by Eliza Green
Maybe Bill Taggart had succeeded in locating him. But without a stable way to power the communication stones over distance, he could not ask him. Bill and Laura were never far from his mind. If it hadn’t been for them Stephen would be stuck on Earth, too.
Calling the Surface Creatures ‘human’, a name that had once applied to the Indigenes, but not used for centuries, still felt strange. Centuries, according to their false account of history. No matter the truth the Indigenes were an independent species, regardless of how their race had started.
The pacing only increased his agitation, so he stopped. Movement on the floor caught his eye. A small insect ran from one side of the room to the other; a vast distance for something with short legs. Looks could be deceiving. The insect was probably strong.
Stephen gasped as a thought occurred to him.
Strength.
Could he strengthen or enhance his telepathic link with Anton? Could he relay a message to let him know he wasn’t alone? If Anton could do it, there was no reason he couldn’t too. Perhaps he could harness the power of the Nexus to help him amplify his thoughts to reach him.
Pierre needed to know about the dreams. Anton may have survived the physical torture, but Stephen sensed he was losing the psychological battle.
☼
Stephen raced through the tunnels on his way to the Council Chambers in the eastern section of District Three. He expected to find Pierre there.
A midway point opened out suddenly, an area where several tunnels converged for the east and south. A group of Indigenes in a huddle off to the side brought him to a stop. Something about their tense postures put him on alert. His friend, Arianna, was speaking to the group, her voice raised slightly. Shielding his thoughts from the others, he called her name.
She left the group and came over to him.
‘What’s going on, Arianna?’
She glanced over her shoulder. ‘They’re asking about Anton. They don’t believe Pierre and Elise’s explanation—that he disappeared while out hunting alone. Everybody knows we hunt in groups, including Anton. The elders aren’t saying much, and they’—she nodded at the group—‘suspect there’s more to it. So do I.’
Stephen tensed up at her suspicions. It was only a matter of time before the Indigenes would question the elders’ story about Anton’s disappearance. And Anton was too clever to succumb to such an easy fate.
‘Anton is gone. There’s nothing more to tell.’ He hated lying to her. ‘You must trust that Pierre and Elise are doing everything to protect us. They’re not trying to mislead you.’
‘Aren’t they?’ Her eyes searched his. ‘Elise isn’t acting like herself and Pierre has been stuck in the Council Chambers for months. Tell me what’s happening.’
He wanted to tell Arianna the truth, but the weight of his secret was his to bear alone.
Arianna continued: ‘Some are saying that Anton was captured by the Surface Creatures—not on this planet, but a different one. Is that true?’
‘Who told you that?’ He kept the emotion out of his question. The elders had worked hard to keep the truth under wraps, but somewhere it must have been leaked.
Arianna pursed her lips. With his current headache, Stephen couldn’t detect her mood. He’d known Arianna since they were young Evolvers; they’d both lost their parents to the blasts. But he didn’t know the group of Indigenes she was with, or if he could trust her with the truth now.
‘I asked you a question, Arianna.’
She sighed. ‘Hunters mostly. Some of the military Surface Creatures have been talking recently about an Indigene capture two and a half months ago. And since Anton is the only one missing—’
Stephen’s pulse raced. ‘What are they saying?’
‘That an Indigene was captured on a place called Earth, wherever that is, and they found a way to get the best from him—whatever that means.’
Anton was still alive. Stephen smiled, but he dropped it when Arianna’s eyes narrowed. Ari, there’s nothing more to say. I’m sorry.
To his surprise, she shrugged. ‘There’s mounting unease in the district. Some are talking about searching for Anton themselves. They’re prepared to expose our location to get the information they need.’
‘The elders won’t allow that to happen. The hum—’ Stephen caught himself; only a few knew the other race’s real name. ‘The Surface Creatures can’t find out about us.’
‘They already know about us,’ said Arianna.
‘Yes, but not our exact location. That’s our only defence. We must allow Pierre, Elise and the representatives to do their jobs.’ He paused, adding, ‘And I need to tell Pierre what you’ve just said to me.’
‘I know.’
‘Do what you can to calm talk of dissent. Convince them there’s nothing to worry about.’
‘They’ve already made up their minds. Democracy, remember? Plus I’m only an empath. I can’t control their urges. I can only feel them.’
Stephen placed his hands on her shoulders. ‘I’m not asking you to control them. Just use your ability, like Elise does, to calm them. If they don’t feel as threatened, they might change their minds. Give them the truth as I’ve given it to you. The rebellious actions of a few won’t bring Anton back.’
‘Will anything do that?’
His pretence slipped with a sigh. ‘I don’t know. But I won’t rest until I’ve exhausted all avenues.’
‘Then, of course I’ll play my part.’
‘Thank you,’ said Stephen. ‘I’m looking for Pierre. Do you know where he is?’
‘In one of the tranquillity caves, I think. I heard him tell Elise he planned to visit one.’
Stephen walked on. ‘Thanks. Let’s speak later.’
Glancing back, he saw Arianna had returned to the group. The shiver he felt told him the group hadn’t bought her lies. He now hoped that Arianna would use her gift to dispel any ideas of dissent.
It took him a few minutes to reach the tranquillity caves in the eastern section of District Three. The areas with the highest concentration of gamma rock sent a deep shudder through him. Stephen steadied his head for a moment when the rock’s amplification properties tried to make his headache worse.
He checked all but one cave, finding no sign of Pierre. He entered the last cave in the area, a space heaving with gamma energy that made it possible to connect telepathically with the Nexus. Two dozen individual units lay before him, each one hollowed out of the floor to a level matching the rock’s strongest level of amplification. The units in similar caves across their district connected to each other to form a web-like structure called the Nexus. The Nexus acted like a conduit to transfer the energy of connected Indigenes, aiding mental and physical healing. The more minds that connected to the Nexus, the faster the healing happened.
Unable to sense the elder, Stephen checked inside each unit for him. He found Pierre in the farthest one from the entrance and jumped in the hole to land beside him. Pierre, dressed in a white elder robe, had his eyes closed. He’d entered deep meditative sleep and would not rouse until he had disconnected fully from the Nexus.
Stephen sat on the bare rock floor next to Pierre. While he waited for him to come around, he wondered how to use the Nexus to connect with Anton. If he could reach him on Earth, maybe he could also contact Bill. The Nexus was organic by nature. It followed the rules of those who used it, but it had the ability to evolve beyond its current use.
Nobody knew how or why the gamma rock had created the Nexus—only that it thrived on the unpredictable energy patterns of the Indigenes. It was as old as the Indigenes were—not thousands of years, but a mere fifty. If the Indigenes could create something so powerful in a short timeframe, surely they could adapt it to whatever purpose they needed.
Movement beside him broke his concentration. The elder’s slow and deep breaths turned more shallow and rapid. His eyes opened fully and came to rest on Stephen. Pierre gave him a short nod. When Stephen didn’t reciprocate, the elder�
��s eyes widened.
Have you heard something new about Anton?
Stephen shook his head. ‘I wanted to talk about something—my dreams. They’ve become more vivid—disturbing, even. What if Anton’s trying to connect telepathically with me?’
Pierre waved his hand. No Indigene has the ability to connect over large distances.
Stephen’s voice rose at the dismissal. ‘I’m not imagining it, Pierre. Something’s going on.’
‘Not you too.’ Pierre slowly got to his feet. ‘Elise has been acting strange ever since you returned. She claims she can predict emotions in others. She’s been testing it on willing participants. I only found this out by chance. She never told me.’
‘Can she? Predict emotions, I mean?’
Pierre closed his eyes for a few seconds. ‘No. I suspect it’s just her empathy. She’s compassionate and highly sensitive to others’ moods. It’s bound to confuse her at times.’ He waved his hand again. ‘This is not the time for trivial matters. Our energies are better spent on outlasting this latest attack from the humans.’
Stephen didn’t agree. He needed to make Pierre understand somehow. ‘I’m worried Anton doesn’t have long to live. What if he’s trying to communicate with me? If I ignore his pleas, I’d never forgive myself.’
Pierre breathed in, slow and deep. ‘How can we be certain he’s still alive? What about your contacts on Earth? Bill Taggart?’
‘The stones are still limited by distance, so I can’t contact him. Anton’s team are looking at whether the Nexus can amplify the range.’
‘Will they know soon?’
‘Yes, I hope so.’
Pierre swayed a little. Stephen supported him while he brushed dirt off his robe.
I sense it helps for you to talk about it. Tell me about your dreams, or whatever it is you think they are.
Stephen steadied his nerves with a deep breath. ‘Their clarity is frightening. It’s as if I’m reliving Anton’s experiences. And if so, then he’s on the edge, psychologically. The humans are testing him, pushing him to the limit. There was an explosion.’
The elder rubbed his chin. That is a worry.
‘I feel such a strong connection. It has to be him. It has to be more than just a dream.’
‘And you’re sure it’s Anton you see?’
‘Who else can it be?’
A weary looking Pierre patted Stephen on the shoulder. ‘It’s entirely natural that you should feel so close to Anton. You two are more like brothers than friends—a strong bond exists between you from childhood. And then there’s your fight for survival together on Earth. It’s understandable you’re having trouble letting Anton go.’
Stephen stepped back. ‘Are you giving up on him?’
‘No, of course not, but it’s been months and you still blame yourself. You must let go of the guilt. It’s not your fault what happened to him. You did what was necessary in very difficult circumstances. Anton chose his own fate to help you succeed. Remember that.’
He wished it were that easy. ‘I was the one who initiated contact with the Surface Creatures—the child, Ben Watson—in the first place. Everything that happened after stemmed from my decisions.’ Stephen lowered his voice. ‘I don’t want it to be true, but my visions show Anton weak and succumbing to their torture.’
‘I’m not asking you to give up on Anton, but to release yourself from this guilt you harbour. It’s tearing you apart. For your sanity, and for the safety of all the Indigenes, we must work together to secure our survival. That’s all that matters right now.’ He put one foot on the stone steps leading up.
His anger made his chest heave. He’d expected Pierre to be more open-minded.
With a shake of his head, Stephen changed the subject. ‘Arianna told me some of the Indigenes are talking about going rogue. The hunters have overheard conversations between the military humans discussing Anton’s capture. It won’t be long before the other districts get wind of this information and some go looking for Anton themselves.’
‘I heard that too. It was only a matter of time, I suppose.’ Pierre paused in his climb and sighed. ‘We’ll need to manage any unrest through the group representatives. If the hunters act alone, we won’t be able to protect them from the humans.’ The elder turned to look at him. ‘Just promise me you’ll put your energies into protecting our race. There’s nothing we can do for Anton right now.’
‘I promise,’ said Stephen.
He turned back, resuming his climb. I need to rest. Walk me out.
Stephen followed Pierre up the steps and out of the unit. He accompanied the elder back to his private dwelling. There, he left the elder to rest, envying his ability to sleep at a time like this.
Feeling too unsettled to do the same, Stephen wandered the district with no purpose in mind. He needed to do something—anything—to distract him from his guilt.
His stomach rumbled; a distraction he gratefully accepted. He dropped by Arianna’s private dwellings and knocked on her door. Her face appeared through the crack.
‘I need to get out of here,’ he said. ‘Come hunting with me.’
‘Up there?’ Arianna pointed upwards.
‘Where else?’
She smiled and opened the door fully.
‘What?’ said Stephen.
‘Good to see you back to your usual self.’
He felt far from it. ‘Are you coming or not?’
‘If only to keep an eye on you.’ She pulled the door closed behind her.
11
Elise climbed into an unoccupied unit in one of the tranquillity caves, far enough away from Pierre’s. She waited until she sensed him in the real world before connecting in. Her husband’s preoccupation with Anton’s abduction meant he hadn’t noticed her using the Nexus at different times to him.
She sat on the floor and closed her eyes. Over the last couple of months, she’d been testing out several mind techniques to try and strengthen her empathic ability. The combined power of the minds connected to the Nexus appeared to amplify her efforts but her altering ability remained stubbornly out of reach. She pushed on, needing quicker results. If she could use her emerging skill to somehow help locate Anton, all this would be for something.
The image of the woman she’d first seen eight weeks ago still rattled her. While the apparition had appeared to her since then, Elise hadn’t been able to move the vision past the initial snippet of conversation.
As her mind drifted to a new plane of existence, the hard surface of the grey gamma rock changed into an orange and gold lattice—the portal into the Nexus. She watched in her mind’s eye as a tendril from the Nexus came through the lattice, wrapped around her arm and pulled her energy inside.
Ahead of her, the Nexus’ rippling wall of golden beauty took her breath away. Tendrils extended from the shimmering surface to grab the energies of the other Indigenes entering through their own units. She floated towards the Nexus, over a black chasm between the portal and the wall. A blast of emotions hit her suddenly and knocked her off balance. She steadied herself, bracing for the next hit that was usually more intense than the first one. Being an empath had its downsides in here.
The purpose of the Nexus was to redirect the energies of connected Indigenes to those who needed them most. But an empath’s energy was like a drug. The other energies sometimes bypassed the controlling conduit of the Nexus, too impatient to receive it in controlled measures.
A flurry of thoughts buzzing in her mind told her another attack was imminent. Elise steeled herself against it, protecting her mind as best as she could. But with her thoughts a mess, she lost the battle against the intense probing attack that left her breathless on the outside. The more her gift of predicting emotions grew, the more it tried to control her. She feared she was changing her from an empath into something else entirely.
The energies surrounded her, poked at her shamelessly, giving her no peace in this place designed for just that purpose. In here, she was just another attrac
tive energy to them. Not their respected elder.
Elise escaped to the Nexus wall and stuck herself to it. Thin rope-like tendrils extended from the wall and wrapped around her, sucking her energy away to give to others. The one-sided exchange exhausted her, but at least it was controlled. To her relief, the other energies ignored her and took their healing from the wall. She used their distraction to think.
Stephen’s story about the Indigenes being human had shocked her, enough that she’d spent the past few weeks re-reading all of Pierre’s history books on the Indigenes. Certain things still didn’t make sense to her. She’d wracked her brain to remember an actual Indigene death on this planet prior to when their race had supposedly been placed here. Why did no pictures of her elder predecessors exist? The Nexus, an ancient and powerful force, had always protected her. But after hearing Stephen’s news, her experiences in this place had altered in a negative way. Before, the Nexus had controlled the energies’ access to her. Now, the stampede found her before the Nexus did.
Then there were the strange, unsettling visions—old memories, she now assumed. If she could unlock those memories, maybe she could discover more about her former life.
Elise pulled away from the wall and hovered before it. The tendrils, still connected to her, continued to steal her energy. With a grunt, she redirected some of the power draw to stimulate her hippocampus, the area of her brain that stored memories. The Nexus displayed an image of her brain before her, highlighting its current neural connections. New red lines appeared and disappeared.
Weakened from her efforts, her body slumped against the rock in her unit. The drain on her energy was preventing her from accessing the healing power of others. She broke the tendrils’ connection. As soon as she did, the soft buzzing noise grew louder. Fearing another attack, she drifted towards the portal to disconnect.
