by Greg Logan
She was silent a moment. Then she said, “Maybe..,”
“Maybe what?”
“Well, I’ve been having this thought. Maybe this is my normal state.”
“What? How can that be?”
Jake knew Scott was afraid the woman he loved was no longer going to be human. That he would no longer be able to touch her. And he was weary. Jake didn’t think Scott had managed to grab more than a few hours of sleep since this whole squid thing had happened. Since Jeff whisked him away to the future to show him what would happen if they did nothing to try to change things.
April said, “Well, I’ve been kind of wondering. Maybe we don’t stop changing, once our genesis gene is activated. Maybe we keep on evolving. Maybe sometimes slowly, and sometimes in big leaps. Maybe I would have eventually become this way even if I hadn’t done that thing with the solar flare.”
Sammy said, “Interesting hypothesis.”
Akila cracked a grin at the glowing light that was April. “I thought you said you weren’t a scientist.”
Somehow, they knew April was grinning too, even though they couldn’t see it. “Well, you hang out with one long enough and something’s bound to rub off.”
“April..,” Scott said. He didn’t know what to say. “We’ll rebuild the facility. We’ll make curing you a top priority.”
“What I’m trying to say is maybe you can’t cure me. That would mean reversing the effects of the genesis gene, and maybe it can’t be done.”
“You’ve gotta have hope.”
“It’s not such a bad thing, you know. I can zip along at the speed of light. In the blink of an eye I can be on the other side of the world. And I can travel through space without any need for a suit. And you know what else? I don’t know how, but somehow I know this – I can take someone with me. Transform you to pure light.”
Chloe was there. And Rick and Chuck. Jake hadn’t seen them approach. Rick was in his battle suit, and Chuck was in camos. He was resting an ion rifle up and over one shoulder. His shirt was hanging open and he had a few day’s worth of whiskers on his face. He looked like a high-tech commando.
Chloe said, “What you’re describing sounds sort of like what the Darkness does with Sondra.”
April said, “Exactly.”
Scott glanced to Chloe, then to Jake, then back up to April. “What exactly are you saying?”
“You’ve been wanting to explore the universe. That’s all you’ve talked about since we set up the facility. Even before that, back in Boston. Push back the boundaries and see what’s out there. There are millions of discoveries waiting for us to stumble onto them. And we’re going to seek them out. You said it that way, once. What better way to do it than like this? Come with me. Let’s reach out to the stars.”
“But..,” he looked back at the others. Everyone was here. Alexander and Cassandra were drifting out from the bungalow. “But Chuck has to have a new battlesuit.”
Jake said, “We’ll build him one. We have the schematics.”
“And, well, Peter LaSalle’s still out there. And Mandy Waid. And we still don’t know what’s going to happen with the government and how they see us, now that Kincaid’s on our side. And there are squid agents out there who still have to be rounded up.”
Jake said, “We’ll handle it. We have incredible resources. We have one of the finest minds on the planet, in Sammy.”
Alexander said, “And Cassandra and I were thinking on maybe hanging around with you people a little. We’re kind of getting used to having you around.”
“There you go. Besides, you put me in charge. Remember?”
Scott turned to look at him. “Are you sure?”
“Put all the responsibilities you think you owe us aside, and ask yourself one question. Is this what you want?”
Scott nodded. A small smile formed. “Yes. More than anything. To reach out, in an almost limitless fashion.”
April said, “This ability of mine, and your intellect. There’s no telling what the limits are.”
“But...are you sure you’ll be all right?”
Jake nodded. “We’ll be fine.”
Scott then looked to Sammy, who smiled. Sammy said, “In a way, I envy you.”
Scott pulled him in for a hug. “Goodbye, old friend.”
Then it was everyone in turn. Hugs. Handshakes. To Chuck, he said, “Lay off the beer.”
Chuck grinned. “Haven’t had one in days. I don’t really miss it.”
To Jeff, he said, “Thanks. Thanks for opening my eyes. For showing me I don’t really know every damned thing. For showing me the future is indeed fluid, and that sometimes we can save the world.”
Finally, he came to Jake. He said, “Jake. We’ve been through so much together. Words don’t express it.”
“You’ll be back,” Jake said. “I have a feeling. Someday.”
Scott smiled. “Life does have a way of going full circle, doesn’t it?”
They pulled each in for a hug.
Scott said, “You’re like the brother I never had.”
Jeff said, “I hope you know that goes both ways.”
Then, it was time. He said to April, “When can we begin?”
“Right now, I guess.”
He stepped back from the others. “Let’s do it.”
She descended onto him, wrapping herself around him. Enveloping him in her quantum energy. Jake and the others lost sight of Scott. All they could see was the bright glow of April’s energy. It seemed to be growing brighter. Akila held one hand up to shield her eyes. Others turned away. Jake powered-up a little so he could withstand the intensity, and Jeff did the same. Sammy merely had to mentally adjust his ocular units.
And then the glowing energy rose into the sky.
They heard Scott’s voice. “Take care of things, Captain. We’ll be back.”
April said, “You can count on that.”
And then, with a sudden streak, they were off into the sky, and gone.
All was quiet around them. Above, the sky had faded from a dark blue to almost black. The first evening star was poking into view.
Akila sidled up to Jake, and he put his arm around her. She said, “Do you really think we’ll see them again?”
“One thing I’ve learned about Scott over the years – never say never.”
EPILOGUE
They had taken a walk down the beach, maybe a half mile from the bungalow. Jeff had to admit, as incredible as Chloe looked in a black bikini top and a purple, flowered sarong, and as much as he might have been tempted to try to push their friendship past the platonic stage a few weeks ago, he now had eyes only for Sara.
Sara’s strawberry blonde hair was tied back in a tail, and the freckles along her cheeks and nose were really coming to life in the tropical sun. She was in a white bikini top and jeans she had cut off as far as they could be cut off. Ashley was there, too, her dark hair in a long French braid.
Jeff was in swimming trunks and a t-shirt, and he was carrying a cooler. He pulled off the shirt and jumped in the water for a while, followed by the girls. Then they began gathering driftwood for a fire. Jeff powered-up a little so he could rub two sticks together with extreme speed and create the spark needed to get a fire going. Soon they had a small campfire on the beach.
He lounged back on a towel. Sara was with him, resting her head on his shoulder. He had a beer in one hand, and Ashley was reaching into the cooler for one herself.
“You know,” she said, “I think we’re all under age.”
Jeff said, “I won’t tell if you won’t.”
Chloe said, “I wonder what the drinking age is in Mexico?”
“So,” Jeff said. “We all have to make a decision, you know that? It won’t be long before our little vacation here ends. Dad and the others will be wanting to get back to work. Rebuilding the mountain facility will be only one of the many things on the agenda.”
Sara said, “I guess we have to decide where we’re all going to fit into this.”<
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Ashley said, “I know where I fit into it. I’m totally on board. I’m going to ask for a battle suit.”
“What about a code name?” Chloe said. “With April gone, I guess I’m in charge of that sort of thing.”
Ashley said, “I don’t know. Maybe Force Girl. Something like that.”
Sara laughed. “Sounds like something out of a bad comic book.”
Ashley grinned “Well, it’s better than Squid Girl.”
Sara said, “How about you, Jeff? You were wanting to give all this up for a normal life. That still the plan?”
“I don’t know.” He looked up at the sky. A bird of some sort was gliding about lazily. “A few weeks ago, a normal life is all I wanted. But now, well, Dad’s going to need help. There’s a lot to do, and all of the leadership is going to fall onto his shoulders, now. I’m kind of thinking maybe my place is with him. With the group.”
Chloe was sitting with her knees drawn up and her arms wrapped around them. “I was kind of thinking the same thing. I mean, think about it. We just stopped an alien invasion. I mean, a real-life, bonafide, freakin’ alien invasion. There’s so much out there. Regular people, living regular lives, don’t know the half of it. They don’t know any of it, really. I’m kind of starting to think my place is here, too.”
Sara said to Jeff, “Whatever you decide, I’m with you. I want to always be with you.”
Jeff looked at her. “You know I feel the same.”
And their lips touched.
Chloe looked away and made a gagging action with her tongue. “Come on, you two.”
Ashley said, “Can’t you two be decent for even five minutes?”
Sara said with a smile, “You two are just jealous.”
“So,” Chloe said. “When we get back to the bungalow, I guess we tell Jake that we’re all on board?”
Sara nodded. “Looks that way.”
Jeff settled back, one arm folded up and under his head as a pillow. He looked off at the seemingly endless blue sky with the gentle roar of the surf in his ears. “Let’s not head back yet, though. Let’s hang out here a little while more. The way our lives are, and with all of the work ahead of us, it might be a while before we all have the chance to just hang out on the beach again.”
Jake stood in front of the bungalow watching the waves come in. The sky was an incredible blue and the water matched. Out in the distance, he could see white capped waves, and they rolled in toward the beach in breakers that slid their way up the sand toward him.
Jake was in jeans and a t-shirt. He had a bottle of Moosehead beer in one hand.
Alexander walked toward him. He had taken a long walk on the beach, and was now on his way back to the bungalow. He wore a Hawaiian shirt and bermuda shorts, and was holding a pair of sandals in one hand.
He said, “I took these off. I love the feeling of beach sand on my feet. I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of this place.”
It had been three weeks since they had stopped the alien invasion. Jake figured they all needed a rest, and what better place to do it than on a tropical beach?
He had taken a little break from the vacation to have Jeff whisk him over to the alternate universe – what was in reality their home universe – to check things out. They appeared phased just out of time so they could observe things without being seen themselves, in case the armada was there. But it wasn’t. Only fragments of what had been the nuclear ravaged Earth. Jeff then phased them fully into that plane of existence so Jake could use a tricorder to scan for energy residue. Readings showed the fleet had been there, and had left. Probably days earlier. There was still energy residue from their matter-antimatter conversion engines.
Jake had then gone to Boston for a confab with Mother and Snake. Bring them all up to speed on events.
They had sat in the little abandoned jewelry store Mother used for an office and a residence. It was night, and a single candle was the only source of light in the room.
Jake said to her, “We will need the help of your son. If and when Scott and April return, and I really believe they will one day, I want to have answers. To get those answers we need to better understand how her ability works, and to do that we’ll probably need the help of your son. It looks like his ability and hers works the same. I was wondering if you could ask him for us?”
She had a small smile of amusement. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”
From the shadows just beyond the glow of the candle came the now familiar baritone of her son. “I would be pleased to help April and Scott any way I could.”
Jake had to admit he still found the Darkness a little unnerving. “This might mean holding still for a while so Sammy and Alexander and Cassandra can run some tests on you.”
“Agreed.”
“All right, then. We’ll be in touch.”
“I will be waiting.”
Jake shook his head. Like dealing with a disembodied mixture of Vincent Price and Lon Chaney. But he managed to say, “Thank you.”
And now he stood on the beach, beer in hand, looking off at the ocean. Alexander stood beside him.
Jake said, “We’re going to have to call an end to our vacation soon. There’s work to be done. First order of business, I suppose, is to rebuild the mountain facility.”
“Why?”
“Well, we can’t impose on you forever.”
Alexander shrugged. “It’s not really imposing, if we’re part of the team. And it’s kind of nice right here. I’ll take the beach over cold, snowy mountains anytime.”
Alexander and Cassandra were indeed part of the team, now. They had made battle suits for themselves, basing them on the basic design Scott had created. Alexander’s suit was a steel gray, and Cassandra’s a deep midnight blue.
In keeping with April’s tradition, Chloe decided they needed code names. Alexander, who could still access his shape-changing ability, was Chameleon. Cassandra, in the spirit of things, decided she should be called Matrix.
Jake said, “You sure are part of the team. Both of you. But there’s only so much room here.”
“At the moment. But with the abilities you and Jeff have, you can dig out a few more underground chambers for us. We can build a place even bigger than what you had in the mountain. With our holographic technology, there’s no more need to build equipment. We just have to decide what we need, and program the computer to create it.”
Jake nodded, looking off at the water. “We could take a vote, but I think I already know what the result would be. And I think it would be unanimous.”
Alexander smiled. “Good. From now on, this place is home.”
An audio field began forming around them. From it came Sammy’s voice. “Captain. We have an incoming call from Agent Kincaid, in Washington. Looks like the President wants a meeting with you.”
“All right. I’ll be right down.” Jake looked at Alexander. “Time to go to work.”
AND NOW, ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES, A PREVIEW OF WOLF, THE FIRST NOVEL IN THE FRANKEN & STOKER SERIES.
ONE
If the two girls had known Stoker was a vampire, I doubt they would have sat down with him at the bar. Or maybe they would have, anyway. Ever since that series of movies about the doe-eyed vampire who gets all sparkly in the sunlight, women seemed to see vampires as something romantic. That was because they had never seen Stoker kill with his teeth.
Stoker wore a long black coat that fell almost to the floor and his long blonde hair was swept back regally. He had eerie gray eyes and he spoke with a little touch of an Austrian accent which he still carried from the old days.
The two girls had wandered into the place. One was darker, maybe Hispanic, with incredible brown eyes and a smile that lighted the place up. The other had sandy hair and gray eyes and killer curves.
I threw a smile at them, but they looked past me like I was invisible. I had a look people said fell somewhere between boring-jock and cowboy, but Stoker caught their attention. He had a sort of dark, creepy way
about him that seemed to attract women.
I said this to him once. He said, “Hey, I am dark and creepy. Why not look the part?”
We were sitting at the bar and they had taken a booth, but he exchanged smiles with them and soon they sidled up to him. One of them actually asked me to move so they could sit one on either side of him. Then they began exchanging the meaningless banter that serves as conversation when you are flirting, as though I wasn’t even there. I decided to ignore them and took an empty stool a little further down the bar and focused my attention on a ballgame playing on an old TV mounted on the wall.
The Yankees were trouncing the Red Sox. Another old-time passion of mine. Baseball in general and the Yankees in particular. I had been following them ever since they were called the Highlanders.
This place was an old bar. Not a sports bar with a plasma TV and such, but more of an old-style neighborhood establishment. A couple pool tables and an old Bud sign on one wall. A barely functioning neon sign reading OPEN in the window. Poor lighting, and cigarette smoke in the air masking the smell of the old carpet underfoot. Stoker and I were old-school ourselves, so we liked places like this.
Because of my nature it took a lot of alcohol for me to even feel a buzz. Because of Stoker’s nature he didn’t feel the alcohol at all. But I liked the taste of a good beer – not the newer stuff with lime in it, or ice beer, or light beer or whatever. Again, I was old-school. I preferred Schlitz or Pabst or Black Label, and that was what they served at this bar. Stoker had never acquired a taste for beer, as he was old world eastern European and a bit more aristocratic than he liked to admit. His preference was brandy. He said brandy reminded him of the old days when he still could feel a buzz.
I focused on the ballgame and after a couple of innings, Stoker hit me in the shoulder to get my attention and said, “Come on. Let’s go.”
In his hand was a cocktail napkin, and one of the girls had written a phone number on it in lipstick.
I looked at him curiously. He said, “We gotta work. Remember?”