by A. Bernette
“You made it. Her craft should be coming any moment, based on my tracker,” Johan showed Stephen his watch with a small light beeping on a tiny screen resembling a radar. “They are all ready for her.” Johan stuffed his hands in his pocket. He could handle the cold just as well as Stephen, but Zura would balk if either went out without their coats.
There was no way Stephen would have missed it or even been late for Stella’s return. He was more excited than anyone else that she was coming back home.
“So what are you going to do the rest of the day? You should finally have some free time. Your mom didn’t give you a job today,” Johan said with a smile that said he already knew.
“Stella is coming home. I’m going to spend the free time with her.”
“Of course. What was I even thinking?” Johan joked to a dead- pan faced Stephen.
Johan and Stephen monitored the skies outside the hangar door for the six person aircraft that would be carrying Stella. Soon, a small shadow began creeping along the snow packed ground and then the craft came into view of the short runway. It slowed down and came to a hover as it entered the open hangar.
Stephen left the corner by the door where he stood with Johan, partially protected from the cold wind. Knowing Stella, she’d step off that craft with a regular jacket rather than a coat meant for late fall in Antarctica.
He was right. The door opened and steps lowered to reveal Stella in her lighter jacket. She came off the craft waving with one hand and carrying a small suitcase with the other. A man who looked like the pilot came off behind her, carrying what was clearly Stella’s other suitcase.
Stephen walked over to Stella and gave her an awkward hug, lightly tapping her back. “Why aren’t you wearing a real coat? You’re gonna get pneumonia,” he said worried.
“I missed you too, little brother. Besides, I do have a real coat on. It’s all I need to walk forty yards to the door,” Stella said as she gave Stephen a hug.
Johan walked up behind Stephen giving her a big welcome home hug before he took the bags from Stella and the pilot. Stephen read the name J. Adams on his uniform. That’s him, thought Stephen. As Johan walked towards the doors to go back inside the main building, Stella lingered, watching Stephen.
“Hi Mr. Adams. I haven’t seen you in a few years. Usually, you must be on the larger runs when I don’t get to come out. Can I see your craft?” asked Stephen.
“That’s right. Is it Stephen?” Adams asked.
“Yes. Stephen.”
“Come on up. I’ve got a few minutes before turning her around,” Adams said, inviting Stephen up the steps.
“You guys can go ahead inside where it’s warm. I’m just going to check out this craft for one minute and then I’ll be right back inside,” Stephen said as he walked toward the aircraft.
Stella looked at him with her head tilted just slightly, before following Johan back to the door he and Stephen had walked through minutes before. Once inside Stephen was legitimately impressed. The craft was small but clean and neat. He knew the craft was still on and being powered, but the power source was quiet, only giving off a vibration that could easily be ignored.
The windows, tinted from the inside, displayed the outside and inside temperatures on the tempered glass panes. The seats were modern and streamlined but had cushioning covered by a soft smooth material. He ran his hand over the chair and then sat down turning it all the way around and then back again.
Adams watched him with interest. “So, do you like it?” he finally asked. “I’ve been flying this girl for just over a year when I have lighter loads, usually chartered. She’s small, fast, and efficient.”
Stephen stood up. “It’s really nice, Mr. Adams. Wish I could fly in it, but when we leave we’ll have to take the air bus since it’ll be so many of us.” Stephen felt inside of his pocket on the small piece of candy and pulled it out slowly. He looked behind him and out the windows of the craft.
“Mr. Adams? My mom wanted me to give this to you. It’s only for you.” He handed the candy wrapper with the attached microdot over to Adams, all of it still in the plastic baggie.
Adams took it and looked at it closely for a moment before he placed it in the inside pocket of his coat. “Do you know what it is?” Stephen asked Adams.
“Yes, I do. Thanks. It is important. You better get back to your sister and dad. I’m sure they are waiting for you,” Adams said peeking out the window. “Enjoy your last couple weeks on the ice. I myself have gotta fly.” He patted the pocket on his jacket.
Adams watched Stephen walk out and down the few steps to the ground below and then waved towards Johan and Stella. He lowered the door and walked toward his pilot’s seat. Once in his chair, he reached in his pocket and took out the baggie and candy wrapper. Adams removed the microdot and candy wrapper from the small baggie and he quickly scanned it with his portable reader.
The folder Noah popped up. It was there. He put away the reader and placed the candy back inside the baggie, putting it back safely inside his coat pocket. Things were in motion.
Chapter Thirteen
Connected
Antarctic Research Center
Nearly sixteen years had passed and still Mave had never told Zura or Johan that she’d known all along that their twins would be born in Antarctica. Stephen and Stella were the only ones who could have been selected for that place and arrive in the needed time.
The Unseens had chosen to split the Chi into two bodies. They had decided it would have been too much energy for one to handle and it was too great a risk to the mission for the person they’d chosen to become overwhelmed and dysfunctional.
Twin souls could work together, help each other, and balance the Chi. The Unseens and the Earth Council had given generous leeway with how things happened, as long as certain key things happened along the way. One of those key things was that a child had to be born on each of the seven continents, which were now represented by the seven regions.
Each region held an energetic blueprint and each of the chosen children embodied the energy of the region. Together they would be strong enough, powerful enough that even the World Consensus and UniCorps would have a difficult time stopping them. It would require that they had their own Awakening and were guided by the Keepers until it was time to act.
Just like Mave and the other Keepers, each person had a role, a part to play. Some greater than others, but all critical to the success of the mission. It didn’t matter what the part was, but when the time came, they would have to play it. Everyone would have their moment.
Mave considered herself fortunate. She was one of a handful of people, all Connecteds, who had some powers in common and some unique gifts that allowed them to serve their mission. All five also went through the ‘Awakening’ when they were ready to understand and act on what they’d been sent to do.
For her the Awakening happened soon after becoming a para-adult. She’d gone to camp one Summer for science and technology and met some other very interesting people. While at the camp, she learned that they’d been brought there on purpose, under the direction of the Council.
It was during that camp that Mave met Y Chang and Canson Pritchard for the first time. She’d also met Dr. Lima who now served as a Director for a University program that provided camps in science and technology to teens and university aged students.
Canson Pritchard was a teaching counselor at the camp the year she attended and was already working in the science field in education for one of the virtual schools. The camps were a way for him to earn extra income when school was out.
Y Chang was around the same age as Mave, but Y Chang had been much younger when the Awakening happened for her. She was just seven when she’d had hers and like Mave, she was from the Eastern Way. By the time Canson received his Awakening he was nearly thirty years old.
As far as Mave knew, the fourth Keeper still had not gone through the Awakening. The Council was concerned he had been lost to the temptations that claim
ed so many other Connecteds. Mave and the other Keepers weren’t told exactly who he was but had been told he had chosen a difficult role and been born into power, wealth, and privilege.
The Earth Council had agreed to allow this power along with certain personal attributes. To them it was worth the risk in order to have access to and affect those in power and to serve as Keeper for one of the eight who was to play an integral role in the mission. The eighth was also closely associated with the world of power, wealth, and privilege.
The Earth Council had chosen not to reveal either of their identities to the other Keepers so as not to interfere with free will. While Kean was uncertain, the others still held out hope that his free will would lead him to the path they needed him to be on.
Dr. Lima had brought them together in a special book club that summer, where they discussed literature, world history, social science, and science. She’d shown them how it was all woven together. Dr. Lima was Mave’s guide and mentor and had been critical to her own Awakening. She recalled Dr. Lima’s talks and discussions about the use of the Connection.
Dr. Lima once said “there are some who use the Connection for good. There are others who use the Connection for purely selfish gain. Yet, most are still unaware that they are Connecteds and so aren’t using their power for anything at all.”
When she started camp that summer she had no idea that it would change her life. Mave had been in that intimate club with Y Chang and Canson. Yet, even then, Dr. Lima always seemed to be waiting on someone else to show, but he or she never did.
Mave remembered how Dr. Lima looked around at the three of them as if she were thinking deeply, considering them on some other level. She then told them a story about the Festival of Lights. It was a story that had been passed down to Dr. Lima from her own Keeper.
Many nights when she lay in bed at night, unable to sleep because of the weight of everything she had to do, she’d recall that story.
Dr. Lima began by telling them of a wondrous Festival of Lights that happened every year at the Winter Solstice.
“Let me tell you all a story,” she began. “One that I was told around this same point in my life. Pay close attention to this magical tale,” she’d told them as she began changing their lives that evening.
“The Festival of Lights was a celebration of the coming light and of choosing to help brighten the dark. Where we are here in the Southern Allegiance Region there was a traveling caravan. People would hang colorful, handmade lanterns on their vehicles as they drove, to let others know which way to go. It was quite a sight. Especially, as the people got closer and closer to the festival. The line of lanterns coming in gave a clear path for anyone who may have gotten lost along the way.”
Mave remembered that Dr. Lima paused then for a moment to let just that part sink in to her book club members.
“You know, it didn’t matter who you were. People gathered from every corner of the world at the point where the sun is closest to the Earth. Some would arrive before the festival was to begin and craft lanterns. As the legend goes, at midnight the clouds would part and the sky would clear. Within moments, there would appear millions of stars. The people would light their own lanterns and release them into the night sky to join with the stars.”
Dr. Lima waved her hands towards the sky, where the first sign of stars had started to show. She put her hands in her lap and studied them before continuing.
“As the story goes, there would be so many lanterns, shining so brightly, it would appear as if dawn had come early. The glow could be seen from miles away. After the lanterns had all been released, then the fun would begin. There’d be a celebration filled with music, dancing, singing, drinking, talking, and all kinds of celebration in anticipation of the new day coming. It was when the morning star would cast off the remaining darkness and be with them longer and longer each day.” At this point, Dr. Lima smiled.
Her face lit up as if she were watching it all in front of her at that very moment, her very own show. Her eyes went somewhere else as she experienced the magic of the story.
It was early in the evening two days before they were set to leave, and after they’d heard the story. The four met on the far side of campus and rolled logs over to sit on before gathering sticks to start a small fire. The fire was more for light than for warmth and Dr. Lima had insisted. She loved a good fire.
Dr. Lima had continued the story by telling them that at the festival, there were always some who just watched and enjoyed the beauty of the lights, but chose not to participate in lighting their own lantern and releasing it.
That evening as they sat listening to the end of the tale about the Festival of Lights, Dr. Lima stopped and looked each of them in the eye. Then she forced the three to lean in to hear her as she whispered what Mave remembered felt like a secret.
“You are all lanterns,” she said leaning into them as well. “You can choose to light the lantern or not, but that doesn’t change the nature of what you are.”
Dr. Lima then sat back on her stump and picked up a super-sized marshmallow and shoved it onto a stick. As she stuck the stick in the fire. Mave could see her smiling.
On that warm July evening Dr. Lima said a great deal more but when Mave was in her darkest moments and doubted her choice, she remembered that she’d chosen to light her lantern. The choice had cost her some of the simplest pleasures of life, but she’d made it and was committed to it.
After those two weeks of camp they all went their separate ways. Dr. Lima remained in Southern Allegiance, Mave returned to her home in the southern part of the Eastern Way. Canson left for his home in Australia and Y Chang returned to the main continent of the Eastern Way.
They all went back but none of them were the same. The time spent with Dr. Lima. Canson, and Y Chang had ignited something dormant in Mave and that fire continued to burn. It wasn’t much later that Mave would have the talk with her mother in the garden that brought it home fully and deepened her conviction.
Mave exhaled deeply. Long ago, when her hair didn’t shimmer with strands of silver and her eyes weren’t artfully embraced with lines that gave a memorable mark of the joys and trials of life, she settled on the realization it was better not to know, especially if they weren’t prepared to use it, than to know and abuse it. She adamantly believed that with power comes responsibility, and too many Connecteds had abused their power or had allowed themselves to become corrupted by it.
Since that camp all those years before, Dr. Lima had been assigned as a Lead Guide, helping the Keepers who were selected to guide the Chosen eight. The time was coming soon when they would need to meet again and they would discuss the newest developments and move forward with their plans.
***
Mave would have to report on what the data showed and she knew they weren’t yet fully prepared to address the speed at which things might progress from that point. There were certain measures the Earth Council tried to refrain from using because it began to border on their laws of order and that would be out of line with the Unseen.
She would just have to try and remain focused for the time. There was nothing she could do except be prepared and that wouldn’t happen by worrying.
Part of that preparation was the special event Mave was planning for the twins. She wanted it to happen when they were back in New South City. With all that was going on, she wasn’t sure she would have enough time to make it work or that it would make sense to her no nonsense Stephen.
Between the findings, the reports, the visit from the science divisions of both the World Consensus and UniCorps, and that evening’s annual ARC Gala, there was very little time for thinking about or planning anything else.
Mave hoped she’d have enough time once they were back in Northern Allegiance and in their other routine to pull it all together. Once back there, they were always more scattered. Their schedules were harder to keep track of and she couldn’t just walk over to their living quarters.
She couldn’t do it
on her own and, as she considered it further, realized she shouldn’t have to. She would get help from their parents, plain and simple. They couldn’t afford to lose time since she had to coordinate more than just the twins for this surprise.
With a few taps to her watch, Mave sent a quick note to her longtime friend Canson Pritchard. She needed to make sure he was on target for his next part, which if things were going according to plan, would be happening fairly soon. He needed to help her send out the signal for what would be a not so coincidental coincident.
Chapter Fourteen
Ren
New South City in Northern Allegiance
Long sinewy muscles strained against the metal restraints. Rennold growled, bearing his clenched teeth as he struggled to get free. He looked at the needle the technician held with the tube at the end to collect this month’s sample. It looked even bigger this month than it had last month.
The technician eased closer to him slowly and he continued to struggle against the heavy duty restraints, his muscles tensed. The band squeezing around his arm felt sinister and inhumane as it made his veins bulge despite his protest.
The gag in his mouth prevented him from yelling to let them know how angry and resentful he was for being treated like a lab rat. The gag was relatively new, having been added to the regimen after he’d torn flesh from a technicians arm, three months ago. Since then it had been added to the protocol for the monthly blood sucking and bloodletting procedures he was forced to endure.
The two way mirror hid her from view, but Ren knew his mother Kim was watching. In the room away from his judgmental eyes, tears slowly ran down her face. When she saw him afterwards she knew the evidence of her crying, the puffy eyes, the red cheeks and nose would still be evident. Even after all these years, coming here with him and having the tests run and his blood taken still upset her.