Primal Link 2

by L Bowers

  “Thanks for that,” I said sarcastically. “Seriously though, what happened back there?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Before you left the time jump. When you…when you were upset.”

  “Oh, that,” Angela replied. She let out a long sigh. The vid window of her zoomed in until all I saw was her face. She sat across from me, so I saw more than that at the same time.

  “Reggie,” she said. “He remembered that moment right after it happened. He was upset from almost being dragged back into that machine. Then he relived his death and was sucked into the machine. I guess his emotions spilled over to me. It was a lot to handle all at once.”

  “How is Reggie now?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. He won’t talk to me.”

  “Is he still there?”

  Angela manifested a set of large ears that move independently from one another. They swiveled around as they picked up all the different noises. “Yeah, he is, and as you can see, I still have access to my manifestations. He’s clammed up for now. I hope he decides to talk soon.

  “Yeah,” I replied. “I do too.”

  21

  Goshawk

  The Ground Hog delivered a bumpy ride. All the constant jostling dissuaded most conversation. As such, Marines did what they did when there was time to kill and nothing to do. They slept. Not me, though. This was the perfect time to grow and get stronger.

  “Hey Aspen, you ready?”

  “Yes,” she replied. “It will be interesting to do some energy cycling since we have ascended.”

  “It will,” I replied. “First time since. Here we go.”

  I closed my eyes, placed my hands on my thighs, and controlled my breathing. The practice had become second nature at that point so I immediately slipped into the inner space where I could see Aspen and our energy.

  My great bird stood still and looked like an emerald statue. Green tufts of energy rolled off her at random locations and intervals. I willed my energy to form a tendril and moved the tip until it touched the center of her breast. She accepted, and the end sank into her. Bright green pulses moved from me down the length of the tether to Aspen. It left her from the tips of her feathers and formed a sphere.

  It was amazing to see the process as if for the first time. The last meditative session hadn't gone this way. None of the others had. The bright flashes continued to move from me down the length of the tether. Aspen pulsed with emerald green light after the energy from me entered her.

  We carried on like this for a while. I didn’t know what it was like for her, but I needed most of my concentration to keep the energy flowing into her. There was no way to know how much time passed, but eventually, energy flowed from Aspen to me through our connecting strand. The returning flashes carried a yellow tint.

  “Are we ascending already?” I assumed the change in hue was a result of our growth, much like before.

  “I do not believe so,” Aspen replied. “My guess is the energy is changing and moving us closer to ascension, but we are still a long way off.”

  “That makes sense,” I replied. “No way of knowing how far away?”

  “I’m afraid not. I think patience will be needed to keep us moving forward, and for you to remain focused.”

  I took the hint as her words made me see the way my energy dwindled. I redoubled my efforts and kept us in the stream. I moved my inner eye to the flashes of green and green-yellow that traveled back and forth. It was soothing and almost hypnotic.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to lose sight of what we’re doing now.”

  “Stay grounded in the here and now,” she replied. “There will be time to analyze and deduce the nature of our connection later. You are not the only one to want answers, Ray. This is all strange and new to me as well.”

  “Tell me about the connection you shared with your bonded. How was it different from what we share?”

  A long pause lay between my words and hers. “Different is a good descriptor. What I shared with him was different in many ways. There were similarities, and I think speaking of those first will allow me to find the right words to describe the differences.”

  “I’m all ears. Or, I should say I’m listening,” I replied.

  “I see the connection between the saying and the literal meaning,” Aspen said. “I think if you tell me both, I will catch on to what you're communicating. Back on topic. What is the same, then and now, is communication. It’s much more than words. It’s sharing yours and my emotional states. There are pictures, memories, and learning how to communicate with one another.”

  “I can see that,” I replied. “It’s unusual to share this much with another being, but I’m glad you’re the one I get to share with.”

  “And I, you,” she replied while sending a feeling of joy. “The differences are a stark contrast. While I could always tell where he was, I was able to move freely. Now, I know where you are at all times because I am with you. Then there is the way you’re able to manifest portions of me and use them as extensions of your body. I think the most notable difference is the mingling of our energies. We trade a portion of our souls with one another. I cannot say for sure, but it feels as if you are purifying the energy of one another’s souls. As I said, that is speculation.”

  “Going back to you always being with me,” I said. “You haven’t left me in a long while. Are you still able to?”

  “I was never really able to leave you, but I understand your question. I haven’t seen a need to manifest outside of you fully. I believe I still can. We will have to experiment and see if it still functions as before.”

  “If you think about how much we’ve grown together, I’m willing to bet it won’t be the same. I think it’s worth experimenting.”

  “Ray…” the word reverberated through my head, yet it sounded like it had to travel through yards of water to reach me. “Ray, can you hear me?”

  “You see what she wants,” Aspen said. “It’s not good to keep your mate waiting.”

  “She’s not… You know what? Forget it. We can pick this up later.”

  “Hey.” I opened my eyes. Angela stood over me with a look of concern on her face. The transport hit a rough patch, which caused Angela to spread her legs and rock back and forth with the vehicle.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah. I was meditating with Aspen. Everything okay?” I asked because her expression didn’t waver.

  “Don’t know. Standish says the machines are acting weird,” Angela replied.

  “You mean they’re performing programmed functions that don’t include killing us but mean they’re manufacturing stuff, or gardening, or what every other job the people that used to live here performed?”

  “No,” Angela replied without so much as cracking a smile. “They’re backing off. Still following and flanking, but giving us room.”

  “Why would they do that?” It was my turn to be concerned. “You sure they haven’t decided to go into farming or something else less murderous?”

  “I wish I knew.”

  I unbuckled my harness and stood as much as the low ceiling would allow. When I reached the front, Kopf was sitting in the passenger seat. Since I had no training in driving a Ground Hog, I had no way of knowing if there were functions he was supposed to perform as a copilot. All the instrumentation arrayed on the dash before him seemed to indicate that was how it worked.

  “Kopf,” Standish said. “Why don’t you take five and let the sergeant have a seat?” It may have come in the form of a question, but his tone made it clear that it wasn't a request.

  I settled into the recently vacated chair. “How’s it going, Standish?”

  “Not sure,” he replied in his usual gruff voice. “This is what I do know.” Standish reached to my side of the console and tapped a few buttons.

  Three screens lit up and showed the outside from the rear and the sides. In the distance, I saw the groups of machines that had chased us since we left the buildings where I
found my new armor. As Angela said, they were getting farther away while still moving.

  “Do you think they’re running low on fuel?” I asked.

  “Doubt it,” he replied.

  “Same here,” I said. “If that were a thing, they would have stopped moving a long time ago. Something else is going on here. Any thoughts?”

  “No,” Standish replied. “It’s odd and doesn't make sense. Something is causing them to move back, but what, and why? They have numbers on their side. The big laser cats are with them, along with other beasts we’ve never seen. I’m willing to bet they have superior firepower as well. So why give us space and not attack?”

  “That is odd,” I said. “I don’t think they would unless they were ordered to. If that’s the case, what are we driving into?”

  Standish’s head snapped to his right, and he locked eyes with mine. “I hoped you would come up with something else. I came to that conclusion too, but I didn’t want that to be the case.”

  “So you suspect a trap too?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he replied. “Why else would they be happy to let us keep going the way we are?” Oh yeah,” he pointed at the screen as all the machines stopped. “Has to be a trap.”

  While we looked at the screen, the world seemed to shift sideways for a moment. I didn’t travel in the past, only seemed to slide sideways. Nothing around me changed, and I took a moment to smile at myself. How sci-fi was this? I felt a little disorientated and had to ask if I traveled in time. When the answer was no, I had to wonder if alternate realities were a thing and I might have slid into one.

  “I believe it might be too much of a strange occurrence for you to move into another reality as well as traveling through time,” Aspen said. “I suspect it is something different. However, I did feel a moment of discomfort.”

  “Did you feel something weird?” I asked in a lowered voice so no one else would hear.

  “No,” Standish replied. “But considering the shit Jones told me, I think we need to be cautious going forward if you felt something weird.”

  “Yeah, Aspen—wait. Jones told you about the stuff we’ve seen?”

  “Sure did. She thinks you leave too much out, so she fills Kopf and me in when she gets a chance.”

  “Damn. I feel like I just found out one of my friends has been reporting to the principal about me ditching class.”

  Standish laughed. “I wouldn’t go that far. You’ve already told us what’s going on. Jones filled in the gaps so we can chime in if we have any thoughts.”

  “Do you have any thoughts on the time travel stuff? Maybe a guess for why?”

  “Thoughts? Other than it’s weird as shit? No. But I have a theory about why.”

  “I’m all ears,” I replied.

  “I get that one,” Aspen thought to me.

  Standish pointed at my arm. “This right here. Whatever wanted you to travel back wanted you to get this hunk of metal covering you. Seems kinda obvious to me.”

  “I guess I hadn’t thought of that,” I replied while sinking back into my seat. “Huh.”

  “That’s why Jones likes to share as much detail as she can,” Standish said. “The better-informed Kopf and I are, the more insight we may be able to share. Four heads are better than two after all.”

  “I need to speak with you more often,” I said. “I let the Lance Corporal rank on your uniform trick me into thinking you aren’t as wise as you are.”

  Standish nodded with a knowing look on his face. “That’s why I don’t mind getting busted down. The rank always tricks people into forgetting who I am. It’s like a government-funded brainwashing machine.”

  “Please don’t tell me you got that from a movie Kopf had you watch.”

  Standish laughed. “Nah. That one is all mine. I don’t think the writers of his movies are creative enough to come up with something that profound.”

  It was my turn to laugh. “You might be right.”

  “What do you think we should do about the ambush?” Kopf asked.

  “I think we need intel,” I replied. “I happen to know a guy who can get overhead and see what’s what.”

  “You think it’s a good idea to split up?” Standish asked. “You get too far ahead, and we can’t back you up.”

  “You can’t,” I replied. “That’s why, if things go sideways, I’ll get as high as I can to get clear, then come back. I haven’t seen any machines that can fly. Should be safe.” Although, I knew that wasn’t exactly true. I’d seen flying machines in Aspen’s memory. As long as those things remained absent, I would be fine.

  “You haven’t seen any flying machines yet,” Standish said. “But yeah, it’s a good idea. Keep a channel open and let us know what you see.” He grabbed my arm as I rose. “The second you see trouble, you rocket back toward us and let us know what you see. Got it?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”

  Angela wasn’t happy about my plan, but she didn’t try to stop me. She opened the top hatch and moved aside so I could climb out. Then she climbed out, which didn’t seem right to me.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “I’m sitting below while my man puts himself in harm's way. I can’t fly, so I can’t come. Doesn’t mean I can’t stay up here and be ready.” She manifested her blue-green feet and ears. “I can hear if anything comes, and I can jump high. Not as good as flying, but you get anything following low enough for me to grab it, and it’ll die a quick horrible death.”

  I chuckled. “You got it.” My wings manifested and spread wide. “I’m your man now?” I asked.

  “I thought that was obvious,” Angela said. “But if not…” She stepped close, then kissed me. It was a long, deep affair filled with far more passion than any other kiss we had experienced previously. “Does that help you understand how I feel?”

  “Yeah,” I replied while taking quick and shallow breaths. “I think I’m getting it.”

  “No,” Angela said in a sultry voice. “You haven’t gotten it yet. Come back alive, and we’ll see about fixing that when things have settled.”

  The last thing I needed was to be told twice. I jumped, then let my wings shoot me like a projectile from a cannon. The most amazing sound ever, the boom of breaking the sound barrier, came a few minutes after leaving the ground.

  “I am stunned that you hadn’t noticed,” Aspen thought to me.

  “Noticed what?” As I asked, my mind ran through the last few moments while trying to discover what she meant but came back empty.

  “When you kissed Angela, there was nothing between you. Now, there is something between you and the rush of air as we fly. Why is that?”

  “What?” I reached up and felt the helmet covering my face. It hadn’t been there a moment ago, and I hadn't taken it off nor put it back on. “How?”

  “It seems the armor reacted to your wishes and retracted so you could kiss Angela. Then, sensing your need, it covered you again when you flew. I am surprised you saw nothing.”

  Once again, I examined the memory of those moments. Now that I knew what to look for, I remembered something. A slight shimmer in the air must have been the armor retracting, then covering my face. This thing was amazing, and I couldn’t wait to see what it could do.

  “I remember seeing something, but barely,” I replied. “We need to put this thing through its paces when we get a more opportune time.”

  “I agree,” Aspen said. “If we were in a better position, I would never condone going into battle with untested equipment.”

  “That seems wise.” My next words never came.

  A distant figure came into view. It had too many legs to be a man, but it was unusually still for a machine. When I was closer, I understood why the solitary figure seemed off. It was the guy from before who was half-machine and managed to travel to the past. He stood there and looked up. It didn’t take long to figure out that he was looking in my direction.

  “If this is a trap,” I thought. “It’s the
hardest one yet.”

  “Do not let his unexpected appearance cloud your judgment. Be cautious.”

  I called in the situation and described every detail to Standish, Kopf, and Jones. Pruise got to listen in as Kopf brought her into the loop.

  “Maybe you should go talk to him,” Pruise said. “Kopf said he tried speaking to you in the past and didn’t attack. It seems to me that he has something to say.”

  “She might be right,” Standish added. “You could wait for us to get there and we can all talk to him.”

  “I don’t know if we have time for that,” Jones said. “Goshawk, the machines are moving again. I think they’ll catch us right about when we arrive where you are. I think you need to talk to him now. But be ready to smash him if he makes the wrong move.”

  “I think you’re right,” I said.

  “No surprise there,” Pruise said under her breath, but her mic still picked it up.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Angela snapped.

  “Wow,” Pruise said. “I mean he’s a guy. Kopf is trying to get in my pants, so he does whatever I say. It makes sense that the sergeant would do the same for you. Honest, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  There was silence for a while. Well, almost. Several people laughed in the background. “Is that true, Goshawk?” Jones sounded more than a little hurt.

  “No,” I replied. “I respect your opinion, Jones. Not because I want to get in your pants, but because you’re the baddest warrior I know. You have a lot more experience fighting in an actual battle than me as well.”

  “Good answer. We’ll be there soon. Be ready for a fight.”

  I glided down while keeping my head moving. If he were the lure in a trap, then I would be ready. There was no movement other than the wind rustling the leaves. I touched down without incident ten feet from him. Still, no attack came.

  “I’m here,” I said. “You look like you have something you want to get off your chest. Spill.”

  22

  Bryant