by Richard Lord
The General sits back and considers the words for about a second and then sits up and says, “I think he’s more dangerous than all of the threats he may or may not have had a hand in stopping.”
The Lieutenant fires back, “The funny thing is, we’ll never know what all he did, but I know he did a lot. I saw him, on more than one occasion, sir. After he got back. What had happened to him was more brutal than my people could stomach. You may not understand him, but he’s not shy to accomplish the goals. He is an asset of immeasurable quality.”
The General stands, “That’s the point. You can’t measure. Here’s the point, kill him.”
“You say that like it’s a simple request. Even if I thought it was a proper order, I must point out, I’ve seen what he’s survived and what kind of conditions he did it under. Neither you nor I would want to ever love through what he has. So what makes you think I can, even with all of my resources?” The Lieutenant realizes his career may be on the line, but he also realizes the request is not official, although he also knows he would have a hard time making that point from the brig.
“I’ve read your reports. The ones on paper. Some of it is still redacted, but I read enough. I didn’t bother with the stupid crap in the system. It won’t be easy, but I want you to get it done. This isn’t a request.” The General looks at him as he speaks to get across the gravity of the situation the Lieutenant created and is tasked to fix.
“Sir, you do realize that we need him to fix one more thing, at the very least?” The Lieutenant pointed out.
“I said, kill him. I don’t care if it takes a thermobaric missile to do it. The other thing we’ll deal with.” The General was no longer in a mood to hear the objections.
Looking up, the Lieutenant is only briefly shocked at what he sees, “Sir, with all due respect, always watch your bow, sir.” The Lieutenant replied while he hears the Sergeant give the warning. He grimaces at the resulting next few seconds as he says to the man, “I suppose you expect me to clean up after you again? That won’t be easy, but do what you must.” As he watches the figure, after the moment, he pours himself the Scotch he had been eyeing. He looks over at the body on the ground and wonders what comes next. He thinks to himself, “That seems over the top, but he usually knows what he’s doing.” Then the Lieutenant considers how calmly the Sergeant informed the General. If he had really wanted to save avoid the eventual result, he would have yelled “Six!” and taken the shot.
The Lieutenant looks at the man responsible and wonders how he could know this particular conversation would happen at this particular time. As the man vanishes, the Lieutenant decides the only thing left to do is chuckle to himself. He suspects, based on previous conversations with the figure who had just created a mess he has little idea how to deal with, it wasn’t the first time. It’s the only explanation for how he could have known the when and where. He also considers the General’s words. He pours another drink to ease his mind from the totality of what is going on around him and the pressure of what it means he will have to do next.
After the incident, the Lieutenant looks at Sergeant Brady, “He’s right, you would make a good cop someday.”
CHAPTER 9
“I knew he was dying. He looked at me wondering if I could take care of myself. If not, who would take care of me. I could hear his concerns. I was a bio. I had different needs from those born as synths. The ones made into synths were dying too.” -- from the Book of Tomorrow
It had been several weeks, Adam thought. He took a sip of water and looked over as Tomorrow rounded the corner and dropped a dead hawk next to the fire pit. He nodded to himself, impressed with how much faster she was getting and the things she was learning how to do.
“I’ve never had one. I want to try that. It wasn’t as hard as you said to catch one.” Tomorrow said as she went to sit down in the shade with him.
“Did you use clicking?” Adam asked her.
She smiled had him realizing she couldn’t hide it from him. “A little bit. I’m still not used to it. I can go to places I can see, but I don’t know how you go to places you can’t see. Yet. I’ll figure it out.”
Tomorrow reached over for him to hand over some water. Adam obliged and then he said, “But you have a question.”
“Yes. How is it people like you and your family and I can do this, but others can’t.” Tomorrow asked.
“First may I applaud your work?” He stood and applauded to her, unsure if she understood the gesture.” Then he commented, “Most strategists do not follow through with their own plans. I am impressed. As for your question, hmm, well I’ve always assumed it was latent in all people, to some extent. But I think our ancestors went down this path of evolution more so than others. So it’s genetic. You remember my explanation of genetics?”
“Yes. It was sufficiently long and boring. But I got the idea.”
“You still have a question.” Adam noted.
“Well.” Tomorrow paused, then she pointed out what she was wondering. “How am I related to you?”
“Hmm, well, I know for sure there is another bloodline that can do similar things. I suspect thousands of years ago, maybe more, maybe less, we all came from the same, but that doesn’t particularly make us relatives. If you are from that bloodline. By that logic, everyone is a relative and while that is relatively true, it’s not an accurate way to describe relative. I suppose.” Adam stopped and started getting lost in his own thought.
“So we aren’t relatives?” Tomorrow asked.
“Wait a second. I didn’t say that. We don’t know who your father is. Yet. I suppose we could find out, eventually.” Adam replied.
“Is that why you act weird when I want special attention, especially when it’s cold?” Tomorrow asked bluntly, but with wording meant to ease the edge of the question.
“Yes. You are very attractive, Tomorrow, but there are some things I believe are not good. Some people call them sins. It’s wise to think that way due to biological reasons called genetics. It’s simple science. The wider a gene pool, the greater the result of the offspring. People of wider gene pools tend to be physically stronger and mentally quicker. If for instance a mother is from one part of the world and a father from another, the offspring is more adept. It’s quite literally something one can, or could, have viewed for themselves.” He saw her begin to say something but then he held up a hand. “Wait, let me add to that. I wasn’t suggesting we have kids! I just mean science can also help us have a moral compass.”
“I understand.” Tomorrow said as she sipped the water and looked at her prize by the fire pit.
“Tomorrow, when the sun rises, I’ll take you someplace nearby that you should see.” Adam raised his hand to the sky noting the sun was going down. “For now, let’s start getting the feathers off that so we can roast it. We’ll also want to boil some water and hold our hands in it while it is still hot and definitely toss the feathers in it when it is at full boil.”
“What’s wrong with feathers? I think they look beautiful.” Tomorrow asked while making her own point.
“After they boil, you can make something out of them if you would like. I can show you how. But first, we boil them. While it is rarer for a bird like a hawk that spends most of its time on the move and a lot of it in the air, birds get lice. They are tiny creatures, but they bite. The bites are itchy so people tend to scratch at them opening wounds that can get infected.” Adam saw her look. So he added. “It’s okay, they shouldn’t be able to survive the water if it’s boiling.”
“But we can’t boil ourselves. What if they climb on us while we are taking off the feathers?” Tomorrow started to regret bringing that thing with her. “What if they have climbed on me already?”
A few might have, but they’ll most likely just die in a few days. Enough have to be on a person for them to breed. That’s when the trouble starts. You’ll be fine.” Adam saw what he was saying wasn’t helping ease her at all. He leaned over and said, “Plus, it’s going t
o taste very good. And we won’t ever know if a few of them were on us. Let’s enjoy the bounty you have brought!”
Tomorrow smiled at herself and jumped up and walked over towards the fire pit. Then she stopped and looked back at Adam. “How are we going to boil water?”
“That’s where geodes come in. Geodes are rocks that when broken open are hollow inside, but they have crystals. We need to find one large enough to use as a pot. Then we have to break it open and hope it breaks well enough to provide us a pot.” Adam stood and held out his hand to her. “Come on, I’ll show you what they usually look like. There are actually lots of them around, but if you know what they look like, then the chances of it being a geode are good. Or we’ll end up wasting time beating on what looks like a geode, but is solid rock.” Adam smiles at her. “Yes. It’s happened to me, but I’ve become pretty good at spotting the real ones now.”
As they walked, Tomorrow felt like talking. “So do you know who your father is?”
Adam stopped, “Yes, but it will confuse you.” Then he saw the look of anger flash across her face and he went on, “Ok, so time is a really confusing thing, but here goes: Brain is my father. Phillip was my older brother.”
Tomorrow looked at him and said, “But you said Brian was your grandson and Phillip was your brother.” She stopped walking and looked at him for a while. She started to grasp the concept.
“As I said time is confusing. But now that you are making me think. I wonder if Brian was responsible for the other bloodline. Or even Persistence. She was gone a long time after her and Brian split up for a while.” He pondered and thought about what she had told him of their time there. He realized it was unlikely that would be where she went. Although she liked many things about that time, she didn’t really have an overall care for her time there.
“Were they lovers? Like was she the martyr’s mother?” Tomorrow asked.
“Umm, no. They were cousins, but practically inseparable. They had a strong bond between them. Brian was my daughter Solstice’s son and Persistence was my daughter Illumna’s daughter. They were born the same day.” Adam said and then he began walking again.
Tomorrow believed him. She could see the sadness wash over his face and grip him tightly. She picked up the pace and then stood in front of him. She ignored his annoyed look and grabbed him in her arms and hugged him. Tomorrow asked. “Why did some die and others live?” She was worried about touching more on the topic, but she had always wondered.
“Hmm. Well, some were at the epicenter of the crash. Like Stephen and the device. When the device was destroyed it sent out a wave, but the wave was smaller than the intended wave, had it been used. It was designed so that anyone down there would not be effected by it. However, Phillip’s only way to destroy it and save the most people was for him and Illumna to do what they did. So yes, some died. It was a brave thing to do, considering that all would be lost had he not.” Adam lowered his head in thought. “Consider that it immediately stopped the Hunter’s because they didn’t receive the basic signals such as how to eat and it immediately took out the sky crawlers because they no longer had co-ordinates.” He paused again and looked at Tomorrow. “There was no perfect plan, but it was a damned good one and I respect that you were raised to understand that.”
Then she turned and looked out over the landscape. “So where are these geodes?”
CHAPTER 10
“He knew me when we met, although he said he had no idea who I was. I think he knew what I was.” -- from the Book of Tomorrow
Waking up, Tomorrow walked far enough from their camp and unbuttoned her trousers. When she got back, she noted Adam was still sleeping. She walked over and kicked his foot.
Adam sprung to his feet and turned to face her, knife out. Seeing it was Tomorrow, he relaxed for a moment and then his face changed to show his anger. “I thought we’d agreed you would never do that again?”
“Sorry. Urge. Plus, it’s an amazing thing to watch and I wonder something. If you can click away, why wouldn’t that be your first response if you perceived danger?”
“For one, ‘know thine enemy’ and for two, it’s not something you want people to see you doing. We’ve been over the reasons why you can’t do it at will and the effect it would have on you as well as those who saw it.” Adam then clicked to a location near where she had just been. When he re-appeared she had the pack packed up. “That was fast.” He noted to her.
“You said we were going somewhere today, so now we are ready to move.” She smiled at him. “Also, I want to admit you were right. The hawk tasted very good. When you said there were things inside that geode, I never imagined it would be so beautiful. I want to take it with us, but it’s heavy.”
Adam smiled at her and said, “Grab it. I’m going to click us there anyway.”
Tomorrow immediately turned and bent over to pick up the geode that had been behind her ready to go the whole time.
“So pretty much, you expected my response, but asked anyway.” Adam said, then he rolled his eyes at her. He walked towards Tomorrow as she stuck her tongue out at him.
“I do like it!”, she responded with a huge smile and cradled the geode in her arms. “What I don’t like is this.” She pointed at the mosquito bites on her thigh.
“I wouldn’t get too worked up about it, they itch if you can’t control your own mind. There are three thousands five hundred or more species of mosquitoes in the world, only thirty of those carry malaria. Odds are in your favor. Especially here.” Adam commented and then remembered she had no idea what he was talking about. All of this was new to her. He had literally plucked her from the depths of the world and she knew almost nothing about above ground expect for simple excursions and videos. Despite that he felt he should push on and teach her overarching concepts. “A long time ago there was a very heavily funded program to sterilize mosquitos my genetic mutation. Unlike previous attempts this one used a gene in the DNA that existed in both male and female mosquitos. Therefore, the result should have been nearly all female mosquitos would be sterile within a year.”
“Do mosquitos do…” Tomorrow gestures with her hands, “a lot?”
Adam laughs at the crude gesture. “Enough that they have a generation almost every month of a year. There aren’t that many in the desert because the females lay eggs and they need water to do that. On the flip it has to be non-moving water and the desert is a place where water is not often moving.”
“I see. I want your DNA in me one day.” Tomorrow answers and then stares at her geode again.
Adam decides to pretend he didn’t hear her and says, “Do you know what jewelry is, Tomorrow?” Adam asked. He saw her shake her head. “Ok, I’ll show you, but we’ll have to break that into smaller pieces. But then you can wear it on you so that wherever you go you can have pieces of it with you.”
She looked baffled and then pondered the idea. “I don’t want to break it again. I like it like this.”
“Okay.” Adam walked over and picked up the second half, then the half she was staring at. He handed her both and she hugged them close, like children. One of the twins becomes jewelry. The other you can make as a monument to something, but life would get old if you had to carry that stone with you everywhere you went.” Adam watched her eyes light up as she giggled at the thought.
Adam walked towards her, grabbed her wrist and clicked.
They appeared in front of a destroyed structure and he waved his arm out to it. “I thought you would want to see this. This is the house where I was born. This is what people lived in. Well, I thought people did. I didn’t know they were usually not mangled until I was later adopted. That’s a long story. Phillip was here.”
Tomorrow stared at the structure and then around it noting it wasn’t attached to anything. “So people lived by themselves?”
“Some. Some with families. Some lived in spaces that were connected to other spaces, but they had locks on the entry to their spaces. Those were called apartments, but if
you had enough money they were called condominiums. Pretty much the same thing.” Adam explained.
Tomorrow looked at the place then she turned to Adam. “Can I put this here. For Phillip?”
“Yes, you can. He would like that, I am sure of it.” Adam replied and he watched her run towards the structure. At the porch, she dug a slight hole and put the bottom of the geode, with the crystals facing outward partially in the ground and then packed the sand around it.
Adam walked towards her. She gazed at her monument to Phillip, silently for a long time. Then she turned and looked up to Adam and hugged him. “Thank you, Adam! I’ve always wished I could do something for the martyr. He did so much for my mother and for all of us.” Adam held her silently and pulled her closer to him as he felt her begin to tremble.
After a few minutes, Tomorrow let go of him. She held her head down out of sight from Adam and wiped at her eyes. Then she turned and looked to Adam as he sat on the bare porch and she went to sit next to him. Adam put his arm around her as she asked, “Why did Phillip give his life for us?”
“I suppose he wanted to see the suffering end. I think he also felt personal responsibility even more when he realized it was his half-brother Stephen who was causing the pain for so many.” Adam tried to answer.
“I thought you were his brother?” Tomorrow asked.
“Yes, but I was an infant then. It’s possible to have more than one brother, you know.” Adam grinned realizing that there hadn’t been a full generation yet, so the concept was shady to her. “I refer to him as half-brother because he had the same father that Phillip and I had, but a different mother.”
