by Nick Cook
‘But I have to do something.’
‘This isn’t your fight, Jake. When you regain consciousness, it will already be over.’
I turned and looked at the frozen fireballs rushing out from Chloe’s Awoken team.
‘But they’re all OK?’
‘You won’t know that until you open your eyes.’
‘So my subconscious has conjured you up?’
‘You still don’t understand, Jake. It’s because you’re unconscious that your unique Awoken ability to see the Light Web has allowed us to contact you in this frozen moment of time.’
‘Us?’
Allan stepped aside as three more knots of energy began to rise. My sense of astonishment grew as first Inspector Clarke, then Dave, Chloe’s dad, and finally Ethan materialised before me.
I felt my eyes sparkle with tears. ‘You’ve got to be joking me.’
‘No joke,’ Dave replied with a smile.
‘But you can’t be here. You’re all bloody dead.’
‘You’re being a bit slow on the uptake there, mate,’ Ethan said with a grin.
Clarke raised his shoulders. ‘If it makes you feel any better, Jake, I don’t pretend to understand half of what’s going on here. I think Dave is the best man to explain it.’
I turned to Chloe’s dad, my head crowded with a hundred questions. ‘I’ll take anything that tells me I’m not going mad here, Dave.’
He gestured to the frozen people around us. ‘Tell me what you see, Jake?’
I gazed at the people and their auras woven into the Light Web. Most had white energy fields, apart from Chloe and her Awoken team, who burned with different jewelled colours. ‘I see their energy fields as usual, so what’s strange about that?’
‘And those auras are woven into what you call the Light Web, which tells you what?’ Dave asked.
My mind rushed ahead to what he was driving at. ‘Is this something to do with how you’re all here now?’
Ethan gave me a slow clap, grinning. ‘Now he gets it.’
‘So you’re saying what? That your energy fields survived death?’
Dave nodded. ‘You’re on the right path, Jake. The problem is that we think of ourselves as individuals and that the world is something happening around us. However, as you can see with your unique gift, the Light Web links every single living being into the fabric of the world. But can you guess what that energy actually is?’
The answer rose from somewhere deep, as if I’d always known it, but forgotten somewhere along the line. ‘It’s consciousness, isn’t it?’
‘I believe so, but I like to think of it as interlinked souls, although I never thought I’d hear myself use that kind of label.’
I whistled as I shook my head. ‘That’s quite something coming from someone with your scientific brain, Dave.’
He smiled. ‘I agree. I only wish that I could have worked this out while I’d been alive. I wish everyone could.’
Ethan put his hands in his pockets. ‘Think of it like this, Jake: we’re all part of the soul of the world.’
As he said that, my mind went back to the moment I’d hung with Chloe over the Earth within the Ember sim for the first time, seeing how everything was interconnected. I slowly nodded. ‘I mean, holy batshit. So what are you exactly – angels?’
‘I guess in a sense we are,’ Ethan replied. ‘But people have had it back to front all these years. We label our world as reality, but try to get your head around this: what if the Light Web is actually the real Real and our world is like some sort of simulation running on it – where we get to try life out and put on a new body like a fresh set of clothes?’
‘You’re serious? You’re really trying to tell me that the human soul is immortal?’
‘Something like that, although we’re still trying to work out the finer details.’
‘In other words, death is not the end, but just the start of a new adventure,’ Dave said.
I gawped at all of them, my mind well and truly blown. But then a thought struck me. ‘So how come you guys, and for that matter anyone who’s died, hasn’t reached out before?’
‘I don’t know about anyone else, but actually we couldn’t until now, Jake, and god knows we tried,’ Allan said. ‘You see there’s a barrier between where we are now and your physical world.’
Dave nodded. ‘Fortunately, your ability to see the Light Web thinned that barrier, but it was only when you fell unconscious that we discovered we were able to reach through to you.’
Everything was slowly starting to make sense. ‘I saw you back at Culham trying to contact me, didn’t I?’
‘You did. That was me,’ Ethan said. ‘I think the barrier thinned for a moment because you were so grief-stricken about what had happened. But it was still not enough until just now when you were knocked out.’
‘Why exactly are you here?’
‘I think it’s best if you hear that from someone you haven’t seen for a long time,’ Allan said.
A new pattern of light started to form and the others stepped aside as a woman began to materialise within them. For a moment I thought it was going to be Gem, but instead an older woman in her thirties appeared. The air felt like it had been stolen from my lungs as I recognised her – someone whom I only faintly remembered from a photo of her holding me in the door of Allan’s astronomy shop, Celestial Skies.
‘M-Mum?’ I stammered, my hand automatically seeking out her old diver’s watch that I wore on my wrist.
She nodded, her ghostly eyes glistening. ‘My beautiful boy.’
I tried to reach out to her, but my hands passed through her form, leaving trails of light. ‘I can’t believe it’s really you.’
‘It is, my love. And I want you to know that I’ve never been far away from you or your dad. I’ve always been looking over the two of you. And I’ve seen so much, Jake. I’ve witnessed how difficult your life became and how broken you were.’
Tears swarmed my eyes. ‘If only I’d known…’
Mum nodded. ‘I wish we had longer to talk about this, but we don’t. In a moment you’re going to regain consciousness and there is something urgent that we need to tell you before that happens.’
I wished with all my heart that I could reach my arms out to Mum and pull her to me. I wished I could draw all of them to me: the people I loved and cared about. Instead, I pulled myself up and looked straight at her. ‘What is it?’
‘Archios is coming for you.’
I gestured towards the Waverider. ‘But he won’t be able to get through its energy field.’
Dave shook his head. ‘The London Waverider has been severely damaged, as you’ll discover when you wake. Martin and Claire are doing everything they can do to bring it back online. The problem is, within the next thirty minutes the Shadowlands will have reached London.’
‘But I was told it was over twenty hours out.’
‘It was, but your head injuries were significant. Chloe’s healer, Angela, has been working on you for the last twenty-one hours.’
‘Then we’ve got no chance.’
‘But you have,’ Ethan said. ‘When you wake, you need to hold off Archios long enough for Martin and Claire to get the L3 back online.’
I stared at him. ‘But he’s already a titan – and with all those shadow crows to reinforce his body, he’ll be invincible.’
Clarke stepped forward. ‘Almost, but you can use your gift to help defeat him, although this will be the most difficult battle of your life, Jake.’
‘And what if I can’t slow him down long enough?’
Mum looked deep into my eyes. ‘Sweetheart, you can do this because you have something within you that Archios and the other Shade will never have: love. The same love that breaks your heart when you lose someone, the same love that makes you care so deeply about all those around you. You might not realise this yet, but you, Jake Stevens, are so much stronger than you realise. When things seem at their darkest, don’t despair, but tap into the str
ength all around you in a world that only you can see. Believe in yourself. Believe in your friends.’
‘But even with all the positive thinking in the world, Mum, I can’t see how we can take Archios out now.’
‘Jake, you need to take a step back and look at yourself for a moment,’ Allan said. ‘Just think about the man you’ve become. Not that long ago, you were a frightened teenager in Stoneham who’d shut himself off from the world, not daring to let anyone in. But bit by bit I saw you coming back to life with Chloe’s help. You started to remember who you really were.’
Mum nodded. ‘From a lonely teenager you’ve become someone whom people trust and follow.’
Clarke scratched his neck. ‘And rightly so, too. You’re a natural leader, Jake; not to mention that you’ve saved the world twice already.’
Mum smiled at me with so much love in her eyes. ‘You, Jake, are the best hope the world has – a world that is about to be changed for ever. And while a flicker of life still burns on this planet, there will always be a chance for a better tomorrow. Within you, Jake, you have everything you need to defeat a monster, even one as powerful as Archios.’
Fresh tears prickled my eyes at this huge vote of confidence. ‘You’re going to make me blub if you keep this up.’
‘Well, if that hasn’t already, this will push you over the edge,’ Ethan replied.
A fresh knot of energy appeared, revealing a glowing figure, but it took me a moment to recognise who it was. Until this moment, I’d only ever seen him as a disembodied head on a screen.
My heart surged. ‘Sentinel, is that really you?’
The AI gazed at me with electric-blue eyes. ‘Much to my own surprise, yes, it is.’
‘You’re seriously telling me that AIs have souls too?’
Sentinel spread his hands wide. ‘It would seem so. When I existed within your world as a flow of electrons through circuit boards, they were sufficiently complex to gain consciousness. And it seems that within the Light Web there is an echo of that pattern of energy. To use one of your human phrases, this has blown my artificial mind.’
I shook my head, laughing. ‘You wait until I tell Chloe about this.’
‘Talking of Chloe, could you give her a message from me?’ Ethan said.
‘Sure, anything.’
‘Please tell her that she should get on with her life and not stay stuck on the dead guy.’
I tried to answer, but my throat clenched up too tight to be able to speak. Instead, I just nodded. Ethan was once again the hero.
Dave raised his chin at me. ‘And tell her that I’m sorry for what happened, and that I tried to make it right in the end.’
‘Dave, she already knows that. And so do I.’
‘Good…’ His nostrils flared and he backed away.
Mum stepped closer. ‘We’re almost out of time, Jake, but I have one last thing to tell you. Once this battle with Archios is done, you must begin to put yourself first so you can heal.’
‘What do you mean by that, Mum?’
‘You’re always putting everyone else’s needs before your own. But by worrying about those you love so much and keeping them at arm’s length, you’ve ended up hurting yourself and them as well. Life is too short to behave like that, Jake, and you can only really begin the healing when you open your heart again and take a risk.’
I knew what she was driving at: Gem. ‘It’s too late for that, Mum,’ I said.
Mum just smiled. ‘We’ll see…’ she said, then Mum and the others began to dissolve back into the Light Web and the world roared back in.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I found myself lying on some sort of camp bed as I stared up at the latticed metal beams under the curving grey ceiling of the Millennium Dome.
Chloe’s face loomed into view above me. ‘Thank god you’re back with us.’
‘The battle?’ My mind raced with what I’d just seen in the Light Web, but it felt impossible to explain what I’d witnessed. With her helping me, I struggled into a sitting position and took in the dozens of bodies around me under tarpaulins. From beneath one, I saw a hand still clutching a bloodied cricket bat.
Chloe grimaced as she followed my gaze. ‘There’s not been time to clear the dead away with everything that’s been going on.’
‘But everyone on our side is OK?’
‘Everybody’s all right, apart from Helen…’
The young Awoken girl who’d died. I squeezed Chloe’s arm. ‘I saw and I’m so sorry.’
‘We all are. It makes me sick to my stomach what we had to do to protect the L3.’ She gestured at the dead bodies around us.
‘They didn’t give you any other choice, Chloe.’
She nodded. ‘Father Russell would have taken your head off if I hadn’t stopped him.’
I squeezed her shoulder. ‘Thank you for that. Just try to remember the Enders were crazy people in crazy times. So as awful as it is, you shouldn’t feel guilty about it.’
‘Yeah, my head tells me that, but my heart is a different matter.’
‘I know that feeling.’
I started to stand, but I had to grab on to the bed frame as my legs shook under me.
Chloe looped her arm round my waist for support. ‘Hey, take it easy, mister. That was quite the head wound that priest gave you.’
My fingers gingerly probed the injury, but I felt nothing but smooth scalp beneath my hair. ‘The wound’s gone?’
‘You can thank Angela for that. She’s been working pretty much non-stop to heal you. We decided to keep you here with us, because that was where we really needed you the moment you woke up.’
So everything was just as Dave had told me. ‘So how far out are the Shadowlands now?’
‘They’ve just rolled over Reading and will reach the outskirts of London in less in twenty minutes.’
‘Damn it! How long will the remaining repairs take?’
‘You’d better see for yourself.’
With Chloe supporting me, we headed over to Martin and Claire as they worked on the machine. Chloe’s Tiger squad were watching the scientists with tense faces.
The control console had been burned out by Molotov cocktails and the chrome sphere was black with smoke. Dad and Claire had pulled out several charred circuit boards, which were heaped to one side. Nearby, Hammond was speaking into a radio.
‘That doesn’t look good,’ I said.
Dad whipped round. ‘Jake, you’re OK!’ He rushed over and pulled me to him.
‘Easy!’
‘Sorry.’ Dad pulled away. ‘I thought…’
‘Yeah, I know, me too. Anyway, how long are these repairs going to take?’
‘We need another twenty minutes at least,’ Claire said.
General Hammond lowered his radio set. ‘The latest estimate gives us less than fifteen minutes.’
‘If we can’t repair the L3 in time, we’ll have lost this fight before we’ve even begun!’ I said.
Hammond shook his head. ‘Not necessarily. We’ve organised some significant backup for you and your Awoken teams.’
‘What sort of backup?’
‘Chloe, why don’t you and I give Jake the tour?’ Hammond said.
‘Good idea.’ She turned to the Tigers. ‘Whatever happens outside, I want you to remain in here to protect Martin and Claire. The priority has to be getting the L3 fixed; everyone across London is counting on us.’
Her team all nodded.
‘So let’s go, Jake,’ Chloe said.
My legs had started to steady as we headed to the doors and I unhooked Chloe’s arm to walk by myself as we followed General Hammond outside.
In a world painted orange by the light of a new dawn, my eyes swept over thousands of troops crouched behind sandbag emplacements that ringed the Millennium Dome. Each of the soldiers held one of the new Voletar rifles. In front of this line, a number of low green vehicles I recognised as multiple rocket launchers had been parked in a long row facing west. Dotted among them wer
e a number of tanks with larger versions of Voletar guns mounted on their turrets. The preparations didn’t stop there. Dozens of Apache gunship helicopters stood ready in a car park and, out on the nearby River Thames, military boats also equipped with heavy Voletar guns patrolled. Captain Ericsson had his soldiers clustered round a forward position and I could see several of them carrying handheld rocket launchers.
‘You weren’t exaggerating,’ I said.
‘Absolutely not,’ General Hammond replied. ‘Every one of these soldiers is highly trained and has volunteered for this mission, something I thought you’d more than appreciate. You’ll have noticed the multiple rocket launchers and are probably wondering how MRLs can be effective against the Shade. You see, we’ve swapped out the explosive rounds and each of the shells is packed with hundreds of tiny charged strips, which can discharge a couple of thousand volts. They should prove highly effective against a densely packed shadow crow flock.’
‘They look as if they’ll pack one hell of a punch,’ I replied.
‘Oh, they will, I can assure you of that,’ Hammond replied. ‘It’s long past the time that we should have started fighting the Shade together, but that changes today.’ He stuck his hand out.
‘Better late than never,’ I replied as I shook his hand.
Chloe gestured at the western horizon. ‘It’s just as well, because look what’s coming our way.’
My eyes followed the snaking path of the Thames, lined with all its famous buildings, towards a thin dark ribbon spanning the width of the horizon and growing steadily larger.
Hammond took a pair of binoculars that Williams handed him, looked through them and shook his head. ‘Let’s see if we can slow them down a bit.’
‘What did you have in mind?’ I asked.
‘This.’ The general pressed a button on his radio. ‘Fire the Storm Shadow missiles.’
‘And what are they exactly?’ Chloe asked.
Hammond pointed back along the Thames. ‘See for yourselves.’
I heard a distant whistling growing louder fast. The next second, six black dart shapes hurtled past us along the Thames low enough to be visible, but high enough to clear the river’s bridges.
