Strange Days

by Constantine J. Singer

  The guard nods and steps back out of the room. The door closes behind him.

  “Sit?”

  I do.

  He sits, too, leans forward. “Do you feel better, Alex?”

  I nod. It’s hard to be friendly. It takes everything I have to act like I’m still as broken as I felt when I first heard his voice. A moment from Jordan’s birthday party flashes in my mind: her laughing at something Melissa said, feeling empty inside. I smile. “I do, sir. Thank you.” I look him in the eye as I say it. “Mr. Sabazios?”

  “Jeff, please.”

  “Jeff, I’m sorry I tried to hit you.”

  He laughs. “Don’t worry about it, Alex.” He sits back. “You were under a lot of stress. You thought you’d just gotten some very bad news.”

  “Sal? Erica? Corina? They’re not really dead?”

  He shakes his head, chuckling. “Nooooo. We don’t kill people, Alex—we’re trying to save the world. They were stunned so we could retrieve them.” He gestures at the compound behind me with his chin. “They’re here.”

  I almost believe him. I want to believe him so badly, but he’s lying. I saw them: Sal, dead in a pool of blood, Erica collapsed, fading to silence. I want to reach across the desk and kill him. I want him to die. I want to end him, but instead I swallow it, grateful to be cut off from the Syllogos and therefore unreadable. I make my eyes go wide. “Really?!” I sit up, ready to stand. “When can I see them?”

  He shakes his head, still smiling, but more serious now. “Hold on a moment, Alex. You’ll see them as soon as our business here is done, but there are things we need to discuss.” He spreads his hands on the desk in front of him. “You’ve made a pretty serious accusation about my friend Richard. Did you mean what you said?”

  “Yes, sir. He came to me the day before we talked in here last time.” I look him in the eye. “He said that he couldn’t let what happened to the others happen to me and Corina and that if we didn’t get out, we would be killed, either immediately if we weren’t important, or we would be frozen until our futures came to pass and then we’d be killed.”

  His eyes go wide like he’s shocked and amused while I tell him. By the time I’m done, we’re both laughing a little bit because it’s such a ridiculous story. “He actually said this to you?”

  “Yes, sir.” I think about it for a second. I shrug. “That’s why I resisted the probe, I guess. I didn’t want to get Richard in trouble.”

  He nods while I’m talking. I can’t tell if we’re both playing games, or if he believes me and I’m playing a game, or if he’s playing a bigger game than me and stringing me along. It’s confusing and exhausting. Part of me wants to say screw it, and just out the whole deal so we can get it over with.

  Sabazios taps a spot on his desk. “Richard, can you join us in my office, please?”

  I know I should have seen this coming, but it had honestly not occurred to me that he’d call Richard in. I cringe involuntarily, but then remember: Richard knew. He knew what was happening and said nothing, did nothing.

  Nabal.

  “He’ll be here in a second, Alex, and we’ll get to the bottom of this so you can go back to work.” He sighs. “I just don’t understand why Richard would do something like this.”

  Richard’s eyes brighten when he sees me. “Alex!” He breaks into a big smile and hurries over to me. I stand up a little because it seems right and he grabs me in a big hug. “I was sure you were gone forever!” He pushes me back and looks at me like we’re family.

  “Yeah.” Even if he’s Nabal, I feel horrible. He’s going to find out in about thirty seconds that I used him in a lie.

  “So, Richard,” Sabazios says, when we’re both seated across from him. “Alex and I have been having a conversation and your name came up.”

  “Really?” Richard asks, looking mildly pleased.

  “Yes.” He leans forward. “Richard, you recall when Alex ran away, it was shortly after he and I had met in here, and during that conversation, he overpowered poor Mr. Bishop so he could escape the compound?”

  “Is Mr. Bishop okay?” I try to sound hopeful.

  Sabazios smiles kindly at me. “Mr. Bishop is fine,” he lies, “but he did decide to pursue a less stressful line of work after that incident.” He holds up a hand when he sees my face fall a little. “Not entirely because of you, Alex—it had been a long time in coming.”

  Richard turns to me. “That whole thing, dude, that was completely not like you—what happened?”

  I brace myself. “You happened, Richard. You know exactly why I freaked out.”

  He looks confused. “Excuse me?”

  I roll my eyes like an eighth-grade girl.

  “Did you have a conversation with Alex the day previous to that?” Sabazios asks.

  He just looks more confused. “I don’t . . .” He shakes his head. “Nothing out of the ordinary . . . Why?”

  I look at Sabazios and he looks at me. It seems like we’re both waiting for the other to lay it out. I don’t think he’s playing with me.

  I don’t know exactly what will be in store for Richard if he isn’t cleared by the probe, but it won’t be good, and I don’t think he’ll come out the other side alive.

  I’m about to kill another person, after I swore I wouldn’t. I feel sick.

  “Are you saying you did not tell Alex that he was going to be killed if he stayed?”

  Richard’s eyes widen. He turns to look at me and I force myself to return his stare. “Alex?”

  It’s Nabal or me. “You saying I made this shit up?” I make my eyes hard. “Tell him the truth.”

  He shakes his head back and forth. He’s scared. “Hey, man. Why—?”

  “Calvin? Marcus?” I spit the names like they’re poison. “You told me what happened to them—you told me that they were put in stasis if they saw something really important, until after it happened and then you all killed them. You said it was about to happen to me.” I lean into it like I’m about to see red and lose it. He’s still shaking his head. “Really? You don’t know what I’m talking about?”

  “Richard?” Sabazios asks. “Do you have anything to say?”

  Richard looks up at the ceiling, and then down at the floor. He moves his foot slightly so it rests just on top of mine. I start to move it out of the way, but he presses down—not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough so that I know he’s doing it on purpose. He sighs and looks back at Sabazios. “It was only a matter of time, Jeff.”

  It takes me a moment to process what I just heard. It takes Sabazios a moment, too. “So it’s true, then?”

  “It’s true,” Richard says. He turns to me. “I told you not to come back.”

  Game changed. I don’t understand anything that’s happening right now, but Corina must have rewritten him before she died. I shrug and shake my head. “I told Paul I was coming back.”

  “Paul’s in stasis,” he says.

  “What are you doing, Richard?” Sabazios asks, standing up from his desk.

  “Richard?” I start, but he presses down hard on my foot to shut me up.

  “I can’t do this anymore, Jeff,” Richard says. “These kids matter. Alex matters. So did Sly.”

  It was her! Even though she can’t hear me, I think a silent thank-you to Corina. She’s given me a fighting chance, but I can’t take long.

  Sabazios sighs. “Alright, then.” He pulls a Live-Tech something from somewhere. He raises his arm to throw it at Richard.

  I move before I think. I launch myself at Richard, knocking him to the floor, and the Live-Tech flies over both of us.

  I scramble off Richard and reach for the small leathery thing that Sabazios threw, but I stop before I touch it. I need to find something to grab it with so it doesn’t end up attached to me. Richard sees what I’m doing and tosses me something.

/>   “Use this,” he says. I grab what he’s thrown.

  It’s his wallet. I’m momentarily confused, but then I see that it’s a bifold and I can use it like tongs. I reach for the Live-Tech with the wallet, gripping it between the folds of leather, but I’m too late. Sabazios is already on top of me.

  He pins me down. He’s stronger than I imagined a man could be. His fingers are around my arm, pushing it down onto the ground, and I can’t move it. I can’t turn around to see, either, because he’s keeping me still with his legs. I squirm and fight as hard as I can, but it’s not enough. His other hand comes down around my neck. I feel his fingers close around my throat.

  And then he’s not on top of me anymore. Richard has him down on the ground nearby. I grab the Live-Tech with the wallet. I don’t want to take the time to stand up, so I roll over to where they’re fighting. Richard’s initial attack has failed, and Sabazios is scissoring him. I slap the Live-Tech onto Sabazios’s neck.

  Nothing happens.

  I don’t wait. I get to my feet and level the hardest kick I can at the side of Sabazios’s head. He moves with it and then looks back at me. His eyes are dead. He refocuses on Richard, landing a blow as hard as I’ve ever seen square in Richard’s chest. I hear bones crack. Richard doesn’t even fly backward or make a sound, he just falls into a heap.

  Sabazios moves out from under him, stands, and straightens his shirt cuffs. “There’s nothing you can do,” he says to me. “You’re not going to make it out of here alive.”

  I shake my head. I can’t get enough spit to get words out.

  There’s motion behind him. It’s just a small thing, but it catches my eye. Richard is alive and awake.

  He’s moving his hands, trying to tell me something. He’s waving me back. I think he wants me to draw Sabazios away from the desk.

  I step back toward the door. “I’m leaving,” I tell him. “I don’t die here.”

  “Yes. You do,” he says softly.

  Richard’s still moving. I step farther back toward the door and Sabazios follows me, keeping the same distance. “You aren’t going to get away with this.” I regret it as soon as I say it. Movie lines.

  Sabazios chuckles. “Of course not.”

  There’s a noise behind him, but he doesn’t turn because he’s so fixated on me. Richard is at the desk. I can tell that he’s in a world of hurt, because he can barely hold his hand up, but he’s found something behind the desk.

  And then the music floods in.

  He’s turned off the shield that blocks the Jungle. It knocks me for a loop, like somebody turned the stereo volume up to ten while I was sound asleep next to the speakers, but I get control of it quickly and dive in. Richard. Jason, the guard outside. Sabazios is different. He’s a single filament, like Sybil. Gentry, and even though I suspected, having it confirmed makes me more afraid.

  I hear some other quiet music nearby—other guards and personnel. I search for the sustained notes that I think are probably the frozen witnesses. I hear them, but I can’t tell where they are. I go to Richard, dive in.

  Richard’s music is familiar, filled with Corina. His mind is her final gift, rewritten and molded for me. I know where the witnesses are.

  And before I leave, I ask him for one last favor.

  Sabazios seems oblivious to what’s happened, doesn’t seem to know about the Syllogos. He just nods slowly. “I’m sorry to have to do this, Alex.”

  “You’re not sorry. You’re not even a man. You’re an alien, a Gentry. You’re the one bringing the Locusts. You had my parents killed.”

  He studies me for a moment, then shrugs. “So you understand why you can’t live.”

  Sabazios steps toward me.

  “But you created us.” I step back a little farther as he approaches. “Why destroy us?”

  “We’re not destroying you, we’re helping you fulfill your purpose. We didn’t create you so you could be an equal participant in our universe, we created you because we knew you would evolve into a sustainable source of nutrition for our offspring, the same as is true for every planet we seeded.” He’s still walking toward me, and I continue to angle away from him, aware of the door, aware of Richard, waiting for the right moment.

  “We aren’t sheep.” I take another step back, toward the door.

  “No, not sheep.” He smiles. “You’re better than sheep—you can farm your own food.”

  And then I’m parallel to the door, bare feet away.

  I close my eyes and dive for the guard, Jason. I write myself into him. I’m now the most important thing in his life and he kicks down the door.

  Sabazios is already on me when the door splinters. He looks up at the noise, which gives me time to duck under him and jab him hard in the nuts, which, it turns out, are just as sensitive on aliens as they are on people.

  The guard, Jason, takes Sabazios down from above me. His advantage is over quickly, though. Sabazios is too strong.

  “Go,” Richard calls from the desk. “I’ll lock down the room so you can get out.”

  I shake my head.

  He shakes his head at me, which I can tell hurts him. “Don’t argue. Go!”

  I glance at the guard and Sabazios. Sabazios has him down. The guard is struggling, but he’s losing steam.

  I close my eyes.

  A single sheet of music tears, then turns to dust. Jason, the guard who I rewrote to save my own life, has died.

  Another one dead because of me.

  I shake it off—now’s not the time. I riffle through the papers searching for Sabazios.

  I can’t read his music. It’s written so completely differently from any I’ve ever seen. For a terrible moment, I’m sure I’ve lost and that I’m going to die here on the floor of the office along with Richard, but then I hear him.

  Like Sybil, Sabazios has a thin filament that runs back to an enormous rope of consciousness. Different, though, slightly smaller than hers, a Rubik’s Cube of sounds and colors plucked by a hundred fingers on a dozen instruments out of tune.

  I dive in blind.

  The noise from Sabazios changes, grows louder, makes it hard to think.

  Then there are hands on my body. Something snaking tight around my neck.

  If I don’t do something right now, I’m going to die, strangled by Sabazios while I watch it happen from underneath.

  I’m starting to panic, beginning to die.

  His unreadable sheet is still with me; I can see what’s on it bubbling, changing, rearranging into ever more complicated combinations, a language all its own far from anything I could ever understand. I can’t understand. I can’t rewrite.

  “Erase it, dead boy!” Her voice comes in slow and quiet, a barely audible shout across the crashing noise inside me.

  CORINA!

  But then she’s gone.

  My mind is clouding over. I can feel the fight leaving my body, but I focus everything I have on one idea.

  Erase. Don’t add to the music, don’t change it, fade it. Add doubt. Add uncertainty and fear, weaken the notes, weaken them until they disappear.

  His sheet. The single sustained note that connects to the massive rope. The sheet is simple, but written dark. I vision his current place on the staff, connect to it, make it a swath of emptiness, a line of nothing that separates his present from his future.

  The notes resist, but his music isn’t as strong as I am. It begins to fade. I spread the emptiness.

  His filament empties, turns blank, silent.

  His grip around my throat eases and my body begins to breathe.

  I rise up.

  Sabazios’s body is on top of me when I surface. He’s heavy, and it takes all I have to push him off of me. He’s out cold, but not dead.

  I sit up to look around.

  “How did you do that?” Richard is pr
opped up on an elbow near the desk. He looks bad. His music is fading and jangled. He’s not going to live. I want to help him, but I don’t know how and the helplessness makes it hard to even look at him.

  “Erased his music.” I stand up and go to the desk to look for a weapon. Before I can go to Richard I’ve got to deal with Sabazios.

  Richard tries to say something, but he coughs instead, then moans. He tries again: “I don’t understand.”

  There are scissors in the top drawer. I grab them. “The Gentry are here to destroy us. They made the Locusts.”

  Richard says something, but I don’t hear it because it’s swallowed in more coughs. I roll Sabazios’s body onto his back and straddle him, bringing the scissors above my head. “Don’t,” Richard manages.

  “He killed Corina, Jordan, my family. Sal and Erica.” But even as I’m saying it, I can’t make myself hate him like I need to if I’m going to cut his throat. The moments before Jordan’s death play out in my mind. She didn’t fight. She prayed, accepted, forgave.

  I don’t think I can kill him like this.

  More than anything, I want to want to kill him, but I don’t think I can.

  “Paul and the rest . . .” Richard’s laboring hard to talk. “Across Long Hall, other side, down beneath.” More coughing, and instead of being there next to him, I’m still holding scissors over Sabazios. I don’t think I can feel worse. “Think stairs and they’ll appear.”

  I turn to look at him. He’s collapsed back onto the floor. There’s only small noise from him now, a fading sustain that will disappear in moments.

  Then Sabazios tenses beneath me. His eyes flash open, and for an infinite instant, we’re suspended. He opens his mouth. His hand comes up from the floor more quickly than I imagined possible.

  But not faster than I can bring the scissors down into his throat.

  Blood. Pumping blood in huge fountainous spurts. It coats my face, my shirt, my hands, but I don’t let go of the scissors. I keep them in his throat.

  He swats at me, nearly knocking me free, but it’s nothing like the blows I’ve seen him land before. He bucks, but it’s weak. He hits again, but it has nothing behind it. His hand slides down my arm.