It was still dark out, about a half hour or so before dawn arrived in what used to be the Central Time Zone of the Midwestern United States of America. Adam and Thomas sat quietly in the shuttle’s passenger section, quietly reflecting on what they expected to see when they reached their old home in Missouri. Neither of them had been back in years, they had simply been too busy in the Proteus galaxy to even consider returning to their childhood home. And after the world exploded in nuclear fire fifteen years earlier, neither of them had ever expected to want to go back. But now, the specific markings on inside of the silver watch casing were piquing Adam’s interest with an irresistible urge to investigate. A simple map of the Earth, similar to the one that the watch had presented as its first offering, would have sufficed as a signal for them to return to the present. The fact that their hometown was specifically singled out and designated this time around seemed to hint at something more, something that felt important enough to investigate.
“I’m not planning on staying long Thomas,” Adam said suddenly, the sound of his voice breaking through the non-stop rumbling of the shuttle’s engines. “Viewing the damage in the darkness will be tough enough.”
“I understand,” his brother replied softly. “I’ve been studying our probe maps of North America and it was targeted pretty heavily.” He handed Adam a small bottle of pills. “Dr. Simmons suggested we take two of these before disembarking, and then two more for the ride back. In addition to her promise to check over your neck injury, both of us are going to have to undergo radiation treatments when we get back.”
Adam turned and just looked at him, thoroughly disgusted by the details that hinted at so much damage to their home world. I never expected it would be this bad, he thought grimly, because I did not want to look.
As the President predicted, Joseph proved to be an excellent pilot. He brought the invisibility-screened shuttle down through the atmosphere with little more than a few mild bumps and descended over what used to be the Midwestern United States, angling toward the southeast. It took another fifteen minutes of flying time before the small transport vessel’s landing gear extended and it settled firmly onto the ground. As the engines throttled down to a dull, distant rumble after being placed on standby, Joseph poked his head through the cockpit door and nodded curtly at them. “You’ve got thirty minutes,” he told them firmly. “We can stay until dawn breaks. I have to stay here and watch for signs of enemy activity. And if I signal that there’s trouble, both of you are to come back immediately.”
“Understood.” Adam nodded respectfully at the young kid, whose knowledge of the situation, confidence and self-discipline reminded him of what Thomas used to be like twenty years or so in the past.
Hesitating for one last instant the two brothers exchanged uneasy glances. Thomas gave in first, reaching out toward the wall controls and using them to open a side hatch on the shuttle. As the doors retracted, snapping left and right, a small ramp auto-extended from the base of the deck, angling down toward the ground to allow them an easier descent. Immediately the stench of the polluted air assailed their nostrils. Thomas coughed and resisted the urge to gag at the foul smells, but Adam never wavered. A combat veteran from the Wasteland battle zone, he had seen and experienced a whole lot worse than the occasional unpleasant odor or two. Mentally he evaluated the stench and gave it a description.
Ashes and death.
This is what our home smells like now… ashes and death, he told himself with a discouraging shake of his head. He simply stood there, unwilling to move at first, contenting himself to look out into the darkness and wonder what else he was going to find before their brief tour was completed. Thomas moved first, using the ramp to descend cautiously toward the ground below. Since the shuttle remained cloaked, there were no lights other than the handheld flashlights they carried. Even so, as he walked out onto the ramp his eyes drifted skyward. He could easily pick out the North Star along with a few of the major, more easily identifiable constellations. Everything else, including all of the surrounding terrain, was shrouded in an almost complete and total blackness.
Ashes and death, along with an almost total absence of light. Truly the Earth had become almost hell reimagined.
“I’m tapping into the Lexington’s global positioning system,” Thomas stated bluntly, the shape of his body barely discernible. Turning the beam of his flashlight in his brother’s direction, Adam could just barely see the glint of light reflecting off his brother’s eyes.
“We should have brought the dog,” muttered Adam sourly. “He could sniff out anything, even in this mess.”
“I don’t think he would like our Earth as compared to his,” Thomas replied with a dark chuckle. He waved his right hand at Adam. “Come on, we don’t have much time. Mom and Dad’s house is this way.”
Responding to his brother’s prompt, Adam walked down the shuttle ramp as his brother’s shadowy profile moved off toward the right. His eye HUD was active and tracking his brother’s position with pinpoint accuracy, insuring that the two of them didn’t get separated or lost while trying to move through the debris. Stopping at the base of the ramp, his flashlight illuminated the immediate area, allowing him to see a nearly endless supply of charred and broken wood, fragmented metal and shattered glass.
The entire city must have exploded and burned in an instant, he thought silently, along with everyone in it.
As soon as his feet left the ramp and touched the actual ground, something happened. Adam gasped with surprise, dropping his flashlight in the process as he felt a warm heat begin to emanate from the center of his body. He had no idea what was causing it and could think of no reason why he would suddenly become so utterly disoriented. Dizzy, he called out for Thomas and staggered forward a few steps, recognizing the familiar site of an asphalt road beneath his feet. Even so, it was a road that was so broken and pitted and cracked that it would be completely unusable if any of the nearby rusting land vehicles remained operational. He inhaled deeply in an attempt to refresh his system with oxygen.
Then he blacked out.
He woke up several seconds later, lying flat on his back. “What the hell just happened?” he asked, thoroughly confused and feeling a little bit humiliated by his reaction. Deep down he already knew what had happened, even as he opened his eyes and saw his brother’s face hovering over him. It reminded him of the day before, when Jesus’ face had been leaning over him after resurrecting him from the neck injury.
“You fainted Adam,” Thomas told him, his voice filled with concern. “I was looking right at you and your body began to glow with that same, soft white, pulsating aura that surrounded Jesus… the same kind of energy signature that you claim David possessed. It started as soon as your feet touched the Earth and then it seemed to rush downward, out of you and into the ground.”
“Yes, that’s kind of what it felt like from this end,” admitted Adam. He sat up grimly, glancing around in all directions while the two of them waited for something to happen. “Something previously dormant inside of me appeared suddenly out of nowhere and then just seemed to rush toward my feet. It felt a lot like liquid heat.” Minutes ticked by with nothing else unusual taking place. Thomas finally relented by offering Adam a hand and lifting him firmly back to a standing position.
“Your vitals appear normal,” noted Thomas with a relived sigh. “For a brief moment there, I was worried that your new lease on life was a temporary one.”
“Thanks for sharing that thought with me,” growled Adam, his old feelings of mistrust and suspicion where David was concerned instantly resurfacing. “It’s not like that would be the kind of comment most people would keep to themselves or anything.”
The two of them began moving steadily away from the shuttle, following the broken pieces of the road that led deeper toward the center of town. On the edge of the horizon, where land met sky, Thomas noticed a faint, soft orange glow slowly beginning to manifest. It was almost 4:30 a.m. and dawn was on the verge of peekin
g out at them. Around them, the broken profiles of shattered buildings and homes were now clearly discernible. Once again exchanging wary glances; the two brothers continued walking through the center of town until they reached a familiar street that was well-known to them even without the usual street signs in place. They turned right and walked down a side road that was in much better shape than it should have been, given the circumstances. Even so it was littered with all kinds of debris: fragments of what had once been furniture and window frames, tin cans and water bottles, the metallic frames of burnt out motor vehicles that would never again move anyone from place to place.
By the time they reached their old neighborhood it was light enough to see without the flashlights. At one time there had been a double row of houses lining each side of the side street. Now there was nothing but huge, smashed piles of charred wood and broken glass. Pretty much everything within sight was burned almost beyond recognition. The skeletal remains of humans and animals were recognizable too, incinerated to the point where it was impossible to identify even gender. These were people we used to KNOW personally, Thomas realized suddenly. And any of these people could be victims that were once FAMILY.
Adam was watching his brother and it was clear that the grief Thomas felt was growing by leaps and bounds. Thomas was a much more emotional creature than he was, and also possessed a permanent anxiety disorder that remained under treatment. Ever since the destruction of their home world, Adam and the President had worked very hard to make certain that Thomas was fully involved in helping with their ongoing scientific endeavors. But the two of them were also partially shielding him from as many of the nastier aftershocks from the war as possible. It had taken a long time to get him stabilized after his anxiety flared out of control on board the Pathfinder. Neither man wanted to chance putting the younger Roh through a second traumatic experience. Every man had his weaknesses; every man had a breaking point.
“I think we should go back,” decided Adam suddenly, doubt growing in his mind as he waved sharply at his brother. “We’re not going to find anything here except bad memories, Thomas. I really believe now that this was a stupid idea. Let’s go back.”
Glancing over at him, Thomas continued walking toward their old house on the corner at the end of the street. “I really think…” he began. The rest of his statement was suddenly cut off as the President linked in with them mentally, accessing the transceivers in their brain implants.
[“What’s going on down there?”] Kaufield asked curiously. [“What did you two just do?”]
The two brothers just stood there and looked apprehensively at one another, each reading the puzzlement in the expression of the other. [“What do you mean?”] Adam transmitted back. [“It looks like a nuclear wasteland down here, all radiation and death. There is really nothing much else to write home about.”]
[“Well something is going on!”] continued the President excitedly. His normally calm, cool and reserved manner had evaporated completely, prompting Adam to conclude that something truly out of the ordinary must be taking place. [“Can’t you see it?”] Kaufield paused, obviously checking telemetry on his tactical console. [“Of course you can’t see it yet. It’s following the path of the morning sunlight. It will reach you in a few minutes. Adam, Thomas… It’s wondrous, what is happening… it’s… it’s… absolutely BEAUTIFUL!”]
Somewhat frustrated, Adam and Thomas continued to study each other warily. They stood there helplessly for another few minutes, wondering just what in the world was going on. Dennis Kaufield was not the kind of man who made this kind of broad proclamation on a whim. If he was saying what he was saying, it was because he was seeing something major taking place. And yet, try as they might, neither Roh brother was able to discern specifically what he was talking about.
[“There’s nothing!”] Thomas told him in response. [“We can see the dawn coming up, but other than the first few rays of sunshine there’s nothing. Just a filthy, polluted orange sky to match the…”] He trailed off once again as a soft hiss from the east abruptly broke the morning stillness, growing steadily louder. [“Oh…”] he said with sudden awe. [“Oh my God! What IS that?”]
A huge, thin line of shimmering white energy curved across the horizon right where Earth met sky, bright enough to overpower the morning sunshine. It was thickening with the passage of each second, growing taller and taller as the energy rocketed toward their position at high speed, its hiss transitioning gradually into a soft, throaty roar. Within seconds, it became clear that they were looking at a huge wall of coruscating white energy, seemingly stretching upward, all the way to the top of the atmosphere. It was closing in on them steadily, chasing away the last of the twilight just as President Kaufield predicted. They could hear his voice in their minds, urging them to run for the shuttle. But it was already too late for that option; both brothers knew this to be true. So they simply stood there and watched.
At the last instant before the swirling ivory energy barrier reached them, Thomas happened to glance down at his feet, just barely, momentarily managing to tear his gaze away from the impossible, extraordinary phenomenon racing directly toward them. “Look!” he shouted, struggling to be heard above the colossal roar, pointing at the desolate ground beneath their feet. He could see small green shoots of what looked to be grass beginning to poke out of the Earth’s surface, stretching upward as they reached toward the light, appearing to respond directly to its presence. After that, he saw nothing for quite some time as the huge cloud of white energy enveloped them and sped onward toward the west without slowing. They were totally encompassed in a massive, powerful energy field that seemed to writhe and twist in the soft morning breeze. Thomas would describe it later as feeling like they were walking in a thick, viscous ocean of energy.
Adam recognized it instantly, reaching out with both hands and allowing the energy to bathe him in its radiance. He smiled, completely overwhelmed by the euphoria of the moment, by the warmth and gentle touch of the energy’s presence. Despite its extremely formidable, obviously powerful appearance, there was nothing violent about it in the slightest. Instead, it seemed to wrap itself around everything, twisting and flowing just like a liquid river across the surface of the Earth. “Thomas, this is what it was like… this is what I saw when I was dead!” Adam hollered at the top of his lungs. “Everything was white and luminous and warm, and I’ve never felt so secure in my life!” He didn’t know if his brother could hear him, so he simply whirled around and studied the constantly flowing energy currents. He held up a hand in front of his face, noticing that his fingers were literally glowing as though surrounded by a brilliant white fire.
Less than thirty seconds later the roar of the energy flow suddenly fizzled noticeably, the huge cloud of it moving off toward the western horizon at the same speed it had approached. Thomas was seated on the ground, having found himself completely overwhelmed and bewildered by a powerful, unexplained energy flow that had wholly encompassed everything around them for as far as the eye could see. Adam was still standing where he had been at the beginning, staring off toward the west where the dwindling rear wall of the barrier could be seen racing onward in a steady course that precisely matched the barrier between twilight and morning sun. This is unbelievable, his mind screamed at him. This is wondrous, monumental, miraculous! Then it suddenly dawned on him that Thomas was sitting in the center of a large patch of newly grown green grass, clover and purple and yellow wildflowers.
Looking around carefully, both men noticed that everything within their field of vision was somehow, inexplicably transformed. What had once been ashes and death was now a world reborn and filled with life.
Inhaling sharply, both men noticed that the sour smells of ash and incinerated dead things were suddenly gone, out of the blue, vanished as though they had never existed. The shattered wood and broken buildings were still there, but they were surrounded by green-leaved trees, bushes and flower petals dripping with fresh morning dew while waving in a st
eady, cool breeze. For once, neither Roh brother had anything to say. Thomas simply sat where he was, watching a line of ants moving toward a large, heavily fortified hole that they had apparently built at some earlier point in time.
Adam watched a lazy, buzzing bumblebee wend its way casually through the wild flowers. The familiar sounds of nature suddenly reached his ears and he glanced up toward the tops of the trees framed by a light-blue, undamaged morning sky with amazement. Are those BIRDS chirping… am I hearing correctly? The two of them stood there silently, saying nothing, just taking it all in and admiring a spectacular display of nature that neither of them had ever expected to see again.
[“Adam! Thomas! Are you down there?”] wondered a familiar presence in their minds. Kaufield! Once again, their link with him had been completely cut off as soon as the energy barrier made its brief but astonishingly transformational appearance.
[“Yes! Yes… we’re here!”] Adam responded, watching the look of astonishment on his brother’s face with a slow smile of his own. [“Can you see the visual feeds we’re sending? It’s wonderful… absolutely wonderful I tell you! Somehow, in some completely unfathomable way, we’ve been given our Earth back. This part of it, at least. Is this happening everywhere?”]
[“Yes, somehow we’ve been given back EVERYTHING!”] His wife’s presence in his mind joined Kaufield’s. [“That energy wave is gradually encompassing the entire planet – it’s healing everything that was broken, putting everything back the way it was before the war.”]
Snapping back to the true professional he was, Thomas abruptly stood up and began looking around, searching through all the new signs of life that had somehow been almost instantly restored. [“Not everything,”] he cautioned suddenly, studying the scrolling telemetry feed on his eye HUD. [“I’m not detecting any human life signs, and all of the houses and buildings are still smashed. There is debris lying everywhere around us on shattered roads, charred wood, empty food cans, broken windows...”] He paused for a few precious seconds, continuing to analyze. [“However it’s admittedly all just simple debris now… stuff that can be cleaned up. The air is fresh – almost perfect in fact – and radiation levels have dropped back to normal. Whatever that energy wave was, it selectively healed pretty much everything dangerous.”]
The Pathfinder Trilogy Page 104
