Time passed and again Cathbad surfaced, this time with a softer vibe. I am not sure what you have in mind, but it truly is my time to go. I feel it as a certainty.
Johan didn’t respond.
The trackways have led here. A safe passage to Gwynvyd is all I ask. I’ll deliver the Council myself. I’ve felt your binding technique. I can do it.
The Council pried in odd ways, still trying for release. Johan pressed them into silence. Saoghal lay timeless around them, rich with unformed potential. A soul could get used to the peace.
Cathbad sighed. Too long I’ve been in this world. I don’t want another’s body. I don’t want to extend. I want to go home. It’s time.
He felt a movement, then. A stirring. Johan cast out but found nothing of meta.
What is it? Cathbad asked.
The stirring came again, this time recognizable and totally unexpected: a wind. Something from Raon, felt in Saoghal. Indeed it was wind, stirring to rise and fall as natural as any wind on Earth.
Eden? Cathbad’s hope stirred its own kind of wind.
A scent carried in, that of ancient forests and wet bog lands. Johan continued to cast around but failed to find the source. A bird cried from a great distance. Then a drum beat; faintly in the rise of the wind, louder as it fell.
Bodrán. The war drums. Cathbad manifested a younger self. Leather armor laid across a barrel chest. He wore a brown beard braided with palm reeds. Muscular arms bulged with the paint of a clan. Gone was the aged face. He stood as a young warrior in the time before Awakening.
Johan cringed at the impression he made in the mesh. What are you doing?
More drums sounded and then a wail of bagpipes joined in a sweeping march song. The darkness of Saoghal split and white light poured across his sense net. Nothing of meta – it was pure Eden, where human finality met the beginnings of eternity. A dirt path formed. Green bog-moss and vivid lichens grew outward from it. Rain fell in shimmering drops from unseen trees. Welcome shouts crossed the span, familiar voices from ages past.
Cathbad pulled his gaze from the portal. In his right hand he bore a sword and in his left he gripped long hair attached to the head of Bastion. Embodied within it were the souls of the council.
I am called. The rest is for you to see through, Gerrit. Go with the Lord of the Wood. Follow the Lady of the Stars, lad. Trust in yourself. The world has a chance now, that much I know. Just don’t let the families split.
In the shimmering space between them was the need for Johan to release him.
Are you sure? The question was more for himself than for the druid.
Aye, lad. You’re made for this. Trust in that.
Cathbad lifted the severed head high. Ní síocháin go saoirse! No peace ‘til freedom! He turned and ran along the path until the light enveloped him.
The release happened of its own, as natural as death and with the same pain of loss. In the emptiness the drums subsided and the calls faded. For long moments, the peace and beauty of the light glowed, as if waiting to heal his pain. The rain drops fell like tears. Johan felt the tug of indecision when two figures emerged from the light upon the path.
Mother. Father.
Johan manifested as himself and took steps closer.
In their eyes was pride and love and no small amount of longing. The draw of Gwynvyd draped itself around him. He held his place and shared their gaze. The sense of belonging made the distance between them painful. Choice lay bare, untethered to any concept or obligation. A few more steps would lead to the embrace of his parents and to the fact of peace and untold adventure beyond. Earth and humanity would continue without him, as ever. The scales of decision tipped heavily towards taking those steps.
As an anchor hitting bay waters, Anki’s intentions splayed across memory, rooting him to the spot. I want to try with you, to push the change forward. As far as it can go.
That spirit still owned his soul. It called him back, calmed the fire of impulse, and dipped the scales in reverse. What lay before him was timeless and inevitable, best he knew. Gwynvyd and his parents would wait. They looked on with renewed pride as he made his decision.
I cannot yet. There is too much left to do.
With a final nod of approval, they turned and walked back into the light. The portal withdrew its vision and sealed itself, leaving blackness in its wake. The wind blew for a time as if keeping him company then faded into the eternal night of Saoghal.
He had never felt so alone.
• • •
Terenzio reached up and advanced the song on his phone. Again he reprimanded himself for not removing the annoying song from his playlist. The clock ticked closer to two-thirty. Another long overnight session with the stiff. Little Simon, the last feline of the litter not yet adopted out, lay curled on the guy’s chest. Not the warmest spot around but it wasn’t moving, either.
While glad for his gift of endurance with the life system, the work was far from glamorous. He eyed the face of his ‘cousin from America’. Had to be someone important. Auntie Cristina wouldn’t say if he was involved in the so-called terrorist hunt but it seemed likely. As long as they didn’t bust in on them, he didn’t care. Thoughts of achieving station in New York or Los Angeles made the long night easier to endure.
The kitty woke and raised its head, alerted to something.
Terenzio paused the player to listen. He stood and went to the window to peer towards the street. Seeing and feeling nothing, he turned back and jumped. The stiff was staring back at him, petting Simon. A shadow of meta emerged and he knew he’d been violated. He stopped the life flow.
“Man, why’d you pull that?”
“Relax,” Johan sat up, careful with the kitten. “I just wanted to see who was taking care of the ‘stiff’ while I was gone. Thank you. Most seriously.”
“Yeah, okay. I gotta get Aunt Cristina. Stay put.” He strode from the room, put off by having been snuck up on. Embarrassment leaked like water from a burlap bag.
Johan petted the critter in his lap. “I am a bit stiff, actually.” He chuckled. “Time to catch up with Austin, hm? Make sure the sand men backed off like they said they would.”
The kitten purred and closed its eyes and so did he.
Chapter 31
There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and
those to whom God says, “All right, then, have it your way.”
- C.S. Lewis
The whir of steel cables, the blur of red shaft lights, and the shadows of the cars coming up at him made the descent a treacherous, sensory experience. Elevator doors opened and gunfire erupted from above and below. Rounds struck, sometimes pushing him off balance. He dodged into other shafts, weaving to avoid threats.
He flew past an open elevator door only to see a trooper leap into the shaft, firing an automatic weapon. A round struck his shoulder and nano-fiber cap to slap his head at an angle. Dots burst in his vision and he shouted in pain. His rifle clipped a cable guide and spun him wildly. He recovered only to take another round in the leg. He couldn’t focus well enough to act. Frustration took hold and–
“Fucking stop!”
He froze mid-air and deployed a bubble as he had while over Tokyo. The free falling troop smacked into the quantum brick wall. Two floors down, muzzle flashes lit the shaft. He flung the dead troop at them. Flashes from above grew brighter as more soldiers leapt into the shafts and fired.
“Mother fucks!”
Down he went, nudging the kamikazes into the walls or cables. The bubble failed and he let it go. Two yellow lights at the bottom of the shaft glowed faintly. He concentrated on them and burst downward, slowing at the last second to land on his feet. He stepped between the shafts to avoid bodies punching into concrete. One after another they exploded in blood and bared bone.
With an effort, he formed another shield and tore open an elevator door. A barrage of gunfire erupted from a room full of guards. He spun out of the way, losing the shield, an
d was almost crushed by another falling troop. Blood sprayed his cap and through the eye holes to speckle his eyelids. He pressed himself into a corner of the shaft. In that moment, the reality of exhaustion dawned. The endless supply of potential had gone dry, almost as if revoked.
More rounds punched through the closed elevator doors. They were fishing for him.
“God damn it.” He stuck his hand in his vest pocket and pulled out the Semtex slab and detonator. He readied the detonator before sending the explosives out the open elevator door and high over their heads.
The first shouts were his signal. He gathered himself and once more turtled with a thick shield and pressed the detonator button. The explosion flashed in silence as sound waves, metal, and concrete bounded off his shell, pinning him in his corner.
The shield fell and a headache took its place. The air tasted of acrid chemicals and death. He listened but heard nothing but the echo of the blast in the caverns below. Carefully, he stepped around the mangled remains of elevator doors and over bloodied concrete blocks to see the hole blown in the floor and ceiling. Torn bodies lined the walls of the room. The disturbed waters of the reservoir cast light and shadows on the carnage around him.
He stumbled and caught himself near the edge. Peering over, he saw the waves and chunks of concrete at the bottom.
That was close. Sorry about Javier. I wasn’t sure you’d make it, either.
Johan’s presence felt good. “Did you get them?”
Yes, I got them. And yes, Cathbad has gone on.
He shuddered in relief. It had been worth it.
“And my dad?”
I’m sorry. Javier was seen passing on but I don’t know about your dad. He wasn’t visible to me when I was set loose. I’ll try to find out, though, I promise.
The room seemed to dim at the news. Not again... he needed to know, needed closure or hope. “Maria’s back in charge?”
Don’t know yet. You have a minute at most. Soldado’s messing with the elevators but they’re coming down the stairs now.
“What about the meta scrambler?”
Never mind that. Get back to Meng. You’re more important. Can you do it?
He was exhausted but not completely. The bullet to the skull cap had started an ache that was getting worse, adding to the issue of focus. Dots framed his peripheral vision. He wondered what internal bleeding of the brain felt like.
“Yeah, I can get there.”
The clang of a door and boots on stairs startled him.
Get gone then.
“Going.”
Clearing the cavern, he made his way back through the circular shafts up to the utility room and into the hall. The goggles still worked but glitched every time he looked too far up. He used the rifle’s feeder beam again, this time with the rifle’s safety off. Old-fashioned firepower would have to augment his defense.
He opened the door to the loading area and was met with silence. He turned up the feeder beam and scanned the entire space and saw nothing. He waited for Meng to crack the hatch. Johan’s presence had faded abruptly, making him wonder what was happening in the world.
“Um... hello?”
Walking along the wall towards the main tunnel, he wondered if Meng leaving was related to Johan’s leaving, too. Closer to the tunnel, sounds echoed faintly at first, then grew until it was clear something was coming from the direction of the base.
“Johan, you wanna tell me what’s going on?” he muttered while running to the edge of the tunnel.
A light grew with the sound.
“Ah fuck.”
He bolted back towards the door, half running, half flying. The approaching train spoiled his night vision so he turned it off. Looking back, he saw the cylindrical car arrive in the loading space. It turned just as he reached the doorway, flooding him in light.
A loud clank sounded – the door locking. Rows of overhead lights suddenly glowed as power was routed to the wing.
Panic sent him gathering potential. Still exhausted, his mind resisted. He fished for a C4 door banger from his kit and pressed it to the door, triggering the timer. It went off with a flash and deafening pop. A pull on the handle showed the lock still engaged.
“Damn it.”
A hiss sounded from the train car and its door opened. Troops fanned out, their rifle beams flickering in his direction.
He flew then, fast and to the right. Gunfire followed him, with a round striking his lower thigh. He shouted in pain and immediately raised the rifle to return fire, pissed off more than scared until he actually heard the rounds slicing the air near his head. The rifle spit out a stream of bullets at the troops. He circled around to put the car between them. The tunnel was close so he darted into it, heading towards the exit. The tunnel lights were now lit, creating a dizzying peripheral effect as he flew. The spots in his vision grew bigger and began to pulse in time with the pain in his head. Only a few hundred yards later, focus gave way and he fell to the tunnel floor, skidding to a stop.
Hang on, help is coming.
Johan’s message only vaguely registered. Completely spent, he saw the train’s lights enter the tunnel and begin to accelerate towards him. The grid had gone solid, dry of potential, as unyielding as it had been growing up.
“Get my core, man. I don’t want to leave yet. Kaiya needs me.”
The lights grew blinding, becoming the white field in his first out of body experience. He couldn’t leave now, couldn’t avoid the impact. The pain would have to be endured–
A booming crash reverberated in his skull and the lights died. Sparks and flames receded at high speed as the train reversed down the tunnel with a screeching report – pushed by the cloaked ship.
You can keep your core. I’ve got enough on my hands.
“Jesus Christ,” he breathed. “I can’t keep doing this.”
Soldado’s been cut off from the network and they’re about to bomb your only exit. Get clear now.
Moments later, space split open to reveal the dim interior of the ship. Arabian Meng waved him in.
“Let’s go, inside.”
He managed to stand and clamber into the ship. The hatch closed and Meng flew on. He fell into the seat and strapped himself in, ignoring the throbbing headache. “Who’s in charge?”
“Of them? No telling. They know we’re here. I wrecked another car near the exit.”
He prepared the ultra-wideband radar, setting it for maximum power but not turning it on.
Sortie of F15’s scrambled out of Khalid are headed your way. Set up for air to ground. Get the hell out of there.
“Okay, okay,” he said. “Meng, let me have the controls.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. Hang on.”
He engaged the radar and adjusted settings to focus on the end of the tunnel. The train car wreckage showed clearly. “Shields up.” Eyeballing it, he slid the disc forward and shot down the tunnel.
“Damn, man.”
Speed indications read mach 1.2.
“I got it.”
He slowed at the last second and rammed into the debris, driving it into the sand and against broken fragments of the rock wall plug. The train car’s framework crumpled until it fell behind them. They passed into the sandy outer chamber.
Ground forces arriving topside. Maybe laser spotters.
Austin expanded the radar. A staggered line of blips indicating incoming aircraft.
Go, full throttle. Get out now.
He set the angle to clear the chamber. Just as he slid the disc forward, all readings stuttered and shifted. Thermal readings glowed brightly, making the screens a mess. A missile had struck – and they were still in the chamber. He adjusted the angle once more but additional missiles exploded, one after another, bouncing the craft around.
“Damn it!” The screens were a confusing mess.
Beam weapon! They’re firing into the sand. Get out of there!
“I’m trying,” he said, but again found his trajectory forced into
the rock. He killed the thermal layer of the readout to make the axis gridlines easier to see. He tweaked the stick and jimmied the disc until the ship rose shot out of the chamber. He slapped it fully forward and blue sky filled the screen. The blips receded from the radar.
“They tried to seal us in,” Meng said.
“They almost did.”
Austin took the ship out of the region. To the east, dusk pressed on the western shores of India. Coastal lights glowed in miniature.
“What next?” he asked.
“You lay down. Ignore this. You rest, nothing else.”
“What?”
“Edward’s orders. You need to rest and recharge. We’re headed to Iran. If I need you, I will ask.”
Despite the action that followed over Iran and Israel, Austin did fall asleep. He dreamt of a long and treacherous camel ride across the desert, ending at an oasis where Kaiya waited. When he went to kiss her, she became another woman, one he didn’t recognize until she spoke.
“Been waiting for you,” Maria said.
• • •
Sirens sounded across the rural countryside. Morning air carried the smells of the lagoon into the kitchen where the woman sat. The side door was open but blocked by one of the two guards not dead or gone mad. Tense to the point of shaking, he stood with weapon ready in his blood-spattered clothing. The other of Xian Shung’s men stood at the arch to the living room in a similar state. Both kept their backs to the woman wrapped in the blanket. Both were terrified of the power pouring from her.
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