Aliomenti Saga 6: Stark Cataclysm Page 6

  Sarah frowned. “I don’t think you’re cursed. I think you’re the perfect manifestation of your parents love for each other. What better way to memorialize a love that’s lasted over a thousand years than one with such power… and the strength of character to refrain from using it for improper purposes?”

  He’d never thought of it that way. “I suppose that makes sense.” He paused. “So you elected not to develop Energy skills, then. What… if you don’t mind my asking… what does an Alliance member do if they make that choice? It seems everything we do, in the Cavern and Outside, requires Energy.”

  “Or immortality,” she noted. “I did take the ambrosia, after giving them my blood sample for storage. My mom had surgery a few years after I joined up; one of the Alliance worked there and was able to scrape up a sample that I could use if needed. I doubt I’ll ever have children, but if the opportunity arises, I’m set. On the other hand, I now have the ability to do good for centuries. That has an appeal all its own.”

  That explained a lot. “The ambrosia explains the speed and quickness and strength.” He shook his head. “It’s hard to believe we’re meeting again after all this time.”

  She laughed. “If I’d told you back then we’d meet up almost twenty years later in an invisible flying machine after I saved you from people who wanted you dead, but only because you’re too noble to blow up the bad guys… you would have called me crazy.”

  He snorted. “All the while knowing that invisible flying machines exist and I could easily blow up bad guys.” His face dimmed. “I guess I’m still not clear. Why were you there?”

  She shrugged. “I’m part of the Alliance, Fil. Like everyone else, I pick my spots and go do what I can to make the world a better place. I didn’t need to spend any time away from society first, so it’s no big deal if people recognize me. At this point, I can still claim I just look young for my age. In another ten years, I’ll have to vanish. People in their late fifties shouldn’t look so young, you know?”

  Fil laughed. “I know a few people who don’t look a day over forty who’ve been around a lot longer than fifty or sixty years.”

  She patted him on the arm. “I know. I’ve met them, too.”

  His face fell. “Sorry, I…” He paused. “I need to understand that being part of the Alliance doesn’t require Energy, don’t I?”

  “I know I’m a bit unusual in that regard,” she agreed. “But an Energy-less life isn’t something you’ve ever dealt with, so it’s difficult for you to wrap your mind around the concept.”

  He nodded. He glanced at the craft. “I know the Alliance doesn’t have one of these”—he tapped the wall of the craft—“for everyone. Why do you have one?”

  She chuckled. “Because I can’t teleport, of course. And I need to be able to travel quickly in order to do my job.”

  “What is your job?”

  She considered before responding. “The majority of people in the Alliance possess Energy. That’s a problem, because you wage a constant battle against exposure to the Aliomenti, and especially Porthos. If something cracks a scutarium-lined room or you lose focus and drop your Shield… you may get a visit from the Hunters. They know that, too, of course, and Porthos spends time tracking any sudden Energy bursts for that reason. About five years ago, a member of the Alliance came up with an idea that’s revolutionary in its simplicity but powerful in its application. Why not mobilize the small percentage of us who elect to not develop Energy skills to infiltrate Aliomenti strongholds as humans?”

  Fil thought about it and realized the implications. “Brilliant,” he breathed. “You can join their businesses as human employees. You can spy on them, free our captives, all without them realizing it. Except…” He frowned. “They’d read your thoughts, know you knew what you knew, and recognize you as someone clearly in violation of one or both of the first two Oaths. How do you get around that?”

  She snorted. “You’re asking this after you couldn’t detect me less than an hour ago?”

  He felt his face flush. “I… well, okay, but… now that you mention it, how did you do that?”

  “Energy users learn to form and maintain Energy Shields. Non-Energy users like me learn to shield our thoughts and emotions. In many ways that’s more important than an Energy Shield, because it doesn’t take Porthos to detect a stray thought identifying a member of the Alliance.”

  He nodded. “So you shield your thoughts, to the point that you’re invisible.” He grinned. “Even to me.”

  She nodded. “I take self-defense and classes on different fighting techniques. There are videos in the Cavern, three dimensional holograms of some of our best warriors, including your mo—” She broke off. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  He winced when she mentioned his mother, but recovered. “Mom was the best. She learned incredible amounts studying fighting techniques from the greatest warriors in history over the centuries. It only makes sense that she’d be the best teacher.” He patted her hand. “I’m glad you’re able to learn from her.”

  He glanced up as an awkward silence descended upon the cabin. “Where are we going, by the way?”

  “We’re going to a safe house. You’ll get the chance to meet several of our number, and I think the person who provides our training will be there as well. When you arrived at the building today and the security team got word that a dangerous person was on the premise and must be subdued or terminated, I had a hunch we’d end up there.”

  Fil nodded. He couldn’t help but wonder who trained this group, and why he’d never heard of them before. There were mysteries revealed all the time with this organization.

  Twenty minutes later, the invisible sphere decelerated and dropped toward the ground, emerging from the thick blanket of clouds blocking their view of the outside. Fil watched the view screen as the landmarks of the city appeared. He saw a crumbling city center surrounded by the remnants of a wall marked with graffiti. The interior was snaked with paths of curving sidewalks that no longer moved. A lump formed in Fil’s throat. He realized exactly which city that was, but could scarcely stand to believe his eyes.

  “The struggle to control the city erupted after all of you left,” Sarah told him. “Every wise decision and control your parents instituted was abandoned by those in pursuit of control and what they believed were untapped riches hidden inside those walls. But in the end, all they did was kill the golden goose.”

  The craft slid away from the central part of Pleasanton and headed toward the outskirts. Fil knew where they were going. The walls surrounding his old home stood, showing only minor cosmetic wear. The concrete gate was open, and by all appearances had been for some time. The craft didn’t veer toward the Stark residence, but toward the central house inside the community, one Fil knew had been abandoned for years. He’d not been in Peter and Judith’s home in quite some time. He knew those Alliance members living in the community on the day of the Hunters’ attack congregated here to watch and ensure nothing went wrong.

  He glanced at Sarah. “How do we get out? Or, more to the point, how do you get out?”

  She arched an eyebrow. “You can’t teleport us five feet and get us out of this machine?”

  He blinked rapidly. “Well, sure, but…” He frowned. “Wait a minute. How did we get in?”

  She laughed. “Technological innovation. Smart bots. Nanobots. There’s someone at the Cavern called the Mechanic whose been revolutionizing these tiny machines. Heard of him?”

  Fil shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. What do nanobots have to do with how we get in here?”

  She nodded. “You’ve not been to the Cavern for a while, then. The Mechanic taught the little nanobots how to recognize a person on contact. The bots have a list of who is allowed in, who isn’t. Anyone from the Alliance can walk through the walls of a stable machine.”

  Fil cocked his head. “Wouldn’t we fall out?”

  “There’s a remote.” She held up her hand. “Like the ones on old
-fashioned automobiles. Lock the sphere, nothing gets in or out. Unlock the sphere, and the top and sides are permeable to anyone allowed access. I think he said that the bots basically disconnect so that you can pass through without losing the structure of the sphere, sort of like jumping into a pool of water. They just reform behind you.” She grinned. “Pretty cool, huh?”

  “Very.” He glanced at her. “So… do we exit your way or mine?”

  She glanced slyly at him. “It’s been a while since I teleported.” She closed her eyes and projected an image of the room where they needed to go. He grasped her hand and teleported both of them to the room.

  A large crowd was inside, engaged in private conversation, enjoying snacks from a table off to the side. Fil moved through the crowd, uncertain who he might be looking for.

  He ran into Millard Howe, now looking a rejuvenated thirty-five years of age. Howe, who’d served as his parents’ estate lawyer years ago, joined the Alliance not long after the fire. When Adam transferred the family’s assets outside the Trust accounts under Howe’s management, the lawyer had been the prime suspect in the crime. Adam had formulated an alternative scenario involving others at the highest levels of government that exonerated Howe and the estate Trustee. When the two men disappeared, few bothered questioning Adam’s conspiracy.

  “We’re setting up our own network of banks,” Howe explained when Fil asked about current activity. “The Aliomenti own that industry. It’s too easy for them to track our financial trail. I’m heading to a meeting a few hours away, but heard that Will and Hope’s son might be coming by. It’s good to see you… Fil. I saw your sister in the Cavern a few weeks ago. She sends her love. Delightful young woman.”

  Fil smiled, shook Howe’s hand, and the two separated.

  He ran into other neighbors. Michael and Katherine Baker had detoured through Pleasanton to see if reports of the city’s demise were true. They told Fil that two years after the Starks died, the infighting led to a collapse of the Dome, killing dozens trapped inside and causing millions of dollars in damage. “They changed the code without testing, and the nanomachines didn’t know to let go of each other. They should have detached, and it would have felt like a mild rain shower.” Katherine shook her head. “The lawsuits bankrupted the corporation, and the state annexed Pleasanton again not long after.”

  Michael told Fil that the couple worked as part of the Defense Squad, aiding Alliance members exposed to the Hunters and prone to attack.

  William Baker, their son, said he was helping to scout sites nearer the Arctic Circle for new port cities and potentially a new northern Cavern. “A lot of our members work in the northern hemisphere. It makes sense to build bases of operation closer to where they work. The Cavern and ports are getting crowded due to our growth. It will be a challenge to develop the sites because human and Aliomenti technology are far stronger today than they were centuries ago when we built the original ports. But we’ll figure out how to overcome those obstacles.”

  After hearing again that Angel was doing well back in the Cavern, Fil exchanged handshakes with the Bakers. He resolved to make a trip to the Antarctic soon. He’d not seen his sister in years.

  Sarah joined him as they left. “This place holds a lot of memories for you, doesn’t it?”

  He nodded. “I grew up barely a mile away, and yet all of this seems strange and foreign now. Most of the memories are happy.” He glanced at Sarah. “Michael and Katherine both seemed prime candidates to lead this group, but it’s someone else, isn’t it?”

  Sarah nodded. “There’s a natural overlap in training techniques between the Defense Squad and our group. We both need to know how to fight, how to disarm our Aliomenti opponents, how to escape notice of the Hunters, and so on. Our tools are different, and some concerns don’t cross between groups. We don’t have to worry about our Energy being detected. We also can’t use Energy to fight or escape. There’s been more strategy of late to mix the groups together because of the unique strengths each brings.”

  Fil nodded and glanced around. “So… who’s the leader of your group, then?”

  “Someone else who thinks of Pleasanton as home,” Sarah replied.

  Fil felt the strong Energy presence as the woman teleported into the room. The signal seemed familiar, though he was certain he’d not sensed that exact signal before. He turned to find a woman standing before him, her jet black hair framing a friendly face featuring sparkling jade green eyes.

  She held out her hand. “Fil, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Gena Adams.”

  V

  Formula

  2060 A.D.

  Angel sat back in her chair and rubbed her eyes, both to relieve the eyestrain and to motivate her brain to find the answer to her questions. No answers came, and she allowed her arms to drop with a soft thud into the comfortable cushions while laying her head back. Perhaps she’d find answers more quickly without looking at the figures on the whiteboard before her.

  That assumed answers existed.

  The cool air of the room brushed against her skin, a caress the likes of which she’d not felt since her mother’s disappearance twenty years earlier. She tuned into her mother’s life force. Fil called it her “seventh sense,” her innate ability to feel the presence of another no matter the distance or effort to conceal. That seventh sense told her with absolute certainty that her parents were alive. The intensity strengthened and weakened over time, varying as they traveled the globe, aiding humanity in their own fashion.

  She sighed. If only she could see her mother again.

  She knew she’d see her father again. Will would arrive in the future, one hundred sixty-nine years from now, in a time machine that hadn’t yet been invented. It wouldn’t be the same, though; that was the man she’d never met, the Will Stark not yet hardened through a thousand years of living and sacrifice, all meant to ensure she, and her brother, would exist. She was here now and her parents were gone, absent from her life and invisible to the world. She had only that seventh sense to give her comfort in times when, even as she turned thirty, she’d still prefer her mother’s embrace to a faint caress of existence.

  At least Hope was alive. If Angel didn’t solve this problem, they’d all disappear in time.

  They’d overcome all manner of problems in this odd journey through time. They’d leveraged Will’s own memories of his past and their future, along with messages on a computer diary resembling a scroll, to know with unerring accuracy what was to come, and what they must do to ensure everything happened according to plan.

  That had worked until 2030. But Will had no memories of this time, and the diary had, to this point, remained silent. Why had she not added messages to guide them through this time? Why hadn’t Fil?

  She opened her eyes. She had no answer to those questions. She’d settle for guidance about building the time machine so integral to her very existence. She just couldn’t make the numbers work.

  It had been her obsession for fifteen years, a distraction from the turmoil of her family situation. When her father had spirited their mother away in the early morning hours that fateful day, she’d been thrilled he’d taken action to save Hope’s life. Others had tried, but the failure was evident in her mother’s strained and painful existence. She couldn’t understand Fil’s anger at their father, why he focused anger on an act she found heroic and even romantic.

  As she’d entered her teen years, her mother’s absence became a profound void in her life. Denied female role models who understand not just issues of maturation, but also the unique aspects of Alliance existence, she’d left home. Adam and Fil both loved her and cared for her, but they were men, and though they didn’t think her solution appropriate, they’d supported her from afar, keeping in touch via email. She’d traveled to the nearest Alliance safe house, and then moved to the port of South Beach and on to the Cavern. She’d been welcomed with open arms, found the female role models lacking at home, and regained the sprightly disposition
that had waned in the years since her mother’s departure. It was a positive attitude her brother called “adorable,” a word that made her feel like she was still an eight-year-old girl in pigtails.

  She loved it.

  After she’d been living in the Cavern for several months, she realized the trap she’d set for herself, one Fil and Adam had warned about. Her long-term disappearance meant she’d be presumed dead in the human world, and a reappearance would raise awkward questions. With her isolation within the Alliance world set for decades, she chose to focus her energy on solving the most vexing problem facing them as they moved toward Will’s reappearance in the future.

  Time travel.

  It was the stuff of science fiction, of fantasy, of anything but reality. It was also critical to her very existence. If she, Fil, and Adam didn’t go back to that day in 2030 and extract her father from the clutches of the Hunters, nothing else would matter. If they were unable to return him to their starting point in 2219, nothing else would matter. If they were unable to get him back to the very beginning, back to 1018, then nothing else in this loop of time would matter. Everyone had done their part up until now. It was her turn.

  She had no idea where to start.

  She studied every type of theoretical physics, availing herself of online courses, lectures, and discussion groups. She posed as a reporter for a science magazine and interviewed dozens of theoretical physicists on the topic, asking them to provide their insights for an article about the physics of time travel and how they’d transport people back and forth through time. There was no consensus, nothing she could use, nothing that made obvious a solution to the problem.

  She’d finally located mathematical formula suggesting an answer to traveling through the fourth dimension—time—by bending the other dimensions in an enclosed space. It made little sense, but she’d built paper models and tried to understand the logic of the theory by demonstrating it to herself. She looked at formulas that had no answers she could compute, and others that made the time leap conceptually possible even while suggesting they’d never be able to execute that leap.