by Eliza Green
It was Serena again. Not her ethereal voice; it sounded like she was beside him in his unit.
‘I’m coming in.’
He turned partially to see her energy drift inside. ‘No!’
He delivered the warning aloud, but no sound came. Telepathy facilitated conversation in here, but his was broken. Maybe that’s why the Nexus was being violent with him. He was only half an Indigene now, and less potent, energy-wise.
Serena ignored him and floated here energy to the wall. Before she reached it, a new tendril raced towards her and wrapped itself around her luminous energy.
It slammed her against the wall. He heard her grunt. Without his telepathy he couldn’t speak to her in this sub reality.
New tendrils latched on to her, drinking heavily from this new food source.
In a panic, Stephen tried to disconnect, tried to distract the Nexus from her. He remained helpless as the Nexus’ poison fed into his mate.
But something strange happened. Serena’s energy gave the Nexus a new strength, brightened it from its bruised and battered appearance to a dull grey, then to a lacklustre orange. It was far less bright than its original state, but the Nexus’ improving health was the distraction Stephen needed. He looked up, relieved to see the tendrils were feeding on him again and taking his antibodies.
He opened up his energy, allowing the Nexus to take it all. Serena controlled what it took with a sharp No. Despite its altered state, the Nexus responded to her. He felt her warm influence wash over the tendrils and lessen the intensity of their feed. Before he knew it, the pulsating had slowed and the tendrils had brightened from grey to a washed-out white.
Stephen eased himself out of the tendrils’ loosening grip and floated in the central space. From there, he saw the wall brighten more. The veins disappeared from some locations. In others, the poison continued to make them swell as though routes had been cut off. But his antibodies reached those sites of infection to slow the pulse rate and lighten the black.
Stephen, said Serena. Are you okay?
His telepathy worked partially this close to the Nexus. He could hear Serena, but not reply to her in his mind.
He replied yes, but on the outside, in his unit.
Can you use your voice in here?
‘No,’ he managed to say outside.
I feel a shift in the energy. The antivirus has weakened Tanya’s poison.
He nodded in his unit, unable to do much more than float in the Nexus.
‘All done?’ he asked on the outside.
It’s up to the Nexus now.
She floated to the exit, taking a weak Stephen with her. They exited and Stephen returned what energy was left to his body. He collapsed on the floor, feeling like he could sleep a month.
Someone took his face in their hands. He shot his eyes open to see a glassy-eyed Serena, staring down at him. She was kneeling next to him.
‘I can feel you, even if you can’t feel me.’ She pressed her forehead to his. ‘You’re going to be fine.’
43
Laura trusted Bill to watch out for Stephen, but she trusted only her eyes on Harvey.
Before Bill had followed Stephen out of the room, she’d nodded at him. The panic in his eyes had lifted, confirming his worries about leaving the geneticist alone. She still hadn’t shared with Bill what she’d learned about Harvey’s deceit: he’d taken a sample of her DNA. The neurosensor was still in her pocket; it would remain there until she was done using it. Anton, a patient now, would not need it any time soon.
Laura checked on Anton. His eyes were half lidded, but he was still conscious. Arianna’s eyes were closed. Laura worried she was slipping into a coma, like the elders.
Harvey worked as fast as he could, fitting them with the electroencephalography cap first. He checked the DPad before shocking them in the same way as he had Stephen.
‘Is the frequency the same in the elders as it was in Stephen?’ asked Laura.
Harvey shook his head. ‘They all have slight variations. We’ll need to shock everyone. Hopefully the cap recordings will isolate their individual frequencies before everything shuts off.’
Laura couldn’t tell if that pleased Harvey or not.
He stopped by Anton’s bed next. Laura squeezed the Indigene’s hand and reassured him with gentle words, letting go when Harvey neared with the Buzz Gun. The shock sent a jolt through Anton’s tired body and him into a sleep, like it had done with Stephen. Arianna was next. Her chest filled with air and she released it, falling unconscious before Harvey delivered the shock. Laura’s chest hurt at seeing both of her friends in this state.
‘Will it work on the unconscious?’ she asked Harvey.
He flicked his eyes from Arianna to her, tilting Arianna’s head to the side. ‘A shock is a shock.’
A nervous-looking Clement stayed close to her.
‘Clement and I... do we need it? And Serena?’
The thought of receiving a shock to her brain didn’t appeal to her.
Harvey shrugged. ‘The symptoms were slower to appear in the second generation. They may never appear in the third, or they might show up in a day or two. Let’s wait and see.’
‘Do you think our bodies already have immunity, you know, because of our human sides?’
Harvey shocked Arianna. She jerked on the mattress, but never opened her eyes.
‘Possibly. The first gens were that too, but time on this planet has altered their immune systems. I’m reluctant to do anything in case it’s not necessary. If your bodies have protection, any cure I attempt could weaken it.’
Laura nodded and released a quiet breath. She could wait, in no hurry to be shocked by Harvey.
Jameson treated the other side of the room. When he finished with the patients there, he joined Harvey. Arianna was his last patient in this room.
Harvey stood. ‘We should treat the others. If they don’t come to us, we go to them.’
He ordered the medic to stay with the patients and not to move them. Then he left the room to deal with those directly outside the infirmary.
Laura kept close, as did Clement—a move that Harvey noticed.
‘Did Bill tell you to shadow me?’
Laura pretended to be surprised. ‘There’s a lot of hostility here. Think of Clement as your bodyguard.’ Clement lifted a hairless brow at her. ‘Maybe we can help. And we should both learn what the symptoms look like, in case it hits us.’
Harvey narrowed his eyes, then concentrated on the patients lying on the floor. Several had sheets covering them. Laura averted her eyes from the dead.
Jameson pressed his fingers to the neck of one patient. He stood up without treating him. ‘This one’s dead. We need to move fast. There’s no logic to this virus.’
Harvey agreed with a nod. ‘Some may have been using their telepathy more than others and spreading the virus faster.’
Both doctors got to work and finished up in the area half an hour later.
Harvey said to Clement, ‘We need to locate more sick. You’ll be our liaison.’
With a nod, Clement led Jameson and Harvey deeper into District Three. Laura followed, keen not to leave Clement alone with either man.
An eerie quiet had descended over the district. Even with the use of telepathy, the silent language had an odd buzzing sound to it. Now, a deep silence was interrupted only by the sounds of intermittent coughing. At least the Indigenes had heeded Stephen’s advice in the end.
She followed the group through the tunnel and they arrived in the Central Core. More sick dotted the floors there; the walls propped up those who were still strong enough to stand. Clement rushed over to groups that had gathered and explained who the doctors were. His explanation was greeted by scepticism followed by clear relief when Clement told them the cure worked.
Laura stayed back, still an outsider here. Margaux joined her.
‘Will you be leaving now?’ she asked.
Laura frowned. ‘I don’t know.’
It
was the truth.
‘Have you decided what you are? Human or Indigene?’
Laura assessed the scene before her, wondering why she had to choose. ‘Can I be both?’
‘Certainly. We are all both in the end. We just choose one lifestyle over another.’ Margaux pinned her gaze on Laura. ‘I enjoyed visiting the surface, your world.’
‘It was lovely having you there. You should come back. Maybe when we’re not trying to stop a virus from killing everyone.’
Margaux chuckled. ‘I realised when I returned that this is my home now.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Where is yours?’
Laura had tried not to think about it. To do so would hurt two men she cared about deeply.
As though Margaux had read her thoughts, she said, ‘One will get hurt, but you must choose. To leave both without an answer is worse.’
Margaux’s words hit her hard. Laura had been selfish, stringing along two men in the hopes their company would keep her from making a tough decision.
‘I know. I need to choose.’
‘Do it soon.’ She nodded at Clement. ‘He already loves you.’
44
Bill helped Serena to get Stephen safely out of the unit.
‘What happened?’ he said as Serena lay Stephen down on a flat surface.
She cupped Stephen’s face. ‘He was able to pass on the cure.’
That was a relief to hear, but without seeing the Nexus, he had to ask, ‘Are you sure?’
The idea of this nightmare recurring worried him.
Serena nodded, looking as drained as Stephen. ‘I think so. I’ll go in and check in a little while. Until I do, we can’t let anyone use it. The Nexus needs clean energy to heal properly. I’ll give it more of mine.’
Bill’s gaze went to Stephen. His eyes were closed and he looked worse than before when he went in. ‘Is he okay?’
‘He will be. He’s just exhausted. The Nexus took a lot of his energy.’
What now? His presence here wasn’t necessary. Jameson and Harvey were both administering the cure. Maybe he could find Laura and check how things were going there. Despite his plan, he didn’t move.
Serena leaned over Stephen and whispered something in his ear. Bill’s friend smiled at her words.
Their intimate moment told him it was time to go.
‘I’m glad you’re okay,’ he said to Stephen. ‘I’m going to, er, leave you two.’
‘Thanks, Bill, for everything.’ Stephen’s eyes were two slits. ‘If it wasn’t for you, this could have ended much worse.’
He’d been trying all day not to imagine the worst.
Bill thumbed at the exit. ‘I’ll see how Harvey and Jameson are getting on.’
Stephen closed his eyes again while Serena rested her head on his chest. Bill slipped through the gap they’d created in the blockade.
Walking alone in the district felt weird. An echo filled the tunnels from the use of voices. Before, the silence made it seem as if the district was unoccupied.
Without someone to guide him, the identical tunnels turned Bill around. Somehow, he managed to find the Central Core, where he found Jameson and Harvey treating sick Indigenes. He spotted Laura off to the side chatting with Margaux. The former elder had been a great support to his wife.
He watched them for a moment. The speed at which she conversed with Margaux surprised him. While Laura looked human, he saw she was no longer. His heart thrummed as the truth he’d been fighting since she left hit him. When his wife wasn’t fighting her natural instincts, she looked at ease in her surroundings.
His loss stabbed at his heart. Bill shook off his self-pity. This wasn’t the time to wallow.
Neutralising his expression, he strode into the room, bolstered by a false confidence he hoped everyone would buy.
Laura noticed him first and met him halfway. ‘Bill, how’s Stephen?’
He nodded at her. Fighting back his emotions, he said, ‘He’s okay.’
‘And the Nexus?’ asked Margaux, her hands clasped to the front.
‘I think he was able to begin its healing. It was in a bad way.’
Margaux nodded and smiled, looking up, around. ‘I can feel it. The heaviness in this district is lifting.’
Bill tracked her gaze for a moment before his landed on several sleeping Indigenes.
A kneeling Harvey stood up with a grunt and stretched out his back. ‘That’s everyone in here.’
Jameson was working on patients on the other side of the room.
To the doctor, Harvey said, ‘We’re going to have to search the tunnels. We need to treat every first and second gen.’
Margaux moved closer to the geneticist. ‘I can sense where they are. I’ll take you to them.’
Laura’s eyes widened. ‘I’ll go with you. Clement, you stay here?’
The blue-eyed Indigene nodded and smiled at her. Clement looked too stiff to be comfortable. On occasion, his gaze would find Bill before it flicked away to one of the patients. Bill had sensed something was off about this Indigene on prior visits, but now he saw it clearly.
‘You coming?’ said Laura to Bill.
He shook his head. He had to let her go. ‘I want to check on Anton and Arianna.’
‘Good idea. They were resting when we left them.’
Laura and Margaux left with Harvey and Jameson, leaving him alone with three medics and Clement. He’d met the pleasant, blue-eyed Indigene before, but now a tense energy lingered between them.
Suck it up, Bill.
He walked over to Clement, who had his back turned, and said, ‘Anything I can do to help?’
Clement shook his head, looking around at the patients. ‘They need to rest. We’ll monitor them for a while.’ He tipped his chin at the exit. ‘Go check on your friends.’ But when Bill didn’t leave, Clement frowned. ‘Was there something else?’
Bill offered his hand to the Indigene, who shook it tentatively. ‘Thanks for looking out for her.’
Clement nodded. ‘She doesn’t need looking after.’
‘I know, but still...’
He walked away keen to put distance between him and Laura’s new life.
At the infirmary, he found many of the treated had woken up. Emile and Marie were groggy, but awake. Both Anton and Arianna were sitting up. Anton was arguing with the female medic that he felt fine.
Bill took the argument to be a good sign.
‘Maybe so,’ said the medic to him, ‘but you’re not cleared to leave yet.’
Bill walked over to a restless Anton, sitting up on one of the mattresses. ‘I see you’re causing trouble again.’
Anton’s gaze softened when it found Bill. ‘Please tell the medic we’re fine. Your cure worked.’
‘She’s right; you have to rest.’
‘Stephen needs me...’ Anton crawled forward only to find Bill’s legs in his way.
He placed a hand on the Indigene’s back, hoping his touch would encourage him to lie down. ‘Stephen’s fine. He was able to pass his immunity to the Nexus. Serena will follow up with an examination.’
But Anton was adamant. ‘I should go. I’ve been in here too long.’
Bill steadied himself against a sudden force. Despite his recent illness, Anton still had his strength.
‘Stay,’ pleaded Arianna.
Bill pushed Anton back gently. ‘Listen to your mate.’
The Indigene yielded to his authority with a sigh. ‘Okay. Ten more minutes.’
‘Everything will be fine,’ said Bill. ‘Tomorrow’s another day.’
45
The Central Core and accommodation areas were filled with Indigenes recovering from their illnesses. Those who had defied Stephen’s orders not to use their telepathy had succumbed to the virus faster than others. And it had not gone quietly, taking Maxime and Clara, plus seventeen first-generation and thirteen second-generation Indigenes with it.
Feeling stronger than he had the day before, Stephen peered into one of the units in the tranquillity cave
. Below him, Serena sat cross-legged on the floor. She stirred suddenly, drawing a deep lungful of air as her energy re-entered her body. The Nexus had been greedy with her, drawing more of her energy than she’d wanted. The only reason he’d agreed to her plan was because she could control its demands.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him.
Switching from sitting to hunkering down, he asked, ‘Well?’
Serena got to her feet and brushed fine, stone particles off her cream tunic. ‘The second presence is gone. The Nexus is no longer fighting me. It has stopped producing a poison.’
Stephen sighed with relief. ‘When do you think we can start using it again?’
He’d been tempted to use the Nexus to accelerate his healing, but on Serena’s orders he stayed away.
She climbed out of the unit. Stephen offered his hand for the last few steps.
She faced him, looking weary. ‘Tomorrow. It’s fine today but I want to wait, just in case.’ They had waited this long; they could wait a little longer. ‘Also, we should introduce the energies back slowly. The Nexus has reset itself. We don’t want it to flag too many users as a new invasion.’
The Indigenes who had been sick would be keen to return to the best place to heal. Inside the Nexus, partial telepathy was possible, making the space useable. Stephen had already experienced that for himself.
‘I agree. Giving them all access at once could set back our progress.’
The Nexus had become like family, helping them through tough times, restoring their mental and physical acuity. He was as protective over it as Serena was.
They walked out. Stephen dragged the boulder back into position that he’d ordered to stay in place.
Two guards helped him.
‘How much longer?’ one asked.
‘Tomorrow. I’ll set up a schedule for use.’ The guard looked relieved. Stephen patted him on the shoulder. ‘I know it’s been tough keeping the others out, but we’re almost at the end.’
The guard nodded. ‘You were only doing what was right. The others will see that in time.’
He hoped so. He and Serena left the area through the only access tunnel.
