“Hey—hey! I don’t want you bringing any sickness in here!” he said, covering his nose and mouth.
The woman with gray eyes calmly replied, “What we have is not contagious.”
“We’re looking for Charlie,” the one with green eyes cut in, not hiding her impatience.
In his excitement, the shopkeeper accidentally knocked over a dusty pile of automobile license plates. “You came for Charlie?”
Green eyes locked with his. He felt a strange ticking inside his skull. “Yes.”
With trembling hands, he checked the memo written on his desk that had been sitting there for the past several months. A woman in her late twenties wrote it after asking him about the stuffed bear and the necklace. She gave him hints about its origins, as well as a name for the bear. But first and foremost, she made him promise to keep them safe, as if all the world depended on it.
The shopkeeper was a practical man. Ordinarily he wouldn’t have believed in such hodgepodge, but from the sound of her voice, the way her pale green eyes seemed to speak to him on a deeper level, he knew she spoke the truth.
The memo was written in ancient English. They may come as three, or perhaps as one. They will ask for Charlie. See this symbol on their right upper arms and give them what they want. Then your greatest dream will come true.
THERE HAD BEEN MANY nights when he doubted his sanity, but many more when he dreamed of a planet reborn, filled with early model automobiles and sleek high-rises. Anachronisms. The crazy hallucinations of a senile old man.
As they stood across the counter, he thought for a moment he recognized their faces. He didn’t get out much, nor did he ever watch the newsreels. It was all political gorsh-shit half the time anyway. Maybe they were famous. He didn’t care much. He just had to see their arms.
“See my what?”
“To see Charlie, I have to see your arms,” he repeated, sticking to his guns.
The twins exchanged glances. Finally, the irritable one pulled up her sleeve and showed him a tattoo. He checked the memo. Spot on.
“Follow me,” he said, trying to sound tired, though he felt giddy and excited. He told himself to settle down, that he was being impractical, but he couldn’t help himself.
He locked the front door and drew down the shade. After making sure the shop was empty, he led the twins through a maze of teetering book stacks and knickknacks to the back of the store. They had a hard time keeping up; with wheezy breaths, they moved as if their bones were ready to snap.
He double-checked everything, then pushed back the secret bookshelf and led them into the safe room.
“Who sent you?” he asked.
The gentler one responded. “The woman you met who gave you the memo. Her name was Ariya Ohakn.”
His history was rusty, but the name rang a bell. The Ariya Ohakn? he thought to himself. The co-founder of ‘Cause of Earth?’ Impossible.
It was as if the grumpy one read his mind. “It was Ariya Ohakn.”
“Are you...?” He didn’t finish the question. He wanted to know if they were telepathic, but the question would only cause him trouble. Old senses told him the twins were not a threat, but he could not shake the intensity of their presence.
“Meet Charlie,” he said, rattling a key in the lock. He opened the safe to reveal the stuffed bear sitting behind the glass case.
Despite her urgency, the green-eyed twin was gracious enough to wait for him to okay a closer inspection. With careful hands, she removed the gold cross and handed it to her sister. Then she did something that confused him. She closed her eyes and rested her hand on the bear’s faded gray head, as if performing some kind of mind meld.
“It’s just a stuffed—”
The gray-eyed one put her finger to her lips to keep him quiet. Now he was getting cross. Is this some kind of circus trick?
“It’s not a trick,” the green-eyed one replied, opening her eyes again. “This stuffed animal has a lot of history I had to be sure of. Now I know.” Tears formed in her eyes, but not ones of sorrow. “Would you like to know why he’s so special?”
The shopkeeper didn’t know what to say. Nervous and excited, it all seemed too much, especially for a man his age.
The woman pointed out something he hadn’t noticed when he first acquired the antique. “The bear’s eyes are different colors.”
Removing his glasses, he squinted, trying to see past the gauzy haze of cataracts. She was right. Though the difference was subtle, the one on the right seemed slightly darker and out of place.
She removed a scanner from her pocket, and it beeped when she held it over the right eye.
“What is it?” the shopkeeper asked.
“A map,” the woman said. “To find the Ark.”
“The Ark? Dr. Stein’s Ark?”
The woman nodded. She scanned the rest of the bear. Minding the stitching so he could be sewn back together, she removed what she needed from the bear’s round belly. Out came white stuffing, a folded letter, and three clips of baby’s hair.
The women hugged each other and cheered. Finding the letter and the locks of hair apparently merited a greater celebration than finding the Ark.
“W-what’s going on here?” the shopkeeper said, interrupting their gaiety.
The green-eyed one smiled, lighting up her entire face. Despite her illness, her beauty took his breath away. “I hope you like blue skies.”
JETTA WAITED UNTIL they were back aboard the Star Runner and safely out of Earth’s atmosphere to read the letter. Pressed into her side, Jaeia read along with her.
February 13, 2052
To my children—
I have struggled with this letter for many years. I knew this day would come, and now it is here, but I still don’t know how to say what I need to. I will simply tell you that I am so sorry, my children. Human beings have always been inexplicably contradictory; we are radically self-destructive and yet possess quite the penchant for survival. But this time things have gone too far, and I fear the damage is irreparable.
I know you will not understand my decision now, but maybe someday you will. You are more important—and your children are more important—than this old woman. But even if humans can survive this Exodus, it will never be enough. You need to realize that the next step must be taken. We cannot live apart from Earth. Our planet was more than our home; it was the very core of who we are, as a life form amongst countless others, in the metaphysical fabric of the universe. Even if we can find another home, the scar of what we’ve done will linger, and we will continue to tear ourselves apart.
Please, take this letter with you. May it remind you of why you must not give up on the cause for Earth.
Redemption. Reparation. Deliverance.
Come home.
All my love,
Grandma Laura
“Grandma Laura,” Jaeia said. She laid her forehead against Jetta’s shoulder, sifting through their mother’s memories of her own mother. “She gave the best hugs.”
“This isn’t just a letter to us,” Jetta said. “This is a coded message.”
Dipping into her mind again, Jaeia saw the patterns Jetta had seen in the letter. The strange word groupings. The way the letter was laid out. It was the type of covert communication used by all members of Cause For Earth.
“This is how we find the rest of our family.”
JETTA HAD ONLY EVER been healed by Triel, and when the rescued Prodgies restored her body using the uncorrupted DNA in the lock of baby hair she found in Charlie the stuffed bear, she found the experience more than exhilarating. She felt reborn.
Drs. DeAnders and Kaoto had worked around the clock to try and remove as many of the Motti implants as they could from Corbas and the other Healers, but removing all of them would be impossible. Their scars would never go away.
“Thank you for saving me and my sister,” Jetta said walking Corbas to the transport ship waiting in the docking bay. As they came up to the ramp, she hugged him, mindful of his arti
ficial spine. Bittersweet sadness touched her heart when she looked into his eyes. Triel had her father’s eyes.
Corbas laid his hand on her shoulder. Three of his fingers were missing where the Motti had attached their own devices. “Peace be with you, Jetta Kyron. May our paths cross again soon.”
“I plan to come visit Algar once I finish my work with Dr. Stein,” she said. “But I promise that you’re in good hands.”
“It is widely spoken that your sister is the best diplomat in the galaxy,” Corbas said. “I’m grateful that she will be helping us transition back to our planet. I have been told the Reivers are not very easy to get along with.”
Jetta thought of Salam and their encounters on Algar. “No, they’re not.”
Corbas held up his mutilated hand, turning it over so that Jetta saw more flesh than machine. “The Prodgy people have come this far. We will live on. In time we will rebuild our society and become a great civilization once again.”
“I have no doubts.”
“I’ll be waiting for you on Algar. You and I still have much left to do.” He regarded her one last time and then stepped aboard the transport.
Jetta watched the ship take off from the Alliance Central Starbase and waited several minutes after it had jumped. Finally, she headed back to the medical wing.
Construction crews had still blocked off most of the Starbase, making her find alternate routes to her destination. Jetta was surprised it was operative at all after they had blown half of it away jumping her ship as close as she did. Oddly enough, she found herself glad that she hadn’t completely destroyed it.
Guilt kept her from marveling at her fully restored figure in the shiny new corridor paneling. Pink cheeks and round muscles meant nothing to her when Jahx lay dying on an exam table. There was nothing the Prodgies could do for him. Jahx was not in his own body, and restoring the Grand Oblin’s body meant expunging Jahx’s spirit.
Jetta entered the intensive care isolation unit after a grim conversation with DeAnders. Despite the monitors and medications, it felt more like a white-walled tomb than a treatment room.
“We came so close,” Jetta said, taking his hand. Jaeia stood across from her, head bowed as she gripped his other hand.
There were no more tears to cry. She no longer grieved for her brother. He had transcended any physical boundaries more than once to come back to her, proving his indomitable spirit. No matter where he transitioned to next, she would find him. One day, she thought, we’ll be three again.
Jaeia’s uniform sleeve beeped. “Chief—Aesis Agarthygh has returned from Fiorah. He is asking to see you. He says the matter is urgent.”
Jaeia wiped her eyes. “Is he aboard the base?”
“He is in decontamination.”
“Send him here,” she said wearily. She turned to Jetta. “Maybe he has some good news about Galm and Lohien.”
Jetta had never met Aesis before; she had only seen him through her sister’s eyes. Jaeia’s feelings seemed abnormally strong in her memories, but when she witnessed them in person, she was taken aback.
“You came back,” Jaeia said as Aesis walked into the treatment room.
Jetta felt her sister’s heart flutter at the sight of him. The meddling part of her wanted to point out that behind the blonde hair and fair skin wriggled a little green worm, but she knew that her sister’s feelings spanned beyond his handsome appearance. She sensed it too; Aesis is a gentle soul.
“I did. I found your aunt and uncle,” he said. His eyes moved to Jahx, but quickly returned to her sister. Any discomfort at the sight of their dying brother did not register on his face.
“Why didn’t you bring them here?” Jetta asked. “Or alert the Alliance for backup?”
Aesis didn’t react to her words, despite the doubt and accusation they carried. “Even after the Dominion ousted Yahmen Drachsi from the mining business, he managed to take control of the Underground Block.”
Jetta’s eyes narrowed as she read into his words. “They’re alive, but he’s using them for his business.”
Aesis nodded. “Yes. They’re in bad shape, but I told them that you were coming for them. I’m so sorry I couldn’t get them out. I had a hard enough time myself. My host bodies were killed twice.”
Jetta cringed, imagining Aesis’ deaths at the hands of Yahmen’s enforcers for asking too many questions.
Shaking off the thought, Jetta typed in a series of commands on her sleeve. “Ferraway—prep the team for immediate dustoff. Tell them it’s going to get hot.”
The SMT lead responded immediately. “We’ll be locked and loaded in less than twenty, Sir.”
“I wouldn’t advise that,” Aesis said.
“Why not?”
Aesis shifted from foot to foot. “It was the same reason you couldn’t find them before. Fiorahians don’t take kindly to strangers, and certainly not military. It took me three bodies before I was accepted on the street.”
“Then we’ll go ourselves,” Jetta decided, canceling her order to her SMT.
“Thank you, Aesis,” Jaeia said, wiping away her tears. “That means so much to us.”
Aesis’ eyes drifted back to Jahx. “I wasn’t able to find any of your DNA. The apartment fire was very bad. I’m sorry.”
Jetta’s heart leapt. She looked to her sister. Both of them spoke at the same time. “We did.”
Aesis’ eyes perked up from the floor. He looked over at Jahx and then back at his sisters. A hopeful smile broadened his face. “Well then. Let me get to work.”
JETTA’S NOSE WRINKLED as she watched her sister gingerly remove the Spinner from the freshly spun body. The worm’s sweet odor wasn’t offensive, but the white cheese that fell from the new host’s skin carried the ripe smell of waste materials.
Uck—is it like this every time?
Be nice, Jaeia said, checking the spun body’s status on the intensive care unit monitors.
Jetta wrestled with her feelings as she looked down at Aesis’s work. The Spinner had manipulated the age of Jahx’s new body to match their own advanced physical maturity at around twenty years. Despite expecting some change, the broad shoulders and an angled jawline surprised her.
At first she debated with her sister whether or not Jahx would want to progress through all the stages of childhood since they were only eight years old, but after much thought, they came to the same conclusion: They didn’t feel like children, nor could they ever repress their personal and borrowed experiences enough to enjoy the carefree days of childhood. With their mental age, it made more sense to don the appearance of young adulthood.
I bet Jahx will appreciate being sped past the awkward phase, Jetta joked as Dr. DeAnders and Dr. Kaoto joined them in the isolation unit.
“We got your urgent message on Jahx’s status,” Kaoto said.
Jaeia brought DeAnders and Kaoto up to speed, explaining how Aesis spun a new vessel for Jahx, hoping that as their brother passed, his spirit would possess the new body. But something gnawed at Jetta’s gut as she stared at the two identical bodies of her brother lying side by side on exam tables. It isn’t going to be enough. Something has to facilitate the transition.
“What’s wrong?” Jaeia said, reading her worry as the two doctors discussed the idea in front of the monitors.
Jetta shook her head. “This isn’t going to work.”
“Is there something we can do?”
Jetta thought about it. “I don’t know. Can you feel him?”
They both touched the cold skin of the Grand Oblin’s borrowed body. It felt like a hollow shell with a waning pulse.
Her sister’s frustration furrowed her brow. “No. I don’t know what else we can do.”
Jetta was about to speak when her sister cut her off. “Unless... no, it’s crazy.”
Jaeia’s idea leaked into her head. It was radical, but they were out of options. “Well, no, it’s not entirely crazy. It sorta worked once before.”
“I don’t know if I have it in me,
” Jaeia said, hugging her arms across her chest. Her gray eyes spoke of her fear. She had always been the one to push Jetta to believe in others, and now she faltered. It’s just too much to hope for.
Jetta hugged her sister and whispered in her ear. “I believe.”
IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL summer day. Not a single cloud blemished the blue sky, allowing the sun to shine down and warm his skin. His mother was there, calling to him from the other side of the flowing river, where a house stood surrounded by a red fence and flowering yard. Two dogs, one white and black, the other shades of brown, roughhoused on the front porch. The sight of them brought him nothing but joy. It would be nice to finally be with them.
(Jahx. It’s time.)
Gentle hands pulled him back. Jahx was surprised to see him.
(What are you doing here?)
Josef smiled. (I could ask you the same.)
(I can’t stay here anymore. It’s time for me to go.)
Josef delivered his words kindly. (Not yet.)
Jahx looked over Josef’s shoulder. A very different world, broken and desolate, lay in the distance.
(You are the only one that can finish my work, Jahx. I know I’m asking more of you than I have any right to.)
The sun transformed. No longer did it stay fixed in the calm blue sky. It descended from the heavens, heading straight for him, growing brighter than all the stars in the universe.
Something inside him wanted to run, make a break to cross over to be with his mother, to finally be at peace, but another force, greater than any fear inside him, kept him from taking the easy way out.
(Your faith brought you this far,) Josef said as the light enveloped him. (Let it continue to guide your path.)
Jahx’s lips parted, releasing a cry that shook the heavens as the call of life reached his soul and brought him home.
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