The Rising Tide

by J. Scott Coatsworth

  The shuttle’s forward motion slowed, but he was still moving forward at a fair clip, according to the readouts. It was hard to tell objectively, without any nearby reference points.

  Devon decided that he hated space.

  His fuel was almost out. “Switching to vertical.” Ana had shown him how to access some of Hopper’s basic programming, and they’d set up a shortcut to reorient the shuttle so her belly was facing Forever. He activated it and felt the ship shudder as it began to turn.

  There was a sharp crack.

  “That doesn’t sound good.” A whistling sound pierced the thick fabric of his suit. “Dammit, I think we just lost structural integrity.” He smiled despite his dire circumstances. His tri dee viewing habits were finally paying off, just in time for him to die. Life really was the shits sometimes.

  “Are you okay? Is the shuttle holding?” Ana sounded nervous. Well, it was more that special kind of calm where you knew the person was nervous as hell inside but didn’t want you to know it.

  He looked around behind him. Loose things in the ship were being sucked to a point near the back of the shuttle. “It’s holding together, but there’s a bit of a hole.”

  “Okay, we’re going to abort the last part.”

  “The landing jets?” They had hoped there would be enough fuel to bring Hopper to a near standstill as he approached Forever.

  “Yes. I’m afraid any more trauma to the hull might… well, let’s just say it would be bad for you.”

  “Fair enough.” He’d seen enough videos of explosive decompressions in his lifetime to know what she meant. “So?” His hands were shaking. He forced them into his lap.

  “You’re approaching Forever. You’ll be passing by in about two minutes.”

  “Shit.” He unbuckled himself from the pilot seat.

  “I have Catcher out here to pick you up. I just have to perform some space gymnastics to pull it off.”

  “Catcher?”

  “One of the other shuttles. Just a bit of baseball humor.”

  Devon frowned. “Are you good at gymnastics?”

  “Of course. I’m Russian, darling.”

  He laughed despite his circumstances. “Okay.”

  “Get to the exit.” Ana remembered that time, decades earlier, when she’d had to make such a leap herself. When only Jackson’s calm action had saved her.

  “Going.”

  “I want you to release the door in ten seconds and jump. Ten, nine….”

  Was she serious? He was supposed to just leave the admittedly dubious safety of Hopper and fling himself out into space?

  “… three, two, one… go!”

  Shit oh shit oh fuuuuuuuuck…. The door blasted away from the shuttle. He didn’t have to jump. The remaining atmosphere inside pushed him out, knocking the wind out of him.

  He gasped, trying to catch his breath, watching helplessly as Hopper and he diverged courses, the little shuttle becoming smaller and smaller.

  At last the air returned to his lungs in a huge gasp. “Oh fuck.” He heaved, trying to get past that horrible feeling of suffocation.

  He spun past Forever, seeing it each time his body tumbled over. As he passed, it lit up with morning light, a glorious sight from the outside. Maybe the last thing I’ll ever see.

  He closed his eyes, remembering all the moments that had brought him here. His mother back home in South Africa. His brothers, lost to the wars. His selection as a colonist on Forever.

  Meeting Rafe.

  Their on-and-off-again thing had become an always kind of thing.

  Rafe’s face floated in the darkness before him, his brown eyes and ready grin warming Devon’s heart. His beautiful Rafe. “I love you,” he whispered.

  “I love you too,” came Rafe’s voice over his comm.

  Devon tried to turn, to look around, but there was nothing to give him purchase. “Rafe, is that you?”

  “Yeah, damn straight it is.”

  “How in the hell…?”

  “We’re coming up to get you. I see you now.”

  Out of the darkness the other shuttle, the one Ana had labeled Catcher, appeared like the sweetest bit of heaven Devon had ever seen. It was under him, and he was slowly falling into its embrace.

  Ana had matched his speed and trajectory. “You’re a helluva gymnast after all.” He dropped slowly toward the shuttle.

  “Told you so.” She sounded just a little proud.

  A figure was standing on Catcher’s roof, anchored to it with magnetic boots. Rafe. He waved.

  Devon literally fell into his arms, almost knocking them both off the shuttle, but Rafe caught him, and his magnetic boots held.

  He tilted Devon down so his own shoes grasped the metallic surface of the shuttle, and they touched helmets.

  “Hey.” Devon was still in shock.

  “Told you I’d always come for you.”

  “You did. I could kiss you.”

  “Later.” He took Devon’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

  LEX ASSESSED their hastily cobbled-together apparatus. Keera had helped them with it, scrounging materials from one of the shuttles—an amplifier for Micavery Port’s main antenna. With it, they should be able to pierce the mountain where Andy was hidden, and if they could connect, they might be able to find a way to pierce the bubble.

  They sent messages to Ana and Jackson. Ana was free and responded immediately. “What’s happening?” She appeared next to Lex.

  “Something strange has come up.” Lex shared all they knew in an info burst, and Ana’s brow furrowed. “That shouldn’t be possible.”

  “And yet….”

  Ana nodded. “What can I do to help?”

  Lex felt the familiar warmth that meant Jackson had joined them too. “Your timing is impeccable. Where have you been?”

  “It’s a long story, one we can deal with after whatever crisis you’ve cooked up.” He grinned. “You’re looking lovely and androgynous today.”

  “Yeah, thanks.” Lex laughed wryly. “And this crisis is not my fault.” They shot him the same information they’d sent to Ana.

  Jackson frowned as he reviewed it. “That’s not good.”

  “Always a talent for understatement.” Ana looked over her transmitter’s specs. “You sure this won’t burn out anyone’s loops?”

  Lex shook her head. “I’m sending out a warning now for everyone in range to shut down their loops for an hour. That’s the Verge, the Anatovs, and a little way past them toward Darlith.”

  “Can I help?” Aaron, or his virtual self, stood there next to his father. As did his mother, Glory.

  Lex stared at Jackson, frowning. “We’ll discuss this later.”

  “Of that I have no doubt.”

  “Aaron, let your wife know you’re okay. She’s been worried sick.” Humans were such a jumble of contradictory emotions.

  “She wasn’t the only one.” Aaron closed his eyes. When he reopened them a moment later, he nodded. “Done. Now what are we doing?”

  “Sending Andy a lifeline.”

  INSIDE THE hut, Andy clamped a hand over the woman’s mouth, getting bitten for her trouble. “It’s okay,” she said softly as Shandra ran to check the door. “You’re okay now.” The woman’s mind was clear, the raging storm gone.

  There was only stark-naked fear.

  “I’m going to remove my hand now.” Andy loosened her grip. “We’re not going to hurt you. Do you understand?”

  The woman nodded.

  Andy let her go.

  The woman’s whole body was shivering.

  Andy pulled the blanket up over her body. “Do we have anything to give her to drink?”

  “Water?” Shandra offered her canteen, still looking out the door.

  “Something stronger?”

  Eddy handed her a metal flask.

  She twisted open the cap, smelled inside, and wrinkled her nose. “What is it?”

  “Home spirits. One of my friends makes them out on the Verge.
”

  “Good enough.” Andy held out the flask to the woman. “Here. It will calm your nerves.”

  The woman shook her head.

  She doesn’t trust me. No big surprise there. “Here, watch.” She took a sip, and her mouth twisted in disgust. “Damn, Eddy, this is some strong stuff.”

  He grinned. “Just a little takes the edge off.”

  She handed it to the woman, who looked at it for a moment, then sat up to take a sip. The same grimace crossed her face, but after a minute, she took another and then handed it back, nodding. “Thank you.”

  Andy gave the flask to Eddy, mouthing a silent thank-you. “I’m Andy.”

  “I’m Sara. Sara Finch.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

  Andy had so many questions, but she didn’t want to spook the woman. She’d obviously been through a traumatic experience. “Are you… do you feel better?”

  Sara laughed harshly. “I don’t even know how to answer that.”

  “Okay.” Try another tack? “We want to help you. We want to help all the people who are trapped here, but we need to know how you got here and what happened to you. Do you think you can manage that?” She put her hand gently on Sara’s, but the woman jerked away.

  “I… I can try. I’m sorry. Please don’t touch me.”

  “Okay.” Poor thing.

  Sara wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling them toward her chest. “We came up from Earth the last month before everything ended. Trevor was an electrical engineer. I taught high school kids in Winnipeg.”

  “My family came from Fargo.”

  A wistful look crossed Sara’s face. “We went to Fargo once, on vacation.”

  Andy nodded. It was something. “So, what happened next?”

  “About half of the people in our cargo ship died from some Chaf virus.” She spat the word out. “Trevor came through it okay. I got really sick for about a week, but then it passed, and they put us in the refugee camp.”

  “I remember that place. I was there many times.” Andy wanted to take the woman in her arms and hug her, but the poor thing was so frightened of any touch.

  “The camp was a terrible place. Living out in the open, with little food or access to personal hygiene supplies. But it was heaven compared to Agartha.”

  “Agartha?” Andy didn’t know that one.

  “This place. ‘Paradise at the center of the Earth.’ That’s what the Preacher calls it.”

  Now they were getting somewhere. “You’re doing great, Sara.” She noticed that Sara had a scar on her left temple. “Who is the Preacher?”

  “No one knows. He showed up at the end, right after we heard about what happened to Earth.” She stifled a sob. “So many beautiful places back home. So many people—family, friends. Gone forever.”

  “I know.” Andy had never seen them, not firsthand. She had a hard time imagining the wide-open skies of Earth. But she had seen pictures of so many amazing places, past and present. She wondered if they were still fresh, for Sara—or if whatever the Preacher had done to her had left her in an arrested state. “So… the Preacher?”

  “He came to the camp and convinced a bunch of us that we were second-class citizens up here. That we would never get what we deserved, not unless we went off on our own.” She shuddered. “If I had known then what I know now….”

  “Um, Andy?” Shandra looked nervous.

  “Give me a sec. We’re getting somewhere here.”

  “Sorry. We have company.” She pointed outside.

  “I’ll be right back.” Andy crept up behind Shandra to look out the doorway.

  The villagers had woken up, and at least ten of them stood outside. “What are they doing?”

  “Nothing, so far.” Shandra and Andy exchanged a worried glance. “Maybe you can hurry this along?”

  “I’ll try.” Andy went back to the bed. “Sorry, Sara, but your… friends are starting to arrive. When we found you, there was this weird… fog? Storm? Static, maybe, in your head.”

  “How did you know about that?” Sara’s eyes went wide.

  “I can touch minds, especially biominds….”

  Sara’s eyes went wide. “You’re the one who made the bathrooms at the refugee camp. I remember you.”

  “Yeah, I did. But I would never use my ability to hurt someone. I didn’t even know I could touch someone else’s mind directly. Not until I tried with you.”

  “You took away the pain.” Her eyes were wide.

  “Yes.”

  Sara launched herself toward Andy. Before Andy could defend herself, Sara had her arms around her. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. Oh God, you don’t know how horrible it was.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I was trapped in my own mind. I could see everything. Feel everything. Feel it when Gunner would come here every night to rape me….” She trailed off into silence.

  Andy let go of Sara, easing her onto the bed. “Gunner. Is he the one who did this to you? This thing in your head?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Jesus, how monstrous was this place? Forced labor, mental pain, rape….

  “You have to help the others.”

  “Is your husband still here?”

  Sara shook her head. “I don’t know. We rarely see the other men.”

  Andy sighed. “Okay. I’ll do what I can.” She touched the woman’s temple. “You used to have a loop, yes?”

  Sara nodded. “Yes. The Preacher cut it out of me.”

  Andy shuddered. Who was this Preacher? “Okay, Shandra, can you stay here with her?”

  “What are you going to do?” Shandra looked as angry as Andy felt.

  “I’m going to fuck with the Preacher’s plans.”

  IN THE virtual park beside the Red River, Jackson frowned.

  “What is it?” Aaron thought his parents had moved beyond their concern for Earthly—or was it Foreverly?—things.

  “Lex needs us. It’s Andy.”

  His father must have reopened communications with the other Immortals. Aaron got up from the park bench. “Let’s go.” What had she gotten herself into now?

  Glory took his hand. “We’ll fix it, whatever it is.”

  He hugged her tightly.

  Jackson took their hands, and the river faded away as if it had never been.

  Chapter Twelve: Storms and Thunder

  THE VILLAGERS had gathered around the hut. There were maybe a hundred of them in all. Most were adults, but there were at least fifteen children, ages five and under, from the looks of them, and as many or more pregnant women.

  “I’m not going to hurt you.” Andy held her hands open, palms up, trying to show them she was no threat.

  Behind her, Eddy eyed the crowd nervously. “You sure this is a good idea?”

  “No, but we have to do something.”

  The people were like cattle, silent, shuffling back and forth from one foot to another. They needed a leader to tell them what to do.

  Andy knelt next to a five-year-old girl clothed in some kind of home-woven brown cloth. Her reddish-blonde hair was trimmed short, and she had the same vacant look in her eyes as the others.

  “Hi, sweetie.” Andy cradled the girl’s cheek in her hand. “I’m gonna make you feel better. I won’t hurt you.”

  The girl stared at her, uncomprehending. Was she like Sara, or did she not know how to communicate at all?

  Andy closed her eyes and reached inside the girl’s head.

  Immediately the fury of the storm slammed into her, and it kindled a corresponding fury in her own heart. How could someone do this to a child? To anyone?

  Eddy put a hand on her shoulder again. “You can do this.”

  She nodded. She was better prepared this time.

  She pulled the storm out of the girl, bit by bit, tethered by Eddy’s presence. It wracked her mind and heart, but she was stronger now, ready for it.

  The little girl’s body shook as the last of it was pulled from
her mind.

  Andy grabbed her and held her tight as the tears started to flow. “It’s okay, little one. It’s okay.”

  The girl cried for a long time while the rest of the village watched. Behind each of those eyes, a soul waited for her to set it free.

  It was too much. She couldn’t possibly help them all, could she?

  She had to try.

  Shandra had come out of the hut. She knelt next to Andy, and with her permission, she took the girl in her arms. “Sara says she will take her.”

  Andy nodded. She tried to keep herself calm, to push down the rage at the people who had done this. To a child.

  Shandra stood and carried her inside.

  Andy also stood and took a deep breath before moving on to the next person, a young dark-haired man with beautiful mocha skin.

  Eddy anchored her again, and she reached.

  The same storm raged inside his head. As she unspooled it, to spin it away through her own consciousness, Andy wondered where it had come from. How had this been done to these poor people?

  This time it was a little easier, as if the channel through her mind had become hardened by the passing of the previous storms, beaten down and solidified like dried mud after a tempest.

  Bits and pieces of the man’s life passed through her mind. On Earth, when he’d worked in a huge tower in a desert country, and later, when he’d come here, to Xanadu. Or Agartha.

  Never-ending days of work in this forsaken place, followed by food and forced sleep.

  She felt when his eyes focused, that moment when he came back to himself.

  “Astaghfirullah.” His eyes were wide open.

  “Are you okay?” Andy pulled back to look him in the face.

  “I… I think so. Shaytan took me… how long have I been here?” He looked around as if seeing Agartha for the first time.

  “Best guess, six years?”

  “Subhan Allah.”

  Andy figured that must be the Islamic equivalent of “Holy shit.” “I’m trying to free everyone, but if you could help?”

  He looked shaky, but he nodded. “Of course. What can I do?”

  “Gather them as I reach them and tell them what happened. Tell them to follow the trail to the tunnel over there….” She pointed to where they had entered Agartha. “We need to get everyone out of here as quickly as possible.”