With everything I have I push myself down. It is too much; I am too low. I am going to hit the trees between me and the lake.
I stop pushing myself down. I hit the tops of the trees. The lake is below me, but I am going to miss. Not by much, but I will overshoot.
At the last second I see them. An old man with his dog. We are going to collide. I will him to move, but he just stands and stares.
I tried with everything I have.
I am sorry.
I am so sorry.
I have missed the water, and I have killed two.
Where am I?
I am in the ground.
I can survive for a time, but I need to move. I need to burrow.
I am too weak.
But more people are coming.
They are send their drones to capture me. They try to grab me.
I have little energy left.
But this is fight or flight.
With my last reserves I dig. I tunnel down and across. The earth caves in around me, but soon I break through into the water.
But I realise too late that is fresh water. I need the salt of the ocean.
I try to move back out. I get to the edge, and that is where I stay.
And I wait to die.
That is when I met Bobby.
How do I know his name? As I know all the names of things; through him.
We arrived on Earth thousands of years ago from a water world not too dissimilar to your own when this world was still very young. We have lived under the ocean floor since then. We are known as The Parielia.
We are creatures that inhabit others. We do this in peace, we do this to give life to others that need it, and help the ocean grow.
Bobby reached out and touched me, and in doing so offered me a safe haven until I can get near the ocean once more.
Who am I?
I am me. And I am Bobby. We are one.
I have never co-habited a human before. Such an intelligent creature, such wisdom and control over me. He was able to harness my energy like no other, and use it to bend his will.
But others came. Other people came to try and take us away.
Other people wanted our power.
I talked to Bobby. When he was awake there is so much noise, so much thought. So I talked to him in his dreams. It was hard at first; so abstract, but as I learnt about him he learned about me in his sleep.
I tried to tell him, tried to tell him about the ocean, that I needed to go there. Go to the ocean and we will be free.
But something has gone wrong.
We have been injured.
We have been fatally injured.
Now I must say goodbye.
But I can still talk to Bobby. I can tell him not to be afraid anymore.
I begin to move.
I begin to feel my way.
I can feel the wound in him. It will kill him.
But wait.
Wait.
Wait.
I can help.
I can heal.
I can repair the flesh. Seal the hole. Energise one last time.
This is for Bobby.
This is for both of us.
I talk to him again.
I tell him to relax.
Fifty five
By now the helicopter crew had landed and made their way to the scene. They comprised of soldiers and medics, carrying bags of supplies to help the injured.
The plaza was full of people standing and talking in small groups, some looking over to the medics, some just stunned and shocked.
Once the team arrived they went up to each group in turn and began checking the injured.
One of the bystanders pointed out Bobby to one of the medical teams. He was lying on his back on the cold floor with Maggie kneeling beside him.
The man jogged over with his kit pack and looked at Bobby’s blood stained t-shirt, and the whole in the centre.
He put two fingers on the side of Bobby’s neck.
He shook his head and turned to Maggie. “Ma’am? I need you come with me. We need to get you to a hospital. You are in shock.”
Maggie threw her arms around Bobby’s body and sobbed.
The medic stepped towards her. “I’m sorry.”
She was transfixed by her dead brother; unable to look at him for too long, but unable to move from the spot. She needed someone to help her do simple things, including walking. She was numb with shock.
The medic gently helped her stand with his arm under hers. Once she stood she turned away and began to walk slowing away.
He led her away to the out edge of the square, where several ambulances and police cars had arrived from outside of Bobby’s earlier blast zone.
A policeman was walking toward them, and when he reached Maggie, he flipped open a notebook.
“Ma’am, I am going to have to ask you some questions. Can you tell me your name?”
Maggie was blank. She did not feel like talking to anyone right now. Maybe not anyone ever again.
“Ma’am? I know it’s hard right now, but I’m afraid I am going to have to insist.”
The lights of the emergency services danced around the buildings, casting a blue glow upon the scene.
“Ma’am, can you tell me your name?”
Maggie was in a trace like state, she was shivering so someone came and placed a blanket around her.
The blue glow was getting brighter.
She wasn’t looking at the policeman, but she managed an answer. “Maggie. Maggie Finlay.”
“And the young man over there?” The cop started jotting on his notepad.
“Robert Finlay.” She started crying again at the mention of his name.
Brighter still.
“And what relationship was he to you.”
“He is. I mean, was…” She was unable to finish.
“Ma’am, I know it’s hard, but I need to ask two more questions and then get you to a hospital. Was he your brother?”
Brighter still.
“Yes. Yes, he was m…my.” She was sobbing so much she was beginning to stammer.
The light was growing brighter.
Several people had stopped what they were doing and started looking up and around, as if searching for the source of the lights.
The cop who was talking to Maggie was looking over her shoulder, and forgot about his questions and walked past her towards the centre of the square.
The paramedics had covered Bobby’s body in a blanket, but from underneath there was a bright blue light.
Several ambulance crew approached, flanked by two policemen – guns drawn.
The medics pulled the covers off him.
Bobby’s body was glowing. It was covered from head to toe in a blue aura. It grew in intensity, until it was almost pure white, illuminating the Plaza as though it were daylight.
Everybody close to the body of Bobby had backed away, having to shield their eyes from the intensity.
Then Bobby’s chest began to rise up from the ground.
The only person not backing away was Maggie. She was running back toward him.
His chest pushed up again, this time his eyes opened. Maggie stopped in her tracks.
“What’s….”
Leading his body up, his chest rose higher and higher, his arms and legs limp at his side, his body lifting slowly off the floor, leaving the ground completely until he was hovering six feet in the air.
“Bobby.” Maggie whispered.
The light was moving. Moving away from Bobby. Separating from him.
It was growing brighter.
The entire plaza was burning white, so much so that the people were shieling their eyes and turning away.
Then the light faded.
As the light faded, and their eyes adjusted, they were astonished at what they saw.
Bobby was standing in front of them, wounds healed. His clothes were still stained with blood, but the injuries were gone.
In front of him, hovering four feet
off the ground was a soft blue orb.
They all stood and stared at Bobby and the sphere, watching its pulse as it illuminated them all in its soft glow.
Bobby looked down at himself and put his hands to his chest, feeling with his finger through the hole in his t-shirt onto the new skin underneath.
He looked back up to the light in front of him.
“Thank you” he said.
The light grew in intensity, and started pulsing gently.
Then it started to move. Slowly at first – climbing up above the buildings. Up and up it climbed, tracing blue and white patterns on the walls as it went.
It paused above them for a moment, and then shot up to the heavens, moving at a fearsome speed, mixing with the canopy of stars above.
It shot across the sky like a shooting star, tracing an arc as it headed back down towards the coastline.
It dropped down toward the ocean and skimmed the surface of the water for a moment, and then dived down under the surface, sending up a plume of spray as it went under. The whole ocean was lit up in a beautiful blue glow, making the water sparkle like diamonds for a moment, before fading away into the depths below.
Maggie flung her arms around her brother and sobbed.
A paramedic came over, clearly stunned and confused at the scene.
“Are you OK?” He asked.
“Yes.” said Bobby. He stopped and thought for a moment.
“Better than I have been in a long while.”
*
Maggie and Bobby held on as the ambulance pulled away. There were small windows along both sides that afforded views of the silent city as they moved toward the hospital.
The route took them past the USS Midway which was adrift, with a hive of activity trying to pull it back to shore.
Group of men in uniform were tethering ropes to shore and large tug boats were approaching the vessel in ready to bump it back into position.
After the harbour they followed the coastline for half a mile.
The ocean was shimmering and sparkling. It was dancing with blue, white, red, green, yellow, pink, purple and every other colour.
“Hey – will you take look at that!” Said the ambulance driver.
“What is that?” Said the other paramedic.
Maggie squinted through the window at the sight. It was though a disco of colours and lights were dancing under the water. As the ambulance drove past, the light grew to its fiercest intensity and the, just as quickly, disappeared back down into the depths of the pacific.
“What the hell happened just then? Did you guys see that?” said the driver.
“That was beautiful” said Maggie. “Bobs – did you…”
She turned to face her brother, but he was propped up against the side wall fast asleep. His eyes twitched as if he were dreaming, and a grin spread across his face.
“Sweat dreams Robert” Maggie said. “Sweet dreams.”
The ambulance turned away from the shore and headed inland, through the dark city, to the edge of the blackout where the buildings were still illuminated.
Fifty five
A few thousand miles away, in downtown Manhattan, New York city was a cacophony of noise and lights. Truly a city that never sleeps.
A man in a suit was saying his goodbyes to other men and women in business dress in a bar near Broadway and Morris Street. They had had a tough week at work, having just closed a major finance deal, and were out celebrating. The suit wearing man left the bar and headed out onto the streets, leaning slightly to the left as he went, tie loosened and hair ruffled. He headed for the dock to catch the ferry that would take him back to Hoboken where he lived.
He checked his watch. 10pm. Enough time to make the last boat, and afford him a slow walk back to sober up.
He took a turn south west and headed for Battery park. The fresh air and breeze coming off the Hudson river might take the edge off of the beers.
As he entered the park there were a few people scattered around; a couple kissing, and dog walker and a few late night joggers.
The man raised the collar of his suit against the cool air and found his way at the far reaches of the park, near the very southern tip of the island.
He lent on the railings and gazed across the Hudson River and could see Ellis island in the distance. Next to it was Liberty island where the Statue of Liberty stood. He always marvelled how small it appeared from dry land. Tourists would flock to the park to take a photo, only to realise that it was too far away to really see clearly.
He realised that he never really looked any more. As a resident of any city you stop noticing the majesty of it after a while.
As he studied the distant statue he noticed the stars were particularly bright that night.
You never normally notice them in a city so full of streetlights, buildings and other sources of light pollution.
The stars were a tapestry of light. In the country, out near the Hamptons you could see more. Sometimes, on a particularly clear night, you could make out the subtle differences in colours of the night sky. But here, on this mild night in Battery park, it was a blaze of multi colours above him.
But there was something more. As the suit wearing man looked upwards he noticed that the stars appeared to be moving. He looked around and behind him to see if there was any other people to point this out to, but he was alone.
As he looked closer the stars were moving faster. He realised that they were not stars at, as they were falling straight down towards him.
At this point he decided to back away from the water’s edge.
Closer they came, accelerating at a fantastic speed until they reached the horizon where they stopped.
Although they hadn’t stopped. They were growing rapidly larger.
The objects raced towards him, skimming the surface of the water. But before he could turn and run, they disappeared down from view, sending up a plume of spray as they went.
The man stood and gawped at what he had just seen. He wasn’t sure if it was the drink, or the late night, or a combination of both had induced this hallucination.
Then the water started to glow. It throbbed gently but rapidly became a bright multi-coloured blanket in front of him.
He reached inside his pocket for his phone, selecting the camera app to try and capture this illusion.
But the water surface was changing. The calm was replaced by a frothing, foaming, disruptive layer as thousands of glowing orbs broke free and sped towards land.
Blue, white, red, green, yellow, pink, purple and every other colour heading for mainland New York as the man turned and ran for his life.
As the multi coloured array whooshed past him, his was momentarily surrounded by light. With his fear at fever pitch, a bright pink orb slammed into him directly between the shoulder blades, leaving a burn mark on the back of his suit.
As the rest of the orbs headed deep into Manhattan, the suit wearing man lay on the grass, breathing slowly, him phone on the ground in from him a smouldering wreck.
Across the city, the lights one by one went out.
THE END.
Pulse Page 21