Earth Keepers

by Jorge Alejandro Lavera

“They didn’t let me choose.”

  “Are you saying you’d rather be dead?”

  “Leora isn’t in danger of dying.”

  Alexis ran his hand through his hair, desperate.

  “Sofía, Leora said ‘save it.’ ‘Save it,’ not ‘save me.’”

  “Are you saying she doesn’t have any doubts any more about keeping it?”

  “It’s clear that any doubts she had were eliminated when faced with the reality of losing it.”

  “If you’re thinking about doing this, we don’t have much time. We’d have to go to the city to get the nanites,” Sofía said, looking at the blood.

  “We can’t give her some of ours?” asked Damaris.

  “There wouldn’t be enough...we’d need the nanites to be original and a complete dose, to get optimal adaptation to her DNA. If I’m not mistaken, there are still one or two doses, in Tzedek’s chest.”

  “Well let’s go look for it.”

  “I don’t think we’ll be in time if we have to return to the city and then come back here. Remember that the trip back to the city is against the current. We’ll have to take her. Let’s look for a stretcher or something to do it,” said Sofía.

  Alexis looked around, got a couple of blankets that were on a pile and threw them over Leora. He wrapped her up from head to toes and took her in his arms. Carefully, like a newlywed carrying her over the threshold, but with determination, he supported her head on his shoulder and held her firmly while he started walking. Sofía and Damaris walked behind him. Once outside the building, they started trotting and running under a torrential rain.

  They all ran at Alexis’ pace. They got back to where they had come from, trying to get to the river bank, between the rain and the darkness. They were pushing themselves to the maximum to save Leora’s baby.

  They were near the coast when, as they passed a slight hill, Alexis felt goosebumps on his skin. First he was surprised and thought he was getting cold, but then realized that his hair was standing on end.

  He didn’t need the smell of ozone to realize what was about to happen.

  “Stop, hit the ground!” he shouted, as he threw himself to the ground carefully so as not to hurt Leora.

  Damaris was last and she threw herself to the ground immediately. Sofía was in the middle, a few feet behind Alexis, and she hesitated a second, disconcerted, trying to find out what the threat was. That was enough.

  Her hair bristled as if it had a life of its own. At the last second, she raised her arms above her head and started to crouch to protect herself. The lightning hit her directly.

  The white light filled the night, blinding them, and the explosion was shocking, leaving them temporarily deafened and stunned, but even stronger was the green light that encompassed everything for an instant.

  Alexis recovered first. He got up carefully. The rain was heavier and the sound of the water blocked out other sounds, but even so he heard a moan. Leora was still unconscious, so he went to where Sofía was lying.

  The crying came from Damaris, who was sitting a few steps beyond. Sofía lay inanimate in the center of a burned area. Damaris ran over as fast as she could, while Alexis tried to check for a pulse. But he couldn’t find one.

  Alexis stopped cold. He touched Sofía’s face and it was still warm. He touched the tiara without meaning to and then yelled when it burned his hand. The drops of rain that fell on her formed little clouds of steam and smoke.

  “She’s dead!” he exclaimed, overwhelmed.

  Damaris seemed to wake up and pushed him to one side, while she also tried to find a pulse in Sofía’s neck. She couldn’t find one, either. Without wasting any time, she pushed on her chest and started CPR. Every two or three compressions, she went to Sofía’s face and pressing her nostrils together, breathed air into her lungs forcefully through her mouth.

  “Get Leora or she’ll get hypothermia,” exclaimed Damaris, out of breath, while she pressed Sofía’s chest to work her heart. Steam was still coming from different parts of her body.

  Alexis looked at Damaris with anguish as she tried to resuscitate Sofía, while he returned to Leora’s side. Sofía had grown so much, she was the same as he remembered Gea. He might be able to help if he stayed, he thought, but when he touched Leora he realized Damaris was right. She was freezing and drenched. If he didn’t warm her up while he carried her to the city, she might not just lose the baby. He knew he couldn’t carry both of them. His heart skipped a beat when he realized he would have to abandon one of them.

  He watched Damaris, who looked at him, too, while she continued to try to resuscitate Sofía, and heard in his mind, with the force of a kick: “Get going.”

  He picked up Leora in his arms again and pressed her against his body, noting at the same time that the rain was letting up a little. He started running to the coast again, first slowly and then faster and faster.

  When he got to the bank, he was running so fast it was hard to stop and he almost ended up in the river. He’d run carefully along the path they’d come in on, so he arrived back at the place where Leora had left the motorboat. He hurried towards it, placing her in it as comfortably as he could, and situated himself in front, then cranked the key to start the motor. Nothing happened. The battery had discharged from being in contact.

  He let go with a string of curses while he picked up Leora again and took her to the boat. He gave it a push while he jumped inside still loading her, laid her down gently and started it with one pull of the starter. He accelerated, guiding the motorboat against the current. He turned on the lights and revved it up to the max. As he traveled, he tried several times to get in touch with the city but his radio only communicated with Sofía’s and Damaris’ radios.

  A good while later he arrived at the dock where they’d left the van. A cloud of steam issued from the engine. He was sure that if he had gone a few more minutes, it would have melted, but it fulfilled its duty.

  From the radio of the truck, he was able to communicate with the city.

  “Alexis? Did you find Leora?”

  “Althaea, I’m arriving in a few minutes. Have ready a dose of the nanites from Tzedek’s chest...”

  “Whaaaat?”

  “Just do it, please. I’ll explain when we get there.”

  There was a moment of silence and finally Althaea answered:

  “Okay, I’ll wait for you at the center.”

  They gave him entrance to the city and Alexis continued at high speed to the control center, to the dismay of some residents. He climbed the path, arriving at the very door of the building, literally hitting it. Picking her up in his arms once again, he ran towards the control center, running up the stairs two at a time and down the corridors. Leora began to whimper.

  “Shh, everything is okay,” he cooed, giving her a kiss on the forehead, hurrying even more.

  He got to the center and kicked open the door. Althaea jumped, but together with Juan Carlos, they were waiting with a syringe ready. Alexis thanked them mentally and laid Leora, who was returning to consciousness, on the floor. He took the syringe that Althaea gave him, breathed deeply, injected it into Leora’s chest and pressed the plunger all the way.

  Alexis fell next to Leora, exhausted.

  Althaea ran to him, frightened. She turned him over to get to his backpack and got out an energy juice to offer him without a second to lose. Alexis was so consumed that his muscles had shrunk and his appearance was cadaverous.

  “You almost killed yourself. Where have you come from running with her? What happened?”

  Alexis raised his hand motioning for her to wait, and took the drink. He finished it and took another which he also emptied. Then he started eating chocolate bars. Meanwhile, Leora moved around and sobbed.

  A few minutes later, Leora suddenly seemed to relax and Alexis was less white and dried up. He turned around and started to sit up a little. He went to Leora and caressed her head. She looked better, but she was cold, wet, and dirty.

  Juan
Carlos had gone to find a blanket and Alexis wrapped her up as best he could.

  “And Sofía and Damaris?” asked Juan Carlos.

  Alexis got even more serious, if that were possible. He looked again in the backpack and pulled out the radio that he activated immediately.

  “Damaris, can you hear me?”

  He waited a minute, and tried again.

  “Damaris, answer, please.”

  Alexis lowered his head and listened to the radio. There was another moment of silence, and he was ready to try again, when the static broke the calm and he heard Damaris.

  “Alexis, did you get to the city? How is Leora?”

  “I got here and we applied the nanites. We’ll see how she is when she wakes up, but I’ll have to take her to our hospital for an ultrasound, to find out if...what happened with Sofía?”

  “Alexis, hello,” he heard Sofía’s voice.

  Alexis gave a huge sigh of relief. Leora and Sofía were both okay. At least, it seemed like it.

  “Sofía, are you okay?”

  “Yes, I am. But Gea is dead.”

  Juan Carlos, Althaea and Alexis looked at each other.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The lightning strike was too much for Gea’s jewels. She used up all of her power, which saved me from being roasted, but the memory of the supercomputer was fried. At least, it restarted blank. I think it was like the first time Gea used it, that is, it works as before, but it has no memories, much less the personality of Gea. It’s a ‘blank slate.’”

  The three of them were shell-shocked—Althaea and Juan Carlos realizing what had happened, and Alexis by Gea’s second death.

  “Lightning?” asked Juan Carlos and Althaea in unison. Althaea looked at the ceiling. The storm had stopped.

  “Yes, and Sofía was dead. If she’s alive, it’s because of Damaris,” Alexis informed them. “Sofía, when do you think you will be coming?”

  “You know what? It would be super if you could send someone to look for us. The provisions in my backpack are charcoal because of the lightning strike, and Damaris’ are barely enough for me to recover enough to walk, but it hurts. We got to the coast, but frankly, walking all the way there...”

  “Hell, I forgot about the motorboat,” thought Alexis.

  “Yes, of course, I’ll send someone to get you in the boat right now.”

  “I’ll go,” offered Juan Carlos.

  “The truck is at the entrance,” said Alexis, with a half-smile.

  “Hmm, could you explain to me how to use the boat?” asked Juan Carlos, embarrassed.

  “To both of us—I’ll go with you,” said Althaea.

  Alexis smiled and touching them, mentally passed on the instructions how to start, navigate and stop the boat. They took a few minutes to prepare backpacks with provisions and went running out.

  They traveled in the truck to the boat, without saying almost anything. At a given moment, Althaea took Juan Carlos’ hand, which surprised him, and he appreciated the gesture with a smile. A little bit later, they could see a plume of smoke in the distance. When they approached, they discovered it was a small fire and next to it were Damaris and Sofía, leaning against each other. It looked like they had fallen asleep and just heard the noisy outboard motor, because they saw Damaris and Sofía turn to look at them and slowly get to their feet.

  Juan Carlos ran the boat aground like Alexis had taught him and jumped out of it, running towards the girls with Althaea trying to follow him. He got to Sofía first and hugged her hard.

  “Oowww!” she complained.

  “I’m sorry,” said Juan Carlos, letting her go and noting the burned smell and deplorable state of his daughter. “It’s just that I’m so happy to see you well.”

  Apart from her terrible state, Sofía looked incredible. Juan Carlos looked at his daughter, then at Althaea, who had greeted Damaris and was waiting to greet Sofía. Despite their dissimilar ages, the four of them looked like healthy twenty-five year olds. He smacked the provisions, while looking questioningly at Sofía.

  “The lightning strike was a direct hit. Atlantean technology prevented me from getting fried on the spot, but...the energy was too much. Everything that had to do with the programming of the tiara and the bracelets was erased. Including Gea. My heart stopped. I...would be dead if it weren’t for Damaris.” It was hard for Sofía to tell the story.

  Juan Carlos brought them the provisions and they both started to eat and drink immediately.

  “How did Damaris save you?” asked Juan Carlos.

  Sofía gestured towards Damaris who answered:

  “Thankfully I have hospital experience and I know CPR and resuscitation...which I did for over five minutes. I thought I had lost her.” Her voice broke for a minute. “But the forced pumping of blood was reactivating the nanites little by little, which repaired the most serious damage, and allowed her heart to start beating on its own. Then after a few minutes she regained consciousness and I was able to start giving her some liquids that I had left, to help her repair the damage.”

  Juan Carlos felt a lump in his throat and hugged Damaris.

  “Thank you. Thank you for saving my daughter.”

  Juan Carlos held Sofía again and gave his hand to Althaea.

  “It would be best if we go back to the city,” he proposed.

  They all agreed and after putting out the fire, they got in the boat, where Juan Carlos navigated with Althaea at his side, watching the road by the river, while out of the corner of his eye, watched Sofia holding hands with Damaris.

  Leora woke up in Alexis’ bed. To one side she saw ultrasound equipment and other hospital supplies, and on the other, Alexis smiling at her. Suddenly the memory of everything that had happened came back to her, and she sat up, almost in a panic attack. However, she saw there was no blood, and nothing hurt. She didn’t even see bruises where she had been tied down with cords. She touched her belly. Had it all been a nightmare?

  Alexis raised his hands to calm her and helped her lie down again.

  Leora went on remembering.

  “You...killed him,” said Leora, affirming and asking at the same time.

  “Yes,” he confirmed, “and I’d do it again if I could.”

  Leora was afraid to ask.

  “Relax, the baby will be okay,” Alexis assured her.

  “I thought I had lost it,” she sobbed, touching her belly again. “How much time has gone by?”

  “Less than three hours.”

  “Less than three...how is that possible?” she asked in surprised, confirming again the lack of bruises and pain. Suddenly she got it.

  “It was the only way. You were going to survive, but the baby wasn’t.”

  Leora went pale.

  “What did you do to me? It’s...unnatural.”

  “As unnatural as an antibiotic. Would you prefer to die from bronchitis or take a pill and be cured? This is the same.”

  “It isn’t the same, now I won’t grow old,” she started to say, sitting up to pick up a mirror. “Good God.”

  The difference was notable. Leora wasn’t old or anything close to it, but the nanites had taken fifteen years off of her face. And from her body.

  “Think of it as another opportunity. You don’t just have one life before you. You have all that you want, unless you decide to end it by your own hand.”

  “And the baby? How will he be?”

  “Nothing has ever happened like this, that I know of. The nanites will be part of him, it seems inevitable. Not to mention it’s the result of whatever Tzedek was looking for.”

  “It was horrible,” Leora recalled with a shudder.

  “And for sure you’re going to have nightmares. It’s normal. I would have them. There are situations no one should go through and this was one of them. In Atlantis...”

  “What?” she said when Alexis went quiet.

  “In Atlantis a psychotic person like that couldn’t exist. An Atlantean that sick would have got immedi
ate mental health help and a corresponding treatment. I stopped because I remembered that Atlantis was destroyed by psychotics precisely like him. What?” this time he asked.

  “Remembering how it ended,” Leora answered, remembering Alexis coming in the door and cutting the guy diagonally in half, in one fell swoop. “And thinking of you.”

  GODS

  Rho, December 31, 2027. 2:00 p.m.

  After all of the setbacks, it had been a couple of days since all the vaccines had been sent off and today finally, the first crew members and passengers were disembarking. They had found that the village where Leora had been taken to the hospital, and where she did not want to return, was cleared of cadavers. It would serve as a base for the first crew members and passengers with special skills to prepare things to receive more people. They were also studying the possibility of keeping a minimal crew on the ship, if it were necessary for some future trip. Those who lived on the ship would have hard work, but they would also have a ton of luxuries that those on land wouldn’t.

  Alexis’ second was impatient to meet those on land. During Leora’s crisis, he had to stay on the ship and today he could finally go to the city and to the control center.

  When Lionel got to the base of Rho’s tower, he was in his dress uniform, dazzling and handsome. Alexis, Sofía, Juan Carlos, and Althaea were waiting for him.

  “I present my first officer, Lionel Preece,” Alexis announced.

  “Delighted to meet you,” said Lionel, offering them a seductive smile.

  Sofía took Alexis by the arm, frightened.

  “What?” he asked, looking at Sofía and immediately worried. She had turned pale.

  The tiara worked automatically. Gea had learned to dominate it perfectly and though Sofía still didn’t have much of an idea of how to use it, she remembered well how its old owner had used it, and because of that, had become used to seeing reality improved by the tiara. Each person within reach of Sofía’s sensors could be seen in the electromagnetic spectrum as a cloud of colors according to their state of health and mood: their hormones, temperature, the signals from the nanites, even the imperceptible electrical signals of their cells were captured by this sophisticated system. This let her know instantly when the person was friendly, when they were lying, when they had bad intentions or even when they were a danger.