Jerusalem. At a staggering five thousand years old, it was among the oldest cities on Earth. Throughout most of that time, humans had fought over it. The Israelites, the Ottomans, the Crusaders—century after century, nation after nation had tried to conquer the holy city. It had been attacked, conquered, and destroyed dozens of times. Today it lay in ruins. Ancient walls and gateways. Domes. Houses of worship, some dating back thousands of years. All lay crumbling, abandoned, filled with ghosts.
It was here that King David had reigned. Here that King Solomon had built the Temple. Here that Jesus had preached and died. Here that the scum had first struck.
And now another great event will occur here, Marco thought. Now Earth musters among these ruins.
The city's inhabitants had perhaps perished or fled. But new life now filled these ruins.
The Human Defense Force.
Their bases sprawled across the mountaintop between ancient domes and minarets. Tanks rumbled along cobbled streets. Soldiers in olive-green fatigues manned ancient walls where soldiers had fought thousands of years ago.
The coordinates led the mechas to a sandy hill. They landed with clouds of smoke and dust. It was here that the ancient Hebrew priests had reigned, here that Jesus had been crucified, here that so much of history had played out—was still playing out.
The dust settled, and the medics rushed forth. The survivors of Titan—along with their hybrid children—were taken to infirmaries. The mothers would need prosthetic feet, nourishment, and counseling. Marco knew that shell shock could be worse than physical wounds; he had suffered enough of both in his life. He could not imagine what life awaited the hybrid babies, no more than he knew why the grays had created them.
Petty met them among the sandy ruins. The gruff old soldier still looked uncomfortable in his suit; Marco had always imagined him as the sort of soldier who slept in full uniform. Marco and Addy both saluted. They were only in the reserves now, and Petty was no longer a general, but saluting felt right. Petty greeted them with a grunt, raised his head, and gazed at the mechas. The two machines stood in the dust, towering over Jerusalem, two skyscrapers here in these biblical desert ruins.
"The cavalry, huh?" he said.
Addy nodded. "Did the job on Titan, sir. Will do the job if those sneaky gray fucks attack Earth again. I'm sorry we missed the first round. Can't fucking wait for the second."
Marco nearly fainted. He glared at her. "Addy! You can't curse around the president!"
She looked at him. "Why the fuck not?"
Marco wanted the ground to swallow him. "Addy! He's the president of the Alliance of Nations!"
Addy scoffed. "I bow to no one. No dogs, no hamsters."
Marco rolled his eyes. "The saying is: No gods, no masters."
"Ah!" Addy nodded. "You know, that makes a lot more sense. And explains some weird looks I got when returning sandwiches at the deli."
Petty stepped closer to them. Sand filled his grizzled hair. He furrowed his heavy brow over his dark eyes. He bared his teeth and glowered at Addy.
"Lieutenant Linden," he growled, "you are a goddamn fucking pain in the ass. But I'm glad to see you."
And to Marco's shock, the president pulled Addy into a crushing hug and lifted her off her feet. He then gripped Marco's hand, squeezed nearly strong enough to break it, and slapped Marco on the back.
"I'm glad to see both of you. Now come with me. There's a special visitor waiting to see you. Somebody you haven't seen in a very long time."
Addy's eyes widened. "Is it the Pillowman?"
Marco groaned. "Addy, shut up."
They followed the general through the ruins, passing between palm trees, under crumbling archways, and around fallen columns. Soldiers bustled around them, and Humvees roared along sandy roads.
"Is it a pigman?" Addy said, hopping after the general. "I once saw a pigman at High Park, you know."
Marco rolled his eyes. "It's not a pigman, Addy."
"How do you know? It could be! Pigmen are very secretive, you know, and this is a secret military outpost. Maybe he's used to sniff our land mines." She gasped. "Wait a minute. Is it Lil' Pupper, that three-legged dog I once found when I was a drill sergeant?"
The general only grunted and kept walking through the ruins. They followed, passed under an orphaned archway, and stepped across a cobbled courtyard where a stray camel brayed. A handful of soldiers stood here, helmets sandy, rifles in hand, guarding an ancient church.
Churches back in Canada were sometimes two or three centuries old. In Europe they dated back to medieval times. This building looked thousands of years old. Its bricks were tan and craggy, and weeds grew between them. A robed monk prayed in the courtyard.
We're walking where Christ walked, Marco thought, where King David fought a thousand years before Christ. Every brick beneath my feet saw millennia of history.
He had seen many wonders in space, many ruins older than these. But here was so much human history that his head spun.
The guards stepped aside, and they entered the church.
Soldiers bustled through the nave. Control panels and workstations filled the place. A shaft had been carved into the floor, and they climbed down to a network of modern bunkers. More soldiers rushed back and forth here underground, and doorways led to chambers filled with computers, monitors, and maps. Many of the officers here were high ranking, stars or even phoenixes on their shoulders. Here were generals.
It's the command center of the HDF, Marco thought, feeling woozy. The hidden heart of the military.
"When do we get to meet this person from our past?" Addy was bouncing with excitement. "I can't wait!"
Petty led them down a corridor, opened a doorway, and gestured at a room.
Marco and Addy stepped inside.
It was a small lounge, the size of a bedroom, with two couches and soft drinks on a table. Tail wagging, a Doberman stood under a poster of an old starfighter. Lailani rose from one of the couches and waved.
"Oh." Addy's chest deflated. "It's just de la Rosa."
"Hey!" Lailani said.
"Sorry, Tiny," Addy said. "But I thought you were a pigman."
Lailani tilted her head. She looked at Marco questioningly.
"Forget it, Lailani," Marco said. "It's Addy." He stepped toward Lailani and embraced her. "Glad to see you again. I missed you."
She smiled and squeezed him in her arms. "Good to see you too, Marco."
Addy joined the embrace, nearly crushing them. "Aww, I love ya, Lailani. You know that, right? I love ya to bits. It's just that Petty told me somebody from my past is here. I know I haven't seen you in a few months, but I thought Petty meant somebody from way back."
Lailani pulled away from the embrace. She bit her lip and twisted her fingers. "Actually . . . Petty was right." She turned toward a doorway that led to a kitchen. "Come say hi."
A young soldier stepped into the lounge. He was thin, and he wore dusty battle fatigues stitched with the insignia of a private. His face was sharp, his sideburns long. He gave them a shy wave, followed by a karate chop.
"Hey there, hound dogs."
Marco nearly fainted.
Addy gasped.
They stared, silent, shocked.
Before them, back from the dead, stood Benny "Elvis" Ray.
* * * * *
Lailani sat quietly on the couch, gazing at the boisterous reunion.
"I cannot believe this!" Addy roared. "I cannot believe this!" She grabbed Elvis, crushed him in an embrace, and lifted him right off the floor. "You goddamn little fucker! We should call you Marty McFly, not Elvis."
Marco kept rubbing his eyes, staring at his old friend. "You . . . She . . ." He looked at Lailani. "You traveled back in time? And brought him here? I . . ." He rubbed his eyes again. "I can't believe this!" Then he shed tears, and he embraced Elvis again. "I can't believe you're back!"
The three spent long moments laughing, crying, embracing, speaking of Lailani's daring rescue through time.
Epimetheus was one of the gang, wagging his tail and jumping on everyone.
All the while, Lailani sat quietly, watching from the corner.
I did this, she thought. I changed time. And it feels so wrong. She thought back to the tear in the universe. That gaping pit she had created. And I'm scared.
She had saved Elvis. But she had failed to save Sofia.
Don't let Sofia drop! she had cried to her younger self.
But it hadn't worked. She had returned to the present day, to the year 2155. And Sofia was nowhere to be found. And Lailani still remembered her lover falling into the fire. Remembered trying to grab her. Remembered watching Sofia die.
I changed the past. But I could not save her. I need to go back again. I need to save her. But I broke spacetime. I left a hole in the universe. And now—
Sudden pain flashed across her.
Visions danced.
Time. Time flowed and crashed and branched off.
She saw herself as a child, huddling in a shantytown, her body that of a rotten centipede.
She saw herself as an old woman, hunched over, and a hooded figure leaned over her, placing claws on her chest.
She saw her friends dying upon ankhs.
She saw a ring of crystals, hovering like a Ferris wheel, and in the middle hung a bloated, deformed creature with skin sewn over his eye sockets. His jaw was long and lined with teeth, drooling, and a hundred arms grew from his body. He raised his wrinkled head toward Lailani and smiled.
She screamed.
"Lailani!" Marco rushed toward her. "Lailani, are you all right?"
She gasped for air. The visions cleared. Epimetheus leaped up beside her, licking, calming her.
"I'm fine," Lailani whispered. "I . . . I'm fine. Just . . ." She touched the back of her head. "The new chip. It acts up sometimes."
They were all staring at her, silent, concern in their eyes.
Lailani forced herself to smile shakily.
"So hey, remember that time at boot camp, how Elvis started singing 'Suspicious Minds' in the showers, and the entire squad joined in?"
"I remember like it was yesterday," Elvis said.
"It was yesterday for you," Addy said. "God, those fucking communal showers. I remember how Marco use to try to sneak peeks at de la Rosa's tits."
Marco flushed deep crimson. "Addy! I did not." He glanced at Lailani, turning even redder. "I did not, Lailani."
"I believe you." She patted her chest and sighed. "You'd need a microscope."
They kept reminiscing, retelling the old stories. How during high alert, confined to their tent for hours, they had peed into milk cartons and juice bottles, only for Sergeant Singh to trip on them. They imitated the gruff mess hall cook who exploded with fury if you asked for a second slice of Spam, and they remembered how Sheriff had fried up—and smuggled out—pancakes during his kitchen duty. They reenacted the old propaganda reels, chanting together, "This is why we fight!" And they laughed. And by God, it was like the old days again.
"It's so strange," Elvis said softly after a lull in the conversation. "This all just happened a few weeks ago for me. I'm still eighteen. For you it's been eleven years. You guys are almost thirty now." He shook his head in wonder. "I mean, de la Rosa still looks like a kid. She's barely aged. But you, Marco. Look at you! You're an adult now. And you, Addy—"
"What?" Addy grew red in the face. She grabbed Elvis's collar and twisted it. "Don't you dare mention how I gained weight! Don't you dare say I have crow's feet! I might be older, and my ass might be bigger, but I'm still stronger than you, and—"
"Actually, Addy," Elvis said, "I was going to say that you look more beautiful than ever."
She loosened her grip on his collar. "Aww. Such a smoothie." She mussed his hair. "And you still look like Elvis's scrawny kid brother."
"And I just cannot believe that you and Poet are now a couple." Elvis looked at Marco, then back at Addy. "I mean, aren't you two brother and sister or something?"
"No!" they both blurted out together.
"Eww, don't say that," Addy said and shuddered.
"She only lived in my house for a few years," Marco said.
"Not even!" Addy said. "And I barely even saw him there. Eww."
Marco sat beside Lailani on the couch. "So you can time travel now. You still have the hourglass?"
Lailani nodded. "Yes. And yes. At least I can time travel once or twice more. Until the hourglass runs out of sand. Every time you use it, more sand burns up."
Marco glanced at the others, then at Lailani. "Have you decided how else to use the hourglass? There are so many people we lost. Family. Friends."
They were all silent for a moment. Marco, Addy, and Elvis all lowered their heads. Lailani knew they were thinking of their fallen loved ones.
Lailani wanted to tell them. About the tear in the universe. About the visions of twisting, shattering time. About what HOBBS had told her, how time travel could create paradoxes, could destroy the galaxy.
Instead Lailani said, "I can't go back again. President Petty won't let me. We only have enough sand for another round-trip. He wants to go to the future, Marco. A million years to the future. To where the grays have their empire. He wants to hit them on their own turf."
Marco's eyes widened. "A million years in the future . . ." He looked back at Addy. "So we were right. The grays are evolved humans."
Lailani nodded. "Yes. They're humans from a million AD. Highly evolved. To them, we're just cavemen. And sooner or later, Petty said, they'll strike us again. It could be any day now. Ben-Ari flew out into space to seek allies, but we can't just count on her. What if she fails? Petty said we need to destroy the grays before they destroy us. And now we can." She opened her pack, pulled out the hourglass, and showed it to them. "With this. We open a portal to the future. We fly a million years ahead. And we kill those fucking creatures."
Addy leaped off the couch. "Fuck yeah! I'm going!" She gave a wild kick. "Time to kick some gray asses!" She punched the air. "I'm gonna punch them right in their giant, fucking gray heads!" She grabbed Marco. "And you're coming with me, Poet."
Marco turned ashen. "Maybe we should let somebody else go. Does it have to always be us who save the world?"
Addy nodded. "Yep. We're the best at it. And besides, we love it! We love killing aliens!"
Marco now turned green. "I don't love it."
She wrapped her arm around his neck and mussed his hair. "Sure you do!"
He shoved her away. "Get off, you lunatic. I never wanted to kill aliens, just to read books."
She shoved a book at him. "Here. Read some Freaks of the Galaxy. Just be careful with it. It's my favorite book."
"It's your only book," Marco said.
"Not true!" Addy said. "I also own that art book."
"Addy, that's a children's coloring book. And you made all the drawings indecent."
She nodded. "I'm a misunderstood artist."
"You're a misunderstood freak," Marco muttered. "You should be in Freaks of the Galaxy."
Addy gasped. "I'd be honored! Aww, Poet, that's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me." She kissed his cheek.
He sighed. "You know that I've said that you're beautiful, brave, and amazing, and that I love you, right?"
Addy nodded. "I know. But I'd rather be a freak."
The door opened. President Petty stood there with several guards. The friends all rose and stood at attention.
"De la Rosa," the president said. "We need you."
Lailani nodded and approached him, thankful for the distraction. She had become uncomfortable in this room. The old banter, the old friendships, the old memories—it all felt too wrong, too confusing, the past and present mixing together. She couldn't stop seeing that tear in space. Couldn't stop feeling only half here, slipping from reality.
How many miles to Babylon?
The song echoed in her mind.
I don't know. I don't know. I have no more candlelight.
Sh
e joined General Petty, and they left her friends behind in the lounge. They walked down a bustling corridor here beneath Jerusalem, the new headquarters of the HDF. Once more she wore an HDF uniform—olive-green trousers, a buttoned shirt, leather boots, a black beret. They had promoted her—along with Marco and Addy—to captain. Three stars now shone on each of her shoulders. She was a higher rank now than Ben-Ari had been during the Scum War. It was strange to contemplate.
What would that young girl at boot camp, a scared Filipina with a shaved head and scarred wrists, think of me now, a captain and war heroine? I still remember thinking that Ensign Ben-Ari, who was just twenty back then, was a goddess. Now twenty seems so young.
"Mister President," Lailani said, "where are we going?"
Petty walked at her side, stiff, staring ahead. His graying hair had gone completely white at the temples, and he still kept it buzzed like a soldier.
"To find answers," he said.
He led her to a steel blast door. Three guards stood here, armored and carrying assault rifles. They saluted, turned a winch, and unlocked the massively thick door. Petty and Lailani walked down a tunnel, and more guards stood here, clad in full riot gear, rifles in hand. They passed through a second blast door, entering yet another tunnel full of guards.
"What have you got hidden in here?" Lailani said. "The leaked script to Space Galaxy XIV?"
Petty paused outside a third metal door. He turned to face her. He leaned down, almost crouching, to bring himself to eye level with her.
"Lailani," he said, and his voice was surprisingly soft.
"Mister President?"
It seemed to her that this hard, gruff man, this warrior who had been fighting for decades, softened before her, that his eyes were filled with . . . It was hard to believe, but there it was. With compassion.
"Lailani, I know how much you fought. How much you suffered. I know how much we put you through."
She felt a lump in her throat. Her voice was a hoarse whisper. "It's all right, sir. I . . ." She glanced down at her wrists. At the tattoos of flowers that hid her scars. She looked back up into the president's eyes. "I'm all right now, sir. I have Epi, my dog. I have HOBBS. I have my friends."
Earth Eternal (Earthrise Book 9) Page 6