by Jacob Long
The Extreme World–The First Island of Idem- 2019
A fish splashes out of the water. Elena squeezes my arm with one hand and points to the fish with the other. The sound was attention-grabbing, the height of the jump is astonishing. "Wow, that's incredible," I say as the fish quickly descends back into the ocean. We're holding hands, and walking across the beach. "Yeah, and did you see how beautiful it was?" She smiles. "I did," I reply, smiling back at her. There is a pang of sadness that her smile is masking. Something is wrong.
"What's wrong?" I ask. She looks a little offended that I asked and doesn't reply. I look at her eyes for a moment. Then I look down at her hand linked with mine. I notice that we appear to be dressed for separate occasions. She's wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and a green jacket that matches her eyes while I'm wearing my ISF uniform complete with the manica on my forearms. I know this is a memory, but I still can't remember what was going on. I've been so far out of it lately. I gaze around the beach for a clue and spot something out in the ocean. Lightly bobbing up and down at the end of the pier is a submarine.
Oh, yeah. I remember that submarine. I remember this moment. The moment that we say goodbye for seven long months. The moment that I first have second thoughts about the mission. The Commandos and I are leaving for Paradisum. Elena had been behaving very nonchalant most of the day. My anxiety, however, was skyrocketing and it took everything I had to put on a brave face for her. Once we arrived at the beach, her demeanor began to change. I guess that she's just too sweet of a person to act indifferent all of the time.
We stop once we reach the pier and stand just to the side of it. We turn, facing each other. I hold Elena's hands in mine. Her palms are facing down, and mine are facing each other, my thumbs resting on the tops of her hands. "When do you have to go?" she asks. I can't quite see the monitor on my manica which is on the palm side of my arm. I don't want to let go of her hand, so I lift my elbow up and raise her hand with mine. I still can't quite see the time display, so I crank my neck to the side a bit, just enough. We smile and laugh at the awkwardness. My smile fades as I see the time. "That soon, huh?" She asks. We had spent the day pretending that it was just another date for us, that there was nothing to worry about, and we would casually head over to the beach in due time.
I gently lower our arms back down. Her eyes slowly drop, and her head follows. I have the instinct to tell her 'I'm sorry,' but I know that she knows how important this mission is. I am sorry that things are the way that they are, but there are more important things to say. I softly touch her chin and lift it up, locking her eyes with mine. I love you," I tell her. "I love you too" she replies and bursts forward, kissing me.
It's a soft yet passionate kiss. The kind that let's me see how much she cares. I never want this kiss to end, and it seems that it may never end until I notice something strange happening. As Elena kisses me, she turns her head to the side a little more than usual- and- she starts to blow air into my mouth.
The Extreme World–Somewhere in the Pacific–2020
I feel a strange pressure in my lungs and on my lips. As I open my eyes, I can see... an ear. A small and perhaps attractive ear. As far as ears go. However, it is not one of Elena's ears. I only see the ear for an instant before my stomach flexes and I cough up water. The woman whose ear I had seen lifts her head up quickly to evade the splash zone. I sit up and take in the life-giving oxygen. I look around and see mostly strangers. RT's face makes me feel that I'm not in any danger. I turn to my left to thank my rescuer.
At first, I'm thrown off by her silhouette. The look of her hair. The shape of her face. She looks like Elena. But she can't be Elena. My vision clears up, and I can see that it is not Elena. "You're welcome," she replies with a smile. Her hair is lighter than Elena's. More of a brown than black. It's also shorter. And she has brown eyes instead of green. I find myself staring into her eyes waiting for them to turn green, and I remember my dream. I snap myself out of the trance and look over in RT's direction.
“How long was I out?” I ask. "Only a few minutes," he replies as he hands me my pistol. It must have fallen out of my holster during the commotion. “That really came in handy huh?” “You never know,” he states. “Barrett wants to talk to you.” “When did you two get acquainted?” I reply“While you were talking to angels.” He replies. "Just one," I say. One look tells me instantly that he knows which one. "Now, come on. He's down below," RT says as he reaches out his arm and helps me up.
We climb down the ladder and down into the control room where Barrett is waiting. He's just standing there, looking at me. "We have a lot to discuss, but right now we don't have the time, so I'm going to be completely straightforward and tell you that we don't have enough fuel to get back to our island," Barrett says. "RT here, says that you may know a place where we can fill up." Once again, I sense honesty in his voice and demeanor. He seems like a good man just trying to save his soldiers. His people. I've been trained to read people. I'm good at it, but I've made mistakes before. I look at RT. He nods. I step toward Barrett and stop within a foot of his face. We stand eye to eye.
"RT and I will pilot the sub to Idem. No one else is allowed in the control room until we arrive. Is that clear?" Barrett raises an eyebrow. "This boat is over fifty years old, are you sure you two kids can pilot it?" "RT?" I say without looking away from Barrett. "Yep. Got it. No worries," RT replies. The kids are alright." In my peripheral vision, I can see him holding up his forearm and pointing to it with his other hand. His manica have records of schematics that we stole from the Ministry during the Battle of Idem. "RT is a fast learner, and with a manual, he'll be able to guide us home with ease." I take a deep breath.
"Don't betray us," I say to him before holding out my hand. We shake on it. "We won't," he says with that same steely conviction from before. "You heard them. Let's clear out!" His Faction members obediently leave right away. He starts to follow after. "Barrett, I'll contact the island and set up a meeting with our leaders," I say. He nods and leaves the room. I turn to RT. "What are we going to do about the Tempest?" I ask. "Already taken care of. She can't fly right now, but the magnetic locks still work, so I'm just going to leave her up top and ride in the shallow waters," RT replies.
"Sounds good, although we may want to ride deep enough so that we're not visible on the surface. And can you set the MT units to create a storm barrier on our north side? I would be surprised if that were the only Ministry ship nearby." I say. "Good call. I'll set them up right now," he presses a few buttons on his left manica and it's done. "What happened to that ship anyway?" I ask. "The Ministry ship? It sank right after you blew a hole through it." RT says as he prepares the sub for take-off. "Wow," I exclaim. "That would've been something to have on camera," I say.
"Yeah sorry, I was a little preoccupied with being shoved down into the depths of the ocean or else I totally would have gotten you that footage," RT replies. "All right, all right. No need to get sassy." I smile, relieved to be going back to the island. This adventure has been much more than I bargained for. I walk up to RT who is still busy at the submarine controls. "All right, KID. Teach me how we're going to make this old fish swim." He shakes his head and smiles.
The journey back to Idem is brief and relaxing. It's almost too relaxing. When I'm staying busy, I don't think about my troubles as much. Now that RT and I have charted the course, there is not much to distract me. So I take over the controls and guide the sub manually the rest of the way. At least, most of the way. Once we get a few miles out, it's my job to fly ahead and reassure Idem that RT and I are safe and that the people on this submarine are friendly.
We send the message over the radio first, but I figure that I will fly over to them to ultimately put their minds at ease. No one on Idem is very trusting anymore. Not after the last island was lost to us. I soar through the air taking in the beauty of what nature and of what our hard work has given us. I look over at a specific section of the garden that I take care of. A part that I built for a s
pecial reason.
I float down to the docks where the beach, the city, and the ocean are all connected. Sienna and the three other ISF officers are there waiting for me. “Where's Mrs. Matua and the Mayor?” I ask. “They're at the Capitol building,” Sienna replies, a little too coldly. “A safety precaution.”
“Right. Because even though these strangers were able to capture me and RT-” “-RT and me,” she says, cutting me off. The tension in the air rises. “If they were able to capture RT AND ME, how do you think you're going to stop them with a few guns?” “For all I know, they knocked you out while you were drunk.” "That's impossible. The most I can get is a thirty-second buzz."
Officer Petersen stifles a laugh. Sienna and I quickly turn our heads to look at him. I smile. "Maybe one day, Petersen and I can brew something up and try to remedy that situation. As for now, let's get this submarine locked onto the dock so that I can go start another conversation that I don't want to be a part of." Sienna shoots me her best smile attempt, and we all walk over to the end of the dock.
At the Capitol building, the conversation is more like an interrogation of Barrett and his Faction. Mayor Matua is standing at the podium talking down to Barrett who stands a few feet away. Angela sits on the bench behind the Mayor while I sit behind Barrett on the first bench. To my left is RT and to my right is a tall man with glasses, a Faction scientist. He is holding a portable computer similar to the one that RT has, although, his looks admittedly nicer. The rest of the Faction members are seated on the benches behind us.
Sienna and the other ISF officers stand in the aisles keeping a close eye on them. I have been very skeptical of them myself and yet now as I listen to Mayor Matua and Sienna grill Barrett, I can't help but feel sorry for him. I shake the sympathetic thought from my head. What am I thinking? I should be the last one to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. And besides that, we have to be thorough in our questioning and take every precaution with these people. They could be an elite group of spies trained by the Ministry for months or even years coming up with the perfect back-story. Still, there's a voice in my head telling me to trust this guy. To trust this group.
“You may stay in the vacant apartment buildings nearest to the Capitol building," Mayor Matua's deep voice easily fills the room as he addresses Barrett. "You will be under twenty-four hour surveillance, and you and your men must hand in all of your weapons." "That's ridiculous!" Barrett objects. "You want us to be your prisoners?" "Those are the terms!" Mayor Matua's powerful voice booms. Barrett pauses for a moment. "And if we don't agree to them, we are free to leave?" he asks. "If you disagree with the terms then you will be held to them until we can schedule a mission for Officers Lancaster, and Matua to take you back into the ocean, and drop you off far away from our home," the Mayor replies. I look at Barrett. "You read the files from the Ministry. You sought us out. You know who we are. And being who we are, we must take every precaution to make sure that you are not a threat to us."
Barrett lets out a deep breath. His face is that of a staunch military man. “Very well then. We are not your enemies. You will come to see this in time.” “Perhaps we can start by hearing your plans for abolishing the Supreme Ministry,” Mayor Matua suggests. “Of course.” Barrett looks over to the tall man with glasses. “Dr. Hamilton, you're up.” The scientist frees a few latches from the bottom of his computer case and pulls out three legs for it to stand on. He sets it down a few feet in front of me. “You may be familiar with the concept of the multi-verse.
It is a term used to describe the theory of multiple universes also called alternate realities, dimensions, or different worlds. These worlds are like our world but with some slight and some extreme variations-" "-And what does this have to do with the Supreme Ministry?" Sienna interrupts. Dr. Hamilton pauses for a moment and looks at Mayor Matua. "She has a point, Doctor," the Mayor says. "Right. Well, I also have a point." The doctor presses a few buttons, and his computer projects an image on the wall to my left.
"Behold, the Quantum Spectrum. It is our Inter-Dimensional Transportation machine." This guy is a tad theatrical, but his machine is no doubt impressive looking. Everyone is in awe from it. Even RT is staring with his mouth open and his eyes wide with wonderment. What's more impressive than the machine itself is the image within the portal. The Quantum Spectrum is in a dark laboratory while the portal is displaying a bright desert landscape. And even more impressive is the man who has stepped into the portal.
Half of his body is in the desert, and the other half is in the laboratory. One foot is clearly standing on sand in the alternate reality, and the other foot stands on the cold hard floor of this one. Although obviously impressed, Sienna still looks skeptical. "That is an impressive looking picture, Mayor, but how can we know if it's real? And what is the Supreme Ministry doing with such a device?" She says. The Mayor turns his head forward and looks at the Doctor.
“Those are excellent questions.” The doctor turns his attention to Barrett. “Sir?” Barrett stands up. “The data that we have retrieved indicates that Consuls Carlisle and Fulloway have been using their machine to travel to several different worlds. There are two in particular that they frequent most often. We believe that they may be using these two worlds either for weapons development, recruiting soldiers, or something much worse. We don't know what kind of threats may lie in these worlds, but one of them appears to be very hospitable. The kind of place that espionage can be safely accomplished if carried out by the right spy.”
Of course, he throws a glance in my direction. "It's a civilized place for the most part. The Omega War never occurred in this world. Compared to our world, it's quite tame. However, we know that the Ministry has a hidden presence there. It may not be ideal, but our current state of being in our world will not allow us to overthrow the Ministry. Our last mission was compromised which resulted in the deaths of many of my men. The security measures set up in Paradisum won't allow for any spies to get through. Not anymore. However, this will be much easier to navigate. The location of the Quantum Spectrum is a remote island that we refer to as Teleportation Island. If they get to our machine, they won't be able to trace it back to Idem or our Faction territory."
"And you want Jayden to go on this mission for you?" Mayor Matua responds. "Yes, sir," Barrett replies. "Unless you know of another trained soldier and spy that is a level 5 super-human and is not working for the Supreme Ministry." Mayor Matua ponders his thoughts for a moment. "And is there something else that you need from us?" he asks.
"The Quantum Spectrum is powered by Fortisium," Barrett replies. "We stole some from the Ministry, but our supply is quickly running out." "And you think that we have some of this rare element?" asks Mayor Matua. Barrett takes a deep breath. "Stolen records from Paradisum indicate that your first island is where the Omega-crystals originated from." He takes another deep breath. "Other records indicate that there was an assassination attempt made on the lives of Carlisle and Fulloway back in the 70's,” he says, carefully. “The attempt involved an Omega bomb and two Russian telekinetics who were later linked back to the first island of Idem.”
This is a part of our history that we are not particularly proud of. In order to put an end to the reign of the Ministry, Elena's grandfather and his brother flew an Omega bomb to Paradisum. Our leaders decided that the loss of those inhabiting the city would be worth getting rid of Carlisle and Fulloway. Unfortunately, her grandfather returned to inform the island that the mission was a failure. The bomb was destroyed before it could land. His brother sacrificed himself so that Elena's grandfather could escape. After that, the leaders of Idem chose to focus only on building up our civilization and keeping our island secluded from the world.
"The Ministry's records also reveal that the crystals on the first island were destroyed," Barrett continues. "It appeared as though much of the crystal was rapidly excavated, and the rest..." He turns his head slightly toward me. "The rest of it was scorched to the point of obliteration," he says solemnly. "W
e believe that you have the remaining crystals. We need them, and we need Jayden to travel to these other worlds," he states, boldly. Wow. This guy doesn't even know me, and he trusts me with a mission of this magnitude. "Jayden," Mayor Matua says, "What do you think about all of this?" My eyes fixate on the picture of the Quantum Spectrum. I needed something to look at. While admiring its beauty, I almost forgot how much I dislike everything about this plan. Almost.
"It's too risky," I say after a brief pause. "Our people have suffered enough. We should stay here and leave the beast alone. If they find us-" "They won't find us." Barrett cuts me off. "The death of the Navy General is going to raise some eyebrows." I retort. "They're going to be scouring this entire ocean looking for the group responsible. If they find us, they will bring everything that they have, and they will make sure to finish us off." I state, boldly. "Weren't you the one who finished THEM off at the last battle?" Barrett replies sharply. "That was you we read about in the Ministry files was it not?"
What happens next, I can't help. My mind starts to race. My heart is pounding. I close my eyes. A flash goes off in my mind, and I see the battle on the first island. Destruction is everywhere. I open my eyes, and I'm back in the conference room. I'm sweating raindrops. My shoulders and neck tighten up. I clench my fist, wanting to attack Barrett. Instead, I take a deep breath as I look him in the eye. "I'm done here," I walk directly out of the room and out of the building. As soon as I get outside, I burst into flame and jet into the air.