A Crack in the Sky

by Mark Peter Hughes

  By then the odor of the ocean was unmistakable. Sour milk. He gasped for breath. When he looked up, he was surprised to see two figures standing over him, the same shadowy people he’d seen before, by the woods, except he recognized them now. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

  “Mother? Father?” He was overjoyed to see them. “What’s happening? Do you know? Can you help me?”

  They smiled. “Don’t worry, son,” Father said. “It’s going to be all right.”

  “Come with us,” Mother said. “We’ll show you what we can do for you.”

  They held out their hands for him to take. Behind them the sky was growing even darker, and Eli could see what looked like a giant tornado moving across the water. But everything was going to be okay now. His parents were here. He reached up, took their hands in his, and pulled himself to his feet.

  But something wasn’t right. They wouldn’t let go, and their grips—both of them—were unexpectedly powerful. He struggled. They were hurting him. Mother and Father curled their lips and laughed. Their faces were changing. Terrified, Eli found himself in the crushing grasp of two red-faced demons with mottled skin, long, pointed chins, and horns on both sides of their foreheads. With sudden horror he realized it was all true what the secret document had said. Mother and Father really were working against the company. His parents were Foggers.

  He screamed.

  The demons laughed harder. While Eli kicked and writhed, they dragged him back into the filthy, stinking water. He was among the dead fish again, and the sea was rising all around him. His parents were going to drown him. “No! Let me go! Let me go! Please!”

  The ruined ocean was almost up to his mouth. He started to cough and sputter, but then he got hold of himself. He craned his neck toward the clouds. Two pairs of eyes gazed down at him from the sky. He stopped struggling. He concentrated on the eyes, only on the eyes.

  The clouds morphed. Soon he could make out the shapes of two identical faces. They were studying him. Eli pointed his finger and shouted, “It’s you! Don’t think I don’t see you up there! I know none of this is real! I’m still strapped to the chair!”

  The cloud face on the left frowned. “He’s still fighting,” it whispered. Eli couldn’t tell if it was Representative Shine or Representative Tinker. But he supposed it didn’t matter.

  “It doesn’t go much higher,” the other one said. “Careful. If we push too far, we could totally fry him.”

  “Take the chance,” the first one said. “Do it.”

  * * *

  The demons disappeared, and so did the water. Now Eli was hovering in space, floating through a weird purple mist. The cloud faces solidified until the massive heads and bodies of the two Guardian girls were perfectly clear, drifting in circles around him. Only it wasn’t them, exactly. Their stomachs swelled, and their mouths grew bloated and ugly. Their white uniforms morphed into identical striped shirts with caps, and white trousers that stretched over their bulging bellies. Eli recognized them. Somehow they’d transformed into Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the demented, fighting twins from the Alice stories. He wondered if the Guardians had chosen this nightmare for him, or if it was just his unconscious mind spilling into his dream.

  They were everywhere. Every way Eli turned, he saw their ugly, round faces. It wouldn’t take much for either of them to reach out and crush him. From somewhere deep in the mist he heard music, some insane melody played in the familiar tink-tonk of the funbots. Arm in arm the two Guardians began to dance, and while they danced, they chanted:

  “Tweedledum and Tweedledee

  Agreed to have a battle;

  For Tweedledum said Tweedledee

  Had spoiled his nice new rattle!”

  They repeated it over and over, the music and voices echoing so loud in Eli’s head, he covered his ears.

  After that, everything went even crazier.

  In a blaze of fire, the twins disappeared and colors burst and flashed all around him. The music continued while images darted past and melted away—strange, upsetting visions that made him cower. Many of them spoke to him. “What a disappointment you turned out to be …,” said a voice coming from a swarm of squirming, fat slugs with the faces of his uncles and aunts. A giant caterpillar smoking an enormous cigar floated past. “You’re a disgrace, boy,” it said in Uncle Hector’s voice. “We expected so much more of you.” The mist billowed and swirled. In the distance Eli heard a peal of thunder. He wasn’t sure if it was real or part of the nightmare. A boy in an Outsider mask drifted close and leered into his face, making him squirm. It was the kid from the Bubble tram, except now he had a respirator and a fake arm. Beneath his demonic mask there was something terrible and frightening about his eyes. Eli tried to look away but he wasn’t able. “Leave me alone,” he pleaded. “Go away!” But the boy’s gaze stayed fixed on him. Without a word he reached up and pulled back the mask. When Eli saw the twisted, sun-scarred face underneath, his heart nearly stopped. He was looking at himself.

  Eli’s breaths came in rapid gasps. “No! No!”

  The whole world was shaking, and so was he. Surely he was losing his mind. All he wanted was to let go, to somehow shut himself down so it would all go away. In the end he curled himself into a ball and wrapped his arms around his head as the nightmare images continued to swirl and flash around him. In the distance somebody was screaming. It was a long time before he realized it was his own voice.

  He woke up, not for the first time. Only he didn’t trust it. Maybe he was awake, but maybe it was just another part of the dream. It had been going on for what felt like days. He seemed still to be in the Special Training room, except now he was alone. It seemed odd at first that the Guardians would leave him unattended, but then he realized it wasn’t so strange. After all, he was strapped to a chair, and the sphere surely could make the nightmares on its own. Everything was dark around him except for the light from the orb, which glowed dimly now. His clothes were soaked in sweat, and it felt like all his energy was gone.

  He wondered how long he’d been there.

  He wondered if he was dead.

  Suddenly the sphere brightened and the room started to rumble. The walls were closing in around him. Now he knew this really was just another part of the long nightmare. Ghost images flew at him, whispering and shrieking as they whipped around his head. “InfiniCorp is taking care of everything! InfiniCorp is taking care of everything!” He reached out to grab them, but his fingers passed right through them cold, leaving him weak. The walls were very close now. They were almost on him. In seconds they were going to crush him to death.

  But that was okay. He didn’t care anymore. In a way, he hoped they would crush him.

  He was too weak to fight.

  He closed his eyes and passed out again.

  In Eli’s dream he was deep, deep asleep and had been for quite some time. But now he tossed and turned. He sensed something. It felt like a mosquito buzzing around his ears. Something prickling at the back of his mind.

  And every now and then he thought he heard a voice.

  Eli … Eli, wake up.…

  He tried to shut it out. This was just the newest phase of the endless nightmare, another whispering ghost to terrify him into submission. But he was beyond that now, way beyond. Already he felt trapped in a shadow world, and his thoughts—the few he could still muster—were foggy with dark visions. Didn’t they realize they’d already worn him down into submission? Even if he wanted to fight, he had so little energy left. They had won. So why did they bother to torment him further?

  Come back.… Follow my voice.…

  He heard himself groan. He wondered if they would ever stop, or if this was how it would continue on, forever. When the voice spoke again, the words were louder and clearer. Don’t give up, Eli.… You can do this.… I’m right here.… Come back, darling.… Come to me.…

  This time something about the voice itself, low and gravelly in his mind, made him pause in his dream. He wondered. Was it possibl
e?

  No, it couldn’t be.

  He felt movement on his chest, as if something small had shifted its weight. But that didn’t mean anything. It could still be part of the dream. Probably was, in fact. And yet his pulse sped up. Gathering his remaining strength, he managed to fight his way just a little closer to the surface of consciousness. He opened his eyes. The sphere was dormant now, and there seemed to be a shape, a dark blur, not far from his face. He blinked a few times and soon he could make out a vague outline of something smallish and gray perched on his uniform. It did look like her. The creature, whatever it was, was leaning over him, its whiskers twitching not far from his face.

  Marilyn? Is that you?

  Yes, my love. You had me worried. I thought I’d lost you.

  But Eli still wasn’t convinced. She pulled back, and when the light caught her, he could see her a little more clearly. She looked awful. Filthy. Emaciated. Her fur was tattered and patchy, and some of it appeared to have turned from gray to white, especially around her snout and around her eyes. There was also a nasty gash across the left side of her body, and one of her ears was ripped open.

  His suspicions returned. This might still be a nightmare after all, a dream that something horrible had happened to Marilyn. Why not? If the sphere was dredging his psyche for one last way to send him into despair, there were few things left that could do it like this could. At the same time, though, this moment felt somehow different from the rest of the nightmare. For one thing, there was the buzz in his ears that he hadn’t experienced in any other part of the dream.

  How do I know it’s really you?

  She stood over him and leaned close. His scalp started to tingle, and he felt a sensation like a gentle caress in his brain. All at once the two of them were lying in his backyard again, and he could feel the cool, smooth plastic of the artificial grass at his neck and under the heels of his bare feet. From a distance came the sounds of activity: the hum of transport pods, the murmur of the crowds on Thayer Street. The Providence dome glimmered a radiant bluish green. As Marilyn chirped beside him, a flock of pelicans swooped across the sky. But it lasted only a moment. In a blink the scene faded, and he was back in the chair again. He was looking deep into her eyes.

  “It is you,” he whispered, his voice trembling. “You’re real. You’re here.…”

  Foolish, exasperating child. Of course I’m here. Don’t you remember my promise? She nuzzled her snout against his cheek. I said I’d never leave you.

  23

  revelations

  The room shook with thunder. From Outside Eli could hear the wind shrieking and waves crashing against the dome. While he’d been lost in his dreams, the storm had grown much worse.

  You have no idea how happy I am to see you, he said silently, still amazed. I’m so, so sorry, Marilyn. I should have listened.

  It’s all right, my love. I’m here now.

  But how? His eyes fell on a small gap in the wall he hadn’t noticed before, and on freshly crumbled plaster on the floor near the far corner of the room. He realized this was how Marilyn must have gotten in. She must have squeezed through the space between the walls. What on earth happened to you?

  It’s a long story, my love. There isn’t time.

  He considered again her skinny, ragged body. The open gash across her side was puffy and caked in blood. It looked infected. “Tell me,” he said aloud. “I have to know.”

  She eyed him. Very well. But it’s quicker to show you. Once again Eli’s scalp tingled, and he realized she was downloading something to him. And suddenly there it was. As if it were right in front of him, he could see the black-winged Department of Loyalty pod and Marilyn chasing after it. He was there with her as she hid in the streets of Providence and barely escaped the dome. For weeks she’d trudged, exhausted, through the endless wilderness Outside, all the time following his signal. He felt her terror and hunger as she endured storms and fought in countless death struggles with other starving creatures of the wild, many of them mutants. She’d had to learn to fight and kill to survive. Finally she’d stumbled onto an InfiniCorp transport hub just west of New Washington and had managed to stow herself in the ovenlike baggage compartment of a southbound product-delivery transport and, after that, in the sewage piping of an ocean-bound supply vessel heading across the Gulf of Mexico to the tower. It was there, in a fight with a mutant rat, that her ear had been slashed open and she’d received the gash across her side.

  All this she had endured for him.

  He gazed at her now, with no idea what to say. He’d never felt more love for her than he did at that moment. But now that the download was finished, his brain felt like mush. Somehow it had sapped his energy even further—and, worse, he could feel how the effort of sending it had drained Marilyn’s strength even more than his own. Her head slumped and one of her eyelids hung lower than the other.

  Marilyn? Are you okay?

  I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. What’s important now is getting you out of here. The transports are on the lowest levels.

  Yes, I know, but there’s no way to get there. The place is locked up like a fortress and crawling with Guardians. And besides, look at me. I’m stuck in this chair.

  Marilyn lifted her head. I think there may be a few things I can do to help. She fixed her gaze on the clamps around his wrists. Within seconds they started to heat up, until finally they clicked open. Then she did the same with the clamps around his legs and the bracket around his head.

  “Thank you,” he whispered, impressed. It was a great relief not to feel the metal digging into his wrists anymore.

  Come on! Let’s get going!

  At that moment the wind rose in pitch and the tower creaked to one side. Here on a higher floor, the shift seemed even more noticeable to Eli than it had below, or perhaps it was just that the wind and waves were so much more powerful now. For an instant the sphere blinked brighter, but then the tower rocked upright again.

  Let’s go! Marilyn insisted. We’re running out of time!

  Eli was about to slide himself off the chair and stumble after her, but he hesitated. The growing storm was making him think once again of what Tabitha had said about Gustavo and the Greenhouse Recovery Project. For so long there had been so many questions burning inside him. He knew of only one person who would have all the answers, and Marilyn was right—time was indeed running out. If Eli was ever going to find out the truth, it had to be now.

  “Wait,” he said. “Before we go any further, I need you to do something for me first.”

  She stared at him. What are you talking about?

  “Remember back at home when you pulled me through the CloudNet? Do you think you can do that again? The spheres here won’t allow me to communicate beyond the tower, but I bet you can find a way. I need to talk to Grandfather.”

  Eli, you don’t seem to appreciate the urgency of the situation. The system says the Guardians check on you every hour, and I don’t know when the last time was. They could be back any minute.

  “I’m safer here than if I’m caught wandering the hallways. And anyway, you don’t understand. This can’t wait. Grandfather is the only one who can really help.”

  She appeared to study him as the rain rumbled overhead. When at last her voice echoed in his mind again, it was softer than before. Grandfather isn’t well. You know that, don’t you?

  He nodded. “All the more reason to reach him now. Wherever he is, I have to find him.”

  She seemed to consider. All right, my love. I’ll do my best. She stepped toward him once more, hopped back onto his lap, and closed her eyes. After a few seconds she opened them again. A long moment passed. Staring into her face, Eli began to wonder if it was going to work. Maybe she couldn’t do it more than once. But soon he felt a tingling on his scalp. And then came the feeling he remembered from the first time, the faint fizzing sensation deep in his brain.

  The sounds of the storm started to fade. He closed his eyes.

  Eli was
in the digital tunnel again. In his mind he and Marilyn were flying across a field of multicolored lights. She carried him down a long chain of interconnecting highways as countless electronic intersections whipped past. Every now and then they would duck through doorways he hadn’t noticed, or they would turn onto side roads like steep, winding staircases. Eventually the lights faded and the feeling of motion slowed.

  Now he found himself floating in a CloudNet sphere over a narrow hospital bed. The room had uneven, pinkish walls that glistened with moisture and seemed to expand and contract at regular intervals like enormous living air sacs. Eli realized he was inside some kind of medical apparatus, a giant artificial lung. In the bed below him, twisted amid the sheets, somebody was struggling to breathe. He’d been expecting to come to Grandfather, but this wasn’t him. The patient in the bed was too small and frail to be anyone but a child. Hairless and rail thin, his skin was yellow and withered and he had black circles around his eyes. He looked more like a corpse than a living being. Two robot nurses attended him. At that moment one of them was fussing with the plastic tubes that connected his arms and chest with the medical equipment behind his head. The noise of the storm had dropped away by then, and everything was quiet except for the hum of machinery and the rasp of strained breathing.

  Marilyn, who is this? Why are we here?

  She didn’t answer. Although Eli could sense her presence somewhere in the CloudNet, he could feel she wasn’t in the sphere with him but instead was lingering somewhere behind. It occurred to him that she was even more worn out than he’d realized and that in her weakened state, she must have carried him as far as she could until at last she’d had to send him ahead without her. He was on his own.