Return

by Corrie Brundage

  “Looks like a concussion. Normally I’d prescribe several days’ bed rest with what I’m seeing, but I doubt that will be afforded to you right now. As for your husband, he’s ok from what I’ve been told. You’ll get more information soon.” He sighed, his warm hazel eyes looking concerned. I felt a warm rush of relief at the knowledge that Jack was alright, but I didn’t bother to explain to him I’d just been in the minds of millions of aliens. Or that I had somehow hung on long enough for our armies to take them out, but I guessed he already knew at least some of it.

  “Mom, Betsy says I’m not supposed to ask you lots of questions, but when is Daddy coming home?” Will smiled a little at Lulu’s inquisitiveness, and commented, “She was a rare piece of work in the womb those five years ago, and look at her now. I’ve got a kid of my own. He’s with my wife at another camp, and thankfully she didn’t see any combat. And I’ve got to say, that’s thanks to you, Dr. Brice. In the coming days I imagine there will be a lot of thanks coming your way, and I’m honored to be the first to give you mine.” I blushed under Will’s scrutiny, and I knew then that the cat was out of the bag as far as my telepathic ability. Now everyone would know about it, but the look in Will’s kind eyes told me it would be accepted, not vilified. But still, I was too tired to care right now. I wanted Jack returned to me, to Lulu, and to be away from the carnage that had taken place out in that clearing.

  A pounding came on the wooden door just then, and I sighed when I heard Rory’s abrasive voice calling for Dr. Sheridan to allow him in. I pushed myself up into a sitting position, preparing myself for his bluster. Will rolled his eyes at me, and gave me a conspiratorial smile. “I could just tell him you’re too sick to see him. He’ll have to deal with it.”

  “No, let him in. I need to know everything that’s been happening out there, and he has a right to know the information I need to give him.” At this, Lulu bounded down the stairs to let Rory in, and I smoothed a hand over my hair and then gave up. I was certain I looked a mess, and there was no helping it. He clomped in, taking up too much space. He turned around to bark at his retinue to stay put, then looked up at me.

  “Hi, Rory. Er, Councilman Gallach. I suppose you’re here to tell me everything that happened, and to ask me how I did what I did. You’ll be pretty disappointed, because I honestly can’t tell you very much.” Rory called up to me, “There’s a camera crew out there to broadcast ye to the whole world, is what’s up. And I’ll assess if ye’re ready for prime time.”

  He barged up the steps, and Will sent me one last sympathetic smile before taking his leave. I sighed again and watched as Lulu’s eyes grew wide at Rory’s appearance. He was spattered in blood and gore, several gaping wounds covering the skin that showed through his torn tunic. He’d finally had his fight though, that much was clear. I felt a lump form in my throat at the thought of all those people who had been slaughtered. He stood over my bed, staring intently at me, and Lulu clung to my side a little more. But his face softened when he got a good look at her, and she gave him one of her winning smiles. My thoughts were still on the battlefield I’d just been carried off of, and so I asked Rory the one thing most prevalent in my mind.

  “How many dead? Don’t lie to me just because I’m lying here like a useless rag doll. And where’s my husband?”

  Rory shifted his solid frame and cleared his throat.

  “We uh, aren’t sure about how many Originals fell. The death toll around the world is likely to be… up there. We’ve got a lot of wounded, but the Facility has medics all over the camps attendin’ to ’em. We sure could use yer husband’s expertise right now. But it would have been a total extermination if it hadn’t been for ye.” He looked directly at me when he said this, and I could tell he was trying to figure me out.

  “Yer husband is back with the other half-morphs. Some of them fell out there but not many. They’re a tough breed of critter, if ever I saw one. They’re quiet now, in their cages. We didn’t know where else to put them, but they’re safe. Dr. Sheridan doesn’t want ye up walkin’ around just yet, but ye can go see him whenever ye want. Yer team, the one ye work with, is waiting outside to see ye. And also yer group, they made it, too. An odd one, that Dr. MacKenzie. Eva will debrief ye on some things. I think she’s got questions the entire Facility needs to have answered and well … I can see ye aren’t hurt too bad …”

  It was the most Rory had ever said to me at any given time, and I was slightly amused at the newfound respect he held for me. Previously I had been a clone who could serve a purpose in his master plan, and now I was a … what? Hero? But as lead of the Origin Council, he had to know what I knew. I looked at Lulu, who had returned her attention to my ratty hair.

  “Rory, whatever happened out there, whatever I did, well, I was able to get some information about our enemy.” He was alert now, and he loomed over my bed in anticipation.

  “Tell me what those bastards told ye. They killed some of my people. They died a warrior’s death, so there’s that honor. But whatever ye know, I need to know.”

  “Before I passed out, the head Traveler, I guessed he was the General leading his army, he … thought something at me. I could tell you were taking them down and they were dying, and I thought we had a victory on our hands. But he, it … whatever it was, told me that we didn’t really win anything. We killed their physical bodies, but their minds can live on. And … they might be back. Because their pride, Rory, it was immense. A defeat like that, especially at the hands of a puny, idiot human like me, well, it will enrage them. The Director … she said they weren’t omnipotent, so they truly did have an Achilles heel they didn’t foresee, and it was me, and partially the half-morphs, but still, they’ll be so angry …” I trailed off, putting a hand to my head. It hurt now, and I wanted to sleep again. Lulu was gently patting my forehead, intuiting my pain. Rory didn’t seem as terrified as I was. That didn’t surprise me.

  “We’ll figure out what we need to do before they come back, and that’s IF they come back,” he said. “Zeke says they’re long gone, whatever ones were left alive took off in quite a rush, and there weren’t many.” I stopped him there, the image of the Director fresh in my mind.

  “Did the Director get away? Please tell me someone got a clean shot at her somehow.” The anger and fear that mixed in my belly gave rise to a buzzing in my ears, and I almost didn’t hear Rory’s response.

  “She’s … gone too. But, we sent them packin’, to be sure. And in the coming months and years we will be able to learn more about them as a species to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again. In the meantime, I’m getting calls from all over the world wanting to know about ye. I’ve had to tell them ye’re incapacitated for the moment, but they’ll want to talk to ye, see ye. There’s cameras out there, I think you know that. They need to know what ye did out there, how ye jammed up their machines, or whatever they had workin’ for them. We all saw it, we saw ye and that … General, in some kind of mind meld, and ye were the reason we got past their defense. The world needs to know about that. The Council is thinking ye should take a victory tour around the planet, visit cities …” I began to protest at this, and he cut me off. “After yer husband is restored to normal. They’re workin’ on gettin’ him back to human form, and Eva can fill ye in on that. I won’t even try to explain it. But once ye’re ready, with yer family, ye should visit the cities. It would help them in their grief.” He was imploring now, and the realization that I now held power, not just in his mind but in the minds of people all over the world overwhelmed me. I felt dizzy, and a new terror filled me. Public speaking again?

  “Well, ye think about it. Yer little one seems ok with the idea.” He gave Lulu a rare smile, and she returned it. No doubt she would be up for anything.

  “I’ll let in the rest of yer crew now. They’re practically beatin’ the door down.” He turned to go, his big shoulders beginning to recede down the steps to the first floor. But he stopped and looked back at us, and this time a huge
grin was plastered on his face.

  “It was a good fight, Dr. Brice. ’Twas a good fight.”

  Then he opened the door and I heard the clamor outside hit a new pitch, questions being shouted at him in rapid succession, but I didn’t try to hear any of it. Some friendly, and oh-so-welcome faces were filling my field of vision now, and I sat up preparing to embrace each one of them. Lulu left my side to run down to Tyler, and the relief I felt at seeing the other child was almost too much to handle. I saw Annie, and Isabelle, both looking very much as if they’d been through a war, followed closely by Mack, who was snacking on something and looking very unconcerned with all the fuss. Eva came in behind them, followed by Nick and Marilyn. Their faces were dirty and blood smudged, and I saw tear tracks down Marilyn’s face. But I smiled widely at the sight of them, despite the fact that several journalists tried to get into the shelter behind them. Where was Elizabeth? I looked more closely, thinking I had missed her quiet presence. Eva was the first to rush to my side to embrace me. Nick and Marilyn approached behind her, hanging back. I began to feel a low sense of dread, but Eva was launching into an excited speech about all that had occurred. I held up my hand to silence her, and she stopped short. That was new. I could tell I really did have authority now.

  “Nick. Marilyn. Where’s Elizabeth?” Silence greeted my question, but a single tear tracked its way down Marilyn’s dirty cheek, her pin curls in wild disarray. It was Nick who spoke first. “Mina, she … didn’t make it. Once the fighting really started and the Travelers began … well, Elizabeth was worried about the bonobos. We kept telling her they were far enough from the action they wouldn’t be harmed, and we had to stay in formation. But she insisted on going off alone to check. I don’t know if she thought she could walk all the way to the observation station, or what, but … I tried to stop her. We both did.” Nick was choking all this out, and Marilyn placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

  “Tell me. What exactly happened?” I managed. The rest of my group had grown silent, their own eyes tearing up.

  “When she separated from our formation and walked off by herself, one of … them saw and just … she didn’t feel anything. It was too fast.” Marilyn was openly crying now, and I felt my own tears begin to well. Serious, loyal Elizabeth. Worried for the safety of our bonobo troop. That kind of dedication was something that would never be replaced. I felt as if my heart was made of lead. A memory from the battlefield filled my mind: of Luke calling to me across the landscape of broken trees, telling me to watch out. And then he’d distracted the General and lost his life, too.

  “Luke basically threw himself in front of me out there. He’s dead, too.” My words were wooden, and my group hung their heads in a show of respect for the lives lost.

  “Nick said he wanted to redeem himself to you, Mina. I guess he did that.” Yes, redemption. I thought that perhaps that was one of the things that made our species so special.

  Nick looked like he needed to sit down, so I scooted over on the bed and patted the space beside me. He slumped down next to me, his posture that of an old man.

  “Eva, please tell me you’re continuing to work on the half-morphs. I need my husband returned to me. Lulu needs him.” I had composed myself enough to turn to this pertinent business.

  “Well, we’ve singled out a gene code in their DNA that we think triggers the transformation. And while we don’t think we can remove it, we feel it’s possible to be controlled with a medication.” She lifted her personal computer and using her mind, scanned through some images to get to the one she wanted to show me. This topic had perked her up considerably, and I wearily looked at the screen. She pointed to some spikes on a graph that was apparently the offending gene code, and continued her explanation of how the medication would work. I began to feel a little hope. If the process could be managed, well that was better than nothing. Far better. Lulu could have her father home, and although Jack might not ever be the same, he would still be Jack. He’d just have a wildness to him that wouldn’t ever go away, and it would linger beneath his surface like a dormant volcano. I supposed I could live with that.

  Lulu giggled, and I looked in her direction and saw that Annie was staying close to her wife. Tyler and Lulu were playing tag in the close quarters of the shelter.

  “How did Betsy fare with all the little ones?” I asked Annie, and she smiled, although her eyes were even more lined than before.

  “She was a champ. Once the sound of the weapons being discharged began, some of the kids got really scared. But she turned it into a game for them. She had no way of knowing any of us would survive, but she kept them from becoming hysterical. Tyler says it was fun.” I looked at the kids, frolicking as if the world hadn’t nearly ended, and envied them their carefree spirits.

  “So, as a researcher at the Facility heading up a team in charge of well, research, I need to ask you some things about what happened out there,” Eva interjected, wanting to get the conversation turned back to science. I sighed, and grabbed a nearby pillow for fortification.

  “You linked up with the mind of the alien in charge, that much we ascertained,” she said. “And the weapons we developed were able to take them out. I can only imagine how difficult that must have been for you.” I saw Mack edging closer now, his interest piqued. He was still chewing on his snack, and it looked to be doughnuts now. We were pretty crowded up here in the loft, and Marilyn was still crying softly. But everyone was listening, waiting to hear me tell an impossible tale of alien mind-reading.

  “Honestly, I was just trying to discharge my gravitational disruptor. One of Rory’s relatives gave it to me and it was all that stood between me and Jack and the General. That’s what I named the alien in charge. I sent out my mind to control the device and instead I linked up with the Traveler. There’s no other, better explanation than that. Now Rory and the Council want me and my family to travel the world giving … speeches …” I choked on that word before continuing with some difficulty, “like I’m some kind of hero. The whole world knows I’m a telepath, and that’s the long and short of it.”

  Everyone stood silently for a moment, their expressions ranging from confusion to outright wonder.

  “So then, was it you who set the … General? On fire?” Eva was asking this now, and I focused on her face, my own confusion mirroring hers.

  “Fire? What fire? I was in the alien’s minds, and they were all connected like a network. I stayed in there as long as I could because I could sense it was allowing our armies time to fight back. Then I passed out. I didn’t start any fires, how would that even be possible? Our weapons don’t have that capability …”

  “Well, that General went up in an inferno. We’re still trying to put the fire out. That thing was big, so there’s a lot to burn. When you go outside you’ll see the plume of smoke all the way from the camp. So, if it wasn’t you, then how … ?” Eva was running her hands through her red hair, which was just as dirty as mine, and she clearly was exasperated by her inability to answer this mystery. I was shaking my head back and forth as if to accentuate the fact that I didn’t have any explanations, when I saw Mack, standing behind Annie, grinning from ear to ear. Like a little boy with a secret. I squinted my eyes, taking in his figure more closely. And then he gave me a long, slow, deliberate wink. I gasped. He’d been responsible for starting that fire! Yet … he didn’t want anyone but me to know … I almost stood up to go and confront him directly about this, but Eva said something and I knew I needed to focus on this conversation. Mack would have to wait.

  “How soon before this new medication will turn Jack back into normal, Eva?” I asked. My voice was sharp and a little terse, mostly because I was tired and wanted to take Lulu to visit Jack in the half-morph camp.

  “We’ll work with them for several more days, while things go back to normal in the city. We need to transport all these people back, as well as the injured. And then there will be the funerals … It’s all quite a lot to process, I know. For now, you s
hould rest.” Eva stood up, as if to begin leading everyone out of the shelter so I could simply go back to sleep like an automaton.

  “No, I’m getting up and taking Lulu to the half-morph camp right now. I’m not going to lie around, not yet. I need to know that he’s ok.” Then I finally stood up, wobbling on my feet. Will had been right, my head felt like it had been concussed, and I’d have to be careful going down the stairs. But seeing Jack was my first priority, and everything else could wait.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  I sat with Lulu on our soft carpeting in front of the projection screen, watching one of her nature shows. We’d been back in our condo for a couple of days, leaving the camps and shelters behind but not the fear and loss that had occurred in them. I was brushing her hair, my own hanging in a wet braid down my back. Returning to my marble bathtub had been a luxury I’d thought I’d never experience again, and I’d been taking long soaks, hoping some of the pain would lift off my skin along with the residue of dust.

  Jack was still at the Facility, but Eva had informed me he was close to being ready to come home. He was in human form once more, and as long as he took his medication, he’d stay that way. When I’d seen him at the half-morph camp, he’d been shell-shocked. He’d communicated to me that he’d watched Alyssa die, and the pain I felt within him at this was overwhelming. But I couldn’t be jealous of a dead woman now, and I had to let that go. Jack was coming back to me, changed but still here with us. The rest of the battle had been a blur for him, because he’d been so overtaken with the rage to rip and kill the enemy. But even if he remembered details, I didn’t want to force him to relive them. He’d been proud of my victory, though, and hadn’t been at all surprised that I’d been the catalyst for the human armies to get a leg up on the Travelers.