The Spiral Path

by Lisa Paitz Spindler

  “This is where I died. And lived, briefly. My private quarters.”

  Now Rafe understood what damage a thousand years of wormhole infiltration could do. No structure had been left unscathed. Every molecule had been altered by the ionic winds, buffeted until its very nuclei had been ripped apart and transformed. His own body told a similar tale.

  Around them the room as it once was coalesced. Her sleeping pallet lay to the right of the desk and a breakfast table sat across from it. A viewport above the desk showed him the chaos of the wormhole. Calendra roamed the room reliving her past, but her memories would have to wait.

  Rafe had a promise to keep and it made him mercenary. “Can I access the ship’s database from here?”

  Calendra smoothed the pads of her graceful fingers over the image of a young girl in the frame. “We lived here for something like five hundred years before we could no longer separate ourselves from the ship. We deserted it to find ourselves again, to distinguish ourselves from this place and each other.”

  “Calendra.” His voice pitched low. “The database.”

  She sighed and clutched the frame to her heart, then swiped her hand through the mist hovering over the desk. A computer console solidified.

  Joining her side, Rafe molded his hands over the smooth crystalline surface of the ancient device. All the formed pieces of the room were made of a similar material. “How do you manage this?”

  “All of the molecules here, we are all one. I command the mist with no more effort than you blink your eyes.”

  “You form all of this from memory after so long? How can I trust the data I find, then?”

  “I designed the experiment, Rafe, and led the crew to this ghostly existence. I sentenced even my daughter to it. I shall never forget the data that damned us all here.”

  As much as he yearned to, there was no consoling that kind of pain. Rafe bent over the console and tabbed through the familiar modern interface. His own mind must be influencing the process, so he questioned anything gleaned from it. With no other choice, he had to trust Calendra’s memory.

  Calendra drifted close and sat on the edge of the desk. “Do you ever fear where this inquisitiveness of yours will lead? Because you should.”

  “Curiosity is the only way we learn.”

  “Curiosity is what trapped me here.”

  “No, a mistake is what trapped us both here, and curiosity is the only way we’ll get ourselves free.”

  Calendra laughed, a throaty whisper of which he never imagined such a frail body was capable. “A few hundred years ago I sounded much the same as you do now.”

  “Science has learned so much since your experiment, Calendra. I have to at least try to find a way out of this. Even if I don’t have the right equipment here, I can transmit the information to my sister. Maybe she can make something of it.”

  Rafe skimmed through the ancient documentation, which was much more detailed than anything he had gleaned from one-thousand-year-old myths and fables.

  He smirked. “You’re a legend, you know.”

  “I’m a what?”

  “On Creed. The Journey of the Revenant has been told in children’s stories, in plays and songs. People think you discovered the Spiral Path that leads to the Eternal Forest. That you found paradise.”

  “Would they consider this place a paradise?”

  “I never believed that. Of course, I never believed you would still be alive either. I simply wanted to follow the path you forged first.”

  “I should have been content with my life on Creed. I should never have tried—”

  “We’ve gone to another dimension, Calendra. We could not have ever managed that if you hadn’t also tried. Even if your last experiment failed, your previous ones helped us all find the path to Terra.”

  Calendra eyes widened. “Tell me about this Terra.”

  “Well, you’ve already encountered Terrans on the Interlace. Terra is a world very similar to our own and yet very different. My father is Terran. My mother is of Creed.”

  “Ah, but which one is your home?”

  “Neither. I am considered a Chimeran because we can live in either dimension indefinitely. My sister fears how both Terra and Creed will use us and has created safe havens for our kind.”

  “You disagree with her actions.”

  Rafe shrugged. “I don’t care about any of that. I just wanted to figure out where the Revenant went. I wanted to find that door again and see where it led. Maybe Terra isn’t all there is.”

  “And then you wouldn’t be so special anymore. You should heal the rift with your sister.”

  “We get along just fine—”

  “She has created her own world to live in, Rafe, and you haven’t joined her there. Take it from someone who knows, once your family is gone—”

  “You may have living descendants, Callie. DNA tests will tell us. Can you imagine—”

  “The only family I care about are long dead.”

  “Cal—”

  “Enough.” She leaned over the desk. “Have you found what you were looking for?”

  Rafe sighed. “I think so. Do these documents look familiar?”

  “Yes, that’s the log and my notes from our final voyage.”

  Rafe read in silence for a few minutes, processing where their experiments differed and were the same. His ego grew with the knowledge that, despite going on fairy tales, his approximations were so very close to Calendra’s original crossing. That is, until he remembered the mistake they shared.

  Sweat broke out on the back of his neck. “We both entered the wormhole at the wrong angle.” He looked out the viewport into the storm and remembered that day. Thanked the gods Mitch had to stay behind. “We’re mired in the parallel event horizon, neither in the wormhole’s throat or in real space.”

  He rummaged through the logs again. There had to be a way out of the maze. “Have you calculated the rate of entanglement?”

  Calendra moved to the bed and sat. She held the frame in her lap and swiped at her eye. “Of course I have.”

  Rafe ran through the computations. Twice. The second time did nothing to remove the hard rock in the pit of his stomach.

  “You can’t exist anywhere but here, not for long. You reached full entanglement long ago. Your phase frequency matches this place now.”

  Calendra didn’t look up. Her form didn’t move, not a single tremor or breath. “Yes. And in time so will you.”

  The captain of the mythical Revenant set aside the photo from her former life and moved toward him, trailing a caress down his temple. She bent down to whisper in his ear. “If your sister thinks she can free us, she’s lying. You promised me forever, Rafe. Are you a liar too?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “This is a trap.” Mitch knocked his knuckles on the desktop in Lara’s lounge on the Gryphon.

  Lara sat across from him, leaning back with boots propped up on the desk corner. Outwardly she appeared calm, but Mitch recognized the façade by the tension around her eyes and the slight frown on her lips.

  Lips that had been kissing him only a few hours before. Damn the universe for ruining such a perfect moment.

  Lara glanced out the porthole. “I know. We’re going anyway. Rafael had to have risked a lot to transmit that message. It’s worth the gamble.”

  He’d fallen for a woman who would chance everything on saving someone she loved. What would it be like to be the object of such loyalty? Mitch didn’t want to think about how much he craved that.

  Rossa stood at ease a few feet away. “Trans-D engines are spinning up now. We’re ready when you are, Captain.”

  Lara sat up straight. “Anyone who has any reservations is free to leave the ship immediately, no consequences. We don’t know what we’re facing, Cam. We don’t even know if we’re coming back.”

  Rossa nodded. “Already took care of that, ma’am. Those are Chimerans trapped in that wormhole. We want to bring them home as much as you do.”

  L
ara nodded and watched Rossa depart. She swallowed and her eyes glistened. The indomitable woman he’d known more than a decade ago had indeed softened. Maybe he had a chance with her after all.

  Lara stood, straightened that leather jacket. “You have the extra wrist-syncs?”

  Mitch nodded. “All 122 wrist-syncs have been networked and are on standby, Captain.”

  Her father had spent hours that morning networking as many extra wrist-syncs as were available. As they walked toward the door, Mitch laid a hand on her back, the worn leather supple under his fingertips. A shiver rippled down his spine.

  Hellas on fire.

  He’d seen that jacket before. The alterations were so evident now—how it had been taken in at the shoulders and shortened in the sleeves. Her father’s old uniform, the old-style seams and darker spots where patches had been removed.

  No wonder Lara tugged at the garment. Despite alterations, even if it looked great, it still didn’t fit quite right. Lara Soto, famous Chimeran pirate, wore the old uniform of a Star Union’s decorated hero. Deep down she had never let go of the Union. Maybe a small part of her had never truly let go of him either. Only one way to find out.

  A few steps away from the door, Mitch clasped Lara’s arm and held her back. “Wait up a minute.”

  Lara sniffled but met his stare straight on, her bi-color gaze like a single star in the night. “Was there something else?”

  Mitch cleared his throat. “When this is over, no matter what happens, I’m resigning my commission.”

  Lara’s eyes widened and her forehead crinkled. “You’re what?”

  “I’m leaving the Star Union. I can’t stay now that I’ve seen firsthand how they treat the Chimerans. I’d like to help you on Alpha Haven—if you’ll have me.”

  Lara’s mouth opened and then closed again. This was a first. He’d never seen Lara Soto speechless. Before he could decide if that was a good or bad thing, Mitch touched his index finger to her lips.

  “Don’t say anything now. Think about it. No matter what you decide, I’m still resigning.”

  Before either of them could say another word, Mitch walked through the door. Without her answer, at least for a little while he could believe Lara would want him by her side.

  “Trans-D engines at one-hundred-percent spin and horizon potentials ready, ma’am.”

  Lara braced both feet on the decking. “Ensign, de-sync the phase anchors.”

  “Aye, Captain. Phase anchors away.”

  “XO, fire up the horizon potentials.”

  “Horizon engagement a go, Captain.”

  Ahead of them, the familiar horizon vortex spiraled out, its rotating arms caressing out into space. The Spiral Path, as many sailors called it, the trajectory to a new dimension, was spread out before them. Lara hadn’t told Mitch that the stories about Calendra always ended with her crew not dying, but passing into a new world of harmony and peace. They’d followed the helix of time to a pristine and undiscovered land. Because one could never go back. The way was always forward.

  “Thorne-Sagan shell holding, Captain.” Mitch’s warm voice sounded from behind her. She’d begun this day in his arms and hoped to end it that way too.

  Lara held up one hand. “Launch on my mark. Three…two…one…”

  With a flick of her wrist, the Gryphon catapulted forward, the only direction time allowed them.

  “Two hours of fuel left, Captain.”

  Lara snapped open the throat of her jacket and stood. Usually her dad’s old uniform gave her comfort, reminded her to trust her gut, but not now. Maybe she’d been wrong. Rafael wasn’t coming.

  Damn it all the gods. Maybe he couldn’t.

  On past trips Rafael had appeared almost immediately. And with cryptic messages, typical of her twin. What if he’d risked his life to send her the Interlace’s coordinates only to lose it? If Calendra had so much as harmed one hair, Lara swore she would—

  A knife of fire sliced through her gut and she hunched over. Rafael, or at least Calendra, was coming.

  Lara swallowed the nausea pistoning up her throat and forced her body upright. A storm of screaming voices overwhelmed her and then ebbed. The familiar forked-tailed swirls of cloudy white spun across the bridge and wrapped their spiny limbs around Cam. Around Mitch.

  Lara fisted her hand and resisted drawing her weapon. Calendra would either give her everyone she came for, or Lara would rip the heart out of that bag of bones. She didn’t need a weapon for that.

  “Finally.” The raspy word seeped into Lara’s body and sent a shiver down her spine. Long trails of wispy gray hair twined around her like ropes lashing her to a sinking ship. Gaunt, spindly hands cupped Lara’s shoulders.

  Lara forced her breath to even out and looped her hands over her belt. She made eye contact with Mitch. His shoulders tensed when he spotted Calendra standing behind her and he tightened the wrist-sync on his arm. All around him other Revenant entities circled the bridge crew. Then his eyes followed Calendra as the woman sidled up to Lara.

  Lara shifted her weight. “You can see her?”

  Mitch nodded. “The wrist-sync is working.”

  Calendra’s feathery voice made her skin crawl as one of her tendrils wrapped around his leg. “You are of both worlds. Now he is of neither.”

  The fine hairs on Lara’s neck stood on end. The woman had Rafael—no way was she ever getting closer to Mitch.

  “I want my brother back.”

  Calendra caressed Lara’s cheek. “Why should I do this?”

  Lara raised her chin. “I’m not leaving without the Chimerans, Calendra. Without Rafael.”

  “If you want him back, you have to free my people from this wormhole too.”

  “We have a plan to use networked wrist-syncs to anchor your phase to one dimension.”

  Calendra said nothing and cocked her head, thinking and processing Lara’s plan. Finally, she nodded and Rafe ghosted in front of them. Mitch grabbed his arm as if he might disappear at any moment. Her brother’s skin was so pale, his body too thin. Those long tendrils of exotic matter swirled around him and snaked their way around Mitch’s neck. Lara’s throat ached as she held back tears. Calendra might have irrevocably changed her brother too.

  Her smiled revealed a mouth as dark and unfathomable as her eyes. “You lie.” Swirls of white writhed around Lara’s legs and arms. She pushed them away, but they snapped right back. Calendra pointed to Mitch’s wrist-sync. “Those paltry devices aren’t strong enough to make a difference. We are the wormhole now and can never leave. After a time, so you will be too.”

  The woman met Rafe’s gaze across the bridge, and her brother suddenly pulled against Mitch’s grasp. “No, Calendra. Don’t!”

  The mist crept around Lara’s body and wound its way down her throat. She choked and fell to her knees. Her pulse thumped in her ears and her eyes watered. Through the haze she saw Mitch launch himself toward her only for Rafe to hold him back.

  The pale tendrils of mist wrapped around Mitch’s throat. Somehow she found the breath to scream.

  Lara tumbled to the floor, her muscles a bruised and aching mess. Her lungs burned and she gasped. No air here, but at least the mist was gone from her throat. She had only seconds to act and exhaled as deeply as possible. White mist floated everywhere with no sense of up or down.

  Her muscles spasmed and she bumped into another body. Mitch. Lara grappled for him and snaked her hands up his chest. She had no idea where this attraction between them would have led, but turned out it didn’t matter. They were going to die in seconds. And she’d never told Mitch that she loved him.

  Rafael’s voice echoed from somewhere far away. “Don’t do this. You lost your family, don’t make me lose mine too.”

  Mitch wheezed and turned toward her. They’d wasted so much time.

  “Calendra.” Rafael’s voice hummed low throughout the mist. “If you let them die, I will not stay with you.”

  The fog receded and a cool breeze swept over t
hem like a sigh. Oxygen returned. Lara gulped in the fresh air and let her body relax against Mitch’s. He gasped too, but every muscle still clenched. His form shadowed and brightened, back and forth. The man’s phase couldn’t get a lock. She picked up his lifeless arm and found his wrist bare, the wrist-sync missing. With a groan Mitch jerked against the floor and reached for her.

  There was a floor underneath them now. Consoles spiraling up to hip height lined the room’s perimeter in a familiar configuration—command in the center, communications and security to either side. Navigation and flight in front. This was the bridge of a ship. A Creed ship.

  “Welcome to the Revenant, Captain Soto.”

  None of it mattered if Mitch’s molecules were scattered to the four winds.

  Calendra’s voice vibrated in the mist all around them, but finally the woman materialized a few feet away on Rafael’s arm as if he escorted her to a ball. Her brother stepped forward, but Calendra’s tendrils twined around his legs.

  She held up her hand and Mitch’s missing wrist-sync dangled from her fingers. “Is this what you’re looking for?”

  Lara jerked forward, but Mitch held on tighter. “Give it to me.” Her voice was raw.

  “You have so many demands, Captain Soto.”

  “Enough of this.” Rafael snatched the wrist-sync and ran to Mitch.

  Just as they wrapped the device on Mitch’s wrist, a whirlwind rose around them. Calendra’s anger hummed in their bones, and as the winds picked up speed they turned into banshee screams. The Revenant’s hull creaked, and the wormhole twisted the ship close to the breaking point. Lara’s ears ached and nausea rose up in her throat. She and Mitch huddled together on their knees.

  Throwing her head back, Calendra screamed, a vortex of white light rocketing from her chest, mouth and eyes. Rafael stepped toward her with outstretched arms that morphed into misty tendrils. Lara’s stomach fell and her body shivered. Her brother had turned into a monster.