“JT!”
But I couldn’t respond. Another bolt of pain stabbed at my head, and this time I saw another alien remove a strange-looking device from under his emerald-colored cape. The device was electric of some sort, its long barrel crackling from some unknown power source. I blinked and he disappeared.
I spun toward the platform. I could see my sister waving to the crowd.
“Welcome,” her voice echoed through the loudspeakers. “I know some of you have traveled far, and I thank you.”
“Ketheria!” I screamed.
And then I heard it. I knew instantly.
A sting ripped over the crowd, like an electrical cable had been cut free. There was a short pause followed by a crack. I looked up and saw Queykay moving away from Ketheria, just as I had envisioned earlier. Then I saw Ketheria fall. The crowd gasped and fell silent. I heard nothing but the sound of Ketheria’s body hitting the platform before the air was gobbled up with mayhem. As some screamed, others began to run. Instantly, more than a dozen Space Jumpers appeared on the platform.
That’s when I felt it.
I didn’t try to jump. It was as if someone was making me jump. My mind and my body struggled to gain control while some psychic tether yanked me through space and time.
For a nanosecond, the world about me appeared frozen before I was torn from my current moment in time and placed next to my sister on the platform without lapse. The chaos and pandemonium roared back in as the universe caught up with me. Four Nagool masters moved toward my sister, and I spotted Drapling running across the platform. I turned to see where Queykay had gone, but I could not find him. Then four Jumpers closed in around me. Each one grabbed onto Ketheria, and then they were gone, my sister with them. All of this happened within a single breath.
“Wait! Where are they taking her?” I screamed, staring at the spot where they had just been. I ran to the next Jumper, but he disappeared before I even got close. Each Jumper followed, one by one. “Where are you taking her?” I screamed at them.
With Ketheria gone, my head felt like it was going to crack open and its contents spill out on the platform. I was drowning in a wave of nausea as I tried to focus, to unlock some hidden link to the Space Jumpers or to Ketheria herself. Surely the Trust had wired me with something like that. I fixated on being with Ketheria, being off this platform, being next to her. Precious seconds slipped away. Where are they? Then my mind unhinged and I pushed myself forward, not from where I was standing but rather through space and time. Instead of darkness, my mind exploded with pure light, and I felt relief as I slipped away from the here and now. I let the Universe guide me and prepared myself for what was to come. I even welcomed the sickly scent of smelly feet.
I had an idea where I was. The pain in my head had subsided the moment I jumped, and even my stomach felt better.
Ketheria was close.
I recognized the steel beams and walls rooted in the black rock from the last time I had been held here a rotation ago. The Space Jumpers had taken Ketheria to the Trust — I was certain of it. Standing in a wide corridor, I saw blue light glowing along the ceiling’s edge and sparkling on the textured floor, just as I remembered. The fact that I had left the Rings of Orbis and jumped to the Trust was not an easy concept to understand, but, as with my softwire abilities, I chose to simply accept it. Right now I only wanted to find Ketheria.
The Trust was powerful, and my last meeting with them had not been a favorable one. They could inflict pain without laying a finger on me, and they could track my movements whenever they pleased. Besides that, whenever the Keepers spoke of the Trust, I always sensed both fear and respect in their tone. When Theylor had informed me that I was genetically altered to be the Tonat, he told me that it was under their instruction. Theylor also told me that the Trust had been instrumental in arranging our trip from Earth. The Trust’s main mission, he told me, was to search for a Scion and then, once he or she was found, to help the Scion awaken. But who gave them this role? I assumed it had been the Ancients.
I heard footsteps around the corner to my right. I bolted across the corridor and slipped down another hallway on my left. I had to move quickly, before I ended up in some hole waiting to find out what had happened to Ketheria. I knew she wasn’t dead; I sensed it. Is that from their programming? I wondered. Or was it simply because Ketheria was my sister? I couldn’t even imagine how my body would react if she died.
I slipped along the corridor, searching for some connection to the computer that ran the place. What would I say to Ketheria once I found her? Certainly this incident proved that the security around my sister was inadequate, despite their manpower. I knew Ketheria would say that none of this was my fault, but it was. It had been my decision to handle security in this manner, yet the first time Ketheria appeared in public, she was attacked. What was I thinking? I should have been next to her. It was my fault.
Max! I had simply left her in that mob of aliens. Have I failed everyone? Would she even understand? I hoped she would.
I stopped in front of a glass panel embedded in the wall. It was the best chance I had. I pushed into the device.
“Ouch!”
I pulled out immediately. My teeth were ringing from the shock, and I could taste a peculiar metal tinge on the roof of my mouth. I tried to shake it off, but it stuck to me like radiation gel. The Trust was using some sort of security device to keep people out of their computer. I moved on, looking for something else, but all I found were more and more corridors with more useless little panels.
Again the sound of footsteps resonated down the hall. There were lots of them this time, and they were marching. I searched for a place to hide and found a small impression in the bedrock. I pushed against the wall, trying to make myself as small as possible, when the wall opened up and I fell inside.
“It doesn’t take a softwire to use one of those door panels,” said a voice from somewhere within the room. Actually, it was more like the voice was everywhere in the room.
“Who said that?” I called out.
“I did,” the deep voice replied.
The room wasn’t much. In fact, all I saw were two sloped chairs similar to the ones in Drapling’s rooms. There was also a small table. That was it.
“Please sit if you feel more comfortable,” the voice offered.
“Thanks,” I mumbled, with no intention of sitting.
The walls were the most active things in the place. Lights seemed to flash through the room as if circulating through the rock. Tubes and pipes filled in most of the blank spaces, and then I saw it. To my left, in one corner of the room, I saw a hand, as if it was stuck in the rock. A small control panel was placed within reach of the hand’s fingers. I began to notice more body parts spread out through the rock and around the entire room.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“That’s rather rude,” the voice replied.
“I’m sorry. This is a little strange for me. I’m worried about my sister. She’s hurt, and I want to get to her.”
“Ketheria is fine. They are attending to her now.”
“You know! Can I see her? Do they know who did it?”
“They know who wasn’t protecting her.”
“Oh.”
I knew it. And so did they. I wasn’t going to live this one down, that’s for sure. I failed Ketheria on my initial test. The anger flushed through my skin. Anger at myself.
“I do not know why you resist it,” the voice said. “It is your destiny,”
“Says who?”
“Says me.”
“Who are you?”
“Every cell in your body has been programmed to protect that girl. It does not matter how hard you try to avoid your responsibility; you cannot escape it. That sickness you feel? Can you imagine what that would be like if she left this galaxy?”
“I can handle it. I handled it when she came here,” I said.
“This asteroid is simply orbiting the rings, you fool.”
&nbs
p; Well, that explained all this rock.
“What you feel now is nothing compared to what you will feel if you don’t stay close to the Scion. You’ll need more than those foolish little potions you drink.”
The lights in the rock flared with the sound of the voice, as if agitated.
“How do you know this? Tell me who are you,” I said.
“I’m surprised you haven’t figured that out. You haven’t read those files I gave you, have you?”
“Files? No one gave me any files,” I complained.
“Were you not given a device by a Space Jumper and told to keep it with you at all times?”
I reached into my pocket and touched the cold metal disc given to me by one of the Space Jumpers.
“Yes,” I muttered.
“Were you not curious to examine the device, to see what you were asked to carry around with you? Obviously not. This is why you need training. You must join us, son. Protecting the Scion is the one thing I cannot program into you.”
Program into me? I removed the disc and pushed inside it. Nestled behind the intricate tracking device was a single nugget of data. I willed it open, and my parents’ missing files flashed in front of me, all 321 of them.
“You’re . . .”
“Quirin,” the voice replied.
“My father?”
“By definition.”
I didn’t look for the chair; I simply sat on the floor and stared at the body parts spread around the room.
“How can it be?” I whispered. “What happened to you?”
“When the Renaissance was attacked, I attempted a jump that I knew was not possible. I tried to take everything with me and move backward through time. I failed, and now I will be like this forever.”
“But my mother. You left her there.”
“Your mother never left Earth.”
“What?”
“You will find everything in those files. I’m afraid most of it will upset you, and I caution you against telling the others any of what you find, but that is your choice. I would rather use this time to help you accept your fate. The Scion needs you.”
The weight of this revelation tightened around my chest. I tried sitting up to let some much-needed oxygen into my lungs, but could breathe in only a little. It seemed every time some inexplicable part of me was explained, I was left feeling emptier and even more hollow. A million new questions crept in to fill the void. Why had I not seen my father sooner? What did he mean that my mother never left Earth? Would he be a part of my life now? If he was my father, was I even human?
I rubbed the smooth disc across the palm of my hands, afraid to look inside it again. How could my life have strayed so far from my own desires? Where was the promise of happiness on the Rings of Orbis? I didn’t want my father to be some freak pieced together inside some asteroid. I wanted the man in the photo — the human who had left Earth to create a better life for his family.
“I don’t want any of this,” I told him.
“You’re willing to sacrifice the future of the universe for your own selfish desires. This obsession with free will is ridiculous. There are no options after this. That is why everything has been sacrificed to save the last possible Scion. There isn’t a species left in the universe that can fill this role. We’ve tried.
“Only a Scion can raise the consciousness of the universe. Without a Scion, the universe will implode under the mass of deconstructive energy that its inhabitants will produce. But before that happens, the universe will be fed upon by beings I can only begin to describe. Ketheria is the last possible candidate. If we fail, the universe will fall.”
“Why? Why her? Why me?”
“Only your ego, that sense of yourself, would ever ask such useless questions. There is no you or her in this equation. The fact that you are involved is nothing more than a random outcome. You were simply the embryo I reached for. You were nothing more than a group of cells that took the genetic information I gave it. The others did not survive. . . .”
“What do you mean, ‘the others’?”
“It is far too risky to prepare only one Tonat. Once the Scion was stable, I needed to make absolutely certain to link a Tonat. We could not wait for it to happen naturally. Had the ship not been attacked, I would have tried several combinations. I must admit, though, your abilities have exceeded my expectations. I am grateful you survived. I believe the remaining candidate would have proven even more difficult.”
“There’s another Tonat?”
“You are the only Tonat.”
“You are not making any sense. This is only confusing me more.”
“Before the Renaissance was attacked, I had time to prepare two cell specimens to receive the required genetic coding. You and one other survivor. The one you call Switzer.”
Now I really couldn’t breathe. I swallowed hard, hoping that some oxygen would sneak in as well.
“I need to know more,” I croaked.
“The wormhole pirate you helped capture had received similar genetic coding to yourself. He was prepared as a backup, if you will — a replacement should something have gone wrong with you. I fear his sociopathic behaviors and narcissistic tendencies are the direct results of my procedures. If I had had more time to give him the attention required, I would have adjusted those anomalies. I would have made him more like you.”
“So there would be two Tonats running around the rings?”
“No, I would have destroyed one of you before the Renaissance ever arrived on the Rings of Orbis. In fact, I would have destroyed all the embryos except for you and the Scion. That was the plan.”
“You would have killed everyone?”
“Yes. Why does this matter?”
“It matters.”
A world without Max? Without Theodore? Without Switzer? I felt dizzy even though I was already sitting. I wanted to lie down.
“I don’t feel good,” I said.
“This is why you need more training. Your emotions are too strong. Your sense of self blinds you. Stay with me and become who you are destined to be. I offer you one of the greatest roles in the history of the universe. Your name will be emblazoned in the hearts of every creature in every galaxy. With Ketheria as the Scion, every human in the universe will be given a unique path to enlightenment. She will guide humans to fulfill their new role in this universe. The Ancients are gone, my son. When the Scion completes the fourteenth step of the awakening, then humans can succeed the Ancients and bring harmony to this universe. It is our last defense against the Knull. An entire universe will stand behind you. You are poised for greatness, John Turnbull. You only need to accept it.”
I could only think about Max and Theodore and Grace and even the guy whose name I had trouble remembering, and Switzer. They existed only because the Trust tried to grow their own Scion and Tonat — Ketheria and me. Switzer is sitting in a cell, probably for the rest of his life, because of me. Now, more than ever, I wished I had waited until I was inside his spaceship on Orbis 3, so he could have escaped. At least he would have some sort of life right now.
“It still matters,” I mumbled. “It matters a lot.”
Every one of them had suffered life as a knudnik on the Rings of Orbis. Suffered because of me and Ketheria. Of course I didn’t think Quirin should have actually followed through with his mission and destroyed everyone, but I wanted desperately to be back on the Renaissance, trying to help Switzer steal the ship.
I was staring at my hands. It would be Switzer standing here right now if a single one of my cells had mutated in some errant fashion. It would be Switzer poised for all this “glory,” not me. I was feeling worse by the second. I really didn’t want to be me right now.
I looked up at the wall. “Wait,” I said. “Did you do this on purpose? Did you bring Ketheria here so I would hear this?”
“You had to come on your own.”
“So does this mean that Switzer is my brother or something?”
“You both share my gen
etics.”
Wow! Too much. I needed to get out of here.
“You, however, have proven to be a much better candidate. I abandoned him for you.”
“I want to see my sister,” I whispered.
“But we are not finished.”
“I was finished a long time ago,” I replied. “In fact, I want to go back to the rings. You said Ketheria is all right, didn’t you? I want to go home.” The word struck me as odd. I had never referred to the rings as my home before. “I need time to swallow all of this.”
Quirin did not reply.
“Look, I’ll come back so we can talk again,” I lied, purely to let him believe that I was considering the situation.
“Certainly. If you remained, however, and if you studied, you could jump back to the rings yourself.”
“I said we would talk some more. That is all I can offer you right now.”
“There is no way you can fight this,” he warned me.
“I can find a way.”
“Then I suggest you act quickly. It is dangerous on the rings for your sister.”
“Then keep her here.”
“The awakening must be allowed to continue. She must do so among those whom she will enlighten.”
“Or those who will kill her.”
“We must not interfere.”
“You are way beyond that,” I reminded him.
The door to Quirin’s room opened, and a Space Jumper stepped in, someone I had never seen before. This Jumper was not as militarized as the others and was dressed in a sleek grayish material. His belt, however, was still prominent.
“He will return you to the rings,” Quirin said. “Your sister will be fine. She will follow you there shortly.”
“Good-bye . . . Quirin,” I said. There was no way I could call him Father, not now.
“Good-bye, son.”
The Space Jumper returned me to Ketheria’s room on Orbis 4. We did not speak even once, and that suited me fine. I was eager to get back to my own room, lock the door, and open my parents’ files. For so long I had wanted to see what was on those restricted documents, but now I had almost forgotten about them. When Madame Lee destroyed the copy from the Renaissance, I had thought that was the end of it.
The Softwire: Awakening on Orbis 4 Page 9
