The Individuality Gene

by G Sauvé

  Avalon has a time travel ring. With it, she can easily escape—

  My train of thought is derailed by an unexpected discovery.

  Avalon’s ring is missing.

  “Where is it?” I ask, once again aiming the weapon at her.

  She chuckles, well aware of what I’m referring to.

  “I don’t have it.”

  I suspect treachery, but there’s no time to search her. I’ll just have to stick to my original plan and hope Avalon doesn’t find a way to escape the blast.

  I glance at the countdown. Only thirty seconds remain, which means I have time for one final question.

  “There’s something I need to know,” I say. “Did we really change the past, or was this all an elaborate plan designed to trick me into destroying humanity?”

  Avalon frowns.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  I can’t tell if she’s lying, but it doesn’t matter. Time is running out.

  I aim my gloved palm at the hole in the floor.

  “You lost,” I say, glancing at Avalon one last time.

  She says nothing, but I can see the fear in her eyes. That can only mean one thing. She doesn’t have her ring. Taking advantage of this, I pull my fingers back and watch as yellow light blossoms from my palm.

  Memory 83

  I stare at the sphere of yellow energy in my hand. It’s so beautiful I can’t help crying. Tears stream down my cheeks as it detaches from my gloved palm and soars through the air. It crackles and pops as it nears the ros’tal crystals. They glow with fierce intensity, as though aware the end is near. Like me, they have no choice but to stand perfectly still as their existence draws to a close.

  The explosion is unlike any I have ever witnessed. All twenty-five ‘tals ignite at once, sending a shockwave of shrapnel, light, and flames rolling outward. In the moment it takes to reach me, I am struck with a realization.

  I don’t want to die. I picture a dozen times where I would much prefer being and imagine myself travelling there. But no amount of willpower will make up for the fact that I don’t have a ring. Or so I think until a powerful force grabs hold of me and yanks me backward. For a brief moment I allow myself to believe I somehow created a temporal portal with the power of my mind, but then the reality of the situation dawns on me.

  I’m not being pulled backward. I’m being pushed, propelled away from the explosion by the force of the blast. The pain that envelops me proves it. It spreads across my frame, though my outstretched hand bears the brunt of it.

  I remain trapped in this cocoon of pain and suffering for what feels like an eternity. Just when I can’t take it anymore, the ache fades, taking the world with it.

  I smile.

  I’m finally going to see my parents.

  That’s my final thought before I die.

  Reconstructed Memory 8

  W here are you leading me?” demands Jonn.

  You’re almost there, says the voice in his head, ignoring his question.

  “Drowned!” he swears. This is all Won’t’s fault. The insanity of the past few hours—or has it been days?—started when he messed up the time travel. Instead of appearing in Atlantis like they were supposed to, Jonn and Kara found themselves in an old indoor park. His first instinct was to blame Will, but the screw-up was nowhere to be found.

  While odd, the disappearance was only the beginning. Shortly after emerging from the portal, they were attacked by robots. While skilled warriors, Jonn and Kara were no match for the automatons. The last thing Jonn remembered was blasts of yellow energy flying toward him. The next thing he knew, he was waking up in a strange glowing forest. His first thought was for Kara, but he knew that, wherever she was, she could take care of herself. After all, she was a robot. His mind then turned to Will. His disappearance was odd, but mostly he missed having someone to berate and put down.

  Alone and confused, Jonn decided to explore the cavern. The appearance of the humans proved they had travelled but a short distance through time, while their apparent lack of individuality was proof they had somehow messed things up. Of course, Jonn blamed Will. After all, he was the one who chose to trust his older self. But he forgot all about Will when he came across a row of dormant robots. At first, he thought they were merely inactive, but it soon became clear they were, in fact, turned off. Whatever force controlled them must have gone offline because they were now as harmless as a litter of newborn kittens.

  Things only got stranger when a disembodied voice filled his head. At first, he thought it was R’ha, but then he realized the speaker was a female. He demanded answers, but the voice refused to comply. She merely said she was there to help and promised to reunite him with his daughter. Jonn was suspicious, but he couldn’t pass up such an opportunity, so he agreed to the stranger’s conditions.

  And now here he is, being led through a maze of corridors by a disembodied voice. Every once in a while, he catches sight of a slight shimmer, but there’s no way of knowing whether it’s a cloaked alien or a trick of the light.

  “How much farther?” asks Jonn.

  Not much, says the voice.

  The journey continues until Jonn reaches a dead end. A door stands before him. It remains closed until the shimmer he noticed earlier appears. Moments later, the door opens.

  Enter.

  Jonn is suspicious, but steps into the room. It’s small and uninviting, but the sight of the young woman who stands within fully makes up for it.

  “Dad!” cries Kara as she leaps into his arms. Surprised, Jonn catches her and holds her close. She may be a mere android, but he still cares for her as though she were his flesh and blood.

  “Are you okay?” he asks.

  “I’m fine. You?”

  He nods and scans the room. It takes a while, but he finally locates the shimmer floating by the door.

  “I know you’re there,” he says. “Show yourself.”

  With pleasure, says the voice. Moments later, the shimmer solidifies into a Kra’lor. She’s similar to R’ha in both size and appearance, but the slenderness of her frame indicates she’s a female.

  “Who are you?” demands Jonn. “Why are you here?”

  Will sent me.

  “Will’s here?” asks Kara. “How is he?”

  The Kra’lor doesn’t answer.

  He asked me to give you these, she says, producing a silver disc and Will’s time travel ring.

  A feeling of dread materializes in the pit of Jonn’s stomach. Will wouldn’t willingly part with his ring. The fact that it’s here and he isn’t bodes ill for the teenager’s fate.

  “What happened?” asks Kara, equally distraught. “Is he all right?”

  This will explain everything, she says, nodding at the disc in her hand.

  Jonn takes it and studies it. “What is it?” he asks.

  I think it’s a message.

  “From Will?” asks Kara.

  The alien nods.

  Here, she says, giving Kara the ring. I will be outside if you need me.

  She retreats, leaving Jonn and Kara to decipher the purpose of the disc. As it turns out, activating it is simple as it uses the same basic mechanism as the time travel ring.

  “Wow!” gasps Kara when a sphere of shimmering air appears around them. Moments later, a hologram flickers to life.

  It’s Will.

  He tries to smile, but it’s obvious his heart isn’t in it.

  “Hey, guys. This is my final message, so please listen carefully.”

  Jonn and Kara exchange a worried glance. What could possibly have happened to lead Will to make such a bold claim?

  The recording continues. Will goes into detail about the events that led them here. He explains how they appeared in this time, only to discover they had unwittingly altered the past. He reveals how they mounted a revolution, only to fail because of Avalon. He details his and Kara’s journey across the snowy wasteland. He says nothing about Kara being a robot, but he does mentio
n an incident that led to him giving up on his friends and abandoning them to their fate. Jonn wonders if Will learned the truth about Kara, but there’s no indication that’s the case, so he chooses to remain silent.

  Will explains how he met his older self and the events leading to A’lara tricking him into dooming the humans. The speech takes an unexpected turn when Will reveals the only way to save the humans and ensure history returns to its intended course is for him to sacrifice himself. Upon hearing this, Kara breaks down and starts crying. Her inability to produce tears doesn’t impede her capacity to grieve, and she does so with great vigour. Jonn wraps an arm around her, and they remain that way for the remainder of Will’s farewell speech.

  “Jonn,” says Will once the recording nears its end. “I don’t blame you for lying to me. The truth is, we’ve never been very close, yet I have grown to think of you as the father I never had. I truly appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Goodbye, my friend.”

  “What is he talking about?” asks Kara.

  “I don’t know,” says Jonn. It’s a lie. He knows exactly what Will is referring to. Now more than ever, he’s convinced the teenager figured out Kara is a robot.

  “Kara,” continues Will’s hologram. “I don’t care what you are. I love you. I always have, and I always will. Thank you for being the most important thing in my life. Goodbye.”

  The hulking soldier now has proof Will knew the truth about Kara. But why didn’t he say something? Why did he keep Jonn’s secret? He must have been trying to protect Kara. Now more than ever, the grey-haired soldier feels guilty for the way he treated Will. But what choice did he have? Will was never supposed to be part of the team. Jonn was trying to protect him. He did everything in his power to keep him and Kara apart. But they wouldn’t be denied. They fell in love, and now Will is dead.

  “He doesn’t care what I am?” says Kara. “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know,” repeats the grey-haired soldier. It’s another lie, but it’s for a good cause. There’s no telling what would happen if Kara learned the truth about herself, especially now that Will is dead.

  “Hopefully,” says the hologram, “my sacrifice will allow the humans to evolve and history to return to its proper course, but Avalon is still out there. It’s up to you to stop her. Please don’t let my death be in vain. Good luck.”

  Will’s hologram smiles one last time, then fades away. The shimmering bubble dissipates, and Jonn and Kara are left standing alone and confused. Neither speaks for the longest time.

  “Is it real?” asks Kara after a while. “Is he dead?”

  Jonn sighs.

  “Yes,” he says. “It’s true.”

  Kara starts crying again. Her father pulls her into a tight hug, and they remain that way for a long time. By the time the sobs subside, Jonn’s sadness has turned to anger.

  “A’lara!” he yells. “Get in here!”

  The door opens, and the Kra’lor strides into the room.

  “This is your fault,” growls the grey-haired soldier. “Will is dead.”

  A’lara bows her head. It’s true, she says. I am to blame for all that happened.

  Her willingness to admit her fault takes Jonn by surprise. Still, he’s determined to pick a fight.

  “You should have sacrificed yourself instead of Will.”

  I tried. He wouldn’t let me.

  The hulking soldier’s hands ball into fists. Drowned, Will! Why did you have to pick now to be a hero?

  “You should have insisted. You should—”

  “That’s enough,” interrupts Kara. “Will didn’t blame A’lara, so neither should we.”

  The grey-haired soldier glares at his daughter, but deep down he knows she’s right. A’lara may have let her thirst for vengeance consume her, but she’s no longer the evil being she once was. She has repented and is now determined to make up for her misdeeds. Or so Will claims.

  “What happened after you left him?” asks Kara.

  Not much, admits A’lara. I teleported to the city, and a few minutes later, the sun exploded.

  “Is that it?”

  Something odd did happen moments after I left the sun. A woman bumped into me.

  “What’s so odd about that?” asks Jonn.

  She wasn’t a Kra’lor. She was human.

  “So?”

  She wasn’t like the humans from this time. She was like you, like Will.

  Jonn and Kara exchange a look.

  “What did she look like?” demands the grey-haired soldier.

  I didn’t get a good look at her, but she had pale skin and dark hair.

  “Did she have a scar on her right cheek?” asks Kara.

  Yes. And a strange symbol on her left wrist.

  Avalon.

  “What happened to the woman?” wonders Kara.

  I sensed something was wrong, so I followed her, explains A’lara. She travelled to the teleportation dais and transformed… into me. Then she stepped onto the dais and vanished. I was worried she would stop Will, so I tried to teleport, but the device had stopped working. I had no choice but to wait. A few minutes later, the sun exploded. Whoever that woman was, she failed.

  Jonn and Kara exchange a stunned look.

  “Can it be?” asks Kara.

  Her father nods.

  “Avalon is dead.”

  A heavy silence settles upon them. Not only did Will save the humans, but he destroyed Avalon. Now more than ever, Jonn regrets being so mean to him. He may have started off as a coward, but he grew into a brave young man. Now, there’s but one word worthy of Will’s memory.

  Hero.

  Reconstructed Memory 9

  J onn strolls through a vast indoor park. It’s a pitiful sight to behold, with its dead trees and dried flowerbeds, but the humans have decided to rebuild it. Soon, it will be a shining beacon of beauty, a symbol of rebirth in a world that has remained trapped in darkness for so long.

  It has been mere days since Will passed away, yet the world is no longer the one he left behind. It was a slow process to initiate, but once the proverbial ball started rolling, there was no stopping it.

  On the first day, things were grim. The robots had been destroyed as a result of Will’s sacrifice, but the humans remained subservient. They had lived their whole lives as slaves, and didn’t know the definition of freedom. They stopped working because the robots weren’t there to threaten them, but they remained in their squalor, eating what little remained of their rations. Of the millions of humans who were scattered across the globe, not a single one tried to escape. Perhaps it was because they were still under the influence of the compliance drug. Perhaps it was because they had never been allowed to evolve. In the end, the cause mattered little. Will’s death had been in vain. Humanity was free, yet they remained slaves to their old lives.

  It wasn’t until the dawn of the second day that things finally changed. Taking charge of humanity’s rehabilitation, A’lara produced a serum capable of counteracting the effects of the compliance drug. Seeing the humans emerge from the fog of blind subservience was a touching sight to behold.

  Once freed, the humans were taken to the facility where their ancestors had resided before A’lara enslaved them. They were tentative in their acceptance of such lavish offerings, but Jonn and Kara helped ease the transition by speaking words of comfort and encouragement.

  As for A’lara, she kept her word and did everything in her power to help the humans. The Kra’lors were given a choice: Stay on Earth and resume their duty as Ros’tal employees, or abandon their post and return to Kra’lor. Given their extravagant lifestyles, not a single alien chose to remain on Earth. By the end of the second day, only one Kra’lor remained.

  A’lara.

  She refused to leave until she made up for her wrongdoings. Only once humanity recovered from the atrocities she and the Ros’tal Corporation had inflicted upon them would she return to her home world. Until then, she would work alongside them in an attempt to
make their new lives as bright as possible.

  On the third day, the humans were given three options to choose from. Venture into the frozen wasteland and seek to make a life for themselves, remain in the housing facilities where they were currently residing, or travel to the centre of the Earth and take possession of the city the Kra’lors left behind. There were a few heated arguments, but for the most part, the transition occurred smoothly. A handful of humans chose to venture into the snowy desert in search of free human colonies. The rest was split into two camps. Half chose to remain in the housing facilities. The other ventured into the bowels of the Earth and claimed the alien city for their own. With A’lara’s help, they rebuilt the sun and used the vast supply of ‘tals the Kra’lors left behind during their rushed departure. Humanity was now divided, but it had survived. In time, the humans would evolve, and history would return to its intended course.

  Will’s sacrifice had not been in vain, after all, but the string of positive changes that stood in the wake of his passing was tarnished by the discovery of his hand. Protected by the glove that enveloped it, it had survived the blast. Seeing it made Jonn realize he had secretly been hoping Will somehow managed to escape the explosion. But his despair was nothing compared to Kara’s. She broke down. Locking herself in her room, she spent the next few days watching Will’s farewell recording. She was so distraught Jonn found himself forgetting she was a robot. But that didn’t make her sorrow any less difficult to bare. It also forced him to face his own feelings. He kept his true emotions hidden, but the truth was he loved Will. He was the son Jonn never had, and now that he was gone, there was a void in his life, a deep chasm only time could fill.

  It has now been a full week since Will’s passing, and Kara still refuses to leave her room. But the time for grief has passed. It’s time to move on, to return to Atlantis and build a new life. A life without Avalon. A life without death and destruction. A life without Will. The future is bright, yet Will’s death makes seeing the light at the end of the tunnel difficult. But Jonn refuses to let his sacrifice be in vain. He still has Kara, and he refuses to let her wallow in despair. She may not be his real daughter, but he loves her just as much as he did her namesake. Together, they will build a life for themselves and honour Will’s memory by living every day to its fullest.