Escaped

by Gary Urey

  “The flipping of Earth’s magnetic fields is nearly complete,” she said to Pavana. Her assistant was the only person, besides Muni and the children, who were not zip-tied.

  “The rotation of Earth’s molten core created the magnetic field,” Pavana said. “And now its rotation and electrical conductivity is changing right before our eyes.”

  Verse seventy-two of the teachings flew from Muni’s mouth. “The final test will be with fire and heat!” she proclaimed. “The dry Old Earth will give way to a moist New Earth! Do not fear the everlasting inferno for it is only an illusion!”

  “Only an illusion!” the crowd answered back.

  “This is the heat and fire the Voices spoke of!” Muni screamed. “Bring me Gita!”

  Pavana dragged Gita by the arm and tossed her at Muni’s feet. Gita squirmed on the ground in her bindings.

  “Gita has been lost to the Soul Worms,” Muni said. “She will not come to New Earth with us.”

  Horrified shrieks erupted from the crowd.

  “This is not a bad thing, my children,” Muni said, trying to calm them down. “Let me hear verse eighty-four.”

  “The lost must lie down so the found may pass over,” they answered.

  “Gita is the one who is lost. It is foretold in the verses. Before we enter New Earth, Gita’s life must end here so we may make passage with cleansed spirits.”

  Muni reached into her pocket, pulled out the GeoPort, and showed her followers.

  “This is the Golden Jewel,” she said. “It wants to silence the beloved Voices, but we will silence it.”

  She raised the Golden Jewel high above her head, ready to pound the unit into the back of Gita’s skull. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two people charging in her direction.

  “Daisha!” Muni growled through gritted teeth. “And the brown-haired boy!”

  Crackles of highly charged particles danced on the air. Howling wind echoed in their ears. There was a loud sucking sound, and the ozone layer ripped opened like a wound. The sun’s radiation seeped through, making the already unbearable temperature even more scorching. Unable to move their arms or feet, the Antakaale collapsed from the severe heat. They gasped for breath, and from the looks on some of their faces, many seemed to question how they had gotten into this situation in the first place.

  “Please, untie me,” a follower pleaded.

  “This isn’t right,” said another. “I need to get out of here.”

  “Don’t whimper and beg like dogs!” Muni chastised them. “Enter New Earth with dignity, for goodness sake. There will be no more pain! We are leaving this inhuman world for something far greater.”

  “Give me back my baby!” Gita roared and swung her bound legs, kicking Muni in the shins. Muni lost hold of the Golden Jewel. It fell from her hand and skittered across the desert floor.

  Muni turned and saw Daisha and the brown-haired boy rushing toward her. With Varya still in tow, she ran for the Golden Jewel. The boy tripped over a rock and landed face-first, but Daisha was still bearing down on her.

  “Leave us, Soul Worm!” Muni screamed at Daisha.

  “I want the GeoPort,” Daisha hollered back. “Do you want the world to end?”

  “That’s exactly what I want to happen. The end of Old Earth means the beginning of New Earth. The Voices have promised this.”

  “The only voices are in your head. You’re murdering these innocent people, not to mention your own daughter!”

  Muni shot her a confused look as they both reached for the Golden Jewel. Daisha had it momentarily, but Muni wrestled it from her hand. The mountain quaked and shuddered violently. The ground below their feet split apart, and Daisha, Varya, and Muni fell into a crevice. Varya wailed as they wedged between the walls. The earth shifted again, sending them slightly deeper into the crack.

  Muni opened her mouth and laughed, an insane cackle that echoed off the unstable sides. “Welcome to New Earth,” she said as she grabbed onto Daisha’s arms.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  AXEL

  Axel watched Daisha and the gray-haired woman, the one named Muni who was perhaps Megan’s mother, wrestle for the GeoPort. Muni was holding a little kid with one arm and fighting Daisha with the other. He could tell Daisha was holding back because she didn’t want to injure the child.

  He scrambled to his feet and started after her, but collapsed after two steps.

  “There’s barely any oxygen left,” he gasped.

  The top of the mountain felt like a sauna on steroids. Hot, thick, scorching air burned his lungs with every breath. He looked around for Jag and Megan. Both of them were on their hands and knees, crawling across the dry sand. Their lungs heaved in and out, desperately trying to take in air.

  Screams and cries echoed in his ears. The women writhed on the ground, frantically trying to escape their bonds. A young blond woman no older than eighteen or nineteen called out to him.

  “Please,” she begged, her voice barely above a whisper. “Cut me loose so I can go to New Earth. I don’t want to die without seeing it.”

  Axel felt sorry for her and the rest of them, but he needed to help Daisha get the other GeoPort or they would all die. He stood up and started walking. His head was dizzy, eyes unfocused, heart rate humming.

  He heard Daisha yell, “I want the GeoPort!”

  Daisha and Muni fought some more, trading swipes until the ground rumbled beneath their feet. There was the deafening sound of dense rock splitting in two as a large fissure snaked its way across the mountaintop. A horrendous smell like a used toilet puffed from the hole. The stench mixed with the scorching air made him want to pass out. His eyes widened in panic as Daisha, Muni, and the child fell inside the crack.

  “Daisha!” Axel screamed as the earth swallowed her.

  He staggered toward the fracture, lungs huffing. Desperate pleas and cries came from the women. A pounding headache raged in Axel’s head as he peered into the hole. All three of them were trapped between the rocks like tightly packed sardines. Muni and Daisha were still fighting for possession of the GeoPort. With Muni still in control of the prize, he watched as Daisha bit her hand. The woman screamed out and loosened her grip. Daisha began peeling the older woman’s fingers back.

  “I got it!” Daisha squealed. “Axel, help!”

  Axel reached down for her. Their fingertips brushed against one another. He was millimeters from taking hold of her hand when a large boulder smacked him hard on the back.

  “Ahhh!” Axel moaned.

  He turned around and saw a woman with long black hair. She stood over him, wearing a white robe. Unlike the others, she wasn’t bound hand and foot.

  “The Voices command us to vanquish all enemies of New Earth,” the woman growled and pounded him with another stone.

  The blow came down hard on Axel’s chest. There was a loud crack followed by searing pain through his collarbone. Axel groaned as she jumped on him. Her fists pummeled his head and neck. Just when he thought he couldn’t take any more, a large arm came out of nowhere and shoved the woman away.

  “Jag,” Axel said.

  “Breathe,” Jag murmured. “Can’t…breathe.”

  Jag crumpled to the ground, all of his energy spent.

  Axel flipped onto his belly and reached for Daisha again. Their fingers intertwined, and he started pulling. The pain in his collarbone was excruciating. He gritted his teeth and yanked harder, tugging her up the crevice wall.

  She had almost made it to the top when Luciana screamed, “Don’t leave Catalina!”

  Daisha looked at Axel, her bloodshot eyes rimmed with exhaustion.

  “No,” Axel said. “I won’t be able to save you again.”

  “I have to,” Daisha said and let go of Axel’s hand.

  Axel watched helplessly as she plummeted back into the hole. Muni was ready for her. They fought viciously as Daisha tried to wrench away the baby. There was another tremor. The fissure widened, and they fell a couple yards deeper.

/>   “Get the baby!” Luciana screamed.

  Muni grabbed a sharp stone that had fallen into the crevice. She waved it wildly at them.

  “Stop!” Muni demanded. “Or I’ll drag this child to New Earth dead or alive.”

  Luciana let out a horrified wail. “No!”

  Muni pressed the tip of the stone into Catalina’s neck. Axel heard a shuffle of feet. He glanced over and saw Megan. She was holding a large stone in her arms and looked barely conscious.

  “Hello, mother,” Megan said, looking down at Muni. “It’s me, Megan. Your daughter.”

  Muni and Megan stared at each other for a long moment, as if they were searching each other’s face for some long-lost bond.

  “Megan,” Muni said, her eyes misty with tears. “I knew we’d meet again. Do you hear the Voices?” She reached out her hand, beckoning Megan to join her in the hole. “Come with me to New Earth, my dear córka. You and I will be the first to pass over.”

  “Yes, I’ll come with you,” Megan said. “Help me down.”

  “Don’t do it!” Axel protested.

  Megan ignored his pleas and crouched at the edge of the hole. Muni quickly set the child aside and reached up to help her daughter. But as soon as the child was out of harm’s way, Megan stood back up, a large stone in her hands.

  “Good-bye, mother,” she said, and with perfect aim, dropped the stone into the hole. The rock cracked off Muni’s head with a thud, instantly rendering her unconscious. Daisha snatched the child, grabbed Axel’s hand, and scooted back up the wall.

  “29.6339° N, 35.4518° E,” Megan said. “That’s the code for your GeoPorts.” She pointed to the sky. “Hurry up, before it’s too late!”

  Axel and Daisha glanced up and saw a massive, bubbling hot solar flare hurtling directly at them. Flames splintered off the fireball when it hit the atmosphere. To Axel, they looked like torpedoes of destruction destined to annihilate every corner of the earth.

  “We have to Warp!” he screamed at Daisha.

  Both of them fumbled with their GeoPorts. The fact that Daisha was still holding the baby made it that much harder.

  “The solar flares are coming!” Megan shouted. “It has to be now!”

  Daisha punched in the first three numbers and stopped. “We can’t do this.” She looked at Axel.

  “We have to,” Axel said. “Look around. The world’s about to end.”

  “No,” Daisha said. “I think Charu’s right. We need the exact coordinates. If the coordinates don’t match where we are, it might not work.”

  She turned to Megan. “Throw Axel your phone. Hurry!”

  Megan looked confused for a moment but then understood. She lofted her phone to Axel, who fumbled with it but then opened up the location app.

  “What are our exact coordinates?” Daisha asked.

  At that moment, a solar flare smashed into the side of the mountain. People screamed as globs of molten rock sprayed all around them. A fiery meteorite the size of a basketball flew in Axel’s direction. He ducked just before the thing completely took his head off, then he turned back to the phone.

  “Come on. Come on,” he said, shaking the device to try to make it go faster.

  “Daisha, Axel!” Megan pleaded. “Please, it’s now or never!”

  “Got it!” said Axel. “Type these numbers into your GeoPort: 29.6332° N, 35.4512° E.”

  Daisha erased the coordinates Megan had given them and entered the new ones as Axel read them.

  “Are you set?” Daisha asked.

  Axel took one last glance between the screens and nodded.

  They held their GeoPorts out in front of them. On the count of three, they pressed the SW buttons on their GeoPorts and detonated into the Warp.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  DAISHA

  The Warp exploded all around them like a brilliant sunset. Daisha could feel Catalina’s presence in her arms. Another warm, loving presence zoomed beside her. It was Axel. Daisha’s heart swelled with love. They were together and flying through the Warp once again.

  The three of them zipped along at supersonic speed. Explosions of light and colors danced all around them. Just ahead, a massive rush of energy was bearing down on them hard and fast.

  “It’s the solar wind,” Daisha said, holding Catalina closer. “I hope I didn’t make the wrong choice.”

  The sun’s massive stream of plasma and charged particles engulfed them. There was a giant whoosh like wind hitting a microphone, and they were swept away in its cosmic force. A vision of the universe illuminated as if on the world’s largest IMAX screen. Slowly, the picture began to magnify, zeroing in on the Wadi Rum desert like a celestial search on Google Earth.

  They saw the Seven Pillars of Wisdom still intact. The blue desert skies had returned, replacing fiery images of the apocalypse. Jag, Loosha, and Charu were busy cutting the bindings off the Antakaale women. Megan was hugging a very distraught-looking Luciana.

  Rocks and earth now filled the crevice that had almost killed Daisha and Catalina. Pavana stood there, staring at the ground, a defeated expression on her face. The filled-in fissure was not only Muni’s grave, but also the haunted tomb of their New Earth.

  New images flickered on the Warp’s artery walls. She saw the Galápagos Islands where she and Loosha had run for their lives from the tsunami. The once submerged archipelago had reappeared. Streaks of brilliant colors streaked across the sky as the auroras returned to their rightful places above the northern and southern hemispheres.

  Their magic carpet ride continued across all seven continents. The devastating consequences of destroying the permanent X-Point were everywhere—hurricane destruction, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, sinkholes, wildfires, avalanches, and landslides.

  “Our parents couldn’t have known this is what would happen,” Daisha said. “If they did, I’m sure they would’ve just let the Doctor have the technology.”

  Thick dust wafted around the planet like dirty clouds from the impact of several large asteroid strikes. The natural disasters hadn’t spared one country on the planet from the destruction, but the people were helping each other. They saw the young pulling the elderly from ruined houses, rescue workers frantically searching for missing family members, firefighters dousing flames, and police keeping the peace.

  “Look!” Axel said, as they soared over a very familiar structure in the Indian countryside.

  “The Konanavlah Sun Temple,” Daisha said. “And it’s intact. The Doctor didn’t destroy it after all.”

  An Indian metropolis came into view. Plumes of black smoke hung in the air. Half the city was in ruins, the other half looked like nothing had happened at all.

  “It’s Bhopal,” Axel said. “I recognize the skyscrapers. Charu told me her parents live in one of them. They’re still standing!”

  Another picture popped up on the Warp’s walls. The image wasn’t the skyline, but of three men standing on the steps of a building with a sign that read Bhopal High Court—Madhya Pradesh. One of the men was an Indian official. Daisha and Axel instantly recognized the other two.

  “It’s the Doctor and Pinchole,” Daisha said, not quite believing her eyes.

  “What’s going on?” Axel wondered.

  They watched as the Doctor handed the Indian official an envelope filled with wads of cash. Their old nemesis smiled, shook the man’s hand, and he and Pinchole walked down the steps toward an awaiting car.

  The curtain closed on the Doctor and Pinchole. A bright light appeared in the distance. Daisha recognized it as the same radiance she had experienced from shuttling through the Warp after the Sun Temple explosion. Then everything went dark. Axel, Catalina, and Daisha spiraled downward through a lifeless void.

  A rush of hot wind blasted their faces. Catalina whined, tugging at her ears from the intense pressure. Fuzzy images below them took shape. An enormous, translucent membrane like a kid’s bubble wand came into view. They were about to land. Daisha held tightly to Catalina as a cushion
of wind softened their landing and they popped through the layer.

  “Are you okay?” Axel asked.

  Daisha’s eyes snapped open. It was daytime. The sky was bright blue. She was lying on her back with Catalina in her arms. Surprisingly, she didn’t feel ill from plunging through the Warp. She sat up and saw they had landed right back on top of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

  “Axel, Daisha!” Megan called.

  “Catalina!” Luciana screeched.

  Luciana ran to Daisha and swept Catalina into her arms, tears of joy streaming down her face. “You’re safe!” she shouted, kissing her baby’s face and head.

  Charu, who had been cutting the zip ties off one of Muni’s followers, ran to Axel and wrapped him in a huge hug.

  “I thought you were dead,” she whispered. “And I’d never see you again.”

  “Are you okay?” Jag asked.

  “I’m fine,” Axel answered. “In fact, we’re all fine thanks to Daisha.”

  Megan walked over to Daisha. “Let me see the GeoPort,” she demanded.

  Daisha handed it over.

  Megan studied the unit. “29.6332° N, 35.4512° E,” she said. “The last number of each coordinate is different from the ones I gave you. How did you know the coordinates didn’t match?”

  “I…uh,” Daisha stuttered, her face growing flush. “It was a feeling. I don’t deserve all the credit. What Charu said earlier made a lot of sense.”

  Megan took Daisha’s hands in hers. A huge smile spread across her face. “Well, you almost ran out of time and got us all killed. But it was the right thing to do. There’s no telling if it would have worked with the other coordinates.”

  She turned to Charu. “And it seems like you really do have a knack for physics.”

  “We may be fine,” Daisha said. “But the world isn’t safe. We have a lot more work ahead of us.”

  “Why?” Megan asked.

  “The Doctor,” she said. “It seems we’re not done with that guy just yet. Good thing our side has gotten a lot stronger since last time.”

  Daisha, Axel, Charu, Jag, Megan, and Loosha trekked back down the mountain, the women of the Antakaale following close behind.