“This is not something Will Stark would want,” she said. She stood atop a large box nestled near the water’s edge, and the silence of the crowd allowed everyone to hear the nearby river run into the tunnel-fed lagoon behind her. “This is not an organization meant to exist and operate on suspicion and mistrust.”
She glanced around. “Earlier today, Adam returned from watching Will’s mission to implant the pods on one of the Hunters. I will not lie to you. The mission was a success; the pods were planted on Athos. However…” She took a deep breath. “Will was injured in the attack, and teleported far away. We have not heard from him since. The nature of his injury is such that he might never return to us.”
“Then it’s true!” a woman shouted. “Will is dead, killed by the Hunters, and it’s all due to Clint’s treachery!”
Hope looked at the speaker. “That, at this point, is what we believe to be true.”
Cries of disbelief erupted, and mingled in were shouts called for revenge and justice for Clint.
Hope held up her hand, and the crowds, ever-respectful of the one called Shadow, regained their earlier quietude. “Clint has been subdued, and we used that opportunity to examine him. While Clint’s words may have triggered Will’s decision to take on this mission, his words were not driven by his own free-will. We used an X-ray scanner to check for additional chips, beyond the one we routinely remove from Aliomenti defectors. That machine located two additional chips in Clint. We checked his mind, and found significantly deeper embedded beliefs programmed into him. Those extra chips and the dozen additional beliefs have been removed.”
The crowd went even more silent as the implications of Hope’s words were understood. Anyone in the Cavern might well be operating under an unknown influence.
“But Clint still made Will take on that mission, and now Will’s… gone!” the earlier speaker said. Her voice wasn’t nearly so loud now.
“Will chose—he was not forced, he was not tricked, he chose—to reveal his location to the Hunters. He did this because he wanted to be absolutely certain that the technology developed to help free those long held captive made it to the Aliomenti Headquarters. Nothing less than certainty on this point was sufficient for him, and he believed he was the right person to make sure it happened.
“Did Clint’s words at the meeting several years ago motivate him? Perhaps they did. But they also reminded Will, and all of us, of his own true nature. He was our first, and was always the one to take on the greatest challenges that provided the innovations and advantages we enjoy today. He was first of us to undergo the Purge. He was the first of our kind to willingly consume ambrosia, without being completely certain of the effects. He risked his credibility with each new innovation he theorized about. He risked his life to find this cave and begin its transformation to a livable habitat to protect people he’d never met from the scourge of the Hunters and the Assassin. It should be no surprise that he demanded this role. And I have every reason to believe he would have done so regardless of Clint’s antagonism.
“Did Clint—the manipulated Clint—mean for Will to take on this effort? Yes, I think he did. I’m the one who did the renewed review of his mind, and what I found there confirms several things. Clint believed he was meant to live here among us as one of us, but to look for opportunities to get Will to expose himself to the Hunters and provide the Hunters further opportunities to capture him. The Aliomenti will believe he’s still on their side, because one of the two chips we just pulled out was a blank. It did nothing. We suspect the original chip we removed when Clint joined us was also a blank. That means two of the three chips inside Clint did nothing. Please be aware of this if you seek to recruit a defector. Search until you find all chips, not just one. Look deeper in their minds for far more than the usual implanted beliefs. We too often think the Aliomenti don’t try to innovate in any way, but they do.
“I want to make one point clear. When Clint wakes up, you will be very angry with him. Don’t be. You may want to do him physical harm. Don’t. You may want to shun him. Do anything but that. You see, the reason he acted as he did was because of the massive number of belief overrides in his mind. Those overrides were needed because Clint’s true beliefs, the ones active now, were so powerfully a match for the Alliance that Arthur needed to literally beat Clint’s mind into submission. He will wake, find himself here, and be overjoyed. When he finds out what he did, he will be truly and genuinely devastated. It will not be an act. Do not shun him. Support him. What has happened to this point was not representative of the real Clint. He needs our support to get through this. The acts you are angry about were, effectively, performed by Arthur Lowell. Do not take out your frustrations on an innocent man.”
Quiet percolated among those present. Clint’s prone form rested upon a table near Hope, where Aaron watched monitors tracking the man’s overall health. Adam’s initial assault and the complete Energy drain, coupled with the mental deprogramming from Hope, had left the man in a virtual coma. Hope looked out at the crowd, and watched as the hardened faces softened, watched a man they knew as a friend breathe deeply, unaware that his fate was being defined in this very moment. The tension and anger had evaporated to large degree.
But there was still great sadness.
“What more can you tell us about Will’s condition?” This time, it was Judith who spoke.
Hope looked at Adam, who stepped forward. “I was there, and at Will’s insistence I promised I would not interfere. As intended, the Hunters captured Will. While they were waiting for the transport craft with the Dampering cell to arrive to take Will to Headquarters, he broke free. In the scuffle that followed, he appeared to injure Aramis—I did not see what happened from my vantage point—and also sliced open Athos’ cheek. He appeared to be talking to Porthos when Athos hit Will in the back of the head with the hilt of his sword. Will was stunned by the blow, staggered forward, and fell right into Porthos’ sword. The sword vanished to the hilt. Will teleported away seconds later with a huge burst of Energy.”
“Did you see any blood?”
“No, but I was too far away, and he vanished too quickly. His teleportation carried the sword with him as well.”
“Is he dead? Did you see a body?”
“I did not see a body. He was alive when I last saw him because he teleported away. I struggle to think he survived a stabbing in which an entire sword was shoved into his abdomen, however.” Adam’s face looked pained once more as he uttered the words.
More questions were shouted, but Hope raised her hand. “We have much work to do here. We must, for the time being, assume that Will is to be absent indefinitely. As we do not know where he is, we cannot send anyone to help him. If he still lives, he will need to recover on his own, or reach out for help when he can. For now, though, the revelations about Clint must drive our immediate course of action.” She looked to Aaron.
Aaron spoke up. “Given the revelations about Clint—the extra tracking chips, the extra mental programming—we encourage everyone to undergo both imaging tests and mental scans. I have the imaging machine here, near the beach, so that everyone may not only participate if they choose, but have multiple witnesses to observe the results. The Shadow, Eva, Adam and I went through these tests as soon as we realized what had happened with Clint, and each of us is happy to go through the process again if anyone wants us to do so.”
Adam spoke next. “We suspect that the extreme efforts taken in Clint’s case a relatively recent innovation. What it means is that those here the least amount of time are the most likely to be affected.”
A man named Rorke stepped forward. “I was only recently recruited away from the Aliomenti, and I am very concerned that what happened with Clint happened to me as well. I have no desire to betray the Alliance. I grieve at Will’s loss. I don’t want to be the cause of something like that. Adam’s right. People like me are the most likely to be affected, so we should be checked first. Let's not waste time checking the Shadow for signs
of malevolent intent.” He walked toward the imaging machine. With his example, others, also recent recruits, stepped forward in line behind him.
The imaging machine failed to find additional tracking chips inside anyone, recent recruit or otherwise. They found two very recent recruits with modified beliefs that had the potential to cause trouble, though those beliefs were unlikely to matter outside an all-out direct battle with the Aliomenti. Cleared individuals worked together to ensure nothing was missed. The community rallied together as never before, bonding in their effort to ensure the safety of their home and the genuine actions of their neighbors.
Twelve hours later, through their concerted efforts, every person within the Cavern had been checked and cleared. There were no more Clints among them.
Hope stayed with Clint in the lab that night. The gentle beeping of the machines tracking his pulse rate kept her awake, and she could smell the aromas of the various chemical mixes researchers had tested throughout the previous day. Clint remained asleep on a bed, locked down by netting much like Adam had used to capture him the day before. They feared he'd be a danger when he woke up, primarily to himself. The netting was there to keep him from doing something he’d later regret.
At four o’clock in the morning, Clint began to stir. Hope stood up, watching him.
His eyes fluttered open, and he tried to sit up. When he found himself restrained, he tried to use his Energy to move his body out of his restraints. His panic rose when he realized he couldn’t find the Energy within to do something he’d so long taken for granted.
Clint turned his head and spotted Hope. “Shadow? What are you doing here? Why… why am I being restrained?”
“You must listen, Clint. And you must understand… what happened to you was not of your own design, or your own choice. Do you understand?”
Clint’s eyes widened. “No. What’s going on? What’s happening to me?”
“Your programming by the Aliomenti went far, far deeper than any of us suspected, and likely deeper than even you knew. We found additional tracking chips inside you, dozens of guiding principles and beliefs overridden, far beyond what other defectors had.”
Clint's look of panic deepened. “But… why?” Then his look of panic turned to one of horror, as he realized what her words meant. “What… what have I done?”
Hope took a deep breath. “Words you expressed while under that influence are widely viewed to have driven Will Stark to sacrifice his own freedom to prove his worth to our group.”
“But Will doesn’t need to prove anything!” Clint protested. “He proved everything he needed to prove to me when I watched him walk away from the Aliomenti three centuries ago, and nothing made me happier than to finally be able to be part of his group. Why would I…” His voice broke off again, “The reprogramming… it made me question him? And it made him… sacrifice his… his freedom?”
“Will made his own choice, Clint,” Hope replied. “Your words only reminded him of what he wanted, and expected, to do. The unfortunate part…” She looked him directly in the eye. “In the course of allowing himself to be captured, Will and the Hunters fought. Will managed to injure both Aramis and Athos, but in the end, he was staggered by a blow to the head. And he was stabbed.”
Clint’s eyes widened in terror. “No. Please… please… this can’t be true. Tell me it isn’t true!”
Hope shook her head sadly. “I’m afraid it is. Adam was watching from a distance, too far to stop it. Will was stabbed in the abdomen, up to the hilt, and he teleported away a massive distance. We do not know where he went, or if he’s still alive.”
Clint screamed, with horror and grief so genuine it drove Hope to tears as well. She watched as he fought against his restraints, and their fear he might try to harm himself when he learned the truth proved to be right on the mark. When he realized that escape was impossible, he finally relented, and turned to face Hope. “Kill me. Please. I can’t live like this, knowing what I’ve done. I don’t deserve to live.” His voice was a passionate whisper.
Hope shook her head. “I won’t. It wasn’t you, Clint; it was an extension of Arthur using your body and voice to act. You had no more to do with what happened than I did. The community is fully aware of this truth. Those who doubted, saw the damage done to your mind after we’d gone through and destroyed Arthur’s imprint. They all marveled at the strength of character it must have taken you not to kill Will as he slept here. We are all amazed that, in all the times you’d gone Outside and played your role as part of the Aliomenti business machine, you never betrayed yourself as having joined the Alliance or lived here among us.”
“How can you stand to be around me?” Clint asked, as if he’d not heard her. His voice remained weak. “How can you look at me without it reminding you of your loss? Of our loss?”
Hope sighed. “Everything I see reminds me of him. Should I blind myself?” She shook her head. “Clint, listen to me, very carefully. I want you to think about what Will would want you to do. You’ve been manipulated horribly by Arthur. It took an incredible effort to turn you to his will. Would Will want you in misery for the rest of your life? Would he want you to take your own life? No. He wouldn’t. What would he want you to do?”
Clint paused, and with a deep shuddering breath, composed himself. “No. He wouldn’t want me to do either of those things. He’d want me to continue to be the change I want in the world. And what I want in the world is to see Arthur's influence in it destroyed.” He looked at her, and she could see a new spark there that had nothing to do with Energy. “I need to go and make sure that the prisoners at Headquarters escape. That’s the change I want to see.” He paused for a moment. “You said there were additional chips you had to pull out of me? Did one of them have the tracker in it?”
Hope nodded. “Yes. Why?”
“I'd like to have that chip. I have a message to send to Arthur Lowell and his Hunters. And with that chip, I know just how to send it.”
He smiled.
The spark was back in Clint. And Hope knew that the spirit of the Alliance, a spirit given birth by Will Stark centuries earlier, would continue to live on and thrive even in his absence.
There was no greater gift they could give their founder.
XXIX
Birth
January 7, 1995
Concrete slabs shaped in just the right fashion gave the hospital’s exterior a marbled tile appearance, punctuated by small windows providing patients limited views of the world outside. An ample parking lot was filled to near capacity by the sedans and minivans of patients and hospital staff alike. Puffs of vapor materialized in the cold air near the tailpipes of running cars, often from vehicles drivers started before retrieving a patient in an effort to heat their vehicle against the bitter winter chill. A man buried beneath a heavy coat worked frantically to clear his dash of the snow and ice that had accumulated as he’d been inside the hospital.
A small blue minivan pulled into one of the few empty spots. A tall man with jet black hair and gray eyes jumped out, nearly stumbling on a thin strip of ice near his door. He locked the vehicle with his key and walked briskly toward the hospital entrance. He’d dropped his wife off moments earlier and ensured that she’d gotten attention from the hospital staff. After receiving their assurances that she’d be taken to the maternity ward, he’d raced to his still-running minivan and parked the vehicle.
He remembered that the maternity ward was located on the tenth floor, as he’d made the trip several times when Seth had been born five years earlier. Their little boy had wanted to come, had wanted to be there when his sister was born. Richard and Rosemary Stark had told the little boy that hospitals had rules and that those rules said that big brothers needed to stay home and make sure their little sister’s room was ready for her. The little boy had smiled at the grownup responsibility contained in that statement, and had barely noticed when his parents left. The sitter, a neighborhood college student, would be with Seth while his parents were
gone. They had no kin to call to invite to join them in the celebration of the completion of their family.
Richard slid out of the elevator on the tenth floor and went to the reception desk. The on-duty nurse informed him that Rosemary was in room 1018, and Richard made his way there, his excitement at the impending birth of his last child drowning out the steady beeping noises emitted by the rooms lining the hallway, ignoring the crying babies entering the world or demanding to be fed. He reached room 1018 and found a nurse standing by the closed door. “She's getting her epidural right now. You can go in in just a few minutes. She’s pretty far along; you shouldn’t have to wait long.”
Richard paced the hallway, excited by the news. He and Rosemary had planned their lives out, and everything had gone just as they'd intended. He would turn thirty in a few months, and at that relatively young age he and Rosemary would complete their family—one boy, one girl, replacing themselves in the world through their offspring. Their children would be fully grown, self-sufficient adults before he turned fifty. He and Rosemary would work hard, using their rapidly growing 401k portfolio of tech stocks to retire not long after, and spend the remainder of their days traveling, visiting their future grandchildren, and enjoying the finer things in life that wealth could bring. If Rosemary was already that close to delivering, the plan seemed to be getting that vote of confidence from the universe.
Full speed ahead.
When he finally entered the room, the anesthesia in the epidural had taken effect. Rather than the wincing, face-tightening pain he’d seen in Rosemary during their drive to the hospital, he instead saw his wife happy and content. “How are you?” he asked.
“I don't know who invented the epidural, but I think I’m in love.”
Richard offered a long-suffering sigh. “I can’t possibly compete with drugs.” He took her hand, and she gave him a reassuring squeeze.
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