Resilience, page 14
She stopped only whenever Lenti appeared with a tray from the mess tent. Each night, she collapsed into an exhausted sleep, dreaming of a world in chaos, Vulcan’s enslaved convergers, and Catherine. Always Catherine. Far away, alone, vulnerable, scared, tortured. Her subconscious crafted increasingly terrifying scenarios where Robyn failed to save Catherine. She’d jerk awake, covered in sweat, and lie there until dawn. Paralysed by fear, she’d focus on her breathing until light leaked into the sky and she could summon the energy to do it all again.
The vials on her lab bench glittered like liquid rubies in the early sunlight. Robyn opened her notebook to a scrawled sketch of three overlapping circles. Inside each circle, she’d written plants, animals, fungi. Everything had felt so clear in her vision, but now that clarity had dissolved, leaving her grasping at threads. Vainly, she tried to weave them back into the stellar tapestry she was part of.
Lenti entered the tent, carrying a mug of tea and a plate of toast. He put Robyn’s breakfast on the corner of the lab bench, bowed, then settled cross-legged on the floor and closed his eyes.
Robyn returned her attention to the circles. They kind of looked like cells. The noise in her head went still. In humans and animals, mitochondria carried the convergence sequence. Grabbing a fresh sheet of paper, she sketched a simple eukaryotic cell, circling the mitochondrial energy apparatus. Fungi also need mitochondria. Plants produced energy by chloroplasts, but their cells still needed mitochondria to produce ATP, the energy currency used by all living beings.
“That’s it!”
Lenti started and looked up at her. “What is?”
“All three main branches of life depend on mitochondria. The walker convergence sequence includes both plant and fungal components because they’re all connected. They all depend on this ancient symbiosis. The kindred ties that bind us to the planet and to all living things. See?”
Lenti stared at her picture, trying to divine the sense of her words and images. “At the temple, we made daily offerings of fresh fruit, mushrooms, whatever was in season.”
“Yes, of course. The monks understood the importance of this symbiosis.” Robyn held one of the glass vials up to the light. “The convergence mutation has lain dormant for thousands of years, ever since the physical and spirit worlds separated. Those who carried the mutation never realised their potential.”
“When you created the activation dose you unlocked the convergence sequence.” Lenti bowed his head, hands clasped in the prayer position. “For that I am eternally grateful.”
Robyn smiled at Lenti, glad that at least one person didn’t blame her for the destruction her discovery had caused. “To restore the balance, we have to open the boundary between the physical and spirit worlds, which requires all three walkers.” Robyn tutted and sighed. “Fletcher.”
“Is missing, and if he finds the earth spirit, we’re – what do you call it – toast?” Lenti held up a slice of jammy toast and took a thoughtful bite.
“Somehow, we have to help Fletcher overcome Nyx’s hold over him.” If it wasn’t already too late. Robyn slid the vial back into the rack and returned the samples to the fridge.
Lenti rose and stood at the lab bench, examining Robyn’s diagrams. “Nyx has had centuries to infiltrate the earth spirit and centuries more adrift in the void between worlds. This ancient spirit had access to power we can never know.”
Robyn studied the boy monk. His hair seemed to grow inches every day. He had tucked it behind his ears, which made him seem old and wise and daggy all at the same time. How had Liro managed to hold her off, and save Lenti and preserve the walker lineages in the process? Robyn rested her forehead against the cool metal of the fridge door. “You’re right. We can’t underestimate Nyx.” She traced the birthmark that bisected her right eye, the mark she shared with Liro and every guide before her. “I’m the guide. I’m supposed to find the solution, but we’re running out of time.”
“You need a break.” Lenti steered her away from her lab bench toward the fresh air and sunshine. “And something proper to eat.”
At the tent entrance, Robyn noticed the screen in the corner of the lab flicker to life. A familiar face appeared. “Vulcan,” Robyn said. Dread quickly gave way to anger as she remembered the gun he had pressed against Catherine’s spine and her girlfriend’s barely suppressed terror.
“Citizens of the world. I am Vulcan Manning.” He flashed a grin that failed to reach his eyes. “When I was young, I joined the military because I believed it to be honourable; a means of preserving life and defending those who could not fight for themselves.”
Vulcan folded his hands in front of his chest, a posture designed to make him seem contrite. As the camera zoomed in, he raised his gaze. “I was wrong. I no longer recognise country borders or the sovereignty of nations. Today, I address you as global citizens.”
Robyn stared at the screen. She despised yet feared this dictator. A man who sought to bend the convergence sequence to his will. She hated how helpless he made her feel.
“Over the past few weeks, my armies have systematically overhauled oppressive governments throughout the world. To date, your countries have been governed by fools who believe the impending solar storm is a disaster. It is not. This is the opportunity for a brighter future. Today, I give you your freedom.”
Robyn sensed Brock and Miranda join them in the lab. No-one said a word.
“I will lead humanity into a new era. A world without boundaries, without conflict, hunger or fear.”
“Arrogant bastard,” Miranda spat, sitting on a nearby stool.
Brock nodded, brow furrowed. “I was afraid it would come to this.”
“Within the fortnight, every government must deliver formal surrenders. Failure to recognise me as polemarch of this new world will not be without consequences.” The camera panned across lines of convergers wearing bodysuits with the trademark MRI white stripe. By their heels sat their animals wearing plates of dark armour.
The screen dissolved into blackness. Fear curdled in Robyn’s stomach. Lenti bowed his head, crestfallen. “There are so many under his sway,” he murmured. Robyn steered the dazed monk to a lab stool and helped him sit down.
“Polemarch my ass.” Miranda pinched the bridge of her nose. “I knew Vulcan was power hungry, but this is insane.”
“The world is in chaos. Without other options, people simply surrender.” Brock thumped the nearest lab bench and starting pacing the tent. “If Vulcan thinks the solar storm is his chance to seize power, he is a fool. With Nyx freed, life on this planet will cease to exist.”
Miranda rubbed the tension in the back of her neck. “Vulcan never believed in the existence of spirits. Remember? He hated the idea of beings with greater power than us. When I presented the MRI with my findings from the temple, Vulcan refused to believe any of it was possible. Except the ability to connect with – and control – animals.”
Robyn’s gaze moved between the two determined scientists. Miranda, Brock and Robyn were allies. Together, they must prevent Vulcan seizing total control and restore balance to the planet. It was time to put all her cards on the table, to truly trust them. “If we open the boundary between the physical and spirit worlds, I think we can stop Nyx.”
Miranda sat up. Brock stopped pacing and joined them, his eyes wide. “Are you positive? Nyx is not to be trifled with.”
Robyn nodded. “I know, that’s why we need Fletcher.”
“Apart from the fact that he has gone missing,” Miranda said.
“The bigger issue is not where Fletcher is but that Nyx has infected the earth spirit that resides within him.”
Miranda and Brock shared a look. Miranda gave a slight nod and Brock turned to Robyn. “Vulcan cannot be allowed to wrest power over the world.”
“Go on then,” Miranda said with a low chuckle. “I know you’ve been dying to tell her.”
Brock smiled. “I think it’s time we introduced you to our side project.”
Robyn ran her hands through her hair, utterly dumbfounded. “What side project?”
Brock stood at the tent flap and, with a flourish, gestured for Robyn and Lenti to follow him. “C’mon. I think you’ll like it.”
Except for the hammock strung in one corner, Brock’s tent was an extension of the lab. Glistening shards of crystal, carefully refined and faceted, sparkled like gemstones on the stainless-steel benches. On a hotplate, a magnetic stirrer churned a bubbling solution sending a herby aroma wafting through the tent.
Lenti picked up a crystal and closed his eyes. “Oh,” he whispered. “You’re right – I do like this side project.”
Brock selected another crystal and weighed it in his palm. “This entire mountain top is a geological anomaly. It’s predominantly made of quartz crystal, the purest I’ve ever seen. The temple is built on a bedrock of it.”
He placed the crystal in Robyn’s hands. Instantly, the walkers’ tethers clarified into a single note, pulsing against her chest. Energy swirled through her system and behind her eyelids flashed red, green and blue light. “Oh,” she said, mirroring Lenti’s quiet exclamation. She grasped at the faint thread of Fletcher’s green energy tether. It was the first time she’d felt the earth walker since she’d returned to the physical world. “It does feel different here. Clearer, somehow.”
Miranda walked the length of the bench, rainbow refractions glittering against her shirt and the canvas behind her. “Quartz is piezoelectric. This mountain acts as an enormous natural transmitter and receiver. I believe that’s why the boundary between our world and the spirit world is weakest here and why the monks chose this location for their temple. It’s a direct cosmic antennae channelling electromagnetic radiation.”
Robyn remembered how she’d been drawn to the temple in her dreams, how being here on the mountain top brought her so much clarity. It all made sense now.
“This is how Liro could overcome Nyx,” Lenti whispered in awe, looking up at Robyn.
Surprised, Miranda regarded the boy monk. “Exactly. I think we can harness its potential to do so again.”
Robyn closed her fist around the crystal and felt its energy thrum through her veins.
Brock chose a circular piece of quartz and raised it to the light, sending a cascade of rainbows spiralling around the tent. “The quartz acts as a powerful electromagnetic amplifier,” he said, his expression thoughtful as he admired the rainbows dancing across the tent walls. “To think – we mine for gold and metals, yet we’ve never viewed quartz as valuable, even though it shares the same silicon oxide structure as the circuits that made the computer age possible.” He passed the curved quartz band to Robyn. “The crystal heightens your receptivity and that of the walkers, but we believe it is devastating to Nyx.”
Robyn studied the band and smiled at her old supervisor as understanding dawned. “A piezoelectric collar.”
Brock nodded. “Precisely.”
“If we jam Fletcher’s frequencies, he can’t be the conduit for Nyx to enter the spirit world or the walker state.”
Lenti scrutinised the collar and frowned. “But how will you put it on him?”
Ariana’s blue energy tether tapped insistently against Robyn’s ribcage. She gestured to Lenti to follow her before turning to Miranda and Brock to explain. “I have to talk to the walkers.”
Robyn and Lenti sat on the cool stone floor of the ruined temple. She brought her fists together and closed her eyes, but her mind refused to calm down. Vulcan’s ultimatum and Miranda and Brock’s side project competed for neural space. They had a fortnight. Not nearly enough time to stop Vulcan and Nyx. She focused on her breathing, allowing the flow of thoughts to still, then crossed into the spirit world.
When she opened her eyes, Robyn blinked in confusion. She expected to be in the glade but she remained in the temple. Across from her sat Ariana. “How’d you get here?”
“Ugh, finally! I’ve been waiting for ages.” Despite her attempt at levity, Ariana’s face was drawn.
Robyn pulled the sea walker into her embrace. Fear and uncertainty surged through her system as Ariana sank into the hug. Her shoulders shook with suppressed sobs. “It’s Fletcher,” she managed, all pretence at levity gone. “He’s back, but he’s different. I don’t know how but somehow Nyx has an even stronger hold on him.”
Ariana took a deep breath and raised her gaze to meet Robyn’s. “He found the earth spirit.”
Robyn processed Ariana’s words. She felt sick. She’d hoped she still had time to find Fletcher and prevent Nyx from fully parasitising the earth walker. Too late. Robyn stood and followed the line of mosaics. They glowed with the energy from her fingertips, calling to her, awakening something buried deep in her subconscious. “The solstice is only two weeks away.” Robyn paused, focusing on the push and pull of energy in her system. She found what she was searching for; a feather-light tendril connecting her to the earth walker. “He’s still in there. And while he is, there’s still a chance Fletcher can help us defeat Nyx.”
Robyn turned from the mosaics, remembering the weight of the cool crystal in her palm. “And I have a plan.”
Chapter 18: Threat
I cannot begin to imagine what it would be like to be bonded with an animal; to experience the world as they do. To feel a deep kinship with the Earth and to truly understand my place in the circle of life. Yet this ability exists and has been reawakened by force. I envisaged the social and cultural upheaval such a revelation would cause but not the devastating consequences of its power being used for death and destruction. My objective has always been to reinstate the order of monks who originally worshipped and served in this temple, to restore this sacred place as an energy centre. I believe this is the only way to guide those with this ability and to create a better tomorrow. My only hope is that I am not too late.
Miranda Collins, Working Notes.
The roar of the landing helicopters reverberated in Ariana’s chest. There were six, each packed with rescued convergers. It was the largest and most brazen extraction they had ever completed. And by far the most dangerous. Eli jumped from a still hovering helicopter to greet the medics rushing from the barn. As the helicopters powered down, dozens of people followed him across the field toward the barn for processing and debrief. Heart pounding in her chest, Ariana waited.
Eli peeled away from the group and jogged toward her. His armour was pitted with scorch marks, a chunk of his hair was missing, and an ugly red burn seared his scalp. Una clutched the strap on his shoulder, swaying with the movement. Eli stopped in front of Ariana. “The MRI knew we were coming.”
“But you still saved the convergers.”
Eli glanced behind him. Despite the lingering after-effects of the blaster, Sara insisted she was fine. She and Ming guided the new convergers into the barn. “We saved them.” Eli lowered his gaze. “Not all of us came back.”
Ariana saw a stretcher covered with a blanket being trundled toward the barn. Her heart sank. Under the thin cotton lay one of her friends, lost to them forever.
“Jason didn’t make it. Basil’s pretty badly hurt.” Eli blinked away tears. “It was a good plan, it was supposed to work, damn it. Instead we nearly died.”
Ariana threw her arms around Eli’s neck and drew him close. “You did everything you could.”
The tightness across Eli’s shoulders faded as he slumped against her. “They all had these blasters.” He ran a grimy hand across his face, smearing dirt and blood across his cheeks. “Mikey had a similar one at the last extraction, but I didn’t see it up close.”
Ariana remembered the taser guns they’d been forced to use in the battle games when she was held captive by the MRI in Bulgaria. “Electroshock weapons?”
Eli nodded. “They never seemed to run out of charge.” He kneaded the cords of tension in the muscles in his neck. “And every one of the MRI convergers have one of those chips.”
Ariana’s hand flew to the base of her skull where, not so long ago, a MRI neural hardware chip had been implanted. Beyond the invasion of her own body, she hated how it allowed the MRI to control her. With a shiver, Ariana pushed aside the thought. “You need food and rest. You all do.” Ariana urged Eli toward the farmhouse. “And you need to debrief the twins and Aster.”
They walked side by side across the field, each reliving their own nightmares.
“Nothing we do seems to make a difference,” Eli whispered.
Ariana stopped walking. Tamping down her own fear, she looked Eli in the eye. “It makes a difference to the convergers you saved. Because of you, they’re safe. All of you,” she added quickly before Eli could remind her he hadn’t acted alone.
Eli squeezed her arm. “I needed to hear that.” He ran his fingers through the wildflowers that dotted the field as they kept walking. “There’s still so much beauty, so much goodness in the world.”
At the farmhouse, he stopped and cocked his head as if listening. “Something’s different.” He closed his eyes and red light flickered on his skin. “I can’t put my finger on it, but something has changed.”
Ariana slid into the gap between Eli and the door. Her fingers thrummed a nervous rhythm on her chest. “Fletcher’s back. But he’s not … not himself.”
Eli swore softly under his breath. “Fletcher found Nyx.”
