Log 1 Matter | Antimatter

by Selina Brown

  Ingrin turned back to the camera. “Who decides who dies? The Aryan Government?”

  “No, Ingrin. It comes down from Maya but this is the scariest news, apparently most of the Pure-Gens voted for genocide, one held off the vote, Ara Katron…”

  Caleb turned it off, still gripping her hand.

  Now what Viper said made sense.

  He sat back down, partially turning to her. “Ara, they say we are a part of some crazy test where Maya, and the Natal whoever they are, is trialing systems of all types for some fabrication | reconstruction issue and the system that works will live on, but Iota is on the verge of total destruction if what they say is true. There are some beings called the Amatal who ensure the tests sites are operational and do the actual resetting. It’s … scary. The Aryan Military are coordinating all stations and planets to get some decent intel. There’s going to be a lot of pressure on you, from both sides, since your vote stopped genocide. My family are for genocide, and I have to watch myself. Terzon too.”

  Amatal? Where had she heard that before? “I know. I understand. What are they testing for exactly and where or what are the results being applied to? I mean, most tests have some purpose, or are used to make life better.”

  Caleb shrugged.

  “The panic—” No wonder she couldn’t get hold of Korbet, he and the other officials would be inundated. She felt some relief it wasn’t because she had lashed out at him.

  “Just understand that I have to take Tara home with me.”

  “I um … oh.” She looked down. “You are worried if she’s with me—” She sobbed.

  He lifted her chin and there were tears in his eyes. “You saved her. I won’t forget that. I’m so sorry, I know you two love each other. Tara often jokes that you are more like her mum than Meg is. She was so looking forward to the trip home to Wilds.”

  Ara looked at him and kissed him. “I want you to take her. I’ll leave earlier, better to be in the public’s eyes and away from my family. If Kavela will still have me. I don’t think Wilds will want me now either, it’s too dangerous. I’ll check with them but I’ll need to get my things.”

  “I think you’ll find the government will insist on it. It is the best protection for you.” He stood and pulled her up, holding on tight. “I will not abandon you.”

  “I know. But we won’t see each other a whole lot.” She sounded pathetic even to herself.

  “And you’ll be busy, loving your spheres, and learning to make planets.”

  She nodded, knowing he was trying to cheer her up. “I will have to.”

  “People will be panicking and you with be a beacon both revered and feared.”

  She saw worry on his face.

  But he said, musing, “I wonder what the endgame is.”

  “Game?” She paused. “With genocide being triggered I hazard a guess the endgame is deadlock, resource starvation where a system goes as far as it can like a vehicle running out of fuel. I think Maya wants to reset this system for the next and final attempt.”

  He blinked at her but said, “I thought a deadlock would prevent any movement.”

  “That’s just us, within the system. The controller sits outside the system.”

  “Soooo, a Maya is outside?” Caleb seemed shaken. “That makes sense if resetting.”

  “I daresay we have Maya units or something. Probably nine all up.”

  “One for each test site.” He nodded. “The Aryan Government is going to try to get out I guess.” He tossed down his bag. “I’ve got this urge to run away, grab everyone one I love and escape. But, Ara, where would we go?”

  She stared at him and cried. “There is nowhere.”

  Go home.

  Ara held her head in her hands.

  “Ara?”

  “I have to go home.” Her spine shivered from tip to toe.

  “Okay. I’m packed up.”

  She laughed nervously, peeping at him through her fingers. He took her hands.

  She said, “We have three choices. Change the vote, keep the vote the same, or get to the source.”

  “We’ll never unite to do one thing.” He released one of her hands and placed his other around it. “What do you want Terzon and I to do? We think working on the … um … other side will be key to feeding you information, but I may be able to still help you from inside.”

  “Caleb, I’m not prepared to make those decisions.” She shivered with fear. “I’m barely hanging on as it is.”

  “You seem so … military minded.”

  She laughed and cried. “I don’t know where it’s coming from. You remember I told you I think my memories were blocked?”

  Caleb nodded. “Maybe you were a military genius and came here as Mobile Unit to the big, fat Maya with even bigger, fatter Cardinal Unit out there somewhere to save us all.”

  They stared at each other before laughing.

  After they calmed down, he lifted her chin. “Be brave—” he kissed her nose “—be strong. I’m making the decision for Terzon and I. You are going to think about your role in all this, you were the last Pure-Gen, there must be a reason for your birth other than being the Mobile Unit.”

  Vanguard came to mind.

  C. Vanguard?

  A. Damn it

  C. Spill it

  She did.

  C. So, Viper said he had the answers but gave you no way to contact him, but what of the familiar energy you say you picked up in Beachside City?

  She shrugged. “Nothing yet. My relationship with Maya has changed as well; I’m using the CU more like normal Pure-Gens do.” Ara kept her pain locked in tight from knowing she could have prevented the Genocide Vote. It shamed her.

  They walked to the door and opened it. Trickster was outside, hand raised to knock. Ara laughed nervously. “When do you knock?”

  “When Caleb is around.”

  Caleb squeezed her hand and they moved back in.

  They stared at the Tuan until he closed the door and faced them. “Ara, I can tell you that this involves you, me, the snake, his assist revealed and hidden and ah—”

  “Nyx?”

  He bowed his head. “He told you.”

  “Just that I’m working for her.”

  “And I. Some others. The truth is Snake wants a new regime. Nyx wants the old. Snake wanted to collapse the Lacuna with everyone to end the suffering, but his brethren are stuck here and he wants to get them out first. Nyx may want to get everyone out. Ara Katron, there are no rules for their duel.”

  Ara’s mouth had dropped open. Kill everyone?

  “May want?” Caleb glanced at her. It sounded bad to both of them.

  Trickster shuffled on the spot. “She hasn’t decided yet.”

  Ara snorted in disgust. “You’re wrong about one thing. This involves everyone inside the Lacuna.”

  Caleb nodded. “And I’m going to help.”

  “You two are both—” Trickster sighed, looking from her to Caleb. “Very well. Ara, you have to be ready to find a way home if Nyx decides to get everyone out.”

  Ara rebelled, not against his words but against Nyx. Who did she think she was? If she could, she would get everyone out anyway. Caleb was thinking the same thing and squeezed her hand.

  C. Together

  “What do I need to start doing?” She locked on to his brown eyes, forcing him to answer her.

  “Make Aryans breathe water or fish breathe oxygen.”

  “Huh?” Not the answer she was expecting.

  Trickster left as she tried to recover her thoughts. She and Caleb both ran to the door and looked out but all they saw was a brown wolf gliding through the mist. Caleb closed the door and they stared at each other.

  “Right. That was weird, even for him.”

  Ara nodded.

  Sub-Log XXXVI

  Ara lay on her bed that night, comforted by Caleb’s words, confused by Trickster’s. But still sleep did not come. Why did she need to get fish to breath oxygen … unless life outside the Lacu
na was so different that those inside couldn’t breathe? So why not stay inside then? She switched to the other issue. There were no rules in this supposed war and it was obvious this was going to get dirty. She flipped onto her stomach and screamed into her pillow. It didn’t help.

  Bleary eyed the next day, she took out her frustrations on the weeds in the front garden; Mum was back in the shed trying to find some new seedlings. Something intruded on her thoughts. Ara held up a flower with roots dangling. “Oop.” She quickly replanted it.

  Drumming.

  Pen stomped over and almost fell to her left. “Damn! I was hoping for a nice, peaceful day with you.”

  “Wife kicked him out again?”

  Pen nodded and looked around, confused.

  “No seedlings?” Ara glanced around leaning back, resting her dirty hands on her lap. The replanted flower was leaning unnaturally but Mum didn’t notice.

  Mum had turned a shade of pink. “With all the stress of that news, I remembered I’d already planted them over there.” She waved her gloved hand in the direction of the garden to Ara’s left.

  “Why don’t we drive to the nursery? It’s only fifteen minutes away, and they have that little café in their gardens now.”

  Pen smiled. “Great idea. And new gloves. Honestly, why do you keep losing them all the time?”

  Ara hugged her, grateful for some normalcy.

  Cobra and Viper sat in the garden café, on one side of the waterfall.

  “She’s too happy,” Viper said after hearing Ara giggling with her mum.

  Cobra shook his head. “She’s thinking about it, let it percolate. Push her too hard and she’ll be less receptive. You did a good job by the way.”

  “I felt at odds. There was a definite tugging to like her. It’s better Tarus is away more.”

  Cobra raised a sandy-blond eyebrow. “Now that we have released the ‘news’ Ara will have to rethink what she is going to do. And the Natal with that amazing display of body crushing will help our cause.”

  Viper smiled then. “You did well eliciting that.”

  They both drank their spiders. Viper had cola and Cobra raspberry.

  “Did you want me to steal those Quadrazaads from Ara’s Seeker?”

  “No, let’s see if we can use them. The closer they are to her, the easier it is to connect and manipulate events around her.”

  Cobra met the dark blue eyes. “Tarus was right after all with the alliance idea, we can make it work for us.”

  “Once she gets a taste for power, it will be easier to nudge her.”

  “I had another idea.” Cobra’s eyes darted to the right.

  They leaned back as a grumpy waiter delivered their pies and chips. The waiter left.

  “Everyone is stressed—”

  Ara’s tinkling laugh filtered across denying that, but they both smiled, enjoying the sound.

  “I want to be nasty and say Aryans might hate her for that laughter, but I don’t think it will do her harm, and—” Cobra couldn’t finish his sentence.

  “It’s pleasant.” Viper picked up his fork. “Tell me.”

  “Put your hat on, Ara and Pen are—never mind, they are heading back into the gardens to shop. Right, where was I?”

  Viper blurted out, saying, “Before you go on I want to be one of those function tests.”

  “I hoped you would. Tarus can work from without. I need to meet with the Amatal as we’ll need their help; our Chaos Brethren are ready to start escaping.”

  They strolled around the gardens following Ara and Pen.

  Cobra smiled then. “Yes, see the tightness in her body? Ara is definitely not happy. She’s under dual pressure having to try to present a positive outlook.”

  Viper studied the body language with a frown. “You are the brains of the operation. I’ll believe you.”

  “I’m the Nexus of the operation you mean.”

  “Same thing.”

  An old argument that Cobra didn’t want to expend energy on. They ducked out the way and resumed their stroll seeing Ara and Pen heading out with armloads of seedlings.

  “Tarus is almost ready to steal the Artifacts.”

  Viper nodded. “If the Aryans aren’t scared enough that will really frighten them.”

  After a hot shower and nail scrubbing, Ara walked to her bed and picked up the hand mirror. It was a bit oldie looking, gaudy even. But she saw “Ara Honeybee” recessed in a golden oval. There were even little bees and flowers. She lifted it and studied it closely. Turning it carefully—it was heavy—she studied the reflection.

  She looked pale and drawn.

  Korbet called her “Ara Honeybee”. Was this from him? She was about to put the mirror away when she noticed something appearing around her neck. It looked like a tattoo.

  “Cool.” But then it grew out of her neck. “Obscene!”

  Looking back in the reflection of the hand mirror, she watched the necklace sink back into her skin. “Nanites.” She remembered the NaPP and Mole that she’d been asked to work on. She never told anyone the NaPP was her design, contracted secretly and categorized “Gold Level”. Ara had since learned that “Gold” was a military and Pure-Gen combination. Only the military had access to the tech she was designing. Her “meshing” experience with the Natal had given her a lot to work with.

  She ran some tests later and analyzed the data but no equipment she could access could give her the answers she wanted. She lifted the hard copy she had printed, staring at the tiny plasma triganic filament. The triganic material allowed it to bond and move though the gaps in her atomic structure, oozing through so it didn’t break or weaken any of the organic bonds. She had to think about what she was seeing.

  Jamie’s Cabin

  Now that Ara had returned, and Leo was living in their first apartment close by, Jamie was happier. Later in the day, he was in his stable, brushing down the stallion, when he sensed her behind him. With rising desperation in his voice, he said, “This is dangerous, Ara.” Evidently ignoring his plea, her answer was to hug him around his waist, head leaning on his back. In his own turmoil of emotions regarding Ara, he’d forgotten that she might have an attachment to him as well, the one she felt safe with. Even that in itself was dangerous. He needed her to increase her responsiveness to the world around her.

  “Thanks for everything you and your teams do for me.”

  He leaned on Drum and smiled, resting his hand on her bare arm. “You’re welcome, but it’s just our jobs.”

  “Sure it is.” She squeezed but he felt her body moving with laughter. “I know. But you have to know how I feel.”

  A. I’m not as vulnerable as you think

  Her voice was so loud and clear in his mind; for a moment a rush of thrill swept through him. She’s not Leanne. She’s not Leanne. He shut down the inner chanting.

  She released him. “Bye, Jamie.”

  Warmth flooded him, replacing the fear. He loved hearing her say his name, and she sounded so shy using it. “Ara?” He turned, but she was gone.

  He dropped the brush and ran out. He admired her short summer dress but thought it odd in the cool weather. He followed and watched as she began down the trail. But then he saw the portal, and Ara heading for it. “Ara!”

  Jamie ran, panic filling him, and, without thought, jumped through in time.

  Jamie and Ara

  Life-System – Tatsela

  He bumped into her, stumbled, and fell on to his side. Ara squatted next to him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Welcome to Tatsela.”

  He accepted her hand, and stood looking around at the garden scene around him. “Tatsela? I’ve … I haven’t been here yet.”

  “No. Not much to spy on here. Just king bees.”

  She was giving him a cheeky look now. His eyes narrowed. “What are you up to?”

  With a wicked leer, Ara held out her hand. “Let me show you.” But she laughed, spoiling the effect.

  Bemused, he reached out.

  “
Just be warned, once you hold my hand, there’s no going back. You can leave now or stay.”

  He grasped it tightly. With a happy smile on her slender face, Ara turned, pulling him along.

  And that, Jamie thought, was all she wrote.

  “What do you need me to do?”

  They’d been walking around the Gardens of Tatsela, a veritable paradise. He studied her face, noting her weight loss but determined look. “During your apprenticeship keep going back to Wilds for starters. That way I have a reason to keep a special team there.” He needed to keep an eye on the Function Tests.

  “Ah, a team not approved by our great military leaders?”

  He nodded. “Now Wilds is no longer enamored with Pure-Gens in general, they have their own security again. Before you ask, my team is not approved by Vakar either.”

  Ara took that he was a Vakar Avatara in her stride.

  “So, you have a secret team and I have a secret team.”

  He looked at her sharply.

  “Did you know how much radiation is given off by the planets we live on? They continually contaminate our bodies. I think my “go home” has something to do with that. But first I have to learn how to make planets. To truly understand the nature of the thing you must endure the thing.”

  Jamie turned to see a figure emerge from the trees. His smile froze. “Aed—?” And then another stepped out from the trees. “Dad?”

  The two stopped and waited for them.

  Ara laughed at him. “Apparently, I started something called the Legendary Damned. Aed is head of that clandestine syndicate. Your dad is head of—”

  “The Dragon’s Teeth, Sentinel Program.”

  She said, “Ah, you know. Well, my apprenticeship is up first. Apparently, I don’t just have to get us home, and get fish breathing oxygen, I have to wield Chaos without using technology. Of course, as a Mobile Unit, I have access to everything in the Cardinal Unit; I just don’t have control over everything now I’m not connected to Maya.”