by S. S. Segran
“That’s really helpful,” Kody remarked dryly. Tegan let out a snort.
“What we do know so far is that the effect on crops is very specific, as your viewers saw in the clips you ran earlier,” the man continued.
“Turn it off,” Aari said suddenly.
Tegan, though surprised, obliged. “What’s up?”
Aari went to stand in front of the television. “I’ll tell you what’s up. The knee-jerk reaction to explain this whole crop failure phenomenon circles around the bug or disease theory. We can’t blame people for thinking that way because we are dealing with crops here, so what they’re naturally looking for is something biological in nature, or possibly chemical. You can tell from their conversations that they’re searching for something organic, something that occurs in nature. But what if they’re looking at it from a completely wrong angle?”
“Meaning?” Tegan asked.
“Think about this.” Aari started to pace. “From what we’ve gathered from Marshall’s account, there is clearly a human hand behind this. What if the destruction of the crops is being caused by something created in a lab?”
“Diseases can be created in labs,” Mariah said, shrugging.
“True. But if I remember clearly—and Marshall, correct me if I’m wrong— when you were making that warehouse delivery you heard them talking about a Class One cleanroom and something they called fenixium, which, by the way, sounds like a kind of mineral to me.” He stopped pacing and raised a finger. “Here’s the thing. You don’t need a Class One cleanroom, which is hundreds of times cleaner than a surgery room, and minerals to create bugs or diseases. You do that in a bio lab with bacteria and other organisms, not in a manufacturing facility. So the question becomes, what were they producing in there?”
Marshall rubbed his neck. “I do recall one of them mentioning that it was just one component that was being manufactured there. Whatever it is they were doing, the assembly of the final product was happening elsewhere.”
“This a pretty big leap you’re making, Aari,” Tegan said.
Aari sat down on the coffee table, facing the others. “There’s some conjecture, yeah, but it’s based on actual info that we have.”
Mariah tapped his ankle with her foot. “What do you think is doing it, then?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out,” he answered. “We’ll take a look at the crops again tomorrow and see if we can find anything.”
Lady, who’d been dozing the entire time by Marshall’s feet, suddenly leapt to her paws and hurried toward the front door just as it opened. Jag stepped in and greeted the Labrador affectionately before finding Tegan and the others in the living room. He sat down beside Marshall. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself,” Mariah smiled. “Where’s your granddad?”
“He decided to stay with Gran in the hospital. Those two are pretty much inseparable. Gramps asked me to drop by tomorrow.”
“How’s your grandma doing?”
Jag looked away. “She’s still unconscious.” He quickly shifted gears. “So did you guys find anything out there?”
“Nada,” Tegan said. “We’ll try again tomorrow when the sun’s up. Aari’s got an interesting hunch, though.”
She listened as Aari gave Jag a quick rundown of their discussion. She had to admit that it was an interesting concept, but it still boiled down to the question of what exactly was destroying the crops. Jag’s own response was much the same.
They sat around for another half hour until Tegan started to nod off on Mariah’s shoulder.
“I think it’s bedtime for Teegs,” Kody said teasingly.
“I’ll show you guys to the guest rooms.” Jag made a move to stand up, but Marshall held out a hand to stop him.
“Hold on a moment,” the Sentry said as he picked up his bag. “I’ve been waiting for the right time for this. I would have done it earlier, but the circumstances ruled it out. Now that you’re all together and we’ve got some room to take it easy for the first time since we met . . . Here.”
He opened the bag with a degree of reverence and carefully removed a small, wooden chip-carved box. Tegan, her sleepiness gone, involuntarily leaned closer to Marshall, watching as he unlatched the box and pushed the cover back.
“Elder Nageau told me to give these to you when you were ready,” he said. “I think now is as good a time as ever.”
Tegan’s inquisitiveness morphed into wonderment as the Sentry delicately lifted out five pendants, holding them by the black strings attached to them. He passed one to each of the five, then put the box back inside his bag.
The pendant Tegan held was intricately carved from brushed metal. She could see that the detailed engravings were precisely made and admired the skillfulness of the carver. Her attention moved to the center of the pendant wherein a shiny gray crystal was placed. When she studied it closer, she gasped.
“I recognize this!” she said. “From . . . from Dema-Ki. Before we were trained, we were given a test. Remember? We were supposed to look into a crystal until we were able to find an image. I saw an eagle’s eye in mine and—and—”
Marshall beamed at her. “The Elders took note of what you saw within those crystals and had them carved into your pendants.”
Tegan looked over her friends’ shoulders as they gazed on in awe. Mariah’s crystal was light brown and shaped like the moon with the symbol of waves over it; Aari’s blue crystal was carved into the silhouette of a dragonfly with half its body translucent; Kody’s was a green pentagonal crystal with a five-pointed star woven from twigs at the center, and Jag’s amber crystal was carved into the paw print of a wildcat.
“How did you get them?” Aari asked Marshall in amazement.
The Sentry just grinned. “Do you like ’em?”
The five bobbed their heads enthusiastically as they slipped the black strings over their heads and let the pendants hang down their necks.
“As the Elders would have told you, these are not ordinary crystals,” Marshall told them. “They help strengthen your spirit, which in turn strengthens your abilities.”
“I remember Elder Nageau saying that the mind is able to channel a lot of power from the world of pure energy into the physical world,” Aari said.
“A bridge,” Tegan interjected. “He said that the mind was a bridge that connected the two worlds.”
Jag ran his fingers around the edges of his pendant. “Right. He used the analogy of a magnifying lens that focuses the sun’s rays on an object. The sun’s rays represent the world of pure energy and that ‘object’ symbolizes the physical world, while the lens is a mind that channels the sun’s rays into our world.”
“Yeah,” Aari agreed. “But for the lens to be effective, it needs to be clear of dust and impurities. Those were Elder Nageau’s exact words, by the way.”
Mariah perked up. “I remember asking him how to keep our minds clear of ‘dust’. It’s easy enough to do it with an actual lens—just grab a cloth.”
“And what was his reply?” Marshall asked, and Tegan could tell he was holding back a smile.
“His answer was twofold,” she said. “On one hand, he said it’s important for us to go through the different forms of training, like meditation, physical activities or just learning how to be still. On the other hand, he mentioned that it was about . . . um . . . ” She trailed off, frowning as she tried to recall.
“It was about being vigilant in our day-to-day thoughts and actions,” Aari finished for her.
Marshall looked at the red-haired teen. “And I’m assuming Elder Nageau mentioned why that’s important?”
“It strengthens our spirit,” Aari said.
Tegan added, “It’s about doing the right thing, making the right choices, especially when it’s the most difficult.”
Marshall appeared pleased that they recalled these details. “Yes. And these crystals enhance the effectiveness of your minds by bridging the world of pure energy and the physical world.”
“So what I’m gathering here,” Kody grinned, “is that our crystals are basically rocket fuel for our powers.”
“A lot of that depends on you, really,” Marshall said. “The crystals have been assigned to you for life. The stronger your spirit, the more effective the crystals will be.”
Tegan held up her pendant and slowly closed her fingers over it, then met the Sentry’s eyes. “Thank you, Marshall.”
“I’m just a messenger. The Elders were the ones who wanted me to give this to you.” He smiled a warm smile as he extended his arms over his head, stretching. “I think it’s a good time to call it a night.”
As Jag showed them to their rooms, Tegan held onto her pendant. She felt attached to it, like a kinship, as if it was an extension of her.
“You feel it too, huh?” Aari whispered. “It’s like it fits just right.”
“That’s exactly it. But why? How?”
“I really have no idea. Then again, there are so many mysteries to this world . . . I just wish I knew the workings of it.”
Tegan held her pendant tighter. “Me too.”
40
The giant hamburger sat on the table, just waiting to be consumed. It was nearly the size of Kody’s head and was layered with every delicious topping he ever wanted. The aroma of it turned him into a dribbling, jumbled mess. He basked in its presence for a moment longer, then reached out and grabbed it.
As he opened his mouth to chomp down, the burger suddenly opened and said in a high-pitched voice, “Outside, Kody! Go outside!”
Kody yowled and flung the talking food away before promptly falling off his chair. The burger landed with a splat on the floor but looked unharmed. It pushed itself toward him and continued urging, “Go outside! Outside!”
Kody’s eyes flew open. He was staring up at the ceiling of the dark room he and Aari were sharing. Slowly, he sat up from where he lay on a small air mattress and pressed his hands to his head. No more beef stew before bed, he thought wearily.
He looked over at Aari on the guest bed. “Aari,” he whispered. He received a snore in response. Rolling his eyes, he put on a pair of bunny slippers he’d found and tiptoed out to get some water. On his way to the kitchen, he passed by the other guest room which the girls were sharing. He smiled to himself, glad to have the two back with the group.
Jag and Marshall were asleep on the sofas in the living room, and Lady had managed to wriggle her way under Marshall’s arm; the Lab seemed to have taken a liking to the Sentry.
Kody grabbed a mug and filled it. As he leaned against the kitchen counter and drank, he revisited his dream and shuddered. Maybe he should have just eaten the burger to shut it up. It did look appetizing, after all.
He walked out of the kitchen and as he turned to head back to his room, stopped.
Outside.
As if someone had taken control of his hands and feet, he found himself opening the front door of the farm house and stepping out onto the front porch. He gazed at the wheat field ahead and realized that aside from the breeze that rustled the plants, it was completely silent. Then, in his slippers, he walked down the steps and headed into the nearest field without concern for what he was doing.
He heard a sound and turned to see Lady padding after him. He smiled and bent down to hug the dog as she snuffled and licked his hands and face.
“Aw, look at you!” he cooed. “You couldn’t sleep either, huh? Did Marshall’s snoring bug you?”
The yellow Labrador looked up at him earnestly, tail ceaselessly wagging.
“Let’s go for a walk, then,” he said. “Holler if you see a snake.”
Lady let out a sneeze and trotted along beside him.
Kody felt chatty. “You know what I dreamed about, Lady? A burger. A burger that spoke to me.” He shook his head. “I hope no one snuck you bits from the stew. I wonder what kind of dreams you’d have. Would it be your owners meowing at you? Or maybe your tail barking at you each time you tried to catch it?”
Lady listened intently as they walked through the fields. Kody stroked her head. “You’re such a good girl. When we go back in, I’ll see if I can find you a treat.”
The dog nosed his leg. He smiled at her, then looked up at the starlit heavens. It was really quite a beautiful night. They strolled side-by-side for a while longer before Lady let out a yawn and a quiet whine.
“I hear you, I hear you,” Kody said. “C’mon, back we go.”
As he turned around to return to the house, he thought he saw motion in the sky. He squinted up but saw nothing. Probably just tired, he reckoned, but he felt a nagging in his mind and scanned the sky again. Still nothing. He concentrated on his vision so everything became brighter.
Man, you gotta love night vision.
Lady whined again and rubbed her head against him.
“Hold on, girl,” he said, gently stroking her muzzle as he looked overhead. “I need to check something.”
Then, in the distance, he saw it. Is that a bird? It seemed to disappear and reappear every few seconds, faintly blocking out some stars as it moved. He zoomed in and noticed that the bird shape had a large wingspan and was actually translucent.
Fascinated, he switched back to normal vision to see if he could spot it. Even though he knew where to look, the entity was invisible to him. He switched back to his night vision and zoomed in but his perception changed to one he’d never seen before; everything was a dark gray or black save for seemingly random white noise.
Confused, he looked down at Lady and screamed. He tripped over himself and landed on his backside as the dog approached him. She appeared light gray and white—much brighter than her surroundings. As she licked his face in concern, Kody’s breathing began to slow. After the initial shock, he realized that his new vision looked familiar.
Oh, my God, he thought. I’ve seen this before. From a video game. Is this . . . is this thermal imaging? Holy smokes, it is! He jumped up and spun around, watching as some bright patches appeared in his line of sight and disappeared.
“Lady!” he hissed, astounded. “Lady, I’ve got something new!”
The Lab tilted her head, probably thinking he was crazy. Kody looked back to where he’d spotted the curious entity. It was a little farther away now, but instead of glowing white, it formed a dark grey shape against the black sky. He tracked it, watching as it descended onto the farm across the road from the Sanchez’s. As it approached the crops, it seemed to disintegrate into countless particles before completely vanishing from his sight.
Kody spun around and sprinted through the headless stalks back to the house, his slippers kicking up dust behind him. Lady, startled, ran after him. Inside, Kody woke everyone up, not caring about how loud he was. He gathered them in the living room and bent over to catch his breath.
“What is it, Kody?” Jag asked sleepily.
Kody straightened with his hands on his hips. “I saw something,” he said. “I went out for a walk and thought I saw something in the sky. I switched my vision a couple times and then this . . . this new ability kicked in.”
Jag seemed to wake up at that. “New ability?”
“Yeah. It’s thermal vision.” Kody absently fiddled with the pendant around his neck. “I see the heat that things give off.”
“Does this happen, Marshall?” Tegan asked, looking up at the Sentry beside her.
“It’s not impossible,” he responded carefully. “Your powers are obviously still developing. I wouldn’t be too surprised if there were a few more layers to your innate abilities.”
“What did you see, Kody?” Mariah asked.
“Something . . . something flew over to the farm across from us.”
“A bird?” Tegan suggested.
“No. It was kind of transparent—translucent. And it broke into millions of tiny bits before landing on the crops.”
No one moved for a few seconds until Marshall went to get the keys to the minivan. “Let’s go.”
Kody kicked off his bunny slippers and pu
lled on his shoes. As the others walked out of the door, Lady whimpered, as if asking where they were going. Jag kissed her snout. “We’ll be back soon, Lady. Be good.”
Kody and the others scrambled into the minivan. Marshall turned the vehicle around and sped out of the property. “Where did you see it?” he asked Kody.
The teenager directed him straight down the road for a bit before instructing him to turn left. They parked on the shoulder some distance from the driveway that led to the neighboring farmhouse.
As they got out with their flashlights, Mariah peered around worriedly. “I hope we don’t get shot for trespassing.”
“Nah,” Jag said. “I know Mr. Dale. He’s too ahead in his years to be keeping an eye out at three in the morning.”
They made their way through the crops. Kody touched the stalks lightly. “So Mr. Dale grows wheat too?”
“And corn. Way, way over there.” Jag pointed to the right.
“I see some stalks without heads,” Tegan called.
As Kody passed by a row of wheat, he saw movement and instantly turned to look. He caught a head falling off and drifting to the ground in a pile of dust. Astonished, he informed the others and zoomed in on the stalk to see what was on it but found nothing.
“I don’t get it,” he said, puzzled.
Aari, who was shining his flashlight a few dozen feet away, whistled. “Oy, I saw one just fall off, too . . . Whoa! More of them keep dropping as you head farther in!”
The five and the Sentry hurried though the crops. Aari was right; heads were falling from stalk after stalk, as if a ghost was running unseen blades though them. Kody used his newfound thermal vision to find the source of the destruction but couldn’t report anything. Whatever it was had become too widely dispersed for him to pick up.
“I can’t see it,” he told the others.
“Wait, I want to try something,” Tegan, a few feet away, said. She knelt and closed her eyes. The rest of the group instinctively drew toward her, no one sharing a word.
Tegan opened her eyes a while later, frustrated. “I don’t know what it is, but Aari’s right. It has to be synthetic. I couldn’t sense it in the novasphere the way I can with living things.”