Sleepers (Convergence Book 1)

by Stephen Landry

  ‘I’m not dead’ I thought exhaling and taking a deep breath. I began to push myself away from what the surface thinking all I could do now was swim down. I swam to the bottom. I must have been fifteen to twenty feet below. I could feel the pressure change around me. I could only see a few yards around my body but it very much looked like the inside of a black metal tube. ‘How has no one discovered this?’ I thought as I continued to move across the seabed floor. I can still feel the wet dirt as if it’s against my hand even now.

  One moment awake, the next asleep. It felt like hours as I continued to make my way throughout the haze before me. I could feel the current of whatever it was I had been floating inside hit at the back of my neck. It sent cold shivers down my spine. Pins and needles. My perfect morning had become something strange indeed. I only imagined what it was I had discovered. I let my mind wander as my head continued to pound. My migraine seemed to get worst. As if I had discovered something I shouldn’t have discovered. I kept pushing forward. You told me once to have the courage to stay true to my own convictions. I imagined a portal to another world, an alien spaceship, a secret government project, or perhaps I had wandered into some kind of black hole. I knew little of such things but something inside me said to keep moving forward. I felt I would soon find the answer I was looking for.

  There was motion below me and so I crept. I noticed a strange orange illumination appear. Soon I found myself surrounded. Even the dark abyss behind me lit up with the orange glow. ‘Down into the rabbit hole I go,’ I thought. All my life I had imagined discovering something important. My mother and father had always told me that I was gifted, that I had the power. Even you had told me I had a great destiny that awaited. I stopped believing them around the age of twenty-one when it turned out everyone else had been told the same thing. It was like believing in Santa Clause. You want to believe you are something special but in the end we are all the same. In a way we are all unique but few are ever given the chance at something extraordinary. The only time those words ever held any meaning was when you spoke them but you were gone now. You and a third of the Earth’s population had passed away on the day of the event. ‘Something in the atmosphere,’ said the news. Something in the air that made certain individuals fall asleep. I lost you and my brother that day. I wish it had been me.

  I soon came to a stop. Another wall stood in front of me and there was no clear way to get around. I was relived in a way as both my arms and legs needed the rest. I still felt like I was underwater and my fingers were so wrinkled I felt like I had aged into an old person. The worst part was my head still beat with the force of a thousand suns and it seemed the deeper I went the harder it pounded. I almost turned back but I had come so far already.

  Something moved like the shadow of a spider right below. I only caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye. ‘I’m not alone’ I thought to myself. A part of me was relived. Perhaps there was someone here that could help. On the other hand what if there was something evil here. Something horrible. Something I’m not suppose to see. Quickly I decided it was time to make a move. I had to choose left or right and creep alongside the invisible barrier before me. I went left thinking to myself that was the direction of the shoreline.

  There was something familiar in front. A small black urchin with several crooked spines floated towards me. ‘Best to dodge that’ I thought as I moved to the side. I felt the tide grab hold of my arm as if I was being tackled to the ground. All around me the ocean floor appeared as the tube began to collapse. I took a deep breath hoping it wouldn’t be my last. I felt a wave of real water hit me pushing me against the wake. I was knocked unconscious by the sheer force of nature that came before realizing only a moment before that I stood in the ‘boneyard’ a spot you and I had come accustomed to scuba diving in and soon realized I was half a mile from shore.

  I blacked out. Unconscious.

  I came too face down in the sand. I took a deep breath and smiled relived to be on land again. I felt a wave brush against me as I began to lift myself up from the ground. The sun had barely moved. It seemed as if I had only been away for a half hour or so. ‘Had it all been a dream’ I said aloud as the throbbing pain in my head began again.

  ‘No’ I thought as small pulses of pain began to sing and dance inside my brain. I stared at the ocean wondering what it was and if I should try and dive again. Would I spend the rest of my life looking for that strange underwater tunnel or had it always been there waiting for me to find it. Was this what you had told me to search for?

  A strong fear took hold. I looked around and soon realized that this wasn’t my beach. I recognized the sand but there was a strange smell of ash and sulfur in the air. The smell of rotting eggs filled my lungs and I coughed blood. The air felt like it was filled with glass and I quickly began to run away from the beach and towards what I thought looked like a pier. As I ran I heard something move just under the sand. That was when I saw what I thought looked like people.

  Twelve of them stood around her holding strange rifles. They were camouflaged to blend in with the sand and it looked like they were each wearing some kind of respirator on their face as well as black goggles. I fell to the ground before them exhausted as the air around me began to choke my lungs as if I were a fish out of water. That was the moment I knew that this wasn’t home.

  “Another one,” a voice cried out.

  I was being carried over the shoulder of some kind of six foot figure and then without warning felt myself being thrown to the ground and into a deep pit. I let out a shriek as I felt my body twist from the fall.

  “Bloody hell, she’s alive!” said one of the figures.

  “Get her out of there! Is she injured?” said another.

  Quickly the same figure that had thrown me down came to my rescue.

  “And get a bloody breather on her!” said the one I had guessed was in charge.

  “Sorry about the mistake love, just we don’t usually get guests on this side of the gateway,” said the man.

  I said nothing but my silence said it all. My body language showed just how much pain I was in and just how confused and scared I was. Normally I would never put myself in any dangerous situations unless you count driving too fast around corners, scuba diving, or two shots of espresso as living dangerously.

  “Ok, I know your confused, maybe I can help,” said the man.

  “My name is Ben, and I’m in charge of the resistance around here,” he said.

  I stared at him and shook my head sideways

  “Let me guess you went for a dive in the ocean and found yourself inside an opaque tunnel that seemed to never end only to find yourself washed ashore here,” Ben said.

  “Yes,” I answered as politely as I could.

  “Sounds about right, same thing happened to us only there seems to be something different about you… say what year were you born?”

  “1992,” she answered.

  “God dammit, I’m over a hundred years older then you,” Ben said.

  Ben didn’t look old. Maybe middle aged with a shaved head and a a dark gray five o’clock shadow. The other soldiers seemed younger then him which made me draw the conclusion that was the reason that he had been put in charge. There were other women around My age, at least what I assumed was my age by looking at them. We were inside some kind of camp. The pit had been a mass grave.. All in all I thought I saw at least a hundred other souls around me.

  “I was afraid of this,” Ben said.

  “Seems you fell into a hole in the world,” he finished.

  “Like a black hole?” she asked.

  “Not quite, ever hear of the Bermuda triangle? Its kind of like that only smaller and it moved across the shore line swallowing up organic life forms and pooping them out here,” Ben said.

  I sat there a moment in silence. Ben had been very blunt about what he said. I already assumed she had possibly fallen into some kind of portal. I had a broad understanding of portal worlds based on the man
y classics I had read as a child but never in my life had I assumed it was possible that something like this could exist.

  “I’m not a mind reader, but I assume you have many questions, first let me tell you that you are perfectly safe here. We are well armed and some like myself have been around for awhile and know this place pretty well. The respirators allow us to breath easier but we can breath pretty well inside the tents and deeper into the woods as well. Most of the toxic air is situated around the shoreline. Kind of like an inter dimensional toxic gas. Don’t go wandering off though, this world wants us dead, everything outside our camp is a world ruled by a hostile alien species and they have been trying to lure us out for awhile, poison us, or just plain swallow us whole. The animals that live in the wild are just as dangerous as well. We will get you geared up and ready to go in no time. I also want you to know we all want the same thing. We all want very bloody badly to return home,” Ben said smiling and putting his hand out for me.

  PART 2

  What felt like days or weeks in reality was nothing more then a few very long hours that soon began to take their toll on me. I was given a pair of combat armor, a rifle and a sword. Trained to shoot the rifle - another talent I discovered I had - and warned never to venture alone. The rifle looked like something I imagined one would see in a theatre. It shot a blast of blue energy from the tip and every so often needed to re-charge or it would burst into flames or stop working all together. The blast was strong enough to tear palm trees in half and blow holes in the side of rocks. Something about it made me feel powerful. No one asked me who I was or were I was from. It seemed that the ‘creature’ that stole me away from my home and shat me out as well as this desolate world were not bound by time. Some of the soldiers beside me had fought in world war 1 while others were people thought drowned in Pearl Harbor. They had already heard from other passerby’s about the advances in human technology and how times had continued to change and many felt at peace living their lives in this impossible paradise. I soon learned I was now living on a very large mostly unexplored island dominated by the soldiers that rescued me and a hostile alien species known simply as ‘the others’ whose technology advanced even our very own.

  “Would you like some tea?” Ben asked me as she I back from the rifle range just outside the settlement. Politely I acknowledged and sat beside Ben who was sitting very casually drinking a very strong tea that tasted like a mix of citrus and coconut. After one sip I immediately began to miss the flavors of tea that I had kept at home from my collection of herbal and chai to green and super fruit. All in all I drank and did my best to swallow knowing very well that the tea Benjamin had served me was not very good. Not very good at all.

  “I try to imagine something else, something familiar,” Ben said smiling at my reaction to his home made tea.

  “Occasionally we go into the woods and collect syrup from some of the indigenous plants out there and it helps sweeten the taste, makes it almost feel like home, however we have run out, our last venture into the woods we lost three good men to ‘the others’,” he said taking a big sip from his wooden cup.

  “Where do they come from?” I asked sitting up holding her tea in her shaking hands.

  “No one bloody hell knows, they were here before the first of us arrived. We think they live here on the edge of time but for all we know they came here the same way we did through some kind of cosmic entity,” Ben said.

  “Do they ever attack us here?” I asked thinking about how everyone around her seemed to have a weapon of some kind close at hand at all times.

  “We do a decent job patrolling our perimeter, like us ‘the others’ are low on resources and though they have an enormous amount of technology and small settlements here and there we have still managed to gain the upper hand time after time. We even managed to steal some of their weaponry such as the rifles we have here. They tend to leave us alone so long as we don’t invade their territory,” Ben began, “however, recently things seem to be stirring up, almost as if ‘the others’ have been gearing up for a bloody big war or something. We have lost more men recently and some of our patrols have reported seeing their ships flying in the sky above. Not long ago we sent a squad to investigate but they have yet to return,” Ben said staring into his mug frowning at the idea that ‘the others’ would soon come upon them and destroy their existence. I could sense something else in his voice, a fear, something worst then death. I felt as if there was a madness hidden deep inside Benjamin that was kicking and screaming to come to the surface as he stared into his tea paralyzed by the idea of what he was thinking.

  “I believe, and so do many others that ‘the others’ are planning an invasion of Earth. Since my arrival on this plain I have seen their culture grow into a war-hungry civilization and it seems they have the same desire as we have, to escape this place,” Ben said staring up looking me straight in the eyes.

  “It seemed like so many people here are in good spirits? I haven’t heard anyone talk about being able to leave even though I know you said we all had that in common,” I said knowing that I was wondering if there was a way back. I had assumed I had plenty of time to think about that subject before blurting it out. The last time I spoke to Ben he told me that we all wanted the same thing but yet there were so many people around me that seemed complacent. I was also very afraid of the answers that would be given to me as it seemed everyone had done their best to integrate this society.

  “A few have left, but none so far have returned. Which means they either made it out or they died trying,” Ben said.

  I didn’t say a word. What could she say? If anyone made it out why the hell would they ever return here.

  “There might just be a way, though I dare not try I will tell you what I know,” Ben began, “on the other side of the island what feels like an endless journey there is an oracle that lives deep in a cavern at the top of a mountain. The mountain is in the territory of ‘the others’ however our studies have found that they only seem to observe the oracle as they see the creature there as some kind of demigod. Long ago when I first washed ashore in this bloody place I went and saw the oracle with my very own eyes. She told me there was no escape for I but that one day I would meet a woman whom I would guide and that she would save my people from the torturous hands of ‘the others’, perhaps that time has no come… perhaps you are that woman,” Ben smiled.

  I didn’t say a word. I was feeling more and more like my journey was something out of a fairytale. I had no question that this was not a dream but the only logical thing I felt she I could do was follow the quest that had been given to me.

  “I know!” Ben shouted, “we will take the sky ship!”

  And so the greatest journey of my life began…

  PART 3

  Less like an island and more like an entire continent. The world in which I now lived was made of one large island about half the size of Australia with most of the landmass being controlled by ‘the others’ while humans had control of the shorelines and several islands that broke apart surrounding the reefs spread miles apart offshore. Benjamin said that in his heart he believed that felt that ‘the others’ were planning an invasion of Earth and that if not for the humans defending the shores they would have found a way to cross over into our world.

  For a moment I thought about what that might mean. Sure the army would probably wipe the floor with ‘the others’ and they would be no real threat at all in a war. However if their technology was what Benjamin described then its possible ‘the others’ came from somewhere in our reality and that there plan was not just an invasion of Earth but a scouting mission. Ben and I brainstormed for hours before they began their flight wondering what it was ‘the others’ were planning. Each theory made us feel worst as our own paranoia began to manifest in ways that made us uncertain any kind of mission would be a success.

  ‘Without hope we are nothing’ I thought to myself. I knew in my heart that I had to persevere, especially if there was a chanc
e the oracle would help me get home. There was something more. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Jake. What if this place, this Oracle, these ‘others’. What if there was some kind of connection between them and the event. What if the toxins in the air now were released into the atmosphere that day. Those were the questions I had for the oracle. Whether she would answer any of them was anyone’s guess.

  Ben led me underground. The human camp was far more complex then I had given them credit for. I felt like I had entered inside my own Area 51. Inside the underground I found several laboratories and bunkers filled with different levels of human and alien technology. It seemed as if the underground fortress had been around forever. Roman gladiator outfits and Revolutionary war muskets sat side by side in perfect condition. I could only wonder what the many variations of soldiers must have looked like as they fought ‘the others’ in skirmishes for what must have been centuries. I felt like I was playing a video game with customization from all of human history. And then Ben led me into the hanger. The heart and soul of the human resistance.

  Several jets lined up against the walls like they were stationed onboard an aircraft carrier. An airstrip ran towards a waterfall that sat just behind an opening revealing that the fortress was built inside a giant cave. I thought of Niagara falls, a place I had visited once with my family. God how I missed them. ‘Be strong’ I said to myself as a tear rolled down my eye. Ben smiled and turned me towards what looked like a Cessna aircraft only it had several futuristic features and a black paint job with lime green graphics painted on the side. It looked like a stunt plane to me.