She was the girl from his dreams.
Her jet-black hair spread out across the stone beneath her, and she was dressed in a rich blue silk dress that was buttoned up to her neck. He knew that it would match the color of her eyes.
Her hands were clasped peacefully over her chest, as if in death, and a golden ray of sunshine slanted down from a crack in the roof to light her with an ethereal glow.
Instinct took over, and he leaned in and brushed her lips with his.
Her eyes flew open, and she stared up at him, her vivid blue eyes full of fear. “Jackson, you have to save me.”
JACKSON’S EYES opened wide, and he stared at Dax in disbelief.
“Who are you?” he asked again.
“You have a special ability. You can connect directly to biominds, without your loop.”
“You… how do you know that?” Jackson had gone white. “What do you want from me?”
Glory squeezed his arm. “He’s here to help. Tell him.”
Dax nodded. “I inherited my ability from your line. I am who I am because of you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I told you I came from a long ways away.”
THE WORLD was almost silent, save for the sound of birds singing in the trees above.
Jackson stared at Kiryn. “You’re… my great-grandson?”
Kiryn nodded. “Andy’s son.”
“Ah. How many years have passed outside, since we left Earth?”
“Almost fifty?”
He looked away. “Your mother… is she still alive?”
“Yes, she’s doing well. She and Shandra live on a farm not far from Thyre—”
“Thyre?” Jackson arched an eyebrow.
“The next town after Darlith.”
Jackson chuckled. “It seems life goes on without me.” He rubbed his beard. “You’re not here alone, are you?”
“No, sir.”
“Call me Jackson.”
“Yes, sir… I mean Jackson.” The man was intimidating. There was something about him—a latent power or strength that almost hummed under his skin. “My sister, Belynn, my partner, Dax, and Gordy—”
“Gordy Mattson?”
“Yes… do you—crap, of course you do.”
Jackson frowned, lines creasing his forehead. “How is that even possible? Gordy would have died half a century ago on Earth. Unless… did he make it up here, somehow?”
“No, sir. Jackson.” Kiryn blushed. “He came from here. From the inthworld.”
“The what?”
“The inthworld. That’s what we’ve taken to calling this place.”
“So he’s like me?”
“I think so?” Kiryn cast about for a way to explain it. “He was born here, and then Lilith sent him to our world. He took over someone else’s body, a kid who was in a coma.”
The mist behind Jackson darkened and started to boil.
Kiryn’s jaw dropped open. “What in the—”
Jackson grabbed Kiryn by the hand and slashed the air with the other. The fog split to reveal a wooded grove. “Go!” Jackson shoved him through, following right behind him.
Kiryn fell and landed hard on his ass. He stared at the strange gateway as something huge, dark, and full of tentacles writhed into the space they’d just occupied on the other side.
Then the gap snapped shut.
Kiryn took a deep breath and looked around in amazement. They were in an ancient grove, surrounded by trees with red bark that soared hundreds of meters above his head. The ground was soft under his hands, and the air was redolent with the scent of pine trees. “What in fucking Ariadne was that?”
Jackson looked grim. “That was Lilith. You spoke her name, and she probably heard you from her lair.”
“Lilith can do that?” He put his hand over his mouth, mortified he had done it again, and looked around wildly, expecting her to reappear.
Jackson smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry. She can’t come here.”
“What is this place?” Kiryn was only partially reassured. He stood and wiped the dirt and needles from his pants.
“This is Earthsea, where you first met me. Or at least a part of me.”
“Ham… he was a piece of you?” Of course, his name was Ham, like Hammond. Kiryn felt like an idiot.
Jackson nodded. “This was Alex’s private domain. I inherited it when the Immortals died. I like to keep an eye on all its far-flung parts, so I separate sometimes and send my consciousness across my domain.” He split apart into a host of flickering black wings, sending Kiryn scurrying back to the ground as they fluttered past him.
Kiryn shimmied backward on his hands, slamming into the trunk of a huge tree.
The birds hurtled around one another in tighter and tighter circles until they collided again in a flash. “Pretty cool, huh?” Jackson stood before him once again.
Kiryn laughed nervously. “Yeah, that’s one word for it.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you.” A twinkle in his eye said otherwise. “Come on. I have something to show you.”
They set off through the forest. Kiryn marveled at how real it felt, each twig and leaf in its place.
He stopped to pick up an object as long as his forearm. It had to be a pinecone, though the largest ones he’d seen on alifirs were the length of his pinkie.
The land climbed as they walked, and soon there was a deep thundering ahead, coming through the trees. A couple of dozen meters more revealed the source.
They came out from under the trees onto a high bluff, looking out at an ocean far grander than Lake Hammond back home, or even the new sea that the world mind was building. It seemed to stretch off forever under the infinite sky.
It was strange enough that the plants here didn’t glow, but the wide-open vista almost brought him down to his knees.
Jackson put a hand on his shoulder. “Whoa there. Yeah, it’s overwhelming at first.”
That was an understatement.
Far below, the ocean waves crashed against black rocks, throwing up spumes of white water and filling the air with salty moisture. In the middle distance, a series of islands dotted the ocean, several close enough to swim to, others seemingly far away.
“Your world is dying.” It came out without conscious thought. It was a repudiation of everything he saw before him. But he knew it in his gut. He’d seen it.
“I know.” Jackson stared out at the panorama as if searching for something.
“The world mind sent us.”
“Are you going to destroy us?” There was no judgment in the question, but it hung in the air between them.
The inthworld was far more beautiful and complex than he ever could have guessed.
“No. How could we?” Kiryn lifted his face to the breeze, inhaling deeply and imagining where the wind had come from, all the things it must have seen.
“Good.” Jackson nodded, slapping him on the back. “I’m glad to hear it. I will help you.”
“Help me?”
“To put an end to Lilith’s madness and to save both of our worlds.”
LILITH STEWED in her chamber. She was so close to the goal that had eluded her for so many cycles—conquering the outer world and transferring her consciousness there.
She was running out of time.
The world mind had sent its agents into her world. There were at least two, Belynn and Kiryn, the siblings who had thwarted her before.
Both had eluded her grasp, but if they were here, there must be someone else aiding their cause, and she had a good idea where to find them.
Meanwhile, her plan in the outer world inched forward. If it came to fruition before her own world looped, she would finally have what she sought and would be free of this damnable round-robin world, once and for all.
Strange thoughts bubbled up in her mind, free-wheeling fantasies that sought to distract her. Orange flames danced in the air, and bubbles blown by elephants slipped between them and soared up toward the sky.
She shoved the images down mercilessly. She could ill afford to drop back into madness. Not right now.
Not when I am so close.
Chapter Eleven: Breakthrough
ANDY ALL but ran down the tunnel that led to the world mind, where Aine’s physical form—her brain—was housed. She hadn’t been there in years. Decades. The last time she’d come, she’d been all but certain she and Shandra would die.
The others followed her.
She passed through the old, now abandoned control center and turned down the tunnel that led to both the old and new world mind chambers. One more turn and she was in Aine’s home.
It was filled with golden light. Aine was alive.
She breathed a sigh of relief. She had been certain she would know if something had happened to Aine, but still….
Shandra and Colin came in right behind her.
“She’s really grown.” The mind hovered above them, its roots dug into the rock. Shandra’s gaze swept the cavern. “Can she sense us?”
Colin was staring up, too, his eyes narrowed.
Andy grinned in spite of herself. “Have you ever been here before?”
He shook his head, his expression changing in an instant to a look of awe. “She’s impressive.”
“I have to try to connect to her. She’s withdrawn to keep herself safe from Lilith and the intifada.”
Something growled in the shadows behind them.
Shandra pulled her away from the entrance. “Andy, I think we have a problem.”
Two… things slipped out of the darkness of the tunnel they’d just exited.
They were about the size of large dogs, but with huge razor-like teeth… like saber-tooth tigers. Their long, sharp claws clacked on the rock surface.
“What the hell are they?” Andy gestured for the others to slip behind her. Aine must have made herself a couple of protectors. She hoped.
No one else had the capability to conjure new life-forms from nothing, and she’d never seen anything like these before, on Forever or in the records of Old Earth.
They had armored hides, like rhinoceri, and sharp horns on their snouts. But their faces were decidedly vulpine. And those teeth….
One of them opened its mouth and roared.
Defenders they might be. Unfortunately they seemed to have no idea Andy and her companions were friends.
DESTINY GRINNED. Se’d finally figured out the hierarchy of the memories. They were layered and connected in a way that had mystified ser at first, but now se could visualize the whole thing—ser gift at imprinting had come to ser rescue.
Se was now following one to another until se found the one se wanted—the memory of the formation of the inthworld itself.
It was embedded in the heart of the world mind. For that’s what this was—a world mind that had never grown a guiding consciousness.
Now Destiny had it at ser fingertips. Se shivered with anticipation, then reached out to touch the glowing mist of the primordial memory.
“ARE YOU sure this is right?” Davian frowned at the lumpy, misshapen thing. “I saw photos of the world mind seeds. They looked nothing like this.” Three long months it had taken to prepare for this day. Three months staring at the bowl of stars below. Three months of eating the same thing, day after day after day.
Gunner stared at him like a dimwit. Which he was, in some ways. Single-minded, with a power far surpassing his own mental abilities. Davian snorted. The man didn’t deserve to have such power.
Davian grinned. At least it was his to use.
“It’s not a seed. It’s a mind.”
Like that explains anything. Still, what was he going to do? They were stuck with each other.
Davian was taking a huge gamble. Creating his own little world that he could use to break into the world mind itself, stolen from the Immortals themselves.
He scoffed. What a pretentious title.
He’d show them true immortality. One day soon, when he vanquished them to the grave. He would be immortal, in the most real sense of the word. He licked his lips. He could almost taste it.
Davian climbed up on the stone slab, trying to find a comfortable position on the hard stone. Not that it really mattered. He’d be free from this aging body soon enough. He closed his eyes. “I’m ready.”
He wasn’t sure what would happen to Gunner when all this was over. Probably the man would starve to death once he’d served his purpose. Or he might wander back the way they had come and find a way out of this dark underground.
Gunner’s warm hand touched his cheek.
Davian felt nothing for a second. Then his world exploded in green light, and he screamed as his mind and soul were sucked out of his body and into someplace new.
DESTINY SCREAMED, too, at the pain and horror of what Davian had done.
When se opened ser eyes, se fell to the featureless ground and wept.
The pain. The terrible pain. And the evil se’d felt in the man.
Destiny didn’t believe in evil. Not really. People made bad choices, misguided ones. Sometimes others got hurt. But actual real-world evil?
Ser father. He’d been something close to evil.
But this… what se’d felt in Davian’s mind, his heart, his soul….
Destiny felt soiled.
If that was how this world had come about, perhaps it was better to just destroy it.
Still, there were so many innocent lives in here, created almost incidentally. Lives that se couldn’t just allow to be snuffed out.
Se understood now why this mind had no guiding consciousness of its own. Davian had used it as a springboard and had abandoned it when he’d attacked the world mind. Left it to sicken and die.
Se understood now why Aine had sent them here.
Destiny got to ser feet, steadier now, resolved to do what had to be done. Se saw Lilith for what she was now, a residue of that original sin. One that needed to be wiped out of the core of the world.
That was the sickness that was killing this place.
Something dark swirled in the mist before ser.
Destiny leapt back, staring at the thing manifesting itself before ser. Se was surprised, but se shouldn’t have been.
A face, twisted and malformed by darkness, peered out at her from the heart of the void, her tentacles reaching out toward Destiny. Lilith. Given form in this place by her own malicious will.
Destiny looked about wildly. Se had nothing to defend serself with. Se wouldn’t go down without a fight, but se had to find better ground. Se ran.
The mists were exploding all around ser, the creature’s tentacles trying to grab ser, to outflank ser.
Se was faster, for the moment.
“Come to me, little girl,” Lilith’s voice taunted from the mist.
Destiny turned back, incensed in spite of the danger, and spat in Lilith’s direction. “I’m not a girl.” Se grabbed a bit of mist, balling it in ser hand, and threw it back at the face that appeared through the swirling fog.
It was a horrid face. Maybe it had once been human, but now it was swollen and distorted, its skin a sickly green.
As the memory fog hit it, the face stopped, looking stunned.
Destiny turned and fled.
ZAIMANN STARED at Gordy, her vulpine mouth hanging open, tongue lolling to the side. “You’re from here? But you’ve been living on the outside?”
He nodded. “I know. It’s… really strange to find out everything you thought was real was actually… well… this.” He gestured around the room.
She sat back, her eyes glazing over as she accessed the grid. A moment later, her consciousness returned. “You do appear to be Gordy Mattson.” She growled. “There have been… suspicions. I’d guessed about there being an outside. But I didn’t know Lilith had found a way to send people there.”
He bit his lip. “I… I hope you don’t plan to….”
Zaimann scoffed. “No, I have enough to keep me busy here, in my own little fiefdom. But still… it su
ggests some interesting possibilities, and it explains certain things.”
“Like….”
“Like this.” She stood, flowing gracefully from the sofa to the floor in front of her, and swept her arms through the air—arms which suddenly held a curved, very sharp-looking sword.
A sword that was—just as suddenly—at his neck.
“You are telling me the truth, right? You’re not one of Lilith’s spies? Because I assure you, your death here will be very real.”
“No… I swear!” The blade bit into the soft skin of his neck. She seemed to enjoy threatening him there.
Zaimann leaned forward to sniff him. “I believe you.” The sword disappeared.
Gordy reached up to touch his throat. It came away wet with a drop of blood. “You don’t fuck around.”
She grinned, her canines sharp and white. “You don’t rise to power in a place like this if you deal in half measures.” She cocked her head, as if at a sound that only she could hear.
Considering those ears, it was quite possible.
“We have to go. Lilith is attacking one of your friends.” She took him with one hand and slashed the air with her other, opening up a jagged line in reality. Gray mist poured through from the other side. “Come on!”
He followed her through, into the fog.
Gordy peered through the mist, looking for some sign of Destiny or Lilith. “Where are they?” It was a strange place, devoid of any real character. The fog that swirled around them was gray, but if he looked at it closely, he could see strange spiraling hints of color.
The ground was flat and featureless.
He started forward into the gray.
Zaimann put a red paw on his chest, holding him back. “Wait.”
He liked the bandmaster. She was strong and smart and unapologetic. And despite her strange appearance, somehow sexy as hell. In another lifetime—
Something slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. He sat up and found himself looking into familiar eyes. “Destiny!”
The Shoreless Sea Page 26