Shadow of Forever (Eaters of the Light Book 2)

by J. Edward Neill

  The music in the amphitheater washed over us. I’d never heard real music before. I’d caught pieces of songs on Earth and listened as the people in my small village sang and played old world instruments, but I hadn’t ever understood what I’d heard. The grand hymns bursting from the amphitheater in which my sister was to be married were unknown to me.

  “It’s ok, Joff.” Cal squeezed my hand. “I’m nervous, too.”

  “You are? Why? You’re…I don’t know…radiant. Like Hera, the star.”

  “You mean the one we blew up?” She grinned.

  “Yeah. That one.”

  We entered the amphitheater. My black suit, too tight in a dozen different places, stifled me. Evening approached, but the rains had fallen hard earlier that day, and the steam rising up from the streets cooked me.

  “How are they not all sweating to death?” I whispered as we set foot on a colored glass floor.

  “Shhhhh,” was all she said.

  There must’ve been five-hundred people already seated in the amphitheater’s pews. Hand-in-hand, Cal and I walked past them all. They whispered about us as we went by. I didn’t know their language, but I knew what they were saying.

  “That’s the A.I. girl.

  And the alien man.

  Look at them.

  They don’t belong.”

  Cal sensed my unease. As we took our seats in the very front pew, she squeezed my hand and put her head on my shoulder. I didn’t say a word. I felt frozen in my skin. Affection, real human affection, was something I hadn’t felt since childhood.

  I’d forgotten how to respond.

  The crowd settled behind us. The music, played on a massive set of hollow pipes, faded to nothing for a moment before filling the room again. As I sat in the long glass pew, silent and surrounded by strangers, Cal whispered things in my ear.

  “…old world ceremony.”

  “…governor thought Aly would like it.”

  “…you look handsome in your suit.”

  Nothing could thaw me. Nothing Cal said could make me feel at ease. I’d done too perfect a job of making myself a hermit. I didn’t belong, and I was sure everyone in the amphitheater knew it.

  After another minute of music, I heard an announcement from the amphitheater entrance. The couple beside me, dark-skinned and elderly, turned their heads to see. Except for me, everyone in the amphitheater looked to the door we’d come in. Even Cal shifted in her seat to look.

  I sat there with my eyes closed.

  I didn’t know what was wrong with me.

  I squeezed my sweating palms into fists and clenched my teeth to dull my tremors.

  I wasn’t sure how long I kept my eyes shut, but when I reopened them, Aly and her husband-to-be were standing on the dais in front of me. He was tall and lean, his skin bronze and his hair blacker than my suit. He looked young for a governor, but then again I’d never met one before.

  For her part, Aly looked calm and reserved. Her sleek white dress was as pale as her husband’s suit was dark. I couldn’t see her eyes, but I could tell she wasn’t crying, smiling, or expressing much emotion at all.

  That’s our Aly, I thought. She gets it from Dad.

  I only hoped the ceremony would be brief.

  It wasn’t.

  Sibling Rivalry

  Aly’s wedding seemed to last forever.

  The after-party was a blur.

  At twilight, more than five-hundred people shuffled out of the amphitheater and into a vast green courtyard. It was obvious why they’d held the wedding so close to dusk. At night on Sumer it rarely rained, and with the clouds clearing off and the breeze rolling in, the evening was perfect.

  Paper lanterns floated on a green-watered pond.

  People stripped away their somber attire and reappeared in gaudy Arcadian fashions.

  Every adult except me and Cal had a goblet filled with drink.

  “What’s in everyone’s cup?” I asked Cal as we stood beside a bubbling fountain. “Whatever they’re drinking is making them friendlier.”

  “I think they’re called cordials.” Cal stood with her hands crossed. For all her beauty, and no matter that she looked radiant in her dress, she looked as out of place as I felt. “Cordials have a high alcohol content, which makes people relax.”

  I considered tasting one, but after seeing a man stagger by with one goblet in each hand, I thought better of it.

  “I don’t think they like us here,” I leaned against the stone statue beside the fountain.

  “They don’t know us,” said Cal. “I know it’s hard for you not speaking all their languages. It’s hard for me, too. I never unlocked the learning inhibitors Doctor Abid gave me. Most of what they’re saying, I can’t understand either.”

  “Wait…” I faced her. “Why didn’t you remove the inhibitors? I mean, if you did, you could be the smartest thing ever to exist.”

  She looked wounded. “First, I’m not a thing. I’m Callista. And second, I did it for you.”

  “For me?”

  “I want to be human, Joff. And not just for myself. I want – I thought you and I would be better off if I didn’t know everything there is to know. Omniscience isn’t exactly a human quality, you know.”

  I didn’t have a good comeback. She was right, of course. But I was too lost in my head to appreciate what she’d done.

  I was distracted.

  By what I’m about to do.

  We talked for a long while thereafter. We kept to the fringes of the grand celebration, never really engaging with the swirling mass of partygoers. We watched them dance and heard them laugh, and it was possible we envied them. Several people wandered near enough to say hello, but Cal’s grasp of Arcadian wasn’t enough to extend any conversation beyond a few words.

  And I understood nothing.

  After a while, I felt the tension knotting inside me. I hadn’t eaten in hours, and my suit felt stuffier by the moment. Cal recognized my discomfort and suggested we leave, but I reminded her I needed to see my sister.

  “It’s her wedding night. It’d be wrong if I didn’t congratulate her. I’m the only family she’s got.”

  Cal crossed her arms and gave me a look.

  She didn’t trust me.

  For good reason.

  Finally the celebration waned. Hovercars arrived by the dozen and whisked people away. Cal and I stood and watched. She looked disappointed, but wouldn’t say why. Meanwhile, I counted the departing people as if they were stars vanishing from the night.

  “Now,” I said.

  “Now?” Cal looked wary. “Now what?”

  “Follow me.”

  She fell in behind me as I made for the courtyard’s center. As I walked ahead, I glanced skyward. The night was cloudless, the dark heavens ablaze with starlight.

  A perfect night.

  Hurry and be done with this.

  No.

  Take your time.

  We came to the courtyard’s center. There, in a pool of lantern light, Aly stood tall, talking to the same elderly couple who’d sat beside me during the wedding. My sister looked beautiful in her dress, and her resemblance to my mother was striking. Her husband, whose name I’d only just learned was Tabir, lingered protectively at her side. I saw two men in the shadows behind him. It occurred to me they were his bodyguards.

  Of course.

  He’s a governor, after all.

  While waiting for the elderly couple to depart, I felt Cal’s fingers close on my right hand. She squeezed harder than she needed to. Being trapped in a body that couldn’t really feel was not what she had hoped.

  “What are you up to, Joff?” she whispered.

  “You’ll see.” I looked at her. Any other time, I’d have had trouble pulling away from her perfect blue gaze.

  But not that night.

  I wasn’t sure why, but somehow I knew it would be my best chance to catch Aly and Tabir together.

  The elderly couple strolled up to Cal and me. The woman opened h
er mouth to say something, but I walked right past, abandoning poor Cal.

  Sorry, Cal, I thought.

  This needs to be done.

  And then I found myself standing inside a glass-domed gazebo, alone with my sister, her husband, and the two bodyguard lurking in the shadows.

  “Hi,” I said to them.

  Before I could say anything else, Aly hugged me. I hadn’t expected it. I was accustomed to her being reserved, even cold. I figured it must’ve been the cordials.

  “Thanks for coming, Joff.” She kept squeezing. “I missed you. None of this would be possible if not for you.”

  Hearing her say it out loud made me feel tiny. It was true; I’d rescued her from a ship stranded in the aftermath of a star’s collapse. She’d have died if not for me.

  But it was also true; I was the one who’d killed the star in the first place.

  I let her give me my life’s longest hug. I saw her husband over her shoulder, and I swore he smirked at me.

  “Thanks for the invitation,” I said when Aly finally released me.

  “I didn’t think you’d come.” She managed a smile. “I thought…well…with you being out on your fields, you’d want to be alone.”

  “It was her.” I glanced back at Cal, who was still entertaining the elderly couple. “She convinced me.”

  If Aly thought Callista’s new body was anything other than normal, she didn’t give anything away.

  “I hear she’s trying to get you to Arcadia,” she said. “Or maybe one of the smaller cities. You know you’d be welcome. We could get you an apartment, or—”

  “So this is the famous Joff Armstrong.” Her husband interrupted. He was tall and powerfully built, and yet his handshake felt soft in my mine. My deepest surprise was that he spoke my language. I hadn’t expected that.

  “Yeah.” I nodded. “It’s me.”

  “Aly’s told us all about you.” He looked me up and down. “How you two are the last survivors from Earth. How you’re pretty much the most dangerous man in the universe.”

  “Ah. Well. Not dangerous enough.” I knew where he was going.

  “Well…that remains to be seen, doesn’t it?” He stepped closer, dividing me and Aly. “We’ve done the science. We’ve pieced together the damaged records from your pretty friend’s nano-cells. When you killed those stars and destroyed those planets, I’d say you proved humanity’s point. Wouldn’t you?”

  His bravado was more than I’d expected. He was younger than me, and we’d only just met.

  Actually, I thought. This is perfect.

  “I’m glad you asked.” I stood tall. As it turned out, I was the bigger man. “You see, my data indicates the alien threat remains. I’ve been searching the sky every night. I’ve located an area of missing stars at the Milky Way’s outer rim. More than six-thousand have vanished. I’ve sent detailed reports and graphics to Aly’s office. I’ve even sent letters to the other governors. Surely you’ve seen some of my research.”

  “Yes. I’ve seen your claims.” Tabir’s eyes darkened. “And I—”

  Aly thrust herself between us. She put a hand on each of our arms, holding us apart as if we were about to fight.

  “I can’t believe you two.” She shook her head. “Joff, is this why you came here? To talk about your sky demons?”

  “They’re not demons, Aly,” I argued. “You saw. You know.”

  “I know what I saw.” Her face paled. “I saw a big blue nebula where a star was supposed to be. I saw dust from the two planets you blasted to pieces. I saw a graveyard. They’re dead, Joff. Let them lie. Move on with your life.”

  Tabir tried to talk over us, but I was louder.

  “They’re not dead and you know it,” I countered. “Every scientist on Sumer confirmed my reports. And I know about the research your friends did on Cal. I know you’ve found traces of Strigoi tech in her records. We have to start hunting them, Aly. We can’t just sit here. Sumer’s the last human planet. If they kill us here, they kill us everywhere.”

  Tabir put his hand on my chest and tried to push me back. But I’d found my strength. He couldn’t move me. Not even a little.

  “I think you should go,” he said. “Come back when you’ve got a clearer head.”

  I stood my ground.

  “This isn’t something we can play around with.” I looked at Aly, ignoring Tabir. “I know you hacked Cal and you’re using the Strigoi tech you found. I know what you’re thinking. I’ve written to every scientist in Arcadia. You’re the best of them, Aly. If you’d just sit with me and read my research—”

  “Unbelievable.” Her anger was as much for Tabir as for me. “On my wedding night, we’re going to stand here and argue? Listen, Joff. We have a plan; I already told you. We’re going to build a defensive net. Anything that comes through will be destroyed. Anything more than that is…unrealistic.”

  “Unrealistic?” I said.

  My face flushed scarlet.

  The argument raged.

  I reminded my sister that the Strigoi, the killing machines whose planet I’d blown up a star to destroy, had technology far surpassing our own. I reminded her about string reprogrammers, which could change any substance in the universe into anything else, and which the Strigoi had been using by the tens of thousands to annihilate stars.

  And I repeated what they’d said to me even as I’d flown the Sabre in for the kill.

  “An eye for an eye,” they’d uttered in their evil voices. “A million worlds. A thousand galaxies before yours.”

  “We can’t hide, Aly,” I said, backing away. “We can’t. And you know it.”

  For an instant, I glimpsed the Aly I remembered. She was the fierce Aly, the brilliant Aly, the last human to leave Earth before the Strigoi had killed our sun.

  But the look fled her face as quickly as it had come.

  “Unrealistic,” she said.

  “Please?” I held my hands up.

  A tear streamed down her cheek. I hadn’t seen her cry in years. The sight stunned me.

  “What do you want me to do?” she asked.

  “Something,” was all I managed to say before Tabir’s bodyguards ushered me away.

  Dusk

  Many weeks after my sister’s wedding, I sat alone in my house and waited for the rain to end.

  Alpo, my ancient teddy bear, laid on the table. I’d forgotten to give him to Aly. Every time I saw him, I regretted what I’d done.

  She deserved better.

  So did Cal.

  Maybe I should climb into the Sabre.

  And fly away into forever.

  I didn’t know what my problem was. My fears felt almost irrational. But even if they weren’t, even if the Strigoi were building string reprogrammers to destroy Sumer’s suns, Aly was right. The odds of us stopping them were nil. Our whole planet might mobilize. And we’d die just the same.

  I’m just a farmer who fell out of the stars.

  If no one wants my help, why do I care?

  I wished for the answer.

  It didn’t come.

  I missed Cal already. She’d had to stay behind to continue work on her new body. Just before I’d left, she’d said a hurried goodbye outside the light-rail station. She’d claimed her body’s sensory defects were making her crazy.

  But I knew the real reason.

  I’d broken her heart just a little bit. I’d ignored how far she’d come. And I couldn’t take it back.

  The rain stopped. On the far horizon, the fiery red sun Kokab vanished. The other, the bright blue dwarf Atreya, dipped lower in the eve. The bottoms of the fleeing clouds burned violet and grey and other colors I had no name for. I wanted to appreciate their beauty, but I couldn’t.

  I was obsessed.

  I’d written more letters to Aly, her husband, and Arcadia’s science office.

  I’d pleaded for action.

  I’d asked for funds to retrofit the Sabre with new weaponry.

  I’d even asked to see the research they
’d done on Cal. I was worried they’d tapped into something dangerous, that somehow the Strigoi had left a trap inside her nano-cells for humanity to find.

  I realized my madness. And yet I couldn’t help myself. I was what Doctor Abid had made me: a warrior.

  A lunatic.

  I slipped into my boots, snagged my towel, and burst out into the night. Physically, I felt better than I had in years. To battle my restlessness, I’d been exercising. I’d gone running, done pull-ups using the trees in the forest behind my house, and challenged myself to rip the vines off the Sabre using only my hands.

  Better still, my plan every night was to hike fifteen kilometers up and down the green river. Maybe, I hoped, the long walks will clear my mind.

  I took to the path outside my house. Tall grasses swayed in the wind, burnished blue by Atreya’s last light. The moment I walked into the fields, I felt better. The maddening thrum in my head faded with the gentle night. Compared to Earth, Sumer was almost silent.

  No crickets.

  No night birds.

  No sounds but the breeze.

  I loved it.

  I stepped onto the bridge leading over the little green river. Just before Atreya’s blue light vanished beneath the horizon, I caught her ghostly reflection on the water. I’d never seen the river look quite as ethereal as in that moment. I couldn’t help but stop halfway across the bridge and watch the glimmers die.

  If I hadn’t stopped, I’d have never glanced behind me.

  And if I hadn’t looked behind me, I’d have never seen the three shadows stalking through the fields.

  They came from the direction of my house. They were men, I knew at once, and although no one else on Sumer would’ve known what they held in their hands, I did.

  Rifles.

  I squinted. Slow and steady, the men moved through the high grasses toward me. I saw green glints where their eyes should’ve been.

  Goggles.

  They see me better than I see them.

  In my mind, I sprinted through a hundred scenarios.

  They’ve found Sumer’s first animal species. They’re here to capture it.

  Or they’ve agreed to hear me out. They’re bringing me to Arcadia under close guard.