by RMGilmour
“But how much of the ward is still inside him?” Aleric asked, in response to Mason’s thought.
“We won’t know until we analyze him,” Mason said. He then purposefully looked up at the ceiling, while raising his volume with his next words. “Or maybe the Guardian will give us access to its systems and allow us to analyze its duplicated self, while it’s within the ward?” Mason didn’t hold any hope of that happening. While the Guardian was doing all it could to protect the planet, it was doing so without anyone able to access either its digital-self, or its now human-self.
“Any trace of him?”
“None.”
“Perhaps, he left with Shaylen and her crew.”
“When have we ever been that lucky?” Mason said, with a sigh. “No, he’s still here.”
Before they could say another word, Mason’s screen flashed, then went blank. Words then appeared in two single lines, first one, then the other, and hung in the air upon his screen.
GIVE ME LYDIA
AND YOU SHALL HAVE FULL ACCESS
Mason’s breath caught in his throat. On top of everything else he had read on his screens that day, those words removed any semblance of sanity he may have found.
He cleared his throat, and attempted to steady his voice before calling to the room, “Why do you want her?”
But there was no response. They waited, and watched. The Guardian could have communicated in any number of ways, but for now, its reasons would remain with itself.
“At least, we know what it wants.”
“The question is why?”
“The ward is now entangled with the Guardian,” Aleric said. “It is now capable of simultaneously observing and experiencing first hand, all that the ward experiences. All thoughts, all emotions, all activity down to every particle that makes up the ward.”
“So, it’s experimenting with all of the information it had obtained from Hera.”
“And with Lydia’s mind connected to the ward’s, it no doubt wants to test those higher brain functions first hand.”
Their thoughts as always, traveled the same path, and they looked at one another. Neither wanting to contemplate Aleric’s last statement.
“How do we keep her away?” he asked, barely above a whisper.
“I don’t think we can. She’ll come back wanting to save Jordan’s world.” Mason couldn’t help but smile at that thought. She blamed herself for every little thing, whether she was involved or not, and she still managed to dig up courage enough to do what needed to be done. He wished though, that Jordan would take her back to Earth. They’d both be safe there.
“For how long, though?” Aleric responded to his thoughts.
“We could just send them to Earth without asking them, instead of bringing them back here,” Mason mused. “Find them a little piece of paradise her kind hadn’t yet developed, set up a field to keep them safe and unseen.”
Aleric already knew the end to that scenario. Clearly though, his friend had not thought it through. Jordan would find his way back to Threa, one way or another.
“You do realize that Jordan is physically stronger than you now.”
“He is not,” Mason protested. He wanted to laugh at Aleric’s suggestion, but with all that had happened, and with all that he knew was coming, he couldn’t find it within himself to laugh, not even a little.
“When were you last at the Arena?” Aleric raised an eyebrow at him. “He’ll beat you senseless if you send them there. He’s well aware that their best chance of survival is here, if Shaylen and Ekkehard get a hold of this,” he said, indicating the Central Unit. The threat was always there, to every dimension that the Central Unit had ever connected with.
A brief spark of hope caused Aleric to smile at the thought of another race they had witnessed over the years.
“No,” Mason shook his head. “No, no, no. Aleric, we cannot open the way to them again. Not even to rid ourselves of those two.”
“It’s the ideal solution. Let them think they have control and then send them all to H’Etar.”
“No. Aleric, no. They still give me nightmares,” he groaned. “I’ll never get those creatures out of my head.”
“Two thousand years ago, you said the same thing about the Spire experiments. And now look, your free of those memories.”
Mason cleared his throat, and glared at Aleric.
“Well, I was. Until now. Thank you. But still no.”
“Food for thought,” Aleric insisted, but then cringed and shivered at his own choice of words. The people of H’Etar were monstrous humanoids, eating everything, including each other.
“Please,” Mason groaned, as he attempted to shut down the memories. All of them. And all but one obeyed. All those lives, the life… How many worlds had they destroyed?
The only good thing that came out of the recent events, was that the Guardian now understood the threat to Threa, and to others. The Guardian at least, was now in complete agreement with them, about who they were protecting the planet from. And it agreed to stop creating people. Not that it needed anymore wards. For it had amassed its own military over the many years, mostly Terahn’s. An almost five-million-strong killing machine, that could not die. Some of whom had taken up residence in the newly constructed northern quadrant of the city, and were controlled by the Heart and the Guardian together. The others remained in the Spire.
Mason downed the rest of the contents of his flask, wishing it was something a little stronger than the usual anesthetic that calmed the waves of thought that came and went from those nearest to him.
Aleric placed his hand upon the silvery panel beside their table and briefly grinned at Mason before resuming a serious tone.
“When are you going to give Jordan access to the rest of his memories?”
Mason blew out his breath. He couldn’t have this conversation, not yet. He couldn’t stand to think about Jordan’s pain, much less feel it. After all they had been through, Jordan was the one person he needed to be ok. He’d suffered enough. But until this was over, until they were safe, he knew there was more pain to come.
“When he’s ready for it,” Mason responded.
“When he’s ready, or when you are?”
“Aleric,” Mason begged, holding his hands up in silent protest. All those lives…
“What are you two up to?” Haize questioned, as she entered the room with Rebecca. Aleric placed his hands upon the table and stretched it out to accommodate their visitors, and then generated two more chairs.
“Why is my workspace being invaded?” Mason asked, but his question was ignored, as they took a seat at his table. He sighed inwardly. Perhaps the distraction would help.
“Taking a break?” Aleric asked Haize.
“Yeah. I went at it a little too hard. Too much, too soon.”
Mason squinted trying to read her. Aleric’s brew was already working on his brain. “Haize, you’re actually training again?” he asked.
“Need to,” she said. “We all do. You need to get back out there, too. Both of you.”
“We plan to,” Aleric said.
But Mason knew his friend’s words were only meant to placate Haize, temporarily at least. Neither he nor Aleric had time for the Arena. They hadn’t even discussed it. “Where’s Hammond?” he asked Rebecca. The two were inseparable, from what he knew, he never left her side.
“With Grid and Gia, dreaming of fatherhood,” she answered.
“And?” Mason asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m not ready,” she said, tapping the side of her hand upon the table, in time with each word. She was tired of discussing it, and she sent a thought to anyone who would listen - that they had a better chance of getting a baby out of Lena, than her.
Mason wanted to laugh at the faint thought he’d picked up from her, but restrained himself from doing so. He doubted either Lena or Rebecca, would appreciate the humor. But he was relieved that Aleric’s
serum was working on his brain. For her thought, was the last he heard, he could no longer hear any of their thoughts, nor they, his.
“Have you heard from Rathe?” Rebeca asked, needing to change the subject.
“Lydia is fine, and Dax will be,” Aleric answered.
“Might want to bring Jordan back here before Dax wakes up,” Haize suggested.
“No need,” Mason said. “He’s awake. Lena explained things to him. And besides, Jordan was genetically compatible to Dax, and donated the cells needed, to help Sater rebuild Dax’s body.”
“Eww,” Rebecca responded, her stomach stirred at the thought.
“All of us from Threa are compatible. The CU saw to that when we gave it management over us,” Mason explained, and he looked at her, hoping she understood. For if she didn’t understand, he wasn’t up to explaining it.
“How far along are we, with our plans for Shaylen and Ekkehard?” Haize asked. Although, she and everyone else knew, that Ekkehard was Lena’s target. She only hoped she wouldn’t be around to see what Lena would do to him.
“We’ll get to that,” Aleric reassured her. “But first, we need this. Inadvertent compliments of Lydia’s grandfather.”
He held up a squarish bottle that he’d pulled from the counter, and gently swirled the golden-brown liquid inside it.
“Ah, I’ve been wanting to try that,” Mason said, with a forced grin, and generated a set of glasses similar to what Lydia’s grandfather used to drink from.
Haize chuckled at them both, “You two need to stop picking Lydia’s brain.”
Aleric poured a sample in each of the glasses, and raised his to examine its contents. “Let’s hope it’s as good as her grandfather’s smile implied,” he finished.
Mason paused before devouring the much-needed relief. All that life, all those lives… The words swirled in his brain along with the contents of his glass.
“To life,” he uttered to the table. And to himself, knowing what had to be done, he solemnly swore, To making it right.
∞
The references to the Sonnet in chapters 1, 17, and 31 are from the beloved
Sonnet 116 (5-6, 12)
By William Shakespeare
Thank you for reading THE LAST CITY.
I hope you enjoyed the story!
For more information, upcoming releases, articles, and short stories from THE COLONY and THE LAST CITY,
please visit my website: www.rmgilmour.com.