The Cupel Recruits

by Willshire, Susan

  “Thank you. I know it’s all about the numbers. I have some other standing offers to consider, so don’t worry about me,” she advised. Pfister was visibly relieved, his slight shoulders dropping a few inches as he adjusted his glasses.

  “Well, that is good to hear. Still, if Governor Jacob were here, he’d have replacement funding in no time,” Pfister commented.

  “Yes. I’m sure we would,” Lela agreed, then added, “Have you heard how Mrs. Jacob is doing?”

  “No, I have not,” he replied. “We sent our condolences and flowers, but didn’t really wish to intrude. I can’t imagine how distraught she is. I just can’t imagine.”

  That was the truth. No one could imagine how badly Jillian Jacob was doing-how deep the sorrow cut. She had lost her soul mate and her only and young child in the space of so many weeks. With the finding of Phoebe’s body, all the police teams and investigators had left the house and Jillian was left alone. Unanswered messages piled up on the machine. She went through the motions of making herself a sandwich now and then, or watching the television, or sitting in the garden, but the lack of joy was unbearable. Painful moments were borne more harshly by those who were truly blessed-because they knew joy, they knew what they were missing. Jillian felt an emptiness that she could not even conceive could ever be filled. She felt as if half of her body and soul were gone, and she was dragging herself around the world by one hand and one arm, bleeding emotion all over the carpet like a slug leaving a trail of slime as she did. This was her mental image of herself moving through life, and she found it unbearable. She thought of helping others hunt for their missing children, but couldn’t imagine being around grieving families reflecting her own pain. She thought of starting an orphanage, or a camp, in Phoebe’s name, but shuddered at the prospect of seeing smiling children every day when every space between two children standing next to one another would be the place Phoebe should be standing. She thought of working on another campaign, and found all other candidates infinitely paler imitations of her husband’s conviction and genius. She couldn’t envision a life where she could contribute without being a burden.

  Jillian looked at the grandfather clock. It read 9:00. Her own breathing took on a surreal quality as it echoed through the house with heavy thuds. In. Out. In. Out. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. She heard the water dripping from the faucet 2200 square feet away in the kitchen. The water dripping competed with the heavy echoes of her breathing thuds. Thud-drip. Drip, drip, thud. Out of sync. Her mind tried to wrap around it, yet could not. Out of sync. Jillian took a bottle of sleeping pills and lay down. Thud-drip. Drip-thud. Thud. Drip. Thud, thud. Drip-drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip, Drip. There were no more thuds.

  Chapter 26

  Wood was still training the additional technician on the finer points of monitoring when Saraceni entered the monitoring room with Gabriel and Alexander Aquila.

  “Just reroute according to this sheet, like I showed you yesterday, and I’ll check it in a bit,” Wood advised. Turning toward Saraceni and the Aquila men, he added, “I’m glad you’re here. I earmarked the portions of Lela’s monitoring that referenced the research as you requested.

  “Excellent,” Saraceni praised, “Gabriel, Alexander, I’d like you to review anything we find related to the research up until the time we leave tomorrow, both of you. We can afford every advantage possible-I’ve asked that it be consolidated, so you can make the best use of your time and not be in here continuously.”

  “If we’re leaving tomorrow, I’d still like to see my wife before then. Ruth had said it would be acceptable,” Alexander prodded.

  “That’s right!” Saraceni remarked, “Tell you what-Wood, cue them up the excerpts we need them to review and Alexander, I’ll go get your wife. You can visit with her as soon as you are finished until meal time.” Alexander brightened. He’d been married to the woman for 40 years and hadn’t spent any lengthy time away from her since Lela and Gabriel were small children. He had really been missing her these last few weeks. Saraceni left and Alexander exuberantly turned his attention toward the monitor where Gabriel’s attention was already focused. The monitor displayed the scene from a short time earlier when Lela was reviewing the unique crystalline structure of the DL mineral with the grad student intern, Rachel. When Rachel appeared, the Circle 1 monitor trainee broke attention for a second, glancing over at the monitor upon which they were focused.

  “Hey! Eyes on your own screen, Cowboy!” Wood joked, and the Circle 1 snapped back to his own work.

  “Had you ever seen that before?” Alexander asked Gabriel of his own research.

  “No way,” Gabriel chirped, quickly adding, “of course, I didn’t get that far before I was so insensitively torn away from my work.” He looked pointedly at Wood, clearly joking.

  “Hey, I just follow orders around here. I’m just a Circle 2,” Wood responding, having relaxed to the point of feeling as close to Molior as to his own training class.

  “So, if it has a harmonic building capability, maybe that suggests it is isolated from external environmental influences as Saraceni suggested of the mineral here,” Alexander analyzed.

  “Do you think they’re the same?” Wood asked. He raised an eyebrow in the way that Stone hated, and Gabriel mimicked his expression in an exaggerated caricature, making Wood laugh boisterously.

  “I think if it’s not the same, it’s very close. Very similar properties, perhaps.” Gabriel ideated. “Wait! She referenced a conversation earlier in the morning-can we go back to that?”

  “Sure. I wasn’t the one recording this morning, but I’ll estimate. Let’s go back to when she woke up and then forward about an hour and start there.” They did, and realized Lela had had some minor phone conversations regarding the mineral, set up a meeting with some of the project team members, nothing really useful. Just then a knock at the door got their attention.

  “Perhaps that’s someone with the information she referred to,” Gabriel hoped.

  “They didn’t earmark this section,” Wood added skeptically, almost suggesting they skip it, but then Gretchen arrived and plunked a stack of Gabriel’s research files on the desk as they watched the tape.

  “Jackpot,” Wood said, thinking for a moment the night shift had missed an important section.

  “No, there’s nothing in there. I know, they’re my files. So, unless Lela is going to comment on how they might relate to the findings of the project team in Africa, we got nothing,” Gabriel replied. They all listened in intently to hear what comment Lela might have. Gretchen grabbed a picture of the desk. “This is me” the image showed her saying and in the next few moments the entire story unfolded before Gabriel and Alexander of how Gretchen and her mother had lived with them when Gretchen was a baby.

  “I remember that baby,” Alexander said in amazement, “Your Mom was insistent we act as a sort of assistance house until the girl got on her feet. She never did anything like it before or since, and I wasn’t crazy about the idea, but you know your mother-once she gets an idea in her head, there’s absolutely no arguing with her.” Lela pulled out the other pictures, including the one of Gabriel, three, holding Gretchen as a baby.

  “I remember that,” Gabriel said slowly, “That was Gretchen?” His wheels were visibly turning and he spun to face Wood, “It was you guys, I mean this place. It must have been. That’s just too much of a coincidence.”

  “I wasn’t here then. Before my time,” Wood advised.

  “Well, how far back do these tapes go? I mean, do you have a tape of that moment? I’d love to see it,” Gabriel said. Wood could see how important it was to him. Gabriel had done a fairly good job masking his own grief over the separation, but Wood had been monitoring him for years and knew his mannerisms very well. He could tell leaving Gretchen and Caleb behind really did bother Gabriel more than he was letting on.

  “I don’t know the date. Let me check the weaver’s log. That should show an intersection of your and Gretchen’s threads during that tim
e frame.” In a moment, Wood returned with the data and had narrowed the time frame down considerably. Next, he checked the index by subject name and found the segments where both Gretchen and Gabriel were present, which were fewer than expected. He narrowed it down and finally the proper sequence materialized on the screen.

  A toddler Gabriel was being handed the infant girl and took her in his arms as if she might break, emphasizing his special care so the adults could see how responsible he was being.

  “Support her head, Gabriel,” he heard his mother’s voice from off-screen. He looked down at the baby Gretchen and she was staring directly up into his face, completely fixated on him, the way babies get, studying every detail. Then she smiled.

  “She smiled! That’s her first smile!” Gretchen’s mother enthused in an elevated and speedy voice. “Gabriel, honey, try to get her to smile again.”

  The adult Gabriel was happy as well, “That was her very first smile. For me,” he said to his father, who was happy to see his son fully happy again, even if for a moment. On the video, baby Gretchen started wriggling and toddler Gabriel wasn’t doing a very good job of managing her movements. Mrs. Aquila’s voice could be heard off-screen,

  “Here, Gabriel, give her back to me, sweetie.” Five seconds later Athena Aquila came into view, leaning over to take baby Gretchen from toddler Gabriel and her entire body appeared illuminated in shining bright gold light. She was even brighter than the other Kajika they’d seen in the cavern. ‘The other Kajika,’ Gabriel registered internally.

  “She’s Kajika,” Gabriel whispered. Wood lunged at the monitor and hit the stop button.

  “I forgot,” Wood interjected hurriedly, “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s alright, Wood,” Athena Aquila said seriously from the doorway where she leaned against the frame, apparently having been there for a few moments. Alexander Aquila faced her in his swivel chair and looked at her as if he were looking at her for the first time. After a moment, he rose and gave her an earnest hug, but not the kind of jubilant swinging around he originally pictured as he’d thought of this moment over the past weeks. She took his hand and Gabriel rose to follow, but Alexander asked him to please remain so he could speak to his wife privately.

  The training room was empty and they sat in the nook beneath the paintings, just feet from The Cupel.

  “You’re Kajika?” he sought to confirm it, but his tone sounded as if it were a rumor he’d heard from an enemy.

  “Yes, I was,” she answered softly, squeezing his hand.

  “So, I was just an assignment to you?” he said, bordering on accusation.

  “Of course not!” her tone was still soft and sweet, and she was smiling at him,

  “Alexander, you’re my kindred. I came back for you.”

  “Look, you know that I more than anyone understand when you have a job to do. You had an assignment. I understand that.”

  “Alexander,” her tone became slightly more firm, “you have no idea what it’s like to be here and find your binary soul match in The Cupel, and have to watch for hundreds of years as they move through circle after circle and they still aren’t here yet. Yes, there is solace in knowing that they are on the way, but it doesn’t alleviate the empty feeling. I watched as you progressed through circle after circle and as you reached the point where they said it would be anywhere from one to three more circles, I grew anxious. Then, when this problem arose, and the Dark Janae increased activity, it was determined a Kajika would be sent to protect the souls of you, Lela and Gabriel. I wasn’t scheduled to go back for a normal resetting cycle for ten more of my circles here. I saw the opportunity to not only go back to be with you, but to go back as Kajika-with full memory-and to not only protect you, but to guide your choices in the hopes this could be your last circle in The Cupel. I took the chance. Would you have done any differently?” she asked.

  “No, I wouldn’t. I still don’t like that you’ve had this secret from me for all these years. You could have told me.”

  “It is forbidden. Then I would have had to stay extra cycles in The Cupel to remediate, and no way am I doing that. Plus, I’d be away from you even longer and not even know it. I’d feel lonely and separated and not even know why. I’ve seen people go through it and it’s torturous. This was the only way,” she explained.

  “I understand,” he conceded, “I don’t like it, but I understand.” After a moment’s hesitation he added, “This is why I had the job I did? So I’d understand the necessity of keeping secrets.”

  “Yes,” Athena Aquila admitted, “I placed you in that career because I knew you wouldn’t like it, but at least having been exposed to similar difficult dilemmas, you’d understand. I just wanted us to all be together.”

  He moved toward her, finally giving her the sort of warm embrace he had dreamt. Athena was truly elated, to finally be with her kindred without having any secrets from him. Even during their marriage, she always loved him with all her heart, but always had to hold something back, to make sure she could maintain the emotional walls necessary to achieve the tasks at hand. Now, those came crumbling down, like the destruction of an old building to break ground on a new one.

  “Oh, Alexander, you’re going to love it here! It’s so different, much better, in so many ways. We’ll finally all be together, living here as you and Gabriel learn all about True Earth.”

  “What about Lela?” Alexander queried.

  “Lela has probably only one more cycle. This might have been her last, and may still be if she really steps up and develops in her time left, but either way, it’s only one more cycle!”

  “We won’t be able to see our daughter for years and years. Doesn’t that bother you?” He didn’t understand how Athena could be so jubilant.

  “The monitoring helps with that. That’s why it’s allowed. You’ll be able to see how she’s doing in this life, and the next if necessary. You can even help guide her. After a millennium of waiting for you, it does seem less to me. I’m used to it.” With that, Alexander Aquila truly appreciated a small glimpse of how hard it must have been for her to wait for him. He was glad the situation had not been reversed.

  “You always were the strong one, Athena.” He tucked her hair behind her ear, “Let’s go see Gabriel.” Alexander and Athena walked into the monitoring room holding hands, and Gabriel knew instantly all was well. Every child knows when their parents are really getting along and when they are pretending. He was happy to see them so happy. They were both beaming.

  “Kajika, Mother, really?” Gabriel asked. She hugged him tightly, doing the mother’s involuntary scanning of her child for injuries.

  “A mother’s work is never done,” Athena repeated one of her favorite quotes to her son. She motioned to the screen, which showed Lela meeting with the Africa team regarding the sabotage plan, “Case in point.”

  “Mom, why did they have to leave her behind? I feel terrible about it,” Gabriel finally admitted to his mother what he would not to anyone else. He trusted her to be honest, where he had not fully trusted anyone else from True Earth since he arrived in it.

  “She’s not ready yet. Plus, she has work to finish. Don’t worry, we’ll help her.” Her response was succinct, but reassured him in a way no one else could have. Wood turned off the monitor.

  “They’ll bring us any additional footage about the research for you two to review later,” he said to Gabriel and Alexander.

  “Sir,” the Circle 1 trainee at the far end said quietly.

  “And Gretchen?” Gabriel said to his mother.

  “She may be a bit longer, but I did all I could to be sure she was taken care of while I was there,” Mrs. Aquila replied.

  “I saw. Thanks, Mom.” Gabriel smiled.

  “Sir!” the trainee said louder to Wood. He pointed at the screen looking disconcerted. The subject he was monitoring was dead.

  “Oh, this is grave,” Athena said, seeing Jillian Jacob’s dead body on her sofa, the empty bottle of pills next to he
r, and the top perched neatly in the crystal dish on the coffee table.

  “Won’t she just come here, or do another cycle?” Gabriel asked.

  “No, Gabriel, she will now have to do several more cycles. She has shown she can’t support the greater good over her own pain and concerns. That is one of the primary lessons to master before coming here. George will now have to wait hundreds of years for her.” Athena’s tone was very serious. She knew better than anyone how her friend would feel. Plus, there was a stigma to the suicides that never fully went away, even after they reached True Earth. They weren’t treated poorly, but it was like a permanent black mark that could prevent them from getting the top assignments, or the most responsible positions-never eligible to be an elder, never allowed to teach any circle higher than a 13, the list was considerable. George would be devastated.

  And he was. Upon hearing the news, George calmly walked out, went to his own room, and broke everything in it.

  “Not the best state of mind to start the mission,” Ruth said to Saraceni, “We should have waited.”

  “He’d have been twice as mad when he returned if we withheld it from him,” Saraceni defended his decision. “Besides, if he knows she’s in the between while we do the exercise, he will be more motivated for success.”

  “George doesn’t work that way. He’ll be concerned that she is between, more susceptible to the decoherence effects for not being grounded anywhere. It will distract him.”

  “I’m sorry, Ruth,” Saraceni apologized, though he was still not entirely sure his decision was the wrong one. He did, however, defer to the fact that Ruth likely knew her own son better.

  Chapter 27

  The morning of the mission, Wood entered Juliet’s room silently. He stood watching her sleep for a moment before she realized someone was there and shuddered awake. He quickly moved to sit at her bedside.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said.