the Source (2008)

by Cordy, Michael

  'The monolith is a gift from God,' Torino hissed. 'It belongs to the Holy Mother Church.'

  'As I've been trying to tell you, I don't think God or the Church has much to do with this.'

  Torino pushed the gun into Ross's face. 'Shut up and give me the fragment. It belongs to Rome, to the Church. Not these demons.'

  Ross paused, then crouched, reached into the backpack and pulled out the fragment.

  'Give it me!' demanded Torino.

  Ross held out the fragment to him, then threw it past him so that it landed further up the path, in front of the swirling hydra.

  For a second nothing moved.

  Then Torino leapt on the fragment - as the branches of the hydra stretched out towards it.

  Then the nymphs poured into the entrance, pushing Ross up the tunnel, towards the hydra's waiting arms.

  Chapter 81.

  Torino was so focused on the fragment that when he grasped it and pulled its luminous warmth to his chest, he felt a rush of almost orgasmic joy. Though God might have been testing him, he knew he would overcome whatever demons or evil stood in his way and secure the Source for the Holy Mother Church. Even as two serpentine tentacles wrapped themselves round his leg and neck, he didn't despair. That this demon was attacking him only reinforced the righteousness of his cause. As he struggled, other tentacles wrapped him in their embrace, dragging him up the tunnel.

  He watched Kelly, surrounded by angry nymphs. For a second their eyes met and the horror in the scientist's eyes amused him. He almost felt sorry for him. Kelly still didn't understand that Torino had nothing to fear. He gripped the fragment tighter, confident that God would deliver him from this evil. He thought of the Jesuit motto: ad majorem dei gloriam, for the greater glory of God. As Superior General of the Society of Jesus he was only doing his duty: claiming the Source for the greater glory of God.

  As the sinewy tentacles tightened their grip and dragged him away from Kelly, Torino scrabbled on the floor, trying to find anything that would give him purchase. But the tentacles were too strong. The worms hovered around him but didn't strike, which reinforced his belief that God was protecting him. Even demons, whose purpose was to test the righteous, served and obeyed God.

  After passing the scant remains of Petersen's corpse and numerous nymphs' bodies, Torino was delivered to the crystal cavern that housed the Source. Despite the devastation, the monolith and the hydra were seemingly untouched. A crowd of white nymphs stood motionless, watching, humming a two-note refrain like a perverse choir of angels.

  Suddenly the tentacles released him. The hydra and the nymphs fell silent and still, as though waiting. Clutching the fragment to his chest, he scrabbled to his feet before the monolith and clasped his hands in prayer. 'In the name of the Holy Mother Church I claim this gift from God. I vow to deliver it from the demons that surround it and use its power to spread God's will throughout the world.'

  One of the nymphs approached him and extended its hands, as if expecting something from him. He shook his head. 'This belongs to the Holy Mother Church.' He pointed to the monolith. 'This all belongs to Rome.'

  The nymph waited a moment longer, then stepped back into line with the others. One of the hydra's tentacles encircled Torino's right leg and another his left. Two more grasped his arms and began to pull them apart. He kept his hands clasped for as long as he could but the tentacles were too strong, forcing him to release his grip. As the fragment fell to the ground and the nymphs placed it by the monolith, he expected the tentacles to release him. But they didn't. They kept pulling his arms until they were stretched out on each side of him like a cross. Then they pulled apart his legs. Slowly and inexorably he felt his muscles, tendons and ligaments being stretched as if he were on the Inquisition's rack.

  Now the pain came. Torino had never known such agony.

  With it he experienced the first flicker of doubt: how could God let this happen to him? Surely the Lord must save him so he could finish his sacred mission.

  The trunk of the hydra pulsed and throbbed as its tentacles slowly and relentlessly pulled him apart. Torino could feel his muscles tearing. Why was this happening to him? He had done nothing wrong. Everything he had ever done had been designed to bring glory to the Holy Mother Church. He heard his left elbow pop and his shoulder tendons tear. And he heard himself scream: 'Why, God, why?'

  More serpentine tentacles hovered before him. However, unlike the appendages pulling him apart, these had bullet-shaped heads, razor teeth and baleful red eyes. The nymphs watched as the worms studied him: angels and demons united in their mission of torment. However, as terrifying as the worms were, Torino almost welcomed the release they offered. But how could he die now - here? He still had too much to do. Why had God forsaken him?

  The first attack was so fast he barely saw the rock worm as it bored a perfectly circular hole in his stretched abdomen, then recoiled, dragging his entrails with it. Torino looked down at the intestines spilling over his belt and cried out in despair. The second worm bit into his left hip. Even as the third attacked, severing the fingers of his right hand, he still couldn't believe that the Lord wouldn't save him.

  Only in the last seconds of his life, as the tentacles ripped his left arm from his torso, and the worms bored into his face, did his cries for salvation curdle into the screams of the damned.

  Ross could hear Torino's screams from down the tunnel but he felt no satisfaction at his enemy's downfall. When the sound stopped, and the priest's blood flowed past him in the stream, he felt only fear - and shame. He had come here for no other reason than to save Lauren's life and, in this selfish quest, he had never once considered the garden's own need to survive. He had trespassed into the cradle of life, bringing death and destruction in his wake. Not only had he led Torino here but he'd failed to stop him and his men destroying the garden, killing nymphs and attacking the monolith.

  As the angry nymphs and hydra closed in, he saw that he was as much an intruder as Torino, an unwelcome alien who had brought nothing but harm. The nymphs had saved him once - from his own kind - but now he was convinced they must punish him. As the tentacles came closer, he resisted the urge to turn and fight his way out. Instead he found himself reaching involuntarily for the heavy crucifix round his neck. The Latin cross, with its three-inch-long shaft and two-inch crossbeam, was crude in the palm of his hand. Etched into the soft metal at the centre were the initials AMDG, which Sister Chantal had explained denoted the motto of Father Orlando Falcon's Jesuit order: ad majorem dei gloriam, to the greater glory of God. He now understood that Father Orlando and Sister Chantal had lived and died by that dictum, putting their belief in their God above the doctrine of the Church. Whatever Ross himself believed, the purity of their faith humbled him now.

  He felt something brush his skin. As he looked up, two tentacles touched his arm and dread coursed through him. Then the nymph with the red flowers in its hair appeared and reached for the cross. He took it off and surrendered it. As the nymph examined it others gathered round to touch it with a kind of reverence. He remembered how Sister Chantal had held it up to calm them when she had first entered the antechamber with him.

  They gathered round it for some minutes, stroking it. Then the nymph with the red flowers returned it to him. Before he could replace it round his neck, the nymph pushed him hard in the stomach, forcing him to step back. It pushed him again and he took another step. The hydra's tentacles followed him, but when he glanced over his shoulder the nymphs behind him parted and formed an avenue. He continued shuffling backwards, holding the crucifix in one hand and Torino's backpack in the other, until he was out of the tunnel of blood. The nymph continued to push him through the antechamber until his back rested against the fallen rocks blocking the entrance to the garden. He knew he was no longer welcome and had to take his chances outside, however hot the garden might be. He backed into the narrow passage through which he and Bazin had crawled, keeping his eyes on the nymphs. The rocks on each side were hot but
he dared not stop until he was in the garden, safe from the nymphs and the hydra.

  As he left, he could see and hear rocks being moved, blocking the passageway, sealing the forbidden caves. The ground was hot underfoot and he coughed in the smoky air. He appeared to be in a vast incinerator, a grim funnel of granite in which all life had been extinguished. Nothing remained of the garden. The trees and plants were gone and a thick blanket of charcoal and soot covered the ground. Everything was black. Even the sky above was so thick with ash that it obscured most of the sunlight. The sooty lake betrayed no hint of its earlier phosphorescence.

  The desolation shocked Ross, but he consoled himself that he had at least stopped Torino escaping with the fragment. If he hadn't, the Superior General would have returned with more firepower, destroyed the hydra and taken control of the Source, abusing its power to glorify his church. He looked down at the rocks sealing the forbidden caves and saw a tiny trickle of phosphorescent water leak out of the caves into what was left of the contaminated stream. He thought of how a forest regenerates itself after fire and reassured himself that, so long as the Source was safe, the garden would return. Life would find a way.

  So long as the Source was safe.

  Looking across the charred expanse, he thought of how Torino had tried to possess this place, and an idea came to him of how to protect it from future interlopers - whether the Church, oil companies or civilization itself.

  Something crackled in the backpack and he heard Zeb's muffled voice. 'Ross, are you there?'

  He retrieved the radio and put it to his lips. 'Zeb, I'm in the garden. Where are you? Is Nigel okay?'

  'We're in the passage between the garden and the sulphur caves. It's a tad warm but it's safe,' said Zeb. 'What about Marco and the Superior General?'

  'Both dead.'

  'The Source?'

  'It's still there. So are the hydra and most of the nymphs. They're angry but okay.'

  He looked across the expanse of the black lake to the far end of the garden as Zeb and Hackett emerged from the sulphur caves. He waved, then moved across the thick blanket of ash to join them.

  When he reached them they embraced him.

  'Everything's gone,' Hackett kept saying. 'I can't believe it. Everything out here's gone.' His horror encouraged Ross. He was confident that eco-warrior Zeb would support his plan to protect this place, but he needed Hackett's full commitment, too. Though clearly affected by the garden and its destruction, the Englishman had joined their quest seeking glory and gold, and had found them.

  'What would you be prepared to do to protect this place and stop this happening again, Nigel?' Ross said, watching him carefully.

  The Englishman frowned. 'What do you have in mind?'

  After they had listened to Ross's plan, Zeb nodded and squeezed Hackett's hand. 'Come on, Nigel. What do you say?'

  For a long time he stared down at her hand in his. Then he looked up at Ross. 'Okay.'

  Ross narrowed his eyes. 'You do realize what this means, Nigel? It'll protect both this place and the lost city, but - and it's a big but - you'll never be able to tell anyone about your mother metropolis. You'll never have your glory.'

  Hackett absorbed the implications. 'If you can live with keeping your geological discovery secret, then I can keep quiet about my great archaeological find.' He smiled. 'We didn't discover them anyway. Father Orlando found this place and Sister Chantal the lost city. We're merely looking after them. Keeping them safe.'

  'What about the gold?'

  'It won't be easy,' said Hackett, 'but I've got contacts.'

  'We need to get back to civilization and get started then,' said Zeb. She pointed to the sulphur caves. 'We salvaged our backpacks and supplies before the garden went up.'

  Ross was glad they had something, even if it was only a few supplies for the journey home. He was leaving with less than he had brought with him. As he replaced Sister Chantal's crucifix round his neck he remembered their euphoria when they had first arrived, and the moment when Sister Chantal had placed the crystal in his hand and told him it would cure Lauren. He had been so full of hope then, but everything had changed. All he cared about now was getting back to his wife and saying goodbye before it was too late.

  'Let's get out of here,' he said, leading Hackett and Zeb towards the sulphur caves. 'Let's go home.'

  Chapter 82.

  JFK Airport, New York, a month later

  Sam Kelly checked the arrivals board and saw that the United Airlines flight from Lima had landed. Although he was looking forward to seeing his son he felt apprehensive. When Ross had called from Lima to say he was coming home, the emptiness in his voice had broken his heart. When he had asked Ross if he had found anything in the jungle, his son's noncommittal answer had told him everything. It had been a wild-goose chase. The garden was a myth. There were no miracles.

  Ross hadn't probed him about Lauren's condition, saying only, 'I assume there's been no improvement.'

  Sam had purposely kept his response vague, volunteering little information on the phone, deciding to tell his son about the latest development face to face. However, he felt nervous now, waiting at the barrier, watching the passengers arrive through Customs. When he saw his son in the distance, lean, tanned and tired, the prospect of telling him the news weighed heavily on his heart.

  Ross didn't notice his father at first because as he passed a newsstand he found himself staring into the face of Superior General Leonardo Torino. According to the Vatican, he had been missing for some weeks after embarking on a fact-finding mission into the jungles of South America. The Peruvian authorities were still working closely with Rome to trace his whereabouts, but hopes were now fading that the Superior General and his escort would ever be found. The pope was already mourning the loss of a fine priest and the Society of Jesus was considering a successor.

  As Ross closed the newspaper, a smaller article caught his eye and almost made him smile. According to Newsweek, Scarlett Oil had discovered large reserves of what they termed 'ancient oil' in Uzbekistan. Larger oil companies - including Alascon, which had recently terminated a partnership with Scarlett that would have given them shared rights - were now queuing up with large cheques to license Scarlett's patented technology for finding and economically extracting it.

  Ross saw his father and waved. Sam was smiling, but as Ross got closer he saw strain on his father's face. Something had changed. They hugged and Ross felt tension in his father's shoulders. 'Good to see you, son. Good to have you back safe.'

  'It's good to be back, Dad. How're Lauren and the baby?'

  His father reached for his luggage. 'Come, let me drive you home. We'll talk in the car.'

  'I want to go straight to the hospital, Dad.'

  His father paused. 'You're exhausted. Why don't you go home first? Get some rest.'

  'I want to see her now, Dad. I need to see her. Something's happened, hasn't it?'

  His father appeared to brace himself, confirming Ross's worst fears. 'There's been a development, Ross. There's a difficult decision to make.'

  Chapter 83.

  Though still in the Sacred Heart Hospital, Lauren had been moved from the spinal-injuries unit to an isolated high-dependency room at the far end of the maternity wing. She had it to herself, except for the battery of monitors and equipment that kept her alive. She was lying in the same position as she had been when Ross had left her. The one discernible difference was the now prominent bump in her belly.

  Since Lauren was no longer regarded primarily as a neurological case, Dr Greenbloom had handed over her care to an obstetrician, Dr Anna Gunderson. This confirmed to Ross that Lauren was now officially a lost cause. She wasn't even Gunderson's priority patient. The baby was. Lauren was little more than an incubator.

  One small mercy, thought Ross, as he sat in her room with his father and Dr Gunderson, was that Lauren's mother was visiting her sister in New England for two days. He wasn't ready for her questions about where he had been.
/>   'As your father's told you, Lauren's condition is deteriorating fast.' The doctor spoke softly as if she didn't want Lauren to hear. 'We're now in a critical phase. Lauren is lost to us but we're entering the period where the baby may be viable outside the womb. We could deliver it now, but the chances of its surviving undamaged are slim. Every extra day the baby stays in the womb the greater its chances.'

  The doctor cleared her throat. 'We've administered steroids to develop its lungs, and medication to stop your wife going into premature labour, but I don't know how many more days we can hold on. We monitor Lauren's condition constantly and any further deterioration will mean we have to get the baby out. It's on a knife edge. We want to keep her in for as long as we can but only so long as Lauren can support her.'

  'Her?'

  'It's a girl.' She reached into a manila file on the sideboard beside her and handed Ross a black-and-white scan. 'This is your daughter.'

  The image struck Ross with surprising force. He had always been more concerned about losing Lauren than the abstract concept of their baby. Even the earlier scan he had seen, at sixteen weeks, hadn't altered that view. This grainy picture was different, though. The baby was suddenly real.

  A little girl.

  His daughter.

  He walked over to the bed and stroked Lauren's belly. He felt movement, which scared him. He had something to lose again. And something to gain. Raw hope was so much crueller than numb despair.