Against All Odds

by Richard Bard

  Gualu shifted on his feet. “That is a sound summary. I’d only add that we must also collapse the gate in the process in order to prevent further oversight in the future.”

  “Oh, yeah, how could I forget that? We wouldn’t want beings from some planet a kazillion miles away interfering with us, now would we?”

  Gualu looked at the floor. “No,” he said softly. “We wouldn’t want that.”

  “It’s okay, Dad. It’s sort of business as usual, right?”

  The lighthearted comment struck a chord. His son knew it was just the thing to get Jake off his soapbox. He shook his head, and gave Alex a friendly shove with his hip. “Yeah, you’re right. No biggie.” He turned back to Gualu, who seemed enthralled by the sudden turn of emotions. “So, Gualu, my pal, where do we sign up?”

  Gualu frowned. “You recall that I said I doubted this would work?”

  “Yep.”

  “And that we’d likely die a horrible death in the process?”

  Alex said, “Well, you didn’t mention it would be horrible.”

  Jake shrugged. Horrible or not, he’d died before. Maybe this time it would stick.

  Alex added. “We might as well get started. But first I want to thank you.”

  “Thank me?” Gualu asked.

  “If it hadn’t been for you, we wouldn’t be alive right now. Nobody on Earth would be alive. You saw goodness when others of your race saw evil. You’ve given us a fighting chance. So, thank you.”

  “Alex is right. You’re okay in my book, Gualu.” Jake held out his fist.

  After eighteen months of watching humanity on his own personal IMAX 3D screen, Gualu recognized the gesture. He grinned and gave Jake a fist bump. “I suppose it’s good there’s at least one alien who gives a crap about feelings.”

  Jake chuckled.

  Alex held up both his fists. Jake and Gualu bumped them.

  “Shall we get started?” Gualu asked.

  Jake needed to address one more thing. “Gualu, when Alex mentioned his illness, you said it could be easily dealt with. Does that mean you can cure him?”

  “Oh, yes. Let’s take care of that while there’s still time. Step up onto the platform. Both of you.”

  “Both of us?” Jake asked.

  “Why not? Think of it like you’re getting a tune-up.”

  “Really?” Alex asked. “It’s that easy?”

  “Quite,” Gualu said as Alex and Jake climbed the steps. Gualu stood at the console. He pulled the sleeves of his robe back to reveal his gaunt forearms, which were covered with tattoos. They reminded Jake of the glyphs he’d seen on the pyramids. “You’ll feel a slight tingle, that’s all. Are you ready?”

  Jake held Alex’s hand. They positioned themselves on the center of the platform. “All set.”

  Gualu rubbed his palms together and the dome glowed in response. He extended his hands. “And in three…two—”

  An explosion sounded from the corridor they’d come through earlier. Gualu spun toward the sound while Jake scooped up Alex and bounded down the steps two at a time. He set his son behind the console and grabbed the shotgun. “What the hell was that?”

  “I’m unsure,” Gualu said. Alex was touching the dome when Gualu waved his own hand over it to activate the 3D imaging system. They all stared at the screen.

  “No way,” Jake said. In the forested area outside the tunnel entrance stood a dozen fully kitted mercenaries, crouched in standoff positions from where a breach charge had been detonated on the cliff face. Two soldiers raced forward to check the damage. When Gualu turned to make another gesture over the dome, Alex beat him to it. The men’s voices became audible.

  “Partial breach. Another charge or two should do it.”

  Jake heard the words and absorbed their meaning, but his focus was on the cluster of natives standing to one side. Trumak was at their front. So was Frank. Gripping Lucy’s arm.

  Chapter 13

  “NOOO,” I SAID. My fingers still tingled from touching the dome when Gualu had activated the 3D function. The mercenaries were outside the tunnel. Somehow Frank and Trumak had gotten free to lead them here. And they had Lucy.

  “It’s impossible,” Dad said. “We left Frank’s place less than an hour ago in a plane. How could they have caught up with us?”

  “Time moves differently here when the gate is used,” Gualu said. “It’s been many Earth hours since you left.”

  The scene at the gate was like looking out a window. It was so real, a part of me wondered if I could simply jump through it, grab Lucy’s hand, and pull her in here with us. And then I realized if Frank was free, then something bad had happened to Mandu. Trumak’s tribe must have found him, given him an antidote for the drug, and then retrieved Frank. My stomach hurt at the thought of Lucy losing her mom.

  My brain went into overdrive. Because of our proximity to each other, my mind had connected to Gualu’s when he activated the device. I’d witnessed the complicated string of mental commands he used to unlock the machine before issuing the command to display the scene. It was like a password. That’s why my mind had felt like it was being probed when I thought I’d activated the device on my own to see my family in the safe house, and also later when I’d used it to see Ellie and the others. Gualu had needed to confirm my intentions before unlocking the device so I could use it. Now I’d used the password to turn on the sound.

  “Partial breach. Another charge or two should do it.”

  “We’ve got to save her!” I wanted to create a gate and pull Lucy through, so I turned back and reached for the dome. This time, Gualu grabbed my wrist. But he’d activated the device by only extending his hands over it, so I closed my eyes and—

  “You must not!” He said in a growl that rattled my insides.

  “Its capabilities are beyond your comprehension, Alex.” His voice was quieter now. “Not only could you kill Lucy, but you could kill us all.”

  “We’ve got to do something,” Dad said.

  “And we will,” Gualu said. “But time is running out. And we must complete our task without distraction.”

  “Distraction?” Dad pointed at the screen, where the two soldiers were planting more charges. “Once they blow that entrance, they’ll be on us in three minutes! That’s a tad more than a distraction.”

  Gualu waved his hand over the dome while he spoke. “They will never get through. I’ll simply raise the shield and—” He frowned and waved his hand again.

  My mind was still connected to Gualu’s. I knew we were in trouble before he spoke.

  “What is it?” Dad asked.

  “The shield is not responding. It’s been in place since the probe landed here twenty-five thousand years ago. I lowered it for the first time today so you could enter. But for some reason it won’t reactivate. I have many skills, but equipment repair is not among them.” He waved his hand again, and his face tightened.

  “Terrific,” Dad said. “We’re screwed.”

  Gualu shook his head. “I will not allow the circumstances to deter us. We must act immediately.” He closed his eyes and held both palms over the dome. He knew I was still connected to him, but he made no effort to block me. The screen shimmered, and an ancient-looking village flashed across the screen, barely illuminated by a central campfire. Tribe members spilled from their huts, and in a matter of moments, dozens of pairs of eyes stared up toward the mountain in wonder. Gualu had wrapped them all in a vision, just as he had done with me and Dad before.

  “They are friends of the mountain,” Gualu’s thoughts flashed into my head. “It is the tribe I sent Lucy to summon when you first arrived. I imparted the ritualistic words she needed to convince them to help, but she was obviously intercepted first. I’ve never reached out to them in a vision before, for fear of frightening them, but they revere the mountain so they will come. They are fierce warriors, and they don’t take kindly to trespassers. They will delay those outside.”

  I wondered what chance bows and blowguns would ha
ve against bullets, but Gualu had already made clear his belief that sacrificing a few for the many was justified. My connection to his mind allowed me to sense the tribe’s position relative to where Frank and the others were trying to break through. “Even running at full speed, it will take them ten minutes,” I thought.

  “Yes, we’ll need swifter help before then.” Gualu motioned again, and on the screen appeared a series of jungle locations, where gold eyes blinked from the darkness in response to his summons.

  “Jaguars!”

  Gualu waved and the images vanished.

  Dad blinked. “Were those jaguars?”

  “They’re coming to help,” I said, remembering how I’d received similar help in the South China jungles when I rescued the bears.

  Another explosion echoed from the tunnel, this one louder than the last. Dad pressed the shotgun to his shoulder.

  “There’s no time for that,” Gualu said, aiming an ear toward the tunnel. “They are still not through, and the first of the cats is quite close. I’ve purchased us some time, but not much. We must join now.”

  “And hope that jaguars can dodge eight hundred rounds per minute spewing from an M249 light machine gun?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Gualu said in a tone that made the air vibrate and my knees wobble.

  Dad kept the shotgun pointed at the tunnel opening, but when he slowly swiveled his head in our direction, I saw the incredulous look on his face and guessed Gualu’s resonance had gotten through his skin as well.

  Gualu continued, his voice softer. “We must join together, and we must do so immediately.”

  My dad and I looked at each other. Reluctantly, Dad set the shotgun on the ground, pulled out the mini, and joined us. He extended the mini in an open palm, then took my hand. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

  Chapter 14

  THERE WAS A THIRD EXPLOSION.

  This time, when Gualu turned his ear toward the tunnel, his expression told me Frank’s team had broken through. Gualu cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed in their direction, “Death awaits all who enter!” The rumble of his voice shook the floor, and I knew the threat had spiraled down the tunnel and spewed from the breached entrance. Dad’s grip on my hand tightened, and when Gualu repeated the warning in a native tongue, I bet even Trumak hesitated.

  Gualu listened again. His eyes narrowed. “The first of the jaguars has arrived. I’ve done all I can.” He turned his focus on us and the mini levitated, its energy enfolding us and tickling my skin. Gualu grabbed our hands. “Give yourself to the power,” he said, drawing a deep breath. “I will do the rest.”

  He closed his eyes, threw his head back, and our minds were joined. Thoughts, memories, and emotions swirled together like fragments in a funnel cloud. Images and scenes bombarded my consciousness—too swift for me to latch on to except for a few, but not so fast that I didn’t feel the drawers in my head filling up as each was stored in my memory. I saw Mom, Sarafina, and Ahmed in a variety of scenes from the past, first through my own eyes and then through my dad’s from before I was born.

  And then Gualu’s memories assaulted me, of a childhood bereft of fun, love, or caring. I even saw his memory of me seated with my brother and sister at a long dining table in the Chinese monastery with the monk, Little Star. I realized it was Gualu who’d guided Little Star to rescue us on that bridge in the jungle. Then there were flashes of strange places, unusual species, and of a neverending universe of stars and planets so immense that it made me feel small. Microscopic.

  It all happened within a tiny part of a moment, until Gualu’s presence took charge of the energy flow and bent it to his will. Our joined thoughts became more organized. I felt a tug deep inside me, like a fishing hook had embedded itself in my gut and the tension on the line was growing with each passing moment. I resisted it, my body instinctually recognizing a threat to its well-being. I sensed my dad’s resistance as well, and the flow of energy between the three of us began to shimmy like an out-of-balance washing machine.

  “You must let it happen,” Gualu’s voice urged in my head. “I will protect you both. Trust me.”

  I felt the truth of his words, but it did little to dispel my fear. When my dad lowered his walls, though, I thought of Lucy, Ellie, Mom, and everyone else who would die if we weren’t successful—and I let go.

  There was a mental sigh from Gualu. As Dad and I gave ourselves to him, our life forces combined to fuel a series of commands Gualu directed into the dome. That was when I realized Gualu’s walls were gone as well. Though I had given over control of my self to him, that didn’t mean my brain wasn’t absorbing every detail of what he was doing, what he planned to do, and how he intended to accomplish it. The command sequences, calculations, and supporting data—and the physics behind it all—were revealed to me and my dad. Gualu’s plan could actually work, right down to how to deal with Frank and the others after we called off the grid. It all hinged on the three of us generating enough power to emulate the force generated by a trio of Gualu’s kind. Whose brains were five hundred thousand years more advanced than mine and Dad’s.

  Time shifted, and what happened next was no longer occurring between heartbeats. Minutes passed, and if we didn’t hurry, Frank and the others would arrive while we stood helpless within our trance.

  I willed my life force outward, pouring every ounce of it into supporting Gualu’s efforts. Though my eyes were closed, I could still see the 3D scene that flashed between the crystal pillars on the platform. It was an interplanetary view of a black pyramid rotating slowly above the rings of Saturn. The image zoomed closer, and in the reflected light of the sun, I could see the object was composed of a thousand or more smaller pyramids—the same ones that had formed a grid around Earth.

  Gualu directed a transmission at the entire structure. The pyramids split from one another, twisting and undulating like a swarm of killer hornets waiting for targeting information from its queen.

  But something was wrong. The pyramids weren’t responding in the way Gualu had expected. His thoughts said it was because our combined power was insufficient. If we didn’t correct that immediately, the grid would rocket back to Earth to complete the original mission. I sensed Gualu’s panic as he powered more of himself into the effort. Dad did as well. I bared my soul in a desperate attempt to keep up with them. A surge of power burst forth from us. My pulse pounded, my chest tightened, and something cracked inside me. A blinding pain ripped through my bones. I wanted it to stop, but the pyramids had slowed their movements so I pushed even harder. My insides were boiling but the pyramids were glowing now. It’s working! I pushed one more time with all I had…

  Darkness. I was alone, drifting, no up, no down. The pain had vanished. My body was elsewhere. Is this death?

  “Alex!” My dad’s voice pierced the veil. With a start I was back in my skin, and the pain returned tenfold. I still held my Dad’s hand. He gave me the last spark of life force he still had, exchanging his life for mine. “I love you, son…”

  Dad’s hand went limp.

  I screamed, “Nooo!”

  Suddenly Gualu was within me, and my dad’s hand twitched, my pain subsided, and I knew Dad was going to be okay. The mental connection between the three of us was breaking up, but before it collapsed, a final blast of images streamed across my consciousness:

  Gualu’s command sequence to launch the mountain into space, retrieve the grid, and leave our solar system. His opening the gate to his world, a MISSION COMPLETE message, along with a warning to avoid Earth because of an unusual virus Gualu had acquired from the planet’s atmosphere, one that even their advanced technology could not cure. One that would kill Gualu in moments.

  My emotions twisted at the thought of all he’d sacrificed on our behalf. I shoved my sadness aside, though, when my mind glimpsed the fierce battle going on outside the tunnel, between soldiers, jaguars, and two tribes of natives—arrows impaling, claws raking, and fangs digging into necks. Gualu’s native friends a
nd the jaguars were taking the worst of it, several of their bodies lying riddled with bullet holes. Gualu transmitted a vision to those still alive. He thanked them, blessed them, and healed those he could. They turned away as one and melted back into the forest. They’d bought us the time we’d needed.

  But then Frank’s people turned eyes full of hatred back on the tunnel entrance. Frank and Trumak were running down the tunnel with a bunch of mercs and natives. Frank still had a firm grip on Lucy’s wrist.

  I opened my eyes to see my dad’s astonished expression. He’d witnessed everything I had. Gualu lay on the floor beside us, his hands holding the mini against his chest, as if its power might keep him alive a few moments longer. His eyes fluttered.

  We kneeled over him. Dad cradled his head.

  “You did it,” I said, my heart aching.

  His voice was ragged. “We did it.”

  Dad said, “You gave your life force so I could live.”

  Gualu’s breath wheezed. “As you did for your son.”

  I placed my hand on his shoulder. “We’re not so different, then, are we? When emotions guide our actions?”

  A tear leaked from Gualu’s eye. He frowned, and found the strength to reach up and touch it. He stared, awestruck, at his fingertip. It was probably the first time he’d ever spilled a tear. When he looked back at us, he said, “You’ve given me much.”

  His eyes closed, and I tensed. But then he blinked, and a surge of energy from the crystal dome warmed me from the inside out. I looked at my dad and his disfigurement vanished. Gualu had used the power within the crystalline structure to heal him, too.

  There was a flicker of merriment in Gualu’s expression. He struggled to inhale and whispered, “Happiest day of my life.”

  He sighed, and his body went limp.

  Dad lowered his head gently to the floor. As we rose to our feet, I felt a power surge from the dome. We edged back as Gualu’s body began to glow. It rose and moved toward the platform. The gate opened to reveal a lush valley, with a variety of colorful plant life I’d never seen. Gualu’s body drifted from our world into his, and with a blink the scene vanished. Gualu the Overseer had returned home.