Birth of the Alliance Read online

  Carpenter nodded, scooped up the coins, and set off to work grinding the coffee beans. In moments, the familiar smell of brewing coffee filled the Ye Coffee Shop, reminding Will of mornings he’d wake to that same aroma in the Stark family home, of times spent with Hope chatting about topics hyperlinked together.

  “What brings you to Philadelphia, if I may ask?” Penn's manner was genial and kind. His Quaker heritage and beliefs ensured he'd welcome travelers to his colony and primary city.

  “We suspect that we will merely be passing through,” Will replied. “We've recently arrived here in the new world, and believe a family member might live here. We will seek him out once we find lodging.”

  “Oh?” Penn seemed interested. “Who is it that you seek? Perhaps I am familiar with your party and can offer direction to their home or place of business.”

  “Elijah Stark,” Hope replied. “He makes saddles.”

  Penn stroked his chin, thoughtful. “I’m afraid I'm not familiar with the name. I wish you well in your search. I hope the seas were kind to you?”

  Will nodded. “Our journey was a pleasant one, thank you. I pray you may find similar conditions on your next journey.”

  Penn inclined his head in Will's direction. After finishing his coffee, the Proprietor departed, his memory of the encounter with Will and Hope already erased from his memory.

  Will and Hope chatted briefly with Samuel Carpenter. The man told them that he ran an inn, and had a room available if they needed lodging while searching for their relative and seeking more permanent quarters. After spending the remainder of the rain-free day walking through the streets of Philadelphia, they returned and accepted Carpenter’s offer. The room was spacious by standards of the day, with windows opening to the back and away from the main street. Carpenter started a fire for them in the fireplace. After accepting a tip from Will, Carpenter left them, shutting the door behind him.

  Will bolted the door and Hope put out the fire. Both teleported back to the Nautilus, nestled under the waters of the Atlantic several miles away. The submarine, created and improved upon by Will for the past several centuries, would put its early twenty-first century kin to shame. Its walls were sleek; it used a clean propulsion system; and its autopilot feature meant that Will and Hope could focus on matters other than navigation and piloting during their times aboard the ship.

  It had been Will’s primary home over the past few centuries, taking him from its primary berth on an island in the North Atlantic he’d dubbed Eden to points around the world. He tweaked it and refined it and made it everything he wanted it to be. Sharing it with Hope at long last had given the watercraft the feeling of home that couldn’t be matched.

  After materializing in the submarine, Hope took glasses from the galley and filled them with a mix of fruit juices, while Will warmed up fish they’d cooked through the night before. It wasn’t ideal, but they refused to waste anything. The aroma permeated the submarine. Will placed Hope’s dish in front of her, sat down, and took a sip of the juice, reveling in the sweet flavor.

  “It would seem Philadelphia remains an Aliomenti-free zone,” Hope noted, before depositing a forkful of fish in her mouth.

  Will nodded. “For the time being. The colonies will become a huge potential market. They’ll get here eventually.” He forked a bit of fish into his mouth, and followed it with a sip of juice. “I suspect they’ll be here inside the next century.”

  Their foray into Philadelphia had been for that singular purpose. Hope had been tracking and protecting Will’s direct ancestors for centuries. They’d been early immigrants to the newly-formed English colonies, and Hope had lived in and around the young town of Boston for much of her time in this hemisphere. Boston had no evidence of an Aliomenti presence, which made Hope’s job far simpler. With Elijah Stark due to arrive in Philadelphia in less than a month, they’d wanted to ensure the small town, boasting a population of less than five thousand, remained uninfected as well.

  Prior to his renunciation of the Aliomenti over the Oaths and loyalty hypnosis instituted by Arthur Lowell, Will had been better connected to the future plans of the Aliomenti than most of its two thousand members throughout Europe. As one of three members of the Old Guard, Will had a special standing in the group due to his seniority. As such, Will had been part of the decision making process for expanding and contracting outpost locations where Aliomenti could congregate. It didn’t hurt that Will had a special knack for picking the best spots for economic expansion, given his uncanny ability to foresee future economic trends and top markets.

  At no point in Will’s presence had they discussed expansion to the colonies in North America. That didn’t mean they hadn’t made such plans without his knowledge, as they had done with the Oaths they knew he’d oppose. But he suspected they’d go with the comfortable and stay in Europe, which meant Hope would remain free of them for a few decades more.

  “I’ll be ready for them when they arrive,” Hope said. “I know they will. By then I’ll have perfected my knowledge of this city and my identity here. I’ll need somewhere to go periodically to reinvent myself, of course.”

  “I know someone with a rather nice submarine you can use,” Will said, smiling. Immortality added complications when you lived among mortals. After a time, they’d realize she didn’t age. Or someone pushing their seventh decade would realize that they’d met her in their childhood. Hope would generally leave a city after ten or twenty years, spend some time crafting a new Energy-enabled appearance, and then return. She repeated this process as often as necessary. Her list of pseudonyms had grown so lengthy that she’d forgotten some of them. So long as she avoided reusing a name inside a normal human lifetime, though, it wouldn’t matter.

  “I’ll probably start here as a servant for one of the wealthier families. It will give me a chance to learn about the key citizens and decision makers. It will also mean few will pay attention to me as I move about town.” She’d played that role often in her time. In most societies where she lived, women skilled in various professions were too noticeable. Servants blended in and weren’t questioned about their movements around town; they were assumed to be running errands on behalf of those they served. Hope had earned and saved enough money that she could buy the entire colony from Sir William Penn, so future options were certainly possible. But it was her preferred mode of entry into a town.

  Will nodded. “I have to find a home as well.”

  It grew silent in the submarine, save for the thrum of the salt-water engines. The smell of the reheated fish seemed more pungent in that moment, the silence and isolation of the underwater home more palpable.

  Each of them had a mission to fulfill, and those would lead them to the final conclusion: Hope’s meeting of the young Will Stark. That meeting would one day bring into the world the two children who would save their father’s life, and in so doing save their mother’s as well. That mission meant many sacrifices, and the pair found it easier to spend only brief periods of time in each other’s direct presence as a result. Hope would spend time playing guardian angel to Will’s direct ancestors.

  Will had a mission of his own.

  He planned to redo the Aliomenti in his own way, without the mind control, without the Oaths that would one day require a squad of Hunters and an Assassin for enforcement. Their focus would not be extracting as much in the way of wealth and lives from their fellow man as possible; it would be on building everyone up. They’d use their skills not to rob others, but to help them enrich themselves. He’d thus spend his time in Philadelphia and elsewhere, looking for men and women of high character he could teach about Energy. He’d stored a significant amount of morange, zirple, and ambrosia seed on Eden to ensure those he recruited would have the option to take all—or none—of the miracle potions.

  Will had his own private mission as well. He wanted to be an eyewitness to key events in history. To actually see the key historical figures, hear the famous speeches, feel the ground thunder bene
ath his feet as cannon fired, smell the gunpowder as muskets and rifles put their own stamp on the events that would shape the future.

  “Mr. Penn seemed a capable man,” Hope mused. “He might be an excellent choice as one your first recruits.”

  Will smiled. “History has other ideas. I'll find plenty of people here. And eventually, I'll find plenty within the Aliomenti as well.”

  Hope looked curious. “I thought you said Arthur had manipulated them? Changed their brains somehow, so that they literally can't disagree with him or go against his orders?”

  Will nodded. “He has. But what can be done can be undone. We just need to figure out how he did it. Then we can figure out how to reverse the process.”

  Hope sighed. “That won’t be an easy process. Most of them will attack you on sight as a traitor. How will you be able to figure out Arthur’s technique, let alone have the time to reverse it?”

  “I don’t know,” Will admitted. “But I know that I need to try.” It wasn’t the first time he’d asked himself that same question. If Will was a traitor, what Aliomenti would sit still and consent to let him examine their minds and identify the technique to reverse Arthur’s brainwashing? “If I meet an Aliomenti, I’ll need to be subtle. Make sure they don’t know who I am. Take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself.” Perhaps he’d come across an Aliomenti knocked unconscious. Or sleeping. He frowned. Was that what he needed to do? Force them into a deep sleep to examine their minds and reverse Arthur’s brainwashing?

  Hope sighed at his thought, one she’d picked up on with her telepathic skills. “If you’re successful, the major benefit is that they’ll choose whether to go with you, or head back to Arthur. Their life’s path won’t be something forced upon them.”

  “I can tell myself that, but I still don’t like it,” Will admitted. “I simply don't see any other way. Arthur has a huge head start in terms of numbers. If the groups ever clashed like they did at Waterloo…” His voice trailed off.

  “Then don't let that happen,” Hope said. “Don't let them find all of you, at least not in large numbers.”

  That was the plan, of course. But it was easier said than done. Sebastian had shown his tremendous Tracking ability already, and Will suspected the man’s skill would only improve over time. Especially if Arthur set him to using it proactively to find Will and others. Tacitus' skill in ravaging a person's Energy would likely improve as well. He couldn't specifically recall what Victor's skill was, though it had something to do with truth detection. Victor’s skill only came into play if the trio could first find Will or other future Alliance members. He needed to focus his initial efforts on avoiding detection while still operating among the human communities of the world, seeking to make them a better place.

  “I hope to have large numbers at some point,” Will mused. “The question is: where can we all go and meet with the least likelihood of detection? Eden is nice; it's beautiful, the weather is warm, and it could support a large population. But it's exposed; eventually our friends will sail in that direction and spot the island. They may one day fly over the island, which means they’ll be able to bring large numbers on us more quickly, even for those who can’t teleport the entire way. In either event, Eden is too exposed, too easy to find, and if we settle there, you can guarantee that one day we'll have problems.”

  “The cave at the old North Village worked well,” Hope noted. “Nobody knew we were there. It was underground, nobody could see sparks of Energy, or even hear us talking.”

  Will considered that. At the time, he, Hope (then known as Elizabeth), and Eva were the only three in the original North Village with any Energy capabilities. What they'd done in the cave would have gone unnoticed simply because they were the only ones capable of noticing it in the first place. But Hope's words, as they often did, sparked an idea in his mind.

  “I like that idea. A lot. The reason that cave worked so well is that it was difficult to detect through available senses at the time, it was nearly impossible to find by accident, and it was very difficult to reach by… normal means.”

  Hope smirked. “I got there without teleportation, though.”

  Will winked at her. “You’re unique, though.” She laughed, and he continued. “Like I said, Eden is nice, of course, and I'd love to spend a lot of time there. The challenge is it doesn't really meet those criteria. I need to find a place that can, at least temporarily, host thousands of people while being difficult to find or enter, even by advanced Aliomenti. It needs to be difficult to find even by someone like Sebastian, who can trace Energy. The idea of being underground, in some type of cave, meets those criteria.”

  “Do you think your being under tons of rock and dirt might hamper his ability?” Hope asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Will admitted. “But I suspect it can't help him. And I think there's a way to make something that actually can prevent Energy from leaking out. That's easier if we're underground and have built-in walls on all sides.”

  “You can make something that can lock Energy inside a place?” Hope asked, sounding skeptical. She glanced at the display screen of the sub, and shrugged. “Never mind. I concede that you could.”

  Will laughed. “It's something I remember from my time far into the future. The Alliance had perfected that ability to the degree that they could set up an invisible barrier around an outdoor camp. That's an advanced application of such a technology. If I can go far enough below the ground I should be able to work on building something far less exotic that can be used to cover the inside walls of an underground cave.”

  Hope nodded. “That should keep even you busy for a few days.”

  Will laughed. “Or even a few decades. I won't know until I try. I need to think about the best place to even start looking for an underground cave, think about how large it will need to be, and think about the place Arthur and the others are least likely to look.” He stood up from the table.

  Hope stood, and moved to embrace him. “And I'll keep an eye on Elijah, and see what other good I can do while I'm in this town. It’s called Philadelphia, correct?”

  Will nodded, returning the embrace. “Over the next century, it will be one of the cities at the epicenter of some of the most transformative events in human history. I intend to see as many of them as I can. The people here will be worth watching and getting to know.”

  Hope could only nod as she moved to collect a bag that held her possessions: a few changes of clothing, a modest amount of money, and the necklace and hair pin which had previously belonged to her mother, Genevieve. It was the start of a cycle she’d repeated countless times over the centuries. She’d move to a town, form a handful of relationships, and have to watch as those friends aged and died off. It was one of the most painful aspects of her immortality. “I hope we can save a lot of them.”

  “So do I.” He took her hand. “You're a better judge of character than I am. You'll know the best candidates in this city. When I return…”

  “I'll direct you to them,” she said, smiling. “I'll find so many candidates for you that this town may actually disappear from the map.”

  Will, familiar with the size of Philadelphia in his birth era, couldn't help but grin. “Arthur won't stand a chance.”

  Her face warmed at the thought. “It's time, then.”

  And after a parting kiss, she vanished.

  The last time she'd vanished, it had left a hole in his heart that had taken centuries to heal. Now, though, he knew where she was going and what she was doing. He couldn't help but feel a sense of pride. She’d willingly accepted a mission as grueling and complex as his own. It was one that involved little action and lots of watching and waiting.

  But it wasn’t in Hope’s nature to simply sit and watch. She needed to act. She’d explained how she kept herself busy during those long centuries of minimal activity. “I see opportunities each day to make the lives other people just a little bit better. Not a lot, but enough to make a real difference. I don't ne
ed to sit around and watch events unfold; I can be that change that makes the world a better place.”

  It reminded Will of a saying he'd heard in his future, uttered by a man who would live in India two centuries hence. “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” Will had always liked the phrase; to him, it was a call to action, a call to do more than simply complain about how things were. It was how he had chosen to live his life. Hope, who had never before heard that phrase, had made similar comments. To Will, that meant that the sentiment was important. It was a perfect encapsulation of what he wanted the Alliance to represent. Men and women who would see opportunities to act and improve the world around them, men and women uniquely and powerfully equipped to act as few others could.

  He nodded to himself. He had the core mantra that would drive the Alliance forward for centuries.

  Now he needed to go find a place for them to live.

  II

  Cavern

  1705 A.D.

  After four years of searching, after developing instruments for detecting rock fissures that wouldn’t see their equal for centuries, after pinpointing the exact location of the tunnel… Will still drove the Nautilus past the entry.

  He smiled. Perfect.

  Will took several months after his conversation with Hope outside Philadelphia to consider the ideal location for his underground home for the Alliance. He sat on the island of Eden, making some repairs and enhancements to the Nautilus, enjoying fresh fish caught from the ocean and the plentitude of fruits and vegetables and nuts growing on the island. The delightful salty air relaxed him and the gentle breezes that rolled in off the ocean refreshed him. Coupled with the blue skies and temperate weather, it had proved the perfect locale for something like inventing a submarine. It had so far proved to be a safe zone, the place where he’d long ago moved all his money from Aliomenti vaults. It would also prove to be the ideal place from which to choose his new home.