Eunoia

by R J Johnson

  Alex grunted, chuckling softly. “I’ve seen more than my share of it I’m sure.”

  She moved closer to him, her intelligent green eyes wide, “Have you seen Rome?”

  Alex shook his head, “I’ve been to parts of the world you’ve never even heard of.” He tore a piece of mutton off with his teeth and began chewing. Not bad, considering the fact the kitchen downstairs had never even heard of seasoning.

  “What other places have you been then?” Liza stepped forward and sat down next to Alex, her eyes never leaving his face.

  Alex was taken aback. He’d been hit on before, so he knew when a woman was making eyes at him. And it felt good. The problem was, he couldn’t stand to have any relationships or attachments. Not unless he wanted to risk some kind of paradox.

  He met her eyes once again and found the longing spring up once again. A voice in the back of his head whispered that everything would be ok. That it wouldn’t matter if he stayed here, fell in love with Liza. That time and the universe would adjust.

  The problem was, he couldn’t risk it. He needed to be sure that the world stayed safe, especially from him.

  And suddenly, the mutton didn’t taste so great any longer.

  He sighed, and put the mutton down on the table. “I’m sorry, I’m not much for conversation. If you’ll excuse me.”

  Liza’s eyes filled with disappointment, “Oh,” she said simply, trying to hide the hurt of Alex’s rejection. “Very well, of course.”

  She stood, straightening her apron. “If you need anything, we’re only a shout away.”

  “Thank you,” Alex replied, casting his eyes down to the floor. He didn’t want to give the wrong impression to the young girl.

  She lingered at the door for a moment, before turning and closing the door behind her. Alex heard her footfalls as she moved down the stairs and back to the raucous crowd below.

  He felt a white hot ball of shame well up in his gut, and he fell to the straw bed, cursing himself. What right did he have to feel shame like this? It was up to him to save the world, not try and get laid across the centuries.

  He thought of Emily again, and how nice it would be to see her, as a single tear rolled down his cheek.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Christina reformed as herself once again burst out of Kline’s office, sprinting toward a van that pulled up to the curb, tires squealing.

  The side door opened with Emily reaching a hand out to pull Christina into the van with them.

  “We got her!” Emily called out. Scott acknowledged this by hitting the gas, the van accelerating away. Several guards burst out the door, watching the van get away. Scott grinned, flipping them off in the rearview as they retreated away.

  “We get what we needed?” Scott asked Christina.

  She grinned. “He took the bait, I guarantee it.”

  “The papers are in his office?” Emily asked. That had been the most delicate part of the plan. They couldn’t just leave the letters as a plant. Instead, it had to be subtle, something that Kline had to discover for himself.

  “He saw me comparing my letters to his stone,” Christina said. “I put up a fight to make it look like I didn’t want to lose them.” She flipped her hair, and cocked her head in a seductive pose. “I was convincing.”

  Scott grinned. “I bet you were.”

  Emily glanced between them. “So now what?”

  Christina pulled herself up and moved into the front seat of the van. “Now we wait for Kline. If I did my job right, he should be looking for the rest of the stones now.”

  “What about you?” Emily asked.

  Christina shrugged. “There’s literally no record of me yet. Anything that could be traced back to me will lead to some infant in China. My parents didn’t immigrate until 1993.”

  Emily looked over at Scott. “You have any concerns?”

  “Alex.” Scott said quietly.

  Emily didn’t understand, which was clear from her expression. Scott had done his best over the last few months to avoid mentioning his best friend’s name in front of Emily, but he couldn’t hold back any longer.

  “We don’t know where, or,” he hesitated, “when, Alex might be right now. Whatever plans we go through with could all be for naught if he does something we don’t know about. It’s a risk, but it’s the right risk to take. That’s all I’ll say.”

  Emily sighed, “I trust Alex. And I know he trusts us. Whatever we do, I’m sure he’ll take it into account. Besides, we can’t just do nothing while Kline gathers strength now.”

  “You mean in the past,” Christina corrected.

  “Yes, in the… well, whatever.” Emily said, sounding flustered.

  “No, it’s important,” Christina reminded her. “The whole point of us right now can’t be to stop Kline now. We have to stop him in 2012. That’s when it counts. If we somehow add to Kline’s power or do something that messes with our timeline, all our plans will all be seriously for nothing.”

  Scott’s not-quite-audible gulp echoed through the van. He had gotten on the freeway some time ago and was weaving in and out of traffic. Christina’s eyes darted to him and nodded. “See, even an idiot like him gets it.”

  “Hey…” he called out, sounding hurt.

  “Shush, the PhD’s are talking…” Christina jabbed him. He rolled his eyes, with a tiny smile tugging at the edge of his lips.

  “So now what do we do?” Emily asked, trying to get them to focus.

  “We blend in. We fade into the background of time. We wait for a sign from Alex. And if no sign comes by the time Kline starts gaining power, then we make our move.” But the way Christina sounded laying out their options did not make waiting through the next two decades appealing.

  Emily sighed, what else could they do? They had already planted the idea of other stones in Kline’s head. They had given him the papers he would need to eventually track down the remaining stones.

  What else could they do?

  She felt a tiny movement in her abdomen and her eyes lit up as she realized what was happening.

  Christina’s face became concerned. “What’s wrong?”

  Emily reached out a hand for her friend’s and placed it on her stomach. Christina’s eyes went wide, as a broad smile broke out across her face.

  “I guess we know what we’ll be doing for the next two decades…” Christina whispered.

  Emily nodded.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  The night was still, and the air was filled with a smoky haze. Alex walked over the rocks on the Ireland beach, looking out as the tide began rolling in. He looked down at the water swirling around his feet, somber in the moment.

  He looked ahead as two people finished climbing down a cliff, eventually taking shelter inside one of the many caves that dotted the beach.

  A few minutes later, one of the inhabitants of the cave exited, and moved back up the side of the cliff and back out into the country side. Alex sighed. Knowing what was about to happen to the young man didn’t make it any easier to let it happen.

  But if history was to continue unrolling as it should, Seamus O’Neall needed to die so Siobhan could live and save his life.

  He waited until the sunset and the cave was just about overrun by the tide. He closed his eyes, and teleported himself into a tiny crag near where Siobhan had become stuck.

  Using the stone of Gibraltar, he created an entire ballroom for Siobhan, and began filling it with images of her family. The eleven-year-old would need familiar faces if she was going to take on such a heavy burden for him.

  Alex closed his eyes and let the room fill with light, laughter, food and festivities. The noise echoed through his new ballroom. Eventually, he saw Siobhan poke her head through the entrance to his cavern and begin running around to all her friends and family.

  Her joy at being reunited with her family was tempered only as Alex realized that while he had been able to summon up their images for the young Siobhan, he couldn’t mimic thei
r personalities for her.

  And so she had discovered that none of the apparitions around her could respond. She slumped in the corner, a tear beginning to form when Alex decided that was enough.

  “You aren’t dead you know…” he said gently, hoping to raise her spirits. Then again, he had never been good with children. Perhaps a room filled with ghosts hadn’t been the best way to get her attention.

  “You can see me?!” Siobhan asked, her face white in terror.

  “I can.” Alex smiled, trying his best to make her feel comfortable. “You must be starving. You should eat something.”

  Her eyes turned to the huge buffet of food and drink laid out on the tables around her. After moving quickly toward the food, she touched it briefly. And this time, Alex felt pretty certain that the food would be as real as anything else he had created with the reality stone. People’s personalities were a lot more difficult than a pumpkin pie.

  “Take it easy young one…” Alex said, trying to get her to slow down. “There’s plenty here for you and it’s not going anywhere.”

  Siobhan looked up from her plate and hesitantly offered a turkey leg to him. He chuckled and shook his head. She was going to be perfect for the stone.

  “You’re quite the survivor, I wasn’t sure you could make it through the crack in the cave.”

  “You saw that?” Siobhan asked. “But, I was alone!”

  Alex smiled, thinking of the twelve stones currently sitting in his pocket. “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.”

  “Like what?” Siobhan challenged in that way eleven-year-old do when they don’t believe adults.

  Alex’s eyes brightened, and for a moment, he flashed back on his experience within the Channel and his own child Natalie he had with Emily. It was no wonder that he had chosen Siobhan for the first stone.

  “Well!” Alex leaned in, and bopped Siobhan’s nose gently. “Have you ever looked up at the stars at night and wish you could visit them?”

  She nodded, still chewing on her food, completely enraptured with Alex.

  “I’ve been there!”

  “You have not!” Siobhan said, the food spilling out of her mouth.

  “Oh, I have, and I can do lots of other things.”

  “Like what?” she asked, her voice not quite skeptical.

  Alex leaned forward with a smile on his face.

  “Why all this for instance. None of it is real.”

  Siobhan looked around, “They look real! It tastes real!”

  “Looking real and being real aren’t the same. In fact,” he clapped his hands and the part disappeared around them. It was just the two of them in the large and lavish banquet hall.

  Siobhan screamed, dropping the food she was eating. “You’re the Devil!” She stood and backed away, shaking her finger at him.

  Alex chuckled and shook his head. “No, no dear Siobhan, I’m not the devil young lady.”

  She glanced around the banquet hall nervously, “Are you God?”

  Alex couldn’t help but smile again and shook his head. If Kline had all twelve stones on his possession he wouldn’t have hesitated for a minute to agree and say yes, he was God himself walking here on earth.

  But Alex? He knew what the stones were. They were just another way for power to corrupt a person. That’s what they had done to Kline. That’s what they had done to the Patrons.

  And that’s what they would do to him if he hung onto them for the next few centuries.

  Alex indicated that Siobhan should sit back down.

  “I’m not God, but I am one of the good guys.”

  Siobhan visibly relaxed, but still hesitated before returning to the table. “Then what are you?”

  Alex sighed. How could he possibly answer that in a way that would make sense to her? What concept of space and alien technology could Siobhan possibly handle at eleven years old?

  That’s when he knew exactly what to say. What everyone needed to hear.

  “I’m something special, just like you,” he began softly. “Just like how everyone else on this planet is something special.”

  He turned and snapped his fingers, as the entire wall behind him changed from 18th century gothic castle to a solid blank wall. Siobhan stood, her mouth agape at the sudden transformation.

  Alex began his demonstration, showing Siobhan exactly what was at stake. He was even surprised at her quick pick up of his astronomy lesson. For someone with all the education 1496 had to offer, she was a surprisingly quick study.

  But it was only after showing her the Dyson’s sphere be destroyed that he knew the real reason for his returning to earth.

  Despite how they had treated him, despite how they had tried to experiment on him, despite how they tried to use him as a trophy to pacify their population, the Patrons didn’t deserve to be destroyed. Watching the sphere be destroyed once again, brought home the tragedy wrought on the trillions of sentient beings who had committed no greater sin than being born on the Patron’s world.

  Alex had to help them escape, and he had to keep his planet from being taken over by Kline. It wouldn’t be easy, but he needed to do both.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  The rag tag bunch of armored divisions and troops were making their way up toward New York, while Tate and Ash were sitting in a basement in Colorado.

  The authorization for them to get into DeepCrypt was a lot simpler than they thought it would be. Apparently, with most of the Joint Chiefs and the government dead or answering to Kline, there was no one to say no to Washington who had assumed command over the Western half of the United States.

  But they knew Kline wouldn’t leave them alone long. They had to find the final stone before he did.

  Unfortunately for the both of them, DeepCrypt contained so much information, it was a bit like finding the right needle in a haystack made of needles.

  That is, near impossible.

  Despite the near impossible nature of their task, Tate and Ash dove in anyway.

  Servers processed billions of bits per second as Tate and Ash scrolled through the collective data of the entire United States. But there was no hope. There was simply too much to go through. Even limiting their searches had the effect of giving them wild-goose chases to go on.

  There was nothing in the government’s most secret files about the stones. It seemed that the US government had been clueless on their existence right up until the day Collier barbequed most of Downtown San Diego.

  “It’s hopeless,” Tate said finally, throwing his hands up in surrender. “We can’t possibly find anything.”

  “It’s a wealth of information,” Ash grudgingly agreed. “But how else are we supposed to stop Kline? We need that final stone!”

  “I don’t think it matters any longer…” Tate said sounding depressed. He pointed to one of the monitors that was playing CNN. Video of Kline pulling the time traveling stone from the paradox in Hong Kong was currently playing across all the monitors.

  Ash paused the display and pointed to Kline’s hands. In it, were eleven other stones were flashing bright as he pulled the final stone from the black hole.

  “We’re lost…” Tate said, sounding grim. He stood and began moving to the door. Ash glanced over at Tate and jumped up, following him out the door.

  “Hey!” Ash called out. “Where are you goin?”

  “Somewhere where Kline won’t be able to find me,” Tate called back over his shoulder. “I was in on trying to stop Kline so long as we had a chance at getting a stone of our own, but now that he has all twelve, what chance do we have?”

  “What chance did we have when he held nine? Or ten?” Ash called back, the anger in his voice evident. “We do this because we have to. Because no one else can.”

  Tate stopped at the doorway.

  “That man is going to kill us all…” Tate said over his shoulder.

  “Then at least I’ll die on my feet,” Ash replied. “It’s better than the alternatives, being zombified ain’t a pleasant
experience, lemme tell you. And if you think there will be a square mile on this planet that Kline won’t have covered, then you’re stupider than you look.”

  Tate closed his eyes. Ash was right. It didn’t matter where he went. Kline would eventually find him. He wouldn’t even need the stones to do it.

  “Then what?”

  “We fight.” Ash said. “We go to New York and join Washington in his fight to take New York back. Maybe we can do some good there.”

  “Maybe we’ll get ourselves killed,” Tate replied sourly.

  “Maybe it’s our fault he got this far in the first place,” Ash replied softly. “I’m ready to pay for my sins. And I’m not talking about the stuff I did for Kline either. I’ve been doing my part to keep these stones out of the right hands for decades. I was working for a man who was partnered up with Kline the whole time. All I was doing was help you get to your goals faster, and I didn’t know it either. Maybe I didn’t want to question it. I liked having power. I liked being the guy on the inside. The whole point is, we both let this go too far, and no matter what happens next, we owe it to humanity to try and stop Kline.”

  “I don’t owe anyone shit,” Tate spat out this last sentence.

  “Maybe not,” Ash replied quietly. “But maybe, if the people who owe you are killed, or taken over by Kline, you’ll never be able to collect.”

  Tate considered this for a moment. If Kline did indeed possess all twelve of the stones, the power the man commanded would be nigh impossible to resist – no matter where he went. He had seen for himself the kind of power Kline wielded when he only had one of the stones. To have all twelve, the man would be unstoppable.

  “What is it you suggest we do then?” Tate replied, his eyebrow arching at Ash. “We can’t possibly stand up against Kline without a stone of our own.”

  “Maybe we won’t have to,” Ash replied.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean we split his forces,” Ash said, pointing to the map. “There’s no chance we can stand against Kline, but,” he stabbed his finger at the outline of the wall Kline had erected around Manhattan, “we can take on his army. If we can keep him busy long enough, it’ll give our allies out there a chance to take Kline out.”