Nemesis: Book Four

by David Beers

  "Dad?" Bryan said.

  "Yeah?"

  "I want you and mom to go. I want you to leave. Julie, you can stay if you want, or you can go. But I want you two to go." He didn't look at either of them, didn't look away from Wren, who met his eyes now.

  "Leave?"

  "Yes."

  "We're not leaving you," Rita said, her voice raising to a level nearing hysteria. "We're not going anywhere without you."

  "Then you're going to stop saying all the shit you've been saying. You're going to stop telling Wren what needs to happen. You're going to quit trying to save me. You're going to help us bring Michael back." He turned to his mother. "You understand? I'm not leaving him here like this. I'm going to get him back, or I'm going to die trying. If you don't want to help, or if you're afraid of dying, then go."

  His mother opened her mouth to say something, but not a word escaped—only tears, welling in her eyes, before a single tear slid down her cheek and rolled past her lips.

  Bryan turned to his father. "You too, Dad."

  He didn't wait for any responses and didn't look to Julie. He turned back to Wren, a drunk, but the only one standing here with a single bit of steel in his body. "I don't know what to do, but we're going to try something, okay?"

  "Okay," Wren said, tears in his eyes too.

  * * *

  Briten listened to the conversation around him. He took in the words and played them rapidly through the mind he now possessed. He was trying to gain an understanding of the social dynamics surrounding him, and slowly understanding that Morena probably did nearly the same thing when she arrived. The human's brain revealed that the 'Bryan' had been inhabited at one point too, by Morena.

  This world had a lot to understand, both internally and externally. The group around him was arguing, and Briten now believed Morena was on this planet, somewhere, trying to do what they originally planned. Trying to reproduce her species.

  And yet, inside him, or inside the two of them, at least as much was going on. Briten controlled the motor skills of the body, but he couldn’t take the same control as Morena over the inner workings of the thing's mind. He, Michael, roamed freely amongst Briten's memories just as Briten did his.

  Briten hadn't reached out to him yet, hadn't spoken. He didn't know if the human knew Briten was watching, but if so, he said nothing either.

  He couldn't simply eradicate this creature because the neural connections allowing Briten—what was left of him—to survive, would die.

  He had so many things to consider, a major one being how he planned on living the rest of his life in this frail body. He didn't want to think about it, though, not right now. He wanted Morena, and yet he felt he needed to understand the creature he inhabited first. Something was different about this one than the others standing around Briten. Something allowed Briten to call him into the Ether. Something, even now, allowed the boy free range in their consciousness.

  What are you? The human asked.

  Briten's eyes didn't blink; he gave no indication that anything inside had changed at all, yet the question was there in the open.

  The human knew Briten was watching.

  And perhaps had been watching him in return.

  You're an alien. I know that. But everything else, I'm only able to grasp some of it from inside here, Michael said.

  Alien… Briten smiled internally at the word. He was the stranger here. Not these creatures surrounding him, or the weak body he took control over. He was the outsider.

  You're after her, aren't you? Morena? That's her name?

  The human wasn't scared, that was clear to Briten. He had been scared before, when he saw the truth of Briten, but with that passed, the boy was genuinely curious.

  And he knew Morena's name, knew what Briten wanted. So even if he said he didn't fully understand the things he found in Briten's mind, he understood some. Enough.

  Where is she? Briten said.

  Why do you want her?

  Briten focused more intensely inside himself. Had anyone outside of The Council ever refused him an answer. What was this creature?

  His eyes remained open, staring straight ahead, the red not fading at all, but Briten no longer saw anything outside of his shared head.

  He was in the boy's mind, the boy's world.

  What is this? he asked. Briten had never seen a place like this, and he knew it didn't exist, not in the same way that the people surrounding him in the hotel room did, but it was here—the boy had populated this place with it while Briten maneuvered the world outside.

  A library, Michael said.

  The walls of the room were massive, stretching up and down for miles. Lining the walls were…

  What are those?

  They're books, Michael said.

  The human stood in front of one of the walls, looking up to the very top, just below the ceiling line. Briten followed his eyes, but realized the ceiling wasn't any different than the walls. Both were full of those books.

  Normally, they couldn't sit like that up there, but I don't think all the rules apply here, Michael said. This is your mind.

  Briten turned around, marveling at what he saw.

  Each one of those are different?

  Normally, Michael said, though, I just arrived here so I don't know. I started over there. The boy pointed to the left, down near the floor. I grabbed one of those and started reading, but… there's an organization here that I don't understand.

  Briten kept turning, seeing the infinite number of books around him.

  Can you see yourself?

  What?

  You can see me, Michael said. But can you see yourself?

  Briten looked down, but didn't see his body. Instead he saw the red of fire, the red of his aura, and nothing else.

  That's what I see too, the human said. Is that all you see?

  Briten remained quiet, studying the piece of his aura within his vision.

  The human felt more comfortable because he had spent time in here, allowing his mind to create this place, though Briten’s memories helped fill it. It didn't matter to Briten what part of his aura he could see. This boy was going to start reading these books, going through them one by one, learning everything he could about Briten, and perhaps Morena. Briten didn't have the time, didn't have the inclination to stand here and talk, to go grab a book and see what happened.

  Where is she? Briten said. That's all he cared about right now, finding Morena. She was in trouble, or could be; this human's mind showed that others were after her. Briten needed to get to her, needed to help, even if he only had this body to help with.

  The boy pulled a book from the wall. She's back in my home town. I think. Michael turned to look at him with the book in his hand. Either she's in trouble, or we are—my people. I'm not sure which, right now.

  Michael took the book and walked across the hardwood floor, sitting down in a plush, oversized couch. This boy was more nonchalant than Briten could imagine being. His wife was in danger, he in a body that barely functioned, and sharing a mind with someone who looked to be nearly a child.

  Does none of this matter to you? he asked the boy. He could have gone back to reality, could have started searching for Morena right now, but Briten remembered parts of when this boy first came to him. He remembered seeing him, seeing all of him, and deciding whether he should die or try to live through this creature. He had chosen to live, and now… depth lived in this kid.

  It does, Michael said, looking up from the cover of the book. I think I'm finally beginning to see that. It feels like, I don't know, for a long time I lost focus on what was important. It feels like I saw everything the way some zonked out geriatric in an old person's home might see it. But since you came… I think I'm starting to see what matters.

  Briten didn't know what Michael was talking about. He could sift through the kid's memories, but there wasn't time to understand it all. He would have to share this home, he supposed—this room of 'books'. Fine, then.

&
nbsp; I'll go to her and we can figure this out together, Morena and I, Briten thought.

  28

  A Long Time Ago, in Another Place

  Morena was lucky.

  No other word in any language across the universe could describe how she made it back to the ships with Veral in tow. Luck.

  She carried him the whole way, out there in the open for anyone with eyes to see. She tried to hide, of course, but there was only so much hiding one could do carrying another creature through open streets.

  No one saw her, or if they did, no one interrupted her mission.

  She walked down the tunnel now, Veral still slung over her shoulder, his own aura trying its best to hide from the green swarming around it. He was unconscious because Morena needed him silent and still to get back to this place. She didn't want him unconscious when they all met their fates, though. She wanted him wide awake for that.

  She entered the cavern, the machines still doing their work, not stopping because they had a deadline to hit—one imposed by the leader now carrying a knocked out Bynum across the room. The machines moved around her easily, carrying equipment. She paid none of them any mind but went to the open ship. The empty one.

  She dropped Veral into it; he landed hard, his body contorting as his face snapped against the metal of the ship. Morena's aura still wrapped around him, and she tightened it, feeding him the energy needed to wake up.

  His eyes popped wide open and Morena pulled back her aura.

  "We're here," she said.

  He turned on his back, trying to scurry away from her, but hitting the side of the ship, stopping his movement.

  "There's nowhere to go, Veral. Nowhere but one place." She looked up, though only the ceiling looked back down. "We're going out there, further than any Bynum ever. No coordinates, though, because you didn't give us time to find them."

  Tears streamed down his face.

  "No, Var. No. No, no, no."

  "Stop," Morena said, and her aura sliced down to his mouth, holding it closed. "I told you, and you didn't believe. Now you do. I hope your trip is cold and long, Veral. I hope it's endless." Her aura stretched out, going to the controls inside the ship. She looked on as Veral struggled to scream, struggled to plead, but only his eyes communicated. His mouth was closed tight, though his eyes looked like they might burst from his head at any moment. They bulged and rolled in his skull as he tried desperately to find a way out of the ship closing in on him.

  She watched as the outer shield first made its way up the perfect orb, forcing her to pull her aura away. He started screaming then, but his voice was stuck inside. She watched as his yellow aura blasted against the transparent shield, not shaking it in the slightest.

  "Goodbye, Veral," she said. His mouth was wide open, veins pulsing out across his face.

  The inner shield began growing from the bottom, cutting off Morena's view.

  And then it was finished. Veral locked away in a ship, just as she and Briten would be. She told him his fate would be the same and now she had kept that promise. She felt no remorse, not even a single moment of sadness for the creature inside the ship. He sentenced her species to death, because no one in this world would ever hear anything Briten tried to tell them; and sooner or later, Bynimian would cease to exist, all because of the creature now locked away.

  One thing still remained to do. She and Briten needed to lie in their own ship, but at least they would do it together. Morena turned and walked to her husband; his eyes were closed and his aura still the dim shade of pink.

  She knelt next to him, but that didn't feel close enough. So she climbed into the ship and lay down, her aura, arms, and legs wrapping around him.

  "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so, so sorry."

  He said nothing back.

  "I love you," she said.

  And still only silence from her husband.

  Tears came to Morena's eyes just as they had to Veral's, though she didn't scream. She held Briten as she cried, and when she finished, she stood up and went to the ship's controls.

  29

  Present Day

  CNN.COM: Front Page

  What is Really Happening in Georgia?

  President James Hayley addressed the nation yesterday, discussing the dangers of nuclear energy. He vowed that the corporations which allowed this disaster to happen would pay. He told the world that no one had been harmed yet, and that anyone who lost a single dollar because of this displacement would see full restitution.

  He said these things, and all the while, Georgia Power—the company in charge of the nuclear plant supposedly melting down—has said nothing. No reporter who has reached out to them has been able to get a single response, not even a "No comment." It's as if the executives at Georgia Power have all left the country, and then cut off all connections to the rest of the world. Which is odd for a company that the President is blaming for the evacuation of an entire state.

  It's not only odd to this reporter, though. It's becoming very odd to leaders around the world. France's President said this morning that the United States needed to be more forthcoming about the realities in Georgia, going so far as to say that what the President said in his speech didn't add up.

  Maybe.

  Maybe not.

  What we know for certain is that the state is completely evacuated, or as close to it as any state can ever get. We know that last night, the National Institute for Science detected high levels of radiation, and we know that the highest levels weren't in Savannah. The highest levels of radiation were found in a small town called Grayson. In fact, the NIS detected virtually no radiation at all in Savannah.

  So that leaves a few questions, the largest one being, how does a nuclear meltdown happen in a remote part of the state, while all the radiation detected is hundreds of miles away?

  The President promised us that people will begin returning to their houses at the end of the month. Again, this is a maybe, maybe not situation. We really have no way of knowing, but we do know the President has been quiet since his press conference yesterday. We do know that other governments are becoming increasingly interested in Georgia. We do know that the press' interaction with the ongoing situation has been limited, to put it mildly.

  This editorial asks what is happening in Georgia, perhaps leading readers to think this reporter knows more than the general public. The truth, though, is that no one knows. We have the official story, then we have radiation levels that don't match up. We have news reports of people who have been near the Georgia border stating that there is a strange, white plant growing, a plant that no one has seen before.

  We don't actually know if anyone has died. We have only the President's word that they haven't.

  If you were hoping for an answer to the editorial's question, you won't find one here. This author is just as confused—nay, frightened—as anyone else paying attention. There are a lot of possible answers, but all I can say is that the official answer isn't adding up, and the American people—and the world—deserve to know what is going on in the south-east portion of this country.

  * * *

  “I…," the human said, the single word dying in the still air.

  Morena stood a few feet from her. She didn't know exactly what use this woman could be, but she had been in the tent with Kenneth Marks. The woman knew Will. She was connected, and perhaps with that connection came knowledge. That's what Morena needed from her, the knowledge to understand how to maneuver out of this situation.

  “I… " the human tried again, yet still couldn't find another word to follow.

  Her first born, Briten, walked to the side of Morena, his blue aura stretching out a little more than usual. He didn't stop though, but walked behind the human, so that he faced Morena and the human was in between the two of them. That was good. He didn't understand everything yet, but he understood that this human was different.

  Morena could see the men killing her children from where she stood. She was sure that they could see her to
o. They didn't flee though. Perhaps the destruction their cold caused bolstered their courage. Perhaps their superiors refused to let them flee. Either way, the result was that they kept on killing while Morena stood here, a mile away, not doing anything to protect her kin.

  "You wanted peace?" Morena said.

  The woman nodded, smiling. A real smile, not one laced with fear or apprehension. That was good. The woman wanted to be here. The woman, somehow, trusted Morena.

  "Look around you," Morena said. The woman didn't move, though, and so Morena lifted a hand and pointed at the men behind her. "Look at them."

  The woman followed her directions, turning and looking beyond Briten.

  She said nothing and neither did Morena. She could, of course, simply invade the creature's consciousness, take whatever she wanted as she had all the others. That came with risks, though—risks that Morena didn't know if she wanted to test right now. Thinking back to Thera, she tried to murder Morena in the end, and consequently died. Morena didn't need this woman panicking when Morena settled in, thus having to murder her as she did the other. That would leave Morena in the exact same place, standing in a shrinking world, where Bynums would shortly begin dying.

  She needed this human to want to help. There would be no need to invade her body, then—not if the woman thought they were partners.

  "They won't give us peace," Morena said. She let the words hang there for a few seconds before continuing. "The being in front of you, that's my son. He was just born, and even now, he stands in front of you to try and protect me if necessary. He senses the danger, even as a newborn. They're going to kill all my children, and then me."

  The woman said nothing. The three of them stood in silence. Only Morena’s green aura moved, floating in the air, wanting to touch the human, but not daring yet.

  "You don't think there can be peace?" the woman said, finally.

  "I offered peace. I didn’t start chasing them. They arrived ready to eradicate me, to eradicate my kind. They showed up with tanks and weapons. There is only my son and myself right now, and even though he's ready to protect me, he can barely protect himself."