Forever Series 4: The Forever Quest

by Craig Robertson

  She dropped her guns and tore into one of them with tooth and claw. He collapsed to the floor with her face ripping at his, then the other man lifted her up and tossed her against a wall. She spun and attacked him. Standing on two legs, her paw caught his punch, and she dragged him to the ground. Her teeth snapped shut on his windpipe. He struggled briefly to pull her jaws open, then died.

  Lumbering, causing the camera to swing irregularly, she jogged back to the hallway and headed to the right. An occasional guard would fire on her, and she'd shoot them dead. She seemed to take a few more hits but kept going. Arriving at a metal door labeled ARMORY, she used her laser on the handle and kicked the door open. Reaching into her satchel, she removed and manipulated one of the explosive devices. She stuffed it back into the satchel and threw it into the room.

  Muffled screams could be heard from a nearby corridor. She moved toward the voices. Around two corners, she approached the main dining hall. A chaotic stream of ornately dressed guests ran from the room and out an adjacent exit. A man with a white cape sprinted from the door, saw her, and ran the other way. Kelldrek leaped on his back just as he turned to look at her. It was Varrank Simzle.

  Just then a deafening explosion sounded. Pieces of ceiling fell to the floor and decorations popped off the walls.

  Varrank fell face first on the stone floor. She seized his head in her jaws and began shaking it violently. She looked up quickly, Varrank's head still in her mouth. A Quelstrum towered over her, lowering a massive war hammer, the head of which was the size of three fifty-five gallon oil drums.

  The camera went dead.

  I brought the room lights back up. The audience sat in stunned silence. A couple people had vomited sometime during the show.

  Then someone started tentative applause. Slowly, others joined in. Finally, everyone was clapping.

  As the audience quieted, I spoke solemnly. “Secretary Bin Li, President Walker, and I have been talking. We agree that we were fortunate this time. Learning of the threat early enough to end it was nothing but blind luck. For the next several hundred years as we journey to our new homes, we must be aware that others may try to take what is ours. Plus, we are known to the greater galaxy now. We’re not sure that’s a good thing, but there’s no changing the fact that we are. We must remain ready and vigilant.”

  I didn’t tell anyone about the QD devise. It was a hard decision to keep it secret, but I felt it was best that way. I didn’t want to encourage more over-dependence on me. Humanity had to live or die by its own merits and by its own actions. I’d learned many times over that I was one screw-up away from being removed from the picture. Since no one else could pilot Wrath, it wasn’t like anyone had to know about my new weapon.

  After the meeting, I sought out Davis. The threat I’d accidentally discovered was gone, but my mission remained. I had to save the man I’d once become.

  And wouldn’t you know it, I was gone. I could be such an immature jerk.

  Back on Wrath, I asked when Davis had come to get his ship.

  “Twenty minutes ago. He took the ship to a hangar and launched it.”

  “Are you still tracking him?” My stomach flip-flopped.

  “I do not know.”

  “Explain quickly.”

  “He left under fusion drive and remained so for ten minutes. Then he sped up abruptly and disappeared from conventional scanners.”

  “What does that mean? Can you track him or not?”

  “Possibly.”

  “Explain.”

  “I thought a lot about what he said, about his magic. I came to some conclusions, based on a set of reasonable assumptions. He spoke of his magic causing the impossible. Nothing I know of is impossible, just undiscovered, or unlikely. Hence, there must be a cause-and-effect basis for any action, even those that cannot occur under the physical laws we know.”

  “Ah, Wrath, I gotta say, you’re kind of babbling.”

  “Why am I not surprised you can’t follow a simple line of argument?”

  “Well, wrap it up, okay?”

  “I’ll just say I might be able to locate him by following his trail of impossible outcomes and their consequences.”

  “There are consequences to impossible things happening?”

  There was a short pause. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, all right?”

  “Whatever, bitch. Just go. Take us to him.”

  Wrath flipped in and out of folded space rapidly. That was fun times for my travel-related nausea. I experienced new heights in yuck. Within twenty minutes, Wrath announced he had found Davis’s ship. We were next to it in orbit. You’ll never guess where we were. Never. Back at PC 1, where I’d met him a century earlier. That’s where he gave me the membrane technology. We were fifty light-years from the worldship fleet. Yup, he used his magic again.

  He was seated in the same small cave he was in the first time. Note to self: I needed to review my use of dramatic effect. I was being Shakespearian to a regrettable extent.

  “What took you?” he asked me as he sipped some hot beverage.

  “Very clever repartee. I took, what, half an hour to do the impossible?”

  “It took me half that time.”

  “You have experience. I’m new at the wizard game.”

  “Sit, boy,” he said pointing to a rock.

  “Oh great. Instant replay of our insulting encounter a hundred years ago. My day just gets better and better.”

  “Coffee?”

  “Why the hell not?”

  He passed me a mug.

  “This is the last time we’ll meet.”

  “You can’t know that. I found you twice. I can do it a million times if need be.”

  “Nope,” he said staring into his mug. “After this, I’m gone for good.”

  “What, you flying into a black hole?”

  “Nothing so maudlin, boy. I’m just tired of being found. Where I’m going, nobody’s going to follow. That’s all.”

  “Why?” I reached toward him. “Stay with us. We need you.” I was quiet a second. “I need you.”

  “The answers to those questions are because I want it that way, no, no, and no.”

  “I’m really annoying, we know that, right?”

  “So we’ve been told.”

  “Jon,” I asked, “why leave? Humanity is subject to random threats. You can help.”

  “You’re all they need. Whatever new toy Kymee gave you proves that. It’s my time to do something for myself. I want to be free of the burden.”

  “What about me? I don’t get a vacation?”

  “Boy, I watched them all die. Then I spent thousands of years trying to save them not knowing if I could. You,” he harrumphed, “you get handed the membranes, a cube, and some ultimate weapon on top of it all. You live a charmed life of comparative leisure. You’ll be fine.”

  “Comparative leisure? You call Varrank locking me up with Falzorn leisurely? You call battling the Berrillians leisurely? Man, you’re harsh.”

  “Yes, I am. A hell of a lot tougher than you. Remember that.”

  “No, I don’t think I will. There, I just erased that memory.” I stuck my tongue out at me.

  “Whatever, you little shit bird.”

  “Jon, I swear, if you stay, I can help you heal. You need to be with your people, the ones you saved.”

  “I don’t know too much, boyo, but I do know some shit. I know there’s no cure for my condition. Do us both a favor and let it go.”

  “No.”

  “Just what I need. My knight in shining fucking armor.” He rolled his eyes.

  “I don’t understand why you can’t lighten up. Why not try to be happy?”

  “I am happy. Don’t you get it? Does stupid run in your family?”

  “I know us,” my hands shot back and forth between us. “I know how I’d react to your loss, to our loss.”

  “It wasn’t pretty.”

  “Thank you. So, you agree?”

  “No way, my gum-f
lapping friend. I agreed it wasn’t pretty. But you know what? I got over it.” He bobbed his head up and down. “Yeah. I picked myself up out of the mud and went on. And, you know what? I forgave myself.” He chuckled. “Yeah, we forgave ourselves. Can you believe that?”

  “No, not really.”

  “Well, I did. Now, I have a life, friends, things to do…”

  “Magic shows to perform with matinees on Sunday?”

  “I’m seriously going to reexamine my sense of humor. I’m so lame. Pathetic, actually.”

  “How do I know I can trust you? Why should I believe you?”

  He looked in my eyes with ruthless clarity. “Because I wouldn’t lie to myself about that. I know how I’d feel, and I wouldn’t fib to get rid of myself unless it was damn well true. That’s why.”

  “You know what? I actually believe you.”

  “You son of a bitch,” he shot back. “I can’t believe you’re bailing on me so easily. I live under the bus for two centuries, and you walk by with no more than a hi, how you doing?”

  “No. I walk by because I can see you’re fine. Well, as fine as we can be, given our considerable limits.”

  “Tell me about them.”

  “Okay, I jump in my cube, and that’s the end of it. One question.”

  “No.”

  “No? How do you…”

  “No I won’t tell you where I learned magic. I won’t tell you how to do it either. Drop that too.”

  “Could you?”

  He contorted his face. “Probably not. But screw you, just the same. You want to learn magic, find it on your own.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re a sissy.”

  “What?”

  “Because you’re a pansy ass.”

  “Where are you coming from, you senile old machine?”

  “Because no man, not even us, should become too powerful. I don’t trust myself a whole hell of a lot. I’m sure as hell not trusting you one percent more.”

  I was silent a moment. “Probably wise.”

  “Probably? Now you’re just being damn insulting.” He tossed his remaining coffee to the ground. “I’m outta here.”

  “Me too,” I said with less conviction.

  Jon was halfway to his tiny ship when he stopped. With his back to me, he said, “I loved her so much. It hurt then, and it hurts now.”

  “I know. Me too.”

  “If I could have her back…” Jon trailed off weakly.

  “I know.”

  “That I can’t remains my greatest regret.”

  “I know. That’s why I brought this.”

  He stood facing away. I think he was afraid to turn, to know what I offered him. I think he was afraid to care enough. It wasn’t easy being the biggest Rock of Gibraltar in the history of large stone objects. Slowly, he turned.

  I held out a data disk in the air.

  “What? This a joke?” he said. “That the one I gave you with the plans for the membranes?”

  “Actually, yes. It’s the very same disk.”

  “Why the hell would I want the plans for something I gave you?”

  “Can’t imagine why.”

  He pointed at the disk. “There’s something new on the disk.”

  “Give the man a cigar. That’s the correct answer.”

  “What?”

  “Something I didn’t know existed until today. Something Toño gave me just before I came here.”

  “I may be immortal, but the suspense is killing me.”

  “Funny guy.” I wagged the disk and stood up. “Let’s put it in your ship.”

  He was stiffly reluctant at first, but then he turned and walked slowly to his vessel. We walked to the bridge, and I handed him the disk.

  He started to put it in a slot. I grabbed his hand. “This is the one and only copy. There never was another and there never will be another.”

  “Very mysterious,” he said with a grunt. He fed the disk in.

  After a second, there was an electric pop. Then the ship’s AI spoke. “Identity confirmed. Override complete.”

  He looked at the panel, then to me.

  “Ask it a question.”

  “What day is it?” he said staring at me.

  “Beats me,” was the female voice’s response. “I don’t know where in Brathos I am. And why in the hell are there two of you standing there looking idiotic? It’s not the Stuart Marshall copying thing all over again, is it?”

  “Why you,” he said, lunging toward me. “You gave my AI Sapale’s voice. I’ll kill you.”

  “It’s not just her voice,” I said backing up.

  He froze mid-attack.

  “Wait,” she said, “is that Uto with you?”

  “Yeah. Handsome devil, isn’t he?” I replied.

  “If I wasn’t disoriented before, I sure am now,” she said.

  “I’m totally lost. What is going on?” Jon was dazed and confused.

  “You wouldn’t know about Toño telling my Jon he could never make an android out of me.”

  “Yes. This Jon never had that conversation,” I said.

  “He’s not a copy of you, brood-mate. He is you.”

  “What have you done?” he asked.

  “Me or him?” Sapale asked.

  “Him, I think. No. Yes. Him.” It was fun to see me so befuddled.

  “Just before the battle on Azsuram, Toño downloaded Sapale’s mind into an AI. It was the same as the transfer process to make an android, only he had nowhere else to put her. So…”

  “So he shoved me into a computer chip,” she finished my thought.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Yeah. You specifically told me you’d never do anything like that,” I said.

  “Because Toño and I knew there’d come a day when only speaking to me would make you do whatever you needed to do. I never wanted to live in an electronic box, but to save you, Jon Ryan, it turns out I’d do anything.”

  “If it’s okay with Sapale, I want you to take her,” I said. “You can never have her back like she was…”

  “To have you to talk with, to have you back for all time, brood’s-mate? That is more blessing than I deserve,” he said, choking on the words.

  “I know,” she said. She started to giggle.

  “I’ll have Al contact you and fill you in on what’s happened since…since…” I could not finish that sentence.

  “Since I what? By Davdiad’s veil, I’m not dead, am I?”

  “You…shortly after you and Toño made this download…when the Berrillians attacked…”

  “Jon, I’m pulling your chain,” she said laughing. “Why would Toño resurrect this recording if I was alive? Hmm? I may be dead, but that doesn’t make me suddenly stupid.”

  “She had you wrapped around her finger more than she did me. Would not have thought that possible,” said Jon with a huge smile. “Sapale, if you will come with me, I will be the happiest man in the universe.”

  “Then it will be my honor,” replied Sapale.

  “Like I was saying, I’ll have Al contact you and fill you in on what’s happened since you’ve been gone.”

  “No, that won’t be necessary,” she said. “I’ll learn the old-fashioned way. We will talk the night away, and my brood-mate will fill in all the gaps.”

  “Okay. Your call, I guess?” I said uncertainly.

  “Jon,” said Jon, “shake my hand and get off my ship.”

  “Huh? What’s the rush?” I asked as he grabbed my right hand.

  “I need you to leave fast so I won’t be here when you change your mind.” He dropped my hand like it was a dead fish and began pushing me backward out the hatch.

  “Boys, no fighting. Don’t make me crawl out of this box and kick some booty.”

  “We’re not fighting. He’s just leaving in a hurry,” responded Jon.

  Once I was clear of the hatch, he started sealing it.

  “Wait. I need to say goodbye,” I protested.

&n
bsp; Jon looked at me, then back at his computer console, then to me. He was torn.

  “Make it quick,” he said tersely.

  “Yeah, right. Because you two only have forever?”

  “Faster,” he said.

  “Sapale. I miss you more than it’s possible to miss anyone. I will love you always. Please keep me in your heart, if you can.”

  “I could never forget the man who swept me away. You will be in me always. I couldn’t forget you, brood-mate, even if I tried for ten thousand years.”

  “And as for you, Uto, if you make her sad, I’ll hear of it. You don’t want me mad at you.”

  “We shall not meet again. But if I were to hurt her in anyway, I will find you and make you take her back. That is a promise.” He saluted me and sealed the hatch. Then, right before my eyes, the ship vanished. Damn that magic of his. What a perfect exit.

  I thought I was the king of great exits. Wait, I was. Just not me.

  EPILOGUE

  Deep in a cave of the Mother Tree, Anganctus, King of the Twenty-One Clans, sat on his rough-hewn throne. Anganctus was angry, which is only to say he was angrier than was his usual ill-tempered self. To rule the Faxel was not an easy matter. To command them amiably or kindly would be impossible. But he was asked to tolerate, no to accept, failure of inexcusable dimensions. Many would pay dearly. All would suffer. His wrath knew no bounds.

  “I sent ten thousand ships, one million warriors, and not one ship, not one kitten returned,” He roared loudly. “My most trusted commander Havibibo lived, but he chose to hide from me, to dawdle in his sea of failures. Then, I lose a thousand more ships and crews and the imp Havibibo escapes me in death. I will not tolerate such insults.”

  “My lord, wise lord of the Faxel, your anger is just and deserved,” said his trembling chamberlain, Lopricious.

  “But. You dare suspend in the air before me a but?”

  “Not a but, lord of Mother Tree. An and.”

  “You defy logic, Lopricious. How can you be so evasive, so sycophantic, yet live?”