Origin of the Body

by H. R. Moore

  Anita took Alexander’s hand and he pulled his head up to look at her, his eyes hollow. She sent a nudge to the edge of his energy field, trying desperately to find a way to help. She felt him respond, so she pushed further in towards his core, closing her eyes and wrapping herself around him, willing his spirit upwards. Alexander responded immediately, pushing his own energy back towards hers, entangling their fields together. They held themselves there for a moment before Alexander reached out and pulled Anita to him, an eruption of energy transferring through them as her chest came to his. They felt an impact so strong it was like someone kicking them in the chest and they rebounded instantly at the strength of the shock.

  Helena snapped around to see what had happened, intrigue painted across her face, her academic instinct prickling, certain she had just witnessed something unusual. ‘What was that?’ she asked, her previous, sad memories rapidly chased away on the wings of something here, in the present, that was exponentially more stimulating.

  ‘What was what?’ responded Anita, innocently, meeting Helena’s gaze with what she hoped were innocuous eyes.

  Helena was about to insist they explain what had happened between them, but remembering the circumstances thought better of it. She didn’t want to drive them away now she was so close.

  ‘So what happened next?’ asked Anita, trying to bring their attention back to Helena’s recount. ‘After Peter got me out?’

  Helena wrestled her attention back to the matter in hand, still eyeing the silent Alexander suspiciously. ‘Peter hadn’t intended to go ahead with the switch anyway, he still couldn’t bear to let Gwyn go. Alistair visited Peter’s residence the following day and found, to his delight, that both you and he were okay. He agreed with Peter he would take you back to Empire, to Cordelia, Jeffrey’s mother, who nobody knew anything about, and that’s what he did.’

  ‘But surely Austin checked to make sure I wasn’t passed to known associates or close family of my parents?’ asked Anita, the idea that Austin would just let her go without proof she was dead lying somewhere between the realms of dreams and fairy tales.

  ‘Of course he did. He searched the homes and work places of everybody he could think of, however Cordelia wasn’t Jeffrey’s birth mother. He was the son of her closest friend and she took him in after his mother died protesting in one of the food riots. So there was no official record to link Jeffrey back to Cordelia and none of his friends but Alistair even knew she existed; she hadn’t spoken to Jeffrey in years, not since he married Clarissa.’

  ‘Why?’ asked Anita, ‘what had my mother done to turn Cordelia against her? I’ve never known Cordelia dislike anybody that much.’

  ‘It wasn’t Clarissa per se, more that she hated the Institution because the riot Jeffrey’s birth mother died in was rumoured to have been organised by us. She was sure his ongoing involvement with the Institution was Clarissa’s fault. She didn’t even go to his funeral because she knew we would all be there.’

  ‘So if Cordelia had disowned Jeffrey and hated Clarissa, how did Alistair convince her to take me in?’

  ‘She wasn’t happy about it, but Cordelia couldn’t refuse her son’s dying wish, and of course Alistair left out the part about you not really being Jeff’s daughter. Alistair convinced Cordelia he was done with the Institution, that he had only dabbled and could see now how wrong it had been, and that making sure you were safe would in some way be penance for his involvement. I think Cordelia found some solace in that and they have been friends ever since.’

  ‘And she didn’t insist on knowing what had happened?’ The Cordelia Anita knew was almost as bad as Cleo in her need for gossip, even if she were a little better at putting on a respectable front.

  ‘Austin was told you died that night in the Temple, as was everyone else. The only people who knew the truth were me, Peter, Alistair and Cordelia. Alistair explained to Cordelia that you would be in danger if people realised who your parents were, so she never spoke about them, even to you, nor did she ask Alistair why you would be in danger; she realised it was serious enough that it was best not to know.’

  ‘Well that explains why she was always so cagey when it came to my parents,’ said Anita. ‘How did the Institution survive after the fire? It sounds like most of the members were either killed or left.’

  ‘Don’t underestimate the Institution,’ said Helena with a wry smile, ‘its membership is bigger and more widespread than you could possibly imagine, but for those in our immediate intake, you’re right, it wasn’t easy. A few years later, I moved to Empire as Head Body Councillor, which meant I could keep a close eye on you. Rose, Milly and I were the only three left and our relationships were pretty strained. A couple of years later Milly and Austin split up and since then the air has cleared a little between us, all of us agreeing to put the past behind us and turning our efforts to recruiting the next generation of the Institution. The Descendants and their Councils are powerful; we need resourceful people in our ranks if we are to make any meaningful difference, so we’ve been focusing on bringing in talented new recruits. I tested the water with you too Anita but Alistair knew what I was doing, hence why he was so keen to give you the job at the Observatory, that, and his never ending hope that you might one day marry his son.’

  Anita raised her eyebrows but didn’t say anything; her relationship with Bas was the least of her worries now. Helena sat back down on the sofa and drained the last of the, now cold, tea from her mug, her story at an end.

  ‘But how did Austin, Tobias, and the others find out about what was going on at the Temple?’ Anita asked when it was clear Helena wasn’t going to go on.

  Helena met Anita’s eyes for a moment, looking uncomfortable, edgy, like her fight or flight response was kicking in and she hadn’t yet decided which of the two options to choose. Her shoulders slumped a little as she opted to stay and answer the question, but she was tense in a way Anita had never seen before, and her energy was nothing short of scared.

  ‘They found out because I told them.’

  ‘What?’ said Anita and Alexander together.

  ‘The memory I asked you to steal from Austin was the memory of me telling him Clarissa was planning to disappear, possibly with the real Body Descendant. It’s what Austin has been using against me for years, threatening that if the Institution got too big for its boots, he would tell other key members about my betrayal. It would, he thinks – and I think he’s right – turn the Institution’s focus inwards, causing a split, and we can’t afford for that to happen; we can’t lose focus on stabilising the energy.’

  ‘But...why? Why would you do that to Clarissa? You must have known they would kill her...’ Anita could barely find words to respond. She wasn’t angry or hurt, she had never known Clarissa after all, she was just confused as to why someone like Helena would do such a thing.

  ‘Because I loved Austin and thought if I told him about Clarissa, he would choose me over Milly, and Tobias would think I was worthy.’ Anita was surprised by Helena’s brutal honesty.

  ‘Doesn’t seem to have worked out quite as you planned,’ Alexander said harshly, a venomous look contorting his features. Anita put a hand on his arm, feeling the ferocity of his anger.

  ‘No. You’re right. It didn’t work out as I planned.’ She paused, vacant, looking like she might cry, her energy at an all-time low. ‘Austin was beside himself at the loss of his father and in part he blamed me. If I’d never told them about Clarissa, none of what happened would have taken place, and Tobias, Clarissa, Jeffrey, Anthony, they’d all probably still be here...’

  ‘How did the others find out?’ asked Anita, ‘you said they all turned up at the Temple that night. How did they know?’

  ‘Anthony had been in the Temple of the Spirit. He was leaving to go home and heard something in the Body Temple so decided to see what was going on. Alistair and Jeffrey turned up because Christiana had been at Tobias’ residence for dinner when I arrived. She thought it strange I’d asked to speak w
ith him privately so found a way to overhear the conversation. She left shortly after I did and went straight to see Peter to tell him Austin and Tobias were planning to come to the Temple. Peter knew he wouldn’t be able to take on Tobias and Austin single-handed so went and got Alistair and Jeffrey, causing Peter to turn up late to meet Clarissa.’

  ‘And you and Austin?’

  ‘Austin told me what happened. He thought the blood line was over now that Clarissa and you were, in his mind, dead and was ecstatic that what he saw as his father’s vision had been fulfilled. He was so wrapped up in his arrogance and sense of invincibility that he sent out cronies to look for you, but didn’t even think to confirm your death in the records; he only did that when he came to Empire after Christiana told him you were still alive. I’d put him on a pedestal, thinking he was one of the finest Minds of our generation, but I realised I’d been mistaken and my affection for him waned.’

  ‘It says in the archive I’m dead?’ asked Anita, shocked.

  ‘Yes and no. It says Clarissa and Jeffrey’s daughter, Mia, is dead. That’s what Clarissa called you until the time of her death. When Alistair brought you to live in Empire, he created a new birth record, taking advantage of the death of another woman who had died of childbirth around the time of your birth. Her baby had died with her, but Alistair doctored the record to make it appear the baby lived, calling that baby Anita.’

  ‘What about the baby’s father?’

  ‘There was no record of who the father was. Alistair heard about the woman because there had been an article in the Empire Post about a woman dying of childbirth around the same time as Olivia passed away. They were trying to spin up some hype, the media using Olivia’s death as a reason to report on her. There’s one inconsistency in Alistair’s story, had Austin ever been thorough enough to check; the article said the baby died with the mother. He’s lived in constant fear that at some point somebody would start digging, or that the media would dredge up the story for some reason, but luckily she was inconsequential enough that that never happened.

  After all the high profile deaths, there was a significant amount to sort out and power plays going on all over the place, it was very diverting for people, especially Austin, who was beside himself with glee at the power he now had running Tobias’ affairs. Peter told Christiana the truth years later, to reassure her the bloodline was intact, she was racked with guilt at what she thought she’d done. Towards the end, in some moment of madness, when Christiana knew her death was near, she told Austin the prophecy was intact, that the plan had failed, and that’s what brought everyone to Empire, because Christiana wanted to find you. Austin played along, agreeing it was only right for Christiana to see you once more before she died, but his real motives weren’t quite so pure; he saw an opportunity to finish what his father had started.’

  Silence settled over the room as they processed this wealth of new information. Helena dwelled on the past for just a few moments more before shutting her mind to what was now history and moving the conversation on in a more purposeful manner. ‘And now the energy is dropping rapidly and there are new reports coming in every day from all over the world that the situation is getting worse. In Wild Wood, some of the ancient trees have started to rot, in Wild Water, the fish stocks are lower than they have ever been, and here, the farmers who don’t own their land outright are being crippled by debts; they aren’t even producing enough to pay the rent they owe. So we’ve got to act Anita, now, before this goes too far. We’ve got to find out what’s in that cylinder in your head.’

  ‘Why do you think it contains the answer?’ she asked, full of open suspicion. ‘What do you think it contains? Where does it come from? For all we know, opening it could kill me.’

  Helena sighed, weary of having to answer pointless questions, but knowing they were a necessary waste of her time. ‘When your mother and Jeffrey went to the Wild Lands, they spent a great deal of time in Wild Air, right next to the Cloud Mountain, where the Spirit Leader lives. Clarissa spent virtually all of her time there meditating in the Cloud Temple. If you can believe the Spirit Leader’s account of events, her meditative maturity progressed quickly, to the point where a previous Spirit Leader requested she meditate with him.’

  Alexander frowned, ‘I thought Spirit Leaders kept their position until they died...?’

  ‘Strictly speaking they do, however, this particular Spirit Leader’s ‘death’ wasn’t entirely conventional in that he didn’t fully die.’ Helena nearly laughed out loud at the looks on Anita and Alexander’s faces. ‘He went into a deep meditation and never came back. His heart rate dropped to such a slow rate his followers couldn’t believe he was still alive. A few of the very skilled amongst them found him in meditation occasionally, where he told them how to keep him going and that they should do this for as long as they could; he had something very important to tell someone, whenever they found their way to him. They fed him via a drip, keeping him going for decades, new followers taking over when the old ones died, his body wasting away to virtually nothing. And then, one day, the current Spirit Leader connected with him and he requested to meditate with Clarissa. It was entirely unconventional; he hadn’t requested to meditate with a single person all that time, so they knew Clarissa must be the one he’d been waiting for.

  She started regularly meditating with the Spirit Leader, not breathing a word to anyone about what happened in the meditations, becoming more and more withdrawn as the days went on. Then, after twelve days, she came out of his chamber and announced he was gone, he’d just drifted off during the meditation, telling her it was finally his time to join the Gods.

  As you can imagine, the monks, not to mention the current Spirit Leader, questioned Clarissa endlessly about what was said, what had happened, and the purpose of his staying alive for so long. All she would tell them was that he had given her a precious gift that she had to store until the time was right to pass it on. There was only one person who she could pass the gift on to, and if she tried to give it to anyone else, the cylinder would combust. She wasn’t even supposed to tell them it was a brass cylinder and they pounced on her slip, trying to force her to impart more, but from that moment on she refused to say anything more about what had happened or what had been discussed in the meditations.

  Shortly afterwards they returned from the Wild and in the Temple, on the night she’d planned to leave forever, Clarissa planted the cylinder in your head Anita, you’re the one it was meant for.’

  ‘Or maybe she never got the chance,’ said Anita, ‘what if I don’t have it?’

  ‘You do. You’ve already done everything to confirm you have it other than actually say the words.’

  ‘And what exactly do you think’s in it?’ asked Anita, neither corroborating nor denying Helena’s suspicions.

  ‘I don’t know. It must be something about how we can stabilise the energy though, or how we send the relic back.’

  ‘What if it’s not? What if it’s totally unrelated?’

  ‘Then we start again. We turn over every stone until we find some way to stabilise the energy and save our world.’

  ‘How do you even know my mother was given the cylinder?’

  ‘Aside from the fact she told me, it’s the worst kept secret at the Cloud Mountain; monks are surprising gossips.’

  ‘And the rest of it?’ asked Alexander. ‘The memories you just showed us don’t belong to you so they must have been Austin’s? The others were all dead and I can’t imagine he would have just given you the memory of the death of his father.’

  ‘They’re not Austin’s,’ said Helena, frustrated she was going to have to tell them the truth. ‘For my whole academic career I’ve been interested in memories; not very conventional for a Body scholar, but then again the mind’s a muscle too and I’ve always been fascinated by it, how it can be trained and utilised. Anyway, quite near the beginning of my career I found a way to extract memories from people after they had passed away. It has to be soon after
, before the last trace of their energy has left them, but so long as there is something left, if you know what you’re doing, you can force your way into their mind and take what you want. They have no energy left to resist but you have to be quick, as if you’re still in there when the last of their energy leaves, you die too, so it’s not without its risks.’

  ‘You stole Clarissa and Jeffrey’s memories?’ Anita blurted. ‘As if you hadn’t done enough already, you violated them when they were all but dead?’

  ‘I needed to know what had happened.’

  ‘Only to make sure your role hadn’t been revealed,’ she said bitterly.

  ‘That’s not the only reason,’ said Helena, quietly, unable to meet their eyes.

  ‘Why have you never documented and shared your discovery?’ asked Alexander. ‘It’s ground-breaking research, the Councils would certainly want to know about it.’