See No More

by W B Dineen

  My mom indicates the seat next to her. “This is a result of my little mental vacation.”

  I totally get her explanation. Right now, I wish I was anywhere other than where I am. I take a moment to be grateful that I put my little stick in the chair pocket in front of me and wasn’t holding it when my thoughts went traveling. There’s no telling what insane items would have popped up.

  Tony warned us the fourteen miles surrounding the island are a no-fly zone. Anyone caught inside that air-space will be targeted and taken out. We’re hoping that, because he’s supposed to meet his father this morning, his dad will take the pilot’s word for it that we’re his son’s plane and won’t fire. Tony assures us that in no way makes us safe. His father may rightly assume the plane belongs to him and fire anyway.

  Theo is busily typing away on a keyboard. I know he’s adjusting the final coordinates to launch the weapon and is intently preoccupied with his task. Nikolay sits next to him and watches his every move. Jake eyes Stefano’s henchmen, as Trina converses with the Italian, who seems thrilled to be the center of her attention.

  Theo calls out, “The longitude and latitude of the target are set, and the weapon has begun to manufacture the proper amount of antimatter. Set the clock to seventy seconds. Seven-zero, on my command.” The air is thick with tension while we wait. My body releases sweat like it’s trying to put out a fire. My armpits are drenched, and my hair is quickly following suit.

  My dad declares, “Now!” Niko starts the countdown.

  We’re just over a minute from the unthinkable. We’re past the point of no return because once the weapon begins to produce the antimatter, it must release it at the proper time. If it doesn’t, the antimatter will react with the matter in the weapon itself and will annihilate the atmosphere and everything surrounding it, meaning us.

  Nikolay calls out the count. “Fourteen … thirteen … twelve … eleven …” I wish I’d thought to go to the bathroom before we got to this point. Every one of my bodily functions feels like it’s about to give way. “Six … five … four … three …” I start a Hail Mary in my head. “Two … one … FIRE!”

  I watch out the window as a ray of white light, no thicker than my thumb, is discharged from the undercarriage of the airplane. It hits the only green space amid the cerulean expanse of water around it, in short order.

  From this distance it’s like we’re playing a video game. The light surrounds the island until we can’t see it anymore. When it dissipates, there’s no longer any land to be seen. Holy freaking crap. What now?

  CHAPTER 91

  Stefano and a few of his men clap their hands and make whooping noises in celebration. Strangely, I can understand their reaction. I feel the tiniest, and that’s all I’ll cop to, amount of excitement run through me. I never realized how thrilling power can be. I’m not proud we’ve taken lives, but knowing sixteen square miles of land can exist one minute and then no more, is a bit of a rush. At the same time my eyes begin to water. I don’t know how many people just died, or switched dimensions as Jake calls it, but we’ve just removed people from their status quo, and it’s a lot to absorb.

  I fully understand that if you aren’t inherently a good person the temptation to use this weapon to control the world would be an enormous lure. An enticement I could pass up, but apparently Stefano and the other Trēdecim can’t.

  After a few moments, the cabin calms and Stefano stands up. He gives an abrupt whistle to get everyone’s attention. “This was an excellent test!” Then to my dad and the rest of us, he declares, “I know you were expecting to return to Oregon once we accomplished our mission, but you’re not going to. The reason we brought our additional passengers”—with a tilt of his head, he indicates my mom and me— “is because we are continuing on to Rome. I have appointments there with two others from our group to work out our timeframe on proceeding with the other targets. You will be my guests.”

  He doesn’t say that last bit like the household items in Beauty and the Beast, either. You know where the cups, teapots, and clocks dance around singing, “Be our guest, be our guest”? It’s nothing warm and welcoming like that. He says it more like Blackbeard would to a new bride. Like we’ll only be alive as long as he wants us to be, and there’s no telling when his hospitality will end.

  Our group makes eye contact with each other as rapidly as machine gun fire. We’ve been separated since Oregon and have been unable to make any plans about what happens after our mission is accomplished.

  I guess the good news is that Stefano isn’t planning to kill us here, but we have no such guarantees once we land. I believe in psychic phenomenon almost as much as I once believed in crop circles, aliens, and a malevolent government. But I swear we have the exact same realization at the same time. That is, we cannot allow Stefano to take us back to Italy with him.

  I know we need to act casual and unaffected by his announcement in order to relax the watch over us. While my instinct is to freak out, I force myself to yawn loudly and declare to all in attendance, “That was really exciting, but I think I’m going to close my eyes and take a little catnap.”

  Stefano looks surprised by my laissez-faire attitude. My mom takes my cue and suggests I wait until we can open some champagne to celebrate our success. Again, not a response the Italian seems to be expecting. Yet, he signals the flight attendants to fulfill her desire.

  Trina smiles brightly at our scary-as-crap leader. “I’ll help serve.” Then she gets up and walks to the back of the cabin with all eyes trailing her gorgeous self. She signals me to join her, and once everyone settles down, I make like I’m going to use the facilities and head to the back of the cabin.

  By the time I get there, the glasses are already poured. Trina asks the two flight attendants to put together some cheese and fruit, while I slip Trina the device she previously gave to me. We’re still being watched, so I continue into the bathroom as planned.

  When I get out, my alien friend whispers, “Do not drink from the glasses and try to make sure none of our group do either.” Then she instructs the flight attendants to wait while she and I pass out the flutes before offering food.

  She leaves two glasses on the small counter and says. “Those are for you. Please join our toast.”

  She and I walk through the cabin handing out champagne. I make sure to smile brightly and say something to everyone when they remove their glass from the tray. Hopefully this will allow me to share a warning with our group without being under additional suspicion.

  Stefano is standing right next to my father when I get to him, so I obviously can’t caution him. On the fly I manage, “Don’t forget about your histamine allergy, Dad. Be careful.”

  Once everyone has a glass, Trina raises hers and looks intently at Stefano. He’s mesmerized, as I’m sure was her intent. “To our leader and the first of many successful endeavors together.” She sips her champagne and indicates we should all join her. Once Stefano takes a drink, the rest of his men do as well. That’s when the fun starts.

  No sooner does the liquid touch their lips than they begin to drop like flies. Trina steps over two bodies and hurries to the cockpit where she offers the pilot and co-pilot a toast. Once they turn on the autopilot, they happily join her. After one sip, they succumb to the same fate as the others, which is apparently deep sleep, not death. I’m guessing Trina was unaffected due to the fact that she isn’t human.

  When our alien friend comes back, she looks a great deal less delighted than when she left. “It is done. Now we decide what is next.”

  Air traffic controllers, somewhere, know this plane was given clearance to fly over the island that is no more. We don’t know how much longer we have before the missing land is discovered, and we need to distance ourselves from the jet as soon as possible.

  Tony declares, “We need to abandon the airplane once we’re sure it’s set on a crash course deep into the ocean.” I have no trouble knowingly killing Stefano and his men, but I feel real sadness about
the flight attendants and pilots. As far as I know, they were innocent bystanders. There’s also a pang for Angelo. He seems like a lovely man who followed the devil because that’s who raised him. He felt an obligation and that obligation has sealed his fate.

  CHAPTER 92

  Tony resets the autopilot to land dead center in the Bermuda Triangle where the weapon and everyone left on the plane will be sunk. He adjusts our altitude to ten thousand feet, and we begin to chart our course. Our plan is to use Trina’s device to produce four parachutes, three of which will be doubles, and jump within a hundred miles of the Virgin Islands. Then we’ll ask for a boat and dock at Saint Thomas, which is under the United States’ domain.

  Trina informs us that each device is only good for seven requests. I absently pick at a fingernail. “I thought all your magic ended when the Aphresians cut you off. What’s up with the little voodoo sticks?”

  “I was given two of them before coming here. They are independent from me, so their abilities were left intact. However, their capacities are finite. The elders send travelers with only enough help to get them out of problematic situations, but not enough to tempt them into changing a planet’s destiny. They understand even Aphresians can be compelled to use power beyond what they should.”

  I shake my head and look at my very contrite mother. “Mom’s is used up, and I wasted one of my requests on bubble gum. That leaves us with only six.”

  “And I used one for a sleeping potion for the champagne, which leaves us five. We will jump two to a parachute, so we’ll have one request left for a boat.”

  I wish Trina had given us a little more instruction when she handed her only two remaining pieces of alien technology to me and my mom. I mean she had to have guessed we could accidentally render them inoperable. So I ask, “Trina, why in the world did you ever give them to us? You should have kept them.”

  She shakes her head. “I could not risk having them found on me. Once we left the plane to check the weapon, I assumed we would be searched before returning. If those devices got into the hands of Stefano and his men, and their abilities were discovered, we would have had no way of stopping them.”

  This makes total sense, and a chill courses through my veins at what might have happened had the Aprhesian technology fallen into the hands of the egomaniacal Italian. So what if we lost eight opportunities? We still have five left, and that looks like it might just be enough to get us to safety.

  We all seem to be moving about as though we’re in an alternate space. We know we have to get out of this plane, and we’re committed to doing it, but at the same time I can’t quite visualize how it’s going to happen.

  Trina requests the parachutes and Jake explains how they work. He’s going to share his with me but gives everyone else a crash course. They’re to pull their cords only once Jake does. Otherwise, we’re all winging it.

  We put on our jackets and fill the pockets with as much food and water as we can carry. We also gather small supplies like cutlery, a first aid kit, and a flashlight. Then we wrap everything in plastic bags. My mom is next to me, and she looks miserable. “I can’t believe I blew my requests on all that stupid stuff.”

  I try to offer a sympathetic smile. “Just think, we can brush our hair now and you have a pretty new pair of earrings.” At her disgruntled look, I add, “And we can take pictures and still have enough money left over for a snack once we land.” She rolls her eyes, but still manages to replace her old earrings with the new ones.

  Jake informs us it’s time to get suited up and begin the process of getting ready to abandon ship, as it were. The larger of the two people sharing a chute stands in back and the smaller stands directly in front of them. Once the plane descends to ten thousand feet, Jake warns, “Remember, at this altitude the plane will buck when the door is opened. I’ve turned off the cabin pressure, but there will still be a reaction. Hold on to something to keep from flying about and make sure you jump ten seconds after the team in front of you.”

  He and I are first off, so the others know the right time to release their ripcords. Before I’m ready, he pushes the door open and shoves me out. My heart lurches and I prepare to vomit or at the very least, soil myself. Yet, quite unexpectedly, skydiving turns out to be the singularly most thrilling experience of my life. I don’t know if it’s because my adrenaline was already high, and the extra burst pushed me over the edge, but the rush of air, the plummeting to the earth at a breakneck speed—it’s positively exhilarating.

  Trina and Niko go next. Because of the alien’s exceptional height, she’s in back. Poor Niko looks like he’s going to be sick. Mom and Dad jump without incident, and are followed by Tony, who’s flying solo.

  It seems like only seconds pass before Jake pulls our ripcord, and our descent slows. The other three chutes follow suit as we glide effortlessly to the chilly water below. That’s when I get freaked out. We’re landing smack in the middle of the ocean, more than a hundred miles from land. My guess is there are some scary creatures down there. I may be adventurous by nature, but even I know dropping out of the sky into the middle of the Atlantic isn’t the safest maneuver.

  I don’t have a chance to worry for long though, because the chill of the water robs me of my ability to think. We don’t go down as far as I thought we would, which is good because I forgot to take a breath before landing. Once we’re all safely accounted for, Trina takes the device out of the plastic bag she has it stored in and makes her request for a boat. When I see what we get, I want to kick my mom for the hairbrush and earrings.

  We make short work climbing the ladder that leads to the deck and unhooking our parachutes. We drop them into the water as we don’t want any evidence indicating how we got here. Our story is that we’re American tourists visiting the Virgin Islands. We don’t want to have to explain to anyone that we jumped from an airplane, mid-flight.

  Once we’re onboard, I take a moment to be grateful we aren’t currently in a twelve-foot fishing boat with oars as our only means to propel ourselves forward. If I were the one doing the wishing that might have been what I’d manifest. I understand why Trina handed the sticks off to us, yet I wish we’d known enough not to hold them on our persons. It would be nice to have the backup power of the other stick, as well.

  The boat is a gorgeous, white teak yacht, with shiny brass fixtures. I take a moment to reflect that in the last few weeks, I’ve flown on my first private jet, been a guest at the most amazing mansion I’ve ever laid eyes on, and now am traveling on my first yacht. Once upon a time, I might have thought all this luxury could have only happened if I’d won the lottery. I never would have guessed it would be the result of fleeing for my life and trying to help save the planet. It’s a strange dichotomy, to be sure.

  Jake and I sneak off to share a private moment. We don’t talk, we just hold each other, which leads to kissing. We share so much emotion and heat, if you tried to describe all the feelings entailed, you could write a book. We’ve run for our lives and taken lives together. We’ve plotted, planned, talked, and cried. We’ve shared more in the last few weeks than I have with any man I’ve ever been with.

  Tony finds the navigation system and sets a course for Saint Thomas. The rest of us go about unloading our pockets and laying out some of our clothes on deck to dry. I close my eyes and search for a reprieve, trying in vain to convince myself I’m on vacation and not smack in the middle of the escape of a lifetime.

  I don’t know what’s going to happen to us once we get back stateside. I don’t know if I can go back to my old life, or if I even want to anymore. The Trēcedim is still out there, and even though the weapon is about to be submerged ten thousand feet under the ocean, there are still big obstacles. Add to that the potential alien threat and mankind’s complete ignorance of that whole situation. It’s almost too much to absorb. But at least step one has been taken care of. The antimatter is no longer a threat to mankind, and while it may be a small victory, it’s a victory nonetheless.


  CHAPTER 93

  Trina informs Tony that she needs to remove his chip. It won’t go unnoticed by the Trēdecim that two of their members were last seen with him before falling off the face of the earth. She cuts the device out carefully and holds a compress to the incision for several minutes before bandaging it. Then she drops the chip overboard.

  We have several hours before we make land, and that time is spent in deep contemplation. We’re mostly quiet, and while not exactly morose, we’re aware of the gravity of what’s happened today. Tony is an orphan by his own volition. Trina has been banished from her planet. None of us know the status of our safety regarding the Trēdecim. It’s a lot to take in.

  There’s no land in sight, and the water is probably infested with killer sharks and whales, but even that knowledge doesn’t make me more fearful than the thought of the eleven remaining rulers of our planet coming after us.

  My mom sits next to me and stares out into the water. “It’s astonishing how life can turn out.”

  I nod my head. “Yes, it is.” Through no fault of my own, I spent much of my childhood without my father and with a heartbroken mother. It’s no wonder I try to control everything else with an iron fist. And yet, here I am, in a situation that’s far from controlled. I take my mom’s hand. “Do you have any regrets?”

  She shakes her head. “No. Even though our current troubles seem to come from choices your father has made, there are always roadblocks in life, no matter who you love and what you do. Even if Theo and I had never met, there would have been obstacles. At least I’ve known a great love, and I’ve gotten you and Jen out of it. That’s a lot more than most people get.”

  My mom’s right. If nothing else, I’ve gained enormous perspective of what a real problem is. Everything I once perceived as trouble is really no more than an annoyance. Mom and I sit for over an hour seemingly hypnotized by the horizon, both completely lost in our own tumultuous thoughts.