Sometimes Marissa longed for that kind of faith, for the feeling that something greater was out there, looking out for her family. For Matt. For the little baby they’d soon bring into the world.
Knowing that would make everything easier.
Religion had taken a beating in the Collapse and in humankind’s forcible separation from Earth. Who could believe in a God that would allow something like that?
And yet, Glory had. Marissa’s grandmother had exemplified a simple faith, an unquestioning belief in good in the world.
Maybe others would find a way to believe in it too.
Marissa reached down into her stomach to touch the little miracle growing there.
He reacted with joy and light, an effervescent sparkle that made her smile, despite the terrible things going on in the greater world outside. Here was life, existence-affirming life. This was what she needed.
She opened her eyes and sat up, stretching her arms.
“You doin’ okay, babe?” Matt asked, putting a warm hand on her shoulder.
She nodded. “Just thinking.”
“Yeah, me too.” Having Matt there with her made all the difference.
“What happens if we fail? I don’t want our baby growing up like I did in Agartha.”
“Then we won’t fail.”
She glared at him, but he looked serious. “You can’t guarantee that.”
“Maybe not. But I know it in my gut. We can’t afford to fail. Therefore we won’t.”
She laughed. “I wish it were that easy.” I wish I had your faith. Her hand strayed down to her belly.
Matt reached forward to take her hands. “Look, I’ve known you now for, what, seven years?”
“More or less.”
“And never once have I seen you tackle something that you didn’t end up overcoming.”
She shook her head. “This is different. We have a child to think about. What if—”
“Don’t say it.”
“What if he comes to harm?”
Matt grimaced. “He won’t. You’re doing this for him, right?”
“Yes. But—”
“No buts. You’re his mother. You’ll protect him. End of story.”
She stared at him for a long moment, then nodded. “I guess I will.” She lay back down on his chest. “Thank you for believing in me.”
“Of course. It’s in the ‘spouse’ job description.”
She laughed. “Maybe so.” They would find a way through all this—she had to believe that.
But at what cost?
THE ENTITY that had been Davian watched the balloon ascend into the sky through the eyes of one of its surrogates, a woman once called Maris who had been camping not far from the schoolhouse.
The balloon’s flame lifted it through the darkness toward the spindle, up and away from his reach for now.
No matter. They would have to come down eventually. Meanwhile, he had bigger fish to fry.
After his last defeat, he’d spent years sealed off in the box they’d built for him. They’d thought they’d banished him forever. Instead, they’d just put him in the hot box again.
He’d screamed for days, for weeks, railing against its confining walls. He’d battered his virtual fists bloody.
Then he’d lain inside, broken, for a year, while his mind gradually learned to accept his new condition.
And then he’d begun to plan. To figure out what he would do if he ever got free.
A long time had passed, and it had twisted him, reshaped him into something new. Something stronger. Freed of his human flesh, freed of even the semblance of humanity, he was a force of nature now. This world was his, and soon he’d squeeze the last little bits of resistance out of the so-called Immortals who shared the world mind with him.
This time, he’d come prepared.
They were building gallows at his command in Micavery and Darlith. When they were ready, he would hang those who had opposed him as an example to all the rest.
He would permit them a small kindness, letting them have their free will back for an instant as they died.
Then he would commence his new world order, shaping humanity into something better. Something that would know its place at his feet.
Yes, he’d been planning this for a long time, and it was all finally coming to fruition. All he’d needed had been a small crack in his prison, his box.
He laughed, an ugly sound even to his own virtual ears.
It had been well worth the cost.
Chapter Six: The Eire
JAYSON STARED at his brother’s back as they paddled down the Rhyl in the golden morning light. A storm was gathering at the end of the spindle ahead, close to the North Pole. It looked like it would be a monster.
The river had broadened out into a wide delta—artificial, of course, but meant to mimic a natural one on Old Earth. Someday this would all be marshland, filled with mud and boggy things.
The thought made Jayson smile.
He hadn’t spent much time with his brother alone, even out at the edge of current human civilization where there were only four people.
Part of it was shame over what he’d done, of who he’d allowed himself to become. Even if some of it wasn’t his fault.
“We don’t talk enough, you and I.” It was as if Aaron were reading his thoughts. His brother glanced at him over his shoulder.
Jayson frowned, looking up at the storm again. “My fault, probably.”
“You’re not the only one in this relationship.” Aaron sighed. “This might be a one-way trip, you know. We need to bury the hatchet between us.”
Jayson nodded. “I’d thought the same thing.”
Silence filled the space between them for a couple moments as they paddled down toward the nascent sea.
“Why did you leave?” Aaron asked at last.
“Home?”
“Yeah.”
Jayson frowned. It had seemed so clear back then, but the events of intervening years had muddied his reasons. “I think I just needed to be out on my own, to be far away from home. I never was religious—not like Mom and Dad.” He hugged himself, looking down at the ground. “It was a little stifling, sometimes.”
Aaron nodded. “Yeah.”
“And you left too.”
Aaron whistled. “Yeah, I suppose I did.”
Jayson took in a deep breath of the morning air. “It was weird when you left. Suddenly it was just me and Mom in that little house.”
“I suppose it was.” Aaron sighed. “So, did you ever find what you were looking for? Before….”
“Before the Chafs took me?”
“Yeah. Sorry.”
Aaron considered the question. “I thought so, at the time. It ended up being a mirage, and a mountain of gambling debt.” His Master, placing his hand on Jayson’s head. Then and now blurred together for a moment, and he shuddered.
“And now?”
“Now I know there are other things that matter.” He was eager to get off the topic. “Look, it’s the sea at last.”
The “sea” was really more of a large lake. It spread about a quarter of the way around the curve of Forever on either side and ended at the North Pole ahead.
It was hard to make out much detail. The black rock at the end of the world seemed to drink in the light. Later it would extend all the way around the curve of Forever, when the world mind had extracted enough ice from Iris, the latest asteroid captured just seven years before. If there was a later.
Somewhere below ground, special tunnels recycled the water from the growing sea, extracting nutrients and redirecting the clean liquid upstream to the mountains or back to the guts of the world for clouds.
“Think the sea will be finished in our lifetimes?”
Jayson laughed harshly. “Probably not, and our lifetimes may be measured in mere hours.”
Aaron shrugged. “I’ve lived a good life. Do you have a plan for getting up the wall to the Far Hold without alerting Davian?”
> Jayson shook his head. “Not yet.”
He turned and grinned at Jayson. “I think I know how we can do it.”
SOMEWHERE AROUND midnight, the hot air balloon passed over Darlith. The city’s streets were dark, but a glow lit up the central plaza, where Andy had built her sculpture of Old Earth so many years before.
She shuddered to think what might be happening down there and wondered if the McHenrys—the family with whom she’d stayed with when she’d been creating the sculpture—were okay.
The others were asleep in the gondola, all except for Santi, who was manning the balloon. He looked exhausted.
“You should get some rest,” she said softly.
He shook his head, blinking blearily. “Someone’s got to fly this thing.”
“I can do it. Show me how, and you can at least get a nap.”
“It’s a lot to learn—”
“I’m a quick study.” She climbed over Shandra’s sleeping form to stand next to him. “Besides, for now I just have to keep us from dropping too far or climbing too high, right?”
He grinned. “I suppose so.”
“How long until we reach the Eire?” She’d been out there a few times but never by balloon.
“Not until after first light.”
She nodded. “Any idea what time it is now?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say about 2:00 a.m.? We just passed over Darlith, so that would be about right.”
“So, it takes, what… about sixteen hours, Micavery to the Eire?”
“More or less.” The burn of the flare lit his face in gold for a moment, and then it faded back to black. “That’s why I make the run once a week. You know, back on Earth packages could be delivered to the other side of the globe in less time.”
Andy shook her head. “I have a hard time conceiving of it. Of how big it really was.”
“Too big. I like Forever—it’s a good size.”
“So what do I do?”
“It’s simple. Just keep us in the flow. Open this valve to heat up the air in the envelope—that’s the big bag overhead.” He pointed up. “At the top, there’s a release valve—that lets out some of the hot air.”
“How do I know which to use?”
“Easy. If the balloon starts to slow, we’re dropping out of the current. Heat up the air, just a little, until we’re moving again. If we get too close to the spindle, you’ll know it, because the ropes holding the envelope will start to slacken as we approach the zero-gee point.”
“And that would be bad.”
He laughed softly. “Yes. Because we all might go floating out into midair.”
“Got it. So open the envelope valve up top and let out a little hot air.”
“You got it.” He grinned. “As you said, you’re a fast study.”
She practiced with each valve until Santi seemed certain she had it down. “You sure you want to do this?” He yawned.
Andy nodded. “Yeah. I can’t sleep, anyhow.”
“Thanks, angel.” He kissed her cheek and went to lay down with Eddy, pulling his carry sack under his head to use as a pillow.
Andy took a deep breath. She’d secured herself a little quiet space from which to reflect on the insane events of the day.
She’d gotten a taste of what the people in Agartha had endured for years on end. Like being imprisoned in a cloud of ash, where every action and every turn was muffled by the stuff.
She shuddered. She still had ash on her soul.
So much of what this world was, for better and worse, was because of her family and what they could do. Without Jackson, there might have been no Forever. He’d taken the steps to save the world mind because of his unique gift and ability to connect with her.
Aaron, her father, had used his gift to help Colin transition into the world mind. And she herself had used it to free the people of Agartha from Davian’s grasp.
And yet….
Those same abilities had been used to destroy Transfer Station, and her beloved Ronan, the station mind.
Those same powers had allowed Agartha to exist in the first place. And they had allowed Davian to infiltrate the world mind.
Those things were all because of her family too.
The balloon was slowing down. Andy fired the burner for three seconds and it lifted back up into the current, which pushed it along toward the Eire.
Her parents were there, along with her uncle, Jayson, and her brother, Sean. He was seventeen now, on the cusp of adulthood. What kind of world had he been born into?
What could she do to atone for the woes she and her family had brought upon the world?
Maybe her father would have some idea.
She needed to see him, anyhow, before… before the end.
Her thoughts continued to tumble through her head unchecked. Her old life was gone, wiped off the face of Forever as completely as if Davian had used a giant eraser.
Her new one terrified her. There was no chance of sleeping, not while she was in such turmoil.
She glanced down at the dark forms in the basket, lit by the silver glow of the spindle above.
These people were her family too.
She would do whatever it took to protect them.
THE MAN’S motions slowed and ceased, his face turning white, and then he slumped against the stick that had impaled him.
Santi shook himself awake, scrambling to get away from the man’s horrified eyes, scrambling backward up against the inside of the gondola.
Eddy was next to him in a second. “Hey… you okay?”
Santi looked up at him, Eddy’s face framed by the golden light from the spindle. Daylight had returned. “Um… yeah. I think.” It took Santi a moment to realize where he was.
“You were dreaming.”
He shook his head. “It was real. I mean… it really happened. When I was trying to get you away from Micavery. I stabbed a man in the gut with a sharp branch.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “I can still see it. I killed him. No one could have survived that. Not without surgery.”
The others were gathered around them. No one gasped.
“We’re in a war.” Eddy pulled him close and held him. “It’s not your fault.” Eddy’s face held nothing but compassion.
“Maybe so. But it haunts me.”
Eddy touched Santi’s cheek. It didn’t matter that ten years separated them, or that Eddy was the older one. They were a perfect match.
Andy nodded. “If you hadn’t done it, we might all be dead now. Or worse.” She shuddered visibly.
Santi closed his eyes. “I just keep seeing it.”
“Maybe getting us the ground will take your mind off it.” Andy reached down to help him up.
“No problems last night?” Santi stretched. He’d developed a crick in his neck in the awkward sleeping position.
“A few. I figured them out.” She gestured to the world before them.
Forever was bright with daylight. In the distance, the black storm clouds loomed, but the morning had come once again. Somehow, that made him feel better.
He looked down. They were well past the estates that had popped up between Darlith and the Eire over the last two decades. Most of the ground below was still raw and black, lit only by the sky glow and the spindle.
A little ahead and off to the right was the green spot that would one day be Forever’s third city.
“You did good, kiddo.” Santi gave Andy an impromptu hug. “But yeah, looks like it’s time to take her down.” He reached up to open the envelope valve a little, and they dropped down out of the jet stream, losing speed in the process.
He fired one of the lateral jets and sent them off toward the Eire.
As long as he kept his eyes open, he could pretend he didn’t see the man’s last terrible gasp of recognition. Or at least not think about it so much.
He had a job to do.
MARISSA WAS the first to see there was something wrong. “Oh no.” She covered her mouth with her hand.
“What?” Matt came up next to her and slipped his arm reassuringly around her waist.
She pointed.
The Eire had been attacked. The small buildings that had sprung up along the earthen road were in partial ruin, the ground all around them churned up into chaos as if a giant pickax had torn up the dirt. “Davian,” she whispered.
Andy, Shandra, and Matt came to look, and the gondola tilted.
“Hey, not everyone on the same side of the balloon at once,” Santi called. “We’ll be down there soon enough to see what happened.”
Marissa knew what had happened. It was the schoolhouse all over again.
Andy turned away. “They’re gone, aren’t they? My parents. Jayson. Sean. They’re gone.” Her voice was hollow, and it tore at Marissa’s heart.
“We don’t know that.” Marissa stared at devastation below. “Maybe they got out before it happened.”
“How?” Andy turned to look at her, her eyes red. “Tell me how.”
“Maybe someone warned them. Like Santi warned us.”
“Maybe.” Andy paused to consider it. “Maybe you’re right.”
“We don’t know anything yet.” Shandra pulled Andy close and reached out to touch Marissa’s shoulder. “We have to believe they’re okay.”
Andy nodded.
They waited as the ground came up to meet them. Marissa said a little prayer to whomever or whatever might be out there. Maybe Glory would hear her.
“Where was the Moonjumper?” she asked to distract herself.
Eddy pointed. “On the concrete pad over there, along with the escape pod and one of the shuttles.” He pointed away from the destruction. There were several shapes covered in tarps. “It looks like it survived.”
“Small favors.” Marissa squeezed his arm.
“Indeed.”
THE BALLOON descended toward the ground. Andy waited, anxious. The rough square where the five or six buildings of the outpost had once stood was demolished. Strangely, the corners of the square still had live, glowing plants, while a perfect circle contained most of the debris and a ring of dead grass. Outside the square, the ground was still black and new, roughed up in places but otherwise untouched by the colony.
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