The Second Wave Page 15

  As her story unfolded, he slowly began to understand what was happening.

  * * * *

  In the small room above the wormhole chamber on Earth, Tom and Phil deLuca were sleeping off a night of pillage, rapine, and too many slices of extra cheese pizza. Phyllis, their back-up computer, was still switched on, the last game score blinking on the screen, along with the cheerful message that Elf Lord Optimus P was now Supreme Ruler of All with an overall total of 144,623 points.

  Tom lay curled up in the upper bunk-bed, his blanket wrapped tightly around him. A half-eaten chocolate bar took up the space next to his head on the pillow. Phil didn’t make it to his bed before sleep caught up with him a couple of hours before: he just collapsed at the table. His face buried in the crook of his arm, his whole body only propped upright because the chair was so close to the desktop that it was impossible to slide off. The room reeked of cold pizza.

  They never heard the soft alarm chide. They never saw the warning message that flickered to life in the bottom right corner of the main monitor for a minute. It was but a brief fluctuation in the wormhole’s power field, it was over before it really began. It wasn’t the first time this had happened. But it would be the last.

  Because now was the first hour of the one hundred eighty-third day for the second wave settlers.

  * * * *

  It was a quiet Sunday afternoon in the Headquarters on Earth. The next scheduled visit with the colony on Alternearth was in six days, and so far everything was going according to plan. Even Gordon Smith from the budget planning committee was as satisfied as he felt was adequate.

  Elizabeth Burke was doing paperwork for General Fatique. The general was having tea in the cafeteria, while she was in his office, filing away reports from Alternearth and the engineers. She liked filing; she was an organized person. Every aspect had its own folder, and the folders themselves were subdivided into different subjects. Nobody understood her system, least of all General Fatique, who was sanguineous at the best of times. It was an intended side effect on her part to prevent others from messing things up.

  Today was her birthday. When she was done filing the reports, Elizabeth treated herself to rearranging the folder on the first wave project marked #02: Special Reports (1st W). She wanted to insert cross references with the folder #12: Special Reports (2nd W).

  While she stuck little colored notes to the pages that had folder and page numbers for follow-up information on specific topics in neat handwriting written on them, she casually skimmed the reports to see if there was anything she had missed. One could never be too thorough. Still, she only noticed it on second glace. She almost stuck a memo on top of it that would have obscured the information for good. At first she thought she might have the names and places confused, but she didn’t. A cold, unpleasant shiver ran down her spine.

  “General Fatique,” she spoke into the intercom. “Please see me in your office as soon as possible.”

  * * * *

  Then sun was almost rising when Peter opened the front door to find a distraught Dr. Paige standing there, asking, with faint hope in her voice, if Eugenia was somehow with them.

  When he nodded and gestured inside, her eyes became menacing slits. “If John took advantage of her state of mind, I’ll personally build a brig for him!” she foamed. But Peter was sure that no such thing had happened. To show her, he led the doctor into the living room, where a peaceful scene awaited the two spectators.

  John sat on the couch, mostly upright, head lolled back and to the right. He emitted soft snores from his wide open mouth. A blanket was sprawled over both him and most of the sofa, almost entirely covering the body of Eugenia. Her head was on one armrest, her feet somewhere near the other. Her face was hidden from view by an unruly mop of curls, and the legs were draped across John’s lap. She, too, was slumbering serenely.

  “When they wake up, tell Eugenia to meet me back at the hospital, please,” Paige asked. She kept her voice down so as not to disturb the sleeping.

  “I will.”

  On her way out, she almost forgot to tell him, “There’s an emergency meeting at the agora after breakfast. It’s not compulsory to attend, but I think it would be appreciated.”

  Peter promised to be there and to drag John along as well this time. If this was about the river and the energy problem, they’d need everyone with a clear mind.

  * * * *

  General Fatique stared at the page Elizabeth showed him in concentration. He didn’t read anything unusual. “I don’t understand, Elizabeth. What do you want me to see? I mean, don’t get me left, what happened there was sad, but it happened a while ago.”

  “Sir, someone died.”

  “Yes, I can read. A little girl. The first death of a human on Alternearth. Made all the more tragic seeing that she was but a toddler and died in a terrible occident. Fell down a cliff and drowned, it says here.” He shook his head, then gave her back the folder. “From what I read here, they held a lovely ceremony for her.”

  “What were the parents’ names, sir?” Elizabeth pressed.

  “Oh, I don’t know!” Irritation sounded in his voice. He grabbed for the folder once more and turned the page. “Here it is. They were Amy and George Gust.”

  Realization struck a heartbeat later. Fatique froze on the spot. Very carefully he looked down at the open page again to double check. It was true, the report stated. On the one hundred-eightieth day, Amy and George Gust lost their three-year-old daughter Eugenia in an accident. Impossible. The computer had clearly identified the mysterious stranger as Eugenia Gust. Because, as it appeared, nobody ever fed it the information that Eugenia Gust had ceased to be. Fatique didn’t know who or how, but for some reason the strange woman had managed to swap her own blood sample with that of a dead infant, thus making them trust her.

  They had to warn the settlers, speak to Rochester and Eleven. If the stranger wasn’t who she claimed to be, then she could be anyone. Or anything.

  “This is a matter of utmost delicatessen!” he declared.

  “Delicacy,” corrected Burke automatically.

  He waved her off. “I want you to go to Alternearth, Elizabeth.”

  Elizabeth’s eyebrows arched in surprise. She shook her head vehemently, but Fatique insisted. He didn’t trust anyone else to handle the situation quite as subtly as he knew Elizabeth would. There was, after all, no use to strike panic into the hearts of the rest of the settlers, who weren’t even aware of Miss Gust’s existence.

  In the end, Burke had to give in. Fatique called Doctors deLuca to arrange an unscheduled gateway opening.

  * * * *

  “I am not going back to the hospital,” Eugenia hissed into John’s ear. To emphasize her decision, she crossed her arms in front of her chest as she had seen him do dozens of times before.

  The three of them, Peter, John and her, were in the small kitchen of house number twenty-three. Peter had woken his temporary housemates with hot tea, and had proceeded to tell them about Dr. Paige’s visit and words.

  Peter sipped his tea. “You don’t like it there, hm?” he observed.

  She didn’t answer him. In fact, she tried not even to look at him directly. It wasn’t proper of him to gaze at her, but it was, she had to admit, even less proper of her people to lock her up in a hospital room. The notion occurred to her that perhaps she didn’t deserve this treatment after all. Perhaps her people were treating her with disrespect because they had forgotten how to worship her.

  She turned to John for help, the only one who was different, the only one who was without a name as well, but as she wanted to open her mouth to ask him for help, she caught a glimpse of his mind and became even angrier.

  “You’re thinking of leaving again!” she whispered furiously, almost not caring if Peter heard her voice this time.

  “Then do not go back,” John suggested over the brim of his cup. “You may stay here or run away, or you may accompany us to the agora. The paths lie before you. Which one do
you choose?”

  By way of an answer, she placed her hand on his. It was the only possible path for her. If she left his side, he might leave her behind.

  * * * *

  Chapter 30: Holding Back the Flood

  Everyone came to the agora after breakfast. Even the older children, who felt the need to help. The little round place with its stone benches was overcrowded before everyone arrived, so a large number of attendees had to stand.

  A buzz of half-whispered conversations filled the air as people speculated what it was all about, or what could be done. The whispering died away quickly, though, as Mayor Rochester stepped into the middle to stand by the unlit column. He gave a detailed account of what had happened the previous day.

  Peter, John, and Eugenia were among those who stood at the back of the gathering. They listened more or less patiently to Rochester’s monologue and then the first discussion. John, whose thoughts wandered in between paying attention, noticed that the workers were mostly present today as well. Which was odd, considering they should be in the forest chopping down trees and blowing up parts of the mountains to make a passageway to the other side.

  The meeting was just about brainstorming ideas for alternative energy sources, when Summer Paige made her way through the crowd to John, who, being about half a foot taller than most, stood ever out.

  “Eugenia,” she called softly, trying to be discreet. “What are you doing here?” And because she knew she wouldn’t get an answer, she added, “I asked Dr. Wagner to tell you to come back to the hospital. I was looking all over for you, you had me worried.”

  Eugenia looked through her.

  “She’s not going back to the hospital,” John replied in her place.

  Paige furrowed her brow. “She needs to,” she objected.

  “What she needs is her freedom.”

  “She is no prisoner here.”

  “And yet you are treating her like one.”

  Paige was about to tell him off, but a man standing in front of them turned around and asked them to be quiet, just as the mayor put an end to the present discussion.

  “Another item on this morning’s packed agenda,” Rochester announced, “is a matter our faithful workmen wish to bring to the table. Mister Ueno, please.”

  The foreman thanked him, then took his place in the middle of the circle. “As you can see,” he began, “we are not working today. We have something important to discuss with everyone, a subject of spiritual concern.”

  The crowd listened with concentration, while Ueno gave a summary of their achievements on Alternearth. “But despite these accomplishments,” he went on, “has any one of us at any one time stopped to give gratitude to the Gods? I know some of you brought house altars, but it is not what I mean. We have built houses and stables and roads. We think it’s time to build a temple now.”

  A warm, pleasant smile spread over Eugenia’s face. She turned to John with delight in her eyes. “They do remember,” she beamed. “I knew they wouldn’t forget about us.”

  But before John could tell her that they probably weren’t talking about a temple for her, Ueno was already saying, “A temple for the strongest, most powerful of all—a temple for Jupiter.”

  The attendants cheered the idea; all except John, who couldn’t care less about the whole matter, and Eugenia, who’s mood rapidly changed from happy to furious again. The gathered settlers welcomed Ueno’s idea.

  “No,” she whispered. How could they? Forgetting about her was one thing, but replacing her altogether was too deep a wound. They could not treat her that way, they needed to respect her. Rage, anger swelled up inside her fragile body, heated her, reddened her face, darkened her thoughts. She would give them something to be afraid of then. She screamed over the racket of applause until all eyes were on her, “You shall worship no other Gods before me.”

  The meeting immediately fell silent. John’s hand, he had extended it to hold her back, dropped to his side. All eyes turned to Eugenia. Now wild with anger, she roared with fury, her voice unusually deep and resonating, “Have you forgotten your ways? I am your one and only Goddess. You shall worship me, and me alone. Have you forgotten who I am?”

  On the column a flame burst into existence, giving off a small explosion of sparks. It was absolutely still for the shortest and longest of moments. The crowd formed a wide circle around Eugenia, and also around John and Peter, who refused to move away. None of the settlers knew what to say.

  Then the voice of Elizabeth Burke cut through the eerie silence. “Stop everything you’re doing right now!”

  She had come by horse to cover the distance between the wormhole’s arrival spot and the colony more quickly. Now she rode through the crowd and stopped in front of Eugenia. Initially she had come here to quietly warn the captain and the doctor, but apparently she had just arrived at the right moment.

  “You’re an impostor,” she snarled down.

  “How dare you?” Still angry, Eugenia’s eyes flickered fiercely. The sky turned a dark, yellow gray. Storm clouds gathered over the colony.

  “The meeting is adjourned!” It was Captain Eleven who shouted these words. If things were getting out of hand, she wanted the settlers out of harms way. Nobody moved.

  “Get down from there,” Eleven addressed Burke, who grudgingly obeyed. She led Elizabeth and Eugenia away, while Mayor Rochester tried to get a grip on the crowd with the next item on his agenda, the demolishing of the hill in the forest this morning.

  John, Peter, and Summer Paige followed the three women away from the agora and around the corner of the canteen.

  When they were out of earshot of the others, Eleven exploded, “What was that all about, Elizabeth?”

  Burke was no less angry. “This woman is not who she claims to be. General Fatique told me to tell you quietly, but I see it’s too late for that now. Eugenia Gust died when she was three years old. Whoever that is,” she gestured towards Eugenia, ”is an impostor.”

  Nobody spoke for a couple of seconds. Finally Paige eloquently synopsized, “Impostor?” She turned to Eugenia, whose anger had vaporized and who now seemed more vulnerable than ever. “Why did you do that? Why did you lie to us?”

  “Because,” John answered in her place for the second time that morning, “none of you asked.”

  “Who put you in charge?” Eleven snarled. She had never warmed up to John and was now beginning to understand why. He was in on it—whatever was happening, he must have planned the whole thing together with the strange woman.

  John decided to ignore her interjection and continued. “Her name is not Eugenia. She would have told you that, but none of you ever cared to actually ask her.”

  Summer Paige looked at her intently. “Then who are you?” she asked. Despite Eleven’s stern glance and Elizabeth’s huff, her voice was quiet; it held no accusation.

  Eugenia decided it was time to speak. She felt too weak to stand, and too sad to make any more demands of them. Her people distrusted her. John kept thinking about leaving. She was all alone.

  “I am the ground you walk upon,” she explained, trying to find the perfect words. “I was the first and I will be the last.”

  Eleven rolled her eyes. “Great. That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Actually, at least some of it does,” said Elizabeth, albeit reluctantly. “Eugenia Gust was the first human to die on this planet.”

  “If anything,” Eleven stated, “it now makes even less sense.”

  “I think we should check on Simon,” interrupted Mayor Rochester, who approached them in a hurry. As far as the workmen had told him, Simon, fed up with his employees and their religious schemes, was in the forest right now to go ahead with the demolishing. By himself.

  “Good for him.” Eleven shrugged.

  “What an idiot,” Elizabeth stated.

  “Maybe we should help him out,” Peter offered.

  “What does demolishing mean?” Eugenia asked.

  “It means he’s blowin
g a hole in the mountain to build another village there,” John explained.

  Eugenia pointed to the Northeast and asked, “This mountain?”

  John pointed to the Northwest and clarified, “That mountain.”

  “Oh, but you mustn’t.” Eugenia’s words halted every other conversation in the group. “Unless you wish to drown,” she amended.

  “Why? What happens when we blow up the mountain?” Summer Paige asked.

  Rochester said, “The workers told me there’s a cave inside that leads to the Underworld.”

  “Underworld.” Eugenia tried the word out to see if it fitted. “Yes, I believe you could call it that.”

  Burke threw up her arms in frustration and almost hit her horse on the snout. “More information and less riddles if you please!”

  “My head hurts.” Eugenia hid her face in her hands. She closed her eyes to wait until the dizziness subsided. She didn’t know the right words, she didn’t know anything anymore.

  “What’s behind the mountains?” Peter asked Rochester.

  The mayor shrugged. “More forest, I suppose.”

  “But nobody checked?”

  “There wasn’t anything there before.”

  “None of this was here before,” Eleven pointed out. “So what makes you think you know anything of this planet anymore?”

  “I trust Simon checked,” Rochester defended his architect, although he wasn’t quite sure why. If Simon Jones had indeed missed to check out the repercussions of an explosion, they might all be in danger.

  “Water,” Eugenia managed to mumble through her fingers, head still in her hands. “Behind the mountains is something you call sea.”

  Rochester grinned. “Yes! I remember. Simon said something about a waterside. But no worries: The water line is below the foot of the mountains.”

  “So nothing is going to happen?” Eleven inquired. The mayor cheerfully shook his head.

  “Unless there are more gas pockets in the mountain,” Peter objected. He had taken about a dozen rock samples from the area around the waterfall when he and Luke were investigating the cave. They had stumbled upon a small gas pocket inside the stone; nothing dangerous or lethal. But if there was, for instance, a large gas in place inside the part of the mountain they were about to blow up, it could mean the blasting force could get unpredictably high.