“I can’t move…” Fantom wheezed. “Why can’t I move…?”
His clear, sunken eyes shifted past me. “Gaia…”
I turned back around.
The creature standing only feet away from me was nearly twice my height and about half my width. Its limbs were like young tree branches with three gangly fingers or toes sprouting from each. Its neck was nearly as long as its slender abdomen, towering erect to a perfectly circular head—no eyes, no mouth, or any distinguishing features at all. The only exception was a core like the one in my chest, except it was glowing neon green.
Though it had no eyes, I could tell that it was ignoring Fantom and focused solely on me.
Hello, Marrow, said Gaia’s conglomeration of voices directly into my mind. I am sorry for trying to kill you. That is normally not in my nature.
What was going on here? Where were we? Why was this psychotic alien suddenly apologizing? Especially after I had just tried to destroy its comet.
“Are we dead?” I asked. I glanced around at the endless whiteness around me. “Is this…heaven?”
Your subconscious energies have somehow become temporarily submerged within my subconscious.
“Our whats have done what inside your what?”
You’re inside my head, said Gaia. Similar to the way I was submerged within Fantom’s subconscious, only reversed. And allow me to be the first to say that this is highly unusual. You are the first carbon-based lifeforms of your kind to perform such a feat. Such a surprising side effect.
“But the comet is destroyed, right?”
No, fortunately. Your hypothesis to destroy the Gaia Comet by collision with yourself at a very high speed was incorrect. In human terms, you were like a very fast insect hitting a stationary train at a high speed. The train is not damaged, but the insect is. If your hypothesis had been correct, the explosion of the Gaia Comet would have been catastrophic. The Comet’s energy is composed of stable antimatter—the destabilization of which would have produced an explosion comparable to the Big Bang. I don’t know about the rest of the universe, but the Earth would surely be destroyed, and your galaxy would likely be thrown severely off its gravitational orbit.
My metaphysical jaw unhinged. “Wait, what? But…how? How can that blow up the Earth? I mean, the Comet hit the Earth from outer space, right? How come the freaking galaxy didn’t explode?”
I apologize. This must all be very confusing for a non-collective-mind being. Let me explain: Your Earth did not explode when the comet first landed because the ocean provided a cushion that reduced the chances of destabilization. Our landing calculations were almost perfect. Does that make sense?
“Yeah.” My metaphysical heart stopped. “Wait, you said I was like a bug hitting a train . . . am I dead?”
Almost certainly. It is unfathomable that your body even survived the impact.
“But…the Tartarus! What happened to the Tartarus?”
Nothing has happened to the Tartarus. Yet.
“Yet?” I said. My tone was one notch past hysterical and I was an eye twitch short of a mental breakdown. “What do you mean, ‘yet’? What the heck’s that supposed to mean?”
According to my calculations, the comet and the Tartarus will hit the earth in exactly three minutes and forty-seven seconds. You see, the Tartarus runs on nuclear energy. The nuclear explosion will destabilize the antimatter of the Comet and destroy the planet.
I collapsed onto my hands and knees. My arms started shaking and then I just dropped my face on the invisible floor. My eyes burned and then I starting crying tears that my soul body couldn’t produce, sobbing uncontrollably. All of my insides felt like they were imploding—even though I didn’t technically have insides.
Meanwhile, Fantom started laughing in his wheezy excuse for a voice. It almost sounded more like coughing.
“We showed those pathetic insects, Gaia…” he rasped. “And they thought they could stop us.”
I didn’t even care about Fantom anymore. I just wanted to die. Except, in a sense, I was already dead. This was worse than being dead. I was in Hell. I wanted to just rip that golden orb out of my chest and crush it in my transparent hands.
To my surprise, as I opened my burning eyes, the orb was shining even brighter than before. It hurt just looking at it. As I stared up into the white expanse, it was obvious that my luminescent golden glow could have filled a football stadium.
Why did you do it? said Gaia.
“Do what?” I asked.
Try to destroy the Comet. Surely you knew that the probability of you surviving was less than 3.5 percent?
“My friends were on the Tartarus. Flex, Sapphire, Whisp, Havoc…and all those people. And my dad. Him too. I couldn’t just let them all die.”
And then I felt sick all over again.
“A lot of good it did,” I said. “Everyone I’ve ever loved…they’re all going to die because of me.”
Marrow, said Gaia. May I request something of you?
I pulled my heavy head up, straining to meet his nonexistent gaze. I couldn’t talk though. Breathing was painful enough—if I was really breathing, that is.
I can see to it that you survive this, said Gaia. And then I would like to become a part of your mind.
“What?” I said.
“No…!” Fantom gasped. “Gaia! What are you doing? You’re a part of my mind!”
I know that must sound like an unusual request, said Gaia. That is the sort of research my kind does. As we select a world to study, we do it through the eyes of a host. Though it’s a gradual process, we eventually begin to think as the host thinks. It’s all a part of our research, getting to understand the world better and knowing how to interact with it.
“Gaia!” Fantom screeched. “No, Gaia! I need you!”
Gaia tilted its head slightly, and I could tell that it was finally paying heed to Fantom
Personally, I don’t enjoy being inside Fantom’s mind. He was a pleasant enough specimen when he was young, but now… I don’t like the effect his thinking has on my mind. His greed and hatred is consuming. And as you can see from his current state, his subconscious has become extremely dependent on my energy. Without me, he would be a human vegetable. You could almost say that our symbiotic relationship digressed to a more parasitic nature. It will be a very long time before his subconscious recovers.
“Gaia…” said Fantom. He had exerted the last of his strength, and his head was now cocked at an awkward angle on the invisible floor.
Gaia returned its indiscernible focus to me. Will you do it, Marrow? Will you let me study you? I can assure you that it is for the sake of a better universe.
“A better universe?” I said. Now that I could finally speak, my devastation was replaced by something new. I was still shaking, but my fists were trembling most of all. I wished I could feel my fingernails digging into my palms—any physical pain at all. “My planet is dying because of you.”
Gaia didn’t respond. Instead, it tilted its head to the other side.
“My father has been a fugitive for as long as I can remember because of you,” I continued. “Every bad thing that’s happened is because of you! Because you gave power to that…that thing!”
I stabbed an accusing finger at Fantom. He merely glanced at me from his awkward angle on the floor and laughed—a slow, disturbed laugh that wrenched my insides. Whatever Fantom was, he sure as heck wasn’t human.
It’s true that my research through Fantom has wrought destructive results, said Gaia. To be fair, his mind was much different as a child. His motives were much more pure. It’s possible that the power he accumulated through me is what led to his corruption. I never could have calculated that he would become what he is now.
“And you want to give that power to me,” I said.
That is correct. I am intrigued by the wavelengths of your subconscious. The fact that your subconscious has become temporarily lodged in mine speaks for itself. Judging from what I see, I believe my pow
er would be used to much different effects in your hands.
“Forget it,” I said. “I don’t want your power. I don’t want you inside my head. I don’t want to live anywhere without my friends, thinking about all the funerals I can’t go to because THE PLANET IS ABOUT TO BLOW UP! Screw you, Gaia. Screw you and your power and your stupid research. I don’t want any part in it.”
I figured that would be your response, said Gaia. I must admit that it only makes me want to study you that much more.
“Yeah, well, it’s not happening.”
Gaia pressed six of its spindly fingertips together, as if in contemplation. Its green orb flickered in thought.
I don’t think you realize what you can do with my power.
“I don’t want to hear it.”
With my power, you will have all the omnipotent power that Fantom had—
“Did you not hear me? I DON’T WANT—”
—and you can possibly stop the Tartarus from crashing.
“—IT! Wait, what?”
That shut me up. There was no way I heard right. I was silent for several long seconds before saying, “What do you mean?”
Fantom only had his telepathic and telekinetic power because of me. I am offering you the telekinetic power that could stop the Tartarus and the comet from hitting the Earth and exploding.
Fantom contorted his transparent body at an even more awkward angle from the invisible floor. “Huh?”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My heart leapt inside of me—except I didn’t have a heart. Maybe it was that golden orb thingy inside me. It did seem to be glowing and pulsating brighter than ever now.
There are a few conditions, however, said Gaia. Once I am a part of your mind, you’ll have access to my power, but only you will be responsible for stopping the Tartarus and the Comet from impacting the earth. If you can’t stop it, then I will be forced to open a wormhole in the fabric of space and time so we can escape, and we will continue my research elsewhere. My kind uses wormholes as sparingly as possible. The ripples in the space-time continuum can distort our research. And before you ask if I can use the wormhole to go back in time to stop earlier events on Earth, the answer is no. If you were to encounter your past self, it’s possible that the space-time continuum would implode into a black hole and devour your planet. That would be detrimental to our research.
“So we’re traveling back in time to stop the Tartarus?”
No, why would you think that?
“But you just said that the Tartarus only had three and a half minutes before the crash! We’ve been talking for at least that long.”
Ah. I don’t think you understand. The transfer of information between our connected minds is almost instantaneous. We have been communicating for no more than twenty earth seconds.
“Oh…” I nodded slowly. “Okay…”
If you agree to this, I will be inside your mind until you die, said Gaia. This will be non-negotiable. As this is a lifetime commitment, I understand if you need more time to think it over—
“I’ll do it,” I said. As Gaia’s words finally sank in, I found myself trembling again. Flex. Sapphire. Whisp.
My dad.
I could save all of them.
Gaia interlocked its gangly fingers. You are sure of this?
I nodded, biting my lip. “Yes, but…I do have a question.”
What is that?
“What happened to all of the powers that you and Fantom absorbed?”
Those powers were released the moment my vessel was fractured and my mind was separated from Fantom’s, said Gaia. Those powers will have undoubtedly returned to the humans they once belonged to. Such powers have a strange sense of familiarity like that. They always drift back to what they consider home.
That was good to know. I couldn’t have handled having all those stolen powers inside of me. But still…that wasn’t enough.
“Do I have to accept your power?” I asked.
Gaia cocked its perfectly round head. I’m afraid I don’t understand your question.
“Like…I know I need your power to save my friends and all,” I said. “But when I save them…can you take the power away from me? I don’t want it.”
The power is a part of me, said Gaia. I can hide it in a dormant part of your brain where it will be extremely difficult to reach, but it will still be a part of you. If you dig hard enough, there will be nothing I can do to keep you from accessing it.
“Okay…” I said, nodding solemnly. “Do that. As soon as I save my friends, hide your power from me.”
As you wish. Are you ready then?
“Yeah. I’m ready.”
Gaia extended an elongated arm, pressing a thin finger against an invisible wall. A pool of swirling blackness opened, accompanied by an intense howling wind. An array of neon colors seared into the nothingness as the vortex expanded. In mere seconds, the shadowy neon maelstrom was as tall as Gaia.
“No…” said Fantom, scraping the invisible floor with his emaciated fingers. “Don’t…leave…me…”
I struggled to pull my gaze from Fantom. “What will happen to him?”
Unfortunately, due to Fantom’s dependency on me, I have become the most integral part of his brain. Once my subconscious detaches from his, he will die.
I finally ripped my eyes away. Staring into the swirling abyss, I nodded. “Let’s go.”
Gaia took my hand, its seemingly jointless fingers wrapping around mine. Together we stepped into the darkness.
CHAPTER 39
Marrow…
I was flying—soaring through a vast nothingness. Slicing through the shadows…
“Marrow…”
The wind was attacking me from all sides—a fierce, biting wind. Cold…merciless…
“Marrow!”
The darkness vanished as I opened my eyelids. Flex was hunched over me, his dreadlocks whipping aimlessly around his face. His eyes were huge, swallowed in panic.
“Flex?”
We were back in the broken Cronus Chamber which was hardly a safe place with the gaping hole I had kicked in the glass. The shattered section was a raging vacuum, violently trying to suck us out into the open atmosphere. I realized that the only thing holding me down was Flex, clutching my collar while he continued to grip the rim of the Cronus cannon.
But something was different. Even though the Tartarus was hurtling downward, I felt remarkably aware of every detail around me. Every jagged edge of the shattered hole. Every loose object floating in our descent. Everything was sharper. Crisper. Clearer. I felt a throb of life from every human and creature aboard the Tartarus.
I had never felt so alive in my entire life.
“You’re alive!” said Flex. “How the heck are you alive?”
“Long story,” I said. “There’s no time to explain.”
Flex lifted an eyebrow. “Huh? Explain what?”
I opened my mouth but hesitated.
Flex hadn’t said that at all. His mouth hadn’t moved. He thought it. I was reading his mind.
But seriously, though. There was no time to explain. My gaze darted past Flex to the bleeding evening sky rushing past us. Who knew how close we were to hitting the ground?
I pulled myself free of Flex’s grip, staggering upright. The wind immediately threatened to rip me off my feet, but I could already feel the new power emanating from my being. With just a simple thought, I pinned my feet to the ground.
“Are you insane?” asked Flex. “What are you doing?”
At a time like this, I figured that the best explanations were the unspoken ones. Concentrating on the invisible force holding my feet down, I redirected it to my soles. Taking a deep breath, I steadily lifted myself off the ground.
Flex’s jaw dropped.
“I’m gonna save our butts,” I said.
With that, I let myself get sucked out of the Cronus Chamber, telekinetically pushing myself from the broken glass edges.
If I thought the wind was int
ense before, nothing could have prepared me for this. The air was sucked right out of my lungs. The wind ripped and clawed at my skin. I toppled and flailed through the air like a broken kite.
Don’t focus on your surroundings, a familiar chorus of voices entered my head. Focus on within.
“Gaia?” I said. “Is that you?”
Of course it’s me, said Gaia. How many other extraterrestrial life forms do you have living inside your head?
“I thought you weren’t going to help me.”
Yes, well, I would be disappointed to see you die again before I even began my research.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t like that either.”
I closed my eyes and struggled to tune out the thrashing wind. Inhaling through my nose, I scraped within myself for power.
Somehow, I sensed a golden flicker inside of me. A spark. Then it exploded.
The wind halted.
No. Not the wind. I opened my eyes.
I had halted. I was floating perfectly still in midair. My gaze lowered to the Tartarus and the Gaia Comet, spiraling as it plummeted. From a distance, it looked like a funky rock baked inside a donut made out of glass bubbles. Which doesn’t really make any sense, but whatever, that’s what it looked like.
The jagged silver edges of Cosmo City were not far below.
All it took was a thought. Suddenly, I was zipping downward, body straight and arms tucked to my side. All of the intricate details of the Tartarus infrastructure became clear. I pushed my arms forward as I plunged, but not for the sake of looking like Superman. My fingers extended and I reached to the Tartarus, struggling to make some telekinetic connection.
I felt it.
The sudden jarring force seemed to rip at my veins. My fingers contorted, and my back arched, as I fought to pull back. I screamed through gritted teeth. My momentum slowed but only slightly. The Tartarus groaned as I pulled but showed no sign of stopping, pulling me down with it instead.
Dangit. How did Fantom make this look so easy?
I needed a different angle. Maybe that would help. Rocketing back down, I closed in on the Tartarus again. But instead of maintaining the same speed, I whizzed faster. There was no time to go around. I weaved through the tight infrastructure of the Tartarus, dodging a labyrinth of sphere chambers and glass passageways.
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