The Great Altruist (10 page)

           
“Good.” Genesis, having already read her mind, did her best to feign ignorance.

           
“You already know, don’t you?” Jadzia asked.

           
“I do. And I have to admit, I admired you wholly before I ever met you. But now,” she said, “I stand in awe of you.”

           
Jadzia pulled her hair behind her head and used a small twig to hold it in place. “I couldn’t live with myself any other way.”

           
“I just hope I can learn something from all this too.”

           
“What do you mean?”

           
“I came to you in a desire to help you, but I still have no idea how I’m supposed to do that. Something deep inside of me yearns to help people. Maybe this is my calling: bringing an end to suffering.”

           
“I can’t imagine a loftier goal. But how will any of this work?”

           
Genesis flew to Jadzia’s side and then sat next to her. “You won’t be able to travel as you did before. It will be far too dangerous. Besides, if your goal is to prevent a war, you won’t do much good as a young Polish girl walking around Nazi Germany.”

           
“Let me guess: the fox and the rat?”

           
Genesis nodded. “I’m afraid there’s no other way. I’ll need to put your mind in the bodies of people we wish to control.”

           
“Won’t they suspect something?”

           
“Well, to the people listening, perhaps. That’s where your knowledge of history will play a part. But to the person whose body is borrowed, no, they won’t know a thing. Instead of switching your minds like I showed you earlier, I can hold onto their mind inside the stream.”

           
“Where will you be?”

           
“I’ll never leave your side,” she assured her with a touch on the hand. “I’ll hide in a pocket, the fold of a garment, wherever I need to. Trust me, switching minds back is a lot faster to do than sending your entire body.”

           
“What will happen to my body though?”

           
“With your mind absent, your body will fall into a deep sleep. Your body will stay here in the clearing.”

           
“Where do we start?”

           
Genesis lifted off the ground and hovered in front of Jadzia. “If we’re going to make a significant change, we need to go back to the beginning of key events and attempt to change their outcome. But we shouldn’t go back too far at once, or the chances of a paradox increase. From what the history books in the future say, the war officially began when your country was invaded.”

           
“So, what do we do? Stop the tanks from invading?”

           
“No, that would just stall it. The only way to prevent it is to change the minds of the people in charge?”

           
“How am I supposed to do that?”

           
“We need more information first. The invasion was started by the Germans and Soviets though, so they must have been planning it for a while.”

           
“Okay,” Jadzia said. “Let’s start there.”

           
“There’s one more thing we need to deal with before we do anything,” Genesis said.

           
“What’s wrong?”

           
“I’m going to get the information we need from the future, but you will need access to it as well.”

           
“How?”

           
“That’s the problem. There are two options: I can memorize all the history books on the war and dictate them to you. Or
I
learn all we need and then share it with you. To do that,
I’ll need to do something I’ve never tried before. Once inside the stream, I
can
manipulate all forms of energy, including my own. I should be able to transfer the knowledge from my mind into yours. And of course, you’ll also have access to the minds of the people you inhabit.”

           
“Will they have access to mine after I leave?”

           
“Only if I can’t sever the link. But I won’t put you in the mind of someone unstable unless there’s no other way - and if you agree to it first.”

           
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

           
Genesis scowled. “Yes. I mean, I’ve only done this with animals, but I wouldn’t take the risk if I wasn’t completely confident.”

           
Jadzia wasn’t convinced. Genesis might excel in her abilities as she claimed, or she could be bragging again. Either way, Jadzia needed to trust her. “How long will it take?”

           
“To transfer the knowledge, you’ll need to be conscious inside the stream. It will take me some time to gather all the information I can, so you might be alone for a while.”

           
“Whatever it takes,” Jadzia said confidently. She stood poised and ready to go, her hands at her side.

           
Genesis hovered away from Jadzia, closed her eyes, and gathered her strength. An instant later, blue light shot out from between Genesis’s breasts and enveloped both of them. The light faded and they were gone.

Chapter 5

           
Jadzia’s first conscious journey into the stream was nothing at all like she imagined but was exactly as Genesis described. She didn’t
see
anyway; she just seemed to sense the world around her. Below her was what appeared to be a magnificent torrent or water rushing, all of it moving in the same direction. It had the appearance of water but as she got closer it looked more like a massive spider-web, only instead of each thread connecting to a central point in a lattice, each thread connected to every other thread at every conceivable point. Occasionally, waves gathered below its surface and all the while she was looking at it, points and threads disappeared. She assumed these represented the deaths of living things, but new threads constantly appeared in their place so it became harder to track the longer she was there.

           
Above the stream and next to her was a marvelous collection of points and thread bundled together. It looked like a massive tapestry weaved by an amateur but at the same time well-designed. She watched as the mass formed threads to different points in the stream and then reached out to connect a thread to her. As it did, she immediately heard the voice of Genesis.

           
“This is the stream,” she said. “I’ll need to gather information for awhile. Once I’m done, I’ll connect to you again.”

           
Jadzia didn’t know how to respond and she didn’t need to. Genesis severed her connection to Jadzia. Millions of tiny threads connected to other threads all over the stream. Energy travelled from the stream along the thread to Genesis. Once the energy reached Genesis, the thread disconnected, disappeared, and was then replaced by a new one that connected to yet another thread or point.

           
This went on for what felt like hours in Jadzia’s mind. Eventually, Genesis’s task was done and all the threads were severed. A thread reached out and connected to Jadzia and Genesis’s voice could be heard again.

           
“If I send the information along this one strand, we’ll be here forever. I’m going to form what will look like a rope; this will let the energy travel to you faster. Don’t worry: I know what I’m doing.”

           
The thread disconnected before Jadzia could respond and instantly, Genesis created a huge network of threads that wound around each other and
braided
each strand to every other strand. Finally, once the rope was formed, Genesis connected to Jadzia, and a powerful surge of energy shot out of Genesis along the rope.

           
Jadzia’s mind reeled from the impact. After a few seconds of feeling shocked as if by electricity, Jadzia adapted to the sensation and relaxed her mind. Before she could do so, the surge suddenly stopped and without a warning, she was thrust from the stream and onto the grass in the clearing.

           
Jadzia tumbled along the grass and grabbed her head as it ached. Without warning, she let out a terrible scream as though a knife were being twisted in her temple.

           
Genesis emerged from the stream a moment later and rushed to Jadzia’s side, cradling her head in her lap, trying to calm her.

           
“I’m so sorry!” Genesis cried. “I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

           
Jadzia flailed along the ground and rolled into the creek as she stumbled to regain her balance. Every time she tried, a dizzy spell forced her to her knees again. Out of breath and unable to control her movements, Jadzia panicked, afraid she might die.

           
Genesis watched helplessly as her attempts at consolation were rebuffed. Jadzia was simply unable to stop screaming or flailing about. As she struggled to stop hyperventilating, Genesis quickly formed a shield of energy around Jadzia as she lied on the ground, writhing in agony. Genesis gathered as much oxygen from the atmosphere as she could and forced it into the shield with Jadzia. Eventually, her breathing settled to normal.

           
Genesis released the shield. Jadzia’s naked body lied on the grass by the banks of the brook, completely unconscious and unresponsive, although her pulse was slow and her breathing shallow. Comatose and paralyzed, Genesis lifted her into her arms and carried her into the shade of a tree.

           
For weeks, Jadzia lied motionless. Her condition didn’t change, except that her pulse did eventually quicken to normal. So did her breathing. Genesis never left her side for long. Several times a day, she poured small amounts of water down Jadzia’s throat and once a day she gave her a nectar she made from honey and bitter fruit she was able to find in the forest.

           
As summer approached, Genesis continued to stand by her friend while she recovered. There was a glimmer of hope: one late afternoon in July, Jadzia’s toes moved. Genesis’s attempts at making contact were futile but the prospect of Jadzia returning to full health helped her cope with the tremendous guilt that kept her depressed.

           
The days grew hotter as August neared, and Genesis spent most of the day with Jadzia in the shade. When night arrived, Genesis would often swim and play in the creek to cool down but she always returned to Jadzia’s side.

           
During all this time, she never entered the stream or left the vicinity of the forest. Then one morning in early September, Jadzia stirred. She grimaced at first, but then slowly opened her eyes. Genesis stood back a good distance as she was afraid that Jadzia would be angry with her. Jadzia sat up and looked around the clearing. The grass was still rich and green, the air humid and warm, and the creek a little shallower than she remembered. She was still naked, like she was when she fell asleep, and her hair was considerably longer. Oddly enough, her
nails
were neatly trimmed and her skin clean. She looked around for Genesis and found her halfway across the clearing sitting on a rock with her legs bent, her knees against her chest. Genesis was looking away from her, a look of shame and guilt governed her countenance.