by Greg Chase
The mental anguish played out across his body, but the physical pain meant nothing. In his mind, the religions he’d unintentionally created became adversaries in wars that enveloped the moons, all doing battle in his holy name. Tobes carrying memories of Sam fought other Tobes who carried different memories. The universal sharing of ideas, the freedom network, was used as a battlefield. Tobe fought Tobe until no two could agree on anything.
If only it would end there, but it didn’t. The wildfire of discord, once lit, would find its way along the thin thread of communication to Earth. Tobes who’d enjoyed lively debate in order to grow their understanding became entrenched in their ideas. And his own daughters fanned the flames.
Sara and Emily—his attempts to leave them a better solar system only managed to drag them into a personal feud that would set man and Tobe against each other. His two darling girls, so different and unique, were used as battle sigils.
Ellie and Joshua became immortal enemies, the processes of emotion doing battle with those of logic. No longer creating something higher than the sum of their parts, they set about destroying each other.
The last vestige of hope extinguished, Earth descended along the path it had long feared. Self-interest, be it human or Tobe, sought to gather as much as it could hold.
Virtual fires consumed Sam. He no longer felt any coherent fear. His severed body still functioned, though he wished desperately to be done with all life. He was losing.
No. Even in his mind, the word wasn’t a scream or even a plea but simply a statement that such a future would not be allowed.
Sam focused on what he’d accomplished on Earth. Every one of his successes involved others—people and Tobes who would carry on the work long after he’d gone. His future meant nothing compared to what he’d started. Perhaps he was no longer needed, only wanted.
As Demogorgon ramped up the burning torture that engulfed all of Sam’s nerves, Sam smiled. He was wanted and always had been. For all of the need the Tobes had expressed in getting him to Earth, their true desire had been to get to know him. His daughters, as members of the village, never needed their biological father. The whole community was based on being there for each other, especially when it came to the children. Sara and Emily never had need of him. They’d wanted him. They’d chosen him to lead them. And his beloved Jess, who’d grown up knowing only polyamory, had set aside the love of the many for her love of him. Every adventure began and ended with her at his side.
Demogorgon could do as he pleased to Sam’s body, but the images he flooded into Sam’s mind were lies.
Sam was sitting against the boulder next to Gwendolyn when he regained consciousness. “What happened?”
“You tell me. I just saw you walk across that lake of molten brimstone like you were stepping on rocks in a fishing pond. With every step you took, the boiling sulfur turned solid under your feet. Did you get what you needed?”
He knew he had, but what did that mean? There’d been no declaration of victory except his supposed release. And if he had won, how had Demogorgon gotten the information to Earth? “Get me out of here.”
22
Sara turned away from the display screens filled with updates on Rendition’s activities. It all seemed so pointless. Did running the biggest, most powerful corporation in the universe just boil down to money? She stared out at the clouds, wishing to see the night sky filled with stars. Somewhere out there, her parents were doing something truly of value: trying to save the world. She’d give anything to be out there with them. But instead, she had to sit in the office of authority, balancing the self-interest of people and Tobes.
The rustling of computer pads pulled her attention back to the office. Iam, the unfathomable friend who never proved of any help, was searching through the work pads on her desk.
“What are you doing here, old Tobe? I didn’t conjure you.”
He pulled a blank pad from the bottom of the pile and began making some notes. “No, you didn’t. But time is moving forward.”
“That’s what time does,” she said sarcastically. Whatever plane of existence he lived on didn’t seem connected to the mundane realities of things like time.
“True, but soon I’ll be leaving you, and I don’t know what happens after that. You’re about to have a conversation with your mother. There are a lot of things you can’t tell her—not yet.”
Sara wondered why he kept telling her what not to say as if they were his secrets. “I thought you were never going to leave us.”
“If all goes well, maybe we’ll see each other again. I’m putting my future in your hands. All I can see is the next few weeks. After that, I will have fulfilled my destiny, even though I won’t have reached the time that is needed—getting me there will be your first mission.”
“Why is it you can never answer in a simple, understandable fashion?”
“Events are in motion that now can’t be stopped. I’ve spent my entire existence ensuring these things happen. Once they’re complete, if I’m still around, I’ll answer everything you want to know. Until then, mankind’s future is in your hands.”
Great. One more being who thinks he can just dump his responsibilities in my lap. “Haven’t I got enough on my plate with Rendition and the Tobes?”
“You were the one who wanted something important to do—or did you think I wouldn’t be listening?”
She motioned to the window. “Yeah, out there. Taking on more of Earth’s problems doesn’t sound like fun.”
He set his notes down. “Don’t take me for a fool, Sara. You and Emily can’t keep your plan secret from me. And you’ll notice I’m not trying to stop you.”
Sara fell back into her father’s chair. “My going out to the Moons of Jupiter is part of your grand scheme?”
“You’ll know what to do, and your mother will play an important role in your work. All I’m telling you is don’t divulge too much.”
“But how am I supposed to get her help if I can’t tell her anything?” Sara wished he’d just butt out sometimes.
Jess tapped at the computer pad in irritation. She should have demanded to go with Sam. In spite of the dangers, it would have been easier to face the challenges together than to sit and wait. She hated waiting.
Work kept her mind from wandering. But Ramon could have handled building the communication bridge alone. Hell, considering all his secret communications and negotiations with the other outpost leaders, he’d have been better off without her.
She checked the clock in the corner of the display for what felt like the thousandth time. He’s only been gone twenty hours? There had been no time limit on Sam’s mission. He could be gone an hour or a month. She had no way of knowing. But if he didn’t get his butt back to her safe and sound within a day or two, she was pretty sure she’d lose her mind.
Ramon saved her from further contemplation by plopping his familiar growler of beer next to her work pad. “It’s still not much in the way of signal strength. None of the other outposts want to commit too much of their resources. They fear it’ll align them too much with Earth and alienate them from the Moons, or vice versa.”
She stared again at the signal indicators on her work pad. At least they didn’t all go flat-line as they had earlier. “A Tobe would never be able to travel across that link. And the amount of data we’re going to transmit will take days at this rate.”
“I fear it’s the best we can do with what we’ve got. At least it’s strong enough for you to talk to Earth again.” He pressed the accept tab on the screen.
The tight knot that occupied Jess’s stomach eased slightly on seeing Sara’s face. “It’s so good to see you again.”
“I know, Mom. It’s good to see you too. I’m coming out there.”
The knot doubled in tension. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Sara’s look of exasperation hadn’t changed much in twenty years. “I wasn’t asking permission. This bridge is never going to get us what we need. I’m b
ringing out some Earth technology that should help. But we need the Tobes out there to cooperate. What little we’ve been getting from them is disappointing at best.”
“Just as soon as your father’s back from his adventure, we’ll get back to work on freeing more Tobes.” After all the work she and Sam had done, being chastised by her own daughter for not saving enough Tobes on sixty different moons made her stand a little straighter in defiance. And for Sara to imply she could do better out here really hurt. Jess took a breath to calm her nerves. The fear for Sam’s safety was taking a toll, and she knew it.
“You’re performing the job of superheroes, Mom. The last thing I want is to be in the way, but we’ve been working on some things here…” Sara looked off screen as if someone else was in the room.
Jess longed to hold her daughter in her arms again, but the work she was doing with Sam was dangerous. Hopefully, whoever was there with Sara would tell her the same.
Sara nodded to something Jess couldn’t hear then turned back to the screen. “It’ll just be me. Emily’s going to stay here. We’ll talk when I get there. Please don’t tell Dad, not yet at least. You know he can’t handle worry as well as you do.”
Jess felt the strength from her daughter. It was true. Sam fidgeted uncontrollably when things were happening to his loved ones and he couldn’t do anything about it. “What can I do to help?”
Sara’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. It was as close to crying as Jess had seen from her daughter since her abduction. “Hold Dad close, and don’t let him go until I get there.”
The screen went dark.
Sara balled her fists, trying to contain the emotion that threatened to burst loose.
“You did good.” Emily’s sweet voice from the couch helped ease Sara’s frustration at not telling their mother everything.
“Are you sure about this, Emi? I’ll be leaving you with a terrible burden.”
The soft strawberry-blond curls covered Emily’s face as she looked at her hands. “Which part, running the world or not getting to say good-bye?”
“Neither. You’re going to have to be humanity’s savior.”
23
Sam struggled to get to his feet but failed. He was back in the shuttle, back in space, but he had no memory of how he’d gotten there. He turned wildly from one side to the other, certain he was still trapped in his mental hell.
Jess placed her hand on his arm. “It’s okay, relax. Ramon got word on where to pick you up. Tobias is taking us to the pirate outpost. It’s over.”
Sam shook his head, trying to muster coherent thought. He failed. The exertion landed him back flat on the bed. Images swam before his eyes, not all of them representations of what was in the room.
Rhea’s hand burned at his shoulder. “I’ve seen fresh scars like these before but never on a human. We have an energy transfer that helps during Tobe conditioning. It’s a little personal. I lie down into you. My energy can help yours find the right pathways for healing.”
It sounded eerily like what he’d done to repair Leviathan so long ago.
Jess stood over him. “Is it something you learn on Lysithea, Rhea?”
“If you’re asking if it’s some kind of Tobe sex act, you’re not far off. We don’t experience the endorphin high people do, so the physical act is no more personal than holding hands. But it is a sharing of our beings. Learning the technique was part of my initial conditioning to be a sex worker.”
Jess nodded. “I just wanted to understand what Sam would feel.”
“I’ve never tried it on a human. All CEs sit on top of a person’s skin. But Sam’s is a part of his very being, so it would be more like a Tobe-to-Tobe encounter. At least, that’s my hope.”
Sam’s head hurt from all the conversation. “Just get on with it.”
As Rhea lay down into him, he found it hard to breathe—two sets of lungs, two hearts, everything had its double, and all those doubles were out of sync. The word calm filled his mind, though he knew it didn’t come from his brain. In time, cells matched up, then organs, and finally, all the little wrinkles and projections of his skin found their match in Rhea.
Sam took in one long, deep breath, experiencing the duality. Instead of making his CE whole, the union made him realize how deeply carved it had become. It felt like great slicing fissures that crisscrossed his skin, canyons cut deep into his flesh—but none of it was real.
Sam inspected his hand, expecting to see down to the bones with only ligaments and muscles—devoid of skin. To his amazement, there wasn’t a blemish. The act of flexing his fingers burned like lines of fire that forced the digits to obey. But visually, they were the same old hands doing the most common of actions.
As he watched, the scars appeared, the skin separated, exposed muscles bulged, and pus seeped from the wounds. Then it returned again to the normal, everyday hand.
His breathing became regulated as if a clock had taken control—so many seconds in, so many seconds out. His heart followed the metronome standard that ticked inside him. He closed his eyes, hoping to see the darkness of his eyelids. His eyes still burned, but the fire was slowly dying down to embers.
He lost track of how long Rhea had shared his body. The disjointed feeling of having her leave was no less jarring than her arrival.
Rhea held her arms across her stomach. “He was possessed. I could feel the remnants.”
Jess asked, “Isn’t that what you just did?”
“No, I can only lie there and give him my strength. The being that took control of Sam’s body has more power than I could imagine.”
Sam felt his lungs take back control of his breathing. “It makes sense. I’ve been having blackouts since I left the laboratory. Can he still take control of me?”
Rhea rubbed her arms as if the cold chill was a physical sensation. “I don’t think so. But there’s something else. He deposited a storehouse of data in your CE.”
So that’s what I’m seeing. Sam focused on the random gray dots that seemed to float in front of his eyes. Spreadsheets of numbers and calculations took shape in the miniature flotsam. “How do we get the information out of me?”
Rhea took a quivering breath. “I don’t know.”
He stretched out an arm to Jess. “Help me up.”
Jess placed her shoulder under his armpit. “Slowly. Don’t push it.”
“We’re still in space. This is what, one-tenth Earth’s gravity?”
“I can ask Tobias to lighten the pull, maybe to one-twentieth,” Rhea said.
Sam shook his head. “Don’t you dare. These muscles only think they’ve been abused. The sooner they get back to normal, the better.”
Rhea gave him a look of sympathy. “It doesn’t work that way. That CE encapsulates every cell in your body. What you feel affects your physical state.”
Sam lost his footing for a moment. “We need to work on your bedside manner.”
Jess looked at one of the view screens. “You need time to recover. This isn’t going to go away in a day or two.”
Ramon stood at the entrance to the bar as Jess helped Sam down the street for their daily rehab. “You’ve looked better.”
Sam still struggled to walk without Jess’s help. “Really? I haven’t looked this good in days. Tell me there’s something decent to drink in there.”
Ramon smiled. “Always, but in honor of your delicate Earth sensitivities, I’ve had something special delivered.”
The bottle of Jose Cuervo nearly turned Sam’s stomach even as it reminded him of better times. But the opulent shipboard bars of Leviathan or Persephone were half the solar system away. What he wouldn’t give to relax in Sophie’s cabin. Or better yet, to be weightless in Lev’s agro pod.
The second shot of Cuervo went down better than the first. “How can you see the damage, Ramon? I’ve looked in the mirror, and I look fine.”
“Tobias lets me see what he sees when I ask. I knew what you’d been through and wanted to see for myself. The network’
s still weak enough out here that he had to up the power for me to get a good look. I hope you don’t mind.”
Sam shook his head. “It’s nice to know someone has some idea of what I’m dealing with. Assuming I can get away from the Moons’ influence, do you think this whole CE thing will just dissipate?”
Ramon looked up from under his eyebrows. “I’ve seen pirates take on the CE, mostly so they could try out Lysithea or some other pleasure planet. When they head back out from the moons, there’s an adjustment period. It’s not pretty. Their skin gets accustomed to having that energy around it, permeating it. A lot of those pirates come here for a few weeks of rest before heading out again. The slow transition helps. But then, they only have the damn thing on their skin. I wouldn’t recommend you stray too far beyond the asteroid belt.”
Sam looked around the dingy bar. More good news—this would be the closest thing to paradise he’d manage. “Thanks for putting us up, Ramon.”
The man shook his head solemnly. “I owe you. I should have done more the last time. It won’t happen again. You have my word. That damn Board of Shadows will have to cut this rock in two before I hand you over.”
The leader of the pirate outpost took the invasion of his planetoid more personally than Sam had suspected. “I don’t think they’ll bother with me for a while. I suspect I’m not much of a threat anymore.”
Ramon gave him a sly smile. “Well, they have made the mistake of thinking that before.”
Sam leaned back in the comfortable chair. At least Ramon’s shuttle was luxurious even if the pirate outpost wasn’t. Dr. Elliot Shot and Joshua smiled from the view screen.