The Azureans

by R Gene Curtis

  “I have an idea,” I say, and I take my hand back. Maybe that will clear my head. At least I can’t feel his thoughts anymore.

  “I hope it’s the same one I have,” he says, and he pulls the hemazury book out of his bag and flips through it.

  “We need to build a portal,” I say.

  “And get Wynn through it,” he says. “The one we came through was invisible. He would never realize it until it was too late.”

  Karl reads the instructions on how to build a portal. It will take forty hours to make. It has several incubation steps.

  “Can we make it faster than that?” I don’t know if we have forty hours.

  “We can’t risk it. My experience with biology is that if you try to rush, it always fails. With biology, you have to follow instructions exactly.”

  “How do you know this is biology?”

  “I don’t, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. Sweat seems to interact with microbes—the way you describe it makes it seem like you’re controlling living things. Saliva is energy, it makes things move and act in new ways. The blood gives it a source of energy, one that seems to work for a long time. That’s why you had dreams about this world, and why you were able to speak the language. Somehow, blood and microbes were interacting with your mind, directing the neurons in your brain. At least that’s what I think, for what it’s worth. Today, you know how to manipulate organics through microbes. But if we incubate things the right way, the microbes seem to behave by themselves without input. Portals, barriers. They have enough of the Azurean’s consciousness to know how to manage, and the energy to do it. At least for a while—I’d guess it’s limited.”

  I sigh. “I’m not sure I get all of that, but maybe it makes sense.”

  “Maybe, and it’s all just a guess. I’ve been thinking about it.”

  It’s better than any of the thoughts I’ve had. “This will take all of my blue blood. We don’t know the secret for generating more.”

  “I know.”

  “Karl,” I say, “you should be the one who pushes Wynn through the portal.”

  His expression is unreadable. “I thought you would,” he says quietly.

  I shake my head. “I need to stay here. And Wynn will never let me get that close. Besides, this is my responsibility, and you need to go back to see your sister.” I don’t tell him how lonely I feel just thinking about him leaving. He’s my only connection to the world where I grew up, and he’s my first kiss. At the same time, if he stays, he’ll end up with Somrusee. But that’s not why I’m sending him back. He needs to be home. He wouldn’t be happy here, not with me.

  He looks away, off into the trees. “I hate to leave this place. This is where I found the real me.” He sighs and his eyes lock onto mine. I wonder if he’s thinking about kissing me again. I stand up and step away from the log, away from him. I’m not going to kiss him, not again.

  “Shall we get to work?” I kick at the plants on the ground. There are blue flowers everywhere, like the ones in the meadow and on my right breast. It seems fitting, the place where Karl came into this world has some similarity to the place where he will leave it.

  He joins me among the flowers. “Should we tell the others about the plan?”

  “Once we have a portal. Until then, we don’t have a plan.”

  And so, we spend the afternoon alone together—working. But this time it isn’t romantic. It seems final. I think we have a plan that might work, but it means sending Karl away. And then I’m going to need to figure out what to do next—without him. Still, it’s nice to have a plan. We spend the afternoon working. Karl dictates the steps from his book and helps me gather materials. It requires a lot of blood, copper, and dirt. A lot of blood.

  “The instructions say that Togan was the first one to build a portal,” Karl tells me.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. It looks like Togan used his endless supply of blue blood to try new things. After getting to know this handwriting, I’d say that half of the book are his recipes. Looks like your father was pretty smart.”

  Thinking that Togan was smart makes me sad. Togan and Cylus both were. But information isn’t everything. Wynn has hundreds of years of experience and he’s already beat Togan and Cylus. Despite all their genius, we may fail, too.

  “I’ll get some copper from the house.” I leave Karl digging, his strong arms flexing with each pull of dirt. If I can, I’ll keep him living, breathing, and working—and where I will never see him again.

  My mind wanders to the girls he’ll meet and what a catch he’ll be. He looked at me so sincerely in the cave. I got one moment with him, and it was beautiful. I just wish I could convince myself that it was enough.

  29 Incubation

  Karl

  It’s a long day getting the portal ready for incubation. Lydia bleeds a ton, using hemazury to replenish the blood she loses. The human body has a lot of blood inside of it. I knew that, of course, but I’ve never seen it all come out before.

  Finally, the last of her blue blood is out and Lydia bandages her arm to stop the flow of red blood. She’s pale as we watch the blue blood soak into the mixture of dirt and copper we’ve spent all day putting together.

  There’s no going back now.

  I help her stand up, and she lets me hold her. We don’t say it, but we know our chances of survival are slim. At least we’re fighting now, and we have a plan.

  We built the portal in a spot that gives us a chance. It’s at the end of a rocky path near a small clearing and a cave. The path ends in a thirty-foot cliff, which pins us here, but Wynn’s approach will be slow—the path is only wide enough for a few people at a time. The ground is mostly clear, aside from grass and the blue flowers along the path and in the clearing in front of the cave.

  It’s too bad we never figured out why Lydia has that flower tattoo. Surely Togan didn’t give it to her just to convince people she was the blue princess when she came back.

  Over the next day, Lydia rests, and I keep an eye on the reaction. There are a few steps where Lydia has to intervene, but not many. I bring her food and show the others the cave.

  As soon as the portal is finished, we’ll all stay in the cave until Wynn gets here.

  The morning of the third day dawns cool. Birds chirp to greet the day, though the sun hasn’t made it over the horizon yet. I leave the house and walk to where the portal should be. The pile of blood-soaked dirt and copper has disappeared. Hopefully that means it worked.

  If it did, it’s in a good spot. I sit on the log next to it, not minding the dew that seeps through my thin valley clothes. Even though Lydia and many of the others have gone back to mountain garb, I have not. I like the valley clothes, clothes that represent my place in this world.

  “Shall we go through?” a soft voice asks. Lydia. She followed me here. She looks stronger today; the color is starting to come back into her cheeks. She hurries up the trail—she’s wearing only her tunic. My heart quickens at the sight of her bare shaped legs. She must have woken up when I left and followed me. She steps off the trail and walks barefoot through the blue flowers. She looks like an angel, not a warrior.

  I admire this girl, Lydia Miller. No other girl I’ve known could have done what she’s done in the past few weeks. She’s someone I’m willing to fight with, someone I trust with my life. Someone I kissed.

  It was impulsive, and she hasn’t let me kiss her again. Still, I’ve thought about that moment every time I’ve seen Lydia since. I know it’s too much to think that I have a chance with her. She’s too strong, too good, for a man like me. Maybe someday I can be worthy of someone like her.

  Lydia blushes. “What are you looking at?”

  “You,” I say. Despite my insecurity, I want her to know how I feel about her.

  She groans. “I know. I can’t get it under control.” She tugs at her hair. “I wish I could remember if it was Togan or Reenah who had the curly hair.”

  I laugh with her. “I’m guess
ing it was Reenah. Wynn doesn’t have curly hair, and so you couldn’t have inherited it from Dee.”

  Lydia stops laughing, and I realize my mistake. Even though I meant to trace the genetic origins of a trait, we both feel a chill at the reminder that Wynn and Lydia have the same blood running through their veins.

  Lydia takes my hand, and I smile. I wish I could hold her hand all the time. I wish she would entrust me with her life. “I’m excited to try this portal out. Will you go with me, even if I look like this?”

  I take a chance and cup her chin in my hand. I lift her face gently so her eyes meet mine. “I was thinking you look great,” I say.

  She laughs. “It’s not nice to lie to a woman about her looks.”

  “I’m not lying.” Her expression tells me she doesn’t believe me, or doesn’t want to lead me on. Probably the latter.

  We hold hands and step to the portal. Just before we get there, Lydia stiffens. “What if we end up in the mountains when we come back?”

  “That would be a disaster, but can we really put our lives on the line without trying this out?”

  “I guess I’m nervous. I think we’ll be fine.” She bends over and picks a blue flower. She puts it in her hair and smiles. “Let’s go.”

  We step into the portal, and we’re bathed in blue light. When I blink, I’m surprised to recognize the place. We’re in a small library on Carnegie Mellon campus—the Science and Engineering library in Wean Hall. We’re at the far end away from the entrance next to a line of secluded desks. I’ve made out with Tara here more than once. No one is back here now and the lights are off.

  The smell of old books and modern cleaning supplies washes over me. The temperature of the room is regulated and comfortable. We’re home. I want to grab a book and settle down into one of the uncomfortable study desks and start reading.

  I wonder if our appearance is being caught on camera.

  Lydia nods. “This is fine. Let’s go.”

  I don’t tell her I know where we are.

  We step back through the portal to the cave clearing. I pick up my sword and knives, which scattered around on the ground when we went through the portal. I’m glad we took one last look at the world we grew up in. The place we called home.

  “Why do you think metal doesn’t go through the portal?” Lydia asks, watching me.

  “It doesn’t make sense, does it?”

  She shrugs and walks away. I watch her go. Hemazury does seem to have something to do with organic material, but that’s the only thing I can think of. It’s good neither of us were wearing spandex when we came through the portal the first time.

  ✽✽✽

  That evening, I hum as I gather food in the forest around the cave. I know what’s edible, and what’s not. This forest is in the watershed from the copper hills, and it’s much richer in resources than the barren hills it gets its water from.

  I wonder how Goluken ended up with all this land so far away from his area. It seems like prime real estate to me, and with him being gone all the time, I wonder how he keeps it free of thieves and vagabonds.

  He certainly didn’t keep it safe from us.

  It’s peculiar that Wynn would allow someone so much power. I wonder if there is more to Goluken than meets the eye. Does he have something to barter?

  Lydia tells me that listening to the copper is hard work, although she thinks she will get better with practice. She said it’s like listening to old tapes on fast forward—you have skip through the silent parts to get to the good parts. It’s interesting to think about, and it might be possible to hide some things from Wynn.

  Not that it matters, though. It’s just a matter of time before he’s here and then everything will be over. We’ll be dead, or Wynn will be gone.

  Lydia thinks that I should go home. The thought has some appeal. I’d visit Pearl first. And, I’d talk to Dad again. I’d tell them where I’ve been for the last year. But, I would also have my career to deal with—and that is an unsalvageable mess.

  I want to go home, but I want to stay here. I found myself in this world. It seems crazy to say it, but this past year has been one of the best years I’ve ever had. It’s been super hard, and crazy things have happened, but I’ve learned about myself. I’ve learned to work hard, I’ve learned to sacrifice, and all that work has a purpose.

  And, there are two girls here that I really like, maybe love. I may not have a chance with Lydia, but there’s Somrusee, and we’ve been through a lot together. It’s no secret she loves me, and she’s a good woman who is going to be a leader here. I’m not sure I’m ready to leave her, or Lydia, yet.

  But, it isn’t just hormones driving my desire to be here. We can make a difference if we win. We would have to fight to establish a new government system, and just because Wynn would be gone doesn’t mean everything would instantly recover from hundreds of years of oppression.

  I can’t leave it all—not now.

  My basket full, I head back to the path and the cave. I’ve been out for a long time, and the others are probably hungry. Hopefully I’ve gathered enough food to hunker down for the evening.

  I hurry up the rocky path to the cave.

  But, as I get close to the cave, I hear a familiar voice that makes me drop the food basket like it’s full of fuma dung.

  “This is him, master Wynn,” Arujan says. “Dynd, the leader who gave me so much trouble. He left the mountains with Lydia and the others.”

  This is it. The moment we’ve been dreading. The moment we knew would come. I move slowly through the brush, staying away from Arujan’s voice. They have Dynd, and they’ll be at the cave in no time.

  “Where is the blue princess?” I hear Wynn ask. His voice is angry, murderous. I’m glad that I can’t see him. A few men surround him, their horses tied to a nearby tree. None of them see me.

  Dynd starts to scream. I break into a sprint up the path.

  There isn’t time for deciding anymore. I need to get to the cave to warn the others, and I need to talk to Ler before it’s too late.

  ✽✽✽

  I crouch behind a large rock. My muscles ache from crouching, but they won’t be sore long.

  Lydia hides behind a rock over the top of the cave. Mara and Somrusee hide in the cave; Jarra is making noise. Ler hides on the side opposite me next to Tran.

  The portal stands a few feet away from all of us, invisible.

  It starts to drizzle. I take off my shirt so I’m not hindered by it when the time for action comes. I shiver as I watch the drops bounce off my bare skin, collecting into small droplets and coursing down my shaped body. At first, the drops stick to me, but once they start moving, they run faster and faster, and there is no stopping them until they hit my pants. Gravity tells them what to do, like Wynn tells the people in this world what to do.

  Except for us. We’re making a stand. Will we be swept down? Fall like the drops that oppose gravity momentarily before giving way to its pull?

  It’s a moment in time that we sit here. When you jump off the diving board at the pool, there is that moment when you hover above the water, for a moment you’re free, dry, and it almost feels like you’re in control. And then you fall. But for just a moment, suspended in space, you feel free. The moment is too short, and too long, at the same time.

  When I hear the first crunch of feet on the rocky trail, the moment is gone.

  I peer out from behind my rock. Wynn walks first in line, followed by Goluken, Arujan, and five soldiers. They don’t look like Wynn’s typical garrison. Does Goluken have his own army? I shiver at the thought.

  There are eight of them, and five of us. And Mara doesn’t really count.

  I swallow. We don’t have a chance in a fight.

  “Lydia,” Wynn says as he approaches. “Did you think you could hide from me?” He can’t see her yet, but he knows she’s here. “You’ve been racing around the world, keeping secrets from me. I just need to know one thing. Where is the key?”

  “Hi
dden.” Lydia steps out from behind the rock, her hand holding blue dirt.

  Wynn laughs. Cocky. Assured of victory. A raccoon who has cornered a hen in a chicken coop. “Are you going to fight, princess? What is your strategy? There are more of us than there are of you. What will you do? Will you heal the wounds I inflict, or will you try to hurt me? Or will you do either before you die?”

  She hesitates. Wynn is just steps away from the edge of the path, just steps away from the portal. Another few steps... He stops and laughs. Two soldiers rush by me, heading for Lydia.

  She lets out a startled gasp and flicks dirt at them. They both fall, and then they stand, supported by Wynn. I watch in horror as Wynn heals and Lydia breaks, Wynn more powerful. Step by step, the men approach the cave, their faces contorted in pain.

  Why won’t Wynn take another step forward? Does he know where the portal is? Can he see it? Sense it?

  A soldier grabs Lydia and throws her off the ledge. She falls, crumpling, keeping her concentration. The man screams as his neck breaks and then heals itself. It’s an odd sight, and it’s hard to keep my eyes on Wynn. I’m not the only one. Goluken and the other men watch. In horror? Pleasure?

  None of us have ever seen anything like this.

  Now, with Lydia crumpled on the ground, Wynn finally takes a step forward. Past the line. At the portal.

  Now.

  I jump from behind the rock, yelling. Wynn stops and looks at me with a satisfied smile. He lifts his hand, and the impact of his hemazury hits me. I have not taken a single step before I feel my legs snap under me. My body falls backward as my vision grows fuzzy from pain. My hands reach out, trying to find purchase on the ground, but they slip across the wet terrain. I slide toward the cliff. I don’t look down, I know how far it is. I keep my eyes trained on Wynn as Ler comes flying, unseen by Wynn, out of the trees at a full sprint.

  He’s closing the distance. He just might make it.

  I see blue light momentarily, and then I slip over the edge. My arms flail out, but they find nothing but air around me. I feel a moment of euphoria as I float over the world, and then I plummet toward the ground and everything goes black.