by Jacob Whaler
How is it possible?
The panic worms its way back into Kent’s mind, but he takes a deep breath and pushes it away.
Matt said not to worry. He said he would find Kent later. He said he would explain everything.
What happened to Matt in Japan? What was the claw-shaped rock in his hand?
None of it makes sense.
The slow, relaxed breathing of other bodies floats through the silence of the cargo compartment, drawing Kent’s mind away. He wonders how all these kids, the ones dressed in black who rescued him, can sleep through the rough ride. And who are they, anyway?
Time to find out.
“Is it OK to have a light now?” He raises his voice and addresses the question to no one in particular.
“Sure.” A young voice pierces the void. “Just a micro, right? We don’t want anyone getting suspicious and stopping us.”
“Yep,” Kent says. “That’s all I’ve got.”
He reaches into the backpack on the floor between his legs and rummages around for a thin metallic card at the bottom. As soon as he touches a thumb to it, its light comes on. In a few seconds, he’s made a quick inventory of the inside of the pack.
“Where’s the rest of the MEPPs explosives? I thought I had two of those suckers left. They better not be knocking around inside the truck.” He pulls the micro light out and shines it into the darkness around him.
A young man sits directly across from him and looks up. “We used one to blow out the entrance to the elevator shaft at the bottom of the building. You were still out of it, so you might not have noticed. I threw the other one in the East River as we crossed the bridge. Don’t want to be caught with any evidence. And they’re too dangerous to have in here, anyway. Probably blow the whole transport sky-high from all the shaking.”
“You read my mind.” As his eyes adjust to the dim light, Kent surveys the inside of the transport.
The sweet smell of apples permeates the air. Kent moves the light to his left toward the front of the cargo area. Dozens of large boxes sit on pallets, Fresh Produce printed on their sides. Five young people, men and women with hardened faces, huddle on each side of the truck, backs up against the metal wall. All but the young man across from him are asleep. Kent sweeps his micro light past them and wonders who they are, why they helped him, what sort of life they live.
“How can I thank you for what you did?” Kent turns back to the boy on the other side. “Without you and your friends, I would never have made it out.”
The young man cracks a smile. “My name’s Chip. And don’t worry. We’re used to it. It’s what we do.” His eyes roll from side to side, taking in the whole cargo compartment. “We spend a lot of time riding around the country like this.”
“Doing what?” Kent twists his back and tries to find a comfortable position.
“Whatever Little John wants.” Chip grins.
“Little John. From the freedom camp out in Colorado.” Kent nods his head. “I suspected there was more to him than meets the eye. So, let me guess. You and your friends are part of his underground organization.”
“I guess you could say we’re his elite corps, his shock troops. He gives us the difficult jobs that require our special skills.”
“Like scaling the MX Global building and extracting hostages?” Kent sees the ropes and harnesses scattered around.
“Exactly.”
“You lost a lot of your friends back there.” Kent remembers a swarming sea of black bodies with Ryzaard slashing away in the middle.
“Little John says they’ll be OK.” Chip drops his head down and lets out a long exhale. “He says we’ll see them again one day, when it’s all over.”
“When what’s all over?”
“Abomination.”
Kent winces at the sound of the word, but lets it pass. No sense arguing with his rescuers. “Just one question. How did you guys know I was in the MX Global building?”
“Easy. The Children have been tracking you ‘round the clock ever since you left Little John and the freedom camp out on the Colorado plains last week. Little John’s orders.”
“The Children?”
“That’s what Little John calls us,” Chip says. “Even though most of us aren’t kids anymore. He says we’re the future.”
“The future of what?”
“The human race, I suppose. After Abomination is destroyed.”
Kent rolls his eyes at the sound of the word again. It’s harder to ignore this time. His suspicions are confirmed. He’s been rescued by a bunch of religious fanatics getting ready for the end of the world. Best to change the subject and start planning his escape.
“So, where are we going?” Kent says.
“Somewhere out in Iowa, I think. Only the driver knows for sure. Wherever it is, I hear Little John will be waiting for us. He says we have to take good care of you and deliver you safely to his care.”
“What about all my stuff?” Kent says. “I left a lot of high-priced equipment in my office back in Manhattan.”
“Don’t worry.” A big smile spreads across Chip’s face. “We destroyed most of it, except for what we might be able to use. Consider it a contribution to the cause. Besides, it’s just more Abomination. You won’t need it where we’re going.”
“Great,” Kent says. “Now I’m really going to be off-grid.”
CHAPTER 3
Dad will be OK. The men-in-black helped him escape. Maybe Ryzaard is dead. Control the fear.
Matt takes in a deep breath and lets it out in one long, steady exhale. He places the chopsticks on the table, leans back and pats his stomach. His mouth relaxes into a smile.
“Delicious, no?” he says.
“Oishii yo,” Jessica says. “I never knew you were such a good cook.”
Matt is stunned. “When did you learn Japanese?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Jessica looks up from her miso soup. “I know how to say delicious in at least ten languages. Don’t you?”
“Nope. Maybe five. You’ll have to teach me.” Matt walks to the other side of the table and sits down on the tatami floor next to her. “The perfect end to a perfect day. Skiing in the morning, swimming in the afternoon, sushi and a bonfire on the beach in the evening. And my mom’s gyoza for a midnight snack. All with you.” He leans back against the wall and slips both arms around Jessica, pulling her closer.
She lets her weight fall on him. “It’s incredible, all this. A whole world. I keep asking myself how you do it.”
“Good question. I ask myself the same thing.” Matt runs his fingers through Jessica’s hair and looks out the oversized window of the Japanese teahouse at the thin sliver of the sun, crimson red and still floating just above the watery horizon far to the west where it’s hung motionless for the last two hours. “When we made the jump, I had an image in my mind of a day on the beach with my mom and dad back when I was seven or eight. The most perfect day of my life. I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since. No worries. Just a normal, happy kid. But I could never find that feeling again after they killed my mom. It’s always just ahead of me, barely out of reach. Like a rainbow. After we jumped away from Ryzaard, I opened my eyes and here we were, on the beach. Just like my memory of that day. My mind must have pulled us here.”
Matt takes another deep inhale. Holding it for a second, he lets it absorb all the fear and doubt and worry about his dad and Ryzaard. It all flows out in a long exhale.
“And that feeling,” Jessica says. “Have you found it here?”
“Yes, mostly. But it’s not because of the beach. It’s because you’re here.”
A rock floats a centimeter above the table in front of them, its claw shape filled with a milky glow. It pulls Matt’s eyes down, and he searches its surface.
The Stone.
He still finds it hard to believe. The Stone can stop time, turning the world into a wax museum around him. With it, he can see deep into matter, dropping magnitudes below the atomic level.
It can heal wounds. It’s a weapon that gives him the power to create and shape beams of pure plasma with nothing more than his thoughts. And he can instantly travel to any location in the universe.
Cosmic power at his fingertips.
Just a few hours ago, he used the Stone to jump away from Ryzaard to this strange new planet.
Jessica reaches across the table and picks up the Stone, holding it in the fading pink light of the setting sun.
“What about this planet with its ultra-gargantuan mountains, covered in warm snow, rising above a tropical rainforest that looks like the original Eden?” Jessica spins the Stone in her fingers. “Most of the plants here don’t exist back on Earth. Fist-sized grapes. Peanut butter-flavored bananas. Apples with caramel cores. Oranges with chocolate centers. And this charming little Japanese house on the beach. Where did all this come from?”
It’s no wonder Jessica is full of questions. Matt is, too.
“Where did it all come from? My mind, I think. As far as I can tell, the Stone and my imagination are linked together. Whatever I imagine becomes reality. All I have to do is create it in my mind. The Stone makes it real.”
“But how?” Jessica brings the Stone close to her eyes.
“While I was in Japan, I spent time with Naganuma, the old Shinto priest fighting with Ryzaard before we jumped away. As it turns out, Naganuma was the caretaker of the Stone that belongs to the Emperor of Japan and spent a lifetime studying it. He told me something incredible.” Matt pauses to look into Jessica’s eyes. “I know you’re going to find this hard to believe . . .”
“Like everything else in the last few days?” Jessica laughs.
Matt nods. “Exactly. Here’s the thing. Every Stone is connected to a planet in some random corner of the universe, and every Holder of a Stone, when they’ve progressed enough, gets pulled there to create his own private world. Naganuma took me to his world. It had perfect Japanese gardens, groves of giant cedar trees. And a house like this one. A model of harmony. You saw Ryzaard’s world with its grey skies, wild rivers, dark forests and cities of geometrically precise buildings. I guess this world is mine. Right out of my imagination. Mountains, snow and beaches.”
“And these gyoza? Where did they come from?”
Matt runs his fingers down Jessica’s back along the line of her spine. “Like everything else here, all I have to do is see it in my mind, really think about it, and then it’s just there, exactly as I imagine it. I thought about the gyoza, the aroma of garlic and ginger, steam rising, centers filled with succulent pork. Just like my mom’s. And there they were, ready to eat. Maybe that’s a small taste of what it’s like to be God.”
As his eyes drop down to the last gyoza on Jessica’s plate, Matt’s thoughts turn again to his dad.
Where is he? Did he really get away from Ryzaard?
Matt’s pulse quickens, and he pushes the fear away for the hundredth time, repeating the words in his mind that have become a mantra ever since he came to this new world.
Dad’s OK. Ryzaard is dead.
Jessica turns to look him in the eye, a smirk on her face. “I thought you didn’t believe in God.”
“I still don’t know about God, but I can tell you one thing. I believe in the Allehonen. I believe in the Woman that came to me in my dreams and on the mountain.”
Jessica’s eyes narrow. “You told me about her. A Woman bathed in fire. Who is she?”
“All she said was We are the Allehonen, as if she’s not the only one.” Matt turns to gaze out the window. The Stone glows neon white, and he lets go of the last thin slice of the sun that’s been hanging there for hours. As if on cue, it slips below the ocean horizon and leaves an orange glow floating on the water. “To be honest, I’m not sure who or what she is. All I know is that I saw her. Dressed in a robe, bronze skin glowing like a plasma lamp. And her eyes. . .”
“What about them?”
Matt shakes his head. “I know it sounds cliché, but there was a look, a feeling, of intense love. Nothing creepy. Just pure and innocent. Infinite. It radiated from her whole body, but especially from her eyes, like light from the sun.”
“Sounds like God to me,” Jessica says. “Or an angel.”
“She had a Stone, almost identical to this one.” Matt stretches out his fingers and touches the Stone in Jessica’s hand. “She showed me the Universe, the Milky Way, the Earth and everything on it. And here’s the scary thing. I saw how it was made. She had a Stone. That’s what gave her power to create. Now that I’ve seen it, I do believe. I can’t not believe.”
Matt realizes he’s been holding his breath and lets it out in a long, slow stream. His fingers wrap around Jessica’s hand, still holding the Stone.
“Do you believe me?” Matt looks straight ahead, listening to Jessica breathe, avoiding her eyes, knowing she’ll tell the truth, afraid of what she might say. “I wouldn’t believe it if I were you, sitting there, listening to this story. I’ve heard people talk about beings from other worlds with cosmic power and always thought they were crazy. But this is different. I’m the one who saw it, the one who felt it with my whole mind and body.”
Jessica turns and focuses squarely on Matt. Her eyes trace a line across his forehead, down the bridge of his nose, stopping on his lips. A long moment passes. “I believe,” she says. “I don’t understand, but I believe. It feels right.”
“Thanks,” Matt says. “You’re a better man than I am.”
Seconds of silence float by. Matt thinks about what he just said.
And then they both burst out laughing.
Uncurling her fingers, Jessica drops the Stone on the table with a loud thud. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“A night swim. In that warm ocean of yours.” She bounds across the table, knocking over a half-full cup of miso soup. She glides over the tatami, out the open door and down the steps onto the sand.
Her bare feet dig in and beckon to Matt.
Dad will be fine, he thinks, rising and following her out the door. Ryzaard is dead.
I hope.
CHAPTER 4
Elsa Bergman stands rigid, short blonde hair perfectly set above neon-blue eyes. The tips of her fingers rest on the massive round table. A candle flickers in its center, casting an unsteady glow on her and reflecting off the glass walls of the bubble that surrounds the conference room.
Jerek Gray and Diego Lopez are seated next to her, one on each side.
Elsa lifts one hand, noticing its trembling. She presses it against the wood until the motion stops.
The caustic stench of burnt plastic permeates the air. Faint wisps of smoke blow in from the seams around the door out to the corridor.
“How badly was Ryzaard hurt?” Elsa says. “I saw them take him out on a stretcher. Looked like his whole shirt was soaked in blood. A knife sticking out his chest.” She moves away from the table and starts pacing back and forth on one side of the room. “Without him, the Stone doesn’t work. The stock trading programs are dead in the water. We’re losing millions every hour.”
Jerek Gray swivels in his chair, his long frame draping over it, arms hanging down the sides. “If Ryzaard doesn’t make it, we lose the Stone and all the science it represents. We’re decades ahead of our competition, but without him, that will all be lost. Along with everything else.” He slumps down, eyes on the floor. “Does anyone know when full power will be restored? I’m getting tired of these candles and flickering lights.”
On the other side of Elsa, Diego Lopez leans forward, arms on the table. “I just talked with building maintenance. It’s going to take a couple of days to get it all up and running. The entire power-generation facility on the fifth floor was vaporized in the blast. Until it’s replaced, all we have is emergency pow—”
“Greetings, my friends.”
All eyes jump to the source of the voice. Ryzaard sits in his chair at the head of the table, palms resting on its surface, smiling broadly. A wide red stain stands out on his shir
t. His tweed jacket hangs in shreds from his shoulders.
“Good to be back with you,” he says. “I apologize for my appearance. I’ve been in a bit of a tussle.”
A look of surprise mixed with equal parts elation and fear crosses Elsa’s face. She walks back to her chair on the opposite end of the table. “I just saw them carry you out in a stretcher a half hour ago. How did you—”
“I’ll bring you all up to speed.” Ryzaard raises his hands to settle the room. “As you may have heard, my good friend Naganuma, the Shinto priest, is no longer with us. He proved to be an unfaithful ally, much to my regret.” Ryzaard reaches into both pockets of his tweed jacket and pulls out the two Stones, one in each hand, dropping them on the table. “I took the liberty of acquiring his Stone and have now thoroughly bonded with it.”
The door slides open with a swish, and Alexa Gianopoulus walks in. “Dr. Ryzaard,” she gasps. “I thought you had—”
“Died, perhaps?” Ryzaard looks at her out of the corner of his eye. “You underestimate me.” He turns his attention back to the others sitting at the table. The shock of seeing him alive is still apparent on their faces. “As do you all.”
Alexa moves to the table and takes her seat in her usual spot on Ryzaard’s right.
He takes out a pack of black Djarums, brings the cigarettes up to his lips, and pulls the pack away, leaving one dangling from his mouth. Turning to his right, he offers one to Alexa.
She eagerly takes it with trembling fingers.
Striking a match, Ryzaard holds it in front of Alexa as she leans forward for a light. Then he brings it up to his cigarette and takes a long draw, sucking the flame in through the tip. His feet come up on the table, his head falls back and he blows smoke up to the ceiling in a long exhale.
Astonishment emanates from everyone.
Ryzaard follows the cloud of smoke as it spreads out into a wide disk. “As I was saying, we now have two Stones. It will have an immediate effect on our work.” He slides his feet off the table and leans in to its edge. “Elsa, you will need to reconfigure the trading algorithm to take full advantage of our new capabilities.”
