by Matt Snee
Watching her pray made Captain look to his own beliefs. Captain was not a religious man, but he did believe in God. He didn't know if he believed the planets were actually deities. Did they compare to the real God? Compared to humans they were obviously something greater—but what? How were they measured? Did they think? Calm said they could feel. He watched as the old Seer offered herself to her god. Beings such as the planets could be touched, while God always felt either absent or everywhere. Did these minor gods interact with mortals? Captain didn't believe a lot of the stuff he had been told. He still had a hard time believing some of the things he had already done on this journey. It seemed as though the universe opened infinitely.
This adventure had certainly made him more religious, if anything. Simple mechanics couldn't explain the universe; they could barely explain its laws—and there was something going on people didn't understand. Knowing that other intelligent races existed knocked Captain off his feet.
But what did that mean when it came to God? Had God created all of them purposefully, accidentally? Was the universe the body of God? Did he create himself? Captain always questioned and that hindered him truly believing.
He remembered his Greek myths. The true God—whoever he was—emerged from chaos and spilled out the elements of the universe to where they were now found. He created Earth, and all its creatures—and then all of these creatures—and last he made man (Plerrxx had told him that humans were the youngest race). If the universe was so chaotic, why did it make so much sense? Did we project our own imaginations onto the atoms around us? Or was chaos just something we didn't understand?
All the other races he had met ran through his head: Venusians, rock-men, Mmrowwr, lizard-men, Plutonian bear-men, images of each assaulted him. He had been told that these were but a handful of the races of the Solar System. What else existed? Did God create all of these creatures in his image? Is that why they all had two arms, two legs, and a head? Why did that pattern repeat in genetic lines that were so distant? Why were there constants like God, and love, and friendship, and family, and good people? There was still Jennifer—
He looked over to her and smiled. She smiled back. Tess giggled and turned the most ordinary Caucasian white Captain had yet seen on her.
* * *
Jennifer was thinking about God as well, but in a different form - as the Hindu ultimate being, the supreme reality. She was also thinking about cause and effect, but she remembered the ancient Hindu truth, action precedes the actor. Neither the chicken nor the egg came first—but the action of it; the chicken laid the egg but was also born of it. The creator was both sacrifice and the being that performed the sacrifice.
She looked over to Tess, who stood peering out at the Jupiter skies, a brave look on her face, duty inscribed in her smile. The Delphinium creation myth was something else. Their Night-Mother, whose avatar was the moon, bore all things after being impregnated by the wind. Their ultimate reality was dominantly feminine, a cold but affectionate Goddess that nurtured all things—sometimes softly, sometimes harshly—but always with love.
It all led back to the same mystery, what lurked at the heart of all? Something so incomprehensible and vast, infinite in all directions, encompassing both past and future, that lived but could not die? Jennifer didn't know what she believed; only that what she had been taught.
Jennifer felt the storm lord moving again, lurching through the clouds. Whatever the Seer was doing was working. Tess motioned for them to come over and look through the slit of flesh. They peered through the cut skin at the Briars, which throbbed like white fire below them. They could hear the rumble of it, so low, the vibration digging into their bones. The silent, magnificent, but brooding animal slowly made its way down.
The Briars were like an ocean of explosions, a hideous canvas of energy that did nothing but boom and flash.
“This is where it gets dangerous,” Tess told them. “And we're going to be here a long time, maybe three hours or so. The storm lord will pick up speed once it hits the electricity down there, or its skin will fry, along with us. If the Seer fails or if Jupiter betrays us, we're dead!”
“That won't happen,” Jennifer told her. Tess shrugged.
* * *
Captain and Jennifer sat down next to each other and leaned their heads against the muscles of the storm lord. The suits were still extremely uncomfortable—it felt like they had oozing worms down their arms and legs—and the sleep on the gliders had not rested them. Captain closed his eyes, but the vibrations from the thunder rattled him beyond belief. He shook his head and pleaded with the universe to make this experience pass.
He turned to Jennifer, who gave him a look of empathy. It was hell for her, too.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes. Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Captain scratched his arm, nervous. There was a question he wanted to ask, but he was afraid.
He grabbed hold of his courage and asked anyway. “What happened with Jon Jason?”
Jennifer threw Captain a look that let him she wasn't comfortable speaking about it, but she spoke anyway. “He isn't who he used to be. Or if he is, I'm not who I used to be.”
Captain frowned, trying to sympathize with her. “What do you think he'll do?”
“He'll head into the Death Dream too. We should be able to see his ship from far away, despite the clouds. I haven't seen him yet, so I know he still hasn't entered the Death Dream. I think he's waiting for us to figure it out first.”
“Really?”
“Yes. He wants to seize the Triborg once we've found it. It is definitely Jon Jason's style to let someone else do all the hard work while he reaps the glory.”
“So what are we going to do?”
“We're going to fight,” she said. “The Triborg will be on our side, I'm sure of it. It will protect us from Jon Jason.”
“We can't ally with him?”
“No. He has a totally different point of view that's incompatible with our goals.”
“You mean he's the bad guy now?” Captain thought in terms of novel plots and twists.
“Yeah,” she said, her voice sad. “He'll destroy us without a thought.”
“You too?”
“I don't know.”
“He'll never touch you while I'm around,” Captain told her, surprised at his own boldness.
“And if I'm not around, I will come for you, I promise.”
Jennifer smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder.
* * *
They passed through the Briars without incident. Once on the other side, the lightning diminished. They climbed out of the cavity onto the back of the storm lord and reassembled the gliders.
“Ready for another jump?” Calm asked Captain when he came over.
“Another one?”
“This one will last for five hours and will be a lot faster and more dangerous than the last one,” she said, smiling. These Delphiniums sure did seem to relish constantly being near-suicide.
Captain grimaced. He looked over to Jennifer, who was eating rations while strapping into her glider.
I'll see you soon, I hope, he thought. How could they come all this way just to die? They hadn't accomplished anything yet. All he was exhausted, bruised, hungry, and half-delirious with the Death Dream.
14. Jupiter Intervenes
Here are the worlds and their guardians.
–“The Jupiter Reformationist Bible”
Jennifer woke to find herself plummeting through the Death Dream on the glider. Tess was manning the controls as high impact turbulence ripped at them. They sunk through storms, slipped through lightning, zigzagged through the floating radioactive pastes, and dodged the adiabatic ice. She couldn't think of an experience as frightening or uncomfortable—and this from someone who had fallen in love with danger at a young age. Truth be told, Jennifer was somewhat in shock now, her muscles were bruised and her skin cold.
“Are we okay?” she shouted at Tess.
“We're great!” The Delphinium smiled.
Jennifer looked below them at the Seer's glider. Ammonia rain spat at their faces. She wondered how Captain was doing. Could he could feel the effect of the true poisons of Jupiter? By now they had undoubtedly absorbed.
Jupiter had a way of seeping into your mind. Him, the god who lived here, the god who this was. The jump was almost over. The battle had just begun.
They eventually slowed and came upon the next zone of the planet, the radio plastid layers of vegetabilia. This wasn't normal plant life. It didn't depend on sunlight. It was exotic botany that derived its energy from death-light, Jupiter's own illumination that floated in the very air, generated by the divine mechanics of the planet. As the group approached this surface, Captain was filled with glee at the thought of solid ground.
They landed their gliders inside the blood-red jungle of spiked organelles. They regained themselves on their feet. Captain and Jennifer stepped unsteadily. The Delphiniums collapsed the gliders and urged the group forward—there was no time to waste. They gathered into a circle and Tess spoke.
“Be careful now.” She warned.
* * *
Captain wondered what she meant, but didn't have time to ask. They disappeared into the irradiated wood, which reached tall above them. Captain felt as though he was walking through a microscope slide; it was the kind of surreal scenery that normally only existed at intense magnifications. He swallowed dryly behind his mask. His inert sense of orientation wasn't completely shattered yet. They seemed to be descending a great hill. He focused on his other senses. The scream of the storms was muted here and he could make out another noise like a rhythmic chromatic chirping—birds or insects perhaps, distantly related to the animals of Earth? They were staying out of sight.
* * *
Jennifer sensed Captain's wonderment and smiled at him behind her mask.
“At the bottom of this is the hydrogen slush ocean,” she told him. “Hey—keep your mind clear here. This is where the Terrors lurk.” (L'Effroi… her father's voice echoed in her mind.)
“The Terrors?”
“The protectors of Jupiter. Ghosts of gods, they will enter your brain and choke your thoughts.” Captain didn't know how to respond to this. Jennifer patted him on the shoulder. “Just stick with me,” she said.
Tess and Courage led the way, sweeping their swords through the high dandelion-like fauna, spilling seeds into the air around them as they cut through the brush.
Jennifer almost stopped—she was hit by a strange smell, a smell she knew from somewhere. It penetrated the mask and stabbed into her nostrils, almost making her retch. She bent as she walked, clutching her belly, stumbling.
“You okay?” she heard Captain say.
“Yeah.”
There was a new sound coming from beyond the foliage. The sound of branches twitching and some kind of creature stirring.
“What is that?” asked Captain.
No one responded. Everyone stopped, hesitating, waiting for the next movement.
It sounded like a horse with muscular legs kicking against the ground and a large body moving forward. The woods continued to tremble.
Jennifer pulled out her laser gun. Captain pulled out his knife. The Delphiniums pulled out what looked like super-hot energy-whips. Captain wondered how many weapons these Delphiniums were concealing.
Even Plerrxx put his hands up to fight, muttering in his magic language under his breath.
Silence.
“Aaaaawk!” There was the sound of a bird, behind them. They all turned except for Tess, who continued to watch the woods where the original sound had come from.
“It's just a bird,” she told them. A bony pelican-like creature took to the sky from the “trees” above them.
Tess clicked her whip up to a higher frequency. Its steady hiss became a high-pitched scream. The woods shook again and they all turned back to the original sound.
A horse-shaped apparition, black with a huge festering mouth and terrible green eyes ran at them. The animal had a fiery horn raised out of its head like a demented unicorn, and a pointed mouth like an alligator. It was running full speed towards them.
It headed straight for Tess, who stood frozen and unmoving. The nightmare unicorn lowered its head, opening its mouth wide, rushing at her.
“No!” Trust leapt through the air, pushing Tess out of the way. The unicorn took her instead, wrapping its maw around her body so that she was trapped between its teeth. It lifted her into the air. Trust screamed.
Jennifer pulled the trigger on her laser gun, releasing a half-invisible beam of focused light that struck the unicorn harmlessly. The dark unicorn ran around in a circle, crushing Trust in its mouth. The Delphiniums cast their whips at it to no effect.
It dropped her broken body to the ground. Trust lifted onto one knee momentarily—and then crumpled.
Jennifer shot the apparition again, but nothing happened. She turned to Captain, frightened.
“It has to be the Fangler!”
Captain nodded, clenching his knife in his hand.
They dodged the horse as it trampled about. The Delphiniums struck their whips managing to draw it away from Trust to a clearer area of the woods. Captain slowly approached the unicorn. It let out a ghastly whinny at the sight of him. The Delphiniums continued to strike their whips, trying to distract the unicorn away from Captain as he raised his knife over his head. The unicorn growled and opened its mouth wide again, aiming for Captain. It lunged! He dodged—jumping to the side, evading the creature. As he did so, he dug the knife into its side, drawing a thick, wet green gas that spat into the air. The unicorn turned and kicked, hitting Captain square in the hip, knocking him down to the ground.
“Hey!” It was Tess. She cracked her whip in the face of the unicorn, drawing its attention. The unicorn turned faster than she imagined and rushed toward her, ready to kill. Green smoke still shot out of its side. Tess couldn't evade it in time—the unicorn opened its teeth—
A great bolt of white lightning came from out of the sky and struck the Fangler, making it explode instantly into plumes of green smoke.
“Don't breathe in the gas!” Jennifer yelled. They all covered their mouths as the smoke floated around them. The unicorn was gone now, the illusion wrecked. They could hear the scream of the Fangler as it echoed across the clearing. The Delphiniums raced to Trust's side.
She was dead.
It had been Jupiter, protecting his daughter. No other being could have controlled that lightning, the smell of which lingered in the air stronger than the smell of the Fangler. A moment later thunder hit, a deafening boom that crashed into their flesh.
The green smoke dissipated; the nether-monster was gone. Captain and Jennifer gave each other sad looks, not believing what juts occurred. Trust hadn't been much older than Tess. Her body sat broken among the grasses of the jungle floor as the Delphiniums knelt around her, wiping tears from their eyes. After a few seconds of reflection, they stood and parted. Calm and Wisdom took Trust's body into their arms, while Tess and the others found the path again.
“Calm and Wisdom are going to carry her body the rest of the way?” Captain asked Jennifer.
“Yes,” answered Tess, her face red from crying. “That's why they came along.”
* * *
They ventured down the hill. Everything was quiet now; there were no more signs of animal life here. Captain let gravity guide him. This obscure experience led his thoughts in an unusual direction. He thought of his ex-wife, Gail.
She had been three years older than him, a redhead, one of his students at a workshop he had taught years ago. They had met and it was instantaneous, for good and ill.
Gail.
Been a long time, Lewis.
Captain flinched. Gail's voice had been crystal clear in his head. He shook it off, trying to get his bearings back. He looked at Plerrxx, who eyed him strangely.
They walked for quite some time, but they did not
walk fast. Calm and Wisdom walked slowly bearing Trust's body. They all walked in a sort of sleeping fashion. Everyone seemed alone in their own minds.
After a while, Tess commanded them to stop and rest. They sat on the ground silently, breathing quickly. Captain was bone tired. The jump had ruined his body, and now the walk was turning his legs to jelly.
Tess was the only one who stood, leaning against a pulsing-red “tree”, keeping an eye out. The rest of them relaxed. Captain caught himself looking at the Seer. She was wizened and clearly exhausted too, with a look of pain on her face. Her white hair leaked out of her dream suit's hood and blew in the wind. The Seer met Captain's gaze and frowned, her blind eyes white and plain.
“Her real name was Cameron… Cammie,” the Seer said to him, in a crackly voice.
“Trust—that was her Delphinium name.”
“I understand,” Captain responded, not knowing what else to say.
“She knew she would die here.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean; she knew she would perish in this place. I told her she would die here. I saw it. We didn't know when, we didn't know how, but we knew Jupiter would take Cammie from us as a sacrifice, in one way or another.”
“The Fangler killed her,” Jennifer argued, angry that she hadn't been able to save the girl.
“Jupiter allowed the Fangler to kill her,” the Seer explained. “Did you not see that when it tried to attack Tess, Jupiter himself protected her? Why did he not protect Cammie? And why did he not protect Tess the first time when Cammie saved her?”