PILLARS OF LIGHT AND FIRE: THE COMPLETE SERIES, page 144
“You don’t believe in luck,” Arthur said, blood pounding in his ears. The passion in his heart swelled within his chest. She gripped his hand, his fingers trembling, though he wasn’t sure if it was jitters or his own decay. “You’ll succeed.”
“I know. I have Jeri with me. She’s a fantastic pilot, and she’s got the future-seeing thing going for her.” She touched his face. “Is it my turn to tell you everything will work out? That everything has a place and a purpose?”
Arthur tried to laugh, but the lump in his throat turned it into a cough. He’d known this test was coming, but seeing her, like he’d imagined her that day years ago, made him ache with sadness. Trust. She’d come back to him, back to Gal and the Kin, and this next step was using their true power the way it was meant to be used. “No,” he managed to say. “I’ll see you soon?”
“It’ll be fun. I get to show off my power. I just wish Gal were here to see it.”
“Is she all right?” Arthur asked.
Indiana closed her eyes for a moment, as though searching in the back of her mind. “She’s there. She’s a little scared and worried about you.”
“Me? What about you?”
“No, she’s not worried,” Indiana said, opening her eyes and patting his chest. The gantry alarm buzzed. “Don’t be a dumbass, Arthur.”
“Yes, Miss Beckham.”
Indiana spun on her heel and went to the gantry. Jeri, who’d been saying her good-byes to Kara in a similar manner, came over to Arthur. She pulled a green sash from a pocket within her suit. She opened Arthur’s suit, tied the sash around his neck, and resealed it. “Millicent would want you to have it next. She believed in what we’re doing.” She glanced at Kara and leaned in. “Try not to stab her while I’m gone. I like her.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem,” he replied, and Jeri gave him a kiss on both cheeks.
Indiana and Jeri went to the gantry and flew up to the ship as drones flashed lights and cautioned people to move clear.
“That ship has a stupid name,” Ed said. “I mean, after the first four Archimedes it got old. Thank God they changed that. But this one sounds like a made-for-TV movie.”
Kai elbowed him. “What would you name it, old man?”
“Lucky Star would be a good name.”
“It kind of looks like a star,” Lamar said. “If a sheriff’s star got sexy with, say, a dagger or pointy stick…”
“No, mate, that’s one beauty of a ship,” Sam said. “I’d name her Beautiful Lady.”
“Poetic,” Kai said.
The tower roof above the gantry opened, sunlight streamed in, and machinery hummed. It seemed bizarre to Arthur to be standing this close to a ship getting ready to head into space, but it didn’t use reactive mass for propellant. They moved to a control level, watching the flight crew go through their checks. Jeri and Indiana rested in their cradles, helmets on. Indiana glowed brightly, her hands on the focal magnifiers attached to her cradle. She was radiant. Arthur watched the power displays spike and then go beyond levels he’d ever seen before. How powerful were the Kin getting?
Ed chuckled. “Going to be anti—”
The ship flashed in the sunlight as it shot away from the tower with a terrific crash. Glass shattered, and a howling wind nearly pushed the group from their feet.
“Show-off!” Kai yelled at the ship. She waved her hand, and Arthur repeated the gesture. A chase drone followed the ship as it accelerated into the sky. Divining Grace didn’t follow an arcing trajectory. It was going nearly straight up, a shining silver disk.
“Flight operations look good,” Jeri said, her breathing heavy. Indiana pushed the envelope of their acceleration curve. “Some heat on the forward edge of the gravitic bubble, but we’re within tolerance.”
Arthur watched, his head craned back, the heads-up display following his shift. He activated his micro-drive and flew to the top of the tower. The ship brightened into a tiny star. The drone optics struggled to stay focused on the craft.
Anora’s voice came in on channel. “I have you on visual,” she said, and the view shifted to space. The ship left the atmosphere. Avalon locked on to it, her telescope optics zooming in close.
“Zero drag. Give me point three negative roll,” Jeri said.
“Point… three… negative,” Indiana gasped.
“Negative atmosphere. Cutting gravitic,” Jeri said. The ship hung there in space like a gleaming amulet. “Systems check. Stand by. Spinning warp-wave.”
Arthur’s throat went dry.
“Target lock,” Jeri said.
“Coordinates received,” Anora said, and the screen split into a second view of the moon, somewhat off center. Numbers scrolled fantastically fast as they watched. “Stand by.”
“Systems check complete. Powering warp-wave. See you on the other side,” Jeri said with the measured calm of a weather reporter.
For a moment, the ship remained there, then it shimmered, the circular wing glowing like a soap bubble. Then the bubble popped and the ship was gone from Earth’s orbit. Three seconds later, the second camera zoomed in, a reticle appearing. The ship was there, in lunar orbit. Arthur let out the breath he had been holding.
“Holy shit,” Ed whispered.
“Avalon, this is Divining Grace, we are in lunar orbit, shifting to gravitic for station keeping.” A cheer erupted from the gathered crowd.
The second camera shifted to cockpit internals, where Jeri smiled. Indiana was slumped in her crash couch, blood spurting from her nose. Jeri’s helmet slid back into her suit ring. “Vitals are normal. She’s stable. A new power record,” Jeri said, and a graph of power transmission showed the peak at the moment of translation. She unstrapped and checked on Indiana.
“It might be a while before they’re back,” Kai said, putting a hand on Arthur’s shoulder.
“I know,” Arthur said, his fingers tingling with the memory of her touch.
16
Collision
Gal stood before a black chasm. Perhaps it had once been a crater or a volcano. It was hard to be sure, but the walls were smoke blackened along the edges. The air was smoke and dust. She was within her Dream Palace after a day without success. I don’t remember this place. Was this something from when she’d been so much younger than she was now? Or was it just another one of Indiana’s past memories? Sometimes these dreams were distortions, more than what her prior self had fashioned. Not all memories were clear and… happy. This is probably one of those dreams.
She crept along the edge of the chasm. It was as quiet as a tomb despite the swirling column of smoke and ash within the crater.
“Mom?” she said, her voice muffled in the atmosphere. No answer. She had three options: continue to walk around, walk away, or climb down. The earth crunched and crumbled under her feet. “What am I supposed to do?” Stupid question. It’s a dream; you look for something useful. It was hard to tell if this was a vision, but it looked like something from the recent past. Was it Kiev or her home in Qabr? If so, the center would be the better place. She’d find her mother there.
Gal sat down, turned, and, bracing herself on the ledge with her hands, lowered herself down into the smoking crater. It was steep here and climbing down took effort. The walls were charred and blasted, but they were warm to the touch. Ash blackened her arms, knees, and hands. She half climbed, half slid down until it became a steep incline, something she could manage. She stood, took a step, and slid, falling onto her back, hitting her tailbone and hissing with pain. Dreams still hurt. She rubbed her backside. The smoke was thick here, giving the world an ethereal cast. She coughed. Being blind now, living in the real world with only the present, was… manageable, though in the last few days, when it’d really mattered, she’d wished she’d never had her ability at all. She crept along and gave a yelp of pain when hot steam escaped a vent. Cradling her arm, she moved more slowly, watching for cracks or gouges in the dark earth. A hot spring or underground lava vent? You can’t die in a dream. She tripped and then stumbled down deeper into the crater until it became as flat as a plain under her feet. More hot vents warned her not to step on or near them. Along with the smoke, the air was oppressively hot, and it made Gal dizzy.
She looked down at her arms. She wore a simple tunic and sandals. Ash clung to her sweating, scalded skin, running down in caked rivulets. A nearby vent hissed and she jumped. What is this place? What is its meaning? Am I even going the right way? If it’s a crater, it’ll just slope back up…
As if in answer to her question, she heard sobbing ahead. A child or woman crying.
“Mom?” she called again, her voice tight and cracked like the earth around her. The sobbing, eerie in this place of nothing, of desolation and destruction, chilled Gal’s hot skin. She shuffled forward, trying to see through the smoke and ash to something she could recognize. The sobbing grew louder as she approached, and there was a dim light in the darkness, like the amber glow of a fire.
Working her way around a noxious vent, Gal moved toward the fire; the sobbing was heartrending.
“I told him… ,” the voice sobbed, and shuddered.
“Mom?”
The crying died suddenly, and there were shadows before the light. “Who’s there?”
“Just me,” Gal said, not knowing what else to say.
“You’re too late,” Indiana said.
Gal stepped closer to the light, and it was as though a veil parted. The ash and smoke thinned and a woman stood there, holding an ancient lantern. She was dressed like Gal, in white, but she was pale and untouched by the ash around her. Tears trailed down her face, and the front of her tunic was damp. She trembled, which churned Gal’s stomach. She had never seen her mother like this, in a dream or in the real world.
“I see you now,” Indiana said. “You’re too late.”
“Too late for what?”
“Too late to change what’s happened here. This is something you wanted to explore once upon a time.”
Gal frowned. She knew this dream now from when she was much younger. “Failed dreams.”
“Failed futures, really. I’ve had a hand in some changes, but I fail more than I succeed. Such is the nature of humanity.”
“But you keep trying,” Gal said, kneeling before her mother.
“Such is also the nature of humanity.”
“I found the second Truth,” Gal said. “I think. I’m close.”
Indiana wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry. This… version of me is… more emotional than I am.”
Gal smiled, and then saw the two tall arches. Gates. Doorways, perhaps? It is a dream, Gal reminded herself. “There are two gates still,” Gal said.
“Two Truths remain. Remember, the path must be complete.”
“Yes, three Truths illuminate the path.” Gal chewed on her lip. She had momentum, but could she find the third Truth? Or should she go back to the first? “Do the Truths relate to one another?”
“Yes,” Indiana said. “You need them all. The doorways open and you must pass through all three of them at once.” The woman lowered her arm, the lantern casting deep shadows around them. The woman’s face went into darkness. The earth rumbled.
“Why were you crying?”
“A hundred failures take their toll.”
“But you’ve done so much. Changed so much!”
“This is the closest I’ve ever been to realizing what I’ve been… ,” Indiana said, and her voice changed register, and the lantern came back up. It was her mother’s face. She was still crying, but the tears were blood. “Now it could all be lost.”
“Mom?” Gal said, trembling. “Mom, what’s going on?”
The lantern fell from her fingers as she collapsed. Gal ran to her, falling to her knees. Indiana lay crumpled. Her once-gold hair was dark as night. Gal held her head as Indiana cried red tears. “Mom! What do I do?”
“You can’t save him. Not the way you want.”
“There’s always a way! No, Mom. You can’t believe that!” Gal cried.
Indiana’s eyes locked on to Gal’s. “Go forward or go back! The death of a sister awaits you.” Something lurched inside Gal. The two gates, staring at her with empty black sockets, like the eyes of a dead dragon…
* * *
Gal woke with a start, her heart hammering in her chest. Pridwen slid itself around her and power sluiced through her.
“Are you all right?” Juno asked.
“What?”
“Your heart rate is elevated beyond normal levels for—”
Gal shook her head. “I’m fine.” She reached out and felt… nothing. Her mother was gone! “No…”
She pushed into the manifest, reaching out deeper than she had before, searching, looking. It wasn’t her time…
There. Indiana was there, faint and trembling. She’d overtaxed herself and was very… distant. She’d flown the Divining Grace! Gal was too relieved to be excited. A dam of emotion burst within her.
“You are in distress,” Juno said.
Hector opened the door. “Hey, I think—you all right?”
Gal wiped her eyes. “Had a bad dream.”
“Not one of those fever dreams you had as a kid? As a smaller kid?” Hector held out his hand and pulled her to her feet, then swept her up and held her like she was a child. I am a child, she reminded herself.
He rocked her in his arms. “I used to hold your mom like this when she was a kid.”
“Weren’t you a kid too?”
“I was a bigger kid. And your mom wasn’t a twelve-year old wearing a superhero costume.” Hector’s k-suit was cold against her face, but she heard his heartbeat through the suit and listened to his breathing. It helped.
“I’m still a kid.”
“Isn’t that a surprise to no one?” Hector laughed. “I got good news. Percy and Bora think they found who you’re looking for.”
“I know.”
“You have a bad habit of ruining my surprises.”
Hector relaxed his hold and Gal stood. The shock of her mother’s blinking out almost made her forget the bits of the dream she had been exploring. A knife turned in her stomach at the thought. “Give me a second?”
“Sure.”
She slipped into her manifest power and felt the warmth and comfort of her mother. She was there, and their minds touched. Don’t be afraid. The future is known to you, but it is not written yet. You can change it. It was a warning.
I can lose the ones I love most. Is that the lesson, Father?
The forms make the motion, the motion makes…
She slipped into her third plane of power—VR existence. “How’s the package?”
“Nearly complete. I have had to modify my interfaces to accept the design, but it should supersede the original criteria,” Juno said.
Gal inspected the changes. Yes, it was what she had modeled, though Pridwen was more sophisticated than she’d thought.
“Received data package from Juno Prime with a message squirt. The Divining Grace has launched and is in lunar orbit. Some damage to the ship, which must be repaired for return trip. Your mother is fine. Respond?”
“No response.” Gal felt shame then. Here she was, having a ridiculous little adventure, trying to head off the inevitable, when her mother and the Kin were taking enormous technological risks. How would she tell them she’d lost her power? How would the Sisterhood take it? Not well. The Mare de Scientia was a deeply rational group. Only when it came to tradition and areas where the boundaries of science were fuzzy, such as the genetic predisposition for prescience, did things get heated.
Gal busied herself with work. She kicked off the next phase of modifications to Pridwen’s systems, ensuring the second and third payloads were in place. Satisfied that work was done, she went back to the data package Juno Prime had sent and unpacked and studied the design and layout of the Centurion compound and the demographic data of the London Strike. That narrowed her search to… five people, and she reviewed each one and then filtered them against the suit sweep of the previous day and a half. Two results at the same location. After an hour in VR time, it was clear she would need some help. How about getting the second Truth before you think about breaking and entering? She dropped out of VR.
“Ready to go, Heck. I have the address.”
* * *
LONDON, ENGLAND—
Pridwen saved her.
Gal had been standing in the empty room alone, wondering where the second Truth was. She and Bora entered the flat while Percy and Hector watched the outside entrances. There was no one home. Pictures of the family were stuck by magnets to the refrigerator, and she listened to the ticking of an old clock somewhere in the living area.
She’d almost slipped into a fugue state when her suit alerted her, its systems reacting and hardening around her. She flinched in response and the waveblade bounced off of her KE shield in a flash of energy exchange. Gal slammed backward, her body punching a hole into the drywall behind her. She pushed herself away, moving sideways.
There was nothing there.
No, there was someone there. She heard a scrape of something. A boot heel? The rasp of fabric? She swiveled toward the sound, and again a waveblade appeared out of nowhere and pounded against her KE shield. This time, she summoned Red Hilt and flicked back, catching the blade before it winked out of existence. It was too late, though. The afterimage of the blade blurred her vision.
A stealth suit!
Someone grabbed her from behind and lifted her up and slid an arm around her neck. Light flickered along the surface of the arm as it squeezed. Pridwen hardened further, keeping her from choking. She swung her hips out and slammed her legs against her attacker. He’d grabbed her blade arm and she fought, Red Hilt flaring to life in her hand.
She was smaller than her attacker and she thrashed furiously against him, slamming her KE field against his. Her waveblade writhed, cutting through the wall and ceiling.
