The Shoreless Sea

by J. Scott Coatsworth

  He stared at her. “You know what you’re telling me is crazy, right?”

  “Then what will it hurt for you to let me show you?”

  He bit his lip, then nodded. “Go ahead. Show me.”

  She reached up and put her hands on his cheeks. “Close your eyes.”

  He did as she asked, and she closed her own.

  Belynn activated her loop and reached inside to find him. He wasn’t so different from other human minds, maybe a bit more organized? But he was full of memories and thoughts and emotions, mostly fears at the moment. Come with me.

  She felt his assent.

  Before he could change his mind, she lifted him up out of his body.

  Together they soared out of the park, rising quickly above the city. She let go, and he looked around in wonder. “What is this? Some kind of antigravity platform?”

  “It’s more like a tri-dee.”

  They were higher than the tallest building now, the city receding below them to become a miniature version of itself. The skyhook was the only thing taller, anchored up in space somewhere far above. Or it would have been, in the real world.

  They spun lazily around it. Below them, one of the elevators was quickly rising toward the stars.

  It passed them and suddenly began to disintegrate.

  “What’s happening to it?” Cast looked frantic. “Some kind of attack?”

  She took his hand. “It’s okay. We’re just reaching the edge.”

  “The edge? Of what?”

  “Of your world.”

  The space around them darkened, then turned gray, a place full of mist. Up and up they went, through the netherworld.

  Then they passed even that strange place and returned to the world she knew.

  She paused for a moment, letting him see the cavern where they’d found Davian’s body and the strange mind that housed the inthworld.

  “What is this place? Hell?”

  “No, this is the real world. This is my home. We call it Forever.”

  He shook his head. “It can’t be.”

  “Come, and I’ll show you.” She pulled him along, and they rose once again, through stone and then dirt, passing the tunnels and stomachs of the world. Cast squeezed her hand so tightly she thought he might break it in two.

  At last they burst through the ground to reach the inside of Forever.

  Cast turned back and forth, trying to take it all in. “It goes up and up… how is that possible? And the plants. They glow. What is this place?”

  “It’s Forever, or more properly, Ariadne. Though no one calls it that anymore. This is my home.”

  He craned his neck, as if trying to see it all at once. He wavered, unsteady on his feet. “It’s too much. I can’t. I just… I can’t.” He closed his eyes, blocking out the view.

  Belynn took his hand again. In moments they were back in his world, under the metal dome.

  He opened his eyes and stared at her. “That wasn’t Earth.”

  “No, that was a generation ship. We’re far away from Earth now.” She didn’t tell him about the Collapse. It would probably be too much for him to handle all at once.

  Cast sat up, staring at the peak of the dome. “I shouldn’t believe you. I’m not sure I really do. But… I’ve heard about the research. Someone working on… seed ships?”

  She nodded. “Anastasia Anatov and her father.”

  “Maybe.” His eyes narrowed. “Assuming I believe you… how do you know your world is the real one?”

  This time it was her turn to stare at him. She laughed. “You make a good point.”

  “Thanks. I think.” He stood and looked around. “So… none of this is real?”

  “I wouldn’t say that. It’s all real. It’s just… not made of the same stuff as the outside world.”

  He nodded. “That helps. Maybe.” He hugged himself, looking around at the trees in the grove suspiciously. “It’s quite a thing to discover your whole life is an illusion.”

  “What matters is that it’s real to you.”

  A loud thump thump thump filled the air.

  “What’s that?”

  “You must be on someone’s radar.” He pointed at the sky. A black vehicle with some sort of spinning rotor was visible through the branches. “We’d better get out of here.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “I have an idea. Come on!” He led her out the grove, through the back part of the monument, away from the approaching vehicle.

  “What is that thing?”

  “It’s called a wide-prop copter. The police use them.” He pulled her down a pathway and then into the bushes.

  Police. She knew that word now. “You really know your way around this park!”

  “I… uh… spent a lot of time down here when I was here for college.”

  “In the park? You must love nature.”

  “Yeah. That’s the reason.”

  “What do you—oh.” She really was dense sometimes.

  They came out of the foliage a few hundred meters away from the grove, near a small building with a sign that said Gift Shop. “Stay here under the trees. I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay.”

  He ran across the open space to the store.

  She waited under the tree cover, glancing backward toward the monument nervously. She hoped she could trust him.

  He seemed convinced about the whole inthworld thing, but then again, she didn’t know him very well. How could she be sure?

  She liked him, though. He reminded her, in some strange way, of Dax. Something instinctive told her to trust him.

  Cast returned five minutes later with a bag. “Take this.” He thrust it at her.

  Belynn grabbed it, wondering what was inside.

  “I called us a taxi.”

  She shook her head. “That’s a terrible idea…. Lilith….”

  “Won’t recognize you in what I brought you.”

  Curious, she reached into the bag and pulled out a hat. It was bronze and conical, with two white horns.

  “Put it on.”

  She stared at it. “What the hell is it?”

  “Part of a costume, but you won’t need the rest.”

  She put on the hat. “What now?”

  He pressed a button on the side of it.

  She reached up to touch her face. “I don’t feel any different.”

  He laughed. “Trust me, you look like an eighth-century Viking lass. You can still see a replica of the Hjemkomst ship in the museum here.” He grinned. “If I were a Viking guy, a straight one at least, I’d probably find you quite attractive.”

  “What the hell’s a Viking lass?”

  He laughed. “I’ll show you later. But trust me, this Lilith character won’t recognize you. Come on! The taxi is meeting us by the street.”

  She ran after him, wondering if his mad scheme would work. “Where are we going?”

  “I found your friend Jackson.”

  “Spin-fucking fantastic.”

  Two minutes later, they were in a taxi, climbing into the wide-open blue Fargo sky.

  Chapter Ten: In the Mist

  DESTINY CHECKED on each of ser charges.

  Dax was talking with Glory. Belynn was in a taxi, making her way to the edge of Fargo, and Gordy was with that fox woman in New York.

  Se still couldn’t “see” Kiryn, but se felt him through their link. Wherever he was, he was okay for the moment.

  Se stared at the mists around ser, searching them for something. Se wasn’t sure exactly what it was se sought, but se knew it was here. A memory that would give ser the answer se needed to save them all.

  There had to be a way to find what se wanted.

  Se sampled another and fell down the memory hole.

  COLIN ROLLED the large bale of hay out into the yard, pushing it up onto a round wooden pallet. It was a warm autumn night, and the air bore just a hint of moisture.

  Above, the stars sparkled dimly behind the mask of night smog tha
t he hoped would blow out with the morning winds.

  Charger stood at the fence, watching him eagerly, his mouth moving in anticipation of breakfast.

  The California sky was still mostly dark. The stars were streaked with clouds, the first sign of a storm blowing in. After two and a half years of drought, the Central Valley was finally due for a bit of moisture.

  He threw a net over the bale, securing it to the pallet. It would keep the horses from eating the hay too quickly.

  Most farms in the area were corporate-owned and used automated feeders. They also had herds in the hundreds or thousands.

  The McAvery farm was a throwback, one of the few family-owned farms left this side of the valley. Everything on the McAvery farm was done by people, even if they used machines to accomplish many of the tasks.

  He envied his friends in school, who didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to feed the horses and water the garden, the responsibilities his father had given to him in exchange for a weekly allowance credit on his account.

  After his chores, he’d still have to get cleaned up and have breakfast before the bus dropped in to pick him up for school.

  A lot of kids learned at home these days, but Colin’s father was old-fashioned. “You need to be socialized to grow up as a decent human being.”

  Colin had heard it time and time again.

  The lights flickered on in the kitchen windows across the yard.

  Colin grinned. Mom had promised him chocolate chip waffles.

  He hurried to finish his other tasks, anticipating the taste of chocolate on his tongue.

  DESTINY BLINKED. That had to be Colin McAvery, one of the original founders and also one of the Immortals.

  It was strange. He was a legend, but his life hadn’t been all that different from ser own, working on a farm with horses.

  Destiny wondered what chocolate was. Se could almost taste it on ser own tongue, from the wisp of memory from Colin’s mind.

  There was so much here in the mist, seemingly random. Enjoying these memories was fun, but se was on a deadline. Se needed to work out a way to search through it more quickly.

  Se sat down on the formless ground and stared at the mists, trying to work out a way to find what se wanted.

  THE DOOR chimed.

  “Wait here. I’ll talk to him. He can be stubborn as a mule sometimes.” Glory patted Dax’s knee.

  “You believe me?” He had no idea what a mule was but had to agree that Jackson could be stubborn. He’d witnessed it firsthand.

  She nodded. “Sometimes I remember things. Like… we’ve all done this before….”

  “Déjà vu.”

  “Like that. But… stronger. It’s hard to explain. It makes sense, with what you told me.”

  The doorbell chimed again.

  “Coming!”

  She palmed the door open just a bit. “Jackson, you have to promise to stay calm. I have something to talk to you about.”

  Dax gulped. This wasn’t going to be easy.

  “What is it?”

  Dax knew that voice. It sounded suspicious.

  “Just promise you will hear him out.”

  “Who?”

  Dax thrummed his hands on his thigh, and his knee bounced up and down.

  Now it was Glory who sounded exasperated. “Promise me.”

  “All right. I promise.”

  Dax picked up his now lukewarm glass of water and sipped at it nervously.

  Glory opened the door the rest of the way and beckoned Jackson inside.

  As soon as Jackson entered the room, he stopped and stared at Dax. “What in the—”

  Glory gave him a warning look.

  “—heck is he doing here?”

  “Jacky, you promised.”

  “I didn’t know it was him.” The man growled but let himself be led to the chair across from Dax. “Who the… heck are you?”

  “I’m Dax.” Dax sat forward and extended his hand to shake, but Jackson ignored it. Dax pulled it back sheepishly.

  “Why is he here?” Jackson’s voice was tight, and he sat rigidly on the edge of the white couch, like he was ready to flee. Or attack.

  “Just listen to him.” Glory sat down beside Jackson and put a hand on his knee.

  Dax cleared his throat. “I came from a long ways away to find you.”

  Jackson snorted. “All of Earth is a long ways from here.”

  “I didn’t come from Earth.”

  Jackson’s eyes narrowed. “Moon Base Alpha?”

  Dax shook his head. “I… it’s hard to explain.”

  “Try.”

  Dax gathered his thoughts. Jackson was an engineer, a practical man. “They’re planning to build generation ships.”

  “Generation ships?”

  “To take us to the stars.”

  “They’ve been saying that forever.”

  “Well, suppose they actually did. Suppose… you were the engineer sent out on a ship to grow the first one?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jackson sat back and spread his arms across the couch, his gaze still hard, focused on Dax’s face.

  Dax cast about for a way to convince him. To show him who and what he would become. What would happen next.

  Destiny’s voice whispered in his ear. Show him this.

  He jumped.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Can I? He’d never been as good at the typical Liminal things as Belynn and Kiryn. But maybe here….

  He lunged forward and took Jackson’s hands.

  Something passed between them like an electric shock.

  THE DRESSLER floated through space on its way to its rendezvous with Ariadne.

  Jackson touched the living skin along the ship’s runway, and an electric shock went through him, knocking him unconscious, clear across the runway into a metal rung on the opposite wall.

  He awoke. The ground beneath him was slick and wet. He lifted his hand, and it was covered with golden ichor.

  “Where am I?” He stood slowly. He was surrounded by a dim yellow light, like the light from the ship’s skin, but he was most definitely not inside the Dressler.

  Jackson turned around, and the light grew gently around him. He was clothed in metal—armor—like a knight of the Round Table, and the ichor at his feet had turned into tall, waving green grass that lapped at his shins.

  He stood at the base of a broad green valley, grassy hillsides around him blowing in the wind. Before him the sun crested the ridge, shining a clear, warm light down onto him and the valley floor. The hills were topped with old, weathered gray rock formations, and the world was empty except for him. No birds chirped, no insects buzzed—as if it were new. Or fake.

  It had to be a dream. He’d fallen on the runway and bumped his head, and this was all in his mind. He closed his eyes and tried to pinch himself, a difficult task in a suit of armor.

  Jackson peeked out between slitted eyes. There was no change.

  He turned around. There was a tall stone tower on a hill before him now, looking impossibly ancient, covered with thick vines and ivy, along with tattered patches of moss.

  “Jackson….” The wind whispered his name.

  He spun around awkwardly in the heavy armor, searching for the source of the voice.

  There was nothing but the quiet grass-filled valley.

  A pathway led up the hillside to the base of the tower.

  Subtle. He shrugged. Nothing to do but indulge the dream.

  Jackson clambered up the path, wishing he knew how to remove the heavy plates of metal that encumbered him. Slowly he mounted the summit, arriving at last at a large old metal-banded wooden door that was twice his height, decorated with faded, peeling red paint.

  “Jackson…,” something called again, this time clearly from inside the tower.

  The whole thing was creepy. He turned to retreat and surveyed the empty valley below. Where would he go? Not a lot of options.

  He stood on the thresho
ld for a moment, willing himself once again to wake up.

  No such luck.

  The sunshine was gone, and a rolling silver mist gathered at his feet, lapping at the base of the tower.

  He pushed on the ancient door. Nothing happened. It was solid, as solid as the armor he wore, heavy and made of hardwood… oak, maybe? He’d seen so few trees, growing up in the concrete-and-metal warrens of New York City.

  He pushed harder and the door budged. A little.

  Jackson backed up and threw his full weight against it, once, twice, three times.

  On the last try, it burst open.

  He fell to the hard-packed dirt floor inside the tower with a loud metallic clatter amidst a showering of splinters and knocked the wind out of his lungs.

  He sat up and struggled raggedly to catch his breath.

  After a moment, he managed to suck in a lungful of stale air, dispelling that awful feeling of suffocation.

  At last he pulled himself back to his feet and got his bearings, his eyes adjusting to the tower’s dim interior.

  The room was bare, save for an aging wooden staircase that wound up the inside wall toward the top, far above.

  He eyed the staircase suspiciously, looking up to where it disappeared into darkness. Dream or no, he had no desire to crash down from such a height. People died from falling in their dreams.

  Still, the stair looked as solid as the door, so he put one foot after another upon it and began the slow climb to the top.

  Jackson wasn’t a great believer in dreams. His were mostly garden-variety—working on his house or fixing a piece of machinery. He’d never dreamed about anything as fantastical as this before.

  The stair went on and on. He climbed slowly, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. The tower was much taller inside than out, which befuddled his engineer’s mind to no end. Let it go. It’s just a dream.

  After what seemed like an hour, he reached the top.

  He climbed onto a wide wooden platform surrounded by glassless windows that looked out onto the valley below.

  In the middle of the platform, Snow White was waiting for him.

  He’d seen the Disney dimensional often enough to recognize her—a beautiful young woman with dark hair, laid out fast asleep on a stone bier, oblivious to the world around her.