The Relics- The Keystone Trilogy - Part 1

by Michael K. Damron

James wrapped his arm around his son and guided him through a set of double doors into a large room with six people spread about—seven if one were to count an android standing beside a young girl Jack didn’t recognize. Mark was watching his baboon familiar, no more than five inches tall at the time, jump between his two hands.

  “Ah, good to see you again, Jack,” said Nigel.

  “Thanks,” said Jack, forcing a smile. “So this is everyone, huh?”

  “It’s most everyone. All the ones who’ll be instrumental in thwarting the Archon’s plans, at least,” he said. “Jack, I suspect you’ve heard only bad things from the Searcher division about some of the people in this room, but trust me when I say you’ve been misled. You’ll soon come to depend on them as much as we will be depending on you.”

  “Depending on me? I . . . I don’t even have a clue as to what I’m supposed to be doing yet.”

  “You’ll know soon enough,” said James. “For now, let’s continue with the introductions.”

  “Yes, the intros,” said Nigel. “Obviously you know your father and me. Then there’s Mark over there. Am I correct in thinking he’s already told you a little about himself?”

  “I’ve told him a few abridged stories,” said Mark, stepping toward Jack and shaking his hand while the baboon perched itself on a nearby chair. “I’ll try to not be too much of an asshole.”

  “Ha! Good luck with that. It’s one of your main ingredients—practically oozes right out of you,” said Freya.

  “Depends on the day,” said Mark, crossing his arms and taking a seat in the chair his familiar was on.

  “You’ve probably heard about me, or at least looked at a picture. I’m Freya,” she said.

  “Nice to meet you,” said Jack. “Honestly, I don’t ever remember seeing a picture of any of the defectors while at the Searcher facility.”

  “Hm, seems like John would like to erase us from the division’s memory,” she said. “Seb and I weren’t sure about joining Mark in his rebellion, at first, much like you’re probably not very sure either. But believe me, you’ll see in time that the Archon and Rakiten are a couple of sociopaths. I worry what would happen if the Archon got whatever special relic or ungodly thing he’s looking for.”

  “No, I get it,” said Jack. “I began to put some of the pieces together myself while I was with the Searchers. The one time I saw Rakiten, it seemed like he took pleasure with asserting his authority on John.”

  “The one time you saw him? Did he not frequently drop by the facility?” said Freya.

  “No, not once during the daytime—not while I was there. It was only happenstance that I spied him coming into the facility late one night.”

  “He did start to limit his trips to the facility after you, Mark, and Seb defected,” said James.

  “Ah, I didn’t realize that,” said Freya.

  “The Archon probably told him to spend his time hunting us down,” said Sebastian, speaking up from the corner of the room.

  A brief air of silence wedged itself in the conversation.

  “It’s good to see you again, Jack,” said Sebastian. “I’m sure it’s better for you than the first time, at least.”

  “That’s right, you were pretending to be a monk.”

  “The pious Gregor,” Sebastian said in his best Austrian accent. “We were there a month or so before you and the other Searchers showed up. The monks gave us some important, handwritten texts on the relics—texts with information the Archon would have likely killed for.”

  “Why were you there in disguise when we showed up?” said Jack.

  “It was the first major attempt to capture you. We wanted to be as covert as possible. Although, the plan went a bit awry. We didn’t expect you’d be able to overtake one of our minds.”

  “It wasn’t just me. Alexie and I did it together.”

  “Huh, is that so? I feel a little better now, knowing it took two Searchers to overtake one of our own. But sincerely, Jack, I look forward to being on the same team as you.”

  “Likewise,” said Jack, cautiously smiling.

  A man unknown to Jack stepped forward, his presence imposing.

  “I am Takeru. It was my mind you and your friend overtook at the monastery.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Takeru,” said Jack. “I’m so sorry about the whole mind control thing. We thought we would be killed if we didn’t escape.”

  “No hard feelings, Jack. It taught me a valuable lesson to not let my guard down.”

  “You may see his wife, Kanna, around the estate as well,” said James. “She’s very nice. I’m sure you’ll be introduced to her soon.”

  “I look forward to it,” said Jack, nodding to both his dad and Takeru.

  “So I guess that just leaves me and my best bud Otto for you to meet,” said a girl with her feet kicked up on a coffee table, the android standing with perfect posture by her side. Unlike most droids, typically draped in faux skin from head to toe, this one had only its face covered while the back of its head and remainder of its body was left with a clear acrylic plating, leaving visible the wires, pistons, and gears making up its frame. “I’m Wren,” the girl said. “The motormouth to my left is my pride and joy.”

  The droid, who looked at Wren as she spoke, began talking in a male voice. “Please, I beg of you, don’t embarrass me. You know I like to make a good first impression.” He walked over to Jack, extending his robotic arm for a handshake. “Pleased to finally meet you. I’m Otto.”

  “Y-you too,” said Jack, awestruck by the automaton.

  “You made him?” he said, looking at Wren while still shaking Otto’s hand.

  “Yep, from the servos to the gears to the neural network—built him with a combination of my brain and bare hands,” she said, lifting her hands for all to marvel at.

  “I apologize, Jack,” said Otto. “She’s not the humblest person you’ll ever meet.”

  “I’m sure you saw some of my other creations meandering around the premises, too—pretty sweet, huh?” said Wren, gloating about her engineering prowess.

  Otto mimicked an exasperated gasp and shook his head. “I’ve found it pointless to hope she’ll ever tone down her egregious personality,” he said to Jack.

  “Quit bothering the poor kid and get back over here, you rambling rust bucket,” said Wren.

  Otto hung his head as he made his way to where she sat.

  “Well, Jack, now that you’ve met the team,” James began, “is there anything you’d like to say or have questions about?”

  “Um . . . so everyone here has an exo?”

  “Everyone on the team but me and Otto,” said Wren. “But we don’t really need one, so it’s all good.”

  “You don’t need one?” said Jack.

  “She can be a bit braggadocio about it, but she’s designed devices that allow her to use the exos and warp crystals without the need of her own DNA to have the necessary genetic code,” said Sebastian. “They’re powerful tools, without a doubt.”

  “And incredibly dangerous, if they were to get into the wrong hands,” said Mark.

  “You got that right,” said Wren. “Who’d have thought that this brain and these hands could design such brilliant and formidable pieces of technology?”

  Otto’s eyes rolled as he plunged his face into his palms to show his embarrassment.

  “Besides, Wren’s already added so much tech to herself that she couldn’t find a place on her back to even fit an exo,” said Sebastian.

  Wren simply shrugged her shoulders.

  “And does everyone have a familiar?” said Jack.

  “How do you know what they’re called?” said Mark.

  “I spied Rakiten at the facility late one night and he had a morphacite leopard with him. I heard John call it a ‘familiar,’ so I assumed that’s what all morphacite creatures would be called.”

  “Ah, yes, Rakiten has a cunning and sinister spirit about him, thus his familiar manifests as that of the feline variety.�
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  “It’s a manifestation of his spirit?” said Jack, confused.

  “Call it a spirit, or call it your innermost essence,” said Takeru. “A familiar is the reflection of who you truly are. It’s your id, the part of the mind where your instinctive impulses and primal nature resides.”

  “So, Rakiten didn’t choose for his familiar to look like that?” said Jack.

  “No more than he could choose what reality to be born into,” said Mark. “My familiar commonly manifests as a baboon.”

  “And mine, a bear,” said Takeru.

  “It’s a fox for me,” said Freya.

  “A bull or ox,” said Sebastian, raising his hand.

  “Mine’s an octopus,” said Nigel.

  “And you’ve already witnessed mine being an elk,” said James. “Although, it also shifts between a deer, moose, and stag. We all had our familiars start to appear soon after receiving the serum I’ve talked to you about.”

  “I think I’m starting to understand,” said Jack. “What about controlling morphacite and using warp crystals, is everyone with an exo on the team able to do that?”

  “We can all do those things and much more,” said James. “You’ll soon see how much you can achieve after we have some one-on-one time and I can get you up to speed.”

  “Will that begin soon?”

  “As soon as tomorrow, Son. I can’t wait to see the extent of your full potential.”

  “I’m a little anxious about it, honestly,” said Jack. “Is . . . is Marcel going to go through the new training with me?”

  James shot a look to Nigel, then to Mark.

  “We gave him back,” said Mark.

  “Gave him back!” said Jack, confused. “To the Searchers?”

  “Yes, of course to the Searchers, who else?”

  “Is he okay? And did you tell the Searchers I’m doing all right and they shouldn’t worry?” said Jack.

  “Hell no, we’re not going to have a chat with them. Are you mental?” said Mark. “It’s important for them to think we’ve put an end to you and your parents.”

  “What! I don’t want them to think that!”

  “James, will you wrangle your son? He knows what we’re trying to accomplish here, right?” said Mark.

  “Leave it alone for now, Mark. He just got here. You and I can discuss this later tonight,” said James. “Jack, you’ve had one heck of a day. You must be tired.”

  “Yeah, I’m exhausted,” said Jack, his mind racing in all different directions. ”I just don’t know what to make of everything. And I don’t want my friends to think I’m dead!”

  “Get some rest, Son. I’ll take care of everything, don’t you worry. Sleep should clear your thoughts a great deal and I can tell you more of what you need to know tomorrow. We’ll pick up right where we left off.”

  Jack let out a quiet, exasperated breath. “Sure. It was nice to finally meet everyone.”

  He did a partial wave goodbye before turning and walking out of the room. Mark waited for him to get out of earshot before addressing James.

  “Are you seriously going to let him think he can still be buddies with his Searcher friends? We need to start making the necessary sacrifices to make sure we can guarantee our success.”

  “I have the situation handled, Mark.”

  “It sure seems like it,” he sarcastically replied.

  “You know there’s no guarantee of success. And we’ve all had to sacrifice,” said James. “There’s another sacrifice I must make that could very well destroy the relationship I’m trying to rekindle with my son. Since you’re so quick to speak, Mark, you’ll be the one joining me with what I have to do tonight. Now come on, I’ll pour you a drink so you can mellow out and then I’ll share the plan with you.”

  The rest of the team watched in silence as James and Mark exited the room.

  “Geez, melodrama much?” said Wren.

  “What is James talking about doing?” said Otto, looking at Nigel.

  “I can’t say for sure,” he said, “but if it’s what I think it is, Jack is going to have a hard time forgiving him.”

  Jack knocked on the door to his parents’ room as he opened it to alert his mother, in case she was still inside.

  “Ah, Son, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing you here, finally back with your father and I,” said Melissa, getting up to give Jack a hug.

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  “Oh, you look absolutely worn out. Come on, get into the other bed. It’s yours to use. I can tell you need sleep.”

  “I definitely feel tired,” said Jack. “It’s been one hell of a day. It started with me knowing for sure Dad had died, I thought you were in trouble or worse, and I believed the rogues were the cause of it all. Now everything’s been flipped upside down and the details I was certain of are conflicting with what I now know.”

  “Trust me, Son, I was so confused and overwhelmed when I first came here. But over time, I learned why your father did what he did and I was later able to forgive him. It’ll take a little time, Jack, but you’ll figure things out and become an integral part of the team here, I’m sure. I know your father believes you will be. I’d rather not have you in the way of any danger, but I also understand how dire the situation is.”

  “From what I’ve heard, it sounds like there’s not much time to waste,” said Jack, lying down on the bed. “But all I really want to do is save my friends still at the Searcher division. And I . . . I was so upset to hear they took Marcel, who was already here, and threw him back to the Searchers.”

  “I’m sorry, Jack. I didn’t know your friend was here, or that he was taken away. Was he a close friend?”

  “Well, no, not really. But he wasn’t a horrible person. He wasn’t the easiest to get along with, either. Deep down, though, I think he had a good heart. It makes me frustrated, because Dad said he’d help me rescue the Searchers away from the grips of the Archon and Rakiten. Then, a short while later, Mark said they gave Marcel back.”

  “Look, if your dad said he’d help save them, he’ll help you save them. Mark probably didn’t know that’s what James wanted, at the time.”

  “Yeah, well, I hope you’re right, Mom,” said Jack.

  “Get some rest, Son. Things will get a little better with each passing day.”

  Although Jack thought it would be hard for him to find sleep, the accumulation of the day’s events added to his exhaustion and he quickly dozed off.

  “I’m sorry if I doubted the lengths you were willing to go to, James,” said Mark.

  “Look, I asked you to help me for a reason. Just put his body on a slab of morphacite and let’s get it to New Zealand. I can’t bring myself to touch it.”

  Mark formed his morphacite familiar into a flat surface and rolled Jack’s body on top. He looked around the general area for the retracted exo, but couldn’t find it.

  “Do you think his exo’s around here somewhere?”

  “I think it’s already been taken,” said James.

  “Who or what do you think got him?”

  “Rakiten, the Archon, I don’t know. Something,” said James, trying to hold back his emotion. “It’s time to leave this reality and continue with our plan.”

  James’s eyes illuminated blue as he touched Mark’s shoulder and panes of different realities flew by until they were back in their home reality. James then used a warp crystal to open a portal a short distance away from the Searcher facility. It was nighttime in the area as they stepped through the rift.

  “Just do the same thing with Jack’s body that you did with Marcel’s,” said James.

  “Are you sure this is what you want to do?” said Mark.

  “It’s what needs to happen. You know that.”

  Mark hovered Jack’s lifeless body toward the facility and rotated the morphacite slab so his corpse rolled onto the doorstep.

  “Thank you,” said James.

  Mark nodded his head to show his support as he summoned the mo
rphacite back to him, having it return to the shape of his baboon familiar upon its arrival.

  “C’mon, James, let’s get a move on.”

  Although Jack’s body at the front of the Searcher facility came from another reality, James found it difficult to stop staring at it.

  “James, did you hear me? We should go,” said Mark.

  “Yeah, yeah, I heard you,” he said, fishing in his coat for the necessary warp crystal. He opened a portal back to their Japanese refuge and they stepped through.

  Alexie remained in the medical ward, sitting in a chair and staring at the ceiling. She hoped Marcel would wake from his unconscious state, and when he did, she’d be there to ask him what happened and if he knew Jack’s condition or whereabouts. Richard was also hanging around the same area as Alexie, pacing about somewhere out of her line of sight. It was as she sat there, her mind beginning to empty of all thoughts, when she heard Jack’s voice enter her head.

  Alexie, I don’t know if you’ll get this message, but I’m all right. I’ll explain everything to you once we’re back together. I miss you so much.

  Jack! I can’t believe it! Did my cognitive link actually reach you? I miss you too! she said, bolting from her chair.

  At that moment, her personal screen began to vibrate with an array of furious pulses. As she grabbed it to see what was going on, she noticed Richard jetting toward the stairwell and some of the medical staff start to scramble for equipment. Reflexively, Alexie followed Richard, throwing the stairwell door open and skipping multiple steps with each stride as she raced to the first floor. She caught up to to him the second he burst through the common room doors and froze in place while he continued running to the front entrance. Dread and horror crept into her mind as she saw John holding the door ajar and Bridgett carrying yet another limp body into the facility.

  “Where are those damn medics!” John yelled out.

  A ding emanated from the elevator to signal its doors opening. Alexie felt a rush of air move past her as two medical personnel sprinted toward the front entrance. Her view continued to be obstructed when they knelt down to inspect the body.

  “Who is it, Bridgett?” said Alexie, her eyes starting to strain.