by Jason Luthor
The nanostream my father injected into me years before had always done its job. The nanobites had always kept the Creep in check. I’d never been able to use the Creep or heal myself rapidly, the way that Creepers do. I’d remained as close to human as possible for years. That day, my humanity is the reason I died. The final memory I have is of me collapsing face forward into the Creep. I was, beyond question, dead.
And yet.
And yet, I woke up. I do not know how long it had been exactly. I know it had been more than a few days. Maybe it was more than a week. Today, I understand what happened. The nanostream was overwhelmed by the presence of the Creep in the area, yet it was able to protect my brain just enough that I never became one of those beasts. At the same time, the bonding process gave me . . . powers. Strength. Endurance. Healing. And somehow, an ability to manifest the Creep from myself.
I must have sat there, surrounded by the dead bodies of my friends, for an hour. Sat, bathed in their blood, bathed in mine, surrounded by the cold faces of people I’d called friend. Of course, I knew it had to have been Yousef who had ordered the kill. No one would have risked such a move without his approval. But, still, my own brother . . . What can make a person hate another person so much that they would kill them? What would make a brother kill his own sister? Only then, sitting in the Creep, did I realize how much the death of our mother had hurt Yousef. It had done more than hurt him. It had warped him.
He wanted nothing else than to destroy the Creep and saw anyone unwilling to help him in the cause as his enemy. That included my father and me. Yet, years from that day, I realize that Yousef had a particular hatred for me. I’d become the very thing he hated most. I’d bonded with the Creep. To him, I was a monster, the very thing that had killed our mother. When I refused to share father’s secrets with him, he took it as a confirmation that I was corrupt, that I was evil. In his mind, my keeping such a secret was all the proof he needed that I was working against him, trying to destroy his vision of what our society should be like.
I only completely understood this in the years to come, as I spied on Yousef or took in refugees from Fort Silence. I heard the terrible words and rhetoric Yousef used, talking about the purity and the need for a human society only he could create. Yousef had learned to hate anyone who was not quite human, blamed such people for the death of our mother. Even worse, he’d learned to think of anyone who opposed him as being opposed to the survival of humanity itself. So, when the time was right, he’d taken me off the board.
That began the war between us. The civil war between Sulimans.
Jackie’s Recording 31
John points to the screen, at a machine I recognize. “The Advanced Reaction Core system,” he tells me. “Better known in its heyday as the Advanced Reaction System. It’s some piece of work, I’ll tell you that much.”
“What are we talking about here?”
“According to the schematics I got my eyeballs on, we’re talking about a direct access pipeline to Pocket Space. Want to know how that supreme general of yours is able to move so fast? He’s powered by a pure stream of energy that keeps him one step ahead of the pack.”
“Lots of machines are Pocket Space powered, but I don’t see any of them moving like Yousef moves.”
“I’ve pinned that down to two reasons, the first being something you’ve mentioned to me before. That eyepiece of his.”
“Right. I’ve seen it glowing, like his eye’s alive or something.”
“It’s scanning. It lets him see what Apeiron scientists called ‘predictive lines,’ basically all of the possible outcomes that the implant thinks are most likely. He reacts to it in an instant because his entire body is supercharged. That ARC system of his though . . . Well, let’s just say there’s a reason it was never put into full production.”
My eyes narrow a little as I look over at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Yousef’s whole body is oversaturated with Pocket Space energy. If the schematics are correct, then he’s got enhancements right down to his neurons. His reactions are faster than anyone else because he not only sees what’s going to happen first, but because the Pocket Space flow . . .”
“What? What’s happening with the energy flow?”
“I don’t even know how to describe it, kid. It’s a little beyond my paygrade, and I’m an android.”
“That’s fine, but you’ve been working on this for days. You can’t just sit there and say nothing.”
He frowns as he looks back at the monitor for a second. “We don’t exactly know how time works in Pocket Space.”
“Right. We know things seem to freeze in there.”
“We also know you shouldn’t put a human into Pocket Space.”
“Because they dissolve into the background energy.”
“But then your Doctor Watson managed to live for hundreds of years by sitting around in a Pocket Space field.”
“John, what is the point? What are you trying to tell me?”
“I’m talking about a man whose body should tear itself apart but doesn’t, because he’s reacting faster than most vehicles can move. That same time trapping effect that Pocket Space has exerts some sort of freezing effect on him, like he’s trapped at the moment he starts to move, even if he’s still moving. We’re all seeing him move, but for him, it’s like he never changed position. His muscles react at speeds that should tear him apart, but it’s like there’s a copy of him stored in Pocket Space that overwrites all the destruction done to his body. It happens so fast, and we’re talking nanoseconds here, that he doesn’t even feel it. His muscles should be ripping to shreds with the strain of him moving so fast, but his body’s composition is frozen at that one instant when he decides to go. It’s that preserving effect that Pocket Space has.”
It’s all hurting my head, and I look at the ground, my hands massaging at temples. “Do we have any idea how fast we’re talking about here? Is it even humanly possible to keep up with him?”
“Not unless you want to start doing to yourself what that machine’s doing to him.”
“That’s right. You said it was never put into production for a reason. What’s happening there?”
“I’m pretty sure there’s a reason Yousef tries not to fight personally unless he really feels a need to. I guess in most cases he doesn’t have to worry about going toe to toe with someone like you. The more he uses the ARC system though, the more it eats away at him. At some point, all that playing with time displacement is going to hit him. All the old documents I read through seemed to say that at some point, all those backup copies will get released all at once, causing his cells to die off in some sort of super aging process. Not the sort of way I’d want to go. The more he uses the system, the closer he gets to that happening.”
“No wonder he tried to use me to kill Ishara,” I say as I look back at the monitor. “He doesn’t want to get himself killed using this thing.”
“That’d be about my guess.”
“And I’m guessing we don’t have anything in the database about Creep that can move faster than this thing?”
“Nothing I saw. Looks like we’re just going to have to keep plugging away at it, kid.”
“It won’t be the first time.” I shake my head and look past him. “Alright. I’m back to the lab. You stick with this stuff and try to find anything else that might help.”
“One more thing before you go.”
“What’s that?”
“You know that thing you do, adding mass whenever you shift into the armor. That’s how you get taller. We always assumed it was because of the Creep in your system.”
“It’s not?”
“Not if our files are correct. Looks like that addition of mass comes straight out of Pocket Space itself somehow. I’m still trying to figure out how it works.”
I rub at my temples as I’m digesting what he’s saying. “Okay, so what does that have to do with Yousef?”
“The general can do somet
hing similar, thanks to the ARC system. It makes him faster, but he can also add on mass and get stronger. I hate to say it, but I don’t think we’ve come close to seeing what he can do when he’s at full strength.”
“Well, then I guess I’m just going to have to start doing some training, aren’t I?”
Tommy’s Recording 36
Yousef stares down at me as I’m trying to pick myself up off the ground. The blood on the floor’s a reminder of just how bad he’s messed my face up that day. My ribs feel like they’re burning as I’m pushing onto my knees, and the nausea rolling through my stomach put me on the edge of vomiting. Even my mouth feels sore from all the hits I’ve taken.
“And yet you still won’t talk,” he says as he stands there. “Impressive.”
“Hard to talk . . . when you’ve hit me so much.”
“Oh, there’s no reason to make excuses. I’ve decided it’s time to move on.”
I’m almost punch drunk, so trying to focus in on his words is like listening through a haze. “What?”
“You heard me. We won’t be doing this anymore. Oh, I’m not going to kill you. You’re human, and you’re not a threat. Well, I suppose I also won’t kill you because you’re a bit of insurance for whenever Jackie comes.”
“So, you get it. You get that she’s coming to get you.”
“Indeed. The only problem I have is that she’s taking so long. That leaves her too much time to plan and think up ways of plotting a counterattack. I need her to hurry up. People make mistakes when they’re in a rush. That’s why I’m going forward with a new plan.”
“It doesn’t matter. She won’t fall for your tricks anymore.”
“She’ll fall for this one. You know, my father, before he became soft, was a brilliant military leader. He stopped understanding the hard choices. Sometimes, in war, even the innocent have to be sacrificed for the greater good.”
“What are you talking about?”
He takes in a deep breath, his hands locking behind his back while his boots click as he’s slowly pacing the room. “I want a world without the Creep. I want a world where humanity makes its own way forward, without all of these monsters that we’re forced to live with. I don’t know what Jackie’s capable of if she’s given too much time to prepare. So, I’ll have to make her come to me. I’m telling you all of this because I want you to know that I don’t want to do what I’m going to do next.” He stops for a second to look at me. “I was always a student of theatre. Your former president was a student of history and philosophy. I wasn’t completely ignorant of philosophy. In fact, there’s one that applies to us at this very moment. That good, a truly good deed, maximizes the benefits to the most people. What I have to do requires me to harm one person in order to benefit the rest of humanity.”
“You’re talking a hell of a lot.” I have to stop for a second when I feel a burning creeping up my side, searing through my ribs and putting me in so much pain that, for a second, I’m not sure I’ll be able to take another breath. When it finally calms down, I brace myself as I look up at him. “You can do whatever you want to me. I won’t. . . won’t turn on her. And she knows I’ll die before I help you.”
“I told you. You and I are done. No. Because of Jackie, I have to do something . . . regrettable.” His eyes narrow on me. “She loved that monster. Mike.”
“Shut your mouth.”
“And Mike loved Cynthia. And . . . Mandy. I’m right, aren’t I?”
When he says their names, I can feel my heart starting to pick up. “What are you . . . What the hell are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I have to do what’s necessary to save humanity from Jackie, who is the biggest threat from the Creep we’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, that means I have to take action against the people she loves. But if I do that . . . Well, you’re right. She won’t come if I do something to you or Dodger, because she’d believe that you two would understand why she didn’t come. Because you’re all grown adults who’ve lived your lives and who’d sacrifice yourselves for each other. But a girl as young as Mandy?”
“Don’t do it.”
“I didn’t want to.” He takes a step back, moving to the doorway. “I tried very hard to do this without escalating things. But, if she won’t turn herself over, and her friends won’t help me, then I’m simply threatening humanity’s future by giving her more time to prepare. I don’t think she’ll be so patient once she knows what I’m going to do to the girl. To Mandy.”
“You piece of shit!” I scream through my bloodied mouth. Somehow, I get onto my feet and rush him, my boots sliding in the blood on the ground as I stumble his way. I’m so weak, he doesn’t even have to hit me. He just turns aside my punch and throws me to the floor. My face slams into the cold steel, but I can’t do anything but lie there, just struggling to breathe.
“Again, I didn’t want this. I tried to show you how important it was to save humanity from people like Jackie. You just wouldn’t listen.” Then, just like that, he steps back through the doorway. The door slides closed behind him, locking me away in my room again. And then it’s just me, screaming through the blood pooling in my mouth.
Jackie’s Recording 32
I’m sitting in my laboratory for the . . . I don’t know. Dozenth time? All I know is that it must have been at least two weeks since I woke up. Anyway, I’m just standing there, looking at images of the cells in my blood, watching them react as I introduce different types of energy into the samples. The screen shows them dancing, splitting apart and multiplying in response to damage from heat and radiation. On the other hand, when introduced to the energy patterns that come from Pocket Space, the cells either collapse and die or replicate so fast that skin and muscle start growing in the petri dish. It just depends on the frequency.
I’m so into the work that I don’t realize there’s someone on top of the desk, torn sandals covering slick skinned toes and claws hands draped over her knees as she squats there. When I look up and see that raggedy long hair of hers falling down past the edge of the desk, I almost scream as I jump.
“Shit,” I bark at her as I’m clutching at my chest. “Sally. How about a little warning next time.”
“You’re playing with your cells,” she tells me, her normally warm voice more like a snake as she squats there in her feral form. Her head is cocked toward me, but I can’t see much of her face behind the thick waves of her hair that slide down past her jaw and along the top of the desk, like some living darkness flowing along the surface. Her hair surrounds one of the blood vials on the table and lifts it up, holding it in front of her face before passing it along to me. “You think that you’ll find answers to defeating Yousef here.”
I take the vial from her and nod, still wondering about these interactions with the two of them are real and what parts are just in my mind. “I have to try. He’s only gotten faster since we first fought. I’m not able to keep up with him anymore and . . .” I shake my head as I sigh. “Even if we took the fight to him, got right to his doors . . . if we can’t beat him . . .”
“This is about more than him.”
“Sally, if I can’t beat Yousef, how am I ever going to fight what’s out there?”
She pauses for a long time as she looks past me, into the darkness beyond my workstation. “Angels.”
“Yeah. Not just them, though.”
“The Eye in the Utter Wilderness.” Sally nods. “It’s watching you.”
“You and Judge must have felt it.”
“All of the Creep is controlled by clusters, central forces. Judge was one of them. Your friend Mike destroyed another. But controlling all those clusters is the terrible call. The eye, and the mind behind it.”
“Sally, I’ve spent the last two years trying to get stronger and learn how to use this gift you gave me . . . And I can’t even beat Yousef. How am I going to ever try and stand up to Angels or that . . . that presence in the Creep, whatever it is.”
“I don’t know. But we’ll be
with you, through it all. It’s the least we can do for your gift to us. Freedom for Judge, from his slavery to the Eye.”
I pull back some hair behind my ear. “I’ve been . . . thinking, about trying to call out to Mike. I mean, since I can talk to the two of you.”
“Is that really what you want to do?”
“I don’t know. If I’m just being selfish . . . then yeah, I want to do it.”
“Right now, he sleeps. He could never sleep again if you woke him up. Imagine floating in darkness, no up and down, no ground and no sky. No hands to reach and no mouth to scream. The darkness only breaking as you slipped into the consciousness of millions of others, the world around you constantly shifting, changing constantly with the memories of those who died in the Creep. One minute, seeing a sunset, and another, seeing a bomb. Feeling the touch of your lover in one breath and the pain of a bullet in another. Is that really what you want for him? For him to join the long nightmare.”
“No. Obviously.” I can feel the frown on my face as I look at her. “How do you and Judge even stay sane in something like that?”
“We only cling to sanity because we have each other.” She smiles, that row of daggers in her mouth flashing out of the shadows covering her face, like a bright light in the darkness. Just a second later, that smile vanishes, and she exhales, almost like she’s giving her dying breath. “We also wonder about our mother who escaped the Tower. She is the last mystery left to solve in our mysterious lives. It’s surprising, how hard we fight to remain ourselves in the hope that, one day, we discover what happened to her. It’s amazing what we can achieve when we are fighting for something we care about deeply. Don’t you agree?”