by A. G. Riddle
Kate gently kissed his head where his forehead met his hairline. “Zelda?”
“I got the Triforce like two million times.” He looked over at her and smiled. “Then, at some point, I got really interested in history. I read everything I could get my hands on. Military history in particular. Especially European and Middle Eastern history. I wanted to know how the world got to be the way it is. Or maybe I thought being a history teacher would be the safest job in the world, the farthest place on the planet from an actual battlefield. But when 9/11 happened, the only thing I wanted to do was be a soldier. It’s like when my world was turned upside down, I wanted revenge, but I also wanted to do the one thing I thought I would be good at—what I was destined to do all along but afraid to do. Maybe a man can’t escape his fate. No matter what you do, you can’t change what you really are, what’s deep down inside you, supposedly dead and buried but driving you all along.”
Kate didn’t say anything, and David appreciated that. She simply pressed her body next to his and buried her face in the space between his head and his shoulder.
Sometime later, David felt her breathing slow, and he knew she was asleep.
He kissed her forehead.
As his lips released, he realized just how exhausted he was. Mentally, from discussing Martin’s notes; physically, from his time with Kate; and emotionally, from telling her the things he had never told anyone.
He moved the gun out from the pillow and laid it next to him, where he could get to it easily. He glanced at the door. He would hear it if it opened. He would have time if anyone came for them. He would just close his eyes for a second.
70
When David opened his eyes, he knew he was back in the Mediterranean villa. Kate stood beside him. An arched wooden door loomed at the end of the hall. On their right, two open doors flooded the narrow space with light.
David knew the doors and the rooms beyond—he had seen Kate there.
This is her dream. I’m in it, David thought.
Kate walked to the end of the hall and reached for the door.
“Don’t,” David said.
“I have to. The answers are behind it.”
“Don’t do it, Kate—”
“Why?”
David was scared, and here in the dream, he knew why. “I don’t want anything to change. I don’t want to lose you. Let’s stay here, where we are.”
“Come with me.” She opened the door, and light consumed the corridor.
He raced after her, bounding through the door—
David sat up in bed, panting, fighting for air.
He had thrown Kate off of him, but it hadn’t awoken her.
He rolled her head to face him. “Kate!”
Sweat poured off of her. But her pulse was faint. She was burning up. And she was unconscious.
What do I do? Get one of the doctors? I can’t trust them. Terror—of a magnitude he’d never felt before—gripped him. He pulled her close to him.
To Kate’s surprise, the door led her outside.
She turned to look at the door, but—a massive ship towered above her. She stood on a beach, and the ship spread out on the shore. Somehow Kate knew what it was—the Alpha Lander. What the primitive humans on this world would call Atlantis.
She looked down. She wore an environmental suit.
The sky above her was dark, ash-filled. At first she thought it was night, but she saw a dim sun directly overhead, struggling to break through the ash that blanketed the clouds.
Impossible, Kate thought. This is the Toba Catastrophe, seventy thousand years ago.
A voice echoed in her helmet. “Last recorded life signs are just beyond the ridge, bearing two-five degrees.”
“Copy,” she heard herself say as she set off at a brisk pace across the ash-covered beach.
Beyond the ridge, she saw them: black bodies stacked on the ground from the valley all the way to the mouth of a cave.
She crossed the distance and entered the cave.
The infrared sensors in her suit confirmed it: they were all dead.
She had almost given up hope when a single sliver of crimson lit up her display. A survivor. She moved closer.
Behind her, she heard footsteps. She turned to find a large male, an incredible physical specimen. He barreled toward her with something in his hand.
She gripped her stun baton, but the male broke off his charge. He collapsed next to the female and handed her something: a rotting piece of flesh. She tore into it wildly.
Kate saw it now. The female carried another life sign. An infant. Two hundred forty-seven local days since inception.
The male collapsed back against the wall of the cave. Had he been the chief of his tribe? Perhaps. These two would die here, in this cave, and it would be the end of their species.
My species too, Kate thought. They are my people, maybe the last of them. With one genetic change, I can save them. I can’t watch them die. I won’t.
Before she knew what she was doing, she had hoisted both hominins onto her shoulders. The suit’s exoskeleton and computerized weight distribution bore their bulk with ease. They were too weak to fight back.
On the ship, she rushed them to the lab.
Their species was too young for a full genetic modification. That would kill them. She made a decision: to give them the genetic precursor. That would save them. But it would cause problems. She would be here to help them, to guide them, to fix the issues. She had all the time in the world, in the universe. She would raise them. Full activation would come later, when they were ready.
“What are you doing?” a man’s voice called from behind her.
It was her partner. Her mind raced. What should she tell him? “I’m…”
He stood there in the doorway, light spilling into the lab from behind him. Kate couldn’t see his face. She had to find out who he was. She stood and walked toward him, but she still couldn’t see his face.
Kate knew he was waiting for her answer. I have to tell him something. I’ll use the truth, but spin it.
“I’m conducting an experiment,” she said, just as she reached him. She grabbed his shoulder, but the light still hid his face.
David wiped another sheet of sweat off Kate’s face. That’s it, I have to get a doctor. I won’t let her die in my arms.
He set her down on the bed, but she grabbed him and inhaled sharply. She gulped mouthfuls of air, and her eyes fluttered wide open.
David searched her face, trying to understand. “What the hell happened? I ran through the door, but—”
“I did it,” she gasped.
“What?”
“Toba. Seventy thousand years ago. I saved the dying humans.”
She’s delirious, David thought. “I’m going to get the doctors.”
She gripped his forearm tightly and shook her head. “I’m fine. I’m not crazy. These aren’t just dreams. They’re memories.” She was finally getting her breath back. “My memories.”
“I don’t—”
“In 1978, I wasn’t just born from the tube—I was resurrected. There’s so much more going on here than we realized.”
“You’re—”
“I’m the scientist who gave us the Atlantis Gene. I’m one of the Atlanteans.”
Part III
The Atlantis Experiment
71
Somewhere near Isla de Alborán
Mediterranean Sea
David tried to process what Kate had said. “You’re—”
“An Atlantean,” Kate insisted.
“Look, I…”
“Just listen, okay?” Kate had regained her breath.
A knock came from the door.
David grabbed his gun. “Who is it?”
“Kamau. We’re T minus one hour, David.”
“Understood. Anything else?”
A pause.
“No, sir.”
“I’ll be out shortly,” David called to the door. He turned to Kate.
; “What the hell is going on?”
“I remember now, David. It’s like a flood, like a dam has broken. Memories. Where to start—”
“How do you have these memories?”
“The tubes—the Immari thought they were healing pods. That’s only half of what they are. They heal, but their main purpose is to resurrect Atlanteans.”
“Resurrect?”
“If an Atlantean dies, they return in the tubes, with all their memories, just as they were before they died. The Atlantis Gene—it’s more than what we think it is. It’s a remarkable piece of biotechnology. It causes the body to emit radiation, a sort of subatomic download of data. Memories, cell structure, it’s all collected and replicated.”
David stood there, unsure of what to say.
“You don’t believe me.”
“No,” he said. “Trust me, I believe you. I believe everything you just said is true.” His thoughts drifted to his own resurrection, his rebirth, both in Antarctica and Gibraltar. He sensed that she needed him. She was going through something he couldn’t begin to understand. “If anyone in the world believes you, it’s me. You heard my story—my resurrection. But let’s walk through it. First things first: how could you have an Atlantean’s memories?”
Kate wiped the sweat from her face. “In Gibraltar, the ship was damaged, almost destroyed. The last thing I remember was going back into the ship. During the explosions, I was knocked out, and my partner… he grabbed me. I don’t know what happened after. I must have died. But I didn’t resurrect. The ship must have turned the resurrection off—either because it was damaged or there was no escape. Or maybe he turned it off—my partner.” Kate shook her head. “I can almost see his face… He saved me. But somehow I didn’t return in the tube. In 1919, my father put Helena Barton—my mother—in the tube. I was born in 1978. The tube is programmed to bring the Atlantean back to the moment it died. It grows a fetus, implants the memories, then matures the fetus to the standard age.”
“Standard age?”
“About my age now—”
“The Atlanteans don’t age?”
“They do, but you can disable aging with a few simple genetic changes. Aging is just programmed cell death. But it’s taboo for the Atlanteans to disable aging.”
“It’s taboo not to age?”
“It’s seen as… oh, it’s hard to explain, but a sort of greed for life. Wait, that’s not exactly right. It’s that and it’s a sign of insecurity—forgoing aging signifies clinging to an unfinished youth, as if you’re not ready to move on. Forgoing death implies a life unfinished, a life one is not happy with. But certain groups are allowed to disable aging and maintain the standard age—deep-space explorers being one group.”
“So the Atlanteans—” David hesitated. “You’re… a space explorer?”
“Not exactly. I’m sorry, I keep using the wrong words.” She held her head for a moment. “Will you see if there’s some kind of headache medicine in the bathroom?”
David returned with a bottle of Advil, and Kate took four and dry-swallowed them before David could object to the dose. She’s the doctor. What do I know?
“The two of us, we were a science team—”
“Why were you here?”
“I… can’t remember.” She rubbed her temples.
“Scientists. What kind? What’s your specialty?”
“Anthropology. What would be the closest term? Evolutionary anthropologists. We were studying human evolution.”
David shook his head. “How could that be dangerous?”
“Primitive world research is always dangerous work. In case we were killed in the field, we were programmed to resurrect so we could resume our work. But something went wrong with my resurrection. With me, it implanted the memories, but it couldn’t advance me—my unborn body was trapped inside my mother. These memories have lingered in my subconscious for decades until now—until I reached the standard age.” She slumped onto the bed. “Everything I’ve ever done has been driven by these subconscious memories. My decision to become a doctor, then a researcher. My choice to develop a gene therapy for autistic individuals, it’s simply a manifestation of my desire to correct the Atlantis Gene.”
“Correct it?”
“Yes. Seventy thousand years ago, when I introduced the Atlantis Gene, the human genome wasn’t ready for it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The Atlantis Gene is extremely sophisticated. It’s a sort of survival and communications gene.”
“Communications… Our shared dreams?”
“Yes. That’s how we were able to access it—to communicate subconsciously via subatomic particles, radiation, passed between our brains. It began when you were in northern Morocco, and I was in southern Spain. It’s because we both have the Atlantis Gene, and we’re linked. Humans won’t be able to use ‘the link’ for thousands of years. I gave humans the Atlantis Gene so they could survive. The survival aspects were the only goal. But it spun out of control.”
“What?”
“The humans, the experiment. We had to make periodic genetic modifications—changes to the Atlantis Gene.” She nodded to herself. “We used gene therapy retroviruses to make the modifications—yes, that’s it: the endogenous retroviruses in the human genome, that’s what they are—fossils from past gene therapies we gave the humans, the incremental updates.”
“I still don’t understand, Kate.”
“Martin had it right. It’s incredible. He was a genius.”
“I—”
“Martin’s chronology of Atlantis Gene modifications—they don’t stop at twelve thousand five hundred years ago.”
“Right…”
“His ‘missing delta’ and ‘Atlantis Falls’ refers to the destruction of our ship and my science team’s demise. The end of our changes in the human genome.”
“So that means—”
“The changes went on. Someone else has been interfering with human evolution. Your theory was right. There are two factions.”
Dorian closed his eyes. He could never sleep before battle. They were only hours from Isla de Alborán, from capturing Kate and taking her to Ares. When he freed the Atlantean, he would finally discover what he truly was, who he was. He felt nervous. What would he learn?
Dorian tried to picture Ares. Yes, he was there, staring back at him, a warped image reflecting off the curve of glass—an empty tube.
Dorian stepped back. A dozen tubes spread out in a semi-circle. Four held primates or humans. It was hard to tell.
The doors behind him opened with a hiss.
“You should have never come here!”
Dorian knew the voice, but he could hardly believe it. He turned slowly.
Kate stood before him. She wore a suit that was similar to his but different. His was a uniform. Hers was more like the coveralls of someone working in a sterile research facility.
Kate’s eyes grew wide when she saw the tubes. “You have no right to take them—”
“I’m protecting them.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“You put them at risk. You gave them part of our genome. You underestimate our enemy’s hatred. They will hunt every last one of us.”
“Which is why you should never have come—”
“You are the last of my people. And so are they.”
“I only treated one subspecies,” Kate said.
“Yes. I realized that when I took the samples. That species will never be safe now. You need my help.”
72
Somewhere near Isla de Alborán
Mediterranean Sea
Kate went to the sink and washed her face, as if doing so could clear away the cobwebs in her mind and help her remember. She felt the answers, the whole truth was there in the recesses of her mind, just out of reach.
When she returned, David was waiting for her in the stateroom, his body armor on, that “ready for war” expression on his face that she knew by instinct now.
“How do you know there are two Atlantean factions?”
“I just know it. And the ships. Martin had it right. They’re from two different groups.”
“There are miles of tubes in Antarctica. What do they hold? More scientists? Soldiers? An army?”
Kate closed her eyes and rubbed her eyelids. It was all a jumble, yet the answers were there. “I… can’t remember. I don’t think they’re explorers.”
“Soldiers, then.”
“No. Maybe. Just give me some time. It’s like my whole brain is burning.”
David sat on the bed and put his arm around her. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally he said, “We’ll make landfall in less than an hour. We have to make a guess about the killer.”
Kate nodded.
“My suspects are Shaw and Chang, in that order,” he said.
“Let’s work backwards here,” Kate said. “Let’s start with motive. Who would want to kill Martin—why would any of them want to kill him?”
“Martin was close to a cure—we know that from his notes.”
“So anyone who wanted to prevent him from finding a cure should be our chief suspect,” Kate said. “It’s clear to me that Chang and Janus want to find a cure. That rules them out for me. We know preventing a cure is priority number one for the Immari. There’s only one person on this boat who was a loyal Immari soldier when this all began. Kamau.”
“It’s not him,” David shot back.
“How can you be so sure?”
“He saved my life in Ceuta.”
“That may have been his mission—to save you and follow you to me.”
David exhaled. “Let’s move on. Chang was also an Immari loyalist when this began.” Kate could see that he was angry now. “Hell, he’s the biggest mass murderer on this boat. How many did he kill in China? Hundreds, thousands?”
“I don’t think he could have broken Martin’s neck,” Kate said.
