by Mark Lingane
“That’s the job of the counselor.”
Melanie closed the door behind her, sat on the long sofa, and stretched out her legs. She attempted to look as bored as she could.
“It’s time for you to move on,” the counselor said.
“It’s a bit difficult,” Melanie replied. Her voice was flat and disinterested.
“You still have a long life to live, even if it’s not the one you planned.”
“What’s the point of planning?” she spat. “There’s no point to anything. So much has been lost in war. How do I recover from that? How do we recover?”
“Perhaps we don’t,” the counselor said, flicking her pen against her notepad. “Perhaps we leave it all behind, change and start again in a new world. One day, our sun will die. It’ll weaken and expand into a red giant that devours our planet before shrinking back into a blackened chunk of matter floating in a dead solar system, surrounded by a dying universe. In one hundred billion years, every living thing in the entire universe will be dead. Every atom of energy will be expended, and there’ll be nothing but everlasting blackness. And time will wind on for eternity, but nothing will ever live again. But that’s all right, because we’ll all be dead.”
The counselor flicked her pen against her pad and watched Melanie closely. “And in a strange kind of way, we think we’ll be around to see this,” she said, “even though the thought is totally impossible. Maybe we get impatient for our own doomsday.”
“Maybe that’s the best thing for us all.”
“Living a life in denial of your potential is a life wasted. This is your time. You can’t hide behind your injuries, Melanie. You have to adapt and go forward. It’s time for you to face the world.”
14
SEBASTIAN LOOKED UP at the long ropes of gray lightning. As he approached, the lightning danced around him, reaching out, but never quite touching him. He put out his hand and the light danced away.
“Have you seen this before?” Nikola asked him. “By the look on your face, you have.”
“Is this Omega? At the Hive, they had exactly the same thing in a room with an upside-down horseshoe on the door.”
“Yes, this is Omega. Together they make up the Omega twins. They’re two parts of the same thing. Do you know why the light’s gone gray?”
“Um, the same thing happened when I blew up the core,” Sebastian said.
As Sebastian moved further into the building, Nikola turned to Albert. “Albert, what are the implications of that?”
“I had theories about that in the past, but if vat ve see is the result of the core collapse, then maybe I vas wrong.”
“Is it worse?”
“It’s hard to tell, but I assume so. I’m having to rethink everything in light of the new information.” He took a deep breath. “The evidence alvays pointed to there being only two Omegas, but because they haven’t cancelled each other out and have grown more turbulent, it proves there are three—these two conflicting against a third. The rumors ve had before turns out to be true.”
“That was always a possibility. You’d better have a word with Sebastian and run him through the situation.”
“Sebastian,” Albert shouted.
“Yeah?”
“It’s time for revision.”
“It’s time for you to understand the Omega dilemma, Sebastian,” Albert said.
He had cleared most of his destructive experimental equipment to the side of the large lecturing desk as soon as they entered the old classroom. He had even managed to clear half of the blackboard. Poorly. Half the complex equations were still visible. Albert fussed about, shifting various successful, and sharp, failed experiments into the safety zone.
Sebastian shuffled around his old classroom, examining the equipment.
“Take a seat. This vill be a long lecture.”
“Is it going to be all science-y?”
“Very much so.”
Sebastian groaned inwardly, found the most comfortable chair, sat down, and pretended to look interested. “Will there be food?”
“Nein.”
Sebastian sagged. “Questions?”
“Nein.”
“At least that’s something.”
“A lot of science research is conducted by experimenting through cause and effect. Ve don’t necessarily know how something vorks, but ve put our rules around it so our minds can understand it. Ve are vired with a deep desire to understand ‘vy’. It is the burden of cognizance.”
“Animals have it a lot easier. Fewer science lectures, for a start.”
Albert ignored him and continued. “More than a millennia ago, a group of scientists built a massive tunnel called the Hadron Collider in an old country called Svitzerland, very close to vere I grew up. They vanted to find vat they called the ‘god particle,’ one of the fundamental particles of existence. However, it turned out not to be vat they thought it vas. To understand more, they built a huge tunnel hundreds of miles in diameter, and unleashed these particles at each other.”
He drew a large oval on the board and turned to face Sebastian. “Particles so small, the largest microscope couldn’t see them. Ve only knew they vere there by the changing behavior of vat was around them, like tiny dust motes bouncing around some balloons.”
Albert looked out through the windows toward the western horizon. “They built a modern, highly sophisticated city near the tunnel called Hadron, vat ve now call the Hive. From here, they unleashed these micro-particles, powered by nuclear reactors, firing them in opposite directions at each other. As expected, they collided vit each other. Twice. The Hive and here. Or so ve thought.”
He drew furiously on the blackboard. “Two particles smashed into each other so fast and hard there was an intense implosion, and they ripped apart something even smaller so badly it has been burning for one thousand years, leaving great tears in space. Energy burned off, decaying at a tremendous rate.”
The scribbling became frantic as Albert became lost in his own world. He stepped back and stared at the mess on the board. “Power beyond the dreams of madmen.” He almost whispered the phrase. His vision remained transfixed on the board.
When he continued, his voice was more somber. “Ve thought they vere in unison. For the millennia, ve believed that whoever could control the union of the two tears vould have a huge destructive power in their control. I alvays thought there was the chance that, if one vas reversed, they vould cancel each other out.”
“Bring balance?”
“Yes, if you vill. Bring balance.”
Sebastian beamed.
“However, this has not happened,” Albert continued. “In fact, the opposite.”
The smile disappeared from Sebastian’s face.
“That means there vas another collision, somewhere else. A third Omega. This third Omega is now out of balance vit the other two, fighting against them at the molecular level.” He paused. A look of grief covered his face. “It’s killing the planet, pulling out the immense energy from the core as it battles vit our twin Omegas. One day there vill be huge earthquakes, great tsunami vaves, and the planet vill shake itself to pieces. All that vill be left vill be a broken shell, drifting in space. It vill be our legacy to the universe.”
The room appeared to darken. The somberness of Albert’s words drove into Sebastian.
“Unless ve destroy the third Omega.”
“Oh, can I do it? Pick me! Pick me!”
Albert sighed and, for a fleeting moment, looked sad. “I am a scientist, and I cannot let emotion get in the vay, unlike others. In a strange vay, this vas always going to happen. I now know you vere always meant to do it, Sebastian, as night follows day. You vere chosen for this. You are the one vit the power. Its full strength ve don’t understand yet. You vill be the first mega-tesla, maybe the only one. You vill destroy the Omega and save us all. Class dismissed.”
Sebastian sat staring out the window toward the west. Moments ago, it had seemed fun, but Albert’s fatalistic co
mments worried him. Beyond the excitement of adventure lay a burning question: How did Albert know?
15
SEBASTIAN, SEMI-LOST in thought, pushed open Melanie’s door. Her message had been persuasive, and not written in crayon, which surprised him. As the door swung wide, he saw her sitting in her chair with a colorful paper cone on her head. In her mouth was a party blower. As she puffed, it unfurled with all the excitement of an unwashed pair of underpants.
Across the window she had strung a series of cutout letters spelling Happy Birthday.
“My birthday?” Sebastian said. His face lit up.
“I see your reading’s improved. Words of two syllables, no less. Yes, your birthday. Sort of. You missed it when you were in the coma.”
“I didn’t realize.”
“You’re now officially one year older, and as you’re male, one year more annoying. God help us next year.” She rolled her eyes in dramatic fashion. “And, in two years, we can welcome you back into the human race, once your hormones have stopped sucking the blood from your brain.”
“That’s not very nice,” he said, although he couldn’t keep the smile from his face.
“Sorry, it’s a gender thing.” A pained expression flashed across Melanie’s face.
“I’m sorry about Gavin,” he said.
She shrugged. “I should’ve listened to you. I should’ve listened to my better self.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Anyway, enough of that. I have a present for you.”
“You have changed.”
She smiled. “In ways you cannot fathom.”
She handed over a small package and he quickly tore the paper away. Inside, was a substantial wooden box, small but robust.
“It’s a memory box,” she explained.
He opened it and examined its contents. “It full of pictures of you.”
“You might as well start with the good stuff. Just collect things that remind you of important things, like me, your mom, your home, and put them in this box. It’s helpful in so many ways. Trust me.” She bent over and picked up another object. “You can start with this.”
He opened the piece of paper. It was a picture of him and his mother. “You drew this?”
“I had a lot of time to practice, lying in the hospital, waiting for you to wake up, sitting by that stupid bed.” She burst into tears. “Goddamn it, boy, you scared me.” She leaned over and held him close.
“Yeah, but I’m all right now.”
“At least one of us is.”
“What do you mean?”
“I guess I have to tell you. Not that it affects you. Let’s go talk.”
They made their way back up to their old familiar observation post, looking out over the city toward the west. They sat and watched the nighttime activities of the city. Reconstruction had progressed rapidly, with the help of the cyborgs. Cyborgs now walked around the city, assisting wherever they could.
“Okay, here goes.” She took a deep breath. “When Gavin shot me, it caused a fair bit of damage. The doctors say I can’t have children.” She paused. “I feel like most of my reasons to exist have been ripped away from me. What do I do now?” She reached out for his hand and held it tightly.
“What you’ve always done, shout and hit stuff.”
“Maybe I should be a drummer in a rock band.”
“In my eyes, you haven’t changed. You’ll always be the same person to me.” He idly kicked his feet as his gaze drifted over the dark horizon. “All those months and years sitting together up here on the terrace looking out to the west, that’s who you were. Not the furious, unstoppable anger-death machine. But, I have to admit, I’ve been grateful for that side as well, when I’ve needed it. It’s your mind that makes me your friend, not your violent psychotic tendencies.”
Their faces reflected the sadness that washed over both of them.
“Look, I know about your mom,” Melanie said.
“I don’t think I can take losing her.” He stared down at his hands.
“The trick is to keep breathing. Look out there at that world. What will happen when you die? When I die? It will go on. Uncaring and unflinching until its own last days, when it’s engulfed by a dying and bloated sun.”
“Have you been talking to Albert?”
“Worse. The counselor. Look, everyone has their time. It’s unfair when the good die young and evil outlives the more deserving, but you can’t do anything about that. It is what it is, nothing more. You want to do something about your mother passing on? Then live your time. It’s yours. Do something with it. Do something amazing, and do it today.”
“Albert says the world’s dying mainly because of the Hive stuff. He says I’m the first mega-tesla, maybe the only one. He says I have to go and destroy this other Omega.”
“There’s another one?”
“Yeah, he says there are three. And if I don’t do it, the planet will blow up.”
“No pressure then.”
“Half of me thinks it would be a really exciting adventure.”
“But all of you is a teenage boy with no comprehension of responsibility or consequences. I’m surprised you aren’t completely distracted by girls. Or random squirrels.”
“Well, I do keep thinking about @summer.”
“Where is she? In fact, where’s Isaac? I know I’ve been locked up in the hospital, but I thought I would’ve seen them by now.” She noticed his face. “Don’t tell me they hooked up.”
“Yes and no.”
She gave him a quizzical look.
“They’ve disappeared. Iris downloaded himself—or herself—into @summer, and Isaac’s been modified and looks like a real tesla. Proper powers and everything. They disappeared as the core blew up.”
“Not good. Iris is one evil whatever.”
He nodded. “What gender do you think Iris is?”
“Female,” Melanie said without hesitation. “She’s a right bitch. A spoilt little princess. I should know.” She curled her arm across his back, and leaned her head against his shoulder.
The stars rolled across the heavens in their eternal dance, balancing the worlds of physics. The dark and empty sky reflected their emotions of loss.
“Well, this has been a very happy night,” Melanie said. “But never fear, I have something that’ll make all the bad stuff go away.”
Sebastian smiled. “What’s that?”
“Cake!”
16
MORNING CAME AND City Hall throbbed with the indignation of senior officials called out on a Sunday without the promise of either food or double pay. City Hall, freshly rebuilt with help from the cyborgs, towered high, dwarfing the assembled officials in height, if not self-importance.
There was a large circular table in the center of the hall, made from a composite of woods. Nikola, located closest to the doors, stood up and coughed. The assembly eventually fell into silence.
“The city is floundering. Number Two is dead,” Nikola said.
There was a sharp intake of air from the assembly.
“There’s no leader?” someone said.
“A replacement must be found urgently,” said another.
“As the elders of the city, the choice is yours. I suggest you choose wisely.” Nikola sat down and watched as the gathered crowd discussed the matter.
Within moments, the delegated representative stood up. He cleared his throat and gave Nikola a hesitant glance. “We believe the best person for this position is Kerry Constantine. Right now, she’s working industriously for the city, even after the horrific injuries she’s endured. We believe she best represents our needs.”
“I assume when you say ‘our,’ you mean the people of the city, rather than those gathered here today,” Nikola said.
The man stumbled over his words before he managed a confirmation.
“Very well,” Nikola said. “I’ll get someone to inform her.”
“She already knows,” the man said, his greasy smile full of vindictiveness.
<
br /> Nikola shrugged. “So be it. Let’s have a quick recess before discussing the other item.” He got up and left the building, looking for Parker, who was leaning against the outside wall waiting for him.
“I can see by your face that the assembly went exactly the way you wanted it to.”
Nikola wiped his hand over his face and gave him a dark look. He sighed. “It wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t just pretend they were actually discussing it. If I were a cynical man, I’d imagine they planned this whole Omega catastrophe just so they could get her into power.”
“Like a smoke?”
Nikola shook his head.
“Maybe karma will play a role here, and hopefully, they’ll get what they wished for. Or at least deserve.”
“I think Kerry Constantine will be exactly what they deserve.” Nikola looked up at the shaky administration building and frowned. It seemed to be held together by bad intentions and deceitful actions. “If only they knew.”
The meeting ground on, wearing Nikola’s resolve into a fine dust of desolation. He rested his head on his hand and listened to the eternal bickering over the price of sheep, and the associated worth in trade negotiations. His eyes drifted to the great domed ceiling, and he shifted uneasily on the hard wooden seat. He was jolted back to the debate by the loud, booming, and self-important voice of self-proclaimed Lord De Monet.
“Now there’s this new threat from the east,” De Monet said, “from the capital.”
Nikola sat up. “New threat? How do you know?”
“There’s a rumor that a menace grows in the capital,” De Monet said. “There’s a sickness affecting the people, twisting them. People go into the capital, but no one comes out. Should I be concerned that the commander of the armed services is not aware of this?”
“I hear the people in the east have a new leader,” Phineas Rotund said. “This sickness makes their minds weak, and they’re easily led. They’re amassing a force to attack us. Why does everyone want to attack us?”
