“If I may interrupt,” Doc said, “I think he, whoever he is, might have been really looking for Maggie. I agree with you about the Arachniman, but if he was able to communicate to his collective before he died that they’d found her, the collective might have immediately sent someone to seek out and execute her.”
David nodded as Doc spoke, getting more vigorous as he went on. “Yes…you are right. Have heard things…whispers of things that didn’t make sense. Now it does.”
Maggie could feel Marcus seething again. “So this is what you came to tell us?” he asked through clenched teeth. “That the collectives are going to kill Maggie and then prevail?”
Maggie put a hand on his arm, lowering her voice for his ears only. “He didn’t make the prophecy, Marcus. He’s only telling us what it says.” Some of the tension went out of his arm but not much.
“No,” David said. “What we came to tell is…worse. They plan to…dominate all individuals.”
Everyone leaned forward, eyes and ears trained on David.
David sighed. “They have time travel—two people working on this plan. One of them does what your…Seekers do. He finds specific people based on their brain signatures anywhere in time. The other person is a Traveler. Their plan is to reach back in time and find persons of…importance and…neutralize them.”
Maggie glanced around the table. Karl was supposed to be the only Traveler alive, but no one looked shocked at this information. Doc and Marcus exchanged meaningful glances. Joan was nodding; even Karl was supremely calm.
Maggie’s head whipped toward Doc. “You already knew that.”
“About the Traveler? Yes, we suspected.”
“Why?”
“Because an Arachniman showed up at your house, Maggie. If Karl didn’t get them there, then some other Traveler must have.”
“Oh.” Maggie supposed it was an obvious conclusion and felt foolish for not making it earlier.
“What do you mean persons of importance?” Doc asked David.
“They will reach back in time and brainwash…Gandhi or John Locke. If the collectives get them to…preach something different—even…subtly—then the world will be more…susceptible to Unity. If they get rid of people like A-Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King…”
“People will be more open to slavery,” Maggie finished for him, the full import of what he was saying washing over her. They would turn the greatest chapters of history into grey, second-rate occurrences, ensuring that humanity would remember only oppression and mediocrity. They had to be stopped.
“But,” Lila chimed in, “if they change something, especially something that huge in the past, they might change the future more than they can control. How can they assume things will go their way?”
David shook his head. “Perhaps…more to it than we…are aware of—surely there is. Only…know what they are planning. Without those…influential people, if enough of them are silenced and erased from…history, the human race will be easier to control when the Unions rise.”
“David,” Doc said at length, “we’ve tried to infiltrate the collectives before, and it’s never worked very well. Colin was the only one that ever came close, and he’s dead now. Can you tell us about the inner workings of the collectives?”
David gazed steadily at Doc for several seconds. “Can tell you everything.”
***
The next several hours were spent listening to David.
When someone was integrated into a collective, the individual had to establish a link between his mind and the rest of the collective. To do that, he or she had to let the collective drill into their brains to produce that link. David said that it was terrifying and painful, but once finished the other voices flooded in, leaving no room for fear, pain, or loneliness. The collectives could all hear one another’s thoughts, feel one another’s emotions, and understand one another’s beliefs. A person was never alone with his or her own thoughts in a collective.
When Marcus and David’s father had died, David felt the loss of him and was profoundly sad. All the others in the collective immediately felt his loss. They sympathized with and comforted him.
The collectives all worked together for mutual survival. They did different jobs—some planted and plowed, some sewed and knitted, some baked, some cleaned, etc.—but each person in the collective knew how to do each job, and they were rotated regularly so no one person could specialize or excel in any particular field. David described at length what daily life was like and how different experiences felt.
“David,” Doc broke in, “who controls the collectives? How are decisions made?”
David nodded. “Yes, that’s…important. They are controlled by the Council of Six.”
“The Council of Six?”
“Members of the Union don’t make any…final decisions. They discuss and debate, but the ultimate decision is left to the Council. There are three major collectives.” David looked around as though to ask if they knew this.
The members of the team exchanged looks. “Last time we checked there were four,” Doc said.
“Two of those will…merge soon if they haven’t already. Originally there were six. There were dozens to begin with, but the smaller ones were absorbed into six large ones. Each member of the Council controlled one of these large entities, but the Council members themselves are individuals. They counsel together and make decisions as a group, but they are not part of the…collective mind. Now that there are only three, two members of the Council control each Union. Eventually they will all merge into one, enveloping Union, and the Six will rule it.”
“So.” Karl leaned forward. “If we locate and destroy this Council…”
David nodded. “The Unity would p-probably collapse.”
A general buzz of excitement could be felt around the table.
Clay looked at Doc. “Can it really be that easy?”
Doc held up his hands. “Let’s not make the mistake of assuming it will be easy. We didn’t know anything about this until now. They’ve obviously gone to great lengths to keep themselves hidden. I doubt they’ll be vulnerable.”
“Actually,” David said, then seemed to backpedal. “It depends on h-how you…look at it. There isn’t much physical defense to break through, but that’s because of the Concealment. They have the best Concealers working for them. Even knowing about them, you won’t find them unless you already know where they are. Because of that, they are…confident they don’t need much physical protection.”
“And,” Marcus said, “do…you know where they are?”
No one breathed.
“Yes.”
Everyone exhaled, their excitement returning.
“But it may not be that simple,” David said.
Karl turned flat eyes on David. “Naturally.”
David shrugged. “The bigger problem to worry about is this Traveler and Seeker. Even if the Council is…brought down, if they go ahead with their plans, they could restore the Council in the future by changing the past.”
“So”—Doc nodded—“we have to deal with them first then worry about the Council.”
“But,” Joan said, “you’re implying that they haven’t started their time travel brainwashing yet. What are they waiting for?”
“For the collectives to merge. A…logistical thing. It will be easier to…gauge change with all of humanity in one collective mind rather than worrying about separate…entities. That’s why…had to leave. Things are happening fast now. As soon as they…merge, which won’t take long, they’ll start changing history.”
“And where are they?” Doc asked.
“On an…island in the South Pacific. It’s a…dormant…volcano. They have a…facility there. The Traveler and the Seeker are kept there. The Council resides there most of the time. Sometimes they travel, but most, if not all of them, should be there.”
“We’ll have to do the best we can with what we have,” Karl said. “Killing any one of them is bound to put a
dent in the collectives somewhere.”
“Must kill both leaders of any one collective for it to collapse. If you killed two but they were the leaders of two separate collectives, there would still be one leader for each, so both Unions would…remain.”
The team nodded.
“I suppose,” Doc said, “we’ll have to travel to this island, do some reconnaissance, and go from there.” He looked around the table. “I don’t mean to offend anyone, but the team needs to discuss this and decide what to do. Nat, Lila, David, would you excuse us?”
Lila and Nat rose, but David didn’t. He opened his mouth then shut it again, looking frustrated.
“Something else you wanted to say, David?” Doc asked.
David’s eyes locked on Maggie’s, but she put her gaze on the table in front of her. His eyes were exactly the same as Marcus’s—amber-hazel with a rainbow of flecks—and for some reason she couldn’t pinpoint, it unsettled her.
“It…” David struggled, “it would be…dangerous for you to do this.”
Doc nodded patiently. “We all understand the danger, David. If we were repelled by it, we wouldn’t be individualists.”
David shook his head. “No…I mean…for Maggie. It is…dangerous. They’re looking for her. They’ll recognize her.”
Doc looked at David in a calculating way. Then his eyes went to Maggie. The rest of the team followed his gaze, and Maggie felt her cheeks heat. Doc’s gaze went back to David without a word though.
“Yes, Maggie’s safety is something we’ll have to take into account.”
David still didn’t look satisfied. “But…”
“I hear you, David.” Doc cut him off gently. “We all do, but this is more important than any one of us. Of course we’ll take precautions to make sure none of our lives are forfeited, but danger won’t keep us from our task. We’ve all dedicated our lives to this cause.”
David didn’t look happy. He looked at Maggie again, and this time she made herself meet his gaze. His eyes bored into hers, unreadable. Finally, still looking frustrated, he nodded and got to his feet.
“Lila,” Doc said, “perhaps you can take Nat and David to Dalia? She will know which rooms have been assigned to each of them.”
“Of course.”
The three of them filed out of the room.
“So,” Doc said after a few moments of silence. “What does everyone think?”
“If I may say,” Clay said, “it feels a lot like what happened before.”
“What do you mean?”
“Before, we knew the leadership of the collectives was in the ships. We didn’t know who they were or how many, just that they were there. We went in blind with no information, and look what happened. Colin died. Maggie lost her memories. I feel like we’re making the same mistakes all over again. Chances are this island compound won’t be penetrable to our scans.”
“But we have to try, don’t we?” Joan asked. “This is too good an opportunity to pass up, isn’t it? And if David’s being truthful and we do nothing, they may change history to the point that we’ll no longer have the ability to resist them. Can we really chance that?”
Karl nodded. “He has intel on the collectives we aren’t even capable of collecting. He’s an invaluable source of information. That could be all we need to prevail.”
“I don’t know that I’d go that far,” Marcus said, and all eyes turned to him. He looked very tired, and Maggie wished she could say something to comfort him.
“Look,” Marcus said, “he’s my brother, and I want to believe him, but should we? If he were anyone else who’d spent a decade with the collectives and just showed up volunteering information, would you trust him? If he weren’t my blood, would anyone trust him?”
Maggie realized he was right. She hadn’t even thought of that. She’d taken what David said at face value.
“Perhaps not, Marcus, but the fact that he is your blood is quite the mitigating circumstance.”
Marcus shook his head. “I don’t know, Doc. He let me down once before, shatteringly so.”
“Maybe he’s trying to atone.”
“Or maybe the collectives sent him on a mission, because they knew he could get close to me, to kill Maggie and make sure the rest of us don’t fulfill the prophecy.”
The group was silent again. They were looking at Marcus with concern. They all wanted to try—Maggie could feel that they did—but this was an issue that was too close to Marcus, and because they were his friends, they didn’t want to be insensitive. Maggie made a decision. She turned to Marcus, taking his hand.
“We have to try, Marcus.”
He turned his gaze on her, and his piercing amber eyes bored into hers.
She forced her voice to be steady, though it was all false confidence. “We don’t have optimal information, but we’ll never have that. We have more now than we ever have before. Of course we can’t discount how dangerous this might be. We’ll have to watch David closely, look for any double meanings, discrepancies, strange behavior. But Joan’s right. If we don’t stop the Traveler, the world as we know it will cease to exist. And if we manage to bring down the Council as well, we might end up accidentally fulfilling the prophecy. Then everyone wins.”
As she spoke, his gaze didn’t leave her. All the ferocity drained out of him.
It occurred to her that she’d never given Doc a formal answer as to whether she was willing to become part of the team or not. She turned to Doc, who was looking at her questioningly. She gave him a meaningful smile, hoping he would take it as her answer. Then she turned back to Marcus.
“We have to try.”
He shut his eyes, letting his breath out slowly. “I know.”
Chapter 20: Courage to Stand
Doc sat in the conference room after the team adjourned, thinking about all he’d heard. The muffled thud of feet in the doorway announced a visitor. Doc didn’t have to turn to recognize that it was Nathaniel. He hadn’t seen the man in years, but he could still identify him without the other five senses.
“Is your family settling in well, Nathaniel?”
“They are, Johann. Thank you. What are you thinking about, sitting here alone in the dark?” Nathaniel came to sit at the table beside Doc.
“Everything. Marcus’s brother returned from behind enemy lines with valuable information. I didn’t see that coming.”
“No one did. No one could have.”
“The collectives have a Traveler now. Someone whose abilities recently surfaced, do you think? Or someone who’s been hiding up until now?”
Nathaniel spread his hands. “Who can say? Abilities as rare as Traveling are difficult to hide and even harder to repress. The real question is whether this Traveler is helping the collectives voluntarily or being forced.”
Doc rubbed his forehead. “For years we’ve been looking for answers to the prophecy. Sometimes we go so slowly, it feels like we’re moving backward. When Maggie lost her memories, sending her back was the only logical choice, but I was so disappointed. I was sure she would be the one to fulfill the prophecy. Now she’s back with new abilities and unimaginable powers.”
Nathaniel nodded, gazing at the table in front of him.
“And David showing up now? It can’t be a coincidence. What do you think?”
Nathaniel shrugged. “I was surprised you had a connection to Trap, er—David. Did you know him before he went into the collective?”
Doc shook his head. “I came across them once as children, but that was long before David left. Marcus didn’t come to live here until years later when his father was dying. He was lonely, depressed, ready to give up. I found them and brought them to Interchron. He was still young then, and he told me the entire thing. I’m the only one who’s always known the whole story.”
“What did the others know before?”
“Only that something had happened to Marcus’s little brother, something he blamed himself for.”
They were both silent for a moment.
“I would like to have you along,” Doc said. “You’d be a valuable asset. Maggie is still very unsure.”
Nathaniel nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll spend some time with her tomorrow and see what she can do. I’ll have to discuss the journey with my wife, but I don’t think she’ll object. I’ll be glad to help in any way I can.”
Nathaniel looked up at Doc and smiled. “So how have you been these many years, Johann?’
Doc smiled back, spreading his hands. “As you’ve seen. Strange that the first real promise we’ve had toward the fulfillment of the prophecy comes as we are reunited. Unless you’ve had more progress than I?”
Nathaniel smiled in a way that made Doc wonder what he was thinking. “We have much to discuss. I came back to find a safe place for my family, but that was not the only reason. I have things to tell you.”
“You had ways of contacting me without traveling all this way on foot.”
“Yes, but I didn’t want to risk it.”
“I must admit, I never thought you’d settle down.”
Nathaniel laughed out loud. It was a sound Doc hadn’t heard from Nathaniel in more years than he could count, and it made his eyebrows raise.
“Where did that expression come from?” Nathaniel asked. “Settle down? Children bring more excitement than any amount of adventure that came before them.”
“You were right, you know,” Doc said. “If you hadn’t warned me to go get Maggie when you did, they’d have killed her. Marcus barely got there in time to stop the Arachniman.”
Nathaniel nodded. “So I surmised from what Marcus said. Was she all right?”
“They hurt her, but Marcus was there. There were no lasting effects.”
“What did you tell your team about how you knew to go get her?”
“I didn’t entirely. They know I have ways of getting transmissions from the collectives. They also know I’m reluctant to speak about it, so they don’t ask. They trust me. Either that or they assume that we intercepted an actual physical message. I usually don’t specify.”
Nathaniel nodded, lost in his thoughts.
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