by Suzanne Weyn
When asked to comment, President Loudon Waters claimed that the Cherokee leader was merely trying to frighten people in order to keep her movement vital. “Every problem with the bar code tattoo has been ironed out. This woman no longer has a reason to exist. She’s simply looking to extend her fame and influence in a world where her movement has become irrelevant.”
In response, Eutonah stated, “Loudon Waters does not speak for the people, not my people or those of any other race or nationality. He speaks only for the greed of his own group. The people of this planet need to know that the last days of prophecy are upon us. The time is now.”
Grace stepped out to the mouth of the cave, careful to stay back in its shade. The Decode station gave shelter not only from the blasting sun but also blocked the signal the nanochip in her blood were bouncing onto satellites in the sky — if they were indeed getting through the powerful solar flares. She surveyed the expanse of desert in front of her. It seemed to her that off in the distance she could see something that shimmered and reflected the sun. Turning, she saw Kayla come alongside her.
“Is there water out there?” Grace asked, pointing.
“It’s a mirage,” Kayla replied, shielding her eyes as she studied the horizon. “It’s an optical illusion, a trick of the heat and the light. But I always like to think it’s the ghost of the sea.”
“What do you mean?”
Kayla turned to Grace and smiled softly. “Millions of years ago there was a seaway that came through here, splitting the continent. As the waters receded, they left these deserts. There are fossils of shells all over the place out here. I’ve seen them myself.”
That the Earth was so very old was something Grace found almost impossible to imagine. She tried to think of an ocean in the spot she was looking at. Without too much effort she could imagine it. The vastness of the desert seemed made to accommodate an ocean.
“It does look like an ocean out there. I see it, too,” Kayla said.
Grace turned to her sharply, surprised.
Kayla laughed, amused by Grace’s shocked expression. “I can see what you’re thinking because I’m a telepath,” Kayla explained. “You knew that, didn’t you?”
Grace remembered seeing Kayla and Mfumbe communicating mind to mind back in the garage. “Can you see into anyone’s mind?” Grace asked.
“Most of the time,” Kayla replied. “Just like you, I imagine the ocean out here. It’s a vision I have all the time.”
“But aren’t your visions of the future?” Grace inquired. “That would be a vision of the past.”
“I know. I don’t understand it.”
Eric came out from the cave and stood between Kayla and Grace. He had arrived the night before, after Grace was already asleep. He put his hand on her shoulder.
“We’ve found your family,” he said.
Closing her eyes, Grace sighed with relief and happiness. The pleased look on Eric’s face told her they were all right, that this wasn’t bad news.
“Where are they?” she asked him.
“Decode headquarters in the Adirondacks.”
“But why … how … what are they doing there?” Grace stammered, confused.
Dr. Harriman emerged from the cave. “I can answer that.”
“Dr. Harriman!” Grace cried. “What happened to you?”
“After fighting my way down out of the tree tops, do you mean?” he asked. “After that ordeal, I contacted your father — I mean the father who raised you, of course.”
“You know my father, then.”
“Growing up, he was my best friend. Who else would I trust with my only child? I never doubted he would love you as his own.”
“How did you contact him?”
“It was I who tipped your family to flee to the Adirondacks. I knew Global-1 was coming to pick them up. I thought you would make it home sooner and that Global-1 wouldn’t arrive until later — that there would be time for all of you to escape together. But I was wrong. So I told them I would have Decode come pick up Grace and that they should go ahead.”
“You work with Decode?” Eric asked, aghast at the news.
“Once I saw how Global-1 was using my work, I wanted no part of it. When I saw how they were treating Kathryn Reed, Grace’s biological mother, I was doubly horrified.”
“Wait a minute,” Kayla interrupted. “My grandmother was named Kathryn Reed. She’s my adoptive father’s mother, but she’s actually my biological mother because her eggs were used to conceive me and the other five clones.”
“That’s right,” Dr. Harriman said. “I loved Kathryn and you, Grace, are our child. But when I learned that they wanted to use your embryo for experiments — as they did on Kayla — we were determined not to let it happen.”
“How did you stop them?” Kayla asked.
“Your mother — the one who adopted you, Grace — was pregnant but had just suffered a miscarriage. I persuaded an obstetrician friend of mine to secretly remove the embryo from Kathryn and implant it in your mother. Your mother carried you to term in her belly while we told Global-1 that Kathryn had miscarried.”
“Then why have they been watching me?” Grace asked.
“They never really believed it,” Dr. Harriman admitted. “That’s why they were hovering, waiting for you to be tattooed so they could match our DNA conclusively.”
“Wait! Wait!” Kayla cried, holding up her hands to slow the flow of his narrative. “Are you saying that Grace and I are sisters?”
“Half sisters,” Dr. Harriman said. “Same mother, different father.”
Grace and Kayla studied each other. There were some similarities that Grace could see. She certainly looked more like Kayla than she did Kim.
“What is their problem with you, Dr. Harriman?” Eric asked. “They think you’re one of them, don’t they?”
“They’re onto me. They have been ever since we claimed Grace was never born. But they couldn’t do anything because I still knew things no one else knew. And I was helping them, in ways that I had to. Now they want my latest experiment, but I refuse to give it to them, or even admit it exists for that matter.”
“What is it?” Kayla asked.
“It’s a secret,” Dr. Harriman replied, turning back into the cave. “It’s better that you don’t know.”
Katie’s tractor trailer pulled past the front of the cave. Grace followed Eric, Kayla, and several other members of Decode who were staying in the cave as they ran out to meet it. The back truck doors opened and Jack handed five-gallon jugs of water to the waiting hands of those below.
Mfumbe and Katie descended from the cab and walked toward the back. “Mission accomplished,” Mfumbe announced as he embraced Kayla happily. “Water and a fresh load of fake tattoos from the town of Baker.”
Allyson stood beside Jack inside the truck, which was stacked full of boxes. “And all the equipment we need to start producing the first ever magnetic repulsion-fueled flying machines,” she announced, gesturing triumphantly toward the boxes.
“Swing low, sweet chariot, comin’ for to carry me home!” Jack sang out the old gospel tune for which he’d named his invention. As he sang, he began handing down the boxes.
“Where do you want us to put these, Jack?” Eric asked.
“Just inside the cave,” Jack replied. “I’m going to use the swing-lo to fly the materials up to one of these tabletop mesas and set up shop there. We can fly from mesa top to mesa top without having to land on the ground below. I want to see if I can fly higher if I start higher.”
“Better pack a chute,” Eric warned, grinning at Grace.
“Every swing-lo will come equipped with two parachutes,” Allyson said as she handed Grace a box. “You can count on that.”
Grace joined Eric as they carried their boxes into the cave. “Have you heard from your mother since she got out of jail?” she asked him.
Eric nodded as he set his box down. “I was just going to talk to you about that,” he said. “She wants
us to meet her in the old Hopi village of Walpi, on the first mesa of the Hopi reservation. We can take one of the motorcycles there.”
“When does she want us there?”
“Tomorrow at sunrise.”
“Do you know why?”
“It has to do with the prophecy,” Eric told her. Grace walked closer to the opening of the cave. The sun beat on her and the thought of putting on that foil-lined jacket was unbearable. “I can’t go, Eric. I can’t wear that jacket in this heat, and without it, they’ll come for me.”
“Perhaps I can help,” said Dr. Harriman, coming to join them from the back of the cave. He held a device resembling a remote control. “It’s Global-1’s most powerful signal jammer. Nothing less will totally block the signal that is coming from your bloodstream.”
“I can use it?” Grace asked hopefully.
Dr. Harriman handed it to her. “Yes, but be warned that you will block every signal in your area. If you need medical emergency assistance, no one will be able to call for it. Police won’t be able to communicate. You will even knock out phones in the area. So turn it off whenever you’re somewhere safe.”
“Is this the technology you’ve been working on?” Eric asked.
“I’ve deconstructed how this works,” Dr. Harriman said, “but Global-1’s satellite division built it. What I’m working on is much more complex than a signal jammer.”
“Can’t you tell us?” Grace urged him.
“It’s not a hundred percent perfected,” Dr. Harriman revealed.
“Why does Global-1 want it so badly?” Eric questioned.
“It will break their hold on the people of the Earth,” Dr. Harriman said, his blue eyes darkening with emotion. “It will change everything.”
Despite the heat, icy fear ran up Grace’s spine. The time of The Bar Code Prophecy seemed to be getting closer. What would it mean for her, for all of them?
Looking out of the cave, Grace saw that the blazing yellow sky seemed even brighter than it had the day before. What was this strange light? What did it mean?
To get to Hopi territory, Eric and Grace had to first drive through Navajo lands. As they approached Monument Valley on Highway 163, Grace was overwhelmed by the breathtaking landscape. The red-brown earth tones of immense rectangular buttes and other towering rock formations sat against the soaring blue expanse of sky. It was the most awe-inspiring location she’d ever seen. And now that she knew her family was safe, she allowed herself to actually enjoy it.
Eric leaned back and shouted to be heard from beneath his helmet and over the roar of the motorcycle engine. “Amazing, huh?”
“Amazing,” she echoed, thinking that the word didn’t seem to half capture the majestic forms and deep colors surrounding her. For the first time ever, Grace understood what might be meant by the term sacred lands. These rocks and lands emanated a solemnity that was beyond description.
Several hours later, Eric pulled off the highway. “You must need some water and lunch by now,” he guessed, taking off his helmet and ruffling his hair.
“Look at this,” Grace said, turning in a slow circle to take it all in. “I never imagined anything could be this overpowering. I feel like I’m on a different planet.”
“I know.”
They sat cross-legged eating the bread and fruit they’d packed, sipping from their water bottles. Grace tugged on the brim of the cap she’d brought, glad to have it to protect her face from the blistering sun. The heat waves lifting up from the ground reminded Grace of her conversation with Kayla, about how a seaway had once flowed over this desert. She understood Kayla’s idea that its remains could be found in this liquid desert mirage.
As she gazed into the waves of heat coming off the highway, Grace realized that the ground beneath her was shaking. An earthquake?
Eric stood, letting his lunch tumble from his lap. Grace got up beside him and he wrapped his arm around her protectively. Grace looked to him. “What is it?”
Responding with a puzzled shake of his head, Eric snapped up the motorcycle helmets they’d left on the ground. They headed for the bike, but before they reached it, they were hit with a thundering wind. Dust and rocks spattered them. Something huge but invisible was thundering by. “What was that?!” Grace cried, once whatever had passed was far enough away to make hearing possible.
Eric brushed gravel and red dirt from her back and sleeves. “Is your signal jammer on?”
Grace’s hand flew to her mouth. “I don’t know. I shut it off when we had breakfast in the underground parking garage under that mall. I can’t remember if I turned it back on.” Fishing it from her backpack she discovered it was off. “How did you know it wasn’t on?”
“I was just guessing. But something gigantic just passed us. And if it was using stealth-cloaking technology, the jammer should have disrupted it. That’s why I asked if it was off.”
Grace clicked the jammer back on. “All this time they could have been tracking me,” she said. “I wonder why they haven’t.”
Pasadena Sun
August 12, 2026
Solar Flares Disrupt Communications Between Space Stations
NASA has reported that its formerly manned space station has been completely evacuated of both its U.S. and Russian staff. The last personnel from the space stations run by China and Pakistan boarded space shuttles today. Global-1 Station is the only one that has not yet been evacuated.
“These precautions have been undertaken as Meteor 1 quickly approaches Earth,” Gus Hardy, a NASA representative, stated at a press conference yesterday. “Although its trajectory is still calculated to bypass Earth, the space stations themselves are considered to be at risk. This risk has been amplified by the fact that unusual solar activity has disrupted communication signals both here on Earth and in space. “Drone technology is especially in jeopardy since it depends on transmitted signal devices,” Hardy went on to say. “Disruption of these signals on the scale that we are currently experiencing could prove disastrous.”
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) warns that citizens might also be experiencing difficulty with smart phones, e-mail, and other electronic devices disrupted by solar flares. “Be prepared for static on the line and dropped calls to a greater degree than normal,” Beth McGhee, an FCC spokesperson, stated. “We have even seen disruption in the use of electronic passes at toll booths.”
Neither spokesperson was willing to comment on how long this disruptive activity is likely to last.
Eric drove his motorcycle up the sloped road leading into the abandoned city of Walpi, atop the first mesa in Hopi territory. Seated behind him, Grace squinted into the glare of first morning sun bouncing off the flat rooflines of the square, ancient adobe homes stacked one upon the other in three tiers.
Eutonah was already there, standing on the flat stone that created a sort of courtyard in front of the tiered homes. With her was a Native American in a traditional feather headdress. His skin was tanned and deeply lined but his posture was youthfully erect.
Stopping the motorcycle in front of them, Eric locked it into its stand and went to embrace the man and then his mother. “Grace, this is my uncle Russell, who raised me,” Eric introduced the man. “Uncle Russ, this is my very good friend, Grace Morrow.”
Grace extended her hand and Uncle Russell clasped it in his two strong, rough palms. “The Daughter,” he said, turning her wrist so that her bar code tattoo was revealed. “The lines your father has carved in your arm will pull down the sky.” His voice was level, thoughtful. Grace didn’t perceive any judgment or blame in it, only a statement of fact.
His words chilled her. Pull down the sky? What did that mean?
“Where are the others?” Eric asked Eutonah.
“They are gathering at Canyon de Chelly. We will join them later, but I have had a vision. Chief Russ is the only one I’ve told of it, and he has dreamed similar things.”
“The knowingness has come in a dream,” Chief Russell stated, “just as
it was foretold.”
“What have you seen?” Eric asked.
“Here is where we will find the second part of the prophecy,” Eutonah told them. She beckoned for them to follow her back toward the stacked cubed village. The too-bright sun made the mottled adobe walls glow with an iridescent yellow. Beads of sweat were already forming on Grace’s forehead and upper lip.
They followed Eutonah into the shade of an adobe building on the first level. The shadowy, empty space was low but expansive, seeming larger than an ordinary home. Eutonah led them down a narrow ladder into a lower tier. She didn’t speak until they had all come down the ladder. “This is a kiva,” she explained, “a sacred underground place of worship. It is well-known that this is here.” Again, she beckoned for them to follow her, leading them to a stone bench at the far end of the kiva. Kneeling, she threw all her weight into pushing the bench. Eric and Grace dropped down beside her, lending their help.
Grace was sweating with the effort before she felt the stone budge. Encouraged by the movement, the three of them exerted all their strength, forcing the stone bench to move nearly three feet. Eutonah rocked back on her heels and gave a cry of elation. “It is exactly what I saw in my vision!”
Getting onto her belly, Grace peered into the darkness of the opening below the stone bench. Eric joined her, flashing a pen light into the vast, black hole. “The mesa is hollow,” Eric concluded.
Grace looked up to Eutonah. “Are you saying the rest of The Bar Code Prophecy is down there?”
Eutonah pointed toward a pile of climbing ropes and equipment in the kiva. “I brought these down earlier. There are a rope and a halter for each of you,” she said.
Grace stared at Eutonah, speechless.