by Gary Urey
The crowd erupted into a frenzy of euphoria. People wept, and others fainted. Soon, everyone was walking toward the mountain. Muni rushed to Varya and took her from Faraw. She was going to New Earth with the child in her arms.
Pavana ran to her, worry etched on her face. “They’re gone,” she said.
“Who?” Muni asked.
“Gita, Daisha, and that man, Loosha.”
“It doesn’t matter now. We’re going to New Earth.”
“But I couldn’t find the boy at the visitor center. We don’t have the other Golden Jewel.”
“Remember my vision, Pavana.” Muni adjusted Varya on her hip and took the GeoPort from her pocket. “Daisha and the brown-haired boy needed two of these to destroy the entranceway to New Earth. There are only two in the world, and I have one of them. My vision was very clear on this.”
“So that means if we have one they don’t have two. There’s nothing they can do to stop us.”
Muni smiled. “Exactly. I have several packs of zip ties in my bag in the tent. Fetch them.”
“Why?”
“Because when we get to the summit, which is a short hike that should take us no more than an hour, we may have some defectors. The zip ties will assure they can’t back out before we enter New Earth.”
“No one would abandon you or the Voices. We’ve come too far.”
“The Soul Worms can enter a person at any time, even moments before joining New Earth. Get the zip ties and hurry back.”
Pavana nodded and raced back to the tent. Muni turned to her followers and saw a single figure staring at her from across the camp. She recognized him immediately.
A pang of fear shivered up her spine.
“The brown-haired boy,” she whispered, and jogged to catch up with the group.
Chapter Thirty-Three
DAISHA
The sky exploded above Daisha’s head. Thunder boomed. Lightning cracked like a whip. Orange, blue, emerald, yellow, purple, and every color in between tinged what was once a never-ending expanse of blue. A pulsing, nuclear-green cloud appeared in the upper atmosphere. Raindrops of fire sprinkled down.
“Ouch,” Daisha yelped as the boiling rain stung her cheeks and bare arms.
A massive gust of wind knocked her off balance. She tumbled backward. Several tents, chairs, and other items blew past her.
“I’ll never find Axel,” she lamented and crawled under a rocky outcrop to keep from the fallout.
Far in the distance, she saw Muni and all of her followers trekking into the desert toward the spiraling mountain on the horizon. Luciana and Loosha entered her frame of vision. They trailed far behind the Antakaale, but were running to catch up with them. She thought about what Luciana had said inside the tent. They needed both GeoPorts to make a new X-Point. Muni had one. Axel without a doubt had the other, and he was at the visitor center. How could she get there in this doomsday weather?
The rain cloud that had been pelting her with hot pinpricks dissipated in the sky. The thunder, lightning, and wind were still strong, but she managed to crawl from her cover and fight her way forward. She was hoping to see Fahd and beg him for a ride to the visitor center. No one was around. The camp was like a Wild West ghost town. A pile of sand buried the only truck in sight up to the windows.
“Luciana, Loosha!” Daisha called out, but there was no response.
She hiked in the direction of the road. There was a large boulder with a pointing arrow. The signpost read Wadi Rum Visitor Center—95 Kilometers. Maybe another car would pass and she could hitch a ride. Hopping on a camel and galloping all the way there passed through her mind. She glanced around for one, but they too had fled the area.
Several whirling dust devils popped up out of nowhere. They looked like dirty ghosts twirling and dancing across the desert floor. The spinning sand was coming for her. She ran in the opposite direction. With every step, she sunk deeper into the ground.
“Ahhh!” Daisha wailed as the sand began to swallow her.
The drift had blown over her thighs and was moving toward her waist. She struggled with all her might, but the lower half of her body wouldn’t budge. The dust devils grew closer, dropping the visibility to near zero. As they were about to suck her into oblivion, two figures emerged from the wall of dirt. They grabbed her under the arms. With a giant heave, they tugged her out of the quicksand.
“We have you!” a man hollered through the howling wind.
Daisha thought she recognized the voice. She tried to look, but sand had caked her eyes, causing temporary blindness.
A female with a thick Indian accent shouted, “Hurry! We have to find cover!”
The two people steered her toward a small crevice between large, jutting rocks. Together, they crawled on their hands and knees to a small cave. Darkness enveloped them. Daisha hacked and coughed, trying to clear the sand from her lungs. She heard a flicking sound, like someone trying to fire up a lighter. After a moment, the flame ignited and a faint light filled the space.
Axel’s face stared back at her.
He handed the lighter to the girl and then collapsed into Daisha’s arms. Tears of joy streamed down their faces as they held each other tight. She cupped his face, stared into his eyes, and cried some more. Just being near him made her heart swell.
“What happened to you after the Temple?” Axel asked, still clinging tightly to her.
“I went through the Warp and landed back at Centennial Fountain in Palo Alto,” Daisha said.
“How…what…why?”
“I don’t know the how, what, or why of anything anymore. Remember Boris?”
“Of course.”
“He was waiting for me. When Loosha shot us, we ended up inside one of the Doctor’s guesthouses.”
Axel’s face twisted into a question mark. Daisha quickly told him her story, from the random Warping and natural disasters to the Wadi Rum desert and spitting camels.
“We Warped here too,” Axel said.
Charu cleared her throat.
“Daisha, meet Charu,” Axel said. “She was one of the dancers back at the Konanavlah Sun Temple. I wouldn’t be alive today without her.”
Daisha smiled at her and turned back to Axel. “Do you have your GeoPort?”
“Yes.” He pulled the unit out of his pocket. “This sucker’s primed and ready to roll.”
“Thank goodness. Luciana says we need both of the GeoPorts to open up a new X-Point. Muni has mine.”
Axel scratched his head. “Who are Luciana and Muni?”
“Members of the cult. They call themselves the Antakaale. They want the world to end so they can go to this place called New Earth. But according to Luciana, only our two GeoPorts can stop this from happening.”
“I don’t understand,” Charu said, speaking up.
Daisha opened her mouth to explain when a loud bang came from outside the cave. There was a scraping sound, like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together.
A muffled female voice said. “I saw them go in here.”
“Who is it?” Axel whispered.
“Muni’s coming,” Daisha said, panic straining her voice.
“What will she do to us?” Charu asked.
The sound grew louder. Daisha heard another voice. There were two of them.
“Douse the lighter,” she ordered Charu.
The cave went black. They pressed themselves against the back wall, bracing for a fight.
“Hello!” the deep voice of a man called out.
“Axel, Charu? Where are you?”
Charu flicked on the lighter. Two figures stepped into the dim glow.
Daisha’s mouth fell open. “Megan, Jag!” she cried. “What are you two doing here?”
Chapter Thirty-Four
MEGAN
Megan wrapped all three of them in her arms. They wept and hugged, thrilled at being together once again. Jag turned on a small penlight. The cave illuminated with light so everyone could see.
“How’d you find
us?” Charu asked.
“It’s a very long story to be told at a later date,” Megan said and turned to Daisha. “Please, tell me you have your GeoPort.”
Daisha frowned. “I don’t,” she said. “Muni took it from me.”
Megan’s mouth dropped open. “What did you just say?”
“I said Muni took it from me.” Daisha repeated. “She’s the leader of this crazy cult.”
Megan pulled the magazine from her bag, fighting the urge to cry. “Do you mean this Muni?” she asked, holding up the cover with Muni’s picture.
“That’s her,” Daisha said. “Why would that crazy witch be in a magazine?”
“Because she used to be a well-respected geophysicist. Until, according to the article, she became ill with paranoid schizophrenia and started a doomsday cult.”
“That’s really sad,” Charu said.
“She also happens to be my mother,” Megan said, her voice heavy with emotion.
“What…how?” Daisha stuttered.
“There’s no time for explanations now. We need to get that GeoPort so you two can open up a new X-Point. The world is very near the tipping point. The color you see in the sky is really the solar wind pummeling Earth’s magnetic field. Did you feel that stinging rain earlier?”
“Yes,” Daisha said. She held out her arms. “Look. It left little burn marks on my skin.”
“That was caused by the sun’s radiation leaking through holes in the stratosphere,” Megan explained. “Once the magnetic poles flip, which will be very soon, the problem’s only going to get worse. Without our magnetic safety net, Earth will turn into a wasteland similar to Mars in short order.”
“Wow,” Daisha remarked. “Luciana said the exact same thing.”
“Who’s Luciana?” Axel asked.
“She’s one of Muni’s followers. Well, one of her ex-followers I should say. Her name’s Luciana Lopez. She sounds smart, like a real scientist.”
Megan turned to Jag. “That’s the name of the lost daughter those heartbroken parents talked about in the article.”
“Muni and her followers are heading to the tall mountain beyond the camp,” Daisha explained. “That’s where the door to this so-called New Earth will supposedly open. Loosha and Luciana are going there right now to get the other GeoPort. Muni also has Luciana’s daughter.”
“Then that’s where we need to go as well,” Jag said, and they all filed out of the cave.
The wind had picked up, and the sky throbbed like an exposed artery. The heat intensified as the ozone layer slowly melted from the barrage of solar radiation. Close to home, two more of the nuclear-green, radioactive clouds appeared along the horizon. Megan hoped they wouldn’t blow in their direction. As they fought their way across the sand, Megan went over what had to happen when they finally had the other GeoPort.
“Our first task is to get Daisha’s GeoPort from Muni,” Megan explained. “When that happens, both of you must use your GeoPorts to channel the solar wind and create a new X-Point.”
“How do we do that?” Daisha asked. “We’ve used our GeoPorts together before, and it’s never created a new X-Point.”
Axel gulped. “Don’t tell me we both need to go to the heart of the sun.”
“No, just the opposite,” Megan said. “You need to channel the solar wind to exactly your location. If both GeoPorts are activated at the same time, given the magnetic properties of this location, it should be enough to establish a new permanent X-Point.”
“So we just need to enter the coordinates of the top of the mountain?” asked Daisha.
“That’s right,” said Megan. “29.6339° N, 35.4518° E.”
“Will the numbers change based on their location?” asked Charu.
“I believe those numbers will work,” said Megan.
Axel typed the coordinates into his GeoPort, and Daisha recited them aloud. “Got ’em,” she said. “Do you know why my GeoPort suddenly started working? For the longest time I couldn’t enter coordinates. It only flashed the numbers you told us back at the Sun Temple.”
Megan shrugged. “I can’t be one hundred percent sure,” she said. “But my educated guess is the solar storm somehow reset the unit. Now, if my calculations are correct, this will pull the solar wind directly toward you and open up a new permanent X-Point. Also, this is very important. You two must push the SW buttons at the same time to generate enough power. Understand?”
Axel and Daisha nodded.
“What happens after that?” Charu asked.
Megan didn’t answer because she had no idea what would happen to them after engaging the GeoPorts. The research of Professors Jack and Tandala hadn’t gone that far. They could explode, implode, or nothing could happen to them at all. The thought of losing them again made her shudder. She swallowed the thought away and continued toward the mountain.
They reached the trailhead in just under a half hour. A sign poked into the sand read The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Megan looked up the mountainside. Far at the top, she saw dozens of people making the final ascent. The two radiation-poisoned clouds were almost directly over their heads. At any moment, the throbbing green clouds could open up and sizzle them all.
“Let’s go!” Daisha ordered. “They’ve almost made it to the top.”
They hiked fast up the dirt trail, dodging rocks and loose gravel. A light mist from the hazardous clouds began to fall. The drops felt like tiny beestings to the skin. They shielded themselves as best they could and continued up the route.
The sound of loud groans captured Megan’s attention.
“Do you hear that?” she said.
“Yes,” Daisha said. “It’s coming from behind these rocks.”
Daisha peeked around the rocks and shouted, “Oh my gosh! It’s Loosha.”
Megan rushed over and saw a beaten man lying in the dirt. His face was bloody, and he had a gash on the right side of his head. He was hogtied with zip ties.
“Help me,” Loosha muttered.
Jag quickly grabbed a sharp stone and cut away the zip ties.
“What happened to you?” Axel asked.
“Those…women,” Loosha said. “At least ten of them jumped me and Luciana. They beat the crap out of me, tied me up, and took Luciana with them.”
“Did she go willingly?” Daisha asked.
“No. She screamed and fought, but they overtook her too.”
“What should we do with him?” Megan wondered. “We can’t just leave him here.”
“I’ll stay with him,” Charu said. “You all go ahead. There’s some cover under this overhang.”
The group scrambled as fast as they could up the mountain. The higher they climbed, the more the sky turned fireball red. The view reminded Megan of the sun’s surface from images taken by NASA. She saw sunspots, solar flares, and solar prominences exploding in the outer atmosphere.
The top of the mountain was just feet away. Loud chants mixed with the booms of thunder like a haunted opera.
“We are not of this earth and neither are you!” a chorus of voices rang out. “Destroy Old Earth and save mankind from the evil of itself! A New Earth awaits all who believe!”
Finally, Megan reached the top. She peaked over the rim of rock. Dozens of women and children stood barefoot around an older woman with long gray hair. An audible gasp escaped from her lips. For the first time in over twenty years, she was looking at her mother.
All of the women wore matching white robes and had tattoos on their foreheads. Most disturbing of all was that their ankles and wrists were zip-tied together, just like Loosha’s were.
“That’s my mother,” Megan whispered to Jag. “The only one not bound with zip ties.”
“And there’s Luciana,” Daisha said. “She’s the one on her hands and knees next to Muni. That terrible woman is holding her like a dog.”
They watched as Muni reached into her pocket, pulled out a small device, and showed her followers.
“It’s Daisha’s GeoPort!” Ax
el blurted. “Let’s go! It’s now or never!”
“Get the GeoPort at all costs,” Megan reiterated, and all four them leaped from their hiding place and rushed the crowd.
Chapter Thirty-Five
MUNI
When the last of the Antakaale’s wrists and ankles were bound, Muni walked among them. She looked deeply into each one of their eyes. Their devotion to her was strong, loyal, and unwavering. Even when she made them write their families good-bye forever letters, they did not question her. When they toiled all day in the tea fields of their Sri Lankan estate, no one ever complained of their condition. When Muni locked them in the bunker for days because they had tucked a lotus flower behind the wrong ear, they did not seek revenge. Muni was the earthly conduit for the Voices, and she had all the power.
“I love you dearly,” Muni said to her flock. “But the Voices love you more. Their love is forever and unchanging.”
“Forever and unchanging,” they recited automatically.
“Are you ready for New Earth?”
Ecstatic, joyful cries came from her followers. Random verses from The Way to New Earth spewed from their mouths.
“The Voices will grant a New Earth for all those who hear.”
“All praise and reverence are reserved for the Voices.”
“There are no other Voices but that of them.”
“Give your pain to the Voices.”
The sky above burned with fury. Intense heat swirled in the air. Hot dust burned their lungs. Still, her followers did not so much as flinch. Even when the biting rain pocked their exposed skin, giving rise to boils and sores.
Muni welcomed the pain. She lifted her face to the sky and allowed the evil of this earth to scorch her skin one final time. Faraw handed her Varya. She draped a blanket over the toddler’s head to protect her from the infected hail.
“You and I will be first to enter New Earth,” Muni whispered into the child’s ear.
A sudden blast knocked Muni off balance. She looked into the desert and saw a scattershot of flaming stones enter Earth’s atmosphere and explode like nuclear warheads. The Voices in her head temporarily hushed, and the geophysicist part of her brain flickered with life.