Eunoia

by R J Johnson

  By the time he was 27, Alex had left the firm he had been working for to hang out his own shingle. With an inbox full of references and a strong client list, Alex’s business thrived in the Bay Area. Which meant there was plenty of work for him to do – even through the dot com bust that saw the birth of their first child Caitlyn.

  Emily took to motherhood immediately and Alex was completely and totally in love with his child. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her and he worked even hard to make sure he had the resources to provide for his family.

  For her part, Emily began writing research papers from home and turned her experiences into a blog that was read by millions all over the globe. Several news magazines had even picked up a few of her columns to run, giving Emily a nice income on the side as she raised Caitlyn at home.

  Alex wasn’t sure how life could get any better – that is until he turned 30 and Emily told him they were having a second child – this time a son, who they named Nathaniel.

  Despite the challenges of running his own business and raising two small children, Alex had never felt more complete. For the first time in his life, he was happy, and everything he had ever wanted was his.

  The weeks turned to months, and the months to years. And together with Emily, he raised his children, taking them out every Saturday to the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco where he would picnic with his family and feed the ducks.

  This Saturday had no particular meaning to him though. But the feeling in the air was strange, as if destiny itself was on edge.

  They were unpacking their lunch when Caitlyn (who had grown up to be a very precocious and curious seven-year-old) asked if she could play on the swing set before they ate. Alex, always a sucker for his daughter agreed, appreciating the solo time he’d get with Emily. Nathaniel wasn’t old enough to do much more than spit up, and he would be content napping in the shade while he caught up with his wife.

  “Quite a week…” Alex said with a smile. He was referring to the investors who were interested in purchasing his firm (offering him an amount that would leave Alex and his family comfortable for the rest of their lives), and an article Emily had written had been picked up by a publisher who was interested in having Emily write a book expanding on the subject.

  “I’d say so,” she agreed, leaning over to Nathan, checking on him. “It can’t seem to be any more perfect.”

  “I dunno,” he said, a twinkle in his eye. “I’d like to try for another kid.”

  “Stop it,” Emily said, slapping him playfully.

  “I know,” he said. He turned, seeing Caitlyn dash around the green lawn of the park chasing ducks. “We’ve got some pretty good ones already.”

  Emily leaned back into his arms, and he sat there for a moment, enjoying the warmth of her body laying against his and the sun playing down on the perfect family scene.

  Suddenly, there was a bright flash up in the sky. Alex glanced up, holding his hand up to block the radiating light that seemed to fill the entire sky brighter than the sun.

  The light faded and he looked back up to see the sky begin filling with dark, brown clouds.

  Alex’s eyes went wide, “Caitlyn!” he called out. “Come here!”

  Caitlyn looked over at her father, the terror evident on the seven-year old’s face. “Daddy!” she screamed.

  Alex jumped up to run over to pick up his daughter. The haze was beginning to grow thicker as the foul clouds began settling down around them. Alex began coughing and he recognized what was happening. San Francisco had come under some kind of chemical attack. He needed to get his family clear as soon as possible or else they would all end up dead.

  People were dying all around him, choking on the haze that surrounded them. Gasping for breath, he took off his shirt, wetting the t-shirt with his water bottle. Wrapping the t-shirt around his face, he continued running for Caitlyn, hoping he could get to her before the poison cloud could.

  For her part, Emily was packing up Nathaniel and running for the car where she slammed the door shut, keeping the poison away for now.

  “Daddy! It hurts…” Caitlyn was screaming out in pain and all Alex could do was run faster. He scooped up his daughter, coughing through his mask. He pulled it off his face, wrapping it around Caitlyn’s mouth and nose, hoping it would help keep her safe during the dash back to the car.

  Alex pushed himself back to the car, hoping his legs wouldn’t fail him. His lungs were already burning from the toxic cloud that surrounded him.

  He fell forward, just steps away from his car. Emily, seeing Alex stumble with their daughter in his hands, screamed. It was enough motivation to keep him moving. Using ever bit of willpower he had, he crawled forward, holding his daughter close and safe, away from the cloud.

  He moved forward, struggling to open the door. Emily pushed it open, and grabbed Caitlyn hauling her in. Alex handed their daughter off to Emily and exhausted, managed to pull himself into the car using the last ounce of strength.

  “What is it? What is this?!” Emily screamed. She rocked Caitlyn who was currently vomiting all over her. Alex watched the pair weakly from inside their safe space.

  He looked outside to see a star burning bright in the daytime sky, that was, incredibly, outshining the sun itself.

  He pointed and Emily glanced, looking at the star. Smarter than him, she instantly put it all together, her face a terrified expression.

  “It’s all over,” she whispered. “Earth was just hit with by a Gamma Ray Burst.”

  She turned to Alex, who held her close. He was feeling weak, unable to catch his breath. Whatever the toxic cloud had been outside, it had clearly scarred his lungs beyond any use. He wasn’t long for the world.

  Instinctively, Alex knew he was dying, and he wasn’t the only one.

  Caitlyn had stopped throwing up, and her tiny body was shuddering against her mother who was crying softly, stroking their young daughter’s hair.

  Emily saw Alex’s eyes begin to close and she screamed, slapping Alex on the face, “Don’t you do it. Please… please don’t leave me…”

  Alex looked up at her, a peaceful feeling coming over his body. He was ready to die. Not that he had much choice in the matter. The damage to his internal organs was too much for his body to handle.

  He reached a hand out to Emily weakly and smiled. “Shh…” he said. “Please… you were the best thing to ever happen to me. No regrets.”

  The poisonous cloud was beginning to seep into their space as Emily glanced around in terror. She could see people falling down all over the place outside the car. No one was safe. Nathan had stopped moving in his cradle.

  “Alex…” Emily whispered.

  He smiled, and tried to draw in a breath, but could only cough wildly. After struggling to breathe, Alex passed out, leaving his perfect world behind.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Alex sat up, screaming inside the Channel. The burning feeling in his lungs had felt so real, and the sensation of death was right behind him.

  It took him a few minutes to remember where he was now, the memories of his former life beginning to fade like a bad dream.

  He swallowed several times, shaking his head, trying to regain perspective of his life, but found it incredibly difficult to cut off his feelings of dread and love for Emily and his family.

  “It wasn’t real…” he repeated to himself. “It wasn’t real. She is still alive and back on Earth.”

  Despite repeating the mantra that Emily was still very much alive, he couldn’t shake the feeling of impending doom.

  “Did you see what you needed to see?”

  The voice came from the shadows of his room. Alex looked over in terror at the Patron who scuttled forward. It took him a moment to remember the Patrons and what they looked like.

  “She’s dead,” Alex said incredulous. “Why would you program the simulation to end like that?”

  The Patron clicked his mandibles together, “I did no such thing. I set the parameters of th
e simulation to mimic your life as it would have occurred without discovering the stones and setting you on a path toward a confrontation with Kline.”

  “Kline won because I got married?” Alex asked, sounding confused.

  “You were not available to stop him from collecting the twelve stones in time to prevent our star from exploding,” the Patron answered as if this would have been obvious to an infant.

  Alex blinked several times, looking back over at the Patron. He was playing a different game than the rest. What was it?

  “Why did you encourage me to see that?” Alex demanded. “You couldn’t just let me live a simple life?”

  “What life is simple?” the Patron asked. “You wanted to see what it meant to live a life with Emily, I showed you what happened. Your planet is on a course with destiny. I can’t interfere with that any more than you can.”

  “Why not?” Alex exploded. “I want to see what happens in a full life lived with her.”

  “You didn’t live a full life with her?” The Patron asked, almost accusingly. “What were you doing every day?”

  “Ten years is not a full life!”

  “It is for some people,” the Patron reminded him. “Some never get to experience a love like you had with Emily, let alone for ten years and two children.”

  Alex felt his throat catch. His children. They had died along with him in that simulation, although, they weren’t real. Were they? Did it matter? The love he still felt for those children burned hotter than ever before.

  Alex felt defeated at this. After all, he had forsaken this life. Whatever time he was able to get, he should have been grateful for.

  “Reset the simulation,” Alex growled. “I want to go back in.”

  “Is that wise?”

  “Does it matter?” Alex asked. “What else am I going to do with my time here?”

  The Patrons clicked his mandibles together and withdrew another vial. “All you need to do is drink this.”

  Alex grabbed the vial from the Patron, chugging it quickly. He felt his vision become woozy once again, and he fell to the ground.

  As he lost consciousness, he tried concentrating as hard as possible on how he could keep his family safe during the explosion of the Patron’s star.

  It was the least he could do.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The sun had just risen when the Old Man stepped outside to watch the wildlife of Onyx come to life. The area hadn’t changed much in the years since he’d been there last. He looked around, inhaling deeply and watching the scene with a reverence most people reserved for the holiest of sites.

  Emily ran up to the Old Man, and tugged on his robe. “It’s gone!”

  The Old Man didn’t turn. “Well of course it is. What are we talking about?”

  Emily huffed in exasperation, “The stone. It disappeared from the kitchen table.”

  Even this didn’t stun the Old Man. “Then it is time. Kline has freed the stone from its paradox in 2012.”

  Emily swallowed and backed away from the Old Man. “You’re leaving us?”

  The Old Man turned, looking at Emily sadly. “Yes. I’ll be leaving you now, but if you and Christina stick to the plan, you should have the stone back here shortly.”

  The Old Man began walking back to the house when Emily grabbed at his robe again, “Wait! What about Alex? He’s…”

  “Doing what he needs to,” the Old Man replied softly. “Kline is coming and Alex needs to prepare for that which means training. He’ll return when he’s ready.”

  “Until then?” Emily asked, stumbling over a rock in the front yard.

  “Live your life, enjoy what the world has to offer,” he replied. “You have twenty years to enjoy before Kline becomes a problem.”

  Emily dashed in front of the Old Man and put a hand on his chest to stop him from moving. “You can’t just leave us.”

  The Old Man’s smile was weak, displaying his obvious exhaustion. “I don’t want to. I need to. You understand the difference, yes?”

  He touched Emily’s check gently and smiled. “You won’t even notice I’m gone.”

  The Old Man disappeared, leaving Emily behind.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The parking lot was empty this time of night, but Ash wasn’t worried about being followed. He had left the tracking device his secretary had insisted he take behind in the cab, instructing the driver to loop around the DC Metroplex for a half-hour while he completed his meeting.

  No stranger to bizarre meet-ups in the nation’s capital, the cabbie just took the wad of bills handed to him by Ash and did what he was told.

  Ash wandered the parking lot waiting for Tate. He promised he would be here.

  A few seconds later, the parking lot lamps begin to turn off one by one. Ash withdrew his weapon and held it out, ready for an ambush to strike at any moment.

  Each and every light in the parking lot was extinguished, save for one lone one on the other side of the parking lot. Ash glanced around, looking for anything suspicious.

  As he moved closer to the lamp, he noticed a small package tied to the base. Ash approached the package, putting away his gun as he leaned down to pick it up. Ash began examining the small brown package when to his surprise, the muffled ring of a cell phone began erupting from inside.

  Curious, Ash opened up the package and discovered the simple flip phone inside, the caller ID reading UNAVAILABLE.

  He looked around one last time, and decided it was safe. He opened up the phone, “Hello?”

  “How’s the Old Man?”

  Ash recognized the voice on the other end. It was Tate.

  “He’s closer to his goals than ever before,” Ash replied. He wondered if Kline was monitoring the situation. He had no idea how closely he was watched, but after his experiences at the White House, he was certain Kline had the ability to tap into his body and completely control him.

  “It’s not too late you know,” Ash continued. “You could turn yourself in. Kline can still use you.”

  Tate snorted, the sound echoing through the small phone’s speaker, “You’re just as insane as he is if you’re still trying to peddle that nonsense. If you don’t stop him now, there won’t be a human race to rule over.”

  “What are you talking about?” Ash snarled. He quickly pushed his emotions down. If he got too upset, he might alert Kline who would see everything. For now, Kline was still distracted with retrieving the stone from Hong Kong.

  “The stones? They were meant for something far greater than giving powers to a guy like Kline.” Tate said sounding almost depressed. “You know those papers Kline always has with him?”

  “McCray stole them,” Ash replied.

  Tate chuckled on the other end of the phone, “Good for him. I wasn’t sure he’d be good enough to get them away from Kline.”

  “What’s the big deal about the papers?”

  Tate drew in a deep breath, “Those stones, whatever they are? They were meant to protect this planet from something called a Gamma Ray Burst. The papers lay it all out, describing exactly what’s going to happen if we don’t get those stones away from Kline.”

  “It’s too late,” Ash said, feeling satisfied. “Kline already has them all.”

  Silence filled the line between them.

  “We’re not too late,” Tate said. “The papers say the stones were meant for us to find and use to lift humanity into its next step of evolution…”

  “I’d say that’s exactly what Kline’s doing with them, or haven’t you noticed?” Ash said, feeling his temper begin to rise.

  “What happened to you?” Tate asked in wonder. “Read the papers for yourself and see. We’re doomed if Kline continues to hold onto them. That’s all I wanted to say. You can still stop this. That’s why the government drug you in to all this right? You were supposed to prevent Kline from taking over.”

  “You were helping him!” Ash cried out.

  “And now I’m not,” Tate replied quick
ly. “I’m on my way to finding the biggest underground shelter for sale and stock it up for when that gamma ray burst comes calling for us. Cause it won’t be pretty afterward. But you, you can still stop Kline. You’re close enough, and he’s not controlling your mind. I know he’s not. You wouldn’t have come here if he was.”

  “Kline trusts I won’t want the pain of defying him.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t. Maybe you deserve to die along with the rest of them,” Tate sneered at him. “Are you all talk? Have you completely forgotten your duty and what it actually means to protect the United States? This is a real existential threat to our existence soldier and you’re worried about a few painful moments? You’re a disgrace!”

  Ash couldn’t take it, he lost his temper. No one questioned his loyalty.

  “Listen you little maggot,” with those words, he knew it was too late. Tate had been playing him. He suddenly felt Kline’s eye watching him and absorbing everything he had done over the last hour.

  With a crack and a flash, Kline warped into the parking lot right next to Ash. Ash, still woozy from Kline’s takeover of his mind, stumbled back, away from Kline.

  The billionaire held out a hand for the phone, which Ash handed over.

  “Mr. Tate,” Kline said. “It’s so nice to speak with you again.”

  “Feeling ain’t mutual Mr. Kline,” Tate hissed back at his former employer.

  “You must know I’m thoroughly disappointed in you for abandoning the cause just as we were seeing our biggest successes. Mr. Ash here is correct. If you come home now, all will be forgiven. We can move on, and chalk up your little betrayal to ‘nerves.’”

  Ash smiled and shook his head.

  “The problem is, you always think people only have one option with you.”

  That’s when the first explosion hit. Kline was thrown to one side, completely taken off guard.

  Ash took cover, grabbing Tate who had been watching the exchange with a strained expression. Kline had been trying to take his mind over until the explosion had thrown him off. But the fire, fury and sound of two Apache helicopters unleashing their ordinance on the billionaire had brought him back to reality.