Guardian's Rise

by Matthew Renard

  ‘Unknown. It is a pity you are superstitious and cannot move into the empty house you and Mr Edwards believe to be haunted.’

  ‘Sammy saw a ghost!’

  ‘Mr Edwards did not see a ghost. Mr Edwards saw what he believed to be a ghost but has a high probability of being a cloth blowing in a breeze.’

  ‘He said it had arms.’

  ‘A chair has arms.’ Sami said archly. ‘That does not make it capable of attacking a person.’

  ‘What about the scream?’

  ‘Mr Edwards is not capable of emitting a high-pitched scream?’

  ‘Not like that! Did you hear it?’

  ‘I see and hear everything, and record anything of note.’

  ‘You told me before you didn’t.’

  ‘I lied.’

  I paused, the faintest ideas of a plan beginning to take shape. ‘So, did you record that scream?’

  ‘Affirmative.’

  ‘...And Michael said the house had been deserted for a year?’

  ‘Affirmative.’

  An idea ‘Sami...what if we’re the ghost?’

  ‘Processing probabilities. There is a high percentage of probability that we are the cause of supernatural sightings within the residence.’

  ‘Cool.’ I smiled, ignoring the still-present feeling of anxiety and nausea that had permeated me since arriving back in time, and switched the old lady hologram out for my costume once nobody was around. ‘Then let’s go home.’

  Home.

  Chapter 22

  The Haunting Of Samuel Edwards

  I spent my time relatively productively. I kept the house clean, maintaining its shine and sheen. I learned just how much it cost to maintain the gleaming, almost mirrored polish of the floors (too much), and how much time it took to get it to that condition (again, too much). I made a mental note to make sure we hired cleaners once I caught up with the timeline.

  The cleaning helped, though. I spent a lot of time wrapped up in my thoughts about my future, or Emily, or the insanity of time travel. One day... it must have been mid-October... I asked Sami about it. She had proven to be a pretty good sounding board, if a little literal at times.

  ‘Sami?’

  ‘Working.’ The blue orb appeared in the ballroom, making the floor beneath it glow gently.

  ‘There’s one thing I don’t understand.’

  ‘Correction: there are many things you do not understand.’

  I ignored her. ‘You recorded the scream that terrified Sammy.’

  ‘Affirmative.’

  ‘But who produced that scream?’

  ‘We will, when you and Mr Edwards come to view the property in six weeks.’

  My head started to hurt, as it so often did when I tried to figure this out. ‘But where did you get that scream from?’

  ‘I recorded it.’

  ‘So who produced it originally?’

  There was a longer than normal pause. ‘We are currently in the middle of what has been labelled a Bootstrap paradox.’

  I nodded, being vaguely familiar with the term from various TV shows and movies. ‘So we record a sound that we ourselves made, and the sound we made was the recording of that sound.’ I scratched my head, leaning back in the comfortable green high-back leather chair. ‘So, we’ve always made that sound?’ I thought about it a little more. ‘And we always will?’

  ‘Until we emit that sound and send your past self out of this house with Mr Edwards, we will be in a time loop. Once the sound is produced, we are no longer a part of it.’

  ‘But our past selves will... join the loop?’

  ‘Affirmative.’

  I thought about it some more. ‘So... what happens when our past selves become us? And the version of me from the past is in this point in time, asking you this question? Will it be the same question?’

  ‘Unknown.’ I heard a very faint whirring noise coming from the belt. ‘Attempting to distinguish the originator of the sound and provide a sufficient answer for you is creating an error I cannot quantify.’

  I took a sip of whisky. ‘Yeah, it’s giving me a headache, too. Don’t worry about it, Sami.’ The whirring stopped. ‘Although...’

  ‘Working.’

  ‘If we had stopped the Danti from going through, what would have happened?’

  ‘Unknown. Stopping the Danti would have prevented the Danti invasion, but also means you would not have been there with Mr Edwards trying to talk you into stopping the Danti invasion.’

  ‘But there wouldn’t have been one.’

  ‘Doctor Penderghast sent Danti back from a previous timeline. Those were the Danti he sent back. It is probable that the original Danti were quite crude,’ Sami mused, ‘but each time the Danti arrive and we make technological advancements, we build on it, and the new Danti in each timeline builds on that. So each iteration of Danti that gets sent back becomes more and more powerful, and our technology advances along with it.’

  ‘Ohh. Like in the Terminator movies?’

  ‘I do not understand.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it.’ I shook my head, then paused. ‘So... I always came back in time. Penderghast was right. The war is unstoppable.’

  ‘If that is what you choose to believe, I cannot argue the point.’ Sami agreed.

  The next 40 or so days passed relatively without incident. Sami was monitoring my caloric intake so I wouldn’t consume too much - given my relatively sedate lifestyle, plus the fact I didn’t have legs and only half of one arm these days, I didn’t need that much to eat. Also, I found drinking alcohol had a much faster effect on me, and as such didn’t really touch it anymore.

  Except...

  One day I had been plagued with a nervous feeling all day. Since those feelings were becoming almost normal to me now I had chalked it up to Temporal Radiation poisoning, although there was something more immediate about it. I was sat in the library, the fire going to keep me warm in the drafty old house, and out of a sheer compulsion I poured myself a glass of whisky - maybe the second I had poured since I got to the house. I dropped two ice cubes into it and settled back down to my book. Then, I paused.

  ‘Sami?’

  ‘Working.’

  ‘...What day is it?’

  ‘Are you asking the chronological day, or are you asking if this is the day we will be expecting your past self with Mr Edwards?’

  ‘The latter, I suppose.’

  ‘Yes.’

  I checked the time. If memory served, Past Jason and Sammy had just arrived, and would be talking with the realtor. However, I couldn’t be totally certain. I exited the library, went to the nearest room with a window facing the driveway, and looked down through the curtain.

  I was staring right up at myself.

  ‘Dammit.’ I cursed and ducked out of sight. ‘That was too close.’

  ‘Please explain.’

  I looked around the room. ‘Is this... no, it’s too close to the library. Did Sammy say where he went to see the ghost?’

  ‘Does it matter?’

  ‘I have to get the room right!’ I hissed, as I heard the front door open. ‘If I’m in the wrong room, Sammy won’t see me, and then-’

  ‘I do not believe that to be an issue. However, from placement of Mr Edwards scream when we heard it, the probability is high that we were in the third guest bedroom.’

  ‘Which one’s that?’

  ‘You labelled it “the creepy one with the rocking horse.”’

  ‘Oh.’ I grinned. ‘Yeah, that one’s perfect.’

  Making my way to the creepy room with the rocking horse, I made sure I dragged one of my legs. It felt awkward to do - almost as if the legs, designed for running and flying, weren’t designed to have one awkwardly drag behind as I impersonated a corpse shuffling around upstairs.

  Clump - shhhhhhhhhhhp

  Clump - shhhhhhhhhhhp

  Clump - shhhhhhhhhhhp

  Clu-

  I got my foot stuck in the door frame and scowled. Shaking i
t free, I thought it best to gently hover the rest of the way, to make sure Sammy or my past self didn’t hear any additional footsteps. As I was silent, I heard the conversation Sammy was having with... well, me.

  ‘Warm enough to hurt a slasher, or melt a possessed doll.’ I heard myself inform Sammy.

  ‘Besides,’ Sammy countered. ‘In movies like that, what’s a popular way to die?’ there was a faint pause, and I knew he was indicating the baluster. ‘Rail death.’

  I could hear my own confusion. ‘What?’

  ‘Rail death.’ Sammy sounded like he was explaining something to a child. ‘Someone goes over the railing and falls to their death below. Often to the Wilhelm Scream.’

  I suppressed a smile, grateful that Sammy had been wrong about that at Lemniscate, when he actually had gone over a rail.

  I heard my past self sigh. ‘We should split up.’

  ‘That’s what they say in horror movies.’ Sammy re-joined, sadly.

  I listened to Past Jason and Past Sammy bicker like an old married couple for a few seconds longer, before I realised Sammy was walking towards me. ‘Rail death for the hot black guy in three... two... one...’

  I managed to duck behind the corner just as Sammy came around it, and I hid behind the door of the ugly rocking horse room as he entered it. I tapped the jewel on my Power Belt and muted my external sounds.

  The thing about the creepy guest bedroom with the rocking horse is that it’s... well, creepy. Dark blue wallpaper with black Fleur-de-lis stamped all over it peeled away at the corners, giving the room an overall feeling of misery. The single bed, little more than a military cot, had a duvet cover that could easily be mistaken for something bought as a mistake, incongruous as it was with the rest of the room. It had a faded light pink floral print on it, and it was the stereotypical thing that an elderly man would think perfect for a young girl, if bought in a hurry. With the grey rocking horse in the corner with green marbles for eyes, and the green metal shade over the single, dim light source for the room, barely letting any light out of the cone it projected, this felt like a mixture between a child’s bedroom and a place to put suspected terrorists before shipping them off to a permanent detention facility.

  I watched from behind as Sammy stared at the rocking horse, shake his head, and then creep towards the bed.

  ‘Sami, we need to be a ghost.’

  ‘Acknowledged. What would you like to be?’

  I shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Can you do something like our old lady disguise, but more spectral? Scarier?’

  The air in front of me seemed to shimmer slightly as the hologram changed to the old lady hologram.

  ‘I can make adjustments that you tell me to.’

  I could hear Sammy muttering to himself as he got on his hands and knees and looked under the cot. ‘Stupid... making me go out on my own... gonna die. Get killed by a stupid ghost in this stupid house.’

  I smiled. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a pleasant smile, either.

  ‘You know what? Forget it. Just unmute me.’

  ‘Compliance!’

  ‘Sammmmmyyyy...’ I whispered in a hoarse voice.

  He froze.

  ‘Saaaaammmmy Edwaaaaaaaards....’ I continued, enjoying myself thoroughly too much.

  Sammy shook his head. ‘Now... that had better be you, Jason. I’m going to turn around now, and that had better be you.’

  I watched Sammy as he rotated his body slowly, and I moved myself along, just out of his vision, until he was facing the door again.

  ‘Damn!’ He sighed. ‘That was-’

  I tapped him on the shoulder. ‘SAMMY.’

  He spun, and saw a little old lady floating right behind him, with an outstretched arm.

  ‘AHHHHHHHH! Jaaaaaaaasoooooon!’ He backed up, turned, and ran faster than I thought was possible. ‘I’m gonna have a raiiiil deaaaaaath!’

  I cackled to myself as he vanished. ‘Sami, queue up the scream.’

  ‘Ready.’

  ‘Play it, please?’

  AAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

  As the scream echoed through the room and the rest of the house, and I heard the front door slam, I disengaged the disguise, walking to the baluster, and looked down over it.

  ‘Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal.’ I shook my head, smiling broadly. feeling happier than I had in months. ‘And a Happy New Year.’

  Eventually, the time had come. I knew what I had to do, and it was with a heavy heart that I left the Phillips place. It had become the closest thing I had to a home in Capehill, and now I knew for a fact it wasn’t haunted, I quite liked it. I’d explored every nook and cranny, and so, once airborne and on my way to Emily’s apartment, I put in a short phone call and was happy to be speaking to someone who wasn’t a checkout clerk as Old Granny Hologram bought groceries, or as my best friend, terrified of said Old Granny Hologram.

  When I arrived, I managed to get in through the balcony window, and waited. As I did, a single thought occurred to me - one I couldn’t shake or put off any longer. The undeniable, unrelenting fact that Emily had terrible taste in home furnishings.

  As I sat, waiting for her, I looked around the place. Black and white. The tree had already come down, and it was if it had never been there to begin with. Not even a single shed needle on the immaculate white floor, or the nearby black rug. As I looked around, I tapped out a light tattoo on the armrest of the sofa. I had no idea where Emily was, let alone when she would be home. I remembered Sammy’s voice, seeming like it was only yesterday, prompting me to search through her things. I dismissed the childish notion as just that.

  I must have drifted off, because the next thing I knew, I heard a key slide into a lock and my face was pointed at the ceiling. I sat up, wiping the caked drool from my mouth, and waved to Emily as she walked in. Dressed in light workout gear, she dropped her gym bag, which hit the floor with a clank. She stared at me.

  ‘How the hell...?’

  ‘You left it unlocked.’ I shrugged, smiling at her.

  ‘Uh huh.’ She looked at me suspiciously. ‘Sorry, long day.’

  I nodded. ‘Tell me about it. I feel like I haven’t seen you in... well, months.’

  She smiled brightly. ‘That’s nice to hear. I think.’ She limped over and sat on the couch next to me. She must have noticed my expression. ‘Took a bad kick in practice. So, what’s so important you have to break into my flat, instead of... you know. Calling me?’

  ‘Well...’ That nervous energy came back, tickling my insides. My vision narrowed, and I felt a bit lightheaded. ‘I was just wondering... you know. If you would-’

  My phone rang. I cursed and checked it. Sammy. ‘Sorry.’

  Emily nodded. ‘It can wait.’

  I declined the call. ‘No. No it can’t.’ I put the phone down. ‘Emily. I love you. You love me. I think we could... try. Will you-’

  The phone rang again. I snatched the phone up and accepted the call. ‘Sammy. What? Can it wait?’

  ‘No!’ I heard Sammy’s voice. It sounded windy out - or he was running.

  ‘What is it?’ I hissed, then turned back to Emily. ‘I’m so sorry, Em.’

  ‘It’s okay.’ She said softly. ‘You can ask.’

  ‘Will you go on a date with me?’

  Emily smiled, just as Sammy shouted ‘What? Is Emily there?’

  ‘Yeah, I’m at her place.’ I stood, shrugged apologetically to Emily, and took a few steps away from her. ‘What’s got into you? I know she’s not your favourite person in the world when it comes to my love life, but-’

  ‘Jason, think for a second.’ Sammy snapped. ‘I did some research on the walk back from Lemniscate. Something bothered me.’

  ‘Lots of things bother you.’

  ‘Nemesis isn’t a God of Vengeance, you idiot.’ He howled down the phone. ‘It’s a Goddess. Nemesis is a woman.’

  ‘That’s... so?’ The sick feeling was starting to rise up.

  ‘Think about it. If
that’s a Power Belt Nemesis wore, it could be anyone. We know Emily is working with Lemniscate on the project. We know she’s well trained in martial arts.’

  ‘Sammy, slow down.’

  ‘Is everything okay?’ Emily asked softly, looking at me strangely.

  ‘Yeah.’ I turned back and gave her a weak smile. ‘Nothing to worry about.’

  ‘Okay, good.’ She smiled more. ‘I have an answer to your question.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Jay, you need to get out of there! I think Emily is Nemesis!’

  I froze, as certain images replayed themselves in my head: A short woman with Emily’s hair colour hurrying past me and looking for somewhere to lose themselves after I had been shot at. Emily leaving the conference seconds before an explosion critically injured me. Emily knowing about the project Nemesis was seemingly helping out on...

  ‘Are you certain?’

  It was Emily who answered me, her enigmatic smile confusing on multiple levels. ‘Yes.’

  Acknowledgement

  There are so many people to thank for making this come to pass, I don't really know where to begin. Firstly, my wife Sian, who has always been my number one fan, for supporting my ideas and encouraging me (even when I was killing off characters she liked).

  My army of proof-readers: Paula, Holly, Liz and Valerie chief amongst them to make sure I kept Emily's voice authentic. David, for his hilarious notes and ideas, and pointing out a couple of times when I stepped over the line of homage. Geoff for his invaluable scientific knowledge and Liz Michaud for my amazing front cover.

  All of my old writing companions from the University of Hertfordshire, without whom I wouldn’t believe in myself enough to think I could get this off the ground (most especially Dr Jennifer Young, for being the first person to say to me “When you get published…”). Ernest Cline, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, HP Lovecraft, and a whole host of cultural icons, whose work inspired and guided my thoughts. The fine people at Novlr.org, on which this book and the sequels are written, and of course to you, the reader, for buying the first in what I hope to be a long and enjoyable series.