The Second Wave Read online

  “And if it was, say, high enough to rip a big enough hole in the ground,” Peter ended, “the seawater could get through.”

  With close to no trees between the explosion site and the village anymore, a large amount of water had the potential to flood everything.

  * * * *

  Chapter 31: Tethering the Tornado

  The mountains covered the horizon from East to West as far as the eye could see. Some of the peeks were so high they got lost in the clouds; the settlers could only guess how much farther into the sky they protruded. Some parts weren’t nearly as tall, but still too cumbersome to climb.

  That was why Simon Jones planned to blow a passageway through them to erect the next colony close to the seaside. With any luck, there’d be fish and seafood. And since his employees were on a mission to save them all by building a temple, he had to do it on his own. There was no way he’d get behind schedule because of superstition. He’d been at it ever since dawn. Now the sun was high in the sky as he fastened the last wire and started the time fuse. He set it on three minutes; time enough to make it to a safe distance on horseback.

  02:59

  Carefully he placed the small timing device in a narrow hole in the wall, deep inside the cave the workmen claimed to be the entrance to the Underworld. Then he ran outside as fast as he could.

  02:24

  He met them when he turned the chestnut around. John and an auburn-haired woman on the deaf manchado made the front. They were followed by the captain and for some reason Dr. Wagner, the geologist. Captain Eleven shouted something Simon didn’t catch, but John repeated it for him when he came to a full stop in front of Simon’s horse.

  “Stop the detonation!”

  02:02

  “You must be kidding!” said Simon. “Turn around now, or the blast from the explosion will kill you. Who the Hades are you?” The last question was directed at Eugenia, who lifted up her chin and replied, “I am your Goddess.”

  “Is this the crazy kid from the hospital?”

  But John ignored his comment. “Behind the mountains lies the sea.”

  Simon grinned, albeit strained. They needed to get out of here, but John had him trapped, moving the manchado in sync with the chestnut, thus preventing Simon from riding off into the forest.

  “I know. That’s why I’m doing this in the first place. Look, man, we have to get out of here before—”

  “Simon, stop it!” Finally, Captain Eleven caught up with them. She was followed closely by Dr. Wagner.

  Simon laughed, panicky now. “What is this? What are you doing? This is a blasting site!”

  01:44

  “One small explosion might cause a giant blow-out,” Peter explained. When he saw Simon’s dumbfounded expression he elaborated, “We found gas in place in the rocks around the waterfall. This whole range is basically one giant mountain, so it is entirely possible that there are more gas pockets. We should test this area before we blow anything up.”

  “Too late,” Simon replied, his face ashen. “There is no way we can reach the timer in time. I stuck it way back in the cave. We can only pray and run.”

  With that he put spurs to his horse and dashed off to the safest distance. Emily followed him closely. She recognized a lost cause when she saw one. The next best thing to do was to warn the settlers and start preparations.

  01:28

  Peter and John exchanged a glance.

  “Oh, please, John. You are not just thinking what I think you’re thinking!” Peter groaned, torn between the desire to run away and the reluctance to leave his friend and past lover in harm’s way.

  “If it helps,” Eugenia piped up. “I know what he’s thinking, and you are right, Peter.”

  “No, Eugenia, it doesn’t help.”

  “I can make it on horseback,” John said. “Take Eugenia.”

  Peter and Eugenia gave their veto in unison.

  “You’ll never find the timer!” Peter said at the same time Eugenia cried, “Stop thinking of leaving!”

  01:00

  John looked at Peter. “It cannot be that hard to find a bomb.” To Eugenia he said, “Since you’re already in my head—look harder, will you, woman?!”

  Her face fell when she did as he told her and found what she had been looking for. John was going to leave, he thought of little else these days. But he wasn’t going to leave her behind.

  “With me,” she whispered.

  “Yes, with you. After rescuing you from drowning, did you really think I’d let you out of my sight again? Now, get off my horse.”

  “Suicide,” mumbled Peter, but he didn’t know how to stop John.

  Eugenia slid down from the horse. As soon as her feet touched the ground, though, the two horses suddenly rose and galloped into the woods as if on a voiceless command. Carrying their horsemen with them.

  00:43

  On her own now, Eugenia raced towards the entrance of the cave. She knew where the timer was and how to stop it, she had seen it in Simon Jones’ head.

  00:31

  In the distance she heard John holler her name through the woods, but she knew the animals wouldn’t stop until they were far enough away and safe. All she could think about was that John was going to take her with him. It was all she wanted, she was surprised to find out.

  00:24

  Even if her people didn’t worship her, even if she had to live with the constant pain in her head; nothing mattered, because he would be with her, and that was all she would ever need.

  00:17

  The cave was enormous and dark, making it harder than usual to see. Her eyes weren’t used to the darkness anymore; they had slowly begun to get used to the brightness of the day. The sudden change in lighting made her blink in confusion. She stumbled and hit the ground running.

  00:09

  Quickly she scrambled up again. The timer was in a small hole in the wall at the far end of the cave. Not long now.

  00:04

  Her fingers, seeking hold, flew along the wall. She was close, she had to be close. It was too dark to see and too silent to get by on hearing. All she had was the rock wall to hold on to and the map of Simon Jones’ mind.

  00:01

  And then nothing.

  * * * *

  When John was done cursing the manchado to Hades and back, he began yelling at Peter to make the horses stop. But even the geologist, who grew up on a farm and knew horses like the back of his hand, was at a loss. Never had he seen animals behave like this.

  “She commanded them to run to safety!” John shouted against the airflow.

  “I know she has you wrapped around her little, lovely finger, John, but even you should know that no such thing is possible!”

  “With her anything is possible.”

  “I think you’re making it worse by trying to steer the poor thing.” Peter obviously meant the horse. John tried to get her to turn around, or turn any way except the direction they were headed. But all he accomplished was that the mare whinnied in distress; foam started to bubble around her mouth.

  “Sorry, old lass.” He let go of the reins and patted her soothingly on the neck.

  The explosion was bloodcurdling. It wasn’t just one blow, although that was how it started. One blow. Then another and another, a whole symphony of them, overlapping each other as the gas in the rocks ignited and broke free.

  The only thing louder than the blasts of the explosion seemed to be John’s howl as he cried out, knowing Eugenia wouldn’t hear him anyway.

  Finally the animals stopped. It took him a second to realize it, then he yanked on the reins once more and drove the horse back towards the detonation site.

  He never reached it.

  The water came flooding through the woods. It took all his strength to get himself and the mare out of its way.

  * * * *

  Suddenly, it was hours later. Peter only found him because the manchado kept neighing, either in attempts to make its rider move, or desperate cries for hel
p. In any case, Peter found him on a fallen tree, staring at the mossy ground. Just sitting there, like he was waiting for something to happen; or everything.

  He told him they kept looking for Eugenia, but parts of the mountain had crumbled and buried everything, including, luckily, the passage to the sea; so at least the flooding had stopped. Perhaps she was trapped under the rocks. Perhaps she wasn’t fatally wounded. Perhaps she could still be saved.

  But John knew they wouldn’t find her; and if they did, she’d be long dead. She wasn’t in his mind anymore, and he realized now she had always been there, from the moment he had first set foot on this planet that was now no more than a forsaken rock like every other in the endless night of the universe.

  The crazy girl with no name was no more. He felt he should be running away as fast as the ground would carry him. But he found he couldn’t move a single muscle.

  * * * *

  Chapter 32: Back on Earth

  FADE IN: INT. HEADQUARTER—DR. s DELUCA’S ROOM—EARTH—NIGHT/DAY

  Tom de Luca is pacing up and down in the tiny chamber, while Phil deLuca is showing General Fatique the equipment.

  PHIL: See that little red light? There? Over the monitor?

  FATIQUE: I am hardly blind, Dr. deLuca.

  PHIL: Of course, sir. But, you see, it should be green.

  FATIQUE: And what does it mean when it’s not green but red?

  Tom stops his pacing.

  TOM: It means Jack is offline. Again.

  FATIQUE: Jack?

  PHIL: I prefer Tony. The wormhole. We can open a connection to any place in the database—

  FATIQUE: (interrupts) We only need the concoction to Alternearth.

  PHIL: (continues) —except Alternearth.

  FATIQUE: Please. Doctors. What are you telling me? Elizabeth is over there right now!

  PHIL: Remember when the connection to Alternearth got severed before? Well, that’s what’s happened again. And try as we might—

  TOM: And we did try, sir! For hours!

  PHIL: We can’t get it to reopen.

  TOM: It’s just like what happened before.

  PHIL: (softly, to Tom) I just said that.

  TOM: (the same) And I said it again.

  PHIL: (the same) Are you telling me I didn’t say it right?

  TOM: (the same) I was repeating. Not correcting.

  FATIQUE: (oblivious to their banter) But you got it working again before, eventually?! Just do whatever you did last time.

  TOM: We didn’t do anything.

  PHIL: Tony, sorry, Jack reopened by itself. We had nothing to do with it.

  FATIQUE: Well, if it reopens by itself, then we’re good, aren’t we? We can just wait and bee.

  TOM: And then when it did reopen, all the settlers were gone and everything was weird.

  FATIQUE: Great Ceres! This is a nightmare!

  PHIL/TOM: (unison) You took the words right out of our brain, sir.

  FATIQUE: Do something, doctors! And do a better job then last time. We sent over two hundred people through that gateway, gentlemen; we’re responsible for their well-being. Do whatever you have to do to and get me those settlers back!

  With that, Fatique leaves the room. Tom and Phil share a look.

  PHIL: If you correct me in front of the General again, I will so delete your favorite elf character from the game!

  TOM: Repeating, Phil! Not correcting! Besides, we have more important things to deal with now.

  PHIL: Right.

  A moment of awed silence. Then Phil quickly grabs for the telephone receiver.

  PHIL: I’ll call Gerald.

  TOM: Tell him to start a call cascade! I’ll race down to the cafeteria and tell Bobby in person. He just got in a large shipment of those little chocolaty peanut treats!

  PHIL: This is bliss!

  TOM: Bless the General for sending Burke away at just the perfect time.

  PHIL: (solemn) Yes. Bless him.

  FADE OUT.

  * * * *

  And then nothing.

  * * * *

  Chapter 33: Shiva

  “They say accept children with reverence, educate them with love, send them forth in freedom.

  “Here lies the freest of them all: our daughter. The source of our hearts’ delight, the meaning of our lives, the candle in our darkest night.

  “I thank each one of you who have gathered here today to give Eugenia the last farewell as we release her soul into the vast universe and give her body back to the earth. I do not miss a single face in this crowd. I truly believe that everyone is here today, since most of you knew her.

  “She was the youngest child in our village, but also, admittedly, the loudest and liveliest. And had you known her ‘ere we came here, you might not have recognized her spirit; Eugenia used to be quiet and introverted. She didn’t speak, though the doctors we went to see about her condition all said it wasn’t for lack of ability. All her organs functioned perfectly; she simply chose not to talk to us. Until we set foot on this planet. For reasons unfathomable, something moved her soul here and prompted her to speak.

  “You may remember her unrelenting questions. She wanted to know everything about everything, and she wouldn’t stop digging for information, not even when you told her to go away. She was pampered by us in this regard; our spoiled goddess, as we called her.

  “Always asking for more, ever curious, up until her very last breath; the moment she walked too close to the edge and fell down the cliff. Once again we wish to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who jumped after her into the sea and tried to save her. Especially young Monroe, who, I know, is blaming himself for getting caught in an eddy and losing sight of her. Son, it is not your fault. It was, as terrible as it sounds, as impossible as it is to accept, simply an accident.

  “As we carry our only daughter to the grave, we will lay her to rest in a tomb made from the most beautiful stones this planet has to offer. Let us honor her life by celebrating her death. Let us be eternally grateful for this place that awakened her spirit. And let us never forget what she was: the first one to die, but the last one we will forget.

  “We ask all of you to walk into the tomb now and place the flowers and stones you collected beside her coffin. If you wish to speak something, please feel free to do so. I have no doubt she will hear your words.

  “My wife and I will be the last ones to visit her, then we will seal the door and withdraw into our home to mourn.

  “Before we part, though, I would like to share with you a song Eugenia sang to her doll every night since we came here. It is that you should remember her by, not the cold, limp body some of you glimpsed that day. I’ll merely speak the words she used to sing, because no grown up can sing off-key quite as lovely as a child:

  “The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.”

  * * * *

  Chapter 34: Back When Forever Was an Option

  They never found Eugenia’s body. It was impossible to get through the fallen rocks and detritus. John was relentless in his search, but even he had to give up at one point. Still, Mayor Rochester thought it was adequate to hold a commemoration and use this opportunity to tell the settlers everything about her and about what he knew about the fate of the first wave of colonists.

  John didn’t attend the service. Peter was reluctant to leave him by himself, but he also thought it was for the best. He made tea while John was in is usual spot on the couch.

  “It’s not your fault, John,” he said quietly. He put the steaming cup on the table and squatted down in front of his friend, the better to look him in the eyes. But John averted his gaze; kept staring out of the window, without really seeing anything. There were no tears on his face. There hadn’t been a single one, Peter recalled, since the accident. He softly placed a hand on John’s knee. He remembered being in this place. His own pain crept up on him, knocked on his mind, tried to sneak back in again.

  “I know it’s hard,
I’ve been there. But, John, you’re not in it alone. You have friends here who care for you. People who mourn Eugenia in their own way.”

  John’s only reaction was to turn his head away.

  “Don’t leave me standing on the outside,” Peter pleaded.

  There was no way to tell if John was even aware of him being there. He looked exactly like Peter thought he himself must have looked like when he was in that place a year ago. Once more he patted his friend’s knee. Then he got up to give him the time and space he needed to come to terms with everything.

  He made it to the door, but then John suddenly spoke. His voice was trembling and the words sounded brittle. “I’ve never felt like this, Peter. Like I can’t even breathe anymore.”

  There were no right words of consolation in Peter’s experience. So he went with the truth. “I know.”

  “It is like a hole in the world, and everything is empty now.” John still wasn’t looking at Peter but kept his gaze to the floorboards.

  “There isn’t a word strong enough to describe the pain so people would understand,” Peter agreed.

  John lifted his head to finally look at him with glassy, unfocussed eyes. “Is that how it was for you when your husband died?”

  Peter thought of the pain that had somehow managed to weasel its way back into his head and admitted, “It still is.”

  “How can you live like this?”

  How indeed, pondered Peter. He was at a loss for words. The truth was cruel, but a lie was deceiving and therefore more painful. After a while he settled on, “You get by. Eventually.”

  Then he left to attend the commemoration.

  John ghosted through the empty house until night fell. He didn’t know what he was doing, he didn’t know how he could stop doing it. All he wanted was to run away again, and yet this time it seemed impossible. There was nowhere to go anymore. As much as he all but yelled at his body to do as he told it, it refused to move.