Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy

by P. Anastasia

  “Get away from the wall!” Brian commanded.

  A split-second blink and the translator was now outside the barrier, his grey eyes staring straight down into mine, barely an inch of space between us. I almost dropped Lucy out of surprise, but adjusted my grip and backed away. He followed, and the heat of my fluorescence began to warm my chest in anticipation of a fight.

  “Don’t come any closer!” I held Lucy tightly. Yellow light flitted beneath the surface of my skin. Lucy roped an arm around my shoulders and I had her balanced well enough that I could stretch a free hand out toward the Savior. Fluorescence crackled through my fingertips.

  “No.” The translator lifted both hands and took a step back, nearly in contact with the blurry wall.

  Was he afraid of me, for once?

  “Please,” he said, his head jerking slightly again. “Do not use the light.”

  A painful wheezing sound came from his mask and he lifted a hand to press a finger against one of the blue lights. Its flashing rhythm slowed and the Savior shook his head as he seemed to be adjusting to our air.

  “We need that child,” he said, his voice softer now. “Do not leave with it.”

  “First of all, it’s he, not it,” Brian corrected with a snarl. “And the answer is still no. Our own people are dying because of what you did to us.”

  “So are—” The translator twitched. “We.” He took a step closer and I took one back.

  “Leave him,” Brian said. “We need to get out of here before someone sees us. Or… sees… him.” He motioned toward the translator.

  I didn’t want to turn my back on the thing, but we needed to get the hell out of there before people started noticing and taking pictures of the big cylinder of blurred atmosphere plopped down in the middle of nowhere under a major overpass.

  Just as I began to turn, the apparition behind the translator started to flicker.

  He twisted his neck to watch and I heard one quiet word leak out from beneath his mask: “No.”

  “What’s happening?” I asked, moving farther away.

  The energy field wavered and everything on the other side of it sharpened into focus. Then the entire thing dissipated.

  The translator lifted a hand up and spread out his fingers so they were at his eye level. A flicker of green light beamed through his hand and faded.

  “Uh, what just happened?” Brian asked.

  The translator turned. “I have been away for too long,” he replied. “They have… closed the connection. I believe it was to preserve resources.”

  “Wait. Wait. Wait! What!?” Brian came up beside me. “Are you trying to tell us that they deserted you? No. Just no.”

  The Savior looked down at Brian and then off into the distance at nothing.

  “I do not believe I am able to leave at this time,” he said.

  The blue lights in his mask continued to pulse, but he said nothing else.

  Chapter 15

  “Stop following us!” Brian shook with anger.

  The translator took slow, unsteady steps behind us as we walked through the tunnel below the overpass. His long, twiggy legs didn’t look as if they were suitable for extensive walking.

  “Please. Wait,” the Savior said. He’d been attempting to get Brian to reason with him for what seemed like half an hour. Or maybe all his monotone groveling was grinding on my nerves.

  I didn’t know what to do. I had Lucy. They had Solus. Kareena, well, she was hanging beside me, reluctantly, just to get away from the Savior. I was the one with the gun, after all, and the yellow light he seemed apprehensive about.

  “Brian!” I called out and jogged after him. Lucy tagged alongside me.

  “What?” He swerved around and tried to avoid making eye contact with the translator, who was maybe twenty feet or so behind. “What, David?” he lowered his voice.

  “We need to do something with him. We can’t… I mean, as much as I know we should, we really can’t leave him wandering around out here alone.”

  “What do you want me to do? Buy him breakfast?” Brian scoffed. “That thing is trying to take my son away. He infected your daughter with something that’s apparently killing you and God knows how much of our planet now, and you want me to feel sorry for him? To help him? No. I can’t. I-I just can’t!”

  “Brian, look, I’m not saying we need to feel sorry for the son-of-a-bitch, but if someone finds out about him, what do you think will happen to us? I mean, what if he gets nabbed by some psychos down here, experimented on, killed—whatever—and then the other Saviors decide to come back and annihilate the shit out of the rest of us!? What then? We can’t fight back if we’re all dead. Think about it, Brian.”

  Brian’s jaw tightened. “I am. I’m trying.” He grumbled.

  “You’re doing all of this to protect the people you care about—Alice, Solus… maybe even Kareena. But what good is it if it all leads to the same end? What if avoiding our enemy now could be more dangerous than facing him?”

  He heaved a sigh and shrugged. “I don’t know. David, I’m tired. I’m tired of fighting something I can’t even see. Tired of running from something we can’t escape. What do we do, Alice?”

  “I don’t know,” she replied quietly. “I’m scared, too, but I think David has a point. Leaving the translator to wander around on his own can’t be the solution.”

  By now, the Savior had closed the gap between us and was only a few feet away. He staggered nearer, having difficulty keeping his balance on the gravel pathway of the tunnel as he walked in his footed, white scuba-like jumpsuit. He didn’t have shoes of any kind on that I could tell, and I didn’t know how durable the material was. Or even what it was.

  Alice gasped and her attention shot to Solus, who had pulled out of her hand and was jaunting toward the translator.

  “Solus!” Brian lunged for him.

  Solus paused when Brian’s hand touched his shoulder. He pointed up at the Savior’s face.

  “Why is he pointing?” Kareena asked from behind me.

  “Your mask,” Brian said. “I think he’s pointing at your mask.”

  The Savior barely nodded. “Yes. He has not seen it before.”

  “What does it do?” Alice asked, coming up beside Solus and Brian.

  “It assists my breathing in your heavily oxygenated atmosphere,” he responded. “We cannot tolerate high levels of oxygen.”

  “So if you took it off, would you die?” Brian asked with a tinge of coldness in his voice.

  “I would rather not theorize about that at this time,” the Savior replied. “May I follow you? Until the others return for me?” He looked down at Brian. “You. You are the leader, are you not?”

  Brian looked at me and I shrugged.

  “We work together,” he replied.

  Good answer. I may have grinned.

  “Then whose permission do I require?” The Savior tilted his head to the side and scanned over all of our faces swiftly.

  “How do we know you’re not going to try to kill us?” Kareena asked, crossing her arms. “You jerks have been lying to us from the beginning about everything. How do we know you don’t have ulterior motives?”

  “We have not harmed any of you.”

  Brian scoffed. “I can think of at least one time when you have. You tried to rip my fluorescence out of me when I stood up to you and—”

  “If we removed the light, your heart defect would have returned,” he interrupted. “It is a matter of principle and anatomy that you would exhibit distress, not an act of abuse.”

  “You treated me like shit and lied to me, too, remember?” I said.

  “Not to mention what you did to my arm,” Kareena added.

  “Being a Fluorescent One has side effects,” he replied. “You were being reprimanded with purpose. We do not revel in your pain.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Well, this is getting us nowhere.”

  “So if we agree and al
low you to follow us around for a while,” Brian started, “how can we keep people from seeing you? You don’t exactly look… normal.”

  He was right. The Savior’s platinum white hair and ashy grey skin tone were more plastic and mannequin-looking than human. He was also several inches taller than me, and I’m a hair over six feet, myself. There wouldn’t be much camouflage for someone so obviously out of place.

  The translator lifted his left hand, palm out, and fanned his fingers. A subtle emerald glow rippled out from beneath the cuff of his suit sleeve, up his wrist, and through his palm toward his fingertips.

  “Whoa! What’s he doing?” Brian shouted.

  Hot lime-green light lit the Savior’s fingers. Tiny bolts of electricity forked through his hand and he went out of focus, fading into a transparent ghostly-white silhouette.

  “Where did he go!?” Brian barked, looking around in a panic.

  “It’s okay! Chill! I see him,” Kareena said. “He’s still here.”

  “I see a shape,” I said, watching the smoky essence.

  “You sure?” Brian asked, still freaking out. “Y-you guys can still see him?”

  “Yes, Brian.” Kareena lifted her hands. “I can show you if you want.”

  “Uh… Y-yeah,” he stuttered. “Yeah, go ahead.”

  “It’s gonna hurt, you know,” Kareena whispered apologetically as her fingers came up to make contact with Brian’s temples. “Sorry.” A sparkle of pink light illuminated her fingertips and his attention shot toward the Savior.

  “I can see him,” he said and swallowed hard. “How did you do that?” Then he grimaced and clenched his teeth. “Agh. Damn it,” he hissed. He cupped his left hand across his forehead and bent over. “I’m alright,” he said to Alice, who was wrapping an arm around his. He came back up and nodded at Kareena. “I’m fine.”

  “It’s just like it was when we were sent places to start people,” Alice said. “We could see them, but they couldn’t see us.”

  “You are correct,” the Savior replied.

  “Shit!” I jolted, not expecting to hear him in his current state.

  “I am invisible to those without the sight the Tracker and Seeker have,” he continued.

  “So you’re in the stasis realm?” Kareena asked.

  “Yes.”

  Brian bit his lip and grumbled beneath his breath. “Then, I guess he’s staying… for now.” He looked me straight in the eye. “You and Kareena need to watch him. Be careful, but don’t hesitate to use whatever force is necessary to keep him in line.”

  . . .

  “What are we supposed to call you, anyway?” Brian asked begrudgingly. “Or is it just going to be ‘Translator’ from now on?”

  “Why must you name all things?” the Savior asked.

  “Because that’s the way humans work,” Brian replied. “We use names. We use words in our conversations. We can’t just look at each other or touch people like you and Solus can. We can’t make each other see things like that.”

  “I am the only one who is able to speak,” the translator continued. He glanced down at Solus. “We do not use titles unless we have no other way of describing the thing.”

  Alice sneered. “He’s not a thing.”

  Then Kareena chuckled. “We should call him Judas,” she said, looking pleased with herself over the idea.

  “Why?” I shook my head at the ridiculous suggestion. “Because you like the song?”

  “No, dumbass.” She scoffed. “Because of what he did. Betrayed Jesus and whatever. That’s damn near what they’ve done to us, isn’t it? Pretended to be nice and then—I mean, think about it. Isn’t Solus kind of like Jesus, anyway?” She propped a hand on her hip and waited for me to agree.

  Alice looked embarrassed and confused, and even I was put off by the comparison. But, as bizarre as the analogy was, it kind of made sense. In a warped, Kareena-humor kind of way.

  Judas was the apostle said to have betrayed Jesus for a handful of silver. The betrayal basically led to the Last Supper and eventually to Jesus being crucified. He was supposed to have been his friend, ironically, but there are a lot of different variations of what people think really happened and why.

  “Ju-das.” The translator muttered the name to himself. “Why?” he asked. “It has a negative connotation, does it not?”

  “Because you lied to us,” Kareena added. “And you’re basically sending all of us to our deaths now if we can’t find a solution to stop this from killing more people.”

  “It is kinda macabre,” I said, cocking an eyebrow. “Don’t you think?” The translator wasn’t the only Savior at fault.

  “Is it really?” She shrugged. “They took some of us with them, remember?”

  Brian and Alice had nothing to say about it. They also couldn’t see Judas anymore.

  “Judas,” the translator said the word again, this time, loud enough for us all to hear his dull, monotone voice. “It will do.” He seemed unaffected by the name one way or another.

  Brian shook his head. “Now that that’s settled… teach us how to do whatever it is you’re doing right now—shifting planes or however you’re becoming invisible. We need to stay out of sight. We’re too conspicuous wandering around together all of the time. Especially with the kids.”

  We waited but got no response.

  “Well?” Brian prodded further. “David, I can’t see him, but I need an answer.”

  “Answer him,” I looked at the soft white shape across from me.

  “I cannot teach you,” Judas finally responded. “May I become visible again?”

  We looked around. The tunnel was empty, but overhead traffic rumbled constantly beneath our feet.

  “For a minute, I guess,” Brian said, glancing around nervously. “What is it?”

  Judas flashed into focus from the white blur and became opaque.

  “I cannot show you how to shift between realms, but…” He looked down at Solus. “I can show the child.”

  “His name is Solus,” Brian stated. “Call him that.”

  The Savior tipped his head in understanding and bent over at the waist to reach out to Solus. “Solus,” he said. “Come.”

  “Don’t hurt him,” I growled, threatening him with a raised hand glimmering with golden light.

  “I will not harm the child,” he responded. He thought for a moment. “I will not harm Solus.”

  Solus let go of Alice and approached the Savior. Judas reached a hand toward him and spread out his fingers. They resonated with silver and green bolts of light. Then he reached out his other hand toward Solus’ temple and touched him.

  Solus mimicked the gesture, his hand shining with teal light, and then they both faded into white smoke.

  Alice shrieked.

  “They’re still here,” I said, trying to calm them quickly. “I can see their silhouettes. You can, too. Right, Kareena?”

  Kareena nodded. “I can see them both.”

  The soft shapes drifted past me toward Alice. She looked down at her hand and flexed her fingers.

  “I… feel something touching me,” she said.

  “It’s—” Kareena started.

  Alice vanished, becoming part of the white blur.

  “Alice!” Brian called out. “Alice! Where are you?”

  “I’m here,” she replied, her voice distorted but recognizable.

  “Are you okay?” Brian asked. “Is Solus okay?”

  “Yes. He’s with me,” she answered.

  The entire white shape floated past me again and then stopped. The three of them reappeared and I saw Solus lower his glowing hand down to his side. His other hand was firmly wrapped around his mother’s.

  “Holy crap,” Brian shot over to them and forked his fingers through Solus’ hair, ruffling it up. “You did that?”

  Solus looked up at him and nodded.

  “That’s amazing!”

  “I think Judas help
ed,” I added.

  “Yes,” Judas confirmed. “I have explained the process to him.”

  “Good boy, Solus,” Brian said, smiling at his son. “And Alice? Was it okay? Did it feel any different than when we were in it before?”

  “No. Just like Times Square, Vegas, and all the rest,” she answered. “But I felt safer since Solus was controlling it.”

  “Will you trust me now?” Judas asked.

  “Trust is a big word,” Brian said with a doubtful shake of his head. “You have to earn it.”

  Judas twitched and jerked his head again.

  “Why the hell do you keep doing that?” Brian cocked an eyebrow.

  “I do not believe you can understand,” he said.

  “Try me.”

  “Saviors are connected. This is most obvious when we communicate. You have never seen us speak to one another.”

  “So you’re like a hivemind?” I asked.

  “What is that?” Judas looked at me.

  “It’s when many things or minds are connected to a point where they think collectively, not independently,” I clarified.

  “This exists here? On Earth?”

  “Not with humans, but some creatures do it, yes.”

  “Then, yes. That is how we communicate.”

  “So… then what’s with the tick? I mean, the twitching thing you keep doing?” Brian reiterated.

  “Unlike humans, there has always been an unchanging number of our kind. We do not reproduce. We evolve. Each has core energy of a single color and provides a shared resource of energy needed to continue our evolutionary process. Until recently, we have never had access to less than the minimum required. But when one Savior fades, we all experience the loss of light.”

  Were they immortals before?

  “So your kind have never had to deal with death?” I asked.

  “Death was nonexistent in our society before we chose you as carriers of fluorescent strains. It is strange and difficult to tolerate the loss of our kind after so many years. Unexpectedly, we have become subject to common mortality.”