The Survivors | Book 16 | New Lies

by Hystad, Nathan

  “Where’s Ovalax?” she demanded.

  I pointed at the squirming pile digesting Uvid. “That’s him.”

  Fronez had a tablet in his hand, and he connected the cable to it. “Regnig, I need your help.”

  “What are you doing?” I asked Jules.

  She gave the naked man a cautionary glance and ran to Regnig’s side, cutting his binds with a blue torch. “Papa, do you believe Ovalax should be left here?”

  I looked at the pale man, still begging me to end his life, and I shook my head. “He wanted us to merge. Every outcome saw me killing him, except this one.”

  She stared at me like I was mad.

  “Turns out he was right. We’re not killing him. He’ll be stored within the Shandra Valincin.” I grinned at my daughter. She looked so much older, so confident.

  “What’s that?” Fronez asked.

  “I’ll tell you later.” I jogged over, glancing at Ovalax. “How long do we have?”

  “Ovalax is distracted until his consumption is finished. I’d estimate we have five or so minutes,” Fronez told us.

  “How does this work?” Jules asked the Shimmali criminal and scientist.

  “It’s much the same as when Dean put the Iskios into the portal on Sterona. It’s similar to the method the Theos used to go into the Shandra.”

  I understood what I needed to do. “This connects to the stone?” I indicated the cable, and Fronez nodded. “Will it work like the portal, or does the cable create interference?”

  “I’ve mitigated the inference, and it acts properly. Believe me, it took years to develop. It wasn’t possible to bring the stone from the Sovan underground on Newei. This was my sole option,” Fronez said.

  “You realize I’m not going to let you leave with the portal, don’t you?” I asked.

  Fronez nodded hesitantly. “I know. But I’ve had enough of this monster, and the Sect.”

  He speaks the truth. I’ve had some frank discussions with Fronez, Regnig told me.

  “Okay.” I unclasped my helmet and set it on the ground. The instant I took a breath, the odor almost put me on my knees.

  Jules grabbed my arm. “Papa, what are you doing?”

  I undid the suit, removing the gloves. “I have to touch it. There’s no other way.” I peered at Ovalax, seeing Uvid’s boots jutting from the beast. He was almost done. “Quickly.”

  “It’s too dangerous, let me—” Jules, always trying to protect everyone. I wanted to hug her.

  “Stay back.” I took the cable and tablet from Fronez, and crossed the room.

  Tears fell down my cheeks from the stench as I stuck my palm onto Ovalax’s skin. I closed my eyes, remembering what I’d done on Sterona. Then, I’d been doing it to save my wife and unborn child from the Iskios’ possession. Now I was trying to save us and stop this monster from playing with our fate.

  Uvid was absorbed, and I felt Ovalax returning to consciousness.

  Who dares! You are mine!

  My fingers touched him, and my hand began pulling into the flesh. I tried to pry it free, but I was stuck.

  “No!” My doppelgänger rushed at Ovalax, almost tripping over his own feet. He jumped, landing on Ovalax, and the monster had no choice but to devour him. I felt the rush of anger as my arm remained in his skin, and I continued to concentrate.

  My fingers tingled on the cable as it began working. Ovalax’s essence coursed through me as the cavern trembled violently.

  I saw everything.

  Solar systems forming.

  Stars being born, then dying.

  Races of every shape and size.

  Existing.

  Perishing.

  Living.

  Ending.

  Starting.

  Finishing.

  The cycles continue in the Forever.

  I did not see this outcome. My own senses betrayed me.

  One moment his memories and knowledge threatened to overtake me; the next he vanished. The cave stopped shaking. The fleshy mass shuddered and gasped, no longer moving.

  Ovalax was gone.

  I fell onto my back, staring at the ceiling, and passed out.

  Twenty-Six

  “Papa!” Jules ran to his side. Her dad’s hand was red, his skin blistering. “Someone help him!”

  His eyes were fluttering, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

  Fronez was the first to respond, coming to his aid. He tore a white sleeve off his jacket and wrapped it around her father’s injury. “We need to leave.”

  The room was shaking, with more rocks and crud dropping from above.

  “What happened?” a voice asked from across the cave.

  “Sergo?” Jules stayed with her father as the Padlog walked over, cradling a hairy creature in his arms.

  “I was out.” Murky blood pooled under his mandibles inside his helmet. “All of a sudden, I snapped to. I think Othus has lost a lot of blood.”

  Jules didn’t know who Othus was, but he looked close to death.

  Fronez is right. I think this cavern is about to collapse. It would be a shame to die after my newfound sense of vitality. Come. Bring Dean along, Regnig said.

  The cave echoed a loud concussion as a rock the size of a person landed on top of Ovalax and rolled to the floor. “How do we escape?” Jules hadn’t thought that far ahead.

  “The cable.” Fronez took the tablet her dad had been holding. “I can have the winch reel us up.”

  “Let’s get on it.” Sergo laid Othus near the exit, just under the cable. He helped Jules heft Papa there. His eyes were no longer quivering—they were closed—but his breathing sounded more even.

  Jules snapped her head back and dove as another huge rock dropped, almost crushing her. “Hurry!” They were raining down everywhere, and one struck Sergo’s shoulder, knocking him to the side. He rolled to his feet, but his armor was dented. They were going to be flattened.

  Fronez worked at tying everyone together, but he was out of rope from his pack. “Someone needs to hold Dean. And this creature.” He pointed at Othus.

  Sergo strode over. “I’ll take Parker. Jules, carry Othus for me.”

  Jules picked up the hairy person. He weighed more than she would have guessed, and she struggled with him as Fronez attached her to the cable.

  She nearly dropped him as the floor buckled, sending Regnig sliding toward an open crevasse. Sergo hadn’t taken Papa yet, and he dove, grabbing Regnig’s wing. “Bring us up!” the Padlog shouted, and Fronez glanced at the ceiling, then at the tablet.

  “You have to save him!” Jules called over the noise, and Fronez peered at her father’s still form. For a moment, she thought the Shimmali was going to abandon him, but he managed to secure the man into his arms. Fronez pressed his tablet, and the cable began reeling in.

  Jules swung on the rope, holding Othus as tightly to her suit as she could. He wiggled in her arms and squeaked a few times. “Everything will be okay,” she promised him.

  Their entire group was connected to the cable, and she gawked at Ovalax’s empty body as it was pelted by ragged stones. The floor cracked with a boom, and she entered the hole. Soon the cable picked up speed, and they were hauled from the cavern at intense velocities, heading for the surface.

  Jules only focused on one thing, and that was keeping a grip on Othus. It was over before she knew it, and Fronez grunted as they emerged from the opening, thrown onto the sand. He stopped the cable from reeling any more and set her father down. Othus climbed from her arms and stumbled his way from the gaping maw in the sand. The ground rattled beneath them as the hole split wide open, creating a giant ravine outward from the Wibox camp. King Uvid’s tent was sucked into it, along with the last three remaining Runners. The others must have escaped.

  Mary hurried to their side, checking on her husband, and Jules unlatched her helmet, hardly able to breathe the recycled air any longer. She kneeled in the sand near her mother. “Papa! Come back to us!”

  Everyone was gathered, s
ilently witnessing his last breath.

  “Dean!” Mary cried.

  Jules panicked, scanning the crowd. Suma watched with tearful eyes. Magnus and Loweck were holding Slate back, and Walo was hugging Sergo. Why wasn’t anyone helping him?

  “Get a medikit! What are you—” Jules paused at her mother’s expression. Her face was pale in the night’s darkness, thousands of stars reflecting from her dilated pupils.

  “He’s gone.” Mary burst into tears, and Jules just stared at her father. The strongest man she’d ever seen. The Recaster. The Hero of Earth.

  “No.” She placed a hand on him. A calmness overtook her. “I won’t let this happen.”

  No one else existed. Jules tore her glove off and opened her father’s suit, pressing her palm to his chest.

  Papa.

  She waited. It didn’t move. He wasn’t breathing.

  Papa. Please come home to me.

  No response.

  It returned. The tingling in her fingers. The lightness in her heart.

  Papa. It’s Jules. You have to return. It’s not time yet. She felt this with every fiber of her being. I need you. Mom needs you. Hugo too.

  She hardly noticed the glowing green reflection of her eyes against his pallid skin. She was weightless.

  Jules closed her eyelids, envisioning Dean Parker as he once was. A young man, in his thirties. His brown hair was shorter, his face clean-shaven. This was how he saw himself, just as he’d been during the Event.

  Who are you? he asked.

  I’m your daughter, Jules replied.

  Where am I? He looked around, but there was nothing but the blackness of space surrounding the pair. Starlight shone all over the backdrop, above, below, behind them.

  Jules waved him closer. I don’t know. But you have to come with me.

  He followed. I have a daughter.

  You do.

  How is this possible?

  Jules smiled. I don’t know. It just is.

  Let’s go home.

  She took his hand. It was warm. Strong and comforting, like it always had been.

  Okay.

  ____________

  I gasped as my eyes flung open. They were scratchy, and my hand throbbed immensely. I was enveloped in green light, and Jules was above me, holding me tightly. Tears rolled off her cheeks, falling onto my face.

  “Jules, what is it? Are you hurt?” I asked.

  She smiled so widely, I thought she might break. Her laugh was infectious. “Papa, I’m fine.”

  I glanced over, finding us inside a green sphere. “We’re floating!” My throat itched, and I tried to sit up.

  Jules didn’t seem as perturbed as I was. “I see that.”

  And I noticed them. Her eyes were bright green again, glowing like before.

  “It never left me, Papa. They tricked me. I think the Deity blocked my powers but wasn’t able to remove them.”

  We lowered to the ground, and Jules cut off the sphere.

  “Dean!” Mary was on me, crying as she pressed her face into mine. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

  Slate and Magnus were watching, their expressions showing disbelief too.

  “Don’t just stand there, you big oafs,” Sergo said. “Help him up.”

  Sergo shoved through the crowd and grabbed me under the arm, hauling me to my feet. I was sore, but otherwise unscathed. I glanced at the hand that had been bothering me, and it was fine, tender and pink.

  “What did you do to me?” I whispered to my daughter.

  “I’m not entirely sure. One minute you were gone, the next…”

  “Wait… gone?” I didn’t remember anything. I’d been in the cavern with Ovalax… The images scattered within my mind. I’d seen so much while downloading the ancient creature into the stone. “Where’s Fronez?” I was suddenly afraid he’d made off with the stone and Ovalax. The things inside that creature were terrifying, and the information, used the wrong way, would be extremely dangerous.

  “He’s with us.” Karo and Suma stood near him.

  “Don’t worry, Dean. He’s not going anywhere,” Suma told me.

  “Fronez saved you, Parker.” Sergo shrugged. “For what it’s worth.”

  Jules was speaking privately with Dean, and they appeared to be celebrating.

  “What are you all waiting for?” Magnus shouted. The Institute soldiers were gawking at us, and I saw Othus being treated by Neemi near a Wibox tent.

  They began to disperse, and Mary held on to my arm, holding me tightly. “Dean…”

  I touched her face. “I know… she brought me back from the dead, didn’t she?”

  I remembered the moment, a snapshot of myself floating away. What had Ovalax called it? The Forever?

  “How is she still a Deity?” Mary asked.

  “I don’t know, but I’m not complaining.” I kissed Mary on the lips and held her.

  Mary stayed in my arms. “I, for one, have never been happier to see her eyes so green.”

  “Me too.” I watched Jules, and she turned, smiling at me.

  We’d managed to defeat Ovalax, save Regnig, stop the Sect of Memories, and keep the heir to the Gretiol throne from being sacrificed. I supposed that having to die and return to life was a small price to pay as a trade-off.

  “Let’s get out of here,” I whispered.

  “What are we going to do with the sphere stone?” Mary asked.

  I peered toward the transport ship with Ovalax stored away. “Hide it so no one else will ever find him.”

  ____________

  Jules sat in Outpost’s captain’s chair, with Dean beside her, and smiled as they began priming the wormhole generator.

  “Don’t get too used to that seat, Dean,” Jules told her boyfriend.

  “Why, are you planning on demoting me?” he asked with a laugh.

  “Because you’re going to have your own captaincy in a year or two. Once the Institute is fully operational, and we’re running through the third round of recruits.” Jules loved how excited he looked when she mentioned his own command. His grin fell flat seconds later.

  “That’ll mean we won’t be together,” he said, crestfallen.

  “Give me a break. You’re so needy.”

  “Am not,” he countered.

  “My mom and Papa are always doing their own thing, and I’ve never seen a pair more in love.”

  “Good point,” Dean admitted. “Maybe some time apart will make your heart grow…”

  “I’ll throw up if you end that with fonder.”

  Dean’s brow furrowed. “I was going to say… grow bigger.”

  “Sure.” She looked at the viewscreen. “Rivo, are we prepared?”

  “We’re ready to make the jump to New Spero… Captain,” Rivo added.

  Hectal sat along the far wall. They’d interrupted his vacation on Haven. The Keppe warrior shook his head while running weapons checks. “It’ll be tough to get used to that. Little Jules Parker. Who would have thought?”

  “Everyone,” Rivo joked. “From the moment I met that girl, I knew she was destined for greatness.”

  Jules closed her eyes, feeling the familiar power inside her. How had she not known it was there, lying latent within herself? It seemed so obvious now. Maybe the contact with the Deity stone, or the Shandra Valincin, as Papa had called it, had helped lower the barriers. She’d finally accepted her new reality, but Jules had to admit, the return of her powers was a welcome occurrence.

  The round device Sarlun had given her wasn’t actually responsible for saving their lives on the Shimmal ice fields, or for killing the attackers on the Sovan homeworld. It had been her all along, working through the gadget. She’d missed the clues. The gift from Sarlun was only a toy, a bauble.

  “Course set for New Spero. Rivo, make the jump,” Jules said.

  The wormhole generated blue energy, crackling over Outpost’s hull, and it coalesced into a swirling spectrum. Their warship entered it, and Jules held her breath while they surfaced n
ear Proxima.

  New Spero’s space station was a pleasant sight, and she felt like she was returning home.

  “Everything checks out, Captain,” Rivo advised her. “Beginning docking processes.”

  “What do you want to do with your time off?” Dean asked Jules. Since Malir had been brought to Gretiol, and things were running smoothly at the Institute again, Magnus had ordered them to take a few days to themselves.

  “Papa’s on Earth. Should we go visit?”

  Dean’s face brightened. “Home-cooked meals in the farmhouse? Count me in.”

  “I have to see Regnig first. I’ll be a day. You don’t mind, do you?” she asked.

  “Not at all. I’ll spend some time with my mom, if she’s not too busy with Magnus.” Dean frowned.

  “You’re okay with them together?”

  “I am. It’s still… strange.”

  Rivo docked Outpost, the additions of the space arms jutting out three kilometers to connect to the gigantic warship. There were two others nearly completed at the nearby manufacturing station, and Jules grinned to herself. Soon the Alliance would have one of the best fleets around. She only hoped they’d find more peaceful ways to end conflict.

  “We’ll need a portal on this ship,” Jules said. Having one on Light had been such a time saver.

  Hectal and Rivo joined them in a shuttle to Terran Thirty, and they separated when they landed. Jules was prepared to head to Haven, even though that was where she’d just come from. Her family was waiting, but she’d promised Magnus that they’d return Outpost, when they’d abandoned her a couple of weeks ago.

  Dean kissed her goodbye, promising to see her on Earth soon.

  Jules slung her pack over her shoulder, glancing at her white Ambassador uniform. She waved to some of the recruits, and spotted Sergeant Raron with the group Sergo and Papa had rescued from Ibarran D. The hairy one wiggled its nose, and she smiled at Othus.

  She stared at the training field with pride and walked to the sphere portal. It reminded her of the one Ovalax was trapped inside. Her father was being secretive, but she didn’t want to pry. She had enough on her mind. First and foremost was seeing Regnig off.