Remnants 14 - Begin Again (8 page)

Jobs had wondered about that. Olga and Noyze had told him some disturbing stuff about how the Alpha colony worked. So when Jobs had seen Echo’s baby, he’d made a guess….

But he hadn’t expected the real story to be so awful.

Echo talked, and Jobs listened.

“So,” she said, “in the end they were going to let me starve. Me and my baby. Because we are imperfect.”

“Excuse me?” Jobs said. “I mean — what?”

“J’ou heard right.”

Jobs nodded. “Okay. So, Mattock and Lyric came with you because —”

“Because they are my friends,” Echo said.

Jobs wanted to know if Mattock liked Echo the way he was beginning to like her. But he didn’t have the nerve to ask Mattock and he certainly didn’t have the guts to ask Echo —

And he definitely didn’t want to question her about her friends’ genetic “purity.” Maybe there was more motivation than just friendship behind Mattock and Lyric’s escape.

Whatever,
Jobs thought.
Echo has no idea how “flawed” we all are.

“You’ll be happy in a green world,” he said abruptly. “We all will.”

Echo placed a tiny kiss on her baby’s forehead before asking, “What does it mean, ‘a green world’?”

Jobs looked at the delicate wisps of hair on the baby’s tiny head. “I don’t know exactly how it will be,” he admitted. “But I can tell you about how it was before the Rock. Some things will be the same — I hope. I believe. Like trees and flowers and rivers and lakes. We’ll be able to grow food pretty easily. There might even be animals, I don’t know —”

“Animals? I’ve seen pictures of some animals. Elephants. And cows.”

Another unknown, Jobs realized. What would they find in this new world? Would animals need to be domesticated? Or would there suddenly be tame house cats and curly-haired poodles roaming the green hills?

Jobs felt slightly dizzy. The possibilities were overwhelming. How could he possibly paint a picture of a place beyond his feeble imagination? A place that currently existed only in Billy’s dreams? In his communion with — the Source. Mother.

If the place existed at all.

“Look,” Jobs said. “I really don’t know how it will be. But I believe in Billy. I wish you would trust in him, too.”

Echo frowned. “I will try. But it’s hard. All I can promise is that I will do what’s best for my child. That’s all I know for sure.”

“Okay,” Jobs conceded. But it was hard to let it go. In his heart, Jobs knew that a gentler, green environment would be far better for Echo’s baby than this harsh, sterile world. But Echo would have to come to that belief herself.

“So, does your baby have a name yet?” Jobs asked, needing to change the subject.

Echo shook her head. “We fled the colony before the Namer could perform the ritual. But even before, Marina never came to me. I think now that no one cared to waste any time on us.

We were worthless to them.”

“You don’t need them anyway,” Jobs said.

Echo winced. “Don’t I?” she said. “They were my — family.”

Jobs wanted to kick himself for being so insensitive. “What I mean is… Why don’t you pick a name? Right now. Go on.”

The baby cooed and Echo smiled. “I have an idea,” she said suddenly. “Will j’ou be the Namer for my baby?”

“Lumina,” he blurted.

“Lumina?” Echo made a considering face — which Jobs found adorable — and then smiled.

“I like that. It’s pretty.”

Jobs laughed. “Whew, I’m glad. It just came rushing out of my mouth!”

“What does it mean?” Echo asked, gently smoothing her baby’s fine pale hair. “Lumina,” she crooned.

“It means light.” Suddenly, Jobs felt all choked up. What was there to cry about? Echo’s baby was blind, but… “Illumination. It sounds right for her,” he added, surreptitiously wiping a hand across his eyes.

“Yes,” Echo said. “It sounds right.”

THE RESPONSIBILITY WAS ALL HIS OWN.

Sanchez was alone. Alone with the Source and his own troubled thoughts.

Since their initial foray, only Sanchez had been allowed inside the ship. Those were Mo’Steel’s orders. The boy was a good leader He was always on guard against trouble.

And he was concerned that Sanchez not be interrupted during his sessions with Billy.

Not everyone was as supportive of Sanchez’s efforts.

Sanchez was no fool. He knew that Newton, at least, eyed him with suspicion, even hatred.

That he — and possibly other Marauders — saw Sanchez as a traitor to their people. As a troublemaker. Someone who was going to destroy the only way of life they had ever known.

And for what?

For a dream.

But Sanchez had no choice. He was what he was. He was the holy man. The storyteller. The voice of wisdom. The shaman. That was a term Violet had explained to him just recently.

Such men — or women — were either revered or despised. Sometimes simultaneously.

Sanchez knew this. He also was acutely aware that the burden of interpreting the message from Billy/Mother/the Source rested entirely on his shoulders.

True, Jobs and a few others had offered to help puzzle out the mystery of what the band needed to do — to provide? — in order to make the regreening ritual a success.

Sanchez appreciated their efforts, but he didn’t allow them one shred of responsibility.

The responsibility was all his own.

It was the way it should be.

But so much could go wrong. What if his spiritual gifts failed him and he couldn’t interpret the all-important message? What if Newton killed him? In either case, the regreening ritual would never be performed.

So much could go wrong.

As if reflecting Sanchez’s dark thoughts, a low moan suddenly seemed to seep up through the ruined floor of the ship. It was both a sound and a feeling of intense sadness. Of suffering.

Sanchez put his hands to his ears but the moaning grew too loud to be kept out. The Source wanted Her pain to be known.

And then, as suddenly as it had come, the sorrow was gone, and in its place was a spirit of…

Sanchez didn’t know the exact term for what he felt emanating so powerfully from the Source.

It reminded him, though, of what he felt radiating from the Alpha girl, Echo, when she cuddled her child to her breast.

Pride. A fierce protectiveness. Power

“Love.”

“Billy?” Sanchez stepped closer to the boy, vaguely surprised that he hadn’t lost consciousness this time.

“What else?” Sanchez whispered. “What do j’ou need from us? What do j’ou want us to do?

We want to be reborn. Billy, why won’t j’ou talk to me?”

“Three elements.”

“Yes?”

“Three elements are needed for Earth to be reborn.”

“Tell me, Billy.”

“The Source. The Five embodied in me. And —”

“Yes? And what?”

“And—”

Sanchez waited, hoping, but Billy said nothing more. After a while, he sensed that Billy was

— dormant. That whatever energy he’d had was gone.

Sanchez left the ship, fervently hoping Billy’s energy would return. Soon.

The Source. The Five embodied in me.

What kind of mumbo jumbo was Billy spouting, anyway?

2Face crept through the shadow. Claw was on guard, the idiot. Everyone else was asleep. She had no trouble sneaking away from camp and toward the ship.

Sanchez and his stupid messages. Couldn’t he see that the whole thing was a big farce? That Billy was just yanking his chain — everybody’s chain? Was she the only sane person left on Earth?

Don’t answer that,
2Face told herself.
The truth is too depressing.

With a quick glance over her shoulder, 2Face stepped into the ruined ship. The interior was only slightly darker than the perpetual gloom outside. In a moment, her eyes had adjusted to the dimmer light.

Good. Because she needed to find something. Some damning evidence against Billy. If only she had a camera! Then she could catch the jerk in the act of climbing out of whatever invisible contraption he’d erected to make it look like he was suspended in midair.
No strings,
my foot,
2Face thought angrily. At best, Billy was a magician. At worst, a complete and total fraud.

Hey,
she thought,
maybe I’ll even find a weapon, something I can use to destroy Billy right on
the spot.
The freak seemed indestructible, but 2Face had no doubt she could find a way to eliminate him. Once and for all.

A shudder ran through her then. Unexpected but… Okay, she was scared. She’d admit it. A teeny bit. Actually, more creeped-out than scared. Tate — or what was left of her — was lumped only twenty or so feet away. Back before the Rock, 2Face hadn’t been one for those stupid Halloween movies about teenagers too moronic to stay away from haunted houses and psycho killers. She was not at all down with the notion of ghosts and such. Even after being stranded on this freakish dead planet, what Violet called “home to seven billion ghosts.”

Please. 2Face had never sensed any dead person’s presence.

Still, 2Face couldn’t help but make sure Tate’s skeleton was still where they’d found it, falling out of that old Shipwright’s chair. Yeah. It was there. Gross as ever.

With one final sneer at Tate, 2Face headed toward the alcove and was genuinely surprised to find Billy still suspended in the humming golden glow. His eyes were open and unblinking; his chin rested on his chest; his hands and feet hung limp.

The sight of him made 2Face sick.

“Come on, you freak, say something!” she taunted. Images of when she and Billy had been close stabbed at her mind’s eye and made her wince.

In the next second, full of revulsion, 2Face lunged at Billy, fists flying — but her flesh never touched his. The golden aura was alive with power and repelled her assault. 2Face was thrown back several feet and came to a crash landing, flat out on her back.

It took a few minutes for her head to clear. Finally 2Face struggled up onto her elbows and tried to quell the whirring of her stomach. And then she saw it. The smirk on Billy’s face.

Yeah, no doubt about it. He was laughing at her.

“It’s not over between us,” she swore, climbing awkwardly to her feet.

But even as she swore final vengeance, 2Face’s spirit sagged. She slunk from the ship, determined to destroy Billy — and despairing of ever being able to do so.

Violet looked closely at the group gathered around her behind the ruined ship. Her adrenaline was high.

“Sanchez is making progress,” she said. “We’re getting closer to knowing what Billy needs from us. The stakes are higher now than ever.”

“We should be on constant alert,” Olga said.

Noyze nodded. “We can’t afford to let anyone screw up Billy’s plan. Or to hurt Sanchez.”

Violet felt a rush of anger at the thought of anyone harming the storyteller. “We need to enlist you, Edward,” she said, nodding at the little boy.

“I’m on it,” he answered solemnly. “I’m the Chameleon.”

“I’ll help, too,” Roger Dodger said eagerly.

Violet nodded. “Good. You boys keep an eye on the main suspects and report back.”

“Right.” Noyze frowned. “And the main suspects are? Newton, for sure.”

“Yeah,” Olga said. “He’s prime. But that doesn’t mean we should let anyone off the hook. I don’t mean to sound so suspicious, but… I think there’s a possibility of any one of the Alphas or Marauders panicking and ruining our future.”

“I agree,” Violet said. “Okay, from this moment on. Operation Look Alert is in effect.”

“IT MAKES NO SENSE UNLESS YOU BELIEVE IT DOES.”

“Edward and Roger Dodger are out scouting,” Violet reported to the group gathered at the base of a petrified staircase to nowhere. “Edward’s gone Chameleon and Roger Dodger’s hanging with the Marauder children. One of them might have overheard an adult say something incriminating. And you know how kids talk.”

“And the Alphas?” D-Caf asked.

“Echo and Lumina are with Aga,” Olga said, “With Aga’s care, the baby is really beginning to grow strong.”

“I put Mattock and Badger on guard outside the ship.” Mo’Steel winced and shifted his bad leg into a more comfortable position. “I’d bet my last ounce of water we can trust both of them completely.”

“Maybe,” Violet said. “I saw Lyric with Yorka. And Sanchez is with Billy, of course. Have we accounted for everyone else?”

Jobs sighed. “Let’s stop roll call and get down to business. We’ve got to figure out the final element of the regreening ritual! We’re supposed to be smart, right?”

Mo’Steel laughed. “Well, at least our parents were. We were just along for the ride on the
Mayflower.”

Violet smirked. “Speak for yourself. Come on, everyone. We can solve this mystery. We have to!”

“Yes, Nancy Drew,” Noyze said primly.

“First question,” Olga said. “What does Billy mean by the Five embodied in him? Maybe if we understood that…”

Jobs’s brain began to fire. What ever happened to the Missing Five? The five people from the Mayflower who were never accounted for in the end. Chances were they were long dead.

Dead and buried in the ruins of Mother somewhere. Where else could they be?

Unless…

Tate’s recorded message. She said that she’d incorporated — literally — Yago, Amelia, and Charlie. That made Tate an “aggregate person,” of sorts.

“The Troika,” Jobs mumbled, thinking aloud.

Mo’Steel nodded. “The Trinity. Three people in one. It makes no sense unless you believe it does.”

“I think,” Jobs said slowly, “that the Missing Five from the Mayflower were incorporated in Billy.”

“How?” Noyze wondered.

“Maybe Mother did it,” Jobs said. “We’ll never know. Remember how Billy was sort of in everybody’s head during the five hundred years on the
Mayflower.
It was part of what drove him crazy. Maybe the five — got in then — somehow. And never got out.”

“Having only five strangers in his head can’t be as bad as having eighty,” D-Caf quipped. “I hope.”

“Maybe they’re not even separate people anymore. Maybe they’ve all merged and Billy is one in many, and many in one.”