"What your father found before he was killed."
I wince, but he goes on as if not noticing.
"I know it's not easy for you to hear this but—"
"Hear what? That the very thing he'd been called insane for all his life is the one thing that turned out to be true?" I laugh, and the sound comes out bitter. "No, no, you're right. I don't want to hear about that."
But it's more than that.
The Ashdown was his last message to me. And yet I'd jumped at the chance to sell it. I'd wanted to get back at him for all the times he wasn’t there for me, by selling the only thing which connected me to the truth he'd discovered.
"Don't be too hard on yourself. I made sure the collector offered a high enough amount that you couldn't resist," he says.
"Enough to overcome any emotional objection," I say, my voice bitter.
He nods. "Besides, growing up as you did, surrounded by him and his failures, it really had no relevance for you."
He's only saying what I already know, but that doesn't make me feel better.
"He loved you," Alex adds.
"And you know that how?"
He hesitates before replying, "He had all these photos of you. He was very proud of you. Said you were smarter than him."
Really? I hide my surprise. Would've been nice if he'd told me that.
"Your father was going to reveal his findings to the world. Show them that his theory of the Ascendants had been right all along. He was going to make you proud," he goes on.
"He wasn’t very far on that last trip,” I finally say, my voice soft. “Just a few hours from London. And yet, he never visited. Not once."
Just thinking about it makes my gut twist.
No, I never did get over this feeling of being lost, of wanting to belong. I'd been too angry with him, had wanted to sever any connection to him.
But as much as I try to justify the money it'd bring me, I just know there's no excuse for the decision I made to sell the Ashdown.
I swallow down the lump in my throat and look out of the window at the bumper-to-bumper traffic. We’ve reached the outskirts of Bombay city.
"Where now?" I ask.
"You tell me," he says. "Where do you want to go?"
I hesitate, unsure.
I do want to go home, but I know I need to get to the bottom of what just happened. Of what I had felt there between me and that thing.
I'm not ready to let go of Alex either. And it's not only because he's among the last to have seen my father alive. If I'm really being honest, it's because I find him attractive. And because I sense he's linked to the asteroid, and to that thing.
"I guess it’s time I find out the real reason why my father sent me the Ashdown," I mutter.
"How do you plan do that?" he asks.
"Go back to where he found it."
He nods as if satisfied by my decision. "To move forward, sometimes you have to go back first.”
I know I must at least try.
"You'll come with me?" I finally ask.
The rational part of me questions why I am so quick to ask someone who I've just met to come along.
Guess I'm more like my father than I thought.
5
Dorset, England
The yellow and white chalky beach curves around the edge till it hits the curved, scaly limestone arc. The Durdle Door soars up towards the skies, a portal-like natural formation.
Fossil hunting is a tradition along this coastline. One that’s revealed the history of Earth across millions of years.
It can be read like a book, like a walk through time.
I imagine Dad's excited voice bouncing off the cliffs and shiver as another gust of wind squeals through the rocky door, tearing at my clothes. As if it wants to push me away from here.
I turn and march back the way I came.
My hands brush against the pouch around my waist with the Ashdown. I'd managed to get most of the blood off it and now I carry it with me wherever I go. As if that will help provide some answers to the riddle Dad has posed.
My boots dig into the pebbles. The wind now at my back, I clamber up the sloping hillside. By the time I reach the road overlooking the beach, I am panting.
When I reach the cottage that I am sharing with Alex, the first stars glitter in the clear evening skies.
Since we got here yesterday he's been ultra polite, almost distant. And yet, I pick up on this insistence from him, this feeling of pressure. As if he's pulling on me, compelling me to do something, but what?
I settle down in front of the fire and try to read, but can’t focus.
The last time I saw Dad had been in front of another fireplace.
An unlit one.
And he'd been talking about his next trip. What would be his last trip. He'd been so excited. So sure that he'd finally uncovered evidence that Ascendants had lived on Earth. Beings of such high intelligence as to be empaths. They could see, touch, and feel the unknown.
He'd claimed that they'd co-existed with the dinosaurs. Had harnessed their intelligence to build a superior, parallel civilization.
He was sure the Ascendants had endured the asteroid hit that had wiped out the dinosaurs.
They’d called him delusional, and he'd been determined to prove them wrong. That night he decided to return to the site, which he was sure held the key to proving his theories.
A place not far off from where I am now.
I close my eyes and listen to the faraway waves. Let my consciousness drift with the ebb and flow of the water.
Back, forth, back.
Back.
If only I could turn back time.
To before I'd fought with him that last night. I cried and insisted he stay. He was firm—he was going, and I screamed at him. Hurled insults and told him how much I hated him. That I wished he were dead.
And he'd sent me the Ashdown.
The most significant find of his life and he made sure that it reached me. Why?
Was it to bring me back here?
A soft presence brushes the edges of my skin and my eyes fly open to see the thing.
It’s seated on the opposite chair, staring at me. The firelight brings out the blotchy purple highlights of its scales.
It stays there so still, so silent. But its presence ebbs and flows. Purple-green and shot through with strands of silver.
And it calls to me, pulls at me.
For the first time, it meets my eyes.
Really looks at me.
In the flickering light, its features seem more human. Need spools off it, bringing with it pain and desolation. Years of loneliness, of isolation. Of waiting. Waiting for ... for me?
And I realize it is human.
More human than Alex.
As human as me.
His features twist as if he’s fighting something, trying to stop himself from saying what’s on his mind. I find myself reaching out to him.
Walking over, I slide into his lap, slide my hands over those scales. Rough yet soft. Leaning in, I brush my lips over those fleshy lips, and he kisses me back. His tongue surprisingly soft, elegant even.
He tastes faintly of mint.
Sweat runs down my back and I smell dust. Something metallic, ancient matter, millennia old, and my eyes fly open. Breathing heavily, I look around, still tasting him on my tongue.
I look to the window and beyond.
Something brushes up against the fringes of my consciousness, pulling at me, propelling me to my feet.
Before I know it, I am out of the door, walking up the small driveway. Turning away from the sea, I stride towards the hills, heading for the opening in the cliffs, where my father found the Ashdown.
6
When I walk into the cave, it's so dark that I can barely see my way. I shuffle along a narrow passage, almost tripping over uneven ground.
What am I even doing here, on my own, miles from anywhere? Everything I’d done with my life, wanted to do in the real world,
feels far away.
Sometimes when you close your eyes, you see better.
Even as I think that, something pushes me to keep going. I can't turn back now.
The passage slopes down before tilting upwards. It broadens, then opens out into a wide clearing.
White and blue light pours down from an opening in the rocky roof.
The space stretches out, disappearing into shadows on the far end.
To my right the ground dips again before disappearing as if into an abyss. I shiver at the darkness I sense there and move closer to the center, till I am standing just under the skylight-like opening.
I look up to see purple-black skies. A half moon so low that I reach out my hand to touch it. Then a shift in the air has me turning towards the shadows on the far side.
The hairs on my arms stand on end and the Ashdown in the pouch around my waist pulses. I take it out, and the same purple light I'd seen earlier whooshes out.
It streaks through the darkness towards the far end, where it brushes up against the thing in the shadows.
There's enough light now for me to see his silhouette.
The thing opens his palm and the light jumps into it and is gone, as if he's absorbed it. As if the Ashdown is pointing me towards him.
My heartbeat cranks up as the thing walks, almost glides, across the space. He stops a few feet from me. The moonlight pours over him, picking out the threads of silver woven through the purple and green scales of his shoulders.
He seems to have changed, solidified, as if better grounded.
The purple halo around him ebbs, flows. Bright and so ugly ... so different from anything I have ever seen in my life. Had I actually imagined kissing him?
His raises his hand, making a S-shaped gesture. I start, realizing it's the same gesture Alex made.
What is he trying to tell me?
As if reading my mind, white light spools off him. It lengthens towards me, only to stop hovering halfway between us. As if waiting … waiting … A shiver runs down my spine. A slight warmth creeps over me, reassuring me, and I know it's from him.
And then I jerk, the Ashdown dropping from my hand as a flare lights up the space. A blast vibrates through the cave and I see the thing flinch.
One side of him is slammed back and he goes flying, back into the recesses of the cave, and even without turning I know Alex is here.
"Stop!" I scream, not caring that the fallen asteroid piece has rolled away over the side of the abyss. Have I lost it because I don't need it anymore?
I turn sideways, holding up my hand as if to ward him off, but Alex keeps coming, weapon in hand. Something that looks like a gun but far sleeker. I haven't seen one of these before, but I just know that it's far more lethal than any human gun.
Pale eyes shining, he stops a few feet away so I am between him and the thing. His features darken and I sense he's angry. Furious. His eyes look past me at the thing. I can feel his intent.
"Don’t hurt him," I plead, even as something inside me coils tight.
"Seems you're developing feelings for it." He jerks his head towards the far end of the cave, and a pool of pain splashes towards me.
I wince.
"It ... He's making me see who you really are,” I say. “You’re so good at distracting me, aren’t you? With your perfect looks, your presence that coaxes me. Distracting me from seeing what's been in front of me all along."
"What are you talking about?" He laughs, a short, unkind sound. "This is I. Alex. Remember? I saved you from the police in Goa, saved you from this thing too."
"You saved me only because you wanted the Ashdown," I blurt out, and the light around him deepens. I know then I am right.
"It's not the Ashdown." He waves his hand in the air, that same strange S-shaped gesture, and I realize it’s the equivalent of a human 'No.'
The look in his eyes is intent, focused, like he's hunting me. Animalistic.
I look from one to the other and am struck for the first time by how similar they really are in height and build.
Though that’s where the resemblance stops.
If Alex is the end of the evolutionary process with his near-perfect looks, then the thing is halfway in between; not quite man, not dinosaur. And yet more human than many I've known.
His presence is quieter, deeper, more layered.
More empathetic.
More beautiful.
Alex on the other hand ... his beauty is on the outside. It demands a response. And even now, despite myself, despite knowing he wants to hurt me, I feel a reluctant desire tug my stomach.
As if sensing my reaction, his eyes narrow, almost colorless-opaque, giving him a predatory look. He smiles, the ends of his lips turning up to reveal his teeth. Sharp teeth. Teeth that can harm.
My eyes dart to his face, and I see anger. Aggression. This man … thing … Ascendant would kill me without hesitation if he felt I was a threat to him. Just like he’d killed my father.
My heart stops for a second.
I forget to breathe, and perhaps he senses the change in me, for his features twist with anger. And I know he knows that I’ve guessed.
"I didn’t mean to kill him," he says, his voice flat, hollow. "I respected your father. He trusted his instinct. Unlike many humans who rationalize too much, he wasn't afraid to follow what felt right."
I redden at that. Does he mean me when he talks about those who rationalize too much? It's something Dad always remarked on, the few times he'd been home, anyway. He'd warned me that one day I would learn that instinct was everything, that the unseen was my true guide.
"Was my father right about everything?" I say. Am I asking the question of Alex or of me? I am not sure right now.
He hesitates then replies, "He was right about us—the Ascendants. We did live on Earth, coexisted with the dinosaurs.
"We also knew about the impending asteroid which would wipe out the dinosaurs. And we found a way to shift our vibrations higher, so we could move to another dimension.
"It took us many years of experimenting, but we found a way to survive."
"And gene splicing was part of the experiments, wasn’t it?" I ask.
He nods. "Yes. We had to try everything possible, including experimenting with hybrids."
His features go tight and he adds, "We took the essence of what made the dinosaurs dangerous. We took their survival instincts: their cunning, their intellect, their ability to survive extreme conditions and spliced it with Ascendants." Alex nods to where the thing is following us closely. "He is an evolution of that hybrid experimentation. Today, our population is half Ascendant, half hybrid."
"Great, so you found a way to survive. But what do I have to do with it? Why did you come with me?" I ask. "If you wanted to kill me you would have done it by now. So why... ?"
I look from Alex to the thing. "Why are you here, both of you?"
Neither answer.
The thing is still standing upright watching us closely. He puts up his palm, cutting through the air in that S-shaped gesture again, insistent.
His green-purple light spools out again, tugging at me. Pleading with me to go to him. And then I realize he's been trying to get me away from Alex. Is that what he'd been trying to signal all along? To warn me off Alex?
I avert my glance.
"You are here for me, both of you," I blurt out, answering my own question, and even as I say that, I know it’s true.
There’s something in the way they both look at me now, their eyes fixed on me.
Both still.
One predatory, one pleading.
Alex smiles and his features light up. He's still pretty.
Too pretty.
"My father sent me the Ashdown to warn me, didn't he?"
Alex scowls. "He managed to slip that past me. He must have sensed something about it that made him search for the Ascendants with renewed vigor. He wanted to help you make the right decision."
"Decision?" I swallow, my voice hoarse.
"The fate of Earth is in your hands, or rather, depends on your heart. Depends who you choose now. Me or"—he nods towards the thing—"him."
Alex takes a step towards me, then another, and I shrink back.
"Wait," I croak. "Why me? I am just a normal person. I even do my laundry every day." I try to laugh, but it comes out as a strangled sound. "So, why me?"
"You mean you haven't figured it out?" A look of humor flashes across his face, setting my teeth on edge.
"Tell me," I plead.
"It's your combination of traits. You are rational yet emotional. You not only have a high IQ but also deep emotional intelligence."
"Like that's so unique?" I half snort.
"The exact mix of characteristics we are looking for is rare, I assure you," he says. "Besides, you are impressionable enough to be molded to our ways. Yet you have strong enough reactions to situations. Enough to help you make sound decisions. And of course, you are young enough to—"
"Breed?" I cut in.
"There you go, sounding uncivilized again." He grimaces. "You are healthy, have a long reproductive life ahead of you. You should be able to birth enough hybrids to ensure that at least a few survive to propagate our species."
"But why a human? If both your races are so evolved why not pick one of your own?" I ask, still unable to understand what I have to do with him, with all of this.
"We—the Ascendants and the hybrids—are superior in many ways. But thanks to evolution, we have lost touch with our emotions, our true selves."
I laugh at that. "Dad always thought humans were too emotional, physically weak, too easily killed. It's one reason he was almost fanatical about finding the Ascendants."
Alex frowns. "That's where he was wrong. One can learn to be analytical, even master the science of survival. Emotional intelligence, however, is something that is only inherited. It can't be learnt. Your vulnerability is your strength. And your character ensures that you constantly learn, grow organically, and for most of your life. That is something we've lost along the way."
I look at him, amazed. "You mean you want to be more like us?" I ask in a doubtful voice.
"You still don't get it, do you?" He gestures to the thing. "Whether hybrids or Ascendants, evolution is not all it's cut out to be. In fact, it's downright dangerous without failings. It is this which provides your race with its own checks and balances. Humans are, quite simply, the optimal combination of traits in the evolutionary journey.
The Jurassic Chronicles (Future Chronicles Book 15) Page 18
