The Atlantis World (The Origin Mystery, Book 3) (8 page)

They had truly sacrificed for each other, laid it all on the line when the stakes were highest. That was the definition of love.

At that moment, he knew that whatever she was doing, she was protecting him. But from what?

When the round portal slid open, David and Milo both rushed to it.

They stepped aside as the flat table extended.

Kate opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling… confused?

Her expression changed upon seeing David and Milo. She smiled.

Milo glanced back and forth between Kate and David. “I’m very glad you’re okay, Dr. Kate. I… need to do something on the surface now.” He bowed and exited.

David was actually impressed at the young man’s intuition. Milo never ceased to amaze him.

Kate sat up. Her face was fresh, the blood gone, her skin glowing. David spotted a small area, just beyond her ear, where Alpha had shaved the hair to access her brain.

Kate quickly pulled some of her brunette locks over it and turned her head away, hiding it. “How’d you find me?”

“The power.”

“Clever.”

“I was due.” David sat on the rigid table and put his arm around her.

“You’re not angry.”

“No.”

Kate narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

“I have some bad news.” David took a breath. “Alpha did a scan before your surgery. You have a neurological condition. I can’t remember the name. The life expectancy… Alpha could be wrong, but it said four to seven days.”

Kate displayed no emotion.

“You knew?”

Kate stared at him.

David hopped off the table and faced her. “How long?”

“Does it matter?”

“How long?”

“The day after the plague.”

“
Two weeks ago?
” David shouted.

“I couldn’t tell you,” Kate said, sliding off the table and closing the distance to him.

“Why not?”

“I have a few days left. If you knew, every day would be agony for you. This is better. Sudden. You can move on when I’m gone.”

“I’m not interested in moving on.”

“You have to. That’s your problem, David. When something bad happens, you refuse to move on—”

“What’s happening to you?” He pointed to the vats. “What is this? Why are you dying?”

Kate stared at the floor. “It’s complicated.”

“Try me. I want to hear it all. From the beginning.”

“It won’t change anything.”

“You owe me this much. Tell me.”

“Okay. I was conceived in 1918. My mother died in the Spanish flu pandemic, a pathogen my father unknowingly unleashed when they uncovered an Atlantean ship buried off the coast of Gibraltar. He placed me in a tube, where I remained until I was born in 1978. What I didn’t know, until a few weeks ago, is that those tubes were used for resurrecting Atlantean scientists in the event that they died unexpectedly.”

“You’re one of those scientists.”

“Close. Biologically, I’m the child of Patrick Pierce and Helena Barton, but I have
some
of the memories of one of the scientists on the Atlantis expedition. What I didn’t know is that Janus—”

“The other member of the Atlantean research team.”

“Yes. Janus erased some of his partner’s memories. I only got some of the memories. Janus’ partner had been killed by Ares.”

“Another Atlantean.”

Kate nodded. “A soldier. A refugee from their fallen homeworld. Thirteen thousand years ago, off the coast of Gibraltar, he tried to destroy the scientists’ vessel—this vessel. He only split it in half. Janus was trapped in the section on the Moroccan side of the Straits of Gibraltar. He longed to resurrect his partner, but he had a secret, something I didn’t realize until two weeks ago.”

“Which was?”

“He wanted to bring her back without some of her memories.”

“The corrupted resurrection files.”

“Yes. I think they’re about something she did. I believe those memories take place on the Atlantean homeworld or possibly on their expedition.”

“Why hide the memories from his partner?”

“It’s something that damaged her beyond repair, changed her.”

“Why didn’t you know about the memories before? Why now?”

“I think her memories were always there, driving me, influencing my decisions. My choice to become an autism researcher, my quest to isolate the Atlantis Gene—it all makes sense in light of these repressed memories. But I think they were activated by the Atlantis Plague. I was only able to see the repressed memories after the final outbreak.”

David nodded, prompting Kate to continue.

“The Atlanteans isolated the genes that control aging. They’re disabled for deep-space explorers. The resurrection process takes a fetus, then implants the memories and matures it to around my current age.”

“Then you emerge from the tube, ready to pick up where you left off,” David said.

“Right. But for me, it didn’t happen. I was a fetus, trapped inside my mother’s body. I got the Atlantean memories—those Janus wanted me to have—but the tube couldn’t develop me to standard age. I was born as a human and lived a human life. I formed my own memories.” She smiled. “Some with you. And then the Atlantis Plague hit. I think the radiation retriggered the resurrection process, the evolutionary components. It’s trying to overwrite the memories I formed, but it’s failing. The resurrection process has a failsafe. If the brain is damaged or resurrection fails, the tube destroys the biological matter and recycles it. It starts over.”

“You’re not in a tube.”

“Correct. But the hard-wired processes are the same. My brain, specifically my temporal lobe, will shut down in a few days, and then my heart will stop. I will die.”

“Won’t you resurrect?”

“No. The tubes in this part of the ship are destroyed.”

David’s mind flashed to a memory of four tubes cracking and crumbling to the floor in a pile of white dust.

“It’s better this way. If I resurrected, I would be the same age, with the same memories and neurological condition. The outcome would be the same. I would die an endless number of times.”

“Purgatory. Like the Atlanteans in Antarctica.”

Kate nodded. “This will be better. I will die here and never resurrect. It will be very peaceful.”

“The hell it will.”

“There’s nothing I can do about it.”

“So why all this?” David pointed to the glass vats.

“I’ve been trying to access the lost memories, hoping they could correct my condition.”

David stared at her. “And?”

“They’re gone. Janus must have deleted them. I don’t see how—there are strict regulations around resurrection memory storage. The computer core may have been damaged during the attack. Some memories are corrupted. I had hoped I could find some clue about the enemy that destroyed the Atlantis world, the enemy that could one day come for Earth. It’s the best thing I can do with my time.”

“Not true.”

“What would you have me do?”

“Leave.”

“I can’t—”

“I won’t watch you die here, in a lab, floating in a vat like some experimental rat. Leave with me—”

“I can’t.”

“You can. Look, I grew up on a small farm in North Carolina. I have about half a PhD in Medieval European History, and I’m a really good shot. That about sums me up. I’m in so far over my head here I can’t see the surface, but I will go wherever this road takes us—if we’re together. I’m in love with you. In fact, you’re the only thing I love in this whole world. We can leave here. I can take care of you. You can die like a human. We can enjoy the time you have left, live every day to the fullest.”

“I don’t know…”

“What’s to think about?”

Kate walked away from him. “I’m not going to run away and wither and die. I want to fight. I’m going to press on. I’m going to do whatever I can to help people. That’s why I became a scientist. It’s what I dedicated my life to, and I won’t change in my final hour for a few days of comfort. This is how I want to spend my last hours.”

“What about dying with dignity? About spending the time we have left together?”

“I want that too.”

“I can haul you out of here if it would make you feel better.”

Kate smiled. “I’m not scared of you.”

David couldn’t help but shake his head and grin. “I’d like to remind you that I’m a trained killer.”

“I’m only afraid of untrained killers.”

He laughed, almost against his will. “Unbelievable. Look, all I ask is that you consider it—leaving here. The Immari are defeated. The plague is cured. You’ve given enough. Sleep on it. Let’s talk in the morning, and I hope, leave together.”

He walked to the doors.

“Where are you going?”

“I need some fresh air.”

Paul had been watching the weather system out the plane’s window, wondering if it was a hurricane or just a bad storm. The rain came, first in sheets, then in a constant gale of water, pushing the plane down, bogging the engines and tossing him, Mary, and the three soldiers around.

The plane banked and plunged again, throwing Paul hard against the seatbelt. He felt Mary’s hand cover his and squeeze hard. He wondered if they would make it to Morocco.

C
HAPTER
11

Alpha Lander
1,200 Feet Below Sea Level
Off the Northern Coast of Morocco

Where Kate had needed time and space before, David needed it now.

He tried not to think as he trudged down the ship’s narrow corridors and up the lift to the dank, dark shaft that led to the surface. Against his will, his thoughts drifted to the looming decision. Stay or go.

It was Kate’s decision to make, and he knew that whatever she chose, he would stay with her to the end, no matter what.

He hoped that end wouldn’t be here—in this cold, dark, alien place. He imagined them sitting by the fire at his parents’ home, him reading, her falling asleep in his arms, them sleeping until late in the day, not waking for anyone or anything, living without a care in the world. They deserved it. They had paid their dues.

The faint light of stars broke the total darkness of the round shaft, and David walked out into the moonlit night. Several crates of supplies sat on pallets, some cartons opened and picked over where David and Milo had brought MREs back. The Berbers who controlled Northern Morocco had kept them well-supplied, an obligation they felt they owed David, who had helped them take control of the Immari base at Ceuta. In the distance, the massive base glittered. The lights on the guard towers twinkled and probed the perimeter. The lights from the administrative buildings and houses burned beyond.

The moonlight from above and the burning lights from the base almost made David miss Milo sitting just beyond the farthest crate.

The teenager sat cross-legged, his eyes closed. For a moment, David thought he was asleep, but he opened his eyes slowly and drew a deep breath.

“You should get some sleep, Milo.”

“I would like to. My mind refuses to cooperate.” He stood. “Dr. Kate. Will she live?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Please tell me.”

“She says she won’t recover. She says Alpha’s diagnosis is correct.”

Milo looked away. “There’s nothing you can do?”

“Sometimes there’s nothing left to do but enjoy the time you have left. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Neither said anything after that. They simply lay on their backs, staring at the stars.

An hour passed, maybe longer. David lost track of time. He was barely awake when Milo broke the silence. “Will you stay here?”

“I hope not.”

“Where?”

“America.”

“Where you’re from?”

“Mmm hmm. North Carolina. Where I grew up. If she’ll go.”

“I want to see America.” Milo glanced over. “It’s why I learned English.”

“You should go.”

In the distance, David heard the crack of a branch snapping. He focused, listened. No further sound came.

“Milo, you still have that radio?” David whispered.

“Yes,” he said, patting his side.

“Go below. Don’t come back until I call you.”

Milo narrowed his eyes, then nodded, and snuck out of the clearing at the top of the mountain, back into the darkened shaft.

David receded behind the closest crate and gripped his sidearm. The footsteps had stopped, but someone was still there. He could feel it.