She brought over her pestle and mortar, filled with a red, pulverized powder. When she started to spread it on Lucas’s back, he flinched and cried like a tea kettle.
“Don’t be a weakling,” She told him. “This was hard to make. I had to search four botanical shops for that fungus.”
For most of Lucas’s life, the two of them had survived on welfare. All the free time during the day gave his mother the ability to focus on her foremost passion: botany. Their small apartment was filled with stacks of tins of herbs and dried flowers, hydroponic pots and shelves of books about plant medicine and cultivation. The entire place smelled like dirt and felt like a greenhouse.
She finished spreading her concoction on Lucas’s boils. His lips trembled and he could barely breathe. Her final step was the worst. She finished by cutting a patch of boil from the small of his back with a scalpel. She put the tissue inside a numbered envelope the way she always did.
After that, Lucas was so exhausted that he went to bed.
Strix, the owl, was on his nightstand. At first the thing looked lifeless. Then, he could see a glow in the eyes and a twitch of the beak.
“We’re sorry you’re in pain, Lucas,” said Strix. Its voice somehow lacked any age or gender and conveyed calm authority.
“I am, too.”
“We’ve been looking forward to meeting you for some time,” said the owl.
Lucas’s back still stung and ached. He winced, saying, “I must be a disappointment.”
Strix’s eyes pulsed with red light and the tiny feathers on his face pointed into a scowl. “Quite the contrary,” said the owl. “You’ve exceeded every expectation we could have had.”
“How much do you know about me?”
“More than you do,” said Strix.
“How is that possible? Where did you come from?”
“We’re from everywhere, Lucas.”
...
Chapter 4
The Beckoning
Callista watched out her bedroom window, over the entire city, all the way to the top deck of the Bastion, where the breakers hissed and spit and the bright red beacon at the top of the wall blinked into its eightieth year.
Her view was the best available in Azurton and perhaps what was left of the East Coast. Callista’s father had bought their house at the top of New Mountain, giving his daughter the home’s master bedroom, while he slept on a lower floor. He had also encased her room in the most advanced and expensive sound-insulating materials available.
The walls of her bedroom had been painted by one of Azurton’s best artists, designed to give her room infinite dimension, with painted rolling hills and plush clouds on an airbrushed horizon. Callista’s father had spared no expense to provide for his daughter’s environment and to make their life at the edge of the Bastion more livable.
That night, she couldn’t sleep even though it was after midnight. She found that every time she shut her eyes, they would somehow end up open and pointed at the same red glow. The light from the Bastion’s top beacon seemed to invade her mind, beckoning somehow.
She heard her father come through the door. He tiptoed to the bed and slid under the sheets next to her. His shoes were off but he had the rest of his business suit on, even his tie.
“I can tell you’re awake,” He whispered into her hair.
“You’re home late.”
“I thought you were going to that school dance tonight, then that party thing,” he said, playing with a few strands of her hair. “You were finally talking to those girls. How come you didn’t go?”
“I don’t know. I guess I knew you didn’t want me to.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because I know it’s the truth.”
He pulled her closer by the waist and kissed the back of her head.
“Why wouldn’t I want you to go?” He whispered.
“I can tell how you feel,” said Callista, keeping her back to him. “You don’t need to say it. Besides, the kids, the boys, they’re stupid and boring. I’d rather be here with you. I like being with you.”
Her father’s attention had moved to the surgical scar on the skin of her lower belly, just where her nightshirt came up. He took his index finger and ran it over the length of the old incision.
She asked him, “How come you always stare at my scar?”
“Oh,” he said, surprised she had noticed. He pulled her nightshirt back down over her stomach. “I just remember the day you had your appendix out. Your mother and I were so worried.”
“It was only four years ago,” Callista said. “Why can’t I picture any of it? I know the doctors said the trauma of losing mom, blah, blah blah. I don’t believe that crap. I should remember something. I don’t see how being sad would shut down my brain. I learn things in school just fine. Do you think it’ll ever come back? I deserve some memories of mom.”
“I suspect the day is coming.”
After that, her father was quiet. While they laid in silence, he stroked the side of her arm. Just before she fell asleep, she thought she saw something moving at the top of the wall, by the Bastion’s red beacon.
…
The following morning, she heard him call to her from downstairs.
“Hey, love!” He shouted. “Come down and meet someone special!”
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Blaise Lorrance was staring at her like he had been watching all day. His assistants were with him and one was holding a titanium box.
In her father’s face, she noticed apprehension. He seemed reserved around the men and almost afraid of Blaise Lorrance. She had always known her father to stand up straight, to look every man directly in the eye. However, around Blaise Lorrance, he seemed almost meek.
The old genius was still studying Callista, watching so much that it was beginning to make her uncomfortable. He finally turned his attention away for a moment, looking out the front room window, to the Bastion distant in the haze.
“My, my,” Lorrance said, “this house is up so high, you can see the beacon at the top.” He looked pleased with his old creation. “Callista,” he whispered, “the top of the Bastion is incredible. It’s like standing on top of the universe.”
“Have you been to the top?” Callista asked him with apparent excitement.
“I’m an old man,” he said, “so it’s been quite a few years, but yes, of course. I did build the thing. If I tried to go up there today, in this decrepit state, I’d probably have a heart attack or get blown out to sea.”
“I’ve seen something, maybe someone up there,” She said. “At night. By the red beacon. Do you know who it could be?”
“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” said Lorrance. “The top has been closed off for ages. The beacon is totally automated.”
“But,” she said, “I know I saw…”
“Callista,” her father told her, “these men are interested in having you help them with something.”
“Actually, you’ll be helping the whole human race,” Blaise Lorrance went on. “It’s a very important job for a very important young woman.”
Lorrance opened the polished titanium box and Callista saw a pair of red eyes shining out from the darkness.
“Meet the most advanced computer system in the world,” said Lorrance, pulling the third owl out. “My greatest achievement.”
“Interesting,” said Callista as she held the owl in her hands. There was a look of disappointment in her face. “I don’t understand,” she said. “What am I supposed to do with a toy?”
“You’re not too old for a toy, honey,” said her father.
“I’m fourteen,” she said.
Lorrance giggled, saying, “I assure you the device is far from a toy.”
“Why an owl?” She asked.
“Because owls are my favorite animals,” said Lorrance. “The owl has always been a powerful symbol of hidden knowledge. Some ancient cultures believed owls can see both this world and the other. The owl knows se
crets, Callista.”
“What’s his name?” She asked.
“His name is Strix,” said Lorrance. “He’ll be your friend, teacher and confidant.”
Lorrance told his assistants it was time to leave. He leaned closer to Callista and told her he would be seeing her again.
Her father said nothing. He just stood there like Lorrance was a hissing alligator.
After they’d gone, she asked him, “How did you arrange this? That was really Blaise Lorrance.”
“I’m afraid so,” he said under his breath. “One thing you should know,” he said, “is that I didn’t pull any strings for this. It wasn’t because of any of my connections.”
Callista cradled the owl in her palms and they both admired it. Strix’s eyes moved over the scene, made eye contact with them both, then locked onto her face. The plastic feathers sparkled and motors inside whirred.
“I think he likes you,” her father told her.
“Why would anyone,” She started to ask, “create such an advanced little toy? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“They may have had things like this in the Twenty-First Century, before the floods,” he said, “but they’ve been forgotten.”
“Forgotten by everyone except Blaise Lorrance.”
...
Chapter 5
Horse Pills
Morgan tossed and turned in bed, every so often noticing the owl across the room on the dresser. His brother, Brian, was wearing his earplugs and in the middle of a dream. Strix was dark on the dresser. However, its electronic eyes were somehow pointed right at Morgan’s. The owl was always watching.
His father had spent most of the evening downstairs, talking to himself, and watching the war on TV. After a while, Morgan heard the familiar lumbering footsteps on the stairs.
“I see you just laying there,” Killian said, standing at the door. “I don’t see how we’re going to make one penny from that.”
Morgan didn’t say anything. He just tried to keep his eyes level with his father’s stare, not to let his gaze go flimsy for even a second.
“That old codger,” his father went on, with a booming belch, “said that you need to talk to that God damned bird if I’m gonna get paid.”
Morgan just looked at him.
“Talk to the God-damned fowl!” Killian shouted.
The volume made Morgan tense up but he tried not to show it. His body was on the verge of trembling. “I will,” he said, trying to deepen his voice. “Just please don’t wake Brian. His sleep really affects how he feels.”
“Fine,” said Killian. “I’ve got to go out to buy your brother’s medication. They probably raised the prices again. That’s my God damned life.” He slammed the door, nearly waking Brian.
After his father was gone, Morgan decided to talk to Strix.
“What am I supposed to do?” He asked. Then he followed with, “Uh. Hello?”
A slight hum, like something from a miniature jet engine, started inside the owl. The array of pinhole lights on its feathers lit up like a flame moving through a pool of gasoline. Strix’s eyes beamed violet laser lines over the entire room.
Morgan retreated back from the light show at first. Then he got his face closer to the owl, admiring the extreme complexity of the contraption.
“We missed you, Morgan,” said Strix. “It’s been so long.”
“I don’t understand. I’ve never seen anything like you before.”
“We should speak quietly,” said the owl. “We don’t want to disturb your brother. He needs his sleep.”
“Can you tell me what this is about? Why did Blaise Lorrance choose me? This all seems really weird.”
The whirling hum started inside the owl while it computed. Then it told Morgan, “Doctor Lorrance did not choose you. He located you.”
“That doesn’t make sense. I may not be a genius but I think I can recognize nonsense.”
Strix asked him, “Morgan, during your education, have you ever learned about fields such as the gravitational field or the electromagnetic field?”
Morgan gave the owl a snide look, saying, “In my remedial classes, they still haven’t gotten up to circle versus square.”
“Well,” said Strix, “fields are an invisible part of space. One could say they are space, but we will shy away from cosmology this evening. Doctor Lorrance discovered a new sort of field previously undetected and totally unimagined. It is this particular field that organizes consciousness, or souls if one prefers that parlance.”
“What does this have to do with me? I Still don’t get it.”
“Your interaction with and perturbation of this field was detected by Doctor Lorrance. Hence, as we said, he located you.”
“Well that clears everything up now,” Morgan said, rolling his eyes. “Am I supposed to do anything for this experiment?”
“Not tonight.”
“When, then? What am I supposed to do? I don’t want crap from my dad.”
“Tomorrow after school,” Strix explained, “you will speak with someone.”
“Who?”
“A boy at school,” said the owl. “You two have never met but it’s imperative that you engage with him.”
“I don’t understand,” said Morgan. “Who is it?”
“His name is Lucas Monkshood.”
“Lucas Mucus?” Asked Morgan. “That fat kid with all the weird sores on his skin?”
“That’s correct,” said the owl. “Please find him at school tomorrow.”
...
The following day, Morgan saw Lucas Monkshood sitting by himself under one of the trees in back of the school. He had never spoken nor even made eye contact with the boy known as Lucas Mucus.
His face was red and bloated and his body was eclipsed in a stack of swollen fat rolls. His shirt looked homemade and squeezed his body like a set of tourniquets. Just sitting against the tree was enough to make him pant from the effort. Lucas looked as though he could keel over in the grass at any moment.
Morgan walked over and stood by the tree until he turned around.
“What is it?” Lucas asked, sounding like he didn’t want to know. “What name do you want to call me today?”
“That isn’t it,” Morgan hesitated, realizing he was nervous. “I was supposed to find you. I’m not really sure why.”
“Huh?” Lucas asked, staring up at him.
“It’s the... The owl.”
Lucas stood up and his eyes became wide. “What do you know about that?”
“I have one too. It told me to find you.”
“Do you know what this is about? This experiment?”
“No,” said Morgan, shaking his head. “No one’s explained anything to me either.”
“Do you know if we’re the only ones?”
“I don’t know. The owl didn’t say. It just told me to find you.”
“Did it say what we were supposed to do when we found each other?”
...
They walked back to Morgan’s house because it was closer. Lucas had a hard time keeping up with Morgan’s pace on their walk. When they arrived, Killian was at work and Brian was reading a book at the kitchen table.
“Make sure you’re upstairs and quiet when Dad comes home,” Morgan told him. “He’s working a double tonight and you know how he gets.”
“Who is this?” His brother asked about Lucas.
“A friend of mine from school,” Morgan said, patting Brian on the back.
Sitting on Morgan’s dresser upstairs, the electronic owl sat with his eyes and feathers dark.
“For some reason, I thought I was the only one,” said Lucas. “How many do you think there are?”
“There are exactly three,” said Strix, springing to life. The faint hum of cooling fans and the high-pitched whistle of charging capacitors filled the room. “We’re very happy to be able to bring the two of you together,” it said.
“We?” Asked Morgan. “What do you mean ‘we?’”
&
nbsp; “We are the architects,” said the owl. “The three of us and our associate, Doctor Lorrance.”
“Architects?” Asked Lucas. “What does that mean?”
The owl didn’t answer him. Motors rotated its head until it had looked over both Lucas and Morgan. After a moment, it told them, “You two boys aren’t friends. You don’t know each other at all. However, your relationship is very important for the future.”
“This is weird,” commented Morgan.
“Did Blaise Lorrance visit you too?” Asked Lucas.
“The old guy? Yeah. Do you think he’s really Blaise Lorrance?”
Lucas wiped away some sweat before it could run into his eyes. He perspired all the time, even while sleeping or lying still.
He told Morgan, “He looks like the pictures I’ve seen.”
Morgan asked the owl, “If we’re supposed to talk to you, do you have a name?”
“Our name is Strix,” said the owl. “Although you may refer to us however you please.”
“What’s the difference,” Lucas asked it, “between you and my owl at home.”
“There is no difference,” said Strix. “We are the same. We share all knowledge. We can speak for one another.”
“You said there are three of you,” said Morgan. “Where is the third?”
“You’ll meet her soon,” said Strix.
Lucas’s attention drifted to an old photo tacked to Morgan’s wall. It was a photograph of Morgan’s mother taken shortly before she died. She was in a hospital bed and looked like a flesh-coated skeleton. The photo was dated ten years in the past.
“It’s my mom,” Morgan told him. “I took it the day she died. She got sick while she was carrying Brian.”
“December fifteenth, ten years ago?” Lucas asked, sounding like a ghost was at his throat.
“That’s right. So what?”
“My dad died the same day,” Lucas told him. “Heart attack.”
“That’s a weird coincidence.”
Strix chimed in, saying, “Lucas. It’s time you head for home. Your mother will be waiting for you and you know how she reacts when you’re late.”
Break the Bastion Page 3
