The Best of All Possible Worlds

by Richard D. Parker

  Christine hesitated.

  “We have to tell her…or leave,” Adam said quietly. Christine nodded and took Paula by the hand and together they went into the living room which was decorated in smart light tan leather furniture.

  Adam closed the front door and walked through the kitchen and knelt next to Galen, who wore a confused look on his face. He could not figure out why everyone here was not excited by the mystery of the place. ‘This is it!’ He thought. ‘This is the place…they’ll be coming. They’ll be coming soon!’

  “It’s quite a view,” Adam said and slipped his arm around the boy’s shoulder. They looked out over the park, both gazing at the bright silver arch in the distance.

  “Adam this is the place…this is the gateway,” Galen whispered and leaned over and kissed the older man on the cheek. Adam started. It was the first time Galen had ever kissed him, maybe the first time the boy had ever kissed anyone.

  “I need you to keep me safe until they come…I’m not strong enough yet,” Galen continued in his soft voice. “Will you keep me safe?”

  “It’s why I’m here,” Adam answered and Galen kissed his cheek again.

  †

  “Holy shit!” Paula barked loudly, rubbing her temples, trying to push away the headache which was growing steadily stronger. She knew she would soon need her Eletriplan to help fight off the coming migraine.

  “People aren’t going to like this Christine,” Paula hissed slowly, carefully, as if she were afraid to hurt her friend’s feelings.

  “Going to like what?” Christine asked with obvious suspicion.

  Paula frowned at her. “They’re not going to like the fact that you’ve engineered a human being…if that’s what he is. Hell, they’re still repulsed by engineered food…animal or plant; most would rather starve. The general populace doesn’t understand it and doesn’t trust it. I’m not sure I do either and I’m a doctor.”

  “Galen’s human,” Christine insisted through clenched teeth and Paula could instantly tell she’d hit a nerve…and a very sensitive one. She held up her hand in peace.

  “If you say so, but not everyone is going to take your word for it,” Paula continued and patted Christine’s hand.

  “I know,” Christine answered, tears welling in her eyes. “Some at the lab still don’t believe it. Paula…they were going to kill him. End the experiment, they said,” she added and snapped her fingers. “Just like that. Stop the presses and move on. No guilt; no shame.”

  “Kill him!” Paula answered surprised. She wasn’t sure she really liked the idea of an engineered person. The idea had vast and frightening consequences for all of humanity, but now that she’d met Galen, if ever so briefly, she didn’t think an arbitrary death would be ethical at this point. Hell, he was a sentient being. Paula massaged her temples trying desperately to stave off the whopper of a headache she knew was coming. Christ, these issues were much too big to be pondered and solved in moments.

  “But Christine,” Paula whispered, her eyes darting to the far balcony where the boy was sitting with Adam. “Who is he really and what exactly did you do to him?”

  Christine hesitated for a moment. “Who he is isn’t important. We used a sampling of supplied DNA. Our goal was to isolate the genes responsible for aging and growth and development. It was Cryogen’s hope that we could learn about the aging process in order to alter it or perhaps to stop it altogether.

  Paula sat very still, her mouth open, staring at her friend. “But…” she began.

  “Natural life span is completely illogical,” Christine interrupted. “Humans live an average 75 years, but some species of tortoise live much longer, well over 150 years, and there are claims of individual tortoises living over 200 years. Dogs live about 10. There are trees living now that are thousands of years old. Why? Most people believe this is the natural way of things, but why is this so and does it truly have to be?” Christine paused for effect. “At Cryogen we don’t think so.”

  Paula sat quietly, her mind whirling. She honestly couldn’t think of anything to say and suddenly her simple practice held a much greater appeal.

  “Adam,” Christine said a bit louder. “Bring Galen in here.”

  Adam heard her through the crack in the sliding glass door. He stood and led Galen by the shoulders through the dining area and into the far room where the two women sat talking. Paula stood as they entered and stared openmouthed at Galen.

  Despite the fact that she was a doctor and one of the lead researchers at the Washington University Medical School, Paula found herself fascinated and repulsed by the boy standing in her living room.

  “Hello Paula,” Galen said softly as he moved forward and held out a hand in greeting. Paula’s first inclination was to shy away from his touch. ‘This boy is the first genetically engineered human being!’ She thought, a little overwhelmed by the implications. But then Galen smiled at her and in his eyes she read only kindness, with just a hint of concern. So she reached out and took his small hand into her own. His skin was warm and alive and she felt instantly better for the touch. Galen’s smile widened. Paula found herself smiling back…liking the boy…liking him very much. The boy was slight for his age with dark hair and skin, obviously ethnic, probably of Middle Eastern decent. But it was his black eyes that captivated Paula the most, though his pupils were very dark, they glinted with a certain wholesome friendliness.

  “Pleased to meet you…Galen?”

  The boy nodded. “Yes…call me Galen,” he replied and glanced over at Christine who was looking down at him with a mixture of pride and love.

  Paula bent down so that her face was closer to the boy’s and she studied his look for a long moment while Christine looked on slightly nervous. “You’re very welcome in my home Galen. Would you like me to show you where you’ll be sleeping?”

  “Paula…no,” Christine began even though the invitation was just what she was hoping for.

  “Nonsense, of course you’re staying with me…as long as Adam doesn’t mind sleeping on the couch,” Paula replied and glanced up at the man. ‘Jesus, he could stay in my bed if he wanted,’ she thought, thinking that Adam Dawkins was probably the most handsome man she’d ever met in person. Mel Gibson might top him…but just. Paula felt her hand grow warmer and she looked back down and her eyes met Galen’s once more. He was smiling at her all the more and for the briefest moment she got the feeling he knew what she was thinking. Her face went a little red and she was thankful for her own dark complexion.

  “I don’t mind at all,” Adam said and shot a look at his sister. “She needs to know everything before we stay,” he added.

  “Nonsense,” Paula repeated then she stood and pulled Galen through the living room and into the back hallway. “Christine, you and Galen will stay in here,” she said and brought them into the spare room.

  “Galen did you bring your reader?” Christine asked as she scanned the room. It was decorated impeccably. The full sized bed was covered with a soft blue and white comforter and piled high with multicolored pillows. Everything looked very modern and cozy, but somehow sad. It was a place that obviously had never known the touch of a child.

  Galen nodded.

  “Would you mind reading in here a while?” Christine asked and Paula was struck by the respect her friend showed the young boy.

  “I don’t mind,” Galen answered. “I like it here.” Galen pulled his hand from Paula’s and the strong independent woman felt a strange moment of loss, then he retrieved his reader from his small backpack and sat down, his back to the edge of the bed. Paula studied him once more, confused by the rush of feelings coursing through her.

  “Good boy,” Christine said and grabbed Paula’s hand and pulled her from the room. She closed the door slightly before rejoining Adam in the front room.

  “Your hand is very warm,” Christine said and reached up to feel her friend’s forehead but it was cool to the touch.

  “Yes,” Paula replied absently and it suddenly hit he
r that the headache she’d been fighting all afternoon was gone…completely gone. She glanced back at the door to the spare room then sat down and began to listen to a very long and sometimes scary explanation.

  XI

  “We celebrate God for his creativity, his power and his goodness, not his faith.”

  Galen Dawkins

  March 1st 3218 Noble Island

  Another month passed before Arnot had a modicum of control over time and space, though he still was not nearly as finely tuned or capable as Avigail and probably never would be. Despite this fact, his new found abilities still made him one of the strongest fighters in all the Inland Sea. Avigail could manipulate time to a finer degree but lacked his innate skill in combat, but even so their respective talents made them very comparable when sparring. N’dori watched over the pair, slightly awed, as they flashed about the coral. They moved incredibly fast in spurts, trying for an easy score as they manipulated time, before returning to normal, still sparring, each desperately trying to outwit the other. Their skills were incredible and growing rapidly every day. Arnot truly enjoyed employing his new abilities, plus his heightened concentration allowed him to master Traveling to a much higher degree, which was a particular point of pride for the young man.

  “Let’s go and visit mother and father,” Avigail said one morning and both twins looked to N’dori, who shrugged.

  “As you wish,” she agreed, “but Vio will be here at the end of the week to collect you and take you to the Competitions.”

  “The Competitions!” Arnot said with a slight hint of awe in his voice. Ever since he was a small boy he’d dreamed of competing and winning in the Competitions and now, finally, his dreams were to be realized. “Avi…”

  “We’ll be back in time,” she assured her brother with a knowing smile then she turned to N’dori.

  “When can we leave?”

  “Anytime you wish…but you’ll be going on your own with no help from me,” N’dori answered.

  Arnot looked a bit shocked at the idea but Avigail only smiled. The King’s Island was not so far from Noble…not far for a Traveler in any case.

  “We can do it,” she told Arnot. “We can do it if you support me,” she added and knew that just a few weeks ago Arnot would not have been strong enough to assist, but now he would help a great deal.

  Arnot looked from his sister to the Solitary and back, then finally turned back to N’dori.

  “I guess were going then,” he said and she chuckled.

  The twins gathered a few things then stepped outside. N’dori remained in the kitchen sitting by the small fire; she would be able to sense their progress from where she was, there was no need to hover on the porch like a concerned mother. She had complete confidence in the two young people.

  The twins walked only about twenty feet from the front door before stopping and facing each other.

  “You lead,” Arnot said, suddenly nervous but Avigail nodded and immediately closed her eyes. Arnot studied her face for a few moments. It was so like his own…but so different. At the moment she looked peaceful, except for one small crease above her eyebrows that revealed her deep concentration but then Arnot closed his own eyes. Moments later he felt her project, and not long after he joined her; their projected selves smiled at each other, then without a word Avigail streaked off to the north. Arnot laughed and shot after her, racing across the island. Within seconds they were over water and in mere minutes Arnot spotted land in the distance.

  ‘Home,’ he thought and was surprised that he felt not the least bit stretched by the distance. ‘If only the Zarina Monde could see me now!’ He thought with glee, and then they were over land and moving fast towards Port and the castle they grew up in.

  Avigail considered searching for their father, she felt strong…very strong, but was unsure of Arnot’s condition, so in the end she settled on the courtyard where the two spent so much time playing as small children.

  Avigail settled herself and felt Arnot move in next to her. He reached out and took her hand and she was surprised to find she could feel his hand in hers, just a whisper of touch. Moments later Avigail opened the vortex.

  “Travel!” She told her brother, and with a huge grin he stepped through the bridge his sister had created all on her own. She quickly followed.

  ‘I’m a Traveler,’ she thought as she stepped onto the King’s Island. She only had small pangs of hunger, though her legs felt rubbery as if she’d just run a dozen miles. The bridge disappeared with a loud pop as the nearest guards began to approach their position.

  “The twins!” A tall soldier with a full beard of black hair shouted, clearly surprised.

  The call went out. Word traveled through the halls of Rosethorn Castle very, very quickly and before the two even reached the main door Lynn Hothgaard burst into the courtyard and with an enormous smile pulled them both into a group embrace.

  “Oh…I’ve missed you,” Lynn said, her voice carrying the familiar singsong lilting quality of her strange otherworldly accent. Both twins hugged her without a trace of embarrassment. They’d missed her also; after all she’d helped to raise them and had actually spent a great deal more time with them than their own mother and father, who were called away by affairs of the land far too often.

  Abruptly Lynn pulled back. “Why are you here? You’re supposed to be studying on Noble. What happened?” the older woman asked, growing concerned. She hoped the two hadn’t screwed up on Noble; their father would never forgive them. The island and the Tars meant a great deal to him.

  Arnot and Avigail laughed together, trading knowing glances and Lynn immediately relaxed. The two had grown closer during their time away and it was readily apparent that they adored one another.

  “We just came to visit Aunt Lynn,” Arnot said and then nodded to a few of the men in the square, “before the start of the Competitions. N’dori gave us permission to Travel here on our own,” he added, clearly bragging.

  Avigail punched him in the arm.

  “Traveled!” Lynn repeated surprised. She’d never gotten used to the idea of Traveling. It frightened her and felt a bit unnatural, but considering she’d been sucked from her home planet against her will by the ultimate bridge, her feelings could be well understood.

  “Who Traveled? Who brought you here?” Jeffery Gaston, Captain of the Temple Knights, asked from the doorway behind them.

  “She did!” Arnot stated, clearly proud of his sister.

  “With Arnot’s support,” Avigail piped up, though to be honest she hadn’t needed any support and his presence offered only the moral kind.

  Captain Gaston, who was married to a Traveler, was well aware of the difficulties of the practice and while Noble was not overly far away for a seasoned Traveler it still was a great enough distance that no mere novice could succeed in making such a trip. No, Noble was far enough that only a full blown Traveler could create such a strong bridge. The fact that Avigail was now a member of such an elite fraternity surprised and amazed him. He momentarily struggled with the notion that the two before him were not small children anymore.

  “Well your parents will be very glad to see you,” Gaston said and clapped Arnot on the shoulder. The boy was tall, and the Captain got another little hint that the two were fast approaching adulthood by the fact that he now had to look up into little Arnot’s eyes.

  “You’ve grown…both of you,” Lynn said, her words mirroring the Captain’s thoughts. “Come let’s find your parents.”

  “Father’s here?” Arnot asked as they moved through the main doors of the castle and in unison both young people took a long, deep breath each savoring the distinct smell of home.

  †

  “Good,” Gwaynn said as he skipped back from a swift combination from his son. Captain Gaston and Hawser, plus a few dozen top officers looked on, many with their mouths hanging open in awe. They were in the spacious sparring hall Gwaynn built not long after becoming High King. The room was enormous with twenty-foot hi
gh ceilings and could easily accommodate thirty pairs of sparring warriors, but currently father and son were the only pair practicing. Even though there were only two opponents sparring, the near continuous cracking of their katas against one another made it seem as if there were many, many more.

  “I’m happy you approve,” Arnot said and broke into a furious attack in a frantic attempt to score on his father for the first time. He desperately wanted it to happen while there were witnesses to see the feat, but Gwaynn blocked every thrust with apparent ease. Arnot took little solace in the fact that his father was forced to retreat again and again to avoid a slash at his shins or a strike at his chest

  “Excellent son,” Gwaynn spoke after the onslaught finally ebbed. “But what you nee…” Gwaynn then attacked in the middle of his retort catching his son off guard and scoring a heavy hit directly in the middle of his back. The blow was hard, which was a testament to Arnot’s skill. His father would have been unable to score if he’d eased up even in the slightest, but the boy did not see it as such and grimaced with pain and disappointment. As difficult as it was to admit, his father, though choppy in his movements at times, was simply the finest swordsman in the Inland Sea.

  Once they disengaged from each other Gwaynn resumed his teachings. “If you are going to talk in battle use it to your advantage and attack in the middle of a sentence. Your enemies will not expect it.”

  Arnot nodded. “I understand, but don….” Arnot attacked and Gwaynn laughed but struggled to parry all the blows his energetic son threw his way, but in the end Arnot once more failed to score.

  “Very good,” Gwaynn repeated, extremely proud of the skill his son possessed. Arnot was coming very close to besting him. His skill and finesse were incredible for one so young. The boy was good, better than Gwaynn was at his age, but Gwaynn knew he would never get the full extent of Noble’s teaching with Gaston and the other soldiers present.