by Jim Spencer
*
‘What do we do now Ruto. He hasn’t told us who are coming.’
‘We have to assume the worst. Even with our weapons that we have acquired, we need all the help we can get. They don’t know about our bunkers, so that should help for a little while.’
‘They will eventually discover it. What then?’
‘We fight as best we can.’
‘We haven’t got much of a chance against the entire might of civil country. We’re just not a fighting nation. And to unite all the tribes has never happened before,’ his councillor advised him.
‘Let’s hope we get help from elsewhere.’
‘Like neutral country did last time? They simply watched whilst everyone got killed. And civil are breaking the rules again. As soon as they got an opportunity, mind…’
‘I know. Keep faith, something will come forth. It always does.’
‘Well, it’s gonna have to be one hell of a something,’ the councillor advised.
Ruto sighed and looked up to the heavens,
‘Keep faith.’
*
An announcement came through the bunkers that evening to ones who were hidden inside. The message was sent by Elijah who stated that practically every member of civil country that could be in the army was in the army, so that amounted to about 2.5 million troops that were headed the way of tribe country to bring an end to it. The overall tribe was 1 million. They were being overlooked personally by Atan himself who didn’t want any further mistakes with the terrorists who were helping tribe country by selling them civil country secrets.
He warned them to be prepared, he warned them to be ready. And that however much help they could give, they would. He ended the message and sat down as the dawn came up. It almost reminded him of camp as everyone left in the country was sat there, eating food and communing with one another, something they hadn’t done in a long time.
Dawn was approaching. He could see the early rays of sunshine coming through. The wall that they had breached was now sealed. Everyone had done their fair share.
‘What now?’ Patrick asked.
‘I don’t know. We don’t have enough here to get to tribe country and do a counter attack. The numbers are too great. And we can’t help here anymore, because the people who were keeping them in chains are either dead or gone south, literally. Well, east.’
‘What about Arion?’
‘I suppose we could go with them, ask neutral country to do something for a change. Yeah, I suppose that’s the only useful thing we can do.’
‘Well then. Let’s be useful,’ Patrick said, and Nicholas smiled though deep down he was worried about what would happen to the people he had grown to care about.
*
The helipad lay on the ground, wounded. It had crashed open and Cordell had barely managed to get out in time. He had no idea where the other two were, but he found a small pool close by. Without bothering to look to see if it was drinkable, he dunked his head in and took a sip. Thankfully the water was sweet. He breathed heavily as he came out of the water.
‘I’m getting too old for this,’ he finally said out loud.
It was probably the first time he had honestly admitted to himself that age was catching up to himself. In all honesty, he had been feeling it for the last ten years or so. He knew with regards to the man Arion had killed earlier. If that was him ten years ago, his blood would have boiled enough for him to go head on and kill him himself. He could still do it, but he had to be more careful. It was funny really.
When you were younger, you got a bruise you would sit down for half a day and then you’d be fine. When you got older, that same bruise would put you back by two weeks and that was if you were healthy. It was in fact his great health that had allowed him to survive that fall. He had seen the implosion take out the entire giant herd. It had taken the longest to take out the biggest of the Nargus.
His limbs had slowly failed and dropped. Eventually the shock killed it, or so he hoped. The rest had simply scattered. And now Cordell began his search for Arion and his wife. They were close, he could sense it. He just couldn’t pinpoint it.
Chapter 19
It took a few moments before sundown when Cordell found Arion and Sana. Miraculously, their chair was intact, which was probably the only reason they survived the fall. Arion seemed to be very weak however. He couldn’t move his right leg.
‘I got hit,’ he kept saying. It took Cordell a moment to realise that Arion meant ‘hit by the god particle’.
‘Is there any way of healing it?’ Cordell asked.
‘Try the gun,’ Arion told him. Cordell tried the gun, which didn’t work. Cordell didn’t understand, this was supposed to work.
‘I guess it depends on how long the limb has been dead for.’
‘There’s got to be a way Arion. We can’t just have you walking with a limp leg.’
‘I’m not sure. This is one thing I’ve never been able to discover. If the limb is dead for longer than a couple of minutes, then reviving the person isn’t possible. I tried it on my father.’
‘Is that why he was in your lab all that time?’ Cordell finally asked him the question that was burning in him for weeks now.
‘Yes,’ Arion spoke with some difficulty as he said this, so Cordell didn’t press him further. At least he was being honest to himself now, which was a start.
‘Maybe there’s something of the earth that can help?’ Sana suggested.
‘I don’t know. All I know is I’m thirsty. By the way, did it work?’
‘Mostly. We’re safe for now at least.’
Cordell went to the lake to get him some water, and made a surprising discovery. There were some jellyfish close by. He remembered reading about them a while ago. Since he had the gun on him, he decided to experiment. He took a shot at the jellyfish which was closest to him. It died instantly, but then something odd seemed to happen. It automatically caved in on itself. As he gathered the water in a bowl he had found, he kept his eye on the fish he had shot, and found that within a minute, the jellyfish had revived itself.
‘Arion,’ he screamed back as Sana helped him to the lake. Once he had taken a sip, Arion spoke,
‘What is it?’
‘Check this out.’ he shot at the jellyfish again and all three watched as the jellyfish revived itself.
‘That must be a turritopsis nutricula.’
‘What the hell is that?’ Cordell asked him.
‘It’s a jellyfish that has the ability to revive itself, making it the only real immortal creature in the world. I had heard a rumour that they still existed. Never thought I would see one. Can we catch it?’
‘I think we can.’
‘With what?’ Sana asked.
‘I know this is a place where civil country dump their unwanted resources. I’m sure I can find something.’
*
Their message was found. All tribe country had suddenly become united in one night. Ruto had sent a message back to all able-bodied men and women to come forth to help with the coming struggle. To eliminate the number of casualties, only the eldest member of each person’s family was permitted to fight.
‘How long will it take them to come over?’ Tali asked Ruto.
‘A few days, I’m sure.’
‘Do they know anything of the conflict, or are they all just living separately?’
‘Most of the tribes have their differences, but we respect one another. Something which civil country lacks in, so I’ve been told.’
‘I can’t deny it if I’m honest,’ Tali answered him.
‘And what about Atan?’ Ruto asked him.
‘He’s not a moral man. Everyone has known that. The senate have tried their best to oppose him in his views. And I’m the only one left who dares to object him.’
‘You are one fortunate man.’
‘I know. Either way, he will be coming and we have to be ready.’
‘We will be.’
‘Our entire
force won’t be enough to take on his.’
‘True, but he doesn’t know this terrain like I do.’
‘Maybe, but we are still at a disadvantage,’ Tali argued.
‘You think I don’t see this?’ Ruto argued back.
‘No, I’m sure you do. But what I’m saying is, we need help.’
‘Neutral country won’t help us.’
‘Ok, then we need to retreat long enough.’
‘Where will we retreat?’
Tali thought of this for a moment,
‘We could try the Old Settlement.’
‘Nothing lives there anymore. Humankind made sure of that.’
‘Look, that was a long time ago. What if things have changed in that time? We don’t know that.’
‘It’s unlikely.’
‘It may be the only option, Ruto,’
‘What would you have me do then?’
‘Just send the ones who can’t fight to go over there. Find and see if there are inhabitable lands there. If not, then they can come back. It’ll give us enough time to figure something out. Or come up with some kind of truce.’
‘Civil country will not do a truce.’
‘Well we need to make sure we find a separate land to settle in.’
‘I’m not running anymore. We’ve been doing it for too long.’
‘Look Ruto. Sometimes we have to think practically as well.’
‘I know,’ he sighed and thought of this for a moment.
‘Very well,’ he finally said, ‘I will send remaining troops to Old Settlement with provisions. If they find nothing, then they can make their way to Neutral country. At least that is one place that civil country doesn’t dare to attack.’
‘Probably because the Nargus and Walrus settlements are close to them.’
‘Yeah, maybe.’
Ruto made an announcement to the intercom and it was settled.
*
‘You think this transport will do the job?’ Patrick asked.
‘I think it’s good enough. A small trailer to get ourselves to neutral country, with enough food provisions to last a month. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the people were trying to fatten us up.’
‘Well I’m glad you still have a great sense of humour in a time like this, Elijah,’ Nicholas commented.
‘What will you do if you don’t laugh? You’ll cry, I suppose,’ Terence murmured.
‘Yeah, eifer wa’. Let’s get goin’ shall we?’ Patrick finished off as they made their way into the vehicle and steered it out of the country entrance. It would take a day or so to catch up to Cordell from here. That was if their vehicle hadn’t crashed along the way.
*
‘Well that wasn’t easy,’ Cordell mentioned as the jellyfish was put into a container he had found, filled with water. Arion got a tweezer and started to extract a piece of the flesh.
‘What are you doing?’ Sana asked him.
‘I’m hoping that extracting this piece will help. I’ll just put it on my leg and hope it works.’
‘A bit of a foolish plan,’ Sana mentioned.
‘You got a better idea, my dear?’ he asked her. She shook her head,
‘Not really.’
He picked out a small piece, which came out. The jellyfish replaced its own limb in no time.
‘That’s interesting,’ he noticed. Cordell grabbed the piece and put it in a plastic container filled with water. Arion then strapped the piece on his leg.
‘Ok Cordell. Take a shot,’ Cordell sighed and took the shot. The piece of plastic holding the water disintegrated. What was left was water and the piece of flesh, which floated in mid-air for a second or so. It then became a small particle, which seemed to embezzle itself into Arion’s leg. As soon as this happened, Arion could feel his leg reviving itself.
‘My god,’ Sana spoke out, when Arion’s leg moved.
‘I can’t believe it,’ Arion spoke out, ‘it actually worked.’
‘I think we’ve seen enough miracles for one day. I’d say we sit down and rest for tonight. Let’s see if we can find any tents around here,’
*
It wasn’t exactly a tent that they found. There seemed to be an abundance of abandoned scrap metal in this vicinity. It seemed as if this was some long-lost country which had many resources before. There would be odd items like a door and a metal sheeting, the odd cover and finally a gun! Arion had no idea what kind of a gun it was, but it was empty.
‘Which is probably a good thing,’ Cordell commented, as this was something that he had never seen either. They used some poles to create a tent of sorts. It would at least shelter them from any storms from one direction. Of course, if the wind blew a different way, then that would be a problem. They sat down and Cordell began to wonder about something,
‘How come we haven’t suffered any radiation poisoning?’
‘It’s the god particle. It neutralises anything, including potential radiation.’
‘And life, and plants and so on,’ Cordell finished for him. Arion smiled as he felt his leg.
‘Is it ok?’
‘Yeah, in fact it feels better than ever. Whatever that was, it seems to have improved me.’
‘I’m guessing that’s a good thing. As long as you don’t start growing tentacles or something.’
‘I wouldn’t think so.’
Just then, Cordell received a beep on his pager.
‘Message from Ruto?’ Sana asked.
‘No, the others.’
‘What are they saying?’ Arion asked, anxious to know what had happened.
‘They’ve taken over civil country and made it a safe fortress, but 2.5 million troops are on their way to Tribe country.’
They sat there silently as this news came over them.
‘How did they get out?’
‘I’ll ask them,’ he told them once he received a response.
‘Apparently, they’re on their way,’ Cordell informed the other two.
‘That’s nice of them, but what can we do now?’ Arion asked.
‘I don’t know. Going to neutral country was more to do with creating a new ruling for the misuse of this device, not to aid in warfare.’
‘Yeah, everyone knows neutral doesn’t take part in warfare,’ Sana responded. She seemed to be somewhat emotional about this. Arion didn’t press further.
‘We’ve got to be able to do something,’ Cordell responded.
‘There isn’t. we can only hope that they are better fighters than they have ever been.’
‘Come on Arion. You know that’s not possible,’ Sana argued.
‘Well what else can I do then?’
‘Use your science. Like the jellyfish there helped to revive your leg. What if it can revive fallen comrades or something?’
Arion looked at her with disbelief for a moment,
‘That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard,’ he finally responded.
‘Maybe not,’ Cordell told him.
‘What do you mean?’ Arion asked him, curious all of a sudden.
‘We tried to find a way of reviving old body parts a while ago. It would only last a little while and we were never able to find these creatures before. If we had something on us to experiment with, then it might be worth a try.’
‘So what are you saying, that we find a tracker and, what search for some dead guy?’
‘Er, I wasn’t quite suggesting that. But ok, that might work.’
‘Ok, now you’re sounding crazy.’
‘Look I found some objects a little further from here. One of them is a radio and the other is an amplifier. And we’ve got a small monitor on us. We could use that to see if there are any dead bodies below us.’
‘Cordell, think about what you’re saying here. We’re talking about reviving a long dead person. Even if we were somehow able to pull this off, what am I supposed to do, extract a piece of the jellyfish and fire it underground?’
‘We could use the entire jellyfish?’ Cordell
suggested.
‘I can’t believe you’re actually considering this.’
‘Think about it Arion. A few years ago, no one thought it was possible that the God Particle could be controlled to create, heal and destroy life. And now control of this element is, at the moment, in our hands. When it isn’t, then we’re all in trouble. We do need to strike whilst we have an upper hand.’
‘That’s the soldier talking.’
‘I know Arion. But I am a soldier. Look, we are at least two to one in a disadvantage. We have a safe haven, where they are not really willing to help us. We know this. What other option do we have?’ Arion had no answer to this, so Cordell continued, ‘We might as well give it a go.’
Arion shook his head,
‘This is crazy,’ he finally said.
‘So is what you did, Arion,’ Sana told him, ‘and yet, here we are.’
‘You really have a way with words, don’t you?’ Arion commented.
‘More than words, my dear’
He tried his best not to look at her as he knew what that meant.
*
They put together a small detector and began to run pulses around the vicinity they were in. They took it in turns to go a certain distance and then they would move camp as one slept. After a couple of days of mostly finding dead Nargus, they finally came across a small signature.
‘Guys!’ Sana yelled as they sat down eating remains of squid. Both came out and looked at Sana, who looked up and pointed towards the little monitor.
‘A very faint signal,’ she told them.
‘Well, that’s better than nothing.’
‘Is it human?’ Cordell asked.
‘I think so. It’s not like the other signals.’
‘Ok, this is probably the best we’re going to get.’
‘And I don’t want to waste our jellyfish,’ Arion told Cordell.
‘What do we do then?’ Sana asked him.
‘Take out a piece like last time and feed it into the module?’ Cordell suggested.
‘That’s a better suggestion than any,’ Sana nodded.
‘You know this is crazy right. It’ll be a miracle if this thing really is a human. And we have no way of defending ourselves if it doesn’t turn out to be one.’
