Strangers and Shadows (34 page)

“
Yes.  Your energy is inhabiting the same space as mine.  WHY?
”  The last word was spoken with such force that Desmond’s head began to ache.  The pain was continuously growing.

“
Kid, you’re hurting me.
”  Desmond realized his nose had also started bleeding.  He immediately felt the pain fade.

“
What do you want?
” Kid asked.

“
I have to shut down the gate.  My people are being invaded.
”  Desmond could feel Kid thinking.  He could also feel how powerful Kid’s energy was, and how on edge his son seemed to be.

Then again, how would
he
feel if his mind and energy had been ripped from his body against his will.  “
Do you remember how you came to be where you are?
”  Desmond asked.

“
Of course.  A woman took me away from Jack.  She said she was my mother and she needed my help.  She deceived me.  She had me bound and drugged and placed me inside the ring’s interface,
” Kid said.  “
The pain… It hurt too much to stay there, so I left.  Now, I am here.
”

Realization dawned on Desmond.  Kid had somehow achieved the very technique that he himself had been attempting only moments before.

Kid’s psyche seemed to have changed in the process.  Desmond didn’t know if it was due to the pain, or perhaps Kid was too young and immature as a being to go through the process.  There was no time to waste thinking about it now.

“
Kid, you’re still connected to the rings.  Is there anyway you can shut them down?
”

There was a long pause before Kid replied. 
“
Yes.
”

Desmond exhaled in relief.

“
I will need your assistance, however,
” Kid said.

“
Of course.  Anything you need.
”

“
When I tell you, funnel the energy around you into me, adding it to mine.
”  

Desmond nodded his understanding. 

 “
Father…?
”

“
Yes, Kid?
”

“
What will happen to me when the rings are destroyed?
”

Desmond swallowed dryly as he searched for the words.  “
I don’t know.
”

A moment passed silently between the father and son.

“
I’m ready,
” Kid broke the silence. “
Let’s begin.
”

Desmond reached out, gathering all the energy at his disposal.  The lights dimmed as he drew power from the electrical grid.  Soldiers all around began to drop like flies as Desmond drained them of as much energy as he could without killing them.

As all other light sources dimmed, the rings glowed white as the plasma surged around it.  A wind picked up, whipping around in all directions, a strange occurrence inside of a building.

Desmond heard nothing from Kid as he focused the energies flowing toward him.  When Desmond had gathered all he could without damaging himself, he said, “
Alright, Kid, that’s all I have.
”  He groaned with the effort and waited for a reply.  He hoped his life force would not also be needed, but he was willing to sacrifice himself along with his son, should it be required.

After a few seconds
,
Kid replied, “
It is enough.  Goodbye, Father.
”

Before Desmond realized what was happening, the rings swelled in size and then contracted down to nothing.  They were gone, and Kid with them.

Desmond stood and stared at the empty place the rings had occupied
w
ith tears in his eyes
. 
“Goodbye, Son.”

Steady Now

Julia’s new body was wet.  She opened her eyes.  She was on the floor, no, she was in the shower.  Her new body must have fallen when the transfer took place.

One by one, Julia checked her limbs for motor function.  It took a few seconds, but finally her hand responded to her mind’s bidding.

She reached up and shut off the shower.  The water ran down the bottom of the tub, tickling her spine before exiting into the drain.

Every little sensation was extraordinary.  She could feel the wind caused by her exhalation.  Every water drop that ran down her skin sent tingles through her nervous system.

Julia stood up, flexing the muscles in her new legs.  She had forgotten how it felt to be young.  Her old body had been fit and in perfect health, but there was something different about a body maintained by nanites and one that was naturally maintained by raw youth.

She stepped in front of the mirror and admired her naked body.  It was beautiful.  She turned left and right, twisting, watching the way her body glistened in the light.

Julia moved her face closer to the mirror and stared into her own eyes.  “Hello
,
Ava,” she said. “Are you still in there somewhere?”

It mattered little to Julia where Ava’s consciousness was.  She was in control of Ava’s body.  But the thought that Ava might be in there somewhere, unable to do anything but watch, actually gave Julia a perverse thrill.

Julia let her new hand trail down her flat stomach to the warmth in between her legs.  “Oh my,” she gasped, a bit surprised at how much the thought of Ava watching excited her.

She quickly but reluctantly dismissed the feeling.  There would be time to explore her new body’s capacity for pleasure later.  For now, she had to make sure the invasion was proceeding according to plan.

Julia dressed, exited Ava’s apartment, and entered the lift that would take her to the transport.  Once aboard the hover, she thought back to the expression on Desmond’s face when he received word of the invasion. 
You weren’t able to see that coming, were you, De
z
,
she thought.  She would have liked to transfer earlier, but without the gateway, she had no connection to the Mother.  Lucky for her, the false memories she had constructed gave Desmond no warning of the gateway’s arrival.  Not that he would have been able to stop it, even if he had known.  But if there was one thing she had learned during her time in the Sixth, it was, to never underestimate her estranged husband.

She turned her mind to the undertaking at hand.  The Mother Brain Construct would be her gift to all of mankind—an arc
for
humanities many
consciousnesses, but more than that, it was eternal life.  A way to be reborn, again and again, with no loss of memory or personality.  It was an improvement to the design flow of humanity.

Never again would a parent lose a child, or a husband lose a wife to old age or war or freak occurrence.

Julia arrived at the hangar and stepped into absolute chaos.  There was no sign of the portal rings, and soldiers were scattered all around.  Some were getting back to their feet, but most were lying on the ground barely stirring. 
Goddamn you, Desmond.
  Somehow he had already beaten her back and found a way to close the portal.  

She instructed her nanites to broadcast her rank and found the nearest ranking officer.  “Report, Major.”  Her tone reflected her displeasure.

“We were ambushed… We’re not sure how or who…” the Major reported, his voice trembled slightly as he spoke.

“What about the gateway?  What exactly happened here, Major?”

“From what some of the men have told me, it just vanished.  I was knocked unconscious, myself… Most of us were, ma’am.”

“Where is Dorian?” Julia barked.  Obviously if she was to learn what had happened here, she would have to find a more competent source of information.

Before the Major could answer, a voice called out.  “Julia, Is that you?”

She looked up to see Dorian making his way through the mess of discarded equipment and personnel.  “Dorian, hello.”  She gave him a wicked smile, momentarily forgetting her state of ire.  She spun around slowly, showing off her new body.  “What do you think?”

Dorian laughed.  “I knew you’d find a good use for that spoiled little brat.”

“Perhaps later I can show you some of those uses I’ve found…”  There was a devious twinkle in her eyes.  “But right now, I need to know what happened here.  How many troops got through the gateway, and have we made contact with them yet?”

“I was in the control room when it happened.  I’m still trying to figure out how he managed it.  The system should have prevented it, but our computers don’t show any signs of intrusion or tampering.”

“What about the troops?  How many made it through?”

Dorian paused a moment, collecting the data through the nanites from the main frame.  “Roughly sixty-three percent.  Colonel Travis has reported from the other side.  They’ve managed to set up a dead zone HQ in the heart of Cairo, and they’re preparing the next phase now.”

“Good.”  The news put Julia in a much more relaxed mood.  “So, with the exception of a smaller force, everything is right on schedule?”

“That’s correct.”  Changes to the plan would have to be made, but the overall goal would remain the same:  Take over the major population centers and begin the injection of nanites into the citizens of the Sixth.  Finally their two verses would become one race of equals and the Mother would serve them all, granting peace and eternal life.

“Inform Colonel Travis that I expect hourly reports on the developments,” Julia said.  “And get this place cleaned up.”  She turned to the Major.  “You will be in charge of that… and for God’s sake, get the EM field back up around the complex.  I don’t want anymore surprise visits from our soon to be brothers and sisters.”

Desmond arrived back in his office in Cairo, not
sure
what to expect.  None of the soldiers back at the hangar knew anything significant about the invasion.  From what he had gathered from their minds, they only knew that they were to go through the gate and receive their orders on the other side.  Most of them didn’t even know where the gateway led.

As it turned out, Desmond should have picked a better place to jump back to.  He immediately felt different… empty.  Something was wrong.  He reached out and searched for others around him and felt nothing.

The damn EMF generators!
  He should have suspected something like that from Julia.  It would be the only way to keep her troops from being easily overtaken, and with the aid of the EMF’s, Desmond and his people would be essentially powerless against their attack.

They would target the major cities first, Desmond was sure of it, and trap as much of the population before a plan of resistance could be implemented.

Desmond sat down on the floor and crossed his legs in the lotus position.  His powers might be gone temporarily, but the ability to clear his mind wasn’t.  A plan began to form, but he would need all the help he could get.

The first thing Desmond did was pull out the old communicator he had stashed in his apartment.  There were countless people from the Sixth who would undoubtedly frown upon such technology being in his possession, but he had always been the careful type, planning for every contingency.  He was thankful for that now.

“Wizard, are you there?”  Desmond waited for the old man to respond and hoped that he hadn’t been found out.  There was danger in using the comm.  It could be traced and eventually decrypted.  If they were monitoring the frequency he was using, his plan might be thwarted before it ever got underway.

“Desmond, is that you, old friend?”  Wizard’s voice was warm and welcome on the other end.  Wizard had used the distraction of the invasion to jump back to the Seventh
while Jack and Celia took Asher for help
.  With most of the
Seventh’s
attention focused on invading the Sixth, it gave him the best opportunity to return undetected.

“Wizard, listen.  I don’t have much time to explain.  I’m stuck here in the Sixth.  I need you to get in touch with Celia and make sure she doesn’t get stranded here as well.  Also, do you remember that little theoretical conversation we had a few decades back?” Desmond desperately hoped he did, as he didn’t have the time or
the
secure line to go into any more detail.  “I’m afraid the day has come for the solution to that problem.  They’ve gone too far.  I need you to get it ready and bring it to me.  That’s all I can say right now, I don’t know who’s listening.  This is the last time I’ll contact you on this comm.  Goodbye, old friend, and good luck.”

Desmond turned off the comm and then pulled it apart piece by piece.  The hundred or so parts swirled around in a miniature tornado before sweeping through an open window where Desmond dispelled them in a final blast of energy.  Or, at least, that’s what he tried to do.  His abilities were still being jammed.  Instead, he smashed the comm under his heel several times, giving it one last grind before gathering the pieces up in his hands and taking them to the window, where he flung them out into the wind filled sky.