Emergence

by David Haskell

“Huh?” He recognized the old one from the back of the line since they’d begun the slow trek upward. He walked on a mangled limb, which caused him to struggle in the back of the pack. “No, that’s fine. You go ahead.”

  “Oh, I think it’ll take me a while to get in there. I don’t want to hold anybody up.” The old one looked around conspiratorially. “I wasn’t honestly sure I’d make it this far,” he whispered.

  Cain’s first reaction was to escort the old xeno down the hallway for a chat, and take care of him like he had the other obstacle downstairs. But the headcount was already done, any deviation would cause problems.

  “No, I insist,” Cain said, trying to keep his voice even, though he couldn’t manage friendly. “You were here first.”

  He backed up for good measure, as if daring the old one to argue. With a shrug, the elder gave up, stooped over a walking stick Cain hadn’t even noticed, and plodded his way back into line. Cain was about to rejoin the queue behind the old xeno when the sight of Liam rounding the corner caused his blood to run cold. He quickly darted over to a water fountain and pretended to drink, a bizarre act that no xeno would bother with under normal circumstances, never mind at a time when social niceties need not apply. Cain could only hope that the terrorist was too preoccupied to worry about some refugee acting strangely.

  Apparently he hadn’t come off as weirdly as he’d feared, or else everyone else was just in their own little world, because neither Liam nor any of the others paid him the slightest attention. In his peripheral vision, he watched Liam glide to the front of the line, stop to say a few words to the waiting xenos, then knock twice and enter the processing room.

  There was no way Cain could go in now, not without the both of them together in there. This was not in keeping with his carefully crafted plan. Damn it all to hell! He was so close.

  FEELING LIKE HIS HEART was about to pound its way up into his throat, J.Z. stared at the dead body for a long minute, trying to figure out what to do. Obviously, he had to alert his friends, but should he sound the general alarm and get them all down here, or take care of this quietly? The last thing they needed was a panic, not so soon after those new arrivals had set everyone on edge. He decided that he needed to handle this quietly, if he could.

  Locating a panel by the door, he continued staring at the body as he called upstairs. Liam appeared on the monitor within moments, and J.Z. tore his eyes from the gruesome sight, feeling a rush of relief at seeing Liam’s face.

  “Liam! Are you guys alone?”

  “No, we’re about to do an upload. What’s wrong?”

  He paused, then decided he’d better keep it as quiet as he could. “Nothing major. But there is something I need you to see.”

  “Can it wait? Alixs and I were about to head down in a few minutes anyway...”

  “Not really. I need to see you right away, Liam.” He attempted to convey the seriousness of the situation with his expression, mentally pushing Liam to get it. If necessary, he would tell the truth, but then whoever was with them was liable to panic.

  Fortunately, Liam seemed to get the message. He gave a nod and said, “Okay, then. Be right there.”

  “Thanks, Liam. I’m at the main doors.” Then he lowered his voice and added, “Get here as soon as you can.”

  Liam broke the connection, and as if by magnetic attraction, J.Z.’s gaze was on the body once more. He debated whether he should move it, lay the poor victim out more properly, but he thought Liam might want to investigate the circumstances. And besides, he was afraid to touch it. He’d never seen a dead xeno up close before. Odd given the number of battles he’d fought. He noted with grim curiosity that it looked very much the same as a dead human, especially the wide-open eyes, with a glossy stare that looked straight back at him.

  He pulled himself together and stepped out of the room, waiting by the doors for Liam.

  LEFT TO FINISH UP ALONE, Alixs uploaded his patient. He was about to pop out into the hallway to invite the next one in. Pausing near the door, he turned to the main computer console and tried to figure a way to shut off the countdown announcement. His patients had enough to worry about without hearing that doomy sounding clock. But there were no launch controls on his display, and he had no time to go back out to the control room. No more interruptions, he muttered. He muted all the speakers in the room, and disabled the audio inputs, leaving only the equipment he needed. Then he sat back in his chair for a minute, gathering his strength and relishing the stillness.

  One by one, he took in the remaining patients, gave them a couple of seconds to relax and ask any questions, then processed them. Those who were taken care of early had had a much more leisurely time of things, but there wasn’t much he could do about it now. The countdown couldn’t be altered, only aborted, and that was no option. He had to hurry.

  Peeking out into the hallway once again, Alixs gave a start when he realized there were only three xenos left. He escorted the female closest to the door into the room, leaving behind only to males, one of them quite frail. That was fine, he’d handled enough elderly xenos by now, and was quite comfortable with helping them into the room and onto the table. If anything, they asked fewer questions than the rest, which was helpful in moving things along. Whether it was because they were wiser and resigned to whatever fate awaited, or if they just didn’t have the energy, he couldn’t say.

  The female before him did have a number of questions, so Alixs took a seat and answered her as best he could. Only two more to go, just a few minutes more...

  94.

  Liam stared at the murdered xeno.

  “You found him—” His voice broke badly. He swallowed and coughed, odd sounds from such a ghost-like entity. “You found him just like this?”

  “Yeah,” J.Z. replied, “well, not exactly. He sort of fell out of the closet there.”

  As the recollection hit him all over again, a fresh panic grabbed hold. Keep it together J-Man.

  “They’re out to sabotage the launch?” J.Z. said, looking to Liam for strength as well as answers.

  “I have no idea,” Liam said, “but we’re still be in danger. Have you seen anyone suspicious down here?”

  J.Z. thought about it. He’d seen hundreds of xenos in the past hours, all on their way up to see Alixs. But since he’d begun the clean up, he hadn’t seen a soul. And as far as he could recall, the only sounds of activity had come from the floors above.

  “No,” he finally replied, “nobody’s been down here since just after the announcement. The place is empty.”

  “Then the killer is either gone, or uploaded—”

  They stared at each other as J.Z. finished Liam’s uncomfortable thought, “Or upstairs with Alixs!”

  They dashed for the panel to call. No response. Alixs either couldn’t, or wouldn’t, pick up the call.

  “Get up there!” J.Z. shouted, knowing how fast the Xenolight was capable of moving, “I’ll be there as soon as I can!” Liam reacted by floating up through the ceiling, while J.Z. made for the stairwell.

  THE SECOND TO LAST upload went off without a hitch. Alixs turned around and jumped, causing a minor upward float. The last xeno was standing there in the doorway. With a backwards motion, he kicked the door shut, leaning back into it to make sure it was fully closed.

  “Oh, hello.” Alixs said. Though taken aback by the sudden appearance, he kept his voice calm. “I was about to come out and look for you.”

  “I know,” the unexpected arrival boomed, the voice as impressive as his imposing frame, “thought I’d save you the trouble.”

  Alixs chuckled. Earlier in the day he might have made a bigger fuss about the rather rude intrusion, but they were down to the last and he just wanted to finish. Sitting down in his rolling chair by the console, he invited his last transition to have a seat. But the stocky xeno ignored the invitation, striding purposefully toward the medical bed and jumping onto it. He looked over at Alixs with impatience in his eyes.

  Good, Alixs thought. T
he sooner the better. Still, he felt he owed everyone the same treatment. “No questions, then? I’m sure you’re eager to get on with it, but—”

  “No questions. Just get it over with.” He turned his face away from Alixs, then seemed to think better of it as he turned back with a quasi-apologetic expression. “I’m just a little nervous is all. Let’s get it over with, please?”

  Alixs nodded, understanding the apprehension if not entirely happy with the attitude.

  CAIN LAY BACK, TRYING his best to look the nervous patient. His head was still raised, the pillow behind it untouched. He forced it down, eyes on this new type of enemy who’d given him so much trouble. Cain watched him move about, checking his equipment. Misreading the stare as worry, the ghost walked over to the bedside and tried to comfort Cain with a smile and a pat on the shoulder. It was all Cain could do to keep from flinching or reacting in some way. The ghost turned around to make sure all the connections were properly lined up, and Cain stared at the opposite wall, willing himself to look natural for a few more seconds.

  Timing was crucial, given the fact that the ghost was executing the process in two-for-one fashion. He would be transformed, then uploaded within moments if he didn’t act. With no idea of how he would feel or what his condition might be, he would need to rely on his internal timekeeping to guide him, right down to the second.

  Just prior to the transition, he was again disturbed by the ghost, who’d chosen that very moment to strike up further conversation. Get on with it, he shouted inside his head.

  “Pardon?” The response he selected was mild, but he was losing patience fast. If this ghost didn’t get on with it, he feared he might do something unwise. Such was the hatred he felt for this creature, so much that even his extreme level of professionalism was being put to the test.

  “Just wondering if you had any last minute questions or concerns before I proceed,” said the ghost.

  The same question again. Cain had no choice but to answer civilly. He grunted a low, impatient, “No,” then added, “nothing at all,” just to make sure it sunk in. Now do it.

  The ghost turned back once more to the dials, finally reaching for the series initiator. Cain watched with a widening stare as the moment of truth approached. As soon as the board went green, he felt a stabbing...chill?

  It was an exquisite combination, the pain and pleasure washed together in a confusing storm of sensation. It was like his first experience at the tattoo parlor, back in his military days — only this was body-wide, and far more intense. He would have screamed if he had any voice. But his throat, along with his head and the rest of him, felt like it was dissolving into thin air, while at the same time filling with energy and power, more than he’d ever imagined possible.

  WITH THE FORCE OF ADRENALINE giving him the needed surge, J.Z. bounded up the stairwell, landing on every third step as he pushed himself to the limit in reaching the top. If it hadn’t been for a stumble half-way up, where he smashed his shin hard enough to know he would regret it later, he might have even beaten Liam to the top. As it was, he arrived just as Liam was settling onto the floor, without sinking an inch this time. The two of them bolted for the far side of the building.

  Liam, by virtue of his frictionless glide, got there first. They were both severely out of breath, though in Liam’s case it was vestigial, so he was able to dismiss it. J.Z. had no such ability, and it took him precious seconds to recover before he was able to stand upright.

  95.

  Nearly complete now, Cain felt an odd sensation from an old wound, somewhere in the back of his shoulder. The bullet, lodged there since the first shootout of his career, was wriggling. Or more to the point, his hyper-sensitive energies were working it out of place. It was so rich a sensation that he felt as though he could see the process, even though it was behind him, and within a second it was free, dropping to the table with a soft clink. His shoulder was healed, like it never happened.

  The enemy was still standing over him, and in Cain’s disorientation he felt a sudden flash of panic, watching that ghostly arm reach over for the second set of controls. Even in the bliss of transition, he realized that he was about to fail in his mission if he didn’t react. He did so by the supreme effort of sitting bolt upright on the table, though every instinct demanded that he relax and float away.

  With a look of concern in his eyes, the ghost Alixs moved in his direction. He reached for Cain, looking as though he were planning to push him back down. For an instant, Cain allowed himself to look like this was agreeable, and just as they were near enough to make contact, he lashed out with every fiber of strength in his still-changing body.

  Shoulder-first, Cain smashed into the exposed center of his unprepared target, delivering a devastating blow. Even though the enemy received the brunt of the impact, Cain himself experienced a flash of disorientation and pain. As momentum spun him around, he momentarily lost sight of the other Xenolight. Alixs, reeling in shock, had landed right on top of the examination table.

  When Cain righted himself and saw Alixs in such a vulnerable position he couldn’t believe his luck. Reaching for the controls, he smashed the button the ghost had been about to push. Alixs let out a half-scream, which vanished the instant his body seized up on the exam table. Then he was gone.

  J.Z. FINALLY STRAIGHTENED up and went for the door.

  “Already tried it,” Liam said.

  “I’ll get something to break it with,” J.Z. shouted, turning in his tracks.

  “Wait, stop! I need you to get to the control center,” Liam said, his tone a command.

  But J.Z. looked confused, like he didn’t understand the order. Then he checked himself, looking at his leader with a pained expression. He understood, he just couldn’t accept it.

  “I’m not going to abandon you.”

  “You’re not,” Liam said. He struggled to find the right words, to convince J.Z. when he wasn’t entirely sure he he was convinced himself. “We both need to focus on the big picture here. The mission can’t fail. If they’re here to sabotage us, if they’ve gotten to Alixs...”

  “All the more reason for both of us to get in there,” J.Z. insisted.

  “No, I need you to stay safe and protect the launch. I need you in the control room. Get in there, get on those monitors and see what the hell’s going on. Then send me a message, okay?”

  J.Z. looked ready to argue, but Liam shook his head to stop the conversation. The decision was made, they needed to stop wasting time.

  The human stared at his leader for a moment, the expression on his face turning to resignation. He had his orders, he would obey them. Standing tall and offering a salute born of the utmost respect, he waited for the Xenolight to return it, then bolted for the control room.

  Liam watched his friend disappear around the corner, and without further hesitation he spun and barreled through the wall. The cold white of the concrete struck his eye, then fell away just as fast, revealing the transition chamber. There he stopped cold, face to face with a fearsome apparition, like something out of a nightmare.

  It was Cain. Transformed and empowered — he had become Xenolight. He stared back at Liam, sizing him up, a maniacal grin breaking out over his luminous features. With a predatory lunge, he attacked, blasting Liam full in the chest with clenched fists. The pain radiated out from Liam’s mid-section, doubling him over as Cain moved in to strike again.

  The next combination sent him sprawling backwards, into the outer wall of the lab. At the last second he reached out and grabbed Cain’s wrist. Ignoring the burning sensation of contact, he pulled his enemy along with him, holding on as long as he could manage. Then he was falling, the pull of gravity ripping his arm clear of Cain, but not before Cain, too, had burst through the wall.

  Cain’s was more of a controlled decent, almost a swan-dive, but they were both in a precarious freefall. Even in this predicament, Cain looked bent on continuing the attack, wrenching his body around so that he was aimed squarely at Liam a few
meters below. Above them, Liam could see the building falling away, though he felt a curious detachment, almost like time was grinding to a halt. Then the world sped up again and Liam hit the ground hard, the impact momentarily knocking the sense out of him.

  96.

  A milky fog swirled before Alixs’ eyes. Dazed, he looked down and around, trying to find the end of it. It felt like he was floating, drifting atop a gentle surf, though his senses indicated otherwise. He opened his mouth to call out, but no sound emerged. Then he remembered. He no longer possessed vocal chords. Trying again, he focused on the new way, but that wasn’t working, either. His confusion mounted as he realized that he was completely disembodied now, a sensation he’d never felt, not even at home in the Mind. She had always given him something to ground himself with, and here he had nothing.

  How’d I get here?

  He forced himself to calm down and concentrate, remembering the control center, processing all those xenos for exodus, and then...nothing.

  Were we attacked? Am I dead?

  Neither of those seemed plausible, not without any warning whatever. Though the notion of being attacked did seem stuck in his mind.

  He thought hard, returning to the obvious. Where am I?

  To his surprise, an answer came almost immediately.

  Preservation Unit 15554-Zeta, announced a metallically feminine voice, Cargo Compartment J, Orbital Vehicle X-021D

  Alixs turned in the direction of the sound. This had the disconcerting effect of swirling the milk around him, making him quite dizzy. He was onboard already? Is this amnesia or something?

  Location?

  Launch Pad A, Area 42, Air Force Special Operations Facili—

  Cancel. Alixs had little patience for dumb machines, and there was no useful information to be gleaned from this one. He tried to ignore his weirdly viscous surroundings, focusing instead on tapping into the onboard data banks. He needed to expand his perspective.