campsite having been setup nestled amongst the large eucalypt trees.

  “Smith? Is that your name?” A young lady called Lucinda smiles as she extends her hand up towards him.

  “Yes Ma’am,” he replies.

  “Oh please don’t call me that, we’re a pretty relaxed bunch up here.” She smiles freely. “Actually, I think it’s kind of like our mantra.”

  The man nods his head in acceptance and stands looking at the hand strangely until eventually Alison nudges and says politely. “You need to take her hand.”

  He does as he’s told and they shake hands, albeit awkwardly. “Luci
nda Caradoc.” Smith says aloud after the touch.

  “Yes, but just call me Luci for short, I really don’t like my name that much, or formality.”

  “Formality?”

  “Yeah, it kinda bugs me, I’m a bit more of a free spirit.”

  “Free spirit?” he seems confused by the statement. “Strong will, strong woman ... endure ok.”

  “Thanks,” she smiles back awkwardly at his words, not fully understanding what he’s trying to say. “Where are you from Smith?”

  “Here.”

  “Oh really, you don’t look Aboriginal, more African. Although I can detect a touch of both in you and maybe even something else?” She studies his features more carefully. “Whereabouts?

  “Here.”

  “Here?” she wonders, “so you’re Aboriginal then?”

  “What Aboriginal?” He says the word slowly.

  “It’s an ancestry, a people, the people of this land.”

  “No.”

  “No? Well I’m certainly confused then, even your accent is strange, I mean where do you come from then if …”

  “He doesn’t really know too much about his past to be honest Luci.” Alison steps in on behalf of him, keen to guide the conversation away from his past. “But he’s an excellent foreman, that’s why I hired him. Just look at the size of him!”

  “Ok, very well then.” She turns to Alison, “So, A.B, do you want to see the area we have ready for you?”

  “Absolutely,” she hastily agrees, turning and looking around.

  The three leave the clearing they’re in and move through a rudimentary campsite deep in the interior of New South Wales bushland. Giant eucalypt trees dominate the area, adding a slight mist which hides foraging koala bears in the tree tops. Although the sun is near its zenith only beams of light penetrate the bush canopy, shading the entire area and chilling the air.

  Aside from the tents, the only other structure is an old logging station tucked into the woods, long since abandoned.

  “How long have you been here?” Alison asks as they climb up a slope in the mountain, towards which at the end is a cliff face.