The Gathering

by Michael Carroll

  Maria Soliz stirred and moaned a little. Her eyes briefly flickered open.

  “Mom?”

  “Dreaming…My little girl…” She opened her eyes. “I know it’s a dream, Renata. You vanished. Ten years ago. I miss you. I dream about you a lot.”

  Renata reached out and took her mother’s hand and squeezed gently. “This isn’t a dream, Mom. I’m really here.”

  “No…”

  Renata brushed her hand across her face, wiping away her tears.

  Then Maria Soliz suddenly sat up and grabbed her daughter’s arms. “Oh my God! Oh my God! Is it really you?”

  “Yes, Mom, it’s me!”

  Renata’s mother wrapped her arms around her. “We thought you were…How? How is this possible?” She let go and pressed her hand to her mouth. “They brought you back to me! Oh my God! Your father said that I was crazy to even think it. Everyone said that you were dead! But I knew—I knew—that you were still alive.”

  Renata smiled. “I am alive. But you have to keep your voice down. I’m not supposed to be here. I kinda had to sneak in.”

  “Who knows? Did you talk to your father yet?”

  “No, not yet. Mom, I can’t stay long, but I wanted you to know that I’m all right.”

  “Renata, it’s been ten years! Where have you been?” She peered closely at her daughter. “You haven’t changed.”

  “I know, I—”

  “No, you haven’t aged at all! That’s not possible. You still look like a fourteen-year-old.”

  “I’m a superhuman,” Renata said. “I was with Energy, Titan, Thalamus and the others ten years ago, on the first Mystery Day. I got frozen…”

  “My daughter was not a superhuman!”

  “I am, Mom. The morning I went missing…it was my first real mission. I didn’t have a costume, so I borrowed Bobby’s Zorro mask. I took Dad’s old leather gloves as well, the ones he used to use in the garden. I can turn myself solid. Watch!” Renata’s skin rippled and glistened. She became transparent and unmoving. After a few seconds, she turned back.

  “That was you on the news! You’re Diamond?”

  “That’s me, Mom. I don’t really have time to go through the whole story, but basically I got frozen for ten years. When I woke up, they wouldn’t let me come home. They didn’t say it, but I think they were worried that being frozen for so long might have affected me mentally. After a couple of weeks, they sent me to live with the Wagners. You’d like them a lot. It was the best place for me.”

  “The Wagners? You mean Energy and Titan?”

  “That’s them.”

  “Then whoever made that decision was right. It was the best place. Energy and Titan…if their son is as strong as the papers say he is, then there was probably no safer place in the world.”

  Renata smiled. “True. Except that I’m stronger than he is. Mom…what are you doing here? With the Trutopians I mean.”

  “They’re good people, Renata. It’s the only way forward. The world has to be saved and if the governments won’t do it, then it has to be done by a private organization.”

  “That’s Reginald Kinsella talking, Mom. Not you.”

  “Don’t you remember what it was like back in the old neighborhood? We lived in fear! Practically every day there was a mugging, or a burglary, or worse. Two years ago a man was shot dead on the road, right outside our house. The police never caught the killer. Since we joined the Trutopians we’ve never had to worry about anything like that.”

  “What about Samantha and Bobby? Did they join too?”

  “No. No, they didn’t and they said we were wrong to do it. But now look! You’ve come back to us!”

  “That doesn’t have anything to do with the Trutopians,” Renata said. “The organization is only one step away from a dictatorship. Do you know what’s happening right now? Kinsella has ordered the communities to be closed. No one is allowed in or out!”

  “What we’ve lost in freedom we’ve more than gained in security.”

  “That’s Kinsella’s words again. Mom, I don’t want to get into this with you now. I’m going to contact my friends. We’ll arrange for you and Dad to be transferred to our headquarters. You’ll be safer there.”

  Maria Soliz shook her head. “No. We’re staying here. The Trutopians have been very good to us. We have full medical coverage here. That’s something we never had in the outside world. And now you’re back with us! The apartment’s not big enough for three, but we’ll ask them to move us to a bigger one. I’m sure they won’t mind, not with you being a superhuman. They’ll be delighted to have you in the organization. Maybe they’ll even give us a house. And they’ll probably reduce our taxes too, because now we have a dependent.”

  “Mom, stop! I’m not joining the Trutopians!”

  “But…No, you have to!” Mrs. Soliz paused. “If you were frozen all this time, then technically you’re still only fourteen. You have to do what we say. You’ll have to go back to school too. You’d like the school here. It’s a friendly place. There’s never any bullying or any sort of peer pressure.”

  “Mom…”

  “Your father and I will be released in a couple of days, then you can come home with us and we can see in the New Year together.”

  Renata stood up. “No. You and Dad should come back with me. I don’t like the way these people operate, Mom.”

  “You might think that this is a dictatorship, Renata, but they look after their own.”

  “Yeah, that’s one of the things that bothers me. I—”

  The door behind Renata was pushed open. She turned to see a stern-looking policewoman standing in the doorway. “Renata Soliz, I’m arresting you on charges of trespassing on Trutopian property, unlawful entry and assaulting a police officer. You have the right to remain silent…”

  Renata interrupted her. “You really think that you can take me in?”

  Her mother said, “Renata, please…We don’t want any trouble. Just do whatever she says. Everything will be fine.”

  “Mom, I’ll be in touch as soon as I can. Give the others my love.” Renata moved toward the door, but the policewoman grabbed her arm to stop her.

  “You’re to come with me, Miss Soliz.”

  Renata stared at her. “You’re either very brave or very stupid. Now let go of my arm.”

  “I know who you are. You might be a superhuman, but that doesn’t mean that you’re above the law.”

  “True. But it does mean that you can’t stop me.” She pulled herself free and walked out of the room.

  The policewoman’s radio crackled. “Captain, we’ve just got a call from Mr. Kinsella. He’s on his way here. He wants to talk to the girl in person.”

  19

  IN THE DINING HALL AT SAKKARA, THE rest of the new heroes were sitting up late, discussing the attack and Colin’s rescue of Solomon Cord.

  “We can’t go on like this,” Butler Redmond said. “We’re just waiting here for another attack! We should be out there looking for this Dioxin guy. That helicopter didn’t just vanish. Someone must have seen it.”

  “What do you think, Yvonne?” Colin asked. “You’re the one with the enormous IQ. How would you find that helicopter?”

  The dark-haired girl said, “That model has a range of about twelve hundred and sixty miles on a full tank of fuel. Divide that distance by two, under the assumption that it went back to where it came from. So the initial search radius is six hundred and thirty miles. That gives us a search area of almost one and a quarter million square miles.”

  Danny whistled. “And for all we know it could have refueled somewhere along the way. So that’s no good. What about the DNA evidence left on Solomon’s skin by Dioxin’s men?”

  “My dad said they ran the DNA samples through their computers,” Colin said. “They can’t find any matches.”

  “Well, I say we start closer to home,” Butler said. “Pick the person most likely to be the traitor and interrogate them.” He glanced at Danny. “Starting
with Façade.”

  “He’s not the traitor,” Danny said.

  “He worked for Max Dalton and he betrayed him to help you guys. That means he has a history of betraying people.”

  Colin said, “Façade risked his life to save Solomon. If the StratoTruck had crashed I might have survived it, but there was no way Façade would have. As far as I’m concerned the man is on our side.”

  “Well, all I’m saying is that he’s proven that he can’t be trusted. And he keeps to himself, you notice that? He never talks to anyone else.”

  “That’s because no one will talk to him,” Danny replied.

  “Yeah, but—” Butler stopped talking.

  Razor had entered the room carrying a large object wrapped in a strip of thick canvas. He stopped in front of Danny and dropped the package on the table. It landed with a heavy thump.

  “What’s this?” Danny asked.

  “Christmas present,” Razor said. “Open it.”

  Danny unwrapped the canvas, then jumped back as though he’d just had an electric shock. He scrambled out of his chair and backed away. He stared at the object—a complex mechanical arm—as though it was the most terrifying thing he’d ever seen.

  Razor picked up the arm and flexed its joints. “You can thank Colin for the idea. It’s a long way from being finished, but when it is it should be pretty useful. A hell of a lot stronger than your original arm too. It’s based on the new Paragon armor, but instead of pressure switches to control the motors, we’ll rig it so that it reads your nerve signals. It’ll take some practice, but you should eventually be able to use it like it was your own.”

  Danny swallowed. “No.” He backed away even farther, shaking his head. “No. No way, Razor! You should have asked me first!”

  “Oh c’mon, Dan! What’s the problem? We spent ages putting it together.”

  Danny turned and ran from the room.

  Razor sighed and turned to Mina. “Now you know my big secret. What’s he so upset about?”

  Mina said. “He’s afraid of something. I’ve never seen someone so afraid.”

  Colin said, “Mina…I’ve just had a thought…Razor was telling me what you told him about superhuman auras. Can you sense all of the superhumans in this building?”

  She nodded.

  “What about Renata? Can you sense where she is?”

  “No, she’s too far away. After a few miles everything gets too fuzzy.”

  “When Sol was on the copter, that was only about five miles from here. Could you sense him there?”

  Again, Mina nodded.

  “How many people were on board, not counting Sol?”

  “Nine or ten.”

  “Now think back: what were their auras like?”

  Mina closed her eyes, frowning in concentration. “Excited, nervous…Running on adrenaline. They were…Wait…There was one that was different.” She opened her eyes and stared at Colin. “Dioxin. He has a superhuman aura.”

  “Would you recognize his aura if you saw it again?”

  “I think so.”

  Colin grinned. “Mina, you’ve just made our lives a heck of a lot easier!”

  The policewoman escorted Renata to a small hotel in Breckin Falls, just inside the gates of the Trutopian community. As they walked, Renata asked, “How did you even know I was here?”

  “The guard you knocked unconscious woke up.”

  “And Kinsella is coming all this way just to see me?”

  “Mr. Kinsella. Yes, he is.”

  “What’s he like in person?”

  “I don’t know,” the woman said. “I’ve never met him before.”

  A blast of warm air rushed out as the policewoman pushed open the hotel’s doors.

  The hotel receptionists watched them approach, and Renata felt a little conspicuous wearing her black one-piece uniform.

  “This way,” the policewoman said and led Renata along a short corridor. At the far end of the corridor, two black-suited men stood on either side of a set of double doors. One of them was tall and completely bald. The other was about Renata’s height and had a mean, dangerous look on his face.

  “We’ll take her from here, Captain,” the short one said. To his colleague, he said, “Frisk her.”

  Renata stepped back. “Either of you lay one hand on me and you’ll spend the rest of your lives pining after your missing teeth.”

  The policewoman said, “I’ll do it. Arms out, Ms. Soliz.”

  “Why? I mean, you know what I can do. If I wanted to hurt someone I wouldn’t need a weapon.”

  The two guards exchanged a glance, then the short one said, “All right. You will stay ten feet away from Mr. Kinsella at all times. Do not attempt to touch him or pick up anything that might be used as a weapon. If we even suspect that he is in any danger, we will act accordingly. Do you understand?”

  Renata rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

  “Do you understand?” the man repeated.

  “Yes, I understand.”

  To the policewoman, the taller man said, “Leave.”

  Obediently, the woman turned and walked away.

  The doors were unlocked and the two bodyguards escorted Renata into the room.

  It was completely empty, except for two uncomfortable-looking plastic chairs, set facing each other, about ten feet apart. The shorter man pointed to the chair farthest from the door. “Sit.”

  Renata sat. The bodyguards went back outside, closing and locking the door behind them.

  Now what? Do I just wait here until Kinsella shows up?

  She began wondering how she was going to persuade Kinsella to let her parents go, then caught herself. No, they can leave the Trutopians anytime they want to. I have to make them want to leave. But…why? Mom seems happy here, and I’m sure Dad is too. Maybe it isn’t so bad.

  But there was still something about the organization that bothered her. Something she couldn’t quite pin down.

  The doors opened again and Reginald Kinsella strode into the room, smiling. He looked to be in his mid-twenties and carried himself well despite being rather overweight. Kinsella was wearing the same neatly pressed dark blue suit he always wore on television.

  “Renata Soliz?” He stretched out his hand. “Reginald Kinsella. Good to meet you!”

  Renata stood and shook his hand. Strong grip. Confident.

  “Sit, please. Now, Renata…May I call you Renata or would you prefer Diamond? Or Ms. Soliz?”

  “Renata is fine.” She peered at him. “Don’t I know you from somewhere, Mr. Kinsella? I don’t mean from seeing you on television. I’ve just got this feeling that I’ve met you before.”

  He grinned. “I get that all the time. I suppose I just have one of those faces!”

  Renata paused. “I know I’ve seen you before.”

  For a moment, Kinsella’s smile slipped. “I can’t imagine how. Before you disappeared I was only eleven years old.”

  “So that means you’re only twenty-one now, but you’re in charge of the entire Trutopian movement?”

  “That’s right. But we’re not a movement. We’re just people who want to live in peace. Look, I can see that you’re pretty tired, so I’ll jump to the point. You’re a superhuman. We need you. No doubt you’ve heard about these attacks…Whoever or whatever this group Sakkara is, they’re extremely dangerous.”

  “Sakkara is not the name of the terrorists,” Renata said.

  Kinsella frowned and scratched at his beard. “How could you know that? Do your people know something about the terrorists that the rest of us don’t?”

  Uh-oh, Renata said to herself. I shouldn’t have said that. “No. Look, what is it you think I can do for you?”

  “It’s mostly a publicity thing. We want people to know that the Trutopians have the protection of you new heroes. You, your friend Colin Wagner and whoever else might be with you. We want to promote the idea that our way of life is safer for their families.”

  “It wasn’t safer for my parents
.”

  “No, that’s true. I’m truly sorry that such a terrible thing happened. But they’re in good hands now, I assure you. And now they have their daughter back! Remarkable, truly remarkable. Can I ask what happened? How did you manage to reappear after a decade without aging a day?”

  “I’d rather not say, Mr. Kinsella. Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but I am exhausted. I need to find somewhere to sleep.”

  “I’ve taken the liberty of booking you into a suite here for the night, at our expense. So feel free to indulge yourself. But in the meantime, do please consider my offer. For hundreds of years the ordinary man has been downtrodden by incompetent governments, by the rich, by the criminal class, by oppressive religious dogma. We’ve dispensed with all of that. No Trutopian ever goes hungry; there is no crime. Our people are free to follow any political or religious beliefs; they can come and go as they please. All we ask is that they don’t harm anyone, they pay their taxes and they obey the rules of the community.”

  “But they’re not free to come and go as they please right now, are they, Mr. Kinsella? You’ve sealed off the communities.”

  “That’s unavoidable. It’s only until the current crisis has ended.”

  “So they aren’t allowed outside the gates, but you are? One rule for them, another for you.”

  Kinsella paused. “That’s one way to look at it, but you could also think of it as me putting myself at risk in order to help ensure the safety of the rest of the community. Think about the future, Renata. It’s not set in stone. We shape the future, every one of us. Unfortunately, we can’t always see what that shape will be.”

  “What’s your point?” Renata asked.

  “The Earth is overpopulated, overpolluted, its resources dwindling. Many—if not most—of its countries are run by incompetent or corrupt governments. Left in their hands, the situation is not going to improve. Can you honestly picture any of the world’s most powerful countries suddenly deciding to abandon nuclear arms? Can you picture them cutting pollution levels? I don’t mean agreeing to cut pollution—they do that all the time—I mean actually doing it? In many countries the people are starving to death while the rest of the world throws out bread that’s more than a day old. The surface of the planet is eighty percent water, but every day thousands of people die of thirst. Pharmaceutical companies charge hundreds of dollars for vital medicines that cost only cents to produce. All of the world’s religions have the same basic rules, yet the people clash over their religious differences instead of celebrating their similarities…