Aliomenti Saga 6: Stark Cataclysm (17 page)

Now, his wife and daughter were dead. His reasons for existence were no more.

He wasn’t worthy to continue to draw breath.

The grief tore him apart, all efforts at Shielding and containment lost to a desire to destroy himself, to end his worthless existence.

With a scream of sheer agony reminiscent of his Energy-less father outside the burning home forty years earlier, Joshua Philip “Fil” Stark let loose every bit of Energy in his body.

X

Selfless

2070 A.D.

The chatter had escalated in recent weeks. The Aliomenti had located a high-profile member of the Alliance living among humans, and would soon launch an attack to capture the fugitive. The details were scarce. They didn’t know who it might be, or how the Hunters would handle the capture.

Gena’s intuition told her the target. She wouldn’t let them capture her nephew, wouldn’t even let them make the effort, not if she could do something to prevent it. They needed more information.

That meant she’d return to Aliomenti Headquarters Island and resume her role as Marjorie. It would be her last foray there in that role; exposure was less a concern if she could locate the information she needed.

Sunlight gleamed brightly from a cloudless sky as she swooped in and over the island. She made her way from her usual landing point to Marjorie’s home in the pre-dawn hours, slipped into the woman’s home, and used the sleeping mist to ensure that Marjorie stayed asleep. It was strange, though, that Marjorie still slept. She’d normally be up and preparing for work.

A quick scan of Marjorie’s thoughts revealed the reason. Marjorie would head to work today, not to perform her usual chores, but to undergo her exit interview. She’d board a boat with others who had completed their “internships” and return to the mainland, reuniting with family and friends there.

Gena frowned. That presented a problem. It didn’t take much imagination to realize that “exit interviews” gave the Aliomenti the opportunity to erase memories of the time spent on the island, and dull the mental acuity of the departing humans. The former made those leaving a non-threat if they made it to the mainland.

The latter helped ensure that outcome was unlikely.

She’d already undergone the physical transformation, but she knew she couldn’t go to Headquarters as Marjorie today. The Aliomenti wouldn’t be able to alter her memories, would instantly recognize the spy in their midst, and her ability to leave the island would be severely compromised.

She reached back into Marjorie’s mind and removed the “memories” of the day she’d planted there, wondering if the Aliomenti would notice the mental tampering when they did the same later that day.

She then slipped out of the house and walked back toward her ship to consider her next move.

She didn’t like being away from the Cavern. The time spent there invigorated her in a way that couldn’t be reproduced Outside. In recent years, she’d been working with Angel and Adam on technology that would evolve into the time machine. She couldn’t think of two people she’d more prefer to work with. Angel had a positivity to her personality that was contagious.

And Adam was… Adam.

The revelation of her origins and the fact that he’d actively worked to hide the truth from her had jarred her for several years, and she’d avoided him in anger. But her anger subsided over time. Over the past decade she realized that he’d done far more than necessary to save her life on multiple occasions, had tried to save Mark, had ensured she’d survived her slip of information to Porthos so long ago.

She’d spent sufficient time in the Cavern to understand the deification of Will Stark that had occurred since his disappearance three quarters of a century earlier. If everyone knew she was Will’s sister—and his
twin
sister, no less—the burden of expectation placed upon her would have been unfair, especially during her neophyte stages of life and Energy development. She longed for the day when she might see her brother once more and know him for who he was, and have him understand who she truly was as well. It might take a century or longer, but she’d wait.

And she’d have Adam to keep her company. Even if he only saw her as a friend. She blew on the hair above her eyes. His one fatal flaw, his inability to notice her, would drive her mad.

Right now, though, she had no time for self-pity. She had a job to do. They needed information on the where and the when and the how, needed to get that information to Fil so that he could be prepared. In part, they needed to succeed in thwarting the impending attack because Fil’s power was so enormous that they had no idea how much damage he might cause if such an attack succeeded.

A rumbling sound echoed in the distance, just at the far edge of her enhanced range of hearing. She turned to the east to look, squinting, frowning, trying to understand what she was seeing. Was it a rainstorm? No, the darkness was too ominous to be a mere thunderstorm. Was it a hurricane? It couldn’t be. Hurricanes didn’t burst forth in this part of the world; they formed thousands of miles to the east and traveled west. No weather agency—human, Alliance, or Aliomenti—had identified active hurricanes.

So what could it be?

The Energy wave hit her. Her spirit crumbled beneath an overwhelming sense of loss, so deep and profound that she temporarily lost the will to live. She recognized the Energy sound that accompanied that feeling.

It was Fil. Something had happened, something awful, to trigger that type of emotion and Energy release.

She forced herself to stand, to think, to move. She thought he’d been at home in Minnesota, but his Energy had reached her here, blasting her as it rushed past toward the west.

He’d been somewhere east of here when he’d reacted to whatever horror he’d experienced. That meant he’d been flying above the ocean.

Or he’d been on a boat.

She looked at the darkness in the distance, processed all available information, and recognized the disastrous truth.

She had lives to save before the wave arrived. The massive tsunami hurtled toward them, a raging torrent of water that would destroy everything in its path. Her enhanced senses had picked it up, but how many others knew? She had the abilities to escape, as did the Aliomenti at Headquarters. But what of the humans? Could she save them all? Could she save
any
?

Her breath caught in her throat. What of the remaining Alliance captives in the Aliomenti prison?

She’d break their usual rules of concealment and save as many human and Alliance lives as possible. With luck, she’d survive and be able to offer her nephew the solace and comfort he’d need to overcome whatever he’d experienced that led to his explosive reaction.

She boarded her ship and flew directly into the human village before teleporting into the main street. She dropped her Shield and projected out to all a sense of urgency, a message of what headed their way. They had personal ground cars used to reach entertainment districts. They’d need them to get to the western shore of the island where the transport boats waited. The boats had no more chance to survive the coming wave than they did… but if it flattened out upon hitting the eastern shore, the boats might be able to stay afloat long enough for help to arrive.

Marjorie, like the others, burst from her home and ran for the communal fleet of ground cars. She froze at the sight of Gena, turned, and stared. “Who are you? Why do you look like me?”

“Shut up!” Gena snapped. “Didn’t you hear? Get to the boats. Now! Don’t worry about possessions or what someone looks like. If you want to survive, go now!”

Marjorie opened her mouth to argue, but her survival instinct overrode her curiosity. She sprinted down the street with the crowds. Gena watched, ensuring they maximized the number of people in each car. Once assured they were progressing in an efficient manner, she popped back into the flying craft and flew at high speed to Headquarters. She still wanted to keep the lowest possible Energy profile; the Hunters might stay behind just to thwart her efforts to save those most at risk. She popped out of the craft at the front door of Headquarters, raced into the lobby, and pulled the fire alarm handle. Lights flash, loud klaxons blared, and the startled workers looked around before moving toward the exits. They’d see the massive caravan of ground cars racing toward the docks, and a few phone calls between friends working and those who’d been at home would ensure everyone moved toward the boats.

She looked at the elevators and spotted the private car that traveled to the lower levels. Guards focused on channeling traffic toward the nearest exits, leaving no one to question her as she moved toward the gold-plated doors. She phased out and walked into the car, well aware she’d never figure out how to activate the car in time. Escaped prisoners reported that the sixth level housed the cells, and she slammed the button, springing from the car the instant the doors open.

“I heard the fire alarm was pulled above.” She turned around, facing a member of the Aliomenti she’d never seen before. “Any idea what’s happening?”

“Sounds like a bad fire,” Gena said. “It may get warm in here for a while. You should leave now. Tell as many people as you can.”

The woman nodded. “Will do.” She paused. “Shouldn’t you be leaving as well?”

“I left a few things down here that I need to grab. I’ll be out shortly.”

The woman nodded and vanished.

Gena sighed. The rank-and-file members acted rationally for the most part. Told of a threat, they acted to save their lives. The Hunters would see something suspicious in her actions, her words, her tone, and would try to detain her. She shook her head.

She jogged down the long, dimly lit hallway, looking for anything resembling a prison or prison cells. When she reached the end of the hallway, she found a door labeled “Traitors.” She blasted a hole through the door and climbed inside. She encountered no resistance, just a sense of doom and despair from those long held captive. They’d thinned the prisoner ranks, though, subtlety over time, even as the Hunters used less subtle methods to add new names to the cell rosters.

The time for subtlety by the Alliance was over.

Gena summoned her Energy and used it to disintegrate the first occupied cell. The material resisted, absorbing much of the Energy she used. It took time, but she managed to tear a man-sized hole through the barrier. She reached in and pulled the man out. His eyes were wide, not comprehending what was happening. She gave him a one second telepathic message that explained everything. He understood.

While the weakened, Energy-less former captive looked for tools to open cells, Gena worked cell-by-cell, pushing Energy into the material until she overwhelmed the cell door’s capacity and created sufficient room to extract each prisoner. The first escaped prisoner found a key, and began moving around opening doors while Gena continued her own process. It was exhausting work, especially knowing the wave would overwhelm the island in only minutes.

She expended Energy into each of the freed prisoners, jumpstarting their own Energy stores, helping them to regenerate their own skill. She was fading, exhausted. She needed to rest, but there was no time for concern over that. Others needed help far more than her.

“Everyone needs to head upstairs. Look for humans who seem unaware of what’s happening, and get them to the boats at the dock. Stay with them. Make sure any Aliomenti who try to get in the way aren’t able to do so. Don’t worry about revealing Energy skills now. The Aliomenti know, and the humans… we’ll worry about memories later. Just save as many as you can.”

Those who could teleported to the upper floors, taking with them those not yet restored enough to move themselves. Most Aliomenti would have learned of the impending tidal wave telepathically by now, and undoubtedly they’d taken to their own aircraft to get out ahead of the wave. The humans would be left behind.

It had been only ten minutes since she’d left the human settlement, but her fatigue made it seem like hours.

“Help me.”

The voice was faint. She’d barely heard it as she’d prepared to teleport to the upper floor. “Where are you?”

“Please help me.”

She oriented on the voice, moved down one row of cells toward the sound. How had the missed someone? It didn’t seem—

Hands grasped her around the neck, an immaterial sensation compared to the crushing pressure of Energy ripped from her. She felt her consciousness retreating inside, her awareness from beyond the traditional five senses vanishing. She was devolving back to her human origins, back to a time when she was waiting tables in Pleasanton, to a time when Will Stark was a mere philanthropist tycoon.

She screamed in frustration. She had to survive, to get back to the family she knew, to save those she could save this day.

“How
dare
you,” Aramis hissed, squeezing tighter. “You thought you could enter our building and get away unscathed?”

“The… wave,” Gena gasped. “Trying… to save… people… from the… wave.”

“What are you talking about?” Aramis snapped. “What wave are you talking about?”

She felt relief as Aramis’ hands left her… and then they seized her once more.