Resilience, page 11
Derek stepped out of the bathroom, dripping water on the floor. “I’ll work through Miranda’s folder and see if I can find anything else.” God, was Fang blushing? He moved closer as she fumbled by the door.
“Great,” Fang squeaked. She punched in the rest of Derek’s door code and mercifully, the door slid open.
“Hey. Last night – you were brilliant,” Derek called out as the door closed behind her.
A passing soldier smirked. Fang’s cheeks burned. Shower, she needed a shower.
Chapter 14: Jump
Every generation forgets the sins of the past. It believes itself to be above petty foibles and character flaws. Until they are revealed in their own hearts and it is too late. Dictators thrive in difficult conditions. People willingly give up their sovereignty for the illusion of safety. We have learned nothing from two World Wars and the terror of the Cold War. Humankind’s lust for power cannot be tamed. Again and again, our basest instincts rise up as soon as conditions get tough. Today, we face the greatest challenge to our survival as a species and a self-styled dictator has announced himself. Each and every one of us must make the hard decision to do what is right.
Extract from The Last Bastion of the Anthropocene, Ester Akintola, the final UN Secretary General.
It didn’t get any easier. He just got more used to it. Eli scanned the faces in the cargo bay; Sara, Basil and Jason sat quietly, deep in their own thoughts. As mission leader, he knew they’d follow his orders, but if something went wrong, like what had happened to Chris on their last sortie, the guilt was his alone. Outside, trees flashed by beneath them. Eli checked his parachute straps for the fourth time. They were just as secure as they’d been a few minutes ago.
The pilot’s voice crackled over Eli’s earbud. “Approaching jump site.” Eli stood and slid open the heavy door. Wind whipped at his hair, buffeting his face and straining against his body. Eli gave the signal. “Form up.”
As always, Sara was the first to her feet but she looked pale. Eli squeezed her shoulder. Her leopard, Ming, bristled when Sara patted her head through the reinforced box. Basil’s wolf whined and Jason’s jaguar huffed. The sedatives were kicking in, but the animals knew what was coming, and Eli didn’t need to be the earth walker to know they weren’t thrilled about it.
“And … go,” announced the pilot.
Eli jumped out into nothingness. He fell fast, faster than he’d thought possible. Air tugged at his lips, his eyelids, and rubbed his face raw. The force was incredible. Una dived beside him; her wings pinned to her sides. He counted the seconds then yanked hard on his release strap. Fabric billowed and Eli slowed with a jerk as the parachute filled with air. He grinned as the others mushroomed above him. “Everyone good?” he said into his earpiece.
“Yeah, Selene is loving this,” Jason responded.
Eli craned his neck to see the jaguar clutching at Jason’s arm in panic.
“Can’t say Lupa is enjoying it much either,” said Basil, his voice muffled by the fur of his writhing wolf.
The tail of Sara’s leopard twitched violently like an overcharged grandfather clock.
As the ground came into view, Eli pulled on the joists and oriented the parachute to slow him down. “Okay, we’re still coming in hot,” he said to the others. “Spread out and get ready for a bumpy landing.”
He hit the ground at a run, the momentum of the parachute still behind him. He rapidly disengaged the straps, slowing as the parachute dropped off in a puddle of fabric.
“Arrrgh,” cried Jason behind him.
Eli launched sideways to avoid a collision. Jason rolled over, his parachute tangling around him until the jaguar slashed open an escape hatch. The cat tumbled out, hissing at the indignity of it all. Around them, the rest of the team landed in a graceless set of bumps and yells.
“Get off me, Basil. Seriously.” Sara pushed her way out from underneath the boy and his wolf. “Ow. You’re heavy, you know that?”
Eli grinned at the sight of them. “What a crack unit.”
“Hey, it wasn’t my genius idea to throw ourselves out of an aircraft into the forest,” Sara snapped back.
Eli faced the green-speckled mountains looming above them. In between solar flare bursts, the twins had managed to send word of a rendezvous point deep in the Serbian mountains. By Kara’s estimate, at least a dozen convergers received the message. “This is our last extraction mission; we have to make it count.”
“Let’s hope they’re up there,” Sara said, pulling her rucksack onto her shoulders as they waited for the others to ditch their parachutes. Their earbuds released a high-pitched whine and Sara grimaced. “Another flare,” she said, yanking hers out and stowing it in her rucksack. “No comms, then.”
They hiked in silence. Eli tried to lose himself in the rhythm of his footfalls and the sounds of the forest. For a while, it worked. The big cats prowled ahead and Una soared above the enormous trees providing intel from the skies. In the dappled shadows of the overgrown logging trail, she told Eli what he already knew. They were alone.
After an hour, Eli signalled to the team to break. Jason and Basil had fallen behind and it wasn’t safe to separate. Sara yanked off her rucksack and rummaged for snacks, tossing Eli a water bottle and a muesli bar. “Where do you think Fletcher is?” she asked, unwrapping one for herself and flopping on the ground, using her rucksack as a backrest.
“Good question.” Eli swigged water and removed his own rucksack, rolling his shoulders to loosen them.
“He never talked to you about leaving?”
Eli dumped his rucksack next to Sara’s and sat down. “I’ve replayed every conversation a hundred times, but after Eva died, he retreated into himself and I didn’t want to push him. I figured that if he ever wanted to offload, he had Ariana.”
“I doubt he’d have come back from the edge without her.”
Eli thought about Ariana and Fletcher’s hidden smiles, the way they gravitated toward each other, like distant planets making their own new solar system. He imagined Sara taking his hand, eyes bright, laughter on her lips. Eli shook off the thought. “Even before he lost Eva, he was frustrated.” Fletcher had abandoned them all, but it was Ariana who he’d hurt the most. Proof it was unwise to open up your heart like that.
Jason and Basil’s voices floated up the trail behind them. Eli jumped to his feet. “Come on, we must keep going.” He busied himself with his rucksack to hide the butterflies tumbling in his stomach, then took off down the trail, ignoring Jason and Basil’s complaints that they hadn’t had a break.
Sara raced to catch up with him. “Because he couldn’t reach the in-between?”
Eli slowed and reflected on her question. How readily he slipped into the spirit world and the walker state that lay between the two worlds. As if he’d always known how. “He couldn’t reach the earth spirit, like Ariana and I had found our sea and air spirits.”
“Meaning he couldn’t talk to his past lives, like you do with Clara. No wonder Fletcher had struggled,” Sara said.
“Ariana and I can ask our past selves for guidance, but Fletcher is alone.”
“Do you know why?”
Eli looked up at the sliver of sky visible through the tree canopy, focusing on his link with Una. He flitted into her consciousness, revelling in the cool breeze, the freedom of gliding above it all. The air spirit lived in him, in their bond. But now Nyx, the dark spirit, having once almost succeeding in destroying the walker lineages, wanted to return and obliterate life itself. “Robyn says Nyx infiltrated the earth spirit over a thousand years ago. It is her who limits Fletcher’s connection to the walker state and his past lives. It must be awful to be cut off from the flow of cosmic energy.”
“I only feel a minute portion of what you have access to, but I can’t imagine living without it now. It’s part of me.” Ming loped past, flicking her tail at Sara before bounding ahead up the trail and disappearing around the bend.
Eli and Sara lapsed into silence, following Ming’s pawprints, focusing their energy on climbing the steep incline Ming had made such light work of.
At the top of the ridge, they stopped to catch their breath. A pink twilight sky clutched the green haze of the forest in its embrace. Ming wound through Sara’s legs, purring in greeting. The cat’s eyes glinted as her natural night vision kicked in.
“Ever since Fletcher disappeared, I can’t shake the feeling that I should never have given him so much space,” Eli said. “I should have made him talk to me. Then we might not be in the current situation.”
“We’ve all changed. Not just Fletcher. It doesn’t mean we’ve lost him forever,” Sara said, her heart brimming with compassion for the boy by her side, the walker who wanted to change the world for the better. The boy who didn’t want to leave anyone behind.
Una dived through the final threads of pink in the sky then landed on Eli’s shoulder. “I hope you’re right,” he said, eyes fixed on the sunset. The peace was broken by Jason and Basil groaning about the climb. Eli turned to the boys. “You guys need to be fitter. You can’t afford to keep falling behind.” He glanced at Sara. “I need to check in with Ariana.”
“Camp will be set up by the time you get back, right guys?” Sara said, removing her pack and tossing it at the young convergers.
Jason caught it and shared a despairing glance with Basil. “Right,” they grumbled in unison.
Eli opened his eyes. Stars splayed before him and a fire burned at his back. He turned round and saw the teens had been as good as their word; camp was set, dinner was on. Jason passed him a bowl of steaming rehydrated tagine. Eli hoped it tasted as good as it smelled. The big cats stretched out in front of the fire, purring contentedly. The bright eyes of Basil’s wolf peered through the darkness as it patrolled the perimeter.
Sara raised her eyebrows and shrugged, by gesture rather than words asking Eli for information.
“Apart from seeing Ariana – no sign of Fletcher.”
By the dancing firelight, Eli could see written on their faces the same despair he felt. All of them wanted the same thing: hope. Hope they would survive this. Hope that the MRI would be stopped and Nyx destroyed. It was more than he could give them. Eli pushed aside his meal. “I’m going to bed.”
He’d no sooner curled up in his sleeping bag when someone unzipped the tent flap. Sara stood silhouetted in the doorway, her long hair loose around her shoulders. “Sorry to disturb you, but there’s only two tents …”
Sara unrolled her sleeping bag and lay down beside him, so close Eli could smell the sweet apple scent of her shampoo. “Gosh I’m exhausted,” she yawned, elbowing Eli through her sleeping bag as she got settled.
“Goodnight,” he whispered. Energy skittered through his veins and sleep took an eternity to claim him.
Chapter 15: Forest
Fungi constitute the third branch of life. Their hyphae ripple through the soil, linking the trees to each other, funnelling energy across the Earth’s surface. Like animals and plants, they too rely on mitochondria. For reasons we do not fully understand, the three branches diverged millennia ago. Why? And what was the exact nature of the link between them that was severed? Whatever the answers, the fact remains; we all share the same basic biochemical machinery. The issue is, we have forgotten how to use it.
Brock Williams, Working Notes.
Eli woke to sounds of Ming’s gentle snores outside the tent and Sara curled against his stomach, one arm flung across his chest. Despite everything they’d been through, she looked so peaceful; he wanted nothing more than to snuggle into her warmth. He wondered how he could slip out without disturbing her. He shuffled awkwardly to one side, gently lifting her arm out of the way. Sara stirred and rolled onto her side. Eli stepped carefully over her and escaped into the early morning freshness of the clearing. The embers from last night’s fire glowed faintly. Ming yawned and stretched then padded over to say good morning. Eli added another log to the fire and patted the leopard while he waited for the wood to catch. From her perch on a tall branch high above the campsite, Una projected, Sleep well?
Heat flushed Eli’s cheeks, and it wasn’t from the fire. He busied himself making porridge; a meal guaranteed to stick to their bones and fuel a long day’s hike. Once he’d added the finishing touches – a smattering of dates and walnuts – Eli yelled out “Breakfast’s ready.” On cue, Jason and Basil tumbled out of their tent.
Sara unzipped the tent flap and emerged, yawning and attempting to untangle her hair. Abandoning the effort, she grabbed a bowl. “Smells good.”
Eli was smiling so much he dolloped porridge on the ground instead of in her bowl. Jason sniggered. Basil elbowed him in the side and mouthed shush. Mortified, Eli passed Sara the serving spoon and made a point of sitting on the opposite side of the fire where he faced the rising sun.
Today meant another long walk, but he was confident they’d reach the rendezvous point by nightfall where he hoped the new convergers would be waiting. He stood and passed the last oaty remnants to Una. “Time to pack up and get moving, guys.”
Eli killed the fire with soil while Sara and the boys went to the stream and filled the water bottles. By the time they’d returned, Eli had spread out the map and was studying the landscape through Una’s eyes, comparing the contours. He looked up and pointed to a faint path that led around the base of the hill. “If we go this way, we avoid a steep gully and can make quicker progress along the face of the ridge.”
The jaguar and the wolf peeled off and were soon camouflaged by the dense scrub. Una had spotted no-one yesterday, but Eli wasn’t chancing it. He signalled to Jason and Basil to take the rear guard and returned the map to the side pocket of his rucksack. “Alright, let’s go.”
The sun was high in the sky by the time they stopped for lunch. Jason slumped to the ground, fanning himself as he lay back on his rucksack and the cats and wolf sprawled in the shade, panting. Basil slathered peanut butter on bread and passed the first sandwich to Sara. She ripped it in two and stuffed one half in her mouth, the other she tossed to Ming, who caught it mid-air.
“So the plan is that we make sure everyone has arrived safely, then call in the extraction chopper, right?”
“Right,” Eli agreed, catching the next sandwich.
“In the wilderness in Serbia.” Basil lobbed Jason a sandwich, his wolf ’s eyes following its arc all the way into the safety of the boy’s hands.
“The middle of nowhere might be our best option. Less chance we’ll be spotted,” Eli said over a mouthful.
“And less chance we’ll be killed,” Sara added cheerfully.
Jason and Basil exchanged glances.
It wasn’t a question. Sara looked around the weary circle, seeing the same resignation in the others’ faces. “To the media, we are either freedom fighters or terrorists. Thanks to Vulcan’s armies, millions of people fear convergers.”
“We’re not exactly popular, are we?” said Jason.
“Hey, neither were regular baths but they soon caught on,” Basil joked, dusting off his hands and getting to his feet. His wolf appeared on the edge of the narrow clearing and snorted. “Come on, slowpokes. Her highness says it’s time to hit the trail.”
Eli must have stood up too quickly; Basil’s voice faded to a dull thrum. He had to close his eyes to stop the forest spinning around him. His head felt like it had come loose from his shoulders. Then everything stopped. Eli smelled frying oil and cumin, heard the distant chatter of a bustling street. He opened his eyes. There, in the middle of a dusty alleyway, stood Clara.
“You just disappear? Then don’t call for weeks? You’re lucky I’m still here.” She spun on her heel and stormed off, disappearing through a fluttering string of clothes and rags.
With a deep sigh, Eli followed. Right now, he was probably slumped on the ground, scaring the crap out of everyone. He needed to return to the physical world, but after he’d found out from Clara if she could help in any way. After all, this whole extraction business was her idea – she had a tactical brain.
He emerged through the curtains of clothes to find Clara perched on an old gasoline tin, the raven on her shoulder. “I’m not avoiding you; it’s just a bad time,” Eli said, bowing lightly, hoping to appease the last walker. “It’s an honour to see you again.”
Clara spluttered and clapped a hand to her mouth. Laughter racked her shoulders. The raven squawked indignantly and hopped to the safety of a rafter. “Sorry,” she managed between breaths. Clara waved at her surroundings. “I’m not exactly royalty.”
She was younger than Eli remembered. Maybe only a few years older than him. Ariana had said Yves appeared to her as an old man. Shouldn’t Clara be ancient too?
Clara slid off the gasoline tin and picked up the hem of her sari. “Come. Let me show you my life.” With a click of her fingers, they were plunged into darkness. Roaring filled Eli’s ears as they tumbled through the void. He prayed he wouldn’t be sick. When they finally stopped, he gagged at the foul stench that greeted them. In the semi-darkness, Clara spoke.
“I started work in this tannery on my tenth birthday,” she said. Eli made out a line of impossibly thin, grimy children scraping hides of flesh and fat. The arms of one young girl trembled with the strain as she held the red raw hide with one hand and slid the knife with the other.
Eli’s stomach churned. The smell, the noise – how could these poor children stand working here?
“I had no-one. Except my raven.”
Eli looked around and spotted a jet-black raven high in the timber beams, silently watching over the skinny little girl.
Clara clicked her fingers. They were in the midst of a throng of people moving between ramshackle slums. Eli spotted young Clara slipping through the crowd, the raven bobbing on her shoulder. They followed her in silence as she turned left then right, weaving her way between the slums until she reached a huge open drain running parallel to the shanty town. The little girl slid down the side, waded through the open sewer, then climbed up the other side. She wrenched open a tiny grate that concealed a small space. Only big enough to contain a foul blanket, a cracked cup and a tiny doll. The girl crawled inside and pulled the grate closed behind her, swallowed by the darkness. Eli shuddered in horror.
