Dark Matter (Interchron Book 3)

by Liesel K. Hill

  Marcus could have gone in, and still might. So far, it simply wasn’t necessary. The other Healers didn’t come close to Marcus’s skills, but Healing would only be necessary if there were complications during the birth. For now, Kara was simply a woman having a baby, and the other Healers were efficient midwives.

  Maggie’s thoughts strayed to Clay. He’d been a part of the team, and no one wanted to sleep through the birth of his child, especially because Clay could not be present for it. Not mentally, anyway. His body lay mere feet from where his child would be born. Yet with no brain activity, it might as well not be there at all.

  Maggie found it odd not to hear any noise coming from the medical room, though she sat only feet from the door. The Healers employed a sound barrier to keep anyone from hearing. They said it would cut down on panic since women in labor were prone to screaming. If anything went wrong, the Healers would come get them. No news meant all was well. It also meant interminable waiting.

  The senior Healer emerged from the room, wiping pristinely clean hands on a towel. “The child has arrived,” he announced calmly, a glowing smile on his lined face.

  “Any complications?” Joan asked, standing.

  “Not a one,” the Healer smiled reassuringly. “The child was born several minutes ago. We’ve already cleaned Kara up and she’s resting. She’s requested all of you to come meet her daughter.

  Exchanging an excited grin with Marcus, Maggie followed him, Joan, Karl and Lila into the room. David and Jonah brought up the rear.

  Kara held a pink, pudgy baby in her arms, wrapped in soft blankets and wearing a tiny pink hat. Maggie wondered where they’d gotten it.

  Kara cried quietly, looking into her daughter’s face. When they entered, she gazed up and smiled welcomingly. She looked haggard, but also radiantly happy. It brought tears to Maggie’s eyes.

  Kara held the baby slightly away from her body so they could see the brand-new, splotchy face a little better. “I’d like you all to meet my daughter,” she said delicately. “Mine and Clay’s.” Her voice caught. She stopped, swallowed, and continued. “I think it’s fitting she was born tonight, before you all leave to battle the collectives. I feel like it means Clay is with us, and with you all, again.”

  “And so he is,” Doc said from where he sat on a stool next to Kara’s bed. Tears coursed down his cheeks as well. Maggie thought he must be thinking of Nat. One life lost. Another beginning. Would they be able to keep the world free for Clay’s daughter? Maggie honestly didn’t know.

  Kara continued to cry softly, and Maggie didn’t think her tears would stop anytime soon. She could only imagine the dizzying mix of emotions Kara be feeling. The hormones of birth. The happiness of new motherhood. The organ-deep sadness of Clay never knowing his daughter.

  “Kara,” Joan said. “Can I hold the baby?” Kara nodded. Joan took the baby gently in her arms, with all the ease of an experienced mother.

  Joan holding a baby…

  Maggie blinked as the scene flashed in her mind. It obviously hadn’t come from this moment. In Maggie’s flash, Joan was crying, tears coursing down her cheeks. Now, as she looked into the face of Clay and Kara’s daughter, she was smiling. Almost radiantly. Maggie wondered what had brought the flashback to mind.

  Maggie re-arranged the pillows on Kara’s bed so she could lean back more comfortably.

  “Do you have a name yet?” Lila asked.

  Immediately Kara’s sobs returned, harder this time.

  “It’s all right,” Maggie said soothingly. “There’s no rush.” Kara nodded and laid her head back against the pillows. She soon fell fast asleep.

  The team passed the baby’s tiny, swaddled, sleeping form among them. When Maggie’s turn came, she stared down into the baby’s face and a strange sensation came over her. The child looked so familiar. Maggie couldn’t pinpoint which features were Clay’s and which were Kara’s. Fittingly, the child seemed to be a perfect mix of them.

  Marcus came to her side. “She’s beautiful,” he murmured.

  Maggie nodded. “I feel like her heart is beating in unison with mine.”

  Marcus smiled. “You can feel her pulse?”

  Maggie shook her head. “It’s not a physical thing. I just feel like our hearts are beating together.” She felt foolish, but didn’t care. Evidently, Marcus didn’t either. His affectionate smile widened, and he leaned down to plant a warm kiss on the side of Maggie’s face, directly in front of her ear.

  “Easy to fall in love with the little ones,” Doc said softly. “Makes you remember what we’re fighting for.”

  Karl, standing across from Maggie, next to Joan, nodded. “Another reason to fight for Interchron.”

  “A perfect reason,” Maggie muttered with a smile. “You want to hold her Doc?” He looked sheepish but nodded. She passed the baby to him.

  David lurked in the doorway. He leaned against the door frame, watching, but didn’t enter any farther.

  “You want to hold the baby, David?” Maggie asked. All eyes turned to him.

  He stared at Maggie in a way she couldn’t read for several minutes, then shook his head. “No.” Face still unreadable, he turned and strode from the room.

  Maggie sighed, wondering what that was about. There must be babies in the collectives. That brought on thoughts of robotic, brain-washed infant drones and Maggie shuddered, banishing the thought.

  She turned back to find Doc peering into the baby’s face with a worried look.

  “Doc?” Maggie asked. “Are you okay?”

  Doc tore his gaze from the baby to look at Maggie. His eyes were more than worried. Almost haunted. Yet he seemed distracted. Far away.

  “Doc,” Joan chimed in, coming to stand beside Maggie. She scrutinized his face. “What is it?”

  Doc shook himself, cleared his throat, and gave her a sad smile. “I received some information from one of our networks earlier. It isn’t good, I’m afraid. The collectives are amassing armies to protect themselves until the Merging is complete. Our mission tomorrow will be much harder than we feared. We’ll have more muscle than we planned on to push through.”

  Silence lay heavy on the group. No sleep. No time. Not enough knowledge. No way to ensure success.

  *******

  The team stayed with Kara for several hours. By that time, it was nearly morning. They should have slept, truly. They all needed it. Maggie found she didn’t want to. Better to be in the company of friends—of family—before this mission, which might well be the end of all of them. She could tell the others didn’t want to leave either.

  When the Healers finally chased them all out, everyone hugged Kara and kissed the baby and headed out of medical.

  Maggie wanted to ask Doc about something, but he’d slipped out a few minutes before the rest of them without her noticing. She squeezed Marcus’s hand to hold him back and he stopped, turning to her. “Did you see which way Doc went? I want to talk to him before we leave.”

  Karl, walking up ahead, must have heard their conversation, because he turned. “He’s in sitting by Nat.”

  “I just want to ask him something. I’ll meet you back at the room in a few minutes?”

  Marcus nodded. “Alright.” He bent and kissed her softly before letting go of her hand and following Karl down the corridor. “Don’t be too long. We’re leaving soon.”

  Maggie nodded. She returned to medical and made her way past Clay’s room. Kara had been moved to the bed Clay lay in. She lay on her side, facing her husband, the baby between them. Maggie heard her weeping softly. Feeling like she’d intruded on an extremely private moment, Maggie hurried past, hoping Kara hadn’t noticed her.

  Wiping tears from her eyes, Maggie came to the room where Nat's body lay wrapped in linens. Unlike Clay, whose body still lived and functioned in a comatose state, Nat had physically died. He’d been wrapped, head to toe, in a special white fabric the Healers explained would keep his body in a kind of stasis. It would stave off decomposition until they coul
d bury him properly. It would only work for a few days, but it would get them through the eclipse. Maggie imagined Nat lying beneath the shroud. By the shape, she could make out his head, thick chest, where his elbows were. A sadness, so heavy it became hard to breathe, pressed down on her.

  As she approached, a soft, rumbling voice reached her ears. Doc’s. Wondering who he talked to, she stopped at the door, not wanting to intrude.

  “…a stunningly beautiful baby, Nat. She looks so much like Clay. I feel for Kara. But then you and I both know a thing or two about loss, don’t we?”

  His voice broke and Maggie peeked around the door. Doc sat in a chair beside Nat’s bed, studying his hands and looking troubled. His back faced the door.

  “Who would have thought, brother, that the little struggle we began in the meadow all those years ago would lead us here? That a case of sibling rivalry could shake civilizations and determine world events?”

  Doc took a deep, shaky breath. “I…I think this is the most pivotal battle we’ve ever been involved in, Nat. It will turn into a battle. I’m sure of it. Now I’m being forced to face it without you. Something I’ve never had to do before. I don’t really know how.”

  He laughed without mirth. “I’ve never been so terrified, Nat. Our brother has killed you. What if he kills the world?

  Maggie should leave. Doc was voicing private thoughts to a deceased brother. Yet, she couldn’t exactly speak with him later. There was no later.

  Maggie heard Doc swallow. “I’ve always known I would probably die fighting the collectives, and that’s okay with me. He cleared his throat. “I learned something tonight, staring at Kara’s daughter. Something that will change everything. Especially after what Maggie said about seeing Clay.”

  Maggie’s heart lurched and she strained to hear Doc’s soft voice.

  “I don’t know what to do with it. I don’t want to tell anyone. Not now, as we head into battle. I don’t even want to say it out loud. If I don’t come back from this mission…. Everything may hinge on it. In fact, I’m sure it does.

  A soft padding behind her made Maggie realize she no longer stood alone in the corridor. She turned to find one of the medical staff coming toward her. Not wanting Doc to realize she’d been eavesdropping, Maggie hurried toward the woman and spoke quickly.

  “Excuse me,” she said loudly. “I’m looking for Doc. Could you tell me where he is?”

  The woman’s brow furrowed, and Maggie felt her cheeks warm. No doubt the woman knew Doc sat in the room Maggie had just stood outside of. “I believe he is in that room, there,” the woman pointed, talking slowly and eyeing Maggie with distrust.

  “Thank you,” Maggie said loudly. She turned and padded back toward Doc’s room. The woman muttered something noncommittal and disappeared. Maggie walked into Doc’s room with purpose. Doc now stood beside Nat’s bed, looking toward the door expectantly.

  He gave her a haggard smile. “Maggie.”

  She cleared her throat, not sure how to start. “What do you…think of the baby?”

  Doc’s smile deepened. And saddened. “She’s beautiful. Destined for greatness, I think.”

  “You do?”

  “She was born on the eve of the mission that will bring down the collectives.”

  “This won’t bring down the collectives, Doc. All we can hope to accomplish is stopping the Merging, and therefore the mass assimilation of the planet.”

  Doc shrugged. “Well, it will be a start.” The sadness in his voice made her chest ache.

  “Did you…come to say goodbye to Nat?” Doc asked when she didn’t speak again. “He was your teacher, after all. I can give you some privacy if you—”

  “No,” Maggie said quickly. “I wanted to ask you for some advice.”

  Doc raised an eyebrow. “Of course, Maggie. About what?”

  “Brothers?” She didn’t mean it to come out as a question, but as she said it, it occurred to her how much Doc might not want to talk about this subject right now.

  Understanding came into Doc’s face. “I heard Marcus and David’s fight out on the slopes.”

  “What should I do, Doc? I don’t know how to help them. My relationship with Jonah has never been that complicated.”

  “Maybe not,” Doc said gently, “but you didn’t grow up in the world they did. Brotherly relationships are…complicated.”

  “You and Nat did okay,” Maggie said softly.

  Doc’s eyes glimmered with tears, yet his voice remained steady. “That doesn’t mean we always did. When we were young men—Marcus and David’s age—things were quite different. Age brings wisdom. And regret. All relationships—be they sibling, parent-child, friends or lovers—are a choice. They have to choose it, Maggie.”

  “How do I make them choose it?”

  Doc gave her a gentle, chiding look. “To make someone choose something is a contradiction. The second you force them it’s no longer their choice. Deep relationships—those rooted in time and blood—can’t simply be brushed under the rug. At least, not forever. They’ll find their way around to each other, Maggie. Deep emotions suck us all in. Like Gravity. It takes time.”

  Maggie sighed. “Time is the one thing I can’t give them, Doc. We leave in an hour. The freedom of the human race rests on our shoulders. They should be squarely in the same corner. If, heaven forbid, things go wrong, they should be brothers. Not enemies.”

  “You may be the only one in the world who can give them time, Maggie.”

  Maggie arched an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

  Doc shrugged in an offhand way. His nonchalance seemed forced. “You’re the key to the prophecy. The Executioner.”

  “Yeah, but the Executioner of what?” Maggie threw out her hands in exasperation. “We still don’t know.”

  Doc raised his hands in a placating gesture. “All I mean is we have to succeed tomorrow. We must. If we don’t—”

  Doc’s voice broke and he cut his eyes away.

  Tears sprang to Maggie’s eyes and she stepped forward, resting a hand on Doc’s arm. “We’ll succeed, Doc. We have to.”

  He nodded, clearing his throat. “Yes. We will succeed. Because we have to. Don’t leave room in your mind for anything else.”

  Maggie nodded. “There’s no other possible outcome.”

  “And so,” Doc said, sounding lighter, “Marcus and David will have more time to figure things out.”

  “Forgive me, Doc—I don’t mean to be a fatalist—but you and B still haven’t figured it out. And you’ve lived longer than most.”

  “Neither Marcus nor David are B. Bartholomew always made his decisions selfishly. Marcus and David aren’t acting from selfishness.

  Maggie raised an eyebrow. “You sure?”

  Doc seemed to consider, then gave her a conceding look. “I suppose Marcus’s refusal to forgive David is selfish, but you must understand it comes from a place of hurt and fear. He doesn’t want anyone else to go through what he did. Marcus thinks he’s protecting others by putting them on their guard against David. He needs to get past his fear and trust his brother again. He will. This is something Marcus must go through. I don’t have to tell you he’s a good man. He’ll get there.”

  “Would you ever trust B again?”

  Doc hesitated. He glanced sideways at Maggie. “You certainly know how to ask the hard questions, Maggie.”

  “Sorry.” Maggie’s face heated. “I don’t mean to pry.”

  “Don’t be,” Doc said earnestly. “I don’t think I’d trust Bartholomew again, no. But he hasn’t done anything to merit trust. If he did what David has done—left the collectives at great pain to himself, helped us fight them, saved the lives of team members, then yes, I would give him another chance. But I’m not Marcus. David is not B. And B will never do what David has done. He doesn’t have David’s heart. So, the question is irrelevant.”

  Maggie studied Doc, a swell of affection, coupled with intense heartache, swept over her. She felt more respect and love
for him than ever before. Doc wasn’t wise simply because he’d lived a long time. His wisdom came from feeling much the same pain the younger members of the team now felt. Yet Doc still rose in the mornings with a smile.

  Maggie hesitated, feeling like an intruder. "Do you want to be alone, Doc?"

  Doc held up a hand. “I don't want to be alone," he said. Then added, "necessarily. I don't want company either." He shook his head. "I don't know anymore. One moment, I want my privacy. The next, I feel lonely. My moods…" he pushed his fingers through his blustery, white hair. It always looked vaguely disheveled, but was messier than usual now.

  Relieved, Maggie took a step closer. "I understand Doc. I'm so sorry."

  He nodded numbly.

  Maggie twiddled her thumbs against her stomach, not sure what else to say.

  As though reading her thoughts, Doc said, "if you have something on your mind, Maggie, feel free to mention it."

  "I don't want to burden you, Doc." She did need his advice, but felt completely inappropriate asking for here, at Nat's deathbed.

  Doc shook his head. "It's okay. Truly. It might help to get my mind off things."

  Maggie stepped up beside Nat's body. Her voice broke even before she began. "I don't know what to do, Doc."

  Doc gazed at her, his eyes looking interested, rather than vacant, for the first time since she’d entered the room. "About what?"

  "Everything," she said. "Especially trying to disrupt the flow of energy during the eclipse."

  Doc nodded, his eyes understanding. "Any theories?"

  Maggie sniffed. "Maybe?"

  He nodded again. "Please, tell me."

  Maggie took a deep breath. "Dark matter? Remember when I told you that in the dark lands, I felt the pulsating energy they were all headed toward?"

  Doc nodded.

  "I may have downplayed it a little. It felt like a geyser of oil. I felt movement, like a spray of oily energy coming from somewhere deep in the earth. Only it didn’t come from the earth. I think it was dark matter. And it came through a portal. A window into another dimension. Do you think the Cimerian draws his dark matter from that source?"