by Galili Black
“That’s not humanity’s long cherished dream. Humanity didn’t give a fig about energy until assholes started sucking sludge out of the ground and whizzing around with it. It’s all been a freaky side show since then, one that never should have started,” Hez said and tried to yank up the robes.
The man who had brought them into the room, pushed him away. Hez glared at him, “I thought you wanted me to put those on.”
“Go get a shower, then you put them on,” Melton said.
“Right, wouldn’t want to spoil the pretty dresses.”
“Just do what you’re told.” Hez shot him a contemptuous look and left the room.
“He’s not going to have the right attitude to play his role,” the robe guy said to Melton.
“We’ll work on his attitude in a little bit.”
Melton looked at Richard, “Did you notice that your wife was not in the picture when we showed you the scene with your son?”
“Yes, why do you mention it?”
“She took a trip to visit someone.”
“If you’re trying to imply something fishy ...”
“We don’t deal in rumor mongering of that sort, pay attention. She’s beside a road in New Hampshire along with Theodore Griffin, the writer.”
“What?”
“She apparently thinks he can help her get information about you. Of course, he doesn’t know a thing about where we have you or what this is all about. We just wondered why she thought that he would. Any ideas about that?”
Richard shrugged, “I’m a fan of his work … what do you mean she’s beside the road. Is she alright?”
“For now. We’re going to hold her until the event is successfully concluded. That’s added incentive for you to help your friend, McCane. Wiggins here is right, Mr. McCane is in serious need of an attitude adjustment. We think you can help us there.”
“I don’t know how I can convince him that this whole thing isn’t a crock of shit.”
“What may help you is to consider how all you hold dear is dependent on this crock proceeding according to plan. No last minute efforts to stall or obstruct. When the energy is loosened, as the old texts describe, it is absolutely imperative that he has complete presence of mind to direct it to the mountains around here. If he falters, the thing could go awry and we would be out of luck for another ten thousand years. That’s the time frame for the event that is about to occur. A lot of people have invested significant amounts of their lives in this project, and it is up to you and McCane to complete the process so that we gain the full benefits of it when it comes.”
“Why would you set it up so that people who have no faith in what you’re doing are given the key to making it work?”
Melton blinked at him, “There are details of the master plan you can never understand unless you accepted the master program, which you have declined to do. Just be aware that this event has been worked out to obtain the maximum amount of energy.”
“I just hope you haven’t over-estimated what these mountains can hold.”
“Oh we have that worked out to the last degree.”
“Even though you don’t really even know what this energy consists of, right?”
“We know what our ancestors did with it, even though they had no scientific knowledge such as exists today. If they did so much under those conditions, there’s no limit to what we can achieve with it.”
“Unless it won’t work for people like you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You said you knew that empathy counted in connecting to it, what if it won’t operate without that?”
Melton smiled, “Now you’ve answered your own question about why we would let the project ride on the likes of you and McCane.”
Richard shook his head. “So, now you terrorize us by threatening the lives of my family to get us in the proper empathetic mind frame,” Melton gave him a blank stare. “So you never intended to put either McCane or me in the magic programming chair did you? You knew it would turn us into soulless zombies, so that was just a ruse to what? Create a sympathetic bond between us?”
“Don’t trouble yourself now trying to work out all the ins and outs. It’s just about over. All you need to do is focus on saving your family by keeping McCane focused on his role as activator.” Melton turned to Wiggins who was frowning at the fake fire. “Wiggins take those over to McCane’s room.” Wiggins yanked up the robes and left the room. “I’m afraid he’s still miffed that McCane doesn’t appreciate the great privilege of wearing one of his finest creations. He’s quite well known in the fashion world, and quite eager to come on board when we approached him. Some people have vision.”
“I wouldn’t mention that it’s all la de da in the fashion world to McCane if you want him to wear the things,” Richard remarked.
“Oh yes, you and he are above good taste. Don’t worry he can go back to his bib overalls and shit kicker boots as soon as we get this thing done, in...” he glanced down at his watch, “One hour and thirty five minutes.”
“It’s that soon?”
Melton nodded. “I want you to spend that time, helping him get in the proper mind frame. I sent some files to your email account; look at those if you need any ideas.”
“Can I see the video that shows my son?”
“You’ll be home with him soon if you do what we ask,” Melton said and left the room, his laptop crammed under his arm.
Richard threw a coffee mug at the door after him and threw himself on the sofa. After a few gasps that were close to sobs, he forced himself to dig out his own laptop and look for Melton’s files. He read through them quickly and almost sent the laptop flying as well. He was stopped by a knock on the door. The sight of Hez in ceremonial robes caused him to forget all about destroying the laptop.
“Don’t laugh,” Hez said between gritted teeth.
“I’m not. It’s better than I thought it would be. You look like a young Gandalf.”
Hez laughed, “I think I would need a beard to pull that off.”
“Yeh, the outfit calls for a beard, but at least you have the hair.”
“I’ve been meaning to get a haircut, but the girl who usually cuts it … never mind. Jeez, I feel like little Bo Peep.”
“So you need a shepherd’s crook. Here try this on for size.” Ewing went to his closet and pulled out what looked like a walking stick. “They say you need a staff.”
“You’re joking. Do you think it can transport us out of here?”
“I think you have to focus your mind on that shiny thing on the end.” Hez picked it up and examined the tip.
“That’s what, a crystal?”
“I guess. They gave it to me a few weeks ago, without explaining what it was for, so I just stuck it in the closet. I just read a memo from Melton and it says I should tell you to project your thoughts inside the tip of the staff.”
“This is stupid. My sister goes in for that kind of crap, I never have.”
“Just play along, like with the outfit, it’s all the same song and dance. We’ll have a great laugh about it over beer someday.”
“I can’t believe grown men are caught up in a bunch of hooey like this.”
“I know it’s all been surreal. Oh by the way, I found out they never intended to wipe our personalities in the magic high chair. That was just another head trip.”
“So’s all of this shit, probably, But hey in for a penny, in for a pound.”
“Yeh, let’s just think of it like you’re an actor and you have to get your lines right. I have them here. What you need to say at the crucial time.”
“I know what I would like to say right now and be done.” Richard gave him a worried look. “Don’t worry; I know they’ve got your kids.”
“And my wife, they’re holding her, with of all people, Ted Griffin. Didn’t you say he got you into this whole mess?”
“Does your wife know Ted?”
Richard shook his head, and then added, “I’ve read his bo
oks. He’s got some amazing ideas; I think Sam might have sought him out to try to figure out this whole side show.”
“She could do worse. He’s really bright. My sister worked with him, like I told you. I wonder if Ellie’s with them.”
“They didn’t mention it, if she is. But then, they love to keep us guessing don’t they?”
“I’m still worried about helping them. I don’t want to, but it looks like they have us by the balls. So let’s go over what they want me to do for the big event.” He sat down beside his friend and they began to go over the lines. There weren’t many. Hez began to say them out loud, and decided it was like reciting a poem.
“It says you should look at the sword, I guess they mean the constellation sword. No wait, it says they’re going to provide a sword.”
“So I have to hold a staff and a sword?”
“The staff is just for starters, the sword is what matters, I think.”
“Okay I guess I should be glad I don’t have to stand on my head at the same time.”
“Now that you mention it,” Richard said, and then burst out laughing at the dismay on Hez’s face. “I’m kidding; you just have to hold the sword over your head. I guess the staff is just to get you started focusing on something phallic.” They both laughed at this.
“What a strange set of circumstances has brought me to this. All I wanted was to get my sister back home, and now I’m buried in a hole in Siberia, decked out like Little Bo Peep, reciting poetry, and hoping that somehow it’s all going to turn out fine.”
“It will,” Richard said, suddenly serious. “It has to.”
“Yes right, let’s go over the lines again,” Hez said, suddenly remembering the causes Richard had to worry. Maybe there wasn’t much cause for hope, but nonetheless, they had to try to keep it alive. Somewhere someone had written that hope didn’t count for much unless things were truly desperate. From that perspective, they were in the ideal situation to hold onto some. With that encouraging thought, he said the words with more confidence. Richard shot him a grateful glance. Just think of his kids and do this thing, he told himself to overcome his own sense of the absurdity and futility of the upcoming rite or whatever the hell it was supposed to be. The kid had looked like a normal, happy kid playing his video game and he deserved to have his father back. If there’s even a world to have a father in, a cold voice added. A shiver shook him and he bellowed out the next line to cover, “And when the.”
“No that’s not a line, it’s commentary,” Richard interrupted him.
“Okay, then we’re done. I’ve got it. I’m pretty good at memorization, but they ought to let you stand nearby in case I forget a line when the time comes.”
“I don’t know if I get to come up there or not. They might need you to go it alone.”
“Well then, I’ll just have to make sure I don’t forget my lines.” Hez said quietly.
Richard slapped him on the upper arm, “You’ll do fine. You’re a natural.”
Hez laughed, “Natural born loser. Well, when do we get this show on the road?”
Richard looked at the clock on the wall, “A little less than forty minutes.”
“I’m nervous, but I think it’s really not that big of a deal. I say the words blah blah blah, I lift the sword, wait for something to happen to the sword and throw it down. Then it’s over, how hard can that be?”
“Piece of cake.” They exchanged a look and sat in silence for a few moments.
Chapter Fourteen
Ellie stood on a platform, her head was bowed, and her hands were open by her sides. The stars were brilliant overhead. Orion shone like a beacon. The nebula at the center of the sword had turned a fiery red color. A few dozen people stood below her, they were all frozen in place. Some of them were looking up at the stars but most of them were staring at Ellie. A slight wind lifted a few strands of hair near her face. She paid no attention to the people; all of her thoughts were joined to the mountain. She felt that her body was no longer simply her physical self, but now it was encompassing the mountain, and the mountain she stood on connected her to many others that extended down the Appalachian Trail all the way to Georgia. Yet her identity did not stop there, for as she began to sense herself at one with the ancient mountain chain of her birth, she could see through them another chain.
It was aware like her through a human presence standing on a platform across the seas. That person was holding up a sword, he was waiting for a sign from her. What she had to do was call across the ocean to him. Speak a word he knew and then he would send the signal across the void between their star and the nebula. Aleister’s words about his experience viewing the constellation with his father came back to her. He had called it a jewel that holds the most ancient light of all. She saw clearly now that it was a container of that precious original dispensation of light, ancient beyond telling.
It all seemed simple now and a great calm engulfed her. Hezekiah was the other person standing on a mountain platform. In her mind’s eye, she saw him clearly; wearing a white robe, the sword he held seemed made of lightning. Below him was a mountain, but there was something wrong. Unlike the mountain she was standing on, his was dark. There was a sullen glow from some globs of knotted matter, which stretched from his mountain to the neighboring ones strung out from his. The material was like a knotted rope connecting them all. When he tries to bring down the first light it won’t have anywhere to go, she thought. I can fill every hill from here to the end of this chain, but his are filled already. She didn’t know what to do. She looked at the people below the platform. “I can’t do this,” she yelled down to them. At first nothing happened, and then someone was climbing the stairs to reach her. It was Aleister. His face was grim.
“You have to do this, it’s only minutes before the burst of energy, we think,”
“They’ve got it blocked on the other side, it’s choked off with something.”
“Then when he calls to it, bring it here and do not send it back to him, hold it here,” he said.
“Do you think that will work?”
“Yes, it will work. Just let him send the signal, and when it comes across to you, direct it down this chain.”
She nodded. He clasped her upper arm and said, “You can do this.” Then he turned and descended again.
She closed her physical eyes and looked again at Hezekiah with her mind’s eye. He was poised, the sword was lifted, and then the change began. It started with a pulse that lasted a fraction of a second, then it came again and lasted a little longer, and it continued in this way, each pulse getting longer and closer together. People were crying out and pointing to the sky, but she kept her mind focused on the image of her brother. She found herself saying, “You can do this Hez, keep going.” She could see that the light was swirling around him now like a serpent.
“Hez, send me the energy,” she yelled to him with her mind. He seemed stunned by her voice. He didn’t know it was me, or that he has to send it out, she thought. Maybe they told him just to keep it over there. “Send it over here, Hez,” she yelled at him mentally again.
He heard the shout, and suddenly the energy was shooting across the ocean towards her. It zigzagged over the vast reaches of water like a lightning bolt. She caught it in her mind’s eye and directed it by raising her arms over her head. She closed her open palms and then the energy began to cascade into ribbons of light that hovered above the tree line. It shimmered down and away from her as she guided it over the whole vast mountain chain. She realized as the light continued to flow that it was also sound and it was like a choir of many, many voices chanting. A verse from the Bible came to her mind, “when the morning stars sang together,” and she realized that this was what that meant. It was the song of first creation. It was how stars were made and also how human spirits were made. We were made from light and sound she thought, while the energy was continuing to flow above her and over all the Appalachians for as far as her extended mind could see. Suddenly, in her mind�
�s eye she could see one mountain that was hollowed out and dark. It looked like a deep, dark bowl and she took a deep, long breath and then drove the energy like a gigantic shaft into the center of that mountain.
The energy flowed down and down like a massive waterfall to what depths she could not imagine. She felt that she was riding the current of light, commanding it to do her will. It felt like flying on a tremendous dragon. The speed kept increasing and she began to feel faint, despite the exhilaration. When she was certain she really would pass out, the energy abruptly disappeared. It created a sensation of falling violently back into full body awareness. She tried to focus again on Hezekiah but he was no longer on the platform. Someone or something had brought him down. She dropped to the ground. Once again she thought she would lose consciousness, but she fought to stay aware. She tried to find Hez again, but the intervening Atlantic Ocean rose in her mind and she could no longer see those other mountains or Hez on top of one. Aliester was suddenly standing above her; he brought her to her feet. “What’s happening?”
“They’ve stopped Hez from receiving,” she managed to reply. He signaled to some men and one of them came and picked her up. It was a strange sensation to be carried like a child, but she felt suddenly completely spent. She was too tired to even glance up towards Orion. Later she would see the videos of the burst of energy, but for now nothing interested her but sleep. Even concern for Hezekiah could not keep her awake. She was completely unconscious by the time they got her to the elevator below the platform. She would not awaken for many hours.
*
Hez was so completely focused on sending Ellie every bit of the stellar power surging around him that he did not notice that men were rushing the platform. They knocked him over and yanked the sword out of his hand. “What are you doing?” Melton was screaming. His voice was coming from far away. Hez felt all of his personal energy drain away. I’m going to die now, he thought and that was a pleasant thought. He heard someone calling his name, was it Gran? He could see her face, no wait, it was someone else.