by C. J. Odle
This was far from finished, Sirius surmised.
“Sometimes data alone is not sufficient,” it sent across to the other pod.
“Yes, greater forces are at work,” Vega pulsed back.
“That,” Sirius sent, “remains to be seen.”
It engaged the pod’s traveling mechanisms. Although less efficient than the main ship, it could still make the journey home if needed, jumping in stages rather than all at once. Sirius’s hands carefully pressed a sequence of crystal buttons on the console, and energy pulsed into the pod and then through it as it started to form a wormhole for the first stage of the trip. The air in front of the pod swirled, transforming into a gap big enough for Sirius and the pod.
Sirius didn’t look back as it pushed the pod forward, slipping into the space opened by the wormhole, then hurtling into the star-studded space beyond.
Jake watched Sirius’s pod disappear into the wormhole it had created, vanishing in a point of light as the doorway into the galaxy collapsed behind it. There was the sound of a thunderclap as air rushed in to fill the space the alien pod had occupied, and then the world around them fell silent once more.
Their own pod hung motionless high above Shanghai while Vega repaired the communication system. For some time, Jake could see fighter planes buzzing aimlessly on the horizon, keeping the pod in sight. They didn’t seem to want to attack them now. Someone had either realized the futility of it or had spotted the crystal being destroyed.
“Do they know it’s over?” Jake asked.
As an answer, Vega was able to raise a screen from the console of the pod, showing news feeds from around the world. The BBC flashed the words Alien Crisis Apparently Averted on a rolling banner across the bottom of the screen while the prime minister gave a speech. KNBC, for some reason, showed the woman who generally did the human-interest stories dancing some kind of jig of celebration. Fox news was already questioning how the destruction of the crystal spheres would affect Republican chances in the next elections.
“They know,” Jake pulsed.
“They know, or they think they know,” Vega agreed.
“What do you mean?” Sarah asked. She’d obviously caught the note of uncertainty there.
“None of us can truly know what is going to happen next,” Vega sent. “I thought I knew what would happen on this world, that Sirius and I would come, see the results of our project, and leave. Then I thought humanity would be removed, with no way of preventing it. Now, I have glimpsed an alternative future.”
“Does it have anything to do with our unborn daughter?” Jake pulsed.
“What?” Sarah gasped, placing her hands on her stomach.
Jake turned to her with a smile, and he put his hand on top of hers. “I’ve been waiting for the right moment to tell you.”
“Are you sure?” Sarah asked, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Yes,” Jake replied, with a glance toward Vega. “Both of us have seen it.”
Sarah was too stunned to speak, her face a mixture of joy and surprise.
Jake gave her a reassuring nod, then turned back to the alien.
“Well?” he pulsed.
“I cannot say,” Vega sent. “At least, not yet. The Council of the Supremes is involved, and we will have to see what unfolds in the Pleiades.”
“What’s it like in the Pleiades?” Jake pulsed.
Vega considered for a moment. “I could show you images of it, if you wish, but I assume this is not what you are asking, Jake.”
No, it wasn’t. “Will our daughter be safe?”
He’d only known he would be a father for a short while, but already he was filled with happiness and a sense of deep responsibility.
“Your daughter will be safe. I guarantee you will all be protected,” Vega sent. “We have well-established protocols for the migration of alien species to our planetary system.”
“What will happen when we arrive?” Sarah asked, her eyes wide with a future mother’s concern.
“All of us will be required to attend a meeting with the Council of the Supremes.” Vega replied. “Beyond that, I have no information.”
Perhaps the alien was telling the truth; although, right then, Jake would have liked to have known more. He looked down again through the clear dome at the city below. There would be many people dead, just as there would be in the other cities touched by the crystal sphere. Mostly he sensed stillness, the city seemingly frozen between breaths, aware of the attack stopping but not yet willing to trust it was over. There would be people who had gone partway into the process and been able to come back when the sphere had been destroyed. They would probably be blinking and waking, finding themselves changed in ways that might reimagine humanity’s fate.
“We should go,” Vega sent. “The Council of the Supremes should not be kept waiting.”
Jake looked at Sarah, then at the alien. “There’s just one goodbye we need to say first.”
In the Mojave Desert at the edge of the Kelso Dunes, Marina tried to decide whether she and the guys should head back to the city. Billy and Adam had snapped out of the new sensations they were feeling long enough to locate Sirius, but now a decision had to be made. They couldn’t stay outside the shields of the mothership indefinitely. It was a desert, after all, and those shields didn’t provide fundamental things like water or pizzas to bake.
But what was alternative? Drive into LA? Help pick up the pieces among the mayhem and the dead? Marina sighed and plonked herself down on the sand with her back against the shields, waiting for a solution to present itself. After a while, the lanky figures of Billy and Adam walked over to join her, and they all gazed up at the night sky.
“It will be all right, you know,” Billy said. “We won.”
“Marina’s worried about all the things that happen after you’ve won,” Adam said. He was right, Marina realized. Winning was fine. Better than fine, because in this case it meant they’d helped to save billions of people and the entire species, but life didn’t stop there. Rebuilding would need to be done, millions of people were dead, and the repercussions of the aliens’ visit would be felt far into the future. Whole ways of seeing the world would have to change.
“Things are never going to be the same again,” Marina said.
Billy shrugged. “Maybe things have to change sometimes.”
Maybe they did, but it was still too hard thinking about what might happen next.
“They’re going to expect us to be part of the cleaning up for all this,” Marina said. “We were here. So I guess they’re going to treat us as if we have all the answers.”
She could imagine it now. They’d been the ones coordinating all the hackers. They’d been the ones talking to Jake. She’d been the one on TV in front of everyone. People would expect them to know what to do next.
“I don’t like cleaning up,” Billy said, grimacing.
“We don’t have to be involved in it all,” Adam added. “We could just walk back to the RV and drive away.”
“Because we’d be so good at living a life on the road?” Marina asked. “You two would never survive anywhere without your moms doing the washing.” She sighed. “Besides, I don’t think it would be so easy to disappear now that we’ve been on TV.”
As she spoke those words, she realized she didn’t want to disappear. There would be people who needed their help. It would just feel wrong to ignore them.
“It must be dawn soon,” Adam said, and pushed himself up. “Let’s grab our laptops and head back to the van.”
Marina and Billy nodded. The three of them walked over to their tent and collected what they could carry. After a lingering glance at the majestic spaceship suspended above the ground, they stepped across the detritus of the abandoned camp. The ambient light of the alien craft faded, and guided by the flashlights on their phones, they trudged across the desert.
Outside the camp, no signs of life could be seen apart from the hundreds of footprints in the sand. Of all those touched by the fatal bli
ss of the spheres, it was impossible to know how many of them might have died, or how many had been changed irrevocably.
Marina was still thinking about the aftereffects of the spheres when the light appeared in the sky above. She recognized it as a pod instantly. Light shone out as the pod came lower, almost down to the level of the ground. Low enough for Marina to see into it. Jake and Sarah were standing hand in hand, with Vega by their side. They didn’t say anything, but they didn’t need to.
“They’re leaving,” Marina said to the others.
Adam stared at the pod. “Will they come back?”
“Maybe.”
“Think they’d take us with them?”
Marina did have an answer for that one. “Probably not.”
“Shouldn’t we be waving?” Billy asked.
He had a point. Sometimes, there were only so many things you could do. So they waved while the pod ascended into the night sky.
Jake and Sarah took their seats while Vega fussed over Sarah, making sure she was securely in place. There were so many other goodbyes they could have said, but really, Sarah had already spoken to her grandmother, and Jake didn’t feel any connection to his old life. Gemini and Marina deserved to be the ones to see this part.
Vega touched the crystal buttons of the console, and the air in front of the pod rent as though torn apart by invisible hands. Around the edges of the wormhole, cosmic plasma pulsed, hinting at the power the pod used to make the connection.
They hung there for a moment before the gap, and Jake took a last look toward the desert. From this high above, he could see thousands of stars stretching above the desert and mountains of his home planet. It was breathtaking, but he suspected the rest of the universe would be just as beautiful. Then the pod shot forward into the wormhole, the gateway instantly closing behind them.
The galaxy flashed by as time and space were compressed. The pod appeared static as the stars of the Milky Way streaked past on all sides. Suddenly the rush of space slowed, and the pod’s sense of motion returned. They had crossed the threshold.
Vega pointed. Ahead, Jake could make out seven brilliant stars, sparkling like diamonds with a bluish hue.
“Are you ready?” Vega pulsed.
Jake looked at Sarah. She nodded. He turned and gazed toward the Pleiades.
“We’re ready,” Jake sent.
Another wormhole opened, and they entered. Behind them, space faded into emptiness one last time.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to my brother David for the original spark twenty years ago that life on Earth was an alien experiment. That spark finally ignited and blazed into life.
My mother Sheena was an enthusiastic beta reader, and helped me through the first edit then made subsequent useful suggestions for the text.
For any book, a great cover is a must. Stephen Youll walked me through the creative process, and skillfully and imaginatively translated my notes into a stunning image.
Due to living in Peru while writing a story set in LA, on the ground research was not possible. As such, Google was an invaluable and much used resource. Some details, however, required expert advice. Thomas S. Bunn, of Lagerlof, Senecal, Gosney, & Kruse, LLP, generously indicated the correct California courthouse for a water rights case.
I also needed reputable insight into the world of hacking, and Sigma gave detailed and relevant examples of hacking strategies.
Technology is transforming many aspects of our lives, and Oleg Gutsol’s innovative Consensus.ai project is referenced in the text. This collaborative AI could well be the way communities govern themselves in the future.
Encouraging words from friends can give a much needed boost, and Yuriy Blokhin has provided heartfelt support in the run up to launch.
Over the last two years many people have played their part in helping me develop as a writer. None more so than Jim Thomas, who gave the text a penetrating and transformative edit at a crucial stage. I will always be grateful to Jim for opening my eyes to the craft, and showing (not telling!) just how much further there was (and is) to jump.
Thanks also to Michelle Hope for a precise and well judged copy edit, and to Tamara Beach for proofreading. John Amy formatted the ebook, and deserves praise for his patience in dealing with my questions and revisions.
The greatest thanks must go to my wife, Nori. She shared the journey of Startoucher from inception to publication, as she has shared so many journeys with me since we have been together. Without her guidance and presence, this book would not have been possible.
About the Author
C.J. Odle is an author and ayahuascero living in a small conservation and healing center in the Peruvian Amazon.
Startoucher is his first novel.
To find out more, please visit cjodle.com.
