The Shoreless Sea

by J. Scott Coatsworth

  He’d rarely seen trees back home, and those he had seen had all been small and sickly. They certainly hadn’t glowed.

  Then he looked up.

  The world wrapped around itself, straight into the sky, trees and roads and houses all—and above it all was a bright rod of golden light.

  He grabbed the railing of the porch, feeling suddenly sick to his stomach. What the hell did I get myself into?

  Nastra put a cold hand on his cheek. “Look at me.”

  He obeyed, his breath coming quick and shallow.

  “It’s overwhelming at first, especially after all the changes you have just gone through.” Her eyes showed a hint of compassion. “For now, keep your eyes to the ground. Don’t look up. It will pass eventually—your mind just has to get used to this world, this new body.”

  He nodded. That made sense. Maybe. “Where are we?”

  This time she did smile. Just a little. “Welcome to Forever.”

  “THAT WAS all a couple days ago.”

  Belynn stared at him. It couldn’t be true. She knew enough about space travel to know you didn’t just jump into a beam of light—or a column of flame—and travel across millions or billions of kilometers.

  And yet here he was.

  Unless there was something wrong in his head.

  “He’s obviously lying.” The guy who had rushed in with Kiryn had his arms crossed. He glared at Gordon, his brown eyes narrowed, conveying scorn.

  Kiryn nudged her. “What?”

  “Sorry.” She relayed the conversation. “This is Gordon. He said he came here from Earth. Your friend thinks he’s lying.”

  “Is your friend thick in the head?” Gordon pointed at Kiryn.

  “No, my brother is deaf. There’s nothing wrong with him.” She glared at Gordon, and he backed away.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean—”

  “I don’t know what things are like wherever you’re from. But here we try to treat one another with basic common decency.” She turned to Kiryn’s date. “What the hell do you mean, he’s lying?” Belynn was running on adrenaline. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. Why do you think he’s lying?” She let Kiryn listen in with her ears, even though it drained her to do so for too long. It was just easier with this many people.

  “My name’s Dax. I know he’s lying because there’s no such thing as Old Earth.”

  Belynn rolled her eyes. He was one of those. “And you know this how?”

  “My dad told me. He said it’s just one of those things the council tells us to keep us down.”

  “That’s one of the most idiotic—”

  Bel—not now. Kiryn cut her off with a thought.

  She sighed. He was right. They had bigger fish to fry. “We can talk more about this later.” She turned back to Gordon. “Why were they after me?”

  “Not just you. Him too.” He pointed at Kiryn.

  “Why?” Belynn and Kiryn said at the same time. She wished she had some apple wine. Kiryn didn’t keep anything in his suite—she’d checked the last time she was there alone.

  Gordon shook his head. He glanced over his shoulder at the woman, who was now wide-awake and watching them intently. “Nastra wouldn’t tell me.”

  Belynn pushed her way past him and ripped off the woman’s gag, then slapped her hand over the woman’s mouth. With her free hand, she reached for her knife in its scabbard at her side.

  She pulled it out and rested the blade against the woman’s neck.

  No one messes with my family. “I’m going to take my hand off your mouth now. If you scream or make any other loud noise, you’ll feel this slice into your neck. Do you understand?”

  Nastra nodded.

  Belynn let go.

  “There’s no reason to be afraid.” Nastra said it casually, as if they were sitting down for tea. “The intifada is coming. You will all be a part of it, one way or another.”

  “What’s an intifada?” Dax stared at the woman over her shoulder.

  Once again Belynn saw the strange double image of the woman’s face. It made her sick to her stomach, but she steeled herself. “What did you want with my brother and me?”

  Nastra scowled, but her alter-image smiled. It was one of the creepiest things Belynn had ever seen. “You are the gateway.”

  There was a crash downstairs.

  “I think she may have called the others.” Gordon looked back at the door.

  “Called the others? How?” Belynn had a sneaking suspicion that she knew how. The same way she and her mother could talk to many of the other Liminals. A gift that had passed her brother by. “Wish we had more time to talk.” She conked the woman on the side of the head, knocking her out. Then she replaced the gag. “We need to get out of here, find somewhere safe where we can figure this out.”

  Kiryn nodded. He grabbed his carry sack and hurriedly shoved a few things into it. “Follow.” He led them to the open window and swung himself over the sill.

  Belynn peered out after him as he clambered down the side of the building. “There’s a trellis.” She followed her brother, pausing to look back at the two men standing gape-jawed in the room. “You guys coming? Or do you want to wait and see who’s making all that ruckus downstairs? I barely defeated the first one.”

  Gordon and Dax looked at each other. “Let’s go.”

  KIRYN REACHED the ground, landing hard on his feet. While the others scrambled after him, he eased himself around the side of the wooden building toward the entrance.

  At times like this, hearing would be a real blessing.

  The golden luthiel lantern light from the entrance was steady—there was no flickering of shadows to show movement. The intruders had gone upstairs.

  He peered around the corner and immediately drew back.

  There was blood everywhere.

  He clutched his mouth and stomach, willing himself to stay calm, to fight the sudden intense urge to vomit.

  After a few seconds, he looked again, taking in the scene.

  Aric lay on his back on the ground, his eyes wide open and his throat slit.

  Shit shit shit.

  He felt Belynn in his head. What? He could no longer hear through her—he knew how it tired her out.

  Aric is dead.

  Fuck Ariadne. She said something out loud to the others as they came up next to him, but she was facing away from him. We have to find Tim.

  He nodded. That made sense. Tim was one of the Liminals who could talk long-distance to others and to the world mind. He was assigned to Micavery to expedite messaging between the three cities of Forever. Let’s find somewhere safe first. Then we can figure out the rest.

  Where?

  Follow me.

  By now Aric’s assailants would have reached his room. They’d be untying Nastra, and soon they’d be after the four of them.

  He led them west across the campus, darting from bush to tree to boulder, keeping to the night shadows as much as possible. He avoided the buildings with their silver walls of night ivy.

  Soon they reached the Loop Road that ran all the way around Forever along the lakeside.

  Where are we going?

  Safety. He’d been out to Lover’s Point many times, the spot where the land met the sea, just past the college campus and the Loop Road. But few knew about the caverns underneath.

  The night was cool, unusually so. Storm’s coming.

  Belynn nodded.

  They crossed the Loop Road one at a time, pausing once when Belynn put a hand on his arm. A rowdy group of students was coming up the road from the center of town, probably from one of the bars.

  He and Belynn waited for the group to pass, hidden behind a hedge of jerrywood bushes.

  He glanced at her, wondering how she was doing. He held up his hand, but she wouldn’t hold up hers. “You okay?” he said aloud.

  She shook her head but wouldn’t talk to him.

  He wished he had her gift. Her ability to send to him and to read his thoughts
when he opened himself to her.

  For now, he just had to wait. She would talk to him when she was ready.

  When the group had passed, the other two hurried across the street, one at a time.

  Where are we going? Belynn’s voice in his head was a shock.

  So you are talking to me.

  She switched to sign. “We can talk later. Where?”

  “Lover’s Point.”

  “This is hardly the time for a tryst.”

  Kiryn couldn’t tell if she was joking or mocking him. “Come on.” Aric’s bloodied face haunted him. They had to get to safety.

  With one last look around to be sure they weren’t being followed, he led his worried band away from the road and toward Lover’s Point, through the brush and under the alifirs that lined the coast.

  Several dirt paths, used mainly by students looking for a quiet place to sneak out to for a little late-night hookup, ran through the narrow strip of forest next to the city.

  They passed a few of these, evidently in use, as the bushes were rattling, but no one paid them any mind. They were busy with other matters.

  Soon Kiryn found the path he wanted. He led them under the trees, toward the water.

  Lover’s Point was a narrow promontory that extended into Lake Jackson at the western edge of Micavery. It was about fifty meters above water level, before the land sloped down toward the lake around Micavery’s old town.

  They emerged from the trees into the silver light of the spindle, close to the water.

  I’m hungry. Belynn’s voice was plaintive.

  His own stomach rumbled. Kiryn laughed. Sooner or later, he’d known Belynn would come out of her funk. Me too.

  He led them up the coast, away from town. It wasn’t far, but the place was well hidden and hard to find if you didn’t know where to look.

  At last he saw the dark silhouette of the old mallow tree he was looking for. It was firmly planted in the earth, but some of its roots hung over the edge of the cliff. He turned to his companions. “Cave.” He was uncomfortable using his speaking voice, especially around a stranger. He knew he didn’t speak like everyone else, but sometimes it was the easiest way to express himself to mixed company. He signed to Belynn. “Tell them there’s a cave down there. Follow me.”

  Belynn nodded and relayed the message. “They understand.”

  Once they reached safety, they could try to figure out what was going on and what the hell to do next.

  Chapter Five: Abyss

  ANDY WAS in her garden, carefully trimming her herbs to dry them for storage and eventual sale at the Market in Darlith.

  The mint plants glowed a beautiful golden green, the delicate veins shining like lace.

  She lifted her fingers to her nose and inhaled. The scent was strong and sharp. She loved fresh mint, especially in tea. It lifted her spirits and reminded her of her days at the Schoolhouse with all her kids.

  Those “kids” were scattered to the winds now as adults, most of them working with the world mind to provide a communications network for Forever. Every now and then, one of them would show up at the Estate for a night or two, and they’d talk about old times.

  Andy was fifty-seven. She supposed she was old.

  She laughed, amused at her own bleak thoughts. She’d always been the optimist, but the years weighed on her more and more as she aged.

  She stood slowly, her knees aching from being crouched on the ground in one position for too long. Yeah, I guess I am old.

  She had berry bushes to prune, and the orchard needed tending to. Volunteers were springing up from the soil, and there was a decent crop of apples that needed picking before the next run to Darlith.

  No rest for the wicked. She picked up her basket and turned toward the barn. She would get these hung to dry in the cool cellar and then attend to the red berries and the apples….

  AN ALARM brought the virtual Andy back to consciousness. She pulled herself together, coalescing her pieces from all the various routine tasks to become herself once again.

  The dream flitted away into the outer recesses of the network.

  She shook her head. It was happening more and more these days, these glimpses into flesh-and-bone Andy’s mind and life. She didn’t know if they were real or just figments of her imagination, a wish to be corporeal again, to touch the rich loam of the earth with her bare hands, to smell the fresh scent of mint on her glowing human hands. Even to feel the aches and pains of her muscles and bones.

  Andy could do all those things, riding the consciousness of the willing Liminals. But somehow it wasn’t the same.

  She had infinity to play with here, but she was limited in a way that no one human could ever understand.

  It didn’t matter. She had work to do. Her scheduled time to rest her consciousness was over.

  She turned her attention to the alarm. It was the phage she had set to recording the signal, the one that seemed to emanate from the direction of Old Earth.

  She accepted its findings and looked them over.

  Interesting. It was a repeating pattern, run on a loop every ten minutes precisely. That alone led her to believe it had human origins. But from whom? From where? One of the other two seed ships?

  Earth?

  Moon Base Alpha?

  Had someone else survived the Collapse?

  The message was coded. She had to know what it said.

  She set a bit of her consciousness to work at it, assigning it to delve into the archives left for her and Shandra by the Immortals. Somewhere in there, perhaps, would be the key to opening it.

  Then she went back to the day-to-day business of building a world.

  DAX WATCHED with envy as Kiryn swung himself around a huge root that hung over the abyss.

  The waves crashed far below, caused by Forever’s rotation as the water sloshed around inside the great world.

  His father had explained to him why the whole Old Earth thing was nonsense once. Without a world like Forever to contain them, all the air and water would fly away into space, and the same force that held them down on the ground in Forever would fling them into space on a world like Old Earth.

  It was a crazy fantasy.

  Still, Dax wondered sometimes. If not Earth, where had they come from? Everything here was so new. Where was the history?

  All of this thinking was a great way to delay the inevitable.

  Despite his near-heroic climb up the antenna with Kiryn, Dax had a fear of heights. Especially exposed heights like this. Being inside the antenna or safely behind a railing was one thing. But this?

  “Your turn,” Belynn said after Gordon had navigated the root.

  “I don’t… you go. I’ll go last.”

  She squeezed his shoulder. “You don’t like heights, do you?”

  He laughed. “I really don’t.” He looked around. “Maybe I’ll just stay up here? Play the lookout?” How had he gotten embroiled in this whole mess, anyhow? He should just go home. This wasn’t his fight.

  “They’ll find you.”

  “What?” Damn, Belynn was intuitive. “I didn’t… I wasn’t….”

  “They have your name now. How many Dax’s are there in Micavery?”

  Good point. “Fuck and Forever. Okay, so… show me?” He wasn’t thrilled about it, and he had the sneaking suspicion that if he went down the cliff, he’d have to come back up it later. I can do this.

  She winked. “I don’t like heights either. Here’s what we’ll do.” She pulled him gently toward the edge.

  “You two coming?” Gordon called from somewhere below.

  “Yeah, be down in a minute.” Belynn squeezed his hand encouragingly.

  “Wait, you’ve never been here before. How do you know—”

  “Kiryn will show me.”

  He let that strange remark pass. Clearly the two of them had a deep connection, one he was wary of coming between.

  Something told him Kiryn would be worth the effort.

  Belynn stepped o
ver the edge, still holding his hand, her other arm wrapped around the wide root.

  He looked over the edge and his head swam. The lake was far below, small waves crashing on a rocky beach littered with driftwood, visible only in the silver light from the spindle.

  “Look at me.” Belynn reached up and squeezed his hand, and he looked away from the drop-off.

  Dax’s racing heart slowed just a little.

  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay.” I can do this.

  He turned around and took hold of the tree’s root, rough under his hands. Carefully, he lowered one leg over the edge, seeking the narrow ledge Belynn stood on.

  Almost there.

  The voice in his head shocked him. His foot slipped, and he clawed for purchase in the soil of the cliff face, the dust getting into his nose and making him sneeze and cough.

  Belynn pulled him back up, and he managed to get a gulp of fresh air. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re okay.” She squeezed his hand. “Close your eyes and just breathe for a moment.”

  He nodded, not trusting himself to speak, and closed his eyes, picturing himself in his dorm with his friends and a pint of beer.

  “Look, you made it!” Her hand was steady on the small of his back. “You’re on the ledge with me.”

  He opened his eyes. The dirt of the cliff was just below eye level, and he could smell the grass and loam. Far below, the waves still crashed on the shore. “You… was that you?” He glanced over at Belynn, being careful not to look down.

  “What?”

  “Never mind.” It must have been his own thoughts. Probably? “Okay, what next?”

  “The easy part. Just follow me.”

  They inched along the ledge together to the left, his back to the wide-open world.

  Once he accidentally glanced down between his legs, and his stomach seized up when a smattering of dirt fell to the water beneath them.

  Belynn’s touch steadied him.

  At last they were past the huge root.

  A dark cavern yawned before them, its outline almost round. Belynn stepped inside, pulling him gently along. “You made it!”