by Rune Skelley
Kyle sought the seat of power, taking inventory of the abstract landscape of the Collective Id along the way. Then things changed.
First the aliens’ oversight ceased, which Kyle didn’t consider a problem. Then the portal slammed closed.
“Kyle!” Rook wailed.
He hugged her and whispered, “It’ll be okay, Rook, I promise.”
Kyle’s thoughts raced and Rook leaned against him, weeping.
Another portal popped open near where they stood. Through it Kyle saw a grassy expanse under a blue sky. It could be anywhere.
Go now.
The voice came from all around and reminded Kyle of the bubbles of light.
Go now.
Kyle spoke loudly, not sure where to direct his words. “Give us a minute.”
I have returned your child to you and your chosen mate. Go now.
“We don’t want it!” Rook cried.
Kyle tried to think of a way to trick the Id into passing through its own doorway.
Around him a whirlwind of songs surged up, all tangled together, threatening to drive Kyle mad until he caught a single coherent thought spiraling through the vortex, repeating and repeating.
from both sides now
girls just wanna have fun
everything that rises must converge
since I don’t have you
five to one baby, one in five
The swirl of voices raged, kicking up a rush of wind that tore Rook from Kyle’s arms and buffeted her toward the portal.
“No!” Kyle yelled.
Rook screamed.
Kyle lunged forward and snagged her hands, hauling her back from the brink. For one wonderful second he felt her warm fingers in his grip and saw a flicker of a smile on her beautiful face, then an unseen force took hold of her and pulled. She screamed again, as much in pain as terror now. Kyle braced himself and held on, refusing to let her go.
Rook’s body wrenched violently in the Id’s grip. Her hands tore from Kyle’s and he was left holding her wedding ring.
“Rook!”
As Kyle watched in heartbroken horror, Rook split into two shadows of herself. Her agonized scream shattered into a million pieces and the shadow-Rooks did too. The instability she fought since her rebirth finally, irrevocably, won. Like cobwebs in a gale, she disintegrated and disappeared into the vastness of the Id, leaving the fetus behind in its green-gold bubble.
Clutching the ring, Kyle collapsed and sobbed.
*** *** ***
Rook loved Fin for listening to her about staying in here when she couldn’t really give him a reason.
It was Thumper in her womb, she was certain, but the baby’s signal was wrong somehow.
Go now.
The booming voice came from everywhere. Rook said, “Wait, please! Something isn’t right!”
Go now.
Fin looked at Rook, but she shook her head, tears brimming.
I have returned your child to you and your chosen mate. Go now.
Fin ran both hands back through his hair and blew out a frantic kind of sigh. He bellowed, “We’re working on it.”
A throaty tremor rattled their fillings. It sounded like distant thunder and felt like an earthquake, and the sinuous fires all around them dimmed as it rolled past.
“What the hell was that?” Rook asked, although she knew from his face Fin had no more idea than she did.
“We need to get out of here,” Fin said.
“I know, but... no,” Rook replied miserably. A UFO glided over their heads and vanished among the dunes of chemical green fire.
*** *** ***
Brad slogged ahead, trying to pace himself. The swirling surface dragged at his feet, and even downhill portions were hard work. The chattering roar of voices was like a continual headwind.
Everything about this place felt soggy and heavy. He didn’t belong, wasn’t compatible with its laws of motion. He scooped up a double handful of the bizarre green material. The moment he collected it the color dulled and it transmuted from liquid emerald to used cat litter, as if something about Brad negated its very essence. He wiped his hands on his jeans.
A square flying saucer buzzed him. He recognized it as a wrapped condom as it crashed and sank.
Judging his progress was impossible. All he could do was keep slogging and hope he’d been right to come in here.
Ahead of him, some distance away, sat a young man. He looked like Fin, but he was alone.
Brad raced toward him, the strain almost unbearable.
It was Kyle.
And he wasn’t alone after all. A bubble of brilliant green-gold light hovered beside him, enclosing a tiny baby, far too small and unfinished to be outside the womb. Brad pushed to get there before some wave or obstacle separated them.
“Kyle!” he shouted.
Finally he made it, and placed a hand on his son’s shoulder.
“Kyle,” Brad said again. “What are you doing here?”
Kyle looked morosely up into Brad’s face.
“Hey, Tiger.” Brad hugged him, his heart full. “How did you get here?”
No answer.
Brad said, “I came through the portal. Is that how you got in, too?” Kyle’s eyebrows twitched. Brad nodded. “At Fin’s house. I came through looking for them, but I found you.” Kyle stood. Brad hugged him again, and even though Kyle still didn’t hug back it felt nice.
“I see you found the baby,” Brad said.
Kyle’s face darkened.
“Rook and Fin will be overjoyed!” Brad declared.
Kyle glanced at the fetus.
“Let’s find them.” Brad wondered if the coma left Kyle with impaired speech.
Kyle nodded, his expression relaxing. He gazed out into the distance and looked back at Brad. He finally spoke. “Which way?”
Brad shrugged. “I took a wild guess at a direction, and it led me to you. Maybe I can do it again.”
The infant’s bubble bobbed alongside Kyle like a balloon on an invisible string. Brad huffed and strained to keep his feet moving, but Kyle skated along. None of the clinging, buffeting friction affected him. Meanwhile, Brad had no breath to spare for conversation.
When Brad thought he would have to ask for a break, their wave lifted them high enough to see over the next few rises. Two figures stood on a crest, outside of shouting range but close enough for Brad to be sure they were Fin and Rook.
Brad smiled. “Let’s rest a minute.”
“I don’t think so.”
The last thing Brad saw was Kyle’s fist.
*** *** ***
Rook cradled her belly with both hands and drove out everything else to listen to Thumper’s vibration, trying to isolate what was wrong.
It was like hearing a familiar tune over shoddy speakers, like the betrayal of hearing a recording of your own voice. Something was elusively incomplete about it.
A new complementary tone formed in her mind, filling in the thin spots. The stronger Rook’s sense of recognition grew, the more she could hear this new tone, until it was almost like she was really hearing it, the melody to complement the harmony.
Rook opened her eyes and scanned the waves. She wasn’t imagining the new vibration, it was coming from somewhere close, and getting closer! A second later she pinpointed the direction, and watched ecstatically for the source to appear.
She reeled when Kyle stepped into view, felt panic sinking its claws into her mind.
In the same moment, she spotted Kyle’s curious companion. Floating through the air beside him, enclosed in a luminous amnion, was another tiny, curled up fetus, all spindly arms and oversized head.
She didn’t understand how it could be, or what the Id had done, but she needed that baby, too. It was the source of the complementary vibration. It was what she was missing.
She made only one step toward Kyle before the world exploded into chaos.
The fiery waves surged, doubling in height, their gentle fluid motion turned to violent c
ollisions. Rook staggered on the heaving surface, fell. She rolled to her feet and pushed toward the baby. Furnace winds howled, pushing her back down the slope. Lightning seared the sky.
THIEF!
Rook wailed in fright at the concussive shout, but kept straining to reach her baby.
Two doesn’t work like that! Two means divided! Two with one mother is too much like one.
The towering waves began to topple like dominoes, creating a circular current that strengthened into a whirlpool. Fin scrambled to the lip, hauling Rook up with him, and they were carried around, away from the baby.
Tried two together. Tried it twice! Broken apart! And two minus twoness was nothing. This time each one is two, times twice in space and once in time.
Rook and Fin ran to keep from being pulled into the vortex, as its rotation now swept them back in the fetus’s direction. Rook’s legs ached, and her bare feet could get little purchase in the writhing green energy. Kyle stood beside the baby, neither of them appearing to feel the heat or wind, both unfazed by the violent heaving of the ground.
The voice of the Id crushed down, drowning out the thunderous cacophony.
You can’t have both, that’s too together. Two tied together. Tried together! Tried it! You can’t do together now! NO! Now is two! Now is two! Two! TWO!
With a desperate lunge Rook flung herself beyond the rim of the whirlpool and raced toward the baby. Fin cried out as the current bore him away.
Rook fought on. The wind robbed her of nearly all progress.
You could have had both the last time. You could have had both the first time. Not my fault you’re too late. This time you can’t. You can’t. You don’t understand two! TWO!
“I do understand!” Rook screamed, although her mind held nothing but her need to reach the baby.
Not both with you. The two are alike, too alike. Melting, blurring, blending into just another One. One can’t be, One is nothing, without another. One with no company but chaos, the billions’ babble. No company, no one else, means One can’t. Just can’t.
Mournful loneliness poured over Rook from all sides. It was the fire, it was the wind. It was the Id, and now she truly did understand. Its tirade made sudden sense as hollow emotion threatened to overwhelm her faculties. The obsession with twins all came down to a need for companionship. The whole game, all the prophecy and conspiracy, and especially the kidnapping of her unborn child, a scheme to make of itself someone to talk to.
So split it up. Yes! YES! Split it up, and cast a shadow. Cast a twin.
Rook had reached the peaceful enclave where her baby waited with Kyle. She looked up, looked at Kyle smiling and extending a hand to help her the last couple of feet.
“Rook!” came Fin’s voice, this time near. Kyle snatched at her hand, and Rook saw his scowl rearrange itself into that sardonic expression from a moment ago.
“Stay back!” Fin yelled, as Kyle offered his hand again. She sidestepped, hoping to get around him to reach the baby. Kyle pivoted. When she retreated a step, his eyes flashed. She took another step back before she risked turning away, and found Fin at her side.
*** *** ***
Kyle concentrated on making his smile warm, contrary to everything he felt. In his left hand, behind his back, he held the wedding ring. Before him stood Rook, the only Rook now, and he seethed with need. She was a perfect fit for the ragged hole in his psyche, the only thing that could make up for his loss.
She was drawn to the fetus as he’d known she would be.
Rook became wary, hanging back out of reach. Her need for the baby was every bit as primal as Kyle’s need for her. If not for Fin, interfering as always, it would be a simple matter of waiting her out.
She glanced into his eyes, and Kyle held her gaze. She edged nearer, unaware she was doing it. Fin pulled her back, and at his touch she shivered and began to cry.
Fin stepped between Rook and Kyle. He rested his hand on her protruding belly. He looked toward the fetus and addressed Kyle without looking him in the eye, “I can guess what happened.”
An image scorched Kyle’s vision, how she didn’t even have time to smile. Her scream flooded his head.
“No, you can’t.”
“I can guess it was bad. I won’t claim I understand how it feels. But I’m sad for you, and I wish there was a way I could help.”
“You want to help? Get out of the way.”
“I said I wish there was a way. There isn’t.”
“I don’t need your pity,” Kyle spat. “If you can’t help me, why are you still here?”
“For Rook.”
Kyle laughed, bitterly and mirthlessly at first, then savagely, and then furiously until it was an animal howl. He tackled Fin and they rolled down the slope away from the whirlpool, past Rook and out into the blazing tempest.
*** *** ***
Rook dodged as the men careened by. She had an impulse to aid Fin, but a far stronger one to go to her baby now that the way was clear.
Of course. It had to be both.
Both babies needed her, and she needed both of them.
When she touched the cocoon of energy surrounding it, the fetus vanished and she felt its harmonious arrival in her womb. Her belly stretched a few more inches, straining to contain such a sudden increase in population. Despite the discomfort and heavy fullness, she felt complete for the first time in a week.
The waves all around stopped crashing, the swirling current ebbed and the vortex dissipated. The tumultuous gale subsided, replaced by ominous, brooding calm.
*** *** ***
Fin drove his knee into Kyle’s gut. He bucked and kicked and twisted to get free of Kyle’s grip on his throat.
Kyle’s only tactic was strangulation, which did make him predictable. But he was manic and tenacious, and gave little reaction to Fin’s punches.
Fin got his legs under himself, at last pulling free as he stood. He took heaving breaths as he backpedaled, fending Kyle off with his fists.
Kyle charged, both hands reaching for Fin’s windpipe. Fin kicked him in the stomach. It halted Kyle in his tracks. He slumped forward but didn’t fold.
Fin landed a haymaker that dropped Kyle to one knee. Fin backed off, and Kyle began to rise.
“Wait,” Fin said. “Wait. We don’t have to do this. We should be helping each other.”
Kyle went for Fin’s throat again, and Fin blocked. Kyle grabbed him by the wrists and shoved, and Fin shoved back. He had to keep Kyle off his neck, but also had to keep them from getting spun around, keep Kyle from spotting Rook. So he gave ground, and Kyle kept pushing.
Heat roasted Fin’s back, intense enough to make the horrible wind feel refreshing. He fought to get his retreat under control, and Kyle’s inchoate snarl became a sneer.
Fin risked a glance over his shoulder. A huge pyramid bobbed like an iceberg a few feet behind him, glowing white hot.
Kyle laughed and Fin lost a step.
The pyramid rocked away, and Fin saw a charred handprint on the bottom before it rocked back toward him.
Kyle’s laughter reached hysteria as he poured on more strength and Fin skidded closer to the blistering rock wall.
He couldn’t get traction against Kyle’s relentless pressure. He lost ground a millimeter at a time.
Mania distorted Kyle’s face almost beyond recognition.
In desperation, Fin yanked his left hand back. The sudden reversal pitched Kyle forward as Fin pivoted and melted aside.
Kyle landed back-first on the glowing face of the pyramid, still clutching Fin’s wrists.
Fin felt the heat through Kyle’s hands.
Kyle went rigid as green flames outlined him. His laughter decayed into a descending cry that might have been a sigh or a moan.
His grip didn’t weaken. Straining, Fin tore loose and staggered back a step from the blowtorch heat. The emerald corona around Kyle advanced outward from the wall, engulfing him further.
“Kyle!” Fin seized Kyle’s wrists, and they h
issed. He held on and pulled. He kept pulling as the desolate sound faded from Kyle’s throat and the green fires closed over his face.
The flames enveloped Kyle’s torso and climbed out along his arms, and Fin pulled desperately until he was knocked down.
Brad lay atop him, sobbing, and Fin wept as well.
Where Kyle had been was a black stain.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
ROOK OF ROOKS
DONNER — Authorities are investigating how over 10,000 individuals from the tri-county area came to be on the grounds of the former Shaw Ministries compound last night, with fresh body piercings. “It’s like they were dropped here by aliens,” said Detective Althea Smalls.
The Donner Observer, 4-28-2001
The pyramid coasted nearer. Fin rolled, dumping Brad off, then stood and pulled him to his feet. They backed away from the incandescent stone monster.
The whirlpool and maelstrom had stopped. An ominous dark form towered over the horizon. The peculiar optics of this place made it impossible to be sure what it was, but the shape suggested a volcano.
Fin couldn’t find Rook. A few seconds of panic followed, until her tingly vibration registered, soothing his mind. She hadn't been mowed down by the glowing pyramid.
He looked at his father and said, “I have to find Rook.”
Brad scanned all around, like maybe she just sat down somewhere to read a book. His face looked far older, lined with hopelessness and blanched by the eerie light of this place.
Fin put his hand on Brad’s shoulder, and Brad wiped away tears.
“Rook’s okay, I think,” Fin said. “I can feel her. I have to go to her.”
Brad clasped his own hand over Fin’s. “I’m coming along. I just lost one son, and I’m not going to lose the other one, too.”
After a quick embrace, and Fin wiping his own eyes, he reoriented on Rook’s signal. Unsurprisingly it aligned with the looming shadow in the distance. Whatever it was.
They set off at a run.
Soon Brad panted, “Don’t wait for me. I’m slowing you down.”
Fin looked around at the bizarre, surging environment, and at the huge white-hot pyramid again heading their way. “Dad,” he said, “I can’t run off and leave you here!”