The Immortal Harvest

by L. J. Wallace

  He used the rage to focus on the device in his Father’s pocket. He could see the faint glow emanating from the device and sense the rage from the monster who was threatening to kill his Father.

  He saw that he was holding a small silver device in his hand. It looked like one of the cigarette lighters that his friend Crystal owned. He did not realise the danger that they all faced until he heard the gasp from the group of men which were holding them captive.

  He could see the panicked look sweep across the old Doctor’s face and the sheer look of terror on the face of the woman they called Ms Smythe.

  “Now don’t do anything foolish Mr Stringer, why don’t you come down here so we can discuss things rationally, I can release your freq lock and you can return with us. I will have my best geneticists work on you,” the Doctor said as he turned his head and nodded to a man who was standing next to a computer console.

  Justen did not understand the Doctor’s actions but he could see the resigned look on both his Father’s and the monster’s face and he sensed what was about to happen.

  He summoned all of his energy and directed it at his Father’s pocket and then he heard the words which sent a chill down his spine.

  “Sorry you’re too late, the lightning fried my TDI Oppenheimer, and there is no going back. I’m doomed to die on this shit hole of a planet and I’m taking you all with me.”

  Justen saw Stringer flick open the top of the device and throw it at the old Doctor who screamed in frustration and threw his arms up in the air as if willing the monster to do his bidding.

  “NO Stringer – WAIT!”

  At the same time he heard his Father’s voice stream through his mind.

  Justen, do it now!

  Justen’s mind merged with his Father’s and together they created a massive energy bubble which encompassed the entire room.

  From Justen’s point of view, time appeared to slow down.

  He saw the old Doctor catch the device which was thrown at him. He had a look of pure terror on his face as he turned and ran towards a growing spherical bubble which had formed near him.

  He heard all of the bad people, including Ms Smythe scream and grab the backs of their necks before collapsing onto the ground and began writhing in agony.

  All of the FBI team had broken loose from their captives and were scrambling for the weapons that had been dropped. Justen thought that this was a futile endeavour.

  He looked up at his Father and gasped in terror when saw that his throat had been slashed by the monster’s blade. A shower of blood sprayed from his Father’s neck as the monster threw him to the floor of the mezzanine like discarded trash.

  The monster was laughing hysterically at what he no doubt considered his final act of revenge.

  Justen squeezed his Mother’s hand tighter and looked up at her face. He could tell that she was terrified. Her eyes were closed and she was mumbling softly to herself.

  His heart broke when he received the final message from his Father as it seeped into the deepest recesses of his mind.

  I love you son

  At that moment the energy bubble contracted.

  He felt that tingly feeling again as he and his Mother dematerialised – a split second before the anti-matter weapon detonated.

  Fifty One

  Sylvan writhed in agony. She was both blind and deaf. She could not breathe. She clawed at her throat in a vain attempt to get air. She had an intense pain in the back of her neck.

  She could hear the similar struggles of others in the room with her. Her mind was confused and disoriented.

  Her vision became blurry and she convulsed in a frenetic coughing fit as her lungs burned from a lack of oxygen.

  Slowly her hearing was returning and she could hear a strange metallic sounding voice. It was speaking in language she had never heard before and through her blurred vision she thought that she imagined an odd glowing sign floating in the air above her with strange red symbols. They were constantly changing.

  The symbols and voice were strangely calming and she was almost mesmerised by them.

  Suddenly they changed colour and then disappeared. It was then that she felt the cool flow of air across her face and the pain in her lungs began to subside.

  She consciously calmed herself by taking huge gulps of air as she looked around at the strange room and the other people who were also gulping air.

  She recognised that the others were the FBI agents that were in the control room with her and Justen.

  She could not see Agent Baxter and it was then that she realised with horror that both Justen and Michael were also missing. She began to panic and started calling out for them.

  “Michael, Justen where are you?”

  JUSTEN WHERE ARE YOU??

  She was startled by the soft voice of a woman.

  “Sylvan, it’s okay; it’s all going to be alright, calm down.”

  Sylvan was scared and confused. She thought that she recognised the voice. She turned slowly and looked into the kind eyes of a woman that she thought she would never see again – her Grand Mother.

  “Am I dead?” She asked quietly, “Is this heaven? Where is Justen? Where is Michael?”

  The woman smiled at her long line of questions and put her hand up in front of her as if to signify that she wanted to hold her hand.

  “Come Sylvan please sit and I will tell you everything I…”

  The woman was interrupted by one of the taller agents. He seemed angry and obviously demanded answers.

  “Okay lady, I am Agent Durning of the FBI. Where the hell are we? Where is Senior Special Agent Baxter? What have you done with the boy? Where are our weapons?”

  Sylvan could see that the Agents’ demeanour had little effect on the woman and she calmly smiled at him.

  A large golden bench materialised in front of them and Sylvan’s Grand Mother sat down and patted the bench.

  Sylvan’s legs were trembling, she realised that her whole body was shaking and her mouth was so dry she had no saliva in her mouth to swallow.

  The woman held out her hand and a silver cup materialised and she handed it to Sylvan.

  “Here sweetheart have a drink, you must be exhausted after such an ordeal.”

  She sipped the cool pleasant tasting drink slowly while she took a good look at the woman who looked and sounded like her Grand Mother.

  She had the same gentle smile and soothing voice. Her face and arms had wrinkles. Her body was rounded with gentle curves and a bosom which Sylvan remembered fondly, had given her comfort when she was given one of her frequent, soothing hugs.

  She turned to Agent Durning, “This is my Grand Mother, and she died when I was a girl.

  “I understand your anger and confusion Agent Durning. I am very upset and confused and I don’t think we are on Earth. I am not sure where we are but I’m sure my Grand Mother knows.” She said as she smiled and turned towards the old woman.

  “Nana, can you please tell us where we are and where are the other people who were with us?”

  The old woman smiled and her whole face lit up as she laughed loudly and put her right arm around Sylvan and squeezed her shoulders.

  “You were such a delightful child and I can see that you have a very special little boy. Your Mother must be so proud.”

  Sylvan froze at the mention of her Mother. She had conflicted feelings about the woman who had tossed her and her son onto the streets which ultimately led to her current predicament.

  “Now, now dear, don’t be so hard on your Mother, as you know, being a Mother is not easy.”

  “Don’t tell me that you can read my thoughts as well,” Sylvan said defensively as she tried to move out of her Grand Mother’s embrace.

  The old woman held her tight and gave her an extra squeeze and placed her left hand on Sylvan’s knee.

  Sylvan had noticed that Agent Durning had been joined by the rest of his team and they all stood around her and her Grand Mother. She could tell that they also h
ad a lot of questions. She shot an enquiring look at her Grand Mother who knew instinctively what was required of her.

  “It’s okay Sylvan; I think it’s time that I gave you and your friends some answers.

  Hello everyone, I guess you are all very curious and I can sense that you all have questions burning away inside of you. Please make yourselves comfortable and I will try to answer those for you.”

  The old woman stretched out her arms and three more golden benches materialised. She waited for everyone to be seated and then took a deep breath. She exhaled slowly and closed her eyes.

  She opened her eyes slowly and smiled. Her outward appearance began to change.

  Sylvan heard the surprised gasps from the group as the old woman’s features slowly melted away and they were awestruck as the alien looking creature immerged.

  Sylvan quickly stood and moved away from the bench. She was scared and surprised by the response of the group as the first words were spoken by Agent Durning.

  “Ha! I knew it! Aliens are behind all this. I knew it all along,” Durning said as he looked around the rest of his team. Sylvan saw the sheepish looks on their faces but did not understand the significance of their reaction.

  Sylvan watched as the alien stood up, she noticed how tall and thin he was, at least she assumed it was a he although she was not really sure.

  The most noticeable feature of the alien was his colour which was a strange purplish hue. He had a large head and large eyes which seemed to convey a sense of serenity and kindness. This made Sylvan feel a lot better and she moved towards him with her hand extended.

  “Hello,” she said. “I kinda knew that you weren’t my Nana, but it was nice to be reminded of her. Thank you for that memory – I have so many questions. What is your name? Where are you from? How do you speak our language? Where is…”

  She was interrupted by a voice from behind her.

  “Mother, please let Oolax answer your questions.”

  She turned around quickly and was shocked to see her son and noticed immediately that he had changed.

  He was much taller and seemed ten years older. She noticed how much he looked like Michael.

  She ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. Her emotions took control and she began to cry onto his shoulder.

  “Justen, where were you? What has happened to you? Where is my sweet little boy? She felt his strong arms around her as she began to sob and then stopped suddenly and pushed away from his embrace.

  “Wait. How do I know it’s really you? Are you another alien?”

  She watched as her son smiled and winked at her. He put his hand gently on her shoulder and leant in close to her.

  “It’s okay Mother,” he said quietly into her ear. “Oolax and I will explain everything. Please sit back down on the bench.

  “Do you want me to tell them everything Oolax?” She heard him ask the alien as he helped her back to the bench.

  Sylvan saw the alien approach and place his hand on Justen’s shoulder. His huge head nodded and then he vanished.

  Sylvan looked up at her son proudly as he addressed the group.

  * * *

  Justen could see the looks on the faces of the men and women who were seated around him. He knew that they were scared and confused. He could sense their feelings; however he could no longer read their thoughts.

  He took a deep breath and began. He waved his arm and a large star map appeared in the air above them. He pointed to a mass of intersecting lines on that map.

  I will tell you everything but I want you to hold any questions until I finish. He looked around at the group who slowly nodded their assent at his request. He smiled at his mother and then began his story.

  “This place is a holding point in space and time. It is controlled by Oolax and his people who are related to me through my father Michael, who was created by the scientists of his world.” Justen looked around at the group and saw the puzzled looks on their faces. He knew he had a lot of ground to cover, he took another deep breath and continued.

  “You see, there are many Earths; in fact there are an infinite amount of Earths and they all exist at the same time in an infinite amount of Universes.”

  “The Multiverse!” he heard the youngest agent exclaim.

  “Yes Agent Lewiston you are correct,” Justen said as he swept his arm across in front of him and the image above them exploded into a vast and colourful array depicting countless Universes, sparkling with countless stars.

  “You see, over vast aeons of time, as massive stars in each Universe collapse and form black holes, they produce a new big bang and yet another Universe is spawned. The process is infinite.”

  He then swept his hand across the display and highlighted two tiny blue planets in two consecutive Universes and expanded that image.

  “Our Earth, the one we inhabit is almost identical to every other Earth. Each Earth however, like human beings, has its own unique characteristics as each was created and progressed differently.

  My Father’s Earth was more technologically advanced than ours as they were fortunate enough to be visited by Aliens who possessed superior knowledge.

  Unfortunately, they used some of that knowledge to alter their DNA in the search for immortality. This was the cause of their ultimate destruction.

  The devastating virus which attacked their cells, forced them to seek out other viable humans. They harvested the organs of millions of people in order to keep from perishing.

  When they ran out of people to harvest on their world they used wormhole technology to visit our world and start a new harvest.

  My father was working with an organisation which was trying to stop this evil waste of human life. In the end he was successful – but only by paying the ultimate price.”

  Justen squatted down in front of his Mother and looked gently into her eyes.

  “I’m sorry Mother; Father never made it through the wormhole with us.”

  Justen deliberately neglected to tell his Mother the truth behind his Father’s death, he knew it would be too cruel.

  He placed his hands gently on Sylvan’s shoulders; he could see how distraught she was and tried to comfort her as best he could.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt you son, but what happened to everyone else in that room? Where is Baxter?”

  “Yes, where is he? And Lisa, what happened to her?”

  Justen heard the voices of Agent Durning and Lewiston and for a moment considered ignoring them to continue comforting his Mother.

  He looked at Sylvan’s face as she said quietly, “It’s okay Justen I’ll be alright, continue telling your story.”

  He nodded at his Mother and stood to face the agents.

  “You have all had Trans-Dimensional Interface chips implanted in the backs of your necks. My Father borrowed these from the other people just before you were sent here. He did that to protect you from the stresses of Inter-dimensional travel.

  As for the other people, the Harvesters, they were all destroyed by Stringer, and because he detonated the Anti matter device next to an active wormhole, it destroyed their Universe.

  I’m sorry Agent Lewiston, but I’m afraid we all lost a lot of good friends and loved ones, even my own Father sacrificed his life and his world to save ours.”

  “Why did he have to die?”

  Justen heard the very quiet voice of his Mother and was just about to answer when Oolax reappeared behind him.

  “Michael accepted his punishment,” he said as he placed his hand on Justen’s shoulder.

  Justen was surprised at his Mother’s instant reaction to the comment and had to restrain her from attacking his alien friend.

  “Punishment – What do you mean? He should not have been punished, he saved our lives!”

  Oolax took a step back away and held up his hand.

  “Yes – he saved your lives knowing that he would lose his life.

  Michael was punished because of his role in helping his people build the Trav
erser. His world was not ready for such a device. They upset the balance of the Multiverse.”

  Justen sensed that Oolax was genuinely remorseful and noticed that the deep purple colouration of his body had changed subtly to a more pinkish hue. He felt him place his hand on his shoulder as Oolax continued to explain.

  “I regret that our people are to blame; they should never have interfered with another race’s development. Michael was a product of that interference which had severe repercussions. We had to act to try and reverse the damage.”

  “But what about Justen? Are you going to kill him too?”

  Justen could see the anger in his Mother’s eyes and strengthened his hold on her.

  Oolax smiled and patted Justen on the shoulder.

  “No – we have no need to hurt Justen. The effort that he expended saving all of you has depleted his powers.

  He no longer has abilities; his DNA has reverted to pure human. In the process he has rapidly matured, he is no longer a little boy. He is no longer a threat to the balance of the Multiverse.

  Please I want you all to understand this, those friends and family who have died will encounter the same fate that awaits all sentient beings after death, their essences will return to become one with their Universe – for you see nothing in the Multiverse is ever completely destroyed.

  Life is merely a transient time between states of matter and energy. Michael’s people lost everything in the search for immortality, not realising that they were already immortal.

  As for your friend Baxter, we have attended to his injuries and placed him in stasis for his return journey.”

  Justen heard the murmurs from the group and sensed their concerns. He could see that Lewiston was upset upon hearing that his friend had died and was being comforted by the Agent known as Alicia.

  He saw the youngest woman in the group, the one he knew as Drew stand and also put her arm around Lewiston’s shoulder. She then looked at Oolax and asked the question that Justen sensed the entire group wanted to know.