by Jacob Whaler
The kiss lasts longer than Matt expects.
The Woman turns to Matt, and he hears her words in his head.
He is my Beloved.
Matt can’t imagine what work they are doing. Most of the men and women are just standing there engaged in quiet conversation and gentle laughter. Others stand apart, or in twos and threes. Everyone appears to be relaxing.
To see our work, you must become one with us.
The Woman stretches out her hand and places the tips of her index and little fingers directly onto Matt’s eyeballs.
He has the sense of a warm current flowing through his eyes and into his mind, forming a protective cocoon.
You will feel pain. Do not resist.
Matt breathes slowly and deeply, opening his mind to receive whatever comes from the Woman. The flow of warmth is pleasant at first. It increases to a torrent of burning that spreads back from his eyes, through his optic nerve and into his brain. A white flash surges down his spine and into his arms and legs. For an instant, Matt is consumed by fire from the inside.
You will not be harmed.
It reaches a climax and explodes out, leaving behind a surpassing calm.
We are one.
He no longer feels the Woman’s fingertips on his eyes. He slowly opens them.
And finds himself looking into his own face, first through the eyes of the Woman and then through the eyes of the Man.
He is in their mind. They are in his. All of them are One.
This is our work.
A hundred thousand worlds flash before his eyes, not a burst of images one after another, but a simultaneous presence. His mind wanders in and over each one. Mountains rise, and oceans form as if they are alive. His fingers mold continents, rivers, jungles and plains. He inhales the fragrance of forests and deserts. Billions of cicadas sing in chorus. Large animals run in herds over frozen tundra. He tastes salty oceans and drinks in the milky nectar of dandelions.
One of the worlds is Earth.
Each planet teems with life, some in forms he has never seen before. Giant trees kilometers in height and hundreds of meters in diameter, whales the size of islands, lizards as large as football fields swimming through seas of sand.
Some worlds are frozen and ice-bound from pole to pole. Others are covered with deserts floating on deep oceans below the sand. There are planets that never know darkness with complex spiral orbital patterns through star system clusters.
Each organism on each world is open to view, its bones, muscles, leaves, and cells exposed in exquisite detail. If he looks, he can drop down to the level of atoms. And beyond.
Nothing is hidden. Everything dances before his eyes and in his mind. It’s all part of his awareness, with the same clarity, simplicity and wonder he felt as a child staring down at a spiral seashell in his hand.
But there is more.
The Woman and the Man are connected to all of it, each world, each organism, each particle. It’s in their mind, and so it becomes part of Matt as well.
Look again.
Gorgeous nebulae with clouds of gas float in the depths of space.
Let us work.
A new star system model takes shape in Matt’s mind as an abstract idea, based on the internal spiral of a half-eroded seashell he found as a child. First, a mass of stars spreads out on a thin, geometric plane. With mathematical precision, stars drop above and below the plane to form a three-dimensional structure as an ever-expanding spiral.
Now to construct the model in the real world. His mind and hands reach out. He comprehends the gas nebulae and begins to mold it as one might mold a lump of clay. Particles condense over vast distances into stars. As they form, Matt changes their positions, designing patterns, observing it from different angles, jumping in and out of clusters, building it up and tearing it down over and over until perfection is achieved. It takes shape before his eyes.
A three-dimensional spiral galaxy, just like the seashell.
He feels the approval of the Woman and the Man.
It is good.
Matt’s attention is drawn to a particular star on the outer edge of a lower spiral arm. As he focuses on it, matter around it coalesces into pebble-like planets.
One planet stands out. With his mind, he moves it through space until it feels like the right distance from the star. For a time, its molten surface boils, shapeless and formless. Then it begins to cool and forms a hard outer crust. Gas condenses into liquid water on its surface. Oceans form. Continents emerge. He rides the wave of the shared mind as, one with the Woman and the Man, the cascade of events unfolds.
Matt feels a surge of energy from the Woman, like the rising of the sun and its first rays bathing his skin.
We will make life.
The Woman and the Man separate from Matt’s mind. As he looks on from the outside, he senses them inhabiting the same space, expanding through each other, becoming a complete and perfect union.
A wave of emotion that Matt can only describe as joy permeates and lifts him like a rocket with all thrusters firing.
The mystery of life can only be shared between Two.
The warmth that enveloped Matt withdraws. He still senses, but cannot see, the presence of the Woman and the Man.
He opens his eyes and stares down at the planet. There is an explosion of microbial life in pockets of the ocean that feeds on the energy of the sun. It spreads and flows simultaneously from millions of locations. As the Man and Woman direct their focus and concentration, the microbes evolve, increasing in complexity and moving up the chain of life through algae, plankton and invertebrates, culminating in great schools of fish. The varieties of sea creatures feed upon each other and proliferate until the oceans teem with life.
With blazing speed, the rocky surfaces of the barren continents transform into habitats for plant life. Jungles form. Forests rise from the ground. Vast plains of grass color the surface of the land.
Insects appear, increasing in numbers and size. Reptiles take over the land. Birds take to the sky. Rodents and small animals proliferate, filling niches in mountains and prairies. As their size increases, they take on shapes that are familiar to Matt.
The planetary crust ripples and rises as if it’s alive. Continents flow across oceans, break up and rejoin, over and over.
And then Matt is back on the pavilion standing between the Man and the Woman.
The Woman’s eyes penetrate Matt’s gaze.
You have seen our Work.
Now you will go to the Others.
And then you will choose.
CHAPTER 118
Alexa drops into the seat with the champagne glass in her hand and gazes out the window.
Ryzaard is good. He is smart. He knows what he is doing. If she just does what he says, everything will work out.
Time to kill the girl.
That’s what he said. It must be true. Ryzaard said he killed Matt. Jessica is no use to anyone now.
Ryzaard doesn’t leave loose ends lying around. Jessica has become a loose end. They can never let her go. She knows too much.
No choice but to do what Ryzaard says.
Kill her.
Alexa picks up the jax.
All she has to do is call the guards and give them the word. They are standing outside the door of the suite where Jessica has been held for the last few days. It will be over in thirty seconds or less. It has all been decided already.
They won’t even have to go inside.
One touch on the button near the door and a colorless, odorless gas will pour into the room through specially designed vents.
Images of long conversations with Jessica form in Alexa’s mind. They talked when Jessica was first hired to work for MX Global. Jessica gushed with enthusiasm about fulfilling her dream of working in Manhattan. Her father was so proud.
Alexa remembers asking whether Jessica had a boyfriend.
She hesitated, but didn’t hide her feelings. Yes, she had a boyfriend, a quirky guy who liked t
o ski in the summer and rock climb in the winter. Long dark hair down to his shoulders. Brown eyes.
He left to spend the summer at a university in Japan.
What did she like about him?
That wasn’t easy to say. It wasn’t the way he looked or the car he drove. He wasn’t rich. He was accident prone and shy around other people. Avoided large groups. Small family. And an atheist.
Jessica couldn’t come up with an answer. Just chemistry, she said.
Alexa opens her eyes and notices the jax is out of her hand on the table. She picks up the glass of champagne and takes another sip.
Once the gas starts to pour into her room, Jessica will feel a sudden, overpowering sleepiness. For the first few seconds, she might know something is up, but it will soon be over. She will have nowhere to go and not even enough time to make it to the bed. She’ll simply crumple to the floor and close her eyes.
Death will almost be instantaneous.
After five minutes, the guards will press another button on the panel, and the air will be cleansed of the poison gas. Just to be sure, they might let a few minutes go by before they open the door.
By then, old Jacob will be there. He’ll collect the body and do as Ryzaard suggests. Wrap it in a bag and take it away to be disposed of like all the others.
The body might be discovered in a hundred years, when the concrete foundation of the new casino is torn down. At that point, it will be like finding a mummy. No one will care whether or not a murder has been committed.
It will just be one of the many bodies spread around the city.
Alexa puts the champagne down and reaches for her jax.
CHAPTER 119
The Woman and her world vanish.
Matt floats in darkness, except for the blue light that clings to the outside of his body. Straining his eyes to search for pinpoints of far-off stars, he sees nothing in the blackness.
The Woman had said she was sending Matt to see the Others, and that he had to choose.
Choose what? Matt wonders. He’s had no time to consider the fantastic string of events since being sucked into the black hole. Questions flood his mind. How is it possible that he survived? Was it the cocoon of blue energy that protected his atoms from being ripped apart?
And what about the Allehonen world?
Incredible beauty. Exquisite grace.
Majesty and love beyond comprehension.
Infinite power.
The words can’t begin to describe what he saw, what he felt, what he was part of. He hungers to return. To show it all to Jessica.
He remembers his last encounter with the Others. Their ever-changing shapes, and the way they wreathed in anger, starving for the Stones and speaking only of power.
If his choice is to be between the Allehonen and the Others, it won’t be difficult to make.
There is a subtle shift in the feel of space around him. His eyes flip open. The darkness is gone.
A woman speaks in perfect English.
“They say you’re special, maybe even unique.”
Matt spins around, trying to find the source of the voice but seeing only a large enclosed space like the inside of a cathedral. Huge jade pillars rise from the marble floor up to a ceiling of imbedded jewels. Stained-glass windows display a collection of dragon-like creatures in neon colors. A heavy wooden door is sealed shut at the far end. The fragrance of roses hangs in the air. Matt grips his Stone tighter.
“They say you may be the One.”
Matt steps to the nearest pillar and moves around it, eyes and ears alert, holding the Stone carefully in his right hand. “The One? You mean the Chosen One?” He searches around the next pillar. “Sounds cliché to me.”
“That all depends.”
“On what?” Matt stops again, ears open to the reply, trying to pinpoint the voice.
“On whether it’s true.”
The quiet swish of silk robes moves behind him. He turns to face her.
A woman with lustrous white skin, blond hair and piercing blue eyes steps closer, inscribing a full circle that encloses him. She wears a black Japanese kimono with a spider design clinging to the middle of her back, its outstretched legs extending over the shoulders and under her arms to meet in front, as if it holds her in its grasp. Embroidered in a crystalline thread, its color moves through the spectrum of the rainbow, shimmering and changing with the angle of view. Her delicate hands are empty.
A thin chain of gold makes three loops around her slender waist. Dozens of Stones hang from it.
As she comes closer, Matt stands still and then backs up when she steps within a meter of his body.
“Where are they?” he says.
“They?”
“The Others.”
The woman stops. Her eyes find the Stone in Matt’s hand and hang on it for too long. “You speak of the Lethonen.”
“I speak of the Others.” Matt’s head tilts to the side. “I have no idea who the Lethonen are.”
The woman shakes her head. “They have many names, all one and the same. Who told you of the Others?”
“The Alleho—”
The woman’s hand shoots out, her warm fingers pressing against Matt’s lips, cutting him off. “Do not let that name leave your lips.” Her fingers linger in place, covering Matt’s mouth. “The Lethonen do not take kindly to any mention of their enemy’s name. The mere sound of it throws them into fits of extreme stress, which I try to avoid for obvious reasons.” She walks past Matt to the wooden door at the far end of the cathedral. “Follow me. I have something to show you.”
Matt falls in behind her. She slows until they are walking side by side.
“Who are you?” Matt says.
“I am the messenger.”
“What is the message?”
“That depends on what you choose.” The woman looks up at Matt, smiles and looks forward, walking in silence until they come to the door. As she touches its smooth wood with a finger, it opens onto a large courtyard.
Both of them step into brilliant sunshine and walk into the open. A chest-high railing stands twenty meters to the right.
The woman turns and glides toward it across a surface of cobblestones, her body moving with the grace and quiet of a cat.
As they get closer, Matt sees they are standing on the flat top of a mountain overlooking a broad valley. A city of glass and jewels spreads out below them.
The woman stops at the railing. Her hands rest on it, and she bends forward slightly, letting her hair catch a gentle breeze that blows it away from her porcelain ears.
He stares at her profile.
Reaching down to her belt, she removes a Stone. At the same instant, her other hand brushes against Matt’s neck.
“Follow me,” she says.
The air flashes white, and they both stand on a wide street. Women and men of different races, all dressed in traditional Japanese robes, walk by, nodding politely at the two of them. There are no children. From the look of the glass buildings, it’s the same city Matt saw from the top of the mountain.
His eyes scan in a circle. “So, this is your own private world?”
“One of many.”
“I’ve got one myself. Pretty handy.”
“Only one? How pathetic.” She flashes a grin at him. “Never mind. You are here to choose.”
Matt stops, his pulse rising. “Look, I really don’t have time for this.” Thoughts of Jessica crowd his mind. Ryzaard probably thinks Matt is dead. That can only mean one thing. Jessica’s life is in grave danger. “I’m in a hurry to get back home.”
The woman takes a step until her body is only inches from Matt. She looks up through long eye lashes. “Whatever you have at home will wait. It can’t be nearly as important as what I’m going to show you. Any idea why you’ve been sent here?”
“To choose between . . . what did you call them?”
“The Lethonen.”
“Right,” Matt says. “I’m supposed to choose between the Lethone
n and the Alleho—sorry, the other guys. There’s just one thing I don’t understand.”
“I know,” she says.
“You do?”
“Of course,” the woman says. “Why would anyone choose the Lethonen?”
“Exactly,” Matt says. “I’ve seen them. They’re so . . .” He isn’t sure how to put it.
“Monstrous. Dark. Needy. Creepy. Pathetic.”
“Exactly,” Matt says. “All those things.” He looks at her more closely. “You don’t sound complimentary of them. Aren’t you on their side?”
“Call me Jhata.”
“Are you from Brooklyn? Or maybe New Jersey? You’re English sounds too good, too natural, for it to be a foreign language.”
“I’m not from your world, but I mapped your mind and acquired your language. It’s not that difficult when you have as many Stones as I do.” Jhata turns and pulls Matt with her. “And I’m not on the side of the Lethonen, though I let them think I am. I’m not on anyone else’s side. I’m on my side.”
She walks down the middle of the street, looking up at huge crystal pagodas hundreds of stories high, hourglass-shaped buildings that come to a delicate point, thin ribbons of glass that arch over the city. It’s all light, airy and cheerful. Exquisite.
“I’m confused.” Matt says.
“Don’t worry,” Jhata says. “It will be clear soon.” She walks through a round door into a cube structure with spires rising from each corner and a domed roof. Once inside the dark interior, the door swings shut behind them. They stop in front of a massive glass sphere with an interior of boiling fire.
“What’s this?” Matt says.
Jhata looks into his eyes. “Do you trust me?”
He glances at the Stones hanging from her waist. “Are you kidding?”
“Good for you. That is the beginning of wisdom. Don’t trust anyone.” Jhata slips the Stone back into its ring on her waist and places her palms on the surface of the sphere. “Let me ask you another question. The most important question.”
Matt steps away from the sphere. A dark mass is beginning to stir within the fire. He wraps his fingers in a white-knuckle grip around his Stone. “Go ahead.”
