Altered Reality

by Eliza Green

  Arianna wrapped her arms around him. ‘I’ll play my part. Of course, I will.’

  ‘Thank you. That’s all I ask,’ Stephen said, giving her a quick hug back. He looked around him. ‘I’m looking for Pierre. Do you know where he is?’

  ‘In one of the tranquillity caves, I think.’

  ‘Thanks. Let’s speak later.’ Stephen moved off while Arianna turned back to the group.

  A little further on he slowed down and looked behind him. The group were watching him, more intensely now. He could tell they hadn’t bought it. He hoped Arianna could use her gift to dispel their growing fears.

  The tranquillity caves were located in several areas of District Three where the gamma rock was most prevalent. The rock’s amplification properties had been the reason why they created the caves there in the first place.

  The tranquillity caves’ original purpose had been to amplify the thoughts of the Indigenes who spent time in them, but the Indigenes had found other uses for them. Inside each cave were several individual units, each unit hollowed out of the floor to a level where the rock’s amplification power was at its strongest. And each unit was linked to similar units in other tranquillity caves in District Three to create what they called the Nexus. The Nexus was a conduit that could transmit the energy of Indigenes to accelerate healing and repair minds. Every mind that connected to the Nexus increased the effectiveness of its amplification and allowed the Indigenes to draw healing power directly from other users.

  Stephen arrived at one of the tranquillity caves in the eastern section of District Three and looked in each of the units for Pierre. He found him in the one farthest from the entrance, and jumped into the hole to land beside him. Pierre, dressed in a white elder robe, was in deep meditation and would not rouse until the repair cycle was completed.

  Stephen stood statue-like in the corner waiting for Pierre to come round. While he waited, he thought about how he might use the Nexus to connect with Anton. Anton’s ability to see into objects and structures had given Stephen a basic understanding of how the Nexus worked. Its composition was complex and structured, but its organic nature meant it would change over time. The Indigenes lacked full understanding of how the gamma rock had created the Nexus. The fact that the Nexus was also powered by the Indigenes’ own unpredictable energy patterns meant that any changes would be difficult to measure.

  Stephen had grown up believing that the tranquillity caves, and the Nexus itself, had been created by their earliest ancestors, who had spent thousands of years perfecting it. But now that he knew it was only fifty years old he had a different perspective on it. For example, if the Indigene could create something so powerful in such a short timeframe, surely they would be able to understand the Nexus’s complexities soon?

  Movement to Stephen’s right broke his concentration: Pierre was beginning to rouse from his meditation. The elder’s breathing became more shallow and rapid; his eyes opened fully and came to rest on Stephen. Pierre nodded at him and when Stephen didn’t respond, his face darkened.

  ‘Have you heard something about Anton?’ Pierre whispered.

  Stephen shook his head. ‘But my dreams are changing. They’re much more vivid, and disturbing. What if Anton’s trying to connect telepathically with me?’

  Pierre dismissed the idea. ‘No Indigene has the ability to connect over large distances.’

  ‘I’m not imagining it, Pierre,’ Stephen said, his voice rising. ‘Something’s going on!’

  ‘Not you too!’ Pierre said, shaking his head and climbing to his feet. ‘Elise has been acting strangely ever since you returned. She claims she can predict emotions in others. She’s been trying it out on willing participants. I only found this out by chance. She hadn’t thought to tell me about it.’

  ‘Can she? Predict emotions, I mean?’

  ‘I’ve no idea. She’s never been able to do it before. I suspect it’s just empathy. She’s compassionate and highly sensitive to others. It’s bound to be confusing at times. She hasn’t been an empath for long.’ Pierre waved his hand dismissively. ‘This isn’t the time to discuss trivial matters. We need to focus our energies on outlasting this latest attack from the humans.’

  But Stephen wasn’t giving up on his idea. ‘I’m worried Anton doesn’t have long to live. What if he’s trying to communicate with me telepathically and I ignore it? I’d never forgive myself.’

  ‘But how can we be certain he’s still alive?’ Pierre took a couple of slow, deep breaths to help him return to normal after meditation. ‘What about your contacts on Earth?’

  ‘I thought about getting in touch with Bill Taggart to see if he had any news, but the stones are still limited by distance. Anton’s team are looking at whether the Nexus can amplify the range, so we’ll just have to wait.’

  ‘Will they know soon?’

  ‘Yes, I hope so.’

  Pierre stood up and smoothed down his robe. ‘Now, I sense it will help you to talk. Tell me about your dreams, or whatever it is you think they are,’ Pierre said, clasping his hands together.

  ‘Their clarity is frightening, Pierre, as if I’m reliving Anton’s experiences. If I am, he’s on the edge psychologically. The humans are testing him, pushing him to the limit. I remember an explosion occurring.’

  The elder rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ‘That is a worry.’

  ‘I feel such a strong connection. It has to be him. It has to be more than just a dream.’

  ‘And you’re sure it’s Anton you see?’

  ‘Who else can it be?’

  Pierre suddenly looked weary. He patted Stephen on the shoulder. ‘It’s entirely natural that you should feel so close to Anton. You two are more than friends—a strong bond exists between you, amplified by your connection inside the Nexus. And then there’s your recent fight for survival together on Earth. It’s understandable you’re having trouble letting Anton go.’

  ‘Are you giving up on him?’ Stephen said, astonished.

  ‘No, of course not. But it’s obvious that you still blame yourself for the predicament he’s in. You must let go of the guilt, Stephen. It’s not helping you. You need to accept that you aren’t to blame. You did what was necessary in very difficult circumstances. Anton chose his own fate to help you succeed. Remember that.’

  ‘Yes, but I was the one who initiated contact with the Surface Creatures—the child, Ben Watson—in the first place. Everything that happened afterwards stemmed from my decisions.’ Stephen lowered his voice. ‘I don’t want it to be true, but my visions show Anton weak and succumbing to their torture.’

  Pierre grabbed hold of Stephen’s arm and spoke firmly: ‘I’m not asking you to give up on Anton, but to release yourself from this guilt you harbour. It’s tearing you apart. For the sake of your sanity, and for the safety of all the Indigenes, stay strong. We have to work together to secure our survival. That’s all that matters right now.’ Pierre let go of his arm.

  Stephen could see now that Pierre was not open to the idea that his dreams could be telepathic communications, so he changed the subject. ‘I was speaking to Arianna and she told me some of the Indigenes are going to take action. The hunters have relayed conversations they heard between the military humans. They were discussing Anton’s capture. It won’t be long before the other districts get wind of this information. I’m worried that our more aggressive hunters will take matters into their own hands and look for Anton themselves.’

  Pierre sighed. ‘I know. I heard that too. It was only a matter of time, I suppose. We’ll need to manage any unrest through the group representatives. We can’t afford dissent at this time. If the hunters do something, we won’t be able to stop them.’ He held Stephen’s gaze. ‘Just promise me that you’ll focus your energy on our survival. There’s nothing we can do for Anton right now.’

  ‘I promise,’ Stephen said.

  ‘Now, I need to rest. Walk me out.’

  Using the footholds, Stephen climbed out of the unit, followed closely by
Pierre. He accompanied the elder out of the tranquillity cave and back to his private dwelling. Stephen left Pierre to rest, envying the elder’s ability to sleep at a time like this.

  More unsettled than he had been before, he wandered the district with no particular purpose in mind. He needed to do something—anything—to help release his guilt. The dreams were nagging at him.

  His stomach rumbled, a distraction he gratefully accepted. He decided to drop by Arianna’s private dwellings. He knocked on a metal door and her face appeared through the darkness.

  ‘I need to get out of here,’ he said. ‘Come hunting with me.’

  ‘Up there?’ Arianna asked, pointing.

  ‘Where else?’

  She smiled.

  ‘What?’ Stephen said.

  ‘Good to see you back to your usual self.’

  ‘Are you coming or not?’ Stephen said sharply.

  ‘If only to keep an eye on you,’ Arianna said, pulling the door to her dwelling closed behind her.

  Chapter 13

  In District Three’s southern quadrant, Elise jumped into an unoccupied unit in one of the tranquillity caves. She sat on the floor and waited until she could no longer sense Pierre inside the Nexus before she connected in—the last thing she needed was her husband asking too many questions about why she needed to use it so frequently, although he’d been so preoccupied with Anton’s abduction, she wasn’t sure he’d noticed what she was up to.

  Elise was trialling a few mind techniques that she hoped might help her to strengthen her empathic ability, and the combined power of the minds connected to the Nexus amplified everything she tried. Ever since she’d seen the woman—a translucent being that stood right in front of her and sometimes spoke to her—she’d wondered if her changing ability had anything to do with it. She’d had some success in improving the existing neural pathways, but the more she pushed herself, the harder it became. She was eager for quick results, for something told her that time was not on her side.

  She closed her eyes and her mind drifted to a new plain. The plain grey facade of the gamma rock inside the unit changed and became an orange and gold lattice—the portal into the Nexus. She watched in her mind’s eye as the Nexus reached out a tendril and pulled her energy inside.

  Once inside, Elise saw the Nexus in its true form ahead of her—a rippling wall of golden loveliness. Tendrils extended from the wall and grabbed the energies of the other Indigenes trying to connect. She drifted in the space between the portal and the wall; a space that was located over a black chasm. She didn’t sense it at first, but she could feel the build up of energy hurtling towards her. She braced herself as a rush of emotions hit her. The Nexus acted as a conduit, redirecting the energies to those who needed them most. But for empaths, the energies sometimes bypassed the Nexus, attracted to her as if they were two pieces of magnetised metal.

  Her mind struggled with the intensity and frequency of thoughts and feelings; it seemed to be more sensitive than before. Previously, she’d had control over her gift; now it seemed to control her. Predicting emotions: did that turn her from an empath, someone who could sense another’s mood, into a psychic?

  She hadn’t wanted to believe Stephen’s story about the Indigenes being human, but over the past few weeks, she had quietly accepted it. Inside the Council Chambers, she had re-read all of Pierre’s history books and certain things didn’t seem to add up. She could not recall Indigene deaths other than those who fell in the war. She could not remember the faces of her elder predecessors. The Nexus, supposedly an ancient and powerful force, felt raw and unmanageable. She had not noticed its rawness before but on closer inspection, odd behavioural patterns were evident—for one, its inability to control other energies when an empath was present. Then there were the strange, unsettling visions—old memories, she now assumed. If she could unlock those memories, perhaps she could discover what had happened to her.

  Elise redirected the power of the wayward energies through the Nexus to her hippocampus, the area of her brain that stored memories. The Nexus displayed an image of her brain on the giant, rippling wall and highlighted its current neural connections. Weak red lines appeared in the areas where the collective power concentrated its efforts, the lines soon disappearing as quickly as they formed. Her energy wavered as the session continued and a bout of dizziness hit her. If she had trouble absorbing the healing power of others inside the Nexus, her body, still connected to the physical world, would have trouble healing. Elise’s energy floated aimlessly for a while until her breathing became laboured. More often these days, the Nexus only aggravated her anxiety, so she prepared to disconnect.

  But then she heard a voice in the distance: ‘Someone is upset. Help calm them down.’ A torrent of emotions hurtled towards her and snaked around her wavering energy. A strange soothing sensation made it easier for her to stay. Her anonymity protected her from further intrusion. To most Indigenes, she was just another user; only Pierre, who knew her intimately, was able to pick her out in the Nexus throng if they were connected at the same time.

  The vision of the auburn-haired woman frightened her as much now as it had done at the start. The first time she saw the vision, she’d tried to think about it logically, as Pierre would have done. But nothing explained why she was suddenly starting to see it now. She considered the idea again that it was a human memory locked deep inside her mind.

  Elise thought about the woman who’d called her Elizabeth. How was the woman connected to her? Only the week before, the vision had appeared to her again, and had stayed longer than before.

  ‘Elizabeth, dear, it’s me,’ the woman had said. ‘Where are you going at this hour? It’s so late.’

  She’d asked this same question on previous occasions. This time, Elise had been prepared.

  ‘Nowhere special. I’m just going for a walk,’ she’d replied casually.

  ‘Where are you going, Elizabeth?’

  ‘I told you—just for a walk,’ Elise said, pretending to be Elizabeth.

  ‘Elizabeth, Elizabeth—are you listening to me?’ the woman asked. She stepped forward and grabbed Elise’s arm. Elise pulled away, but the sensation of the woman’s touch lingered. It had felt warm.

  Then a different voice answered: ‘Don’t worry, Greta, I won’t be long. I’m just heading to the office to pick up some case files.’

  ‘Can’t you download what you need from here?’

  ‘I can’t stay cooped up in this apartment forever. I have to face the world some time.’

  Elise suddenly found herself looking in a mirror and gasped when she caught sight of her reflection: she had curly, dark hair that fell round her shoulders, just as she had been dreaming, but what shocked her most was the ugly raw scar that sliced her face from her left eye across her lips to her chin. She swallowed and reached out to touch the image.

  ‘But why now? Why at night? What if he’s waiting for you?’ Greta said.

  ‘I promise he isn’t. They’ve assured me that he’s in custody.’ As she spoke, the woman reflected in the mirror stared at the scar, then tidied her hair. Elise noticed she had tears in her eyes.

  ‘You can’t be sure of that. Please—let me go with you,’ Greta said.

  ‘No, I want to go alone. I hate feeling so out of control of my own life.’

  The conversation ended abruptly, just like before, and Elise had rubbed her arm where the woman—Greta—had touched her.

  Elise shook off her thoughts about Greta and Elizabeth and tried to tap into the energies around her to draw out any hidden memories she might have of a previous existence. But having to repeatedly redirect the energy of the Indigenes away from her and through the Nexus was exhausting; the memories were not coming easily. She needed the additional power the Nexus could provide to help her figure out if the memory wipe was permanent. Perhaps Greta was a residual memory, an imprint of sorts; if she could gain access to other residual memories, she might be able to piece together the story that kept playing ou
t in front of her.

  Elise tried to work through the details, but her thoughts drifted to Pierre. Sadness brought pain to her chest and caused her to gasp. The Nexus forced her to disconnect; it often had trouble dealing with sadness and negative feelings. Awake now and sitting cross-legged in the individual unit inside the tranquillity cave, she grabbed a fistful of her white elder robe and twisted it clockwise. Her heart ached and she felt on the verge of tears. She hated to see Pierre and Leon fighting; Pierre had refused to send any Indigenes to Earth to rescue Anton. Elise’s heart ached again, this time for Leon—for having lost his son in the first place, and for having to hear that nothing could be done to save him. There were times when she didn’t agree with her husband’s decisions, but on this occasion, she did. Still, it didn’t make it right and she clearly remembered the difficult conversation she’d had with him after Stephen had revealed the news of their human origin.

  ‘How can we be sure that what the humans have told Stephen is true?’ she’d asked.

  ‘This is going to work out. Don’t you see? They’re on our side,’ Pierre had insisted.

  ‘Well, I don’t trust them, and I don’t understand why you readily accept them as allies. It could be a trick to gain our trust.’

  Pierre had placed a reassuring arm around his wife’s waist. ‘Elise, please, you worry too much.’

  ‘Don’t patronise me,’ she’d said sharply, peeling his arm away. ‘I know how I feel.’

  ‘But you feel too much. You always have. You’ve taken on the representatives’ emotions and allowed their fears to consume you. You must protect yourself and separate your emotions from the facts. We belong here more than the humans do. I have to believe they are our allies. What else do we have, if not that?’

  In the individual unit, Elise stretched out her legs and leaned her back against the rough grey wall as she thought about their conversation. The humans had created new lives—false lives—only so they could destroy them. For what purpose? It didn’t make sense. But the one thing she knew was that no matter what else happened, she would protect the Indigenes and what was unique to them—especially their abilities.