Angel
light at Dead End
by
Diane Marie Taylor
Prologue
When the rainbow streaked across the stormy sky and
caused a glow behind the high
Her math and science books hit the cement with a thud as Sheila put up her fists and rocked her body on the balls of her feet. “Come on girl, if you think you can!
Black eyes blazing with fire she stood in fighting posture with her back protected by the wire fence. No dummy or innocent here, with her long, curly black hair flying in the wind and her dark olive skin turned a vivid pink from anger and her tiny nose and mouth crunched into a tight, hard grimace. Sheila was ready to pounce on the other girl if she dared to take another step toward her.
“Hay. All I did was call you a Black Chic. I didn’t mean it,” said Lane with her long, straight brown hair and pink jacket standing in front of the tornado of a girl, who seemed ready and willing to fight to the death.
Then a young boy’s voice called from the
street behind Lane, “Yah,
Mocking laughter followed with more snowballs. The barrage of snowballs might have continued except that old Mrs. Walton came outside on her porch at that moment to shake out her throw rugs. “Get along,” she called, “You boys get along and leave those poor girls alone.” Very firmly, she yelled, “Right now!
James dared to yell out, “Just a game,” and then in a lower voice, “You old biddy.” Then he thought better about staying, turned, and ran down the street. The other boys ran with him, whooping and laughing at their friend who had dared to call Mrs. Walton an old biddy.
“Ain’t no peace now a days,” they heard Mrs. Walton say as she shook out the last rug against the wooden railing, “Ain’t no honor nor sense.” She grabbed up her rugs and went back into the house.
The ice ball had hit Lane in the head real hard. It felt like her head was going to explode. She slid to the ground and sat in the wet snow with her knees up and holding her head in her hands. It felt like her head wanted to fall apart. It hurt and she couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks.
Sheila had been knocked against the fence by both snowballs hitting her at once. She straightened up to shake the cold snow out of her hair and off her neck. Her anger was directed at the fleeing boys now, not the girl who was sitting in the snow in front of her holding on to her head. Maybe she needs help, she thought. She stooped down beside the other girl. “You ok? Sheila asked, “You need help getting up?”
Her vision now blurred by tears and snow, Lane sniffled and looked up at the milk chocolate face now hunched down near her own. Blurred eyes or not, she could still see the girl’s large black eyes and wild, dark hair flying like wings around her head. Interestingly, a banged-up head didn’t stop her mind from spinning a bit of envy. Wish my hair was curly like that, she thought. Wish my own brown, drab hair wasn’t so straight and ugly. Well, that isn’t any reason to call names. Besides, with those looks, Red would be drooling to get close to her if I brought her home for a visit. Then I could borrow any of his t-shirts I wanted.
“I think I do need help,” Lane said, feigning more helplessness than she felt.
“Here take my arm.” Sheila said as she lifted Lane up off the cold ground.
“My name is Sheila.”
Mine’s Elaine, Lane for short.”
And so began a lasting friendship between the two girls that would carry them into dangers totally unimagined this cold spring day. Soon they would leave earth normal time and step into Dead End.
Chapter 2 Aireramegishia is
Pulled to Earth
Detroit, Michigan, 2016 AD, Michigan Avenue, FBI basement, Covert Underground Ops-Room, Level Five, Top, Top Secret.
Plop. The energy being named Aireramegishia felt his insides and outsides split. The fall would have certainly hurt him bad if he had been in bodily form, but he was not. Although, he mused, if he had been in body form, he might not have fallen into this earthly matrix mess in the first place.
He’d been traveling along minding his own business when suddenly he felt himself pulled and slammed down into something hard. Aireramegishia now felt himself squeezed into a computer matrix, a matrix that now caught and held him with a super-magnetic grip. Where am I? He asked himself. Then suddenly with even greater shock. Where is the rest of me?
His agile mind defined his predicament within a split second. A part of him was captured inside a computer dedicated and hooked directly by a fiber optic interface to a steel vault. His mind and essence kept flipping back and forth between the two places. Not only that, but other parts of his essence or body had split off into pieces and went flying off into the planet’s past and future. Pieces of his invisible energy essence was now frizzing and plopping through different aspects of earth time.
The earliest plop of energy landed in the 1986 era, the latest in the year 2047. He, the body proper, most of him, the being who called himself Aireramegishia, kept rolling back and forth like a cue ball hit by a stick, with every bump sending him hither and fro between the computer and steel vault and between an earlier time and a far later one. Aireramegishia’s mind began to unravel as it became more and more dizzy, so dizzy it took many long minutes for his mind to clear up completely. By then it was far too late.
During this mad travel back and forth through the time matrix of human history and future, he eventually learned more than he ever wanted to know about humans and their crazy world. But that wasn’t the worst part. No, the very worst part was living through and witnessing those stupid disasters these humans made for themselves. He had to watch the army battles and dirty bombs and then watch them choke in the foul air they created. Finally, he watched them die when they leveled most of their cities. If he didn’t get out of this glass and steel cage he fallen into, he would end in the same way the city ended. He’d already seen it…felt it happen, and it…it…hurt.
At the same time, five stories below ground level, beneath the FBI headquarters:
The guard posted to the Vault Room phoned his boss who was on another floor. “Hey, Joe, looks like something’s wrong with that new computer that controls the Vault.”
“It’s from the Secret Service. What do you expect? Ha.
“Seriously. It just turned off by itself then on again.”
“Well, they put all kinds of hidden traps in their stuff. Just let it go, It’s not our concern.”
The guard thought he could call in a technician to check for a hacker but even he knew that it was supposed to be impossible to hack in. The computer was special government issue. It wasn’t even hooked up to the public internet. He was just walking by anyway, so decided to pass it off as an odd glitch in the computer. Looked like it was running smoothly now and he could see the Vault was safe. What else mattered?
Aireramegishia had landed inside the most secret super computer on earth of the time, the Secret Service’s most advanced, top-secret computer hooked directly by fiber optic to a vault in the same room. Aireramegishia was no dummy about computers, even dizzy as his mind was, he had certainly tried to turn this one off. He pulled switches, sent his energy running down light paths, zeroed in on strange matrixes, and even tried to voice activate a switch to open and let him out.
Nothing he did got him out of the mess. He was trapped inside the center of a computer and its connections which went nowhere while his mind and different parts of his body jumped back and forth across sixty years plus years of time. The looping could possibly go on forever.
His was a genius species; surly he could think of a way to escape. He must escape. These humans were determined to destroy themselves until nothing was left alive, himself included.
Chapter 3 Zoe finds a rose in
Dead End
Zoe knelt before the low laying patch of weeds almost hidden by the broken and charred wooden slab. She stared down at the single, most beautiful sight she had ever seen in her whole life, in her whole world, a world now mostly dead and covered in fine dust. Here it stood, a bright red dot against dingy gray, stiff defiance against the ravages of both man and nature. A single rose bud on a thin, slender green vine, alive and growing.
The thin, green vine twisted in and out of the dusty weeds growing between rocks and stones. Zoe put her face close to the small red bloom that seemed to defy reality. She tried to smell a whiff of rose scent but couldn’t. Maybe because the tiny rose was still a bud. She sniffed. Only burnt wood and a decaying weed odor filled her nose.
The bud was bent over as if struggling to take a next breath, or to hold up its own weight. It can’t pull in enough nourishment from the dull sky. Zoe looked up at the purpling sky and the dismal, weak sunlight that tried to shine through heavy gray clouds. When was the last time I saw real sunshine? She asked herself.
How long has it been since the sky was a deep blue?
A remembered image came to her of green grass, tall trees and a huge expanse of blue above her head on a special day a long ago. That day daddy took her to the park to fly her first kite. She remembered giggling with delight as the kite flew up higher and higher into the turquoise sky. Her little girl mind had worried that the kite might get stuck on one of the fluffy white clouds.
Now the whole world seemed stuck on a gray cloud. She wondered if the silver moon was still up there behind the clouds. Of course it is, silly; the moon didn’t go away just because the world Deadended. With reverence and awe she reached out with her index finger and gently touched a tiny baby rose, lifting it slightly towards the sky. She felt a tear slide down her cheek and didn’t try to wipe it away.
Grandpa had showed her a magazine once with pictures of roses and flowers on every page. Her grandfather used to show her lots of pictures from the sales magazines. He made her read them too even though the pages were mostly torn and mildewed. Some bright colors still showed on the dirty pages. Grandfather used to point to a photo and tell her that was how plants and houses were supposed to look.
The memory of grandfather brought a vision of smiles and his warm, hugging arms. The sickness didn’t take him, it was the fall onto the cement floor that ended him. She shook the memory of his fall out of her mind.
He said once, “I show you photos because you are too young to remember the feel of things. You can’t remember how a warm comforter just pulled from the dryer would feel, so soft you could jump on it and it would bounce. Sometimes it would smell like fresh, just picked roses when you cuddled up in it.”
“I can almost smell the roses,” she’d say.
But then she’d ask him, “Grandfather, what is a dryer?” He cried at her question, so she never asked it again. Grandfather cried about a lot of gone things. Zoe loved him so much she hadn’t ever wanted to hurt him.
He loved to talk about things when he showed her the pictures, photos of huge markets filled with colorful fruits and greens and long isles with boxes covered with writing and cartoon pictures; rows of houses with green grass and flowers growing on fences and tall rose bushes that were so plentiful that they grew wild in yards and near sidewalks that were never broken; and beautiful people who dressed in slick, clean cloths and rode in automobiles and flew in planes and… Zoe squeezed her eyes shut hoping it might squeeze out her thoughts. Stop thinking. It’s all gone now, no use thinking backwards. But right here in front of her was a real, live rose growing in this burnt out city.
Since her grandfather fell and hit his head, only five days ago, she had been slowly working her way out from the core of the inner city. I am alone now, but maybe when I get outside the city I’ll find other people and a lot more wondrous things still alive and growing. Maybe not everything got Deadended.
The worry pushed into her mind that her grandfather had kept her inside the city for safety. The city’s broken buildings had provided canned goods and also shelter from marauding animals and humans. Grandfather had spent long hours teaching her how to read food labels and then trained her to scamper in and out from beneath collapsed buildings. Maybe he had a good reason to keep them here.
She pushed the worry away as a deep longing twisted inside her belly, an unrelieved loneliness, an empty pit that needed to be filled. She just had to find other people, good people, real people. There must be more people like herself. People who weren’t sick or bad.
She heard a sudden scampering noise behind her and turned just as a short, skinny man wearing a blue and red faded flag around his body with a head full of wild hair grabbed at her legs to throw her off balance. Quick and agile, she was able to scamper beyond his reach.
She saw that his eyes were red and swollen with sickness and starvation. As his hands reached out for her again, she cringed when she noticed the dirt caked in the sores of his skin. Germs, very dangerous. I need to find more humans, but not like this; this thing is no longer human. He has become an animal. Zoe avoided his dirty hands with ease. Her grandpa had taught her well how to get away from this kind of animal. Then her calm turned to shock when she noticed that his clumsy groping had broke the rose stem off at its base.
“Oh no,” she cried swiftly reaching down and plucking the broken rose from the black soot and stones where it now lay. It would die now because it had been broke off from the root, its only nourishment. Before, it couldn’t get enough sun from the sky and now it can’t get any food from the ground.
“No.” she screamed.
Eyes blazing, Zoe stood up suddenly, twisting and twirling with her foot aimed in a karate kick as she yelled out, “Augh, you stupid animal.”
Her jangled nerves and mind screamed at her to keep kicking at the ugly, hairy face and bony ribs that poked out of his torn shirt. She wanted to kill this thing that would have raped her a few minutes ago, but she stopped herself before the second kick. The man was so sick and weak that he fell back to lay on top of the weed pile and was now gasping for breath. He scooted away with his frog arms and legs in an effort to get away from her next kick.
He will be dead soon enough, she didn’t need to hasten it. If she killed this man now, as weak and helpless as he was, she would become an animal like him. It would have been easy for Zoe to beat the man into a pulp, with all the tricks she had learned from her grandfather, but instead she turned away, crying. A quick tear rolled down her dirty, grit rubbed cheeks as she cradled the tiny red, rose bud with its short stem in the cup of her hands.
All the frustration and pain of these last days she’d spent alone fighting to survive without her grandfather suddenly tightened her chest in agonizing grief. She looked up at the dirty sky through blurred tears and yelled to heaven and God.
“I vow that one day, roses will grow again, even in Dead End. I will make Dead End live again, I promise.” She screamed at the sky and raised her fist into the dank air of the dirty city.
Chapter 4 Zoe falls into a
deep hole
After her outburst, Zoe clutched the rose tighter in her cupped hands, but she knew that it would soon wilt and die from lack of water. A symbol of her own life? She squeezed tighter as if to protect its life from ebbing away and felt a sharp sting in her palm. Opening her hand, she saw a single bead of blood trickle and roll down through her still bent fingers.
“Yes,” Zoe said out loud, smiling. “It is fitting that such beauty should include a thorn.”
Gently she transferred the wilting rose to in an inside pocket of her jacket and renewed her walk away from the inner city. Zoe’s trek through the city towards it’s edge forced her to climb over fallen boulders and rusted steel beams. She had to move around and from one burnt out building to the next.
By late day, with her hands cut and slivered and small stones crunched between her toes where the sole of her shoe had torn, she felt too tired to care about anything. Dangerous to be tired, dangerous to let a footstep sound louder then the crack of a falling roof or piece of glass breaking. Shouldn’t it all have stopped falling down a long time ago? Maybe the rot will never end. I guess the dusty wind and dark rain keeps the debris alive and rotting. One time, when she was hunting for food with her grandfather, she leaned against a wooden building that collapsed from her small weight. She never made that mistake again.
After a few more minutes of struggling past more fallen buildings, she could no longer ignore the hunger and thirst that gnawed at her belly. Finding a likely spot, she dug down beneath the debris and quietly pulled up boards and chunks of broken cement until she found a former kitchen, maybe a basement. Inside she opened a rotting cupboard door and found tin cans of tuna fish, beans and soup on a bottom shelf. After she gathering up the treasure and stuffed it into her tough jean bag, a bag that grandpa had shown her how to sew together, she climbed back outside. Sitting beneath the slate gray sky she used her can opener on the small can of tuna and ate all the contents. “Chicken of the Sea solid packed tuna in water,” she read on the label.
The tuna also satisfied her thrust so Zoe left her own water bottle unopened. She was tired from the long day and realized she needed to rest, at least, for a few minutes. And my feet hurt. She took her torn shoes off and wiggled her toes. Ah, that feels better. The fallen wood block she had chosen to sit on to eat was comfortable and the wood felt warm beneath her rear and the ground felt warm on her bare feet. After looking around to check for danger, Zoe let her body relax.
She pulled the drying rose out of her pocket. It was becoming shriveled and weak already from lack of water. Would it help to put a few drops of water near the stem? Maybe I could use the empty tin to give it some water. Dare it use up some of my own water? Water would give it a few more breaths of life. She looked at the debris that surrounded her and then the dry, dusky sky. It hadn’t rained in weeks. Water was precious.
Even when grandfather was alive Dead End got harder as each year passed. Grandfather kept trying to hide this fact from her by putting up a brave front, but Zoe knew. A vision of her grandfather, his dark face with a million wrinkles, his chin covered in a wiry white beard, his head once full of short, hair was long gone. She saw him again laying on the broken cement after the fall. He must have felt great pain in his head, but he didn’t complain.
“A simple fall,” he told her. Yeah, so simple it killed him. But he’d been sick too, she’d seen the sickness in him, but kept quiet. Oh, grandfather, how I loved you. She had to force herself to stop remembering. I can’t use the time right now for wistful memories. Wait until dark. Wait until I find a place to hide for the night.
Just as she turned to get up, she saw a dark shadow sliding towards her. It looked like an oil spill, but she knew better. It was growing as it rolled closer. A lump was bubbling up in its middle while globs like a hand was growing in front of the black shadow. When the hand began to rise up off the ground, she was sure it wasn’t a man or animal. For a short second, she was mesmerized by is writhing, uncertain movements, but she recovered quickly and jumped out of the away when the black oily thing stretched out a long tendril towards where she had been sitting only a second ago.
She gulped at the horror but had jumped away quick enough. When it began to grow again and seemed to wave in her direction, she ran. She looked back once saw that the black thing had grown taller and was slowly following behind her. Intuitively, she knew this black thing was the real danger. What ever it was, it was one threat she couldn’t kick away. She ran faster.
Zoe ran as fast as she could in her bare feet as she scampered and twisted past the empty brick buildings. She’d met this same blackness days before when it had crept up her arm like a skinny snake while she sat to rest. She had felt its cold, horrid touch in time and escaped. She’d never heard of such a thing before, and knew her grandfather would have warned her if he’d known about it. Just the thought of its strangeness sent chills running up and down her spine as she ran.
Finally, just as she eluded the black shadow, she tripped and fell, sliding beneath a broken doorway. She didn’t land right away but kept falling further and further down into darkness. Her arms and legs scraped against rough cement as she fell. She bumped and turned and when she grabbed hold of a piece of iron railing it broke and fell with her.
She fell so far down that the dim daylight didn’t follow her into the pit. The basement she fell into was deeper than she’d ever imagined a basement could be. The darkness enveloped everything until she could no longer see what she scraped against. Dizziness overcame her as her shoulder hit something hard and unyielding. Everything went black. She must have blacked out for a long time because even after she opened her eyes and sat up in the strange room, everything was dark and gray, except for dim lights twinkling that circled in front of her face.
Am I awake? She felt a pin prick in the palm of her hand. I seem to be awake. She looked down and saw that in her panic she had grabbed the rose from her pocket. Along with a million tiny cuts, a single thorn was imbedded in the skin of her hand. Smiling, she realized that she had held on to the rose all through her fall into the basement. Bruised and cut all over as she was, a small thorn was nothing to get worked up about. She felt sad for the rose as she put its soft, dying petals to her cheek to caress the little bit of life it had left.
Unexpectedly, a scratchy voice said, “Why don’t you put the rose in water so it will stay fresh longer.”
Red was on his way out his own door when he heard the voice of Lane’s new friend behind her bedroom door. His nerves sizzled at the sound of Sheila’s voice.
Turning into the hallway, he began to bounce the basketball closer to Lane’s bedroom door. He was older than Sheila, old enough to go to go to college next year, but he couldn’t help it, every time Sheila came over to visit his sister, he felt the urge to get close. There was something about her eyes that sent shivers of delight down his spine and oh those puffy lips that turned a deep red when she pouted. He imagined his white hand touching her rosy, dusky cheek and tingled at the mental image.
Actually, he couldn’t figure out why he was so attracted to her. He had lots of girls his own age who wanted to go out with him. He had dated Joanne the other week but for some reason he kept thinking of Sheila while he was on a date with Joanne. He even daydreamed about Sheila during math class the other day. Silly, but right now, she is so close.
Sheila and his sister did everything together, homework, cheerleading practice, cooking, and guy goggling. He was determined to step in between them somehow and get closer to Sheila.
Suddenly Lane’s bedroom door opened and both girls walked out giggling. Red leaned against the hall wall and said, “I’ll bet you two were plotting who will win the school prom queen, right?”
His sister was wearing a red top now. She changed into a different outfit every five minutes. She was tall and thin and said she was going to be a fashion model one day. Not pretty enough, Red thought. Now Sheila, she is something else. Short and shapely, with long, black curly hair and big, dark eyes and coffee cream skin. Wow!
Those big eyes were looking his way as his sister said, “Silly, we weren’t plotting any such thing. We are going to make some brownies.”
“Want to help?” Sheila asked.
Surprised at the invitation, Red said in a mocking voice, “Sure, I love to cook and play like a mom in the kitchen,” but he followed the girls into the kitchen anyway. “What kind are you going to make?
“How many kinds of brownies do you think there are?” Lane said as she twisted a string of her long brown hair in her finger. “Where did mom put the box? It was on the counter earlier.”
“Well, I guess there are nut brownies or double chocolate or…” Red run out of types of brownies embarrassed.
“Dork. What ever kind of brownie mix we find in the cupboard, that’s the kind we’ll make. Mom bought a box when we went shopping. You can look for the box while we get a bowl and turn on the oven.”
“Dork hah,” but Red searched the shelf for the brownie mix. He had mixed feelings about staying in the kitchen to cook brownies with two girls, but Sheila bent down close as she laughed and pulled a cake pan out of the lower cupboard. That evaporated any doubt. He thrilled to hear her tinkling laughter. Enough reason to stick around and play with being a cook.
They mixed the brownies according the to box instructions and decided to play scrabble while they waited for the brownies to cook. Red couldn’t help comparing the two girls while they played. Sheila was short and shapely. She had the habit of biting her big, juicy red lips when she tried to think of a word. Next to her, his sister looked even taller and thinner. Her long, straight, brown hair added to the effect. Sheila’s hair was a bush of curls that framed her diamond face just right.
“It’s your turn, bro. We are waiting.”
Embarrassed, Red said, “Ah, sure.” Red set his word on the board and hoped his face hadn’t turned red to match his hair. Then to change the subject, he asked nonchalantly, “What are you girls going to do later? Maybe we could all watch a movie or something.”
“Wow, bro, would you really take us to a show?” Lane looked searchingly at her brother.
“Well, nah, I guess I wouldn’t. I meant what can we do here. I forgot my car is still on the bum.”
“We could take a bus.”
“Stops me. I am broke until next week,” said Sheila, chewing on her lips once more as she thought of a scrabble word.
“Me too,” said Lane.
“Hey, don’t look at me. I got to save my hard earned money to get my car fixed,” Red exclaimed.
Just then the bell went off from the oven. Brownies done. Lane put on a oven glove and pulled them out. “Too hot to eat. We need to wait a while.
“Don’t matter about the show anyway.” Sheila said as she watched Lane set the brownie pan down to cool, “Remember we were going to try out that mind exercise in the book.”
Miffed that Sheila looked away, Red said, “So what great exercise do you need a book for? Maybe I’ll watch while you both wiggle.” Red’s imagination played a scene with both girls bouncing up and down and sweating.
“Not that kind of exercise. A meditation kind of exercise.”
Just then Red spread out his seven letters on the board to spell “Aerobic” and laughed. “Got yah. You helped me win.”
“Brat.” Lane stuck out her tongue. “Sheila found a book in the library on meditation and consciousness. Weird Eastern stuff, but everybody’s doing it. We want to give it a try.”
“Yah, lots of people meditate. Why do people do it? I guess to relax, but it might be fun.” Sheila said.
“Ohm, ohm, ohm? Red teased.
“I think it will be interesting.” said Lane.
“You’re going to get into a lotus position and sing, Ohm, ohm, ohm,” Red teased again.
“I guess. Is that what you’re supposed to do?” Sheila asked. His teasing seemed to go over her head.
“Yah, Actually. I learned how to meditate in tenth grade. We had a teacher who believed it would keep the class quiet.”
“Did it?”
“Yah, I think it did,” Red laughed. “Must be something in it. I still meditate sometimes, like before a big game.” As Red laughed he worried his freckles might be turning dark red with embarrassment, so he added, “And it calms my nerves after I’ve been out with a beautiful girl.”
“Silly. I am serious.” Lane said.
“Me too. Can you show us how?” asked Sheila. “It’d be better than reading a book to learn.”
“Ah yes, I guess I can.” If I remember how, he thought. “Oh yah, the breathing is the most important thing.” Red said.
“Lets do it.”
“Not here. We need a small, secluded place, quiet, you know? If you want me to show you how to meditate you need to invite me into your inner-sanctum,” Red teased. “Or you can both come into mine.”
“No, my bedroom will be ok. I guess you can come into my bedroom this once, but only because I am giving you a one-time special dispensation, except when you finally fix my computer.”
Sheila laughed at this and Red, thrilled to hear her laughter. He was thinking how he could stretch the time it would take to teach them the basic skills of meditation. Won’t take more than ten or fifteen minutes, he thought. I’ll make it last longer, somehow.
Red didn’t know it, but this meditation trip was going to last a very long time. By its end, they would all be running through Dead End.
Chapter 6 Zoe meets Aireramegishia
Zoe was so startled at hearing a voice through the checkerboard of dark in front of her that she sat up and bumped her head on the cabinet drawer that was sticking out. “Ouch,” this bump stung more than all the other bangs she’d received falling down. Her heart was beating and pounding like a hammer inside her chest while some stupid, imaginary voice spoke to her from out of the darkness.
It is imaginary, isn’t it? She wondered as terror gripped her mind. I only see sparks, am I blind? No, not blind because a swarm of tiny lights flicked on and off to reveal a large, mostly empty room with steel cabinets and desks along with a few padded office chairs that were toppled over on their side. That must be what saved me, Zoe noted. She had landed on top of one of the stuffed chairs that was now turned over. Must be why I didn’t kill myself falling down those long stairs. She shook her head to clear out the buzzing noise that had sounded like words.
“The small room in the far corner should have enough water left in the sink to keep a rose alive. If not, there is bottled water in the storage room. Might be a can or jar too, if not, you can wrap the rose in a paper towel,” the gruff voice said.
Zoe turned her head back and forth but saw no one. Ready to run, but finding that she had no place to run too, she instead looked down at the wilting rose and decided to go find the water. She struggled to get got up, and did on shaky legs. Still slightly dizzy, she walked to the small room in the corner, opened the door, and saw a toilet and sink.
The voice had been right. Water dripped out of the faucet as soon as she turned the handle. This was a new experience for her because most of the faucets where she had lived didn’t work anymore. A roll of paper towels hung down from a rack on the wall. As she put a wet towel to her own face, she noticed a shelf of various sized glass jars with dried stuff inside. She chose a small jar, poured out the dry stuff, filled it with water, and set her rose inside.
Zoe smiled with pleasure. But as she remembered the unknown voice, she looked around to see where she could run to. No place. She was cornered. She shrugged and went back into the large room lit by small sparking lights to confront the person who had spoken. She wasn’t too worried. She’d kick who ever it was just like she kicked the sick man outside.
Chapter 7--Zoe
learns the voice is Aireramegishia
She didn’t find a man or anyone inside the room. Her search merely revealed a thousand different colored lights flickering in rows on a huge metal wall. A moment ago there had been only a few lights, now there were hundreds.
“Thank you,” Zoe called into the room at large, turning and looking again for the person who owned the voice, “Thank you for saving my rose.”
“I was pleased to help, Zoe.”
“You know my name?”
“You would be surprised at what I know, young lady. I know that a few minutes ago you made a pledge to heaven. You promised to make Dead End live again. I waited for you to run this way and opened the tunnel so you could enter. Zoe suddenly felt a fright that chilled her. Is this the shadow? She looked around the room, but found nothing black and oily.
“You won’t find anything. And don’t worry. I am not the dark thing that chased you.”
This time the voice came from her right. “Can you read my mind too?” Zoe spoke to the right side of the room.
“Maturity can often pass for omniscience.” The voice now came from above.
“You say you’re mature?” Zoe looked up. Nothing.
Suddenly the voice spoke loud and stern, “I am older than this ball of clay you call earth.”
This time the voice had came from all four corners of the room.
“Oh. Hey, where are you anyway?”
“Never mind for now. Now that you have arrived we have business to attend to. Remember that pledge you made?”
“We’ll, but…I don’t know. I am all banged up, bumped, and I hurt all over.” She reached down and ribbed her knee, it felt like it was beginning to swell and her arm hurt bad too.
“Your injuries are minor. On the other hand, the state of your world is not. It is dead or dying quickly and there is little hope for recovery.”
Just then, as if to give weight to the voice’s doomsday prediction, Zoe felt the room shudder and shake then she heard a crash from a far off section of the basement as the building began to settle once more. Better find a way to climb out of here soon, she thought.
The voice had been silent for a few minutes. Zoe, unsure of which direction to talk, faced forward and spoke to the flickering lights that lined the metal wall. “I’ve been living in Dead End most of my life, you aren’t telling me anything I don’t know. And…and…I need to get out of here.”
Silence pervaded the room except for a very low hum. Zoe tried again. “I don’t suppose you could open a stairway for me to go up like you did a tunnel for me to fall down, could you?”
Zoe looked over at her wilted rose. She’d set the glass of water with the rose bud on a low cabinet. The rose was still drooping over the edge of the glass. “How can I help save a whole world if I can’t even save a single rose?” She was beginning to think that maybe she did hit her head and her mind was spinning out of control. This voice could not be for real. Then it spoke again.
“But you did save it. You gave it water just in time. It will live now if you nourish and plant it right.”
“Where can I plant it, tell me? It needs sunlight and water and soil and roots, and….I think I need to get out of here.”
“In your heart, Zoe, that is where the rose can be planted. Your rose can die and be re-born, once re-born it can live in a world that will nourish and cherish it forever. Once inside your heart, your rose can never die.”
Zoe thought about what the voice was saying but it didn’t make much sense.
“How can I put a rose inside my heart?”
“Sigh,” continued the voice, “I wish I could be revived as easily as your little rose with just a sip of love and water.”
Zoe giggled. “You sound like my grandpa. He talks like that, all wise and knowing. He knows ...I mean he knew about everything.” A small sob made her voice quiver as she explained, “He told me a lot about the old world. He...he’s gone now, but he showed me pictures of animals and buildings and air planes and... Can you teach me things like my grandpa did?”
“Alas, I know more than your little mind can ever hold, but I am loosing power swiftly. I will be dead before your rose…I think. Unless you choose to take on the challenge I gave you.”
“What challenge? What do you mean?”
“Didn’t I just tell you? You are impertinent just like the rest of your human race. There are not many healthy human enclaves left by the way. Very few. Most of you are dead or dying all around the globe. I watched it all end. I was a captive audience to your deliberate, asinine destruction.”
“But who are you? Aren’t you human?”
“No, I am not human and never was, thank you. I am a being of energized matter that has been pulled to earth just before your foolish governments self-destructed their civilization. I cannot go back or even very far forward, for that matter. I am stuck here, literally in this one spot, as I continually loop into this world’s near past and future. It is like sitting in front of one of your movie screens and watching the same movie play over and over, forever.” The voice became lower as it added, “Forward and backwards, backwards and forward; the button is stuck on constant rerun.”
“But who are you?”
“You could never understand. It is enough for you to know that I am the only one of my kind on or near earth. I was a pulse of golden energy but now I am stuck in this computer. This room is all that is left of the old technology, at least on this continent. And, I might add, cracking this last computer program that captured me is my only possible means of escape.”
The voice sighed. “If you help me, I promise to help you. I will show you the world as it should be.”
“What did you say? Oh, yes. The world as it should be.” Zoe’s memory of the old world he spoke of was vague, she could almost remember going to a movie once when she was very young. She remembered a lot of trees and green grass and people walking around on a big screen while she sat in a soft seat and ate lots of buttery popcorn.
“Are you unreal like a movie?” she asked.
“No,” the voice said, “I am real enough. You will find out how real if we learn to work together. We need to travel back into your past to find someone who can unhook me from this infernal machine. This might also have a beneficial effect on the time interference motion and the dire events that followed.
“How can…whatever it is you said. I mean, we can’t just go back to the past.”
“I am there now. I exist there as well as here but my life line may end soon unless I can get back to the moment of capture. Then my support will be invaluable and might just prevent the disaster that is to occur, did occur, in your lifetime. Together we may be able to prevent my premature dissipation as well as your world’s.”
“I don’t understand all you the words you use.” Zoe said.
As if she could understand, the voice continued.
“I will attempt to merge my energy with your mind and material body. This will be new to me as well. As far as I know, it has never been tried before, and only desperation leads me to try it now. Still I will need your permission and cooperation, it would hardly do for me to enter inside a rebellious mind as an invader or parasite. Then again, because you are such a primitive race, your mind may rebel in spite of your agreement beforehand.”
“You need to talk slower so I can understand. Did you say if I help you, you can help the world get fixed? With this sort of merging?”
“I believe so.”
“Then lets do it. Do it now before I chicken out.”
Zoe suddenly felt her mind snap and pull out in all directions as if she were a balloon blowing up, then bursting apart.
Chapter 8 Aireramegishia
decides on magic
Zoe woke up laying with her back on the floor. Had she been crying? It felt like it because her face and the front of her shirt was all wet from the tears and she wanted to lay back down and die once more.
“No, you must stay awake. We need to try something different. This attempt to merge didn’t work.”
“Ah,” in a dim part of her mind she remembered a voice named, Airme or gishia or something. It was calling out to her, but she wanted to go back to sleep.
The voice spoke again in a firmer voice, “Wake up, Zoe.” A voice just like her grandpa might have used.
Zoe blinked. Need to wake up. Need to keep the jumbled up visions away. Visions of scenes inside her mind that made the tears run down her face. Need to stop hearing the people scream.
She squeezed her eyes shut and cried out, “Take the screaming people away.”
“Yes, right away.”
“Oh, it was so horrible, too horrible.”
“Yes, I am afraid your human mind is too little to contain me. Your sensation of time and space is different than mine. You are a very primitive people.”
Zoe yelled through her angry tears, “We may be primitive, but we captured you, didn’t we?”
“Don’t remind me of how stupid your great scientists were to grab my presence from space. They didn’t know what they were doing.”
“You failed.” Zoe still felt angry, but then contrite. “I guess we both failed. I did.”
Aireramegishia was vastly disappointed that it hadn’t worked. He had to come up with another method, and soon, or it would be too late. Suddenly, remembering magic shows he had seen during his capture, he got an idea.
“I will reduce myself into a small form, one that you can handle. Yes this I will do.”
Suddenly Zoe noticed the whole underground room all aglow with a white blaze of light. It lasted for a long moment, then it was gone. Everything looked black for a second, but returned to a normal dim gray with small colored lights blinking on and off on the metal wall.
“Pay attention to my instructions. I will direct you to where my substance is. I believe I am compatible to your needs now.” The voice had become small and tiny. Walk forward, turn right and walk forward again. You will come to a round door set into a wall. I will give you a long string of numbers to push on the keyboard, then stand back. A heavy vault door will open. I assume you know how to read?
“Of, course I can read, Zoe said indignantly. “My grandfather taught me to read very well, thank you.”
“No need to get huffy.”
“I am not huffy.” Zoe said, but did as he asked. She walked forward and made another right turn and walked up to a huge fat, round steel door. A number of flat keys were set out in front of the door. Zoe pushed each number carefully as the voice instructed, “3.1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2, 6, 5, 3, 5.”
“I never heard of such a long number before, Zoe said as she pushed the next and the next. Finally, the heavy, thick door rolled open in vast silence. Inside it looked like a maze of shadows, drawers and filled shelves. Zoe heard a buzzing and clicking noise coming from inside the small room.
Aireramegisha instructed her to walk inside the vault.
But Zoe was suddenly afraid. “I can’t,” she complained.
“Now what, oh such a child. I promise nothing will hurt you.”
“Can’t you hear those noises coming from inside?” Zoe’s survival had often depended on caution before entering unknown places.
“It is only the mechanism keeping time. It is a timed vault and we have disregarded its timing. You must hurry before the door closes again.”
Hearing the urgency in his voice Zoe became terrified. She froze where she stood as if on tiptoe.
“Hurry Zoe, you must hurry. You will only need to step inside for a moment.”
Finally, Zoe shuddered and stepped past the edge of the vault. She felt like crying.
“Keep going. Hurry to the drawer marked with the letters C-o-l-e-m-a-n.” Zoe gathered up her courage and looked around inside the shadowy vault. It was so strange, like nothing she had ever seen before, but then, so was this basement room with a voice echoing off its walls.
“Pull out the drawer and look inside for a stone.”
“But it is stuck half open.”
“Can you reach inside?”
Zoe reached her hand into the long, half opened drawer, knowing she would find a rat or snake in its dark recess. Instead her hand closed over a hard stone. She pulled her hand out of the drawer as quick as she could.
“I have it.”
“Hurry now, get out before the door closes.”
Terrified now, Zoe turned and ran out of the vault. She watched in horror as the huge door closed silently and she heard some mechanical lock click back in place. Breathing a sigh of relief, she asked, “What if I got stuck inside?
“You would have been stuck inside until I could re-set the timer, a number of your days maybe weeks.” He didn’t add that he might have been unable to open it again.
“Oh,” was all Zoe could say because her nerves were so jangled. She opened her hand to look at the stone that now felt very warm inside her fist and that had almost caused her to get closed inside the vault.
Chapter 9 A diamond called Airi
“Ohhhhhh, it’s beautiful.” The crystal glowed with a million facets radiating and reflecting very color of the rainbow. Patterns turned into suggestive shapes then disappeared to reform more patterns as if the small crystal couldn’t stay still.
“What is it,” she breathed.
“It is me, or rather, some of myself. Much of myself went skipping to other years.” Aireramegishia continued, “Technically it is a form of carbon, a diamond, but I have inserted my life into its dead core. In this way you can carry me as we search out a person who can rewrite a computer program to insure my release.”
Zoe shook her head to clear it because it now sounded like the voice was coming from two different directions at once, like an echo, but one of the echoes was inside her head.
“I am both places at once, inside and outside. No need to let it bother you. The echo will cease once we leave.” Then Aireramegishia explained that when he tried to merge within her mind his excessive power almost killed her.
“I had to pull most of this existence back into the energy pulse within the containment and only send a small amount of my powerful mind into the crystal. I had to change the polarity of my pulse to fit this world.”
“I don’t understand,” Zoe said with a frown.
He sighed and added: “If I am ever to leave this world, my energy configuration needs to be gathered up and set loose once more.”
“How?” Zoe asked.
“You are very intelligent and learn quickly but, I am afraid, not quickly enough to use a computer. You have never been exposed to a PC let alone a super computer like this one. They were burnt out all over much of the world when you were very young. This room has the only remaining working model of a complex computer in existence.”
Zoe blinked, and wasn’t sure if she had heard everything this Aireramegishia had said. Most especially his name.
“We’ll, now, I know what to call you, but I can’t pronounce it. “Is it Airamangisha?”
“No”, Aireramegishia spoke slowly, “A-i-r-e-r-a-m-e-g-i-s-h-i-a”
Again she tried to say his name out loud but found it too awkward. “Never mind, I’ll just call you Airi.”
“What!”
The echo of his loud comment hit one corner and bounced of another over and over again. Zoe had to put her hands up to her ears to stop the sound but the echo stayed for a while inside her head.
Finally, when the room was silent once more she lifted her hands off her ears and asked, “What’s wrong with Airi?”
“My name comes down from the time line that began before your kind had lived in the Garden of Eden. My name is who I am.”
She frowned at the echo that reverberated as if from a million cavern walls.
“Well I can’t say it.”
“No matter, we must leave here.”
Suddenly Zoe was angry. She walked over to the upturned chair, the soft black one, set it up-right and sat down.
“What are you doing?”
Zoe didn’t answer through the echoes. She just crossed her arms across her chest and her legs and began to swing her foot up and down.
“We must leave. It is vital.”
Zoe still sat as if she weren’t listening.
“Stubborn earth child.”
Silence.
“You may call me what ever you wish.”
“Even Airi?”
“Did I not just agree?”
“Ok, Airi, what do we do next.” Zoe looked down at the diamond once more.
“But wait. What if I drop you or something? I’d better put you in my pocket, or? Zoe reached behind her and finished tearing a pocket off her jeans then pulled a long cord from around her neck. The cord had a small locket hanging on it. She opened the locket for a moment, but then closed it again.
“It’s my grandpa’s photo. All I have left of him now.”
She bundled the diamond in the torn pocket and tied it with the cord next to the locket. Zoe looked over at the rose sitting in the glass of water.
“I guess we can go now.” Zoe said.
“Yes, it would be best if we hurry.”
“Hurry doing what?”
“Why, hurry and jump into the time stream, of course. As I mentioned before, a part of myself is already there. Now a part of yourself holds me dangling from your neck. We are both about to transverse the time stream.”
“Do I need my stuff?”
Her jean bag lay on the floor. A few cans had rolled out after the fall.
“No, no. You need take nothing. Let us be quick.”
“Leave to go where?”
“Into your past and part of my present.”
Chapter 10 Red tries to get
close
Anticipation ran through Red’s nerves, like getting a buzz from a powerful magnet. His excitement grew as he combed his bright orange hair. He chuckled to himself and slid another gold erring into his left ear. He felt a little silly agreeing to join the girls in Lane’s bedroom, but he’d do anything to sit next to Sheila. Wow! I get goose bumps just watching her walk across a room. He knocked before opening the door and entering. Then he stood between the rumpled up bed and pin-striped, overstuffed old chair that Lane kept for some stupid reason. The room was so cluttered he was uncertain where to sit.
As if she knew what he was thinking, Sheila scooted up a green sweater and striped towel off the floor next to her and flung it into an opened drawer. Lane knelt on the floor as she pushed a pair of blue jeans, flowered scarf and a white tee shirt beneath her bed to make extra room on the floor for Red to sit down.
“Hey,” Red said when he caught sight of his Pistons shirt that Lane had just shoved under the bed, “There’s my Pistons shirt, I been looking all over for it.”
Lane cocked her shoulders in her habitual way and twisted a strand of her long hair in her finger as she said, with fake innocence and an uncanny knowledge of his latest secret love, “I was about to let Sheila borrow it. That’s ok isn’t it?”
“Ah, yah sure,” Red answered as he tried to bend his long legs to fit on the floor between the girls and Lane’s bed. The dresser knob was digging in his back, so he scooted closer to Sheila as he adjusted himself into a lotus position.
“Here is how you need to sit, its called a lotus position”, he showed the girls and waited for them to join him and gather in a circle on the floor.
Sheila was sitting just inches away. Her knee almost touched his as he explained the position to them. He told them to fold their legs across and under and then cup their hands open on their knees.
“Some people use a different position but any position will work as long as its comfortable. That is what’s most important, being comfortable and relaxed.”
“We already know how to sit, Bro just get on with what comes next,” Lane said.
“We’ll, the breathing is very important and I guess closing your eyes is important too because you need to imagine one, single spot so it can hold your focus. Some people use a candle, but we didn’t do that in school. Lets try it. Hum the mantra along with me as you focus on one spot inside your mind.”
“Maybe we can pretend that the spot is a bright star.” Sheila said.
“Ah, that’s a good idea,” he answered, “Keep looking at the star.”
“I keep seeing other things and my star is moving.” Sheila said.
“Mine’s changing into a handsome man,” Lane giggled
“You need to try harder to see only one object.” Red said, exasperated with his giggling sister. “So try again.”
“It’s sort of like flying.” Sheila had awe in her voice now. “I want to keep going.” So they did.
Chapter 11 Airi instructs Zoe to find a tree
“We must go to your past world.” Aireramegishia said.
“How?”
“To step into your past, you only need point your mind in the direction you want to go.”
Aireramegishia was suddenly caught up with a sudden realization. This young girl was too raw and ignorant to know how to walk into the stream of time.
Zoe just stood there waiting, puzzled.
He suddenly realized that he’s been too preoccupied with the need for release. He forgot that these earth people were not trained to send their minds beyond their own brains. It meant he would need to discover some way to make her believe she could visit the past. Putting myself into a small stone must have disrupted my thought processes or interfered with my mental equilibrium. This information should have been obvious. Now I must find a simple way to teach this young child how to use her mind. The scientists on her world had already learned that particles of light were non-local, but they had not extrapolated such knowledge enough to include time and space or put it to actual use. All intelligent minds were non-local which meant that each mind was potentially every-where and any-place in space/time, but useful only after a person had special training and could understand. With expert guidance any mind could learn to exist anyplace it perceived itself to be. Unless, of course, it was caught up in a tight magnetized time loop and stuck on a dead planet like I am. How can I explain the simplicity of space/time travel to Zoe?
Perhaps she needs a physical mode of travel as well as in a mental one. It will give her the feeling of movement. With my help such an implement might work. “I have discovered an easy way to connect this time frame with the past on your world.” He told her.
“Yeah, I am all ears.”
“We only need to find a kind of living, physical construct that exists in all three realms of time, the past, present, and future? Anything of this type would be sufficient.”
Zoe stood with her head cocked and listening but finally said, “What?”
“We need to make contact with a structure that has been alive since before the disruption. Do you know where the closest one is.”
“What kind of structure?”
“Deciduous. You would know it as a tall, woody plant.”
“What’s that.”
Airi sighed loudly.
Zoe could hear the sigh echoing and bouncing off all the walls.
“A tree.” He said.
“Oh, a tree! Why didn’t you just say so? But most of them are dead, at least in the city. Let me think. I remember running past a tree. Does it matter if its top is burnt off?”
“I don’t know, we’ll need to ask it.”
“Ask a tree? Trees don’t talk. Even before Dead End, people didn’t talk to trees. Then feeling less certain, “Did they?”
“People did not, but I am not a person,”
“I guess if someone did ask, they’d wait a really long time for an answer.” Zoe giggled at her own words.
“That is probably true.” Airi said. A tree is very long lived and its answer might be just as long. They have the longest life span of any living creature on your world. Needless to say this implies a great amount of information to impart if one knew how or dared to ask for it.”
This unsettled Zoe. She had never imagined talking to a tree; although, she admitted that she had a lot to learn, but she never thought a tree could be awake, let alone speak. Besides, a lot of trees were dead now like the flowers. Her mind pictured the last tree she had seen in the city. She had ran past it on her way here. It’s trunk was burnt in spots and the tall branches were almost bare of leaves. Yes, she remembered now, it was close by.
“I know where a tree is and it’s not too far away,” she told Airi.
“Then let us depart from here. We have much to accomplish.”
Zoe found she could climb out of the deep underground structure without too much trouble. She just kept traveling upwards towards the slate gray glimmer of light until they reached ground level. She rested a minute then stuck her head out to check for the dark shadow. It was gone.
The area seemed clear of danger now, but the area looked slightly different. Did the shadow look for her here? The broken buildings were now laying in low piles of burnt wood and bricks. The old pavement was cracked, and one slab was lifted out of its bedrock, tipped upwards as if a monster had kicked it. Maybe the shadow had a temper tantrum. Zoe shuddered. Surly, it wasn’t this broken when I ran through it earlier? But I was in such a panic, I can’t remember.
“I hope the tree isn’t dead.” Zoe yelled loudly down at the stone that now dangled from the cord around her neck. “Hope the shadow didn’t get it.” Then because Airi didn’t answer right away Zoe wondered if he could hear her speak outside the basement room.
“Did you hear me?” She yelled out.
“I wasn’t totally sure that the opposite confluence of energy still existed.” Airi sent into her mind.
“What did you say?”
“No
need to speak into the air. Speak with your mind.”
“You’ll hear me if I just think the words?”
“Yes,
and this dark shadow, as you call it, forces us to hasten our steps.”
“But what is it?” asked Zoe, “Oops, I mean,” she closed her mouth and thought
her next
words, “What is it?”
“No
time to explain right now. Quiet has just become vastly more important than a
moment ago. If you must speak, whisper.”
“It
seems strange to just… think words.”
“If
you think clearly, I will easily pick up your meaning. You understand me?”
“Yes, I guess so.” Zoe whispered, then shrugged at her forgetfulness.
“Let
us go find this tree.”
Afraid the shadow might come back, Zoe stepped as softly and carefully as she could as she worked her way through the flattened debris. She was good with direction and knew she could find the way she’d ran before the fall.
Before long she saw the tree standing tall above the haze of fog that now swirled and covered the ground. She walked towards the tree, but kept a sharp look out for the shadow. The tree was still fat and large around but was almost bare of limbs. A few green leaves flittered beneath the steel gray sky. The black, wooden bark stood out above the fog like a majestic king surveying the damage to its kingdom. All that lay before it was dirty stone, blasted bricks and piles of flattened buildings.
As she walked closer, she saw that some of its branches were laying on the ground twisted and broken, raw sap filled the ends of the cut branches and a huge gash was torn out of its side. The light, woody flesh set against the black bark looked doubly exposed. To Zoe, it looked like a bleeding wound, as if someone had taken an ax to it’s trunk in a frenzy of anger. The shadow?
She reached out to touch the tree’s rough black bark, ran her fingers between its harsh ridges running up and down the trunk, and then felt the open wound. She shuddered. Of all the things that died in Dead End, the loss of growing flowers and trees was the hardest to bare. Almost as if the loss of humans was less important, or maybe too hurtful to think about. Better to feel sorrow for the death of flowers then people. Her heart felt like bursting with the tree’s pain.
“Humph. We are not dead yet,” said a deep voice, much lower in octave than Airi’s.
Zoe looked around to check out the area. Then she stood still and looked hard at the tree once more.
Feeling slightly edgy, Zoe played with the string around her neck as she said, “No, can’t be.”
Airi said, “You never had me hanging from your neck before,” This time his voice seemed to come from the outside her head, as had the voice of the tree. “I projected the tree’s words for you to hear. The tree is speaking to me. You are listening in as a bystander.”
“That seems so…so…so incredible,” Zoe whispered out loud. She’d decided it was too hard to speak inside her head. She stood staring at the broken and blackened tree in wonder.
“Of
course, I have speeded up its language considerably.”
For some reason she thought the tree might be hard of hearing so she yelled out the words loudly and distinctly, “So…what…is…your…name?” She squinted at her mistake and whispered, “Sorry.”
“We are the Over-Mind. Humph, humph. Don’t need individual names.”
“This is so strange,” Zoe held back a giggle.
“Is
it more strange to find me still alive in a basement computer after years of
damage?” Airi’s voice spoke more clearly in her mind this time. She
wondered if she was getting better at listening. She thought about his
statement. Yes, strange things did seem to happen in this upside-down, Dead End
world.
“This tree’s life span is longer than a hundred and fifty years.” Airi said to her, a soft voice in the air this time. In a louder voice he said, “This tree was born long before the disaster that befell your world. We will follow its lifeline back in time to find some people who can help us. In this way it may be possible to divert the disaster or, at least, prevent the worst of it.”
Zoe thought the tree was actually listening to Airi’s words. “Wow. I like the idea, but how? How do we follow its life-line? What if we get lost and go back too far? What if I can’t do it.”
“Hush child.”
Zoe hushed.
“We can’t go back too far. For this trip, you are essentially riding on my back, or I on yours, and I know exactly when to step out, just moments before you humans destroyed your world.”
“Oh.” Zoe felt a little nervous about going backwards in time.
“Come, let us begin. With your permission.” Airi said to the tree.
Zoe giggled. It seemed to her as if Airi had bowed down to the tree. “Humph. Permission the over-mind grants. You try. We perceive your attempt as good.”
“But how do we go backwards in time?” Zoe asked.
“Remember what I told you earlier? A part of myself is already backwards in time. Don’t worry. I direct, you follow. It is all done with the mind. You are going to climb down the roots of the tree.”
“I’ve heard of climbing up in tree branches, but never down into the roots.”
“Just follow my instructions. I will use an old method of meditation.”
“Ok I’ll try anything if it will save the world…and my rose.”
“To begin,” Airi said to Zoe, “You must sit down in front of the tree and put your legs in a folded lotus position with your arms resting on your knees.”
Zoe laughed as she tried to get into the exact position Airi spoke of, but finally she felt ready, comfortable, and relaxed as he said she needed to be. Then his voice became soft and mellow, hypnotic and suggestive as he said, “Remember your feelings when you felt the tree’s wound? Feel deeply again. Feel love. Look softly at the tree. Absorb its pain, notice its flaws, love its lines. See the lines growing down the trunk. Keep looking directly into the bark until you fall into a crack.”
“Ok, I am looking deeply into the trees bark. Am I done?”
“No. With your eyes open, run your eyes over each bump and knot of wood. Feel them inside your mind. Let your eyes flow down the ridges and caverns of the bark. The lines will get smaller and smaller. Each bump and ridge will change into tiny dots, these are called atoms. Now, close your eyes and follow the flowing atoms down through the sap into the living roots. Grow with the roots, reach out for nourishment, feel the flow.”
Zoe felt herself sink into the tree, but then felt herself drifting upwards again. Suddenly Airi spoke, “Don’t open your eyes. The sap can also pull you up. Fight its upward flow. Fight to climb down.”
She saw in her mind’s eye a yellow, sticky sap all around her flowing and churning to move upward. She fought its sticky pull. She reached out mental fingers that tethered her to a single spot.
“You must climb down further. Move against the sap. Down and down. You are sunlight flowing from the upper leaves into the living roots. You breath when the tree breaths, you are a part of the tree. You have become the tree.”
Zoe felt herself move down. She no longer felt resistance from the sap. She became a small speck swimming in a vast sea.
‘Here,” Airi called out. “Step out here.”
Zoe blinked and opened her eyes. She was still sitting in a lotus position, but when she looked up, she couldn’t believe her eyes. The tree in front of her was healthy and strong. The tree seemed to be laughing as a soft breeze flowed through its leafy branches. Maybe singing a tree song? It was now such a beautiful fat, alive tree that Zoe didn’t want to look away, but soon curiosity compelled her to look beyond the tree.
In the distance, stood a complex of large buildings across a huge expanse of sparkly, cut grass. New buildings. Not one brick looked out of place. Not a speck of blackened or burnt wood anyplace. People, hundreds of people were walking too and fro in very colorful clothing.
She stood up on wobbly legs and stood transfixed for a moment, unable to move. Never could she have imagined so many people in one place. People laughing and playing. Happy people without sickness. And the bright colors! Every person was walking fast, chatting, carrying bags, or running with hair flying. To the side, a group of people were crossing a large street, but steel cars honked and screeched at them to stop. The cars stopped and the people kept walking.
Oh. Zoe turned and saw the same goings on behind her. A whole sidewalk filled with people walking backwards and forwards, stopping and starting across wide avenues. More machines honking and screeching, lights turning on and off and music blaring out many different tunes from inside store fronts of glass and metal so high Zoe had to bend her head backwards to see up to their tops, to a sky filled with noisy helicopters and airplanes soaring upwards in a vividly blue sky with little fluff of clouds that got smaller on the horizon, and birds scampering between people’s feet for a few crumbs.
Zoe saw a green bench and she went to it quickly so she could sit down. She blinked her eyes to clear her dizziness. The people began to swim away. She wiped at her eyes and found that she’d been crying. Tears turned the people into blurred smudges.
“Just nerves,” Airi said suddenly.
He’s spoken into the air, not her mind. She felt a quick surge of warmth at hearing his voice. This place was all so strange, it felt good to have him close by.
“This is nothing,” Airi said. “This place is small compared to some other cities in the world. We can’t linger. We must get to the job we set out to do.”
Zoe closed her eyes to shut out the multiplicity of movement then asked Airi, “What do you mean? We can’t stay!”
“Remember our purpose. We cannot stay overlong. I am not as strong as I would like to be. We are here to find help.”
Zoe blinked her eyes back open and watched as a tall woman wearing a dress stopped to throw something to the birds close to the bench. Zoe gathered up her courage and spoke, “Hi,” she said, but the lady didn’t answer or look at her as she left.
“You are invisible. She can’t see or hear you.” Airi told her.
“Then how are we going to find someone to work on a computer if they can’t see me, I’d like to know.” Exasperation filled her voice. She felt close to tears again.
“I can fix that problem when and if a situation calls for your physical presence.”
“Ok,” Zoe sighed, “Where do we need to go first?”
“Jump your invisible body into that building over there, the tall one. It has many class rooms and a large office .”
“How?”
“Just go,” Airi answered, then as Zoe still hesitated he added “This time it will be easy. You are not solid like in the past. Just close your eyes and jump into the building.”
Zoe took a few steps towards the building and as if by magic she was suddenly walking down a long carpeted hall. A door opened and a lady walked out carrying a stack of papers. She walked past Zoe down the hall.
“Go in there,” Airi said.
Inside was a large desk with a computer in the middle. A man was typing on keys in front of the computer.
“Now speak to him Zoe. I will give your voice substance. Speak into his ear.”
“What should I say?”
“Tell him we need help with a computer program.”
Zoe moved her mouth close to the man’s ear and distinctly heard her own voice whisper. “Hello. Could you help us fix a computer program?”
The man kept typing.
Zoe repeated the words louder.
This time the man reached up and scratched his ear, but then resumed typing. He was moving a round object around in his hand and seemed too busy to listen. When Zoe spoke again, much louder this time, he shook his head then reached for a pair of earphones and put them on.
They gave up on this man. They tried a few more offices with computer operators in them. Zoe talked and talked, but no one would listen to her words. They all ignored her as if she didn’t exist. Even when Airi made her visible for a few moments, the people brushed right past her. One man almost knocked her down with a cart filled with books.
Now, invisible once more, they had jumped back near the fat tree. Zoe was once again sitting on the green park bench.
“Why won’t they listen to me,” she said perplexed because each person they went to had ignored her.
Airi spoke up, “Perhaps we are in the wrong place for proper contact. People are too busy at work. We need to go into homes where people live.”
“I guess,” said Zoe.
She shrugged as she watched a bird leave the tree branch and fly up into the sky, then, unexpectedly, she was flying up high too, along with the bird. She was high above a vast conglomeration of squeezed together buildings that stood tall between zigzag streets. Automobiles zoomed forwards and backwards like steel ants on an ant hill. Zoe was so amazed at the sight, she stopped moving until Airi gave her a nudge to keep flying. Zoe nodded her head to the east and suddenly she was over small roofed buildings with spots of green grass all around. Trees stood like solders lined up and down each street.
At Airi’s suggestion, she dropped down closer to ground level. Shinny red, blue and white cars were parked on the street, children played outside on small wheeled toys, a man was using a hose to squirt water over his car, and two young boys in baggy cloths were bouncing a ball, running and throwing it in a hoop.
Curious to see what was inside a real house, Zoe focused her mind on one roof and was inside in an instant. She stood transfixed behind a young boy sitting on the floor watching a large colorful screen. A large yellow bird was talking and a blue animal with a big mouth was eating cookies while children sang and clapped. The tune was catchy and fun.
It was a television, of course, there were a lot of televisions where Zoe came from but all the screens were broken. It didn’t matter because there was no electricity anyway. Zoe had never seen a working television before, at least not since she was a very young child. The picture and sound were fantastically colorful and happy and moving, and so beautiful Zoe didn’t want to take her eyes off it.
A women’s voice called from another room. The young boy got up and ran into a bright yellow room with large windows and a table and chairs. Zoe watched as the lady pushed buttons on a smaller television.
“No,” Airi said, “That isn’t a television, it is a microwave. A cooking machine.” She watched as bread popped up from a small box with long slits, all browned and the lady took the slices out and spread yellow butter on them, opened the cooking machine and took out a bowl, and placed them in front of the young boy. The curtains hanging on the windows had cute ruffles and a vase of flowers sat in the center of the table. It was a happy room, but Zoe’s stomach turned when the lady opened a huge, tall, door. The box was loaded with so many different kinds of food that it made Zoe dizzy, bottles of white milk, orange juice, boxes of grapes, cheese, bread and meat in a package and…. Such excess was unbelievable to Zoe and boggled her mind. But what shocked her the most was that the young boy shook his head at the food refusing to eat the soup or bread with butter. He grabbed a big yellow banana out of a bowl and ran back to watch the television. Zoe couldn’t imagine having all that food and not eating it. It made her belly ache just to look at it.
The lady sat down in front of a second bowl of hot soup and began eating. Zoe tried to talk to the lady but the lady acted as if Zoe was a mere fly buzzing next to her ear. Every time Zoe talked to her the lady rubbed or hit her ear as if she needed to shake something out of it.
“Oh, no. What can we do, Airi?”
Airi said dryly, “Try another house.”
Zoe went to two more houses but had no better luck than before. None of the people would listen. She was beginning to despair of ever finding anyone to listen until she went into the upstairs of a house and found a women sitting busy at a computer terminal. Maybe this time it will work, she told Airi.
Invisible, Zoe stood next to the women as she plunked different keys that changed the screen images. The women laughed as she typed. The typed words showed on the screen. When Zoe talked to the women, the women typed faster, ignoring Zoe’s voice. “Listen,” begged Zoe, “please listen, we must get help. It’s you who need help. It’s your world that is in danger.”
The women wouldn’t listen. Airi helped Zoe’s finger become physical enough to push a key down. This made the women act angry and she typed all the harder.
“I give up. How do we get back home Airi?”
“Just let yourself go back,” he told her, and suddenly she did.
They stood in front of the tree once more. She barely had time to say goodbye before she found herself back on Dead End, not beside the tree but inside the dark basement that seemed about to collapse on top of her head. Amid the smell of soot and dust and burnt wood, and a jar of water with a single red, rose bud struggling to open a petal.
“Look my rose is still alive, its trying to open up.”
“Yes,” Airi said. “You think you have been gone a long time, but it has only bee n a few minutes. Subjective time verses material time verses standard time. Its all in your head.”
“Yech, you use too big of words and I have a headache. It feels to me like we’ve been gone a long time.”
Zoe sat down in the soft chair and sighed.
“What can we do now? No one will listen. No one cares and…and I quit. I am hungry, and I am tired.”
“If you quit trying it will all end.”
“But I am hungry.”
“Didn’t I tell you. There are stacks of food in the storage room. Still eatable, I presume. Perhaps even a working freezer. I told you I have kept everything in working order, didn’t I?”
“No, you did not” Zoe said.
“We’ll, try one of the doors in the other room behind you, should be food stored in one of them.
Zoe looked where he said and was amazed at the food. Lots and lots of food, cans stacked on top of each other and boxes stacked up as high as the ceiling. What is this place, she wondered, that they had so much food and computers and paper and boxes. I wonder if it is a part of the old government, a hidden government building. Suddenly she felt afraid. Everyone knew it was the governments that sent the bombs. Grandpa told her that one government sent a bomb and then another government sent another bomb until half the world was buried in darkness and then the sickness came. The rest of the world just rotted away after that. And it was those people from long ago who kept killing the trees and using up the air and soil until there wasn’t nothing left for people to live on and that was why they sent the bombs. All the people gone and dead now.
Suddenly Zoe didn’t feel quite so hungry. The thought of the people from that time who had such overflowing refrigerators, but killed the world made her insides twist with hurt. Those people sent bombs to kill the grass and trees and sent sickness around the world and dirtied the air and ate cows and made the people starve, and…everything. Her grandpa told her all about it. The memory of his words was making her sick. She turned and walked back into the large twinkling room where Airi was.
“I don’t understand. I am like them, ain’t I? I am the same. Why did we do it?” She asked through sniffles and sobs.
“You need not worry child,” Airi spoke to her in a soft voice, “You are experiencing culture shock.”
“They had so much stuff, so many people all over and things and houses and electricity and everything.” Tears rolled down her cheeks between sobs and words. She couldn’t seem to stop crying. The tears poured down from her eyes.
“Guess I am not as tough as I thought. And I am so tired.”
She wiped her eyes and cried some more. She hadn’t cried like this since she was a tiny little girl sitting on grandpa’s lap. Not even when her grandpa died. No, not even then, and this made her sob more. Finally, after it seemed like forever, she sniffled and wiped her eyes. The tears had stopped falling, but her shoulders sagged and she felt like the whole world was sitting right on top of her. And it was.
“I see this burden is too heavy for such a young girl. But you must continue on Zoe. There is no one else.”
“It’s too much. It’s too big.”
“Your rose will die if you stop.”
Zoe looked over to where her rose sat in a jar of water. One petal was trying to unwrap from the bud. The tiny red rose was pulling in air and water in an effort to grow and live. She reached out a finger and touched the soft petal. If this tiny rose could push through black soot and burnt soil just to live one more day, then I guess I can too.
“I won’t let my rose die. Ever.”
“Yes, that is the spirit.” Airi said.
“We’ll come on, let’s give it one more go in that stupid people time where no one will listen. The next person will listen to me or I’ll give them a karate chop to the head.”
“Yes, but you are not made out of air, at least at this moment. You have physical needs to take care of. Eat first and perhaps rest. Then we will try again.”
Chapter 15
Red
teaches Sheila and Lane how to meditate
Red thought the meditation was beginning to work. When he thought they were finally relaxed enough, he stopped saying the mantra and with his own eyes closed, he began to talk to them with a steady voice.
“Just keep looking at the star. Let the light move towards you. Keep watching as it gets larger and larger.
“It feels like flying.” Lane said.
“Yes, it does,” Sheila added. “It feels good.”
“Keep your eyes closed,” Red reminded them, but he cheated for a second. He opened his own eyes to check out the girls. Yes, both Lane and Sheila’s eyes were closed. He closed his own again.
“Now you are inside the star,” Red whispered in a soft voice. He was really letting go. His teacher never did this, but it seemed right. He imagined his own star coming towards him.
“Walk into the star. Step right into the silver and golden swirls of light.”
Red stayed quiet for a long moment as they each adjusted to the mental experience of walking inside a star.
“You are inside the star. The light is all around you, inside you. You are filled with its light. You have become the light.”
Red felt surprised himself at how deep
and strange this meditation was. He began to hum the soft mantra once more in
such a low voice it was almost silent. But the girls joined
their voices to the soft mantra. They quieted into silence. The room filled
with their silent presence, until—Zoe found them.
Chapter 16 The group meets Zoe during meditation
After she ate and felt rested, Zoe had an idea. “Why not find a young person like me. Maybe those other people were too old and stuck in their ways to listen.”
Airi agreed this was a good idea. The next climb down the tree was easier for Zoe. Now, feeling rejuvenated from a good rest and food, she felt hyped up and determined to make the next person listen.
Finding the right person turned out easier this time, they sat a group of three young people sitting together on the floor. Zoe stepped her spirit into the center of the group while they hummed.
Red saw Zoe inside his star as a small girl with dark skin and long black hair flying against the solar wind. He tried to blink her away, but she stayed and her face grew closer and larger. Finally, all Red could see were her deep black eyes, eyes that seemed to plead for help. Then her face moved back and her hand came up to his face. Red heard laughter and felt his earring twitch and wiggle at her touch.
At the same time, what Sheila noticed most about the tiny, bronze, girl was her smile. It was tender and sweet like a child’s. The girl was young, with small breasts just beginning to bud. The girl nodded at Sheila then held both her arms out in a warm but frantic gesture. She heard the word, “Help.”
Lane saw a girl child stepping out of bright light. The child turned and motioned for her to follow her back into the star. Her face showed impatience as if there was an emergency and she was begging for Lane to hurry.
Red felt pulled in the tiny girl’s direction. She seemed to be begging him to come with her, to follow her into the star. He leaned forwards towards the girl, further and further. Abruptly, he fell out of balance. The star disappeared from his mind like a soap bubble popping in air. His eyes opened once more and Red found himself half kneeling and leaning on top of Sheila who had also fallen foreword. Lane’s eyes popped opened as she heard the commotion beside her.
All three had now broken out of the meditation stance, but a million bits of wonder and curiosity nagged at them to jump back in to find out more about the young girl they had seen.
Sheila asked the others, “Did you see the girl too? Where did she come from, and where did she go?” They each talked about what they had seen but couldn’t understand.
“Strange,” said Red. “That was not supposed to happen.”
As the young people looked at each other in wonder and asked questions, Zoe realized at once that something had happened to break their concentration.
“It almost worked,” she said to Airi, excited.
“I agree. We need to show them something to make them pay us more attention.”
“Like what?”
“Anything. Did you see the computer on the desk? It had parts all over as if one of those people know how to fix computers. If that is true then they may be able to help us.”
“Is it possible to go back to the basement room for only minute and come right back here quickly?” Zoe asked Airi.
“Easily, now that you know how.” He added wistfully, “I could teach all of them in small bits of knowledge just as I taught you.”
“Lets go back then. I want to get my rose to show them.”
With Airi’s help, they were able to jump back, first to the tree and then to the basement. Zoe went over to the glass jar that held the rose. She tenderly picked it up and held its softness against her face, “I think I have their first lesson right here.”
Chapter 17
Real evidence left behind
Red and Sheila were rearranging themselves and sitting back up from their wild tumble, when Lane looked at the floor in the center of the circle and yelled, “Look.”
Laying in the broken circle where they had all gathered to meditate just a minute ago, lay a tiny red rose. The rose was small, just beginning to bud, it had dark green leaves near the top and some lighter leaves growing from a short stem. Sheila reached her hand out to pick it up and quickly dropped it again.
“Ouch,” a drop of blood dripped off her finger on to the floor.
“Where did it come from,” Red said as he picked it up to examine it closer. It feels cold and wet, he added, like ice. It was so small it fit into the palm of his large hand. Lane reached out a finger and gently touched a soft red petal. A faint hint of rose perfume wafted into the room giving it a tinge of summer sweetness. But then, while they watched, spellbound, the rose flickered in the air, then faded away. The only evidence that the rose had ever existed was the drop of red blood on Sheila’s pricked finger.
“It was real. This is evidence that it was real” Sheila held out her finger. “Did each of you see the dark girl?” Red looked over at Sheila and nodded. Her cheeks were red with excitement.
“Why don’t we try to meditate again and see what happens. Maybe I will see that beautiful girl again” Red looked at Sheila and added, “But not as pretty as you.”
“Do you think she left the rose? Sheila asked in wonder.
“Maybe so.” Lane said. “Let’s try to see her again. If the rose was real, she might be real too.”
“I know she was for real; she made my earring wiggle.” Red said.
“She kept wanting me to follow her as if it was an emergency.” Lane said. “I wanted to go. Maybe she needs help?”
“We gotta try again.” Sheila said.
“Hurry before she leaves for good.” Red said and they all got back into position. It took a few minutes for them to calm their minds, but with hope in their heart and Red’s soft litany of words, they stepped back into the star.
Chapter 18
Zoe tries to reach out to group
again
Zoe watched as the three young people gathered into a group again. During the first try, she noticed that their minds weren’t as able to tune in to her as she was to them. The rose had helped, but was it enough?
“How can we help them Airi? We need them, what can we do?”
“We must use better persuasion.”
“But I don’t know how.”
“Leave it to me. I know what children know and like in this time period. I will give them an image they can believe in.”
“Like an animal or something?” Zoe asked puzzled.
“No, something more powerful. Also, I will make you solid enough to touch.” Suddenly Zoe was standing on the bedroom floor with a huge puff of smoke billowing from the stone that hung around her neck. The smoke turned into a tall, fat blue jelly being with smiling eyes.
The group of young adults stopped meditating at the sight. They tensed up and grabbed at each other’s hands in fright. It didn’t matter if their eyes were opened or closed, the girl and blue genii didn’t to go away.
Next to the short dark girl wearing a torn blouse and ragged jeans stood an exact copy of Aladdin’s blue genie from the Disney movie. They both stood in the middle of the circle as if it was normal, as if angels and geniis stepped out of stars every day.
Sheila broke the stunned silence by saying, “Oh, do we each get a wish?” Then with a nervous laugh, she added, “Or three?”
At Sheila’s words Lane’s nerves calmed down too. She had been about to get up and run, but then realized that a blue genie wasn’t very scary. Except that it wasn’t real.
“This isn’t for real, right? Lane asked.
“Real but definitely un-normal. A cartoon right out of a Disney movie” Red said, then added, “Course, I wouldn’t mind having a few wishes granted.”
“There are three of you; therefore, you can each have one wish,” Airi said to them in a deep authoritative voice. “But, he said with greater emphasis, “You must grant me a wish first.”
“Like a quest?” breathed Sheila with a smile.
“Never heard it played that way before, but I guess I’ll go along with it. I mean, yeah.” Red stuttered.
“Sure, anything,” Lane added, “Well maybe anything. What kind of quest do you need from us. Need us to find a golden goose or magic ring, or something?”
At this point, the three young people were uncertain how to take what was happening. They didn’t know if they should laugh or run until the genii spoke again.
“No, the quest is more mundane than that.” The genii said. “We need someone to break into a computer then delete a program.”
Zoe had caught on to Airi’s game and said in mock disappointment, “Maybe they don’t know how to delete a computer program. Should we just leave?”
“No, don’t leave. I mean, yes I can. I am in college right now studying computer engineering, well almost.”
“This would be a very large, powerful computer. It has hundreds of processors and terabytes of memory. Probably larger than any computer you have ever seen.”
“Don’t matter. All computers are the same inside.” Red answered with authority, although he wasn’t really sure on that point. Now, he was bouncing with interest. He was happy to help with any computer problem. He loved working on computers. At present, he was fixing his sister Lane’s computer, and she was angry because he hadn’t put it back together yet. “Just lead me to it.” He added.
“Well,” The fat blue genie bent his head and rested it on his hand as he floated in the air before them. He acted as if he were thinking very hard. “I guess you will do.”
“I’ll do.” Red said then felt silly at his dumb words in front of Sheila.
“Perhaps the other two people won’t be needed.”
At these words both Lane and Sheila shouted, “Oh, yes we are.” The genie laughed, “So I guess you are. But listen to my instructions very carefully. This must be done as soon as possible, but there may be danger.”
“I love danger,” said Sheila.
“Yah, its my middle name,” agreed Red.
“Well, I don’t know?” Lane added.
Then Zoe stepped up and said, “But this danger is different. Even I don’t understand it. It is some kind of shadow that destroys things.”
The three young people looked back at Airi with eager eyes and hope splashed across their faces, as if they hadn’t heard a word Zoe said about a dangerous shadow. He sighed. He realized that they were as willing a group as any they were likely to find. He felt pleased. Airi spoke into Zoe’s mind and told her to stay quiet about the shadow. He told her that he would deal with the shadow if necessary.
Out loud he
said, “Here are the basic instructions.” You will need to go to a specific
location in the city you call
“Ah, hold on. What are those coordinates again?” Sheila asked.
“I am not sure I understand either.” Red said. “Can you explain better?”
Silly dilemma, Airi thought, then said, “You have a sun don’t you? And a world going around it?”
Red laughed. “Oh, you mean longitude and latitude, a specific point on a map. I can look it up on the computer. The coordinates will be on it. Sure we can find it, but what do we do when we get there?”
“You will need to extract something important form the computer at that site.”
“Can’t I try extracting it from my own computer? Like hack it away?”
“No, the computer is dedicated to a certain place. It might even need repair. The extraction must be physical. You will need to remove certain segments of binary code from inside the computer then delete it.”
Red became a little uneasy at this. “What kind of code?” I can’t just delete code from someone else’s computer. It’s ah kinda of illegal, you know.”
“No one else owns this code you will take out.”
“How did it get in there then? How do you know?”
“Because I own it.”
“Can we prove that so I don’t get into trouble?”
“You don’t need to prove it young man if I say so.”
Zoe could tell that Airi was getting muffled at all these questions so she spoke up.
“The code belongs to the genie.”
Airi breathed a sigh, “Yes, they are part of my substance.”
“Oh, I see. I think.”
Lane, with her usual no-nonsense attitude, spoke up then, “Can you still grant our wish even if you are not inside the computer anymore?”
The genie grew larger and spoke with a sure voice, “Certainly. Leave that to me.”
Lane frowned as if ashamed of her outburst. “Sure, ok.”
Sheila asked, “When do you want us to do this?”
“Now.”
“Now? But it is early evening?” Red said.
“So, what’s the diff?” Sheila broke in.
“Guess it’s ok. I could text mom and dad. Tell them we’re going someplace with Red. They won’t mind. Oh, forgot. My phone is broke, like my computer.” Lane gave Red a hard stare. “Guess I’ll just put a note on the frig.” She grabbed a small note book off a dresser and wrote a note. Then as she left to put it on the refrigerator, she slipped the notebook back into her shirt pocket. Her practical instinct told her she might need it again.
“We need to figure out where we are going first. I’ll go check the map on my computer and come right back,” Red said and he left so fast he seemed to jump out of the room and almost collided with Lane coming back.
“We will meet you at those coordinates.” Airi said.
“Can’t we go with them?” Zoe spoke up. “I want to see the city.”
Airi didn’t answer for a long few minutes, then he said, “So it shall be.” They all watched as the blue smoke slipped back into the small bag hanging from Zoe’s neck. At the same time, Zoe felt herself become more solid and heavy. She gasped and then plopped down the bed, breathing hard and her legs felt weak. Must be the excitement. “Wow. How’d you do that?” She asked Airi.
“I am a genii remember?” the tiny voice seemed to come from the stone but it was also in her mind.
“Oh, yah.” Zoe smiled, then laughed. Airi had made a joke.
Chapter 19
Red learns where they need to go
Red came back within minutes. “I have
the coordinates at I-12 on the map,
“Airi said he’d help us as we get closer to the goal,” Zoe told them. Airi was floating back and forth and fading in and out as if impatient.
“Like playing hot and warm,” Lane said.
“We can’t just walk in someplace and use someone’s computer.” Red explained, or tried to explain.
The genii grew larger and almost filled the room as it spoke, “As I said before, I own the part to be extracted. You will not be stealing anything. Is that clear.”
“I guess so.” But Red wasn’t sure. Didn’t these people know that you couldn’t just barge into someone’s home and take something out of their computer? Oh, well. Wait and see.
Red noticed Sheila was excited about the adventure as she ran to get her coat. Mom and dad would kill me if anything bad happened to Lane or Sheila. I better take good care of these girls. He could still hear Lane who had kept up the talking and jabbering all the way into the hallway. She did that when she got nervous. Her teachers complained all the time about her talking too much. He saw Sheila nudge her on the shoulder.
“Hey, Lane,” Sheila whispered, “You are talking too much.” Red was pleased that Sheila said it instead of him.
Lane looked like she was about to get mad but instead only made a grimace with her face and nodded. “Yah I know. I talk too much, don’t I?”
“Yah, we are going to have a big adventure so lets not kill it.” Both girls laughed.
“Oh, such fun.” Red agreed as he walked past them to the door and motioned for the strange girl to follow. As she did, he asked, “What is your name?”
“Zoe,” she told him.
“Strange sounding name, but I like it. Although, it doesn’t sound Black or Hispanic.”
“What’s Black or Hispanic?”
“Never mind.”
Sheila and Lane didn’t see the shadow in the corner of the closet just above their heads suddenly move as if it were about to come alive. Sheila did feel a chill come over her, but shrugged it off. Neither of the girls looked up to see the shadow hand that now reached down for them because Lane slammed the closet door on it and they ran to join Red who was waiting in front of the house.
Zoe stood at the steps next to Red as he explained why they couldn’t take his car. “I am saving up for the part but I only work part time and go to school the other time.”
“Hey, where’s the genii?” Lane asked, she had a special wish to ask for and didn’t want the genie to get lost or disappear. She looked at the dark girl who invited herself into their meditation. She stood half as tall as Lane.
The girl answered, “He stays here inside this stone.” She pulled out a round lump on a string tied around her neck, opened it and showed it to the group. It wasn’t a stone, it was a large diamond.
“Wow!” Sheila and Lane said in unison while Red whistled. The low setting sunlight twinkled inside it as if it held a million stars.
Zoe wrapped it up tight once more and put it down her shirt.
“Her name is Zoe, by the way.” Red told them and then he introduced himself, Sheila and Lane to Zoe.
Both Lane and Sheila noticed at the same moment that the girl, Zoe, wasn’t wearing a coat. Or shoes?
“Hey, it’s spring but you still need a coat in this kind of weather. I’ll go back in and get you one of mine.” Lane looked down and shook her head, “And a pair of sneakers too.”
Sheila suddenly took note of Zoe’s cloths and form. Her black hair was hanging down straight over a long white shirt that was torn around the collar and the sleeve was hanging half off. Her jeans were dirt smeared and full of holes. Worst of all, her shoes were missing. Where did this girl come from? she wondered. They were still waiting at the bottom of the porch steps for Lane to return with the coat and shoes when they heard a scream from inside the house. Red skipped up the porch steps four at a time, yanked the door open to find Lane standing and screaming in front of the open closet holding a coat in one hand and a pair of sneakers in the other.
“Lane shut up. Some neighbor will come and ask us what’s going on. Get a grip.”
Lane turned towards Red shaking. “I saw something in the closet. I swear.” Red frowned at her as if to say she was crazy, but stepped to her side and looked inside the front closet. He pushed coats to the side and looked all around the closet. Still nothing, so he slammed it closed and turned the lock on the door, surprised that the lock actually worked.
“Well, if something’s inside that closet it ain’t going any place soon.” He chuckled at his sister. “Feel better now.”
“There was really something in there. I swear.” She kept telling Red as she followed him back outside.
Zoe asked, “Was it dark and like…alive?”
“Yeh,” Lane nodded her head vigorously, “How…how did you know?”
“I’ve seen it before. Airi knows what it is, but I don’t.”
“Who is Airi?” Sheila asked.
“Oh,” Zoe had forgotten they didn’t know the real Airi, “That’s the genii’s name.” She said as she obediently put on the coat and sneakers Lane handed her.
“But what is this shadow?” Lane wanted to know.
“I don’t know.” Zoe said, “It chases
people and destroys things.” She remembered the tree and how
the shadow chased her through the broken city of
Suddenly Airi answered her in her
mind, “I am trying to determine that. When I come to a concise definition of this shadow being I will tell you what
it is.”
Zoe felt somewhat shocked to hear Airi admit he wasn’t sure about the shadow. She didn’t mention Airi’s voice to the others. They seemed sort of innocent to her. She corrected herself, like I was innocent a few hours ago before I met Airi. But I like them, and this world they live in. She looked behind her at the beautiful, big house Red and Lane lived in. It had white siding with gray trim on the windows and an upper story with two windows facing the street. And oh, what a street. It was filled with trees lined up and down like sentries guarding the people, with houses and bikes and balls laying on the greenest, most vibrant grass Zoe had ever seen in her whole life.
She reached down and brushed her hands across the matted green tuffs. She felt the soft blades against her fingers and marveled. It felt like a cushion lying on the ground to sleep on. She’d seen pictures before in books of houses like this all standing in a row with green lawns lined up in front. Just pictures. She never thought she’d see the real thing. She looked up from the grass and noticed she was alone. The others were standing and waiting for her on the sidewalk.
Zoe suddenly felt like she belonged. It gave her an inner thrill to think they were her friends. She hadn’t felt she belonged to anyone or anything since her grandfather died. She smiled and jumped up to join her new friends.
Chapter 20
Zoe walks though a real city
Zoe couldn’t
help glancing every-which-way as they walked down the sidewalk. There were so many new things to see she was
kept busy just taking it all it, but she heard Red as he told them that they
needed to go south into the center of
“Big place,” Hope this map is right. “Anyone have money?”
“No, I won’t have any money until Friday.”
“Guess I’ll have to pay then. It’s too far to walk. Getting late.” Red said.
Zoe didn’t know what they were talking about, but had decided to just follow along with anything her new friends did. Still, she was surprised when they stopped. As they stood on the corner, Lane explained to Zoe, “Waiting for a bus.” She’d noticed how dazed Zoe looked as she watched cars pass by on Gratiot. When the bus didn’t come for a while, Red suggested they walk to the next stop.
The lights on Gratiot were lit and made circles of bright, round lights on sidewalks at various places on the street, but still left much of it dark. Zoe didn’t like this dark and the slight fear surprised her. She was used to the dark. Plus, even with boarded up windows and a few empty buildings, it still looked better than where she came from. The air smelled sweet and the bushes that lined the lawn were green. Well one part looked like home, she noticed, a pile of plaster and cement slabs laid in a pile to her right. The corner looked abandoned, but some buildings had lights in them.
Zoe kept saying, “Wow, look at all those cars. And their alive. Wow!”
“Oh this ain’t nothing.” Sheila laughed, She was also beginning to recognize that Zoe wasn’t familiar with their world. “Wait until you see a freeway.”
“She might too,” Lane said, “the Gratiot bus will turn and go over I-75.”
“And it will be rush hour” added Red. He was still fuming about his own car that sat in the back yard needing a valve job. “Need to get working on my car soon.” Zoe still didn’t know what they were talking about, but didn’t care. She felt happy to be alive and with friends.
The bus pulled up and Zoe followed the others on to the bus and sat down. She was excited to be actually riding in such a huge automobile. When she mentioned this to Sheila, Sheila smiled and told her that it wasn’t an automobile but a bus. A vague memory stirred in Zoe of riding something like it long ago. She must have been a very young child because this was first time she remembered riding in such a big, long conveyance.
The bus was huge. Many men and ladies sat in seats up and down its length. Instinct tended to make Zoe shrink away from so many people, but Airi spoke calming words into her mind. He told her not to be afraid, that the people her grandfather taught her to hide from were sick and crazy people and these people were not sick. Because of Air’s advise, although she wanted to cringe and leap away when a man brushed up against her as he walked down the bus isle on his way to the door, she held still and allowed her natural curiosity to take over. Her excitement grew as Red pointed out the different sights. The lights of the city became more numerous, and signs with running lights seemed to hang in the sky. As they got closer to the inner city Red pointed out the People Mover in the distance that ran on rails in the sky. Then they crossed over the I-75 freeway. Zoe saw a million cars with bright lights flowing in three lines slowly moving up one side of a wide street and a million cars moving down the other side. What a city! And the building were so tall they seemed to touch the sky.
All at once, at one stop Red motioned that they all needed to get off. Zoe didn’t ask why but Sheila did.
“Why here?”
“Because we need to walk or transfer.”
Red’s face turned red as he added. I wasn’t looking and we went too far. We missed Woodward.
“That was dumb.” His sister said and stuck out her tongue.
“Hey, I haven’t rode a bus downtown since I was a teenager.”
“Yeah, like two years ago. Well, I don’t like the looks of this street. Its too dark.” Lane said as the bus pulled away. “A lot of the street lights are out.”
“Do you know where we are?” asked Sheila.
“Sure. Woodward is back that way. We
can walk to
They stood in a tight group as they started walking north. Suddenly, out of the periphery of her vision, Zoe saw someone as dark as the night step from behind an abandoned brick building. Lane screamed at the same time. That was all Zoe needed to act. With out even thinking about it, her foot came up swiftly and kicked the man in the groin area. He doubled up as he fell like a log on fire. He screeched in pain.
“Damn! Did you see that”! Red yelled ignoring the second man who came out from behind the building, but ran down the street.
Red laughed. “Hey, you didn’t waste any time on that kick of yours.”
The man who was laying on the ground got up and slowly backed away from the group. “I didn’t mean no harm,” the man said as he began to walk away. “Looking for a little change, is all.” He limped as he followed his friend down the street.
Lane had stepped behind Red, but when she saw Sheila putting her fists up, she stepped out too.
“I don’t think they meant any harm. Just pan-handlers”, Red said, then added, “Man, where’d you learn to kick like that?”
“I want to learn to do that karate kick too?” Sheila said.
“It’ll take a lot of years for you to get that good.’ Red told her. “Zoe, you didn’t tell us you were an expert at karate.”
“I didn’t know I was. It’s what my grandfather taught me. You need to know how to protect yourself in my world. Guess sometimes you need to know how in yours too?” “Your world? Where are you from?”
“Not from earth? A space alien? Sheila said excited.
“I am from earth, but not now. Not in this time.”
“Ah, that’s why everything looked strange to you.” Red said, “So what time do you come from?”
“I don’t know. Years in the future. It is all gone now.”
“What’s gone?”
Zoe turned around and pointed in a complete circle, “All this.”
At Zoe’s words each of the young people fell silent as if trying to visualize such a happening. Unimaginable.
Finally, Red said, “Hey, it was ok the way you ran that man off. We didn’t have any money to give him anyway.”
“Yah, thanks, you never know.” Sheila said.
“Look,” Lane said, “That bush is moving but there isn’t any wind.” Right at that moment the two lights of a bus broke the darkness into lighted orbs. The long heavy bus pulled up to the curb and hissed the doors open.
“Ok, all aboard,” Red called, “Guess we’ll use the transfers.” he said and held Sheila’s elbow as she struggled with the high, first step.
Zoe noticed that Sheila grinned from
ear to ear at Red’s touch and she smiled at Sheila’s reaction as she followed
Sheila and Lane onto the bus. Red helped
Lane and Zoe up the first step too waiting to get on the bus last. Little did he know that the dark shadow was
creeping along the sidewalk towards him. It had become
a long string of rope that crawled along the curb of the street, impossible to
see in the dark shadows of the half lit street.
Creeping like molasses over the edge of the sidewalk, the shadow grabbed
towards Red’s left tennis shoe. Just as its newly
created black fingers reached up to grab at Red’s white rubber sole, Red lifted
his foot up and entered the bus. The bus
pulled away. The group rode the few blocks north towards
They got off the bus and stood on the
corner of a large cross street called
Red looked at the map he’d pulled out of his pocket and pointed the direction they needed to go. They stood at a curb with five or six other people. Zoe tried to stand away from them, but couldn’t. The light that that hung from a pole blinked to green, and all the people began to walk across the wide street, Zoe’s group included. Confronted by the line up of cars that huffed and puffed and growled as they crossed the street, Zoe almost screamed with fright. Yet, she didn’t. She dared to follow her group on weak, watery legs. Then, unexpectedly she froze. She stood alone, bewildered, in the middle of a street with a million lights beaming at her. A million horns screamed at her. One car angrily rumbled towards her as if to clutch her in its jowls and crush her bones into splinters.
Quickly, Red grabbed her hand and pulled her the final few steps across the street. When they finally stepped off the street and onto a sidewalk, Zoe leaned against a smooth marble building behind them. She close her eyes in relief. Her body was shaking from the scare. Airi spoke into her ear whispering that she needn’t be afraid of a few cars but she wasn’t listening at the moment. Zoe had just been confronted by a hundred monsters that she couldn’t kick, monsters able to shatter and break her brave self image, and she needed a few minutes to catch her breath.
She noticed that the rest of the group seemed to understand her trauma. They stood nearby waiting patiently until she was able to resume the walk. This is only a quest to them, she realized, a game. They don’t understand how truly important this search really is. But I know, she told herself, and it is time to keep going, no matter what strange monsters lurk.
“Ok, I feel better now. Lets go. Thanks for understanding.” Lane took Zoe’s hand and said, “From now on you hold on to my hand. I don’t care how silly we look.”
Red called out, “This way,” and began walking down the street. They hurried after him to walk down huge lighted avenues, wide sidewalks, and car filled streets. Red kept motioning for them to move quicker, but Sheila and Lane stopped at one store front to admire a white sequined dress and purse. Zoe broke from Lane’s hand to stare at the next lighted window filled with shoes. The shoes had long spikes at their ends and were cut open in front. Amazing, and kind of silly.
Sheila noticed Zoe’s amazement and said, “This ain’t nothing. You should see the mall. A whole acre of ground is filled with stores built inside and …” She faltered and must have figured it was useless to try and describe such a thing. “You can just come with us one day to a mall. You’ll see.”
But Zoe doubted she ever would see such a thing. Besides, just seeing this city was enough of a wonder to last her a life time.
“Oh, oh.” Red said after they had turned more corners and gazed at a few store fronts and walked about ten minutes. Red stopped in front of a large, tall building standing by itself, surrounded by a high wire fence. “This is it.”
“So what’s the matter?” asked Lane as they gathered around and stared at the building.
“It’s a government building, dork. FBI.” He turned to Zoe and said, “You better ask your genii what we are supposed to do now.
They each looked at the tall, marbled building standing like an armored fort across the street from where they stood. A guard stood outside the door wearing army green and a rifle slung over his shoulder. Even Zoe didn’t need to ask what that meant.
Suddenly Airi, as if by magic which he was pretending to be a purveyor of anyway, spoke loud enough that they all heard him, “Is the building closed? Empty?”
“I’d say it’s closed for the day, but I doubt if it is ever empty. No way could we go in there, it’d be our neck if we got caught. Nope, can’t get through that door.”
“You don’t need to go through the door.” Airi said.
“What do you want us to do? Climb up onto the roof?” Lane asked.
“No, I can get you inside without the guard knowing.”
“How in the…” Red almost swore but looked over at Sheila he changed his mind.
“It may be possible for Zoe to take you into the building, one at a time.”
“How?”
“You would essentially be walking through walls”
Sheila thought for a minute. “Yah, like you came to visit us in Lane’s bedroom Did you walk through walls then?”
“We did, but I don’t think I can take any of you,” Zoe said, “I barely know how to do it myself. The genii and a tree helped me the first time.”
“That place is probably stacked with so many alarm systems it wouldn’t matter how you got in, you aren’t ever getting out.” Red said. “Yah, alarms up the bazooka.”
Sheila nodded her agreement, as she bit her lip.
Land stood next to her twirling a strand of her hair.
“What manner of alarm systems?” Airi asked.
“Oh, man, I don’t even know. I am just an ordinary citizen.”
“Are the alarms set with computers?”
“No doubt; and with a lot of fire walls.”
“You are an expert, are you not?”
“Well, maybe not quite an expert.” He looked at Sheila, “I am no hacker, if that’s what you want.”
The guard had begun looking at them with a hard, long stare. Sheila suggested that they go back and sit in the Coney they’d just passed. We can continue the conversation there. “So we don’t look so stupid standing here arguing.”
“Good idea.”
Chapter 22
Decisions in the Coney
They walked back the few blocks back to the Coney. There they slid into a booth and each ordered a hot chocolate and as the luscious flavor filled Zoe’s mouth, she closed her eyes in delight and at the same time contemplated the situation they were in. She knew Airi had to get out soon or they would never fix anything. A picture of her rose standing in the glass jar wilting from lack of water came into her mind. It will probably die anyway. How can I ever go back to that broken city to live after this? She liked the feeling of the booth she sat in, the plastic seats and smooth table, the glare of harsh light. It felt too good. It felt like she wanted to stay.
Each of them sat in silence for a few minutes inside their own thoughts until Airi woke them up by speaking in a low and tinny voice.
“Have you considered how we can counter the dilemma?”
“Where are you?” Sheila asked with a giggle. “You sound so funny.”
“I am down here inside your now empty cup”, Airi answered. “So you can see your genii when I speak.”
All four youngsters looked down into Sheila’s cup and there sat the little blue genie with blowzy pants and a flapping shirt. Zoe laughed and then they all laughed with her.
“Why is this little me so different from the large me? Better to have a focus.”
“But you look so silly.” Lane couldn’t help a low chuckle.
“If you only knew.” Airi said as he wistfully remembered his own shape before he was whisked into the computer. He fondly thought of his four limbs that stretched out into space and his wide girth of sail that reflected the light of the stars, but only when he was free to fly between them, to roam the vast universe. Airi sighed, it had been a long count of star years since he had felt the solar winds push against his essence. Compared with that kind of freedom, even this living, thriving, world the kids lived in felt like Dead Ended to him. A part of himself was still looping back and forth through time and he was still forced to witness not only the good times, but the worst of times, over and over.
He understood now how this young child must feel trying to survive in a burnt, broken city of dead wood and stone. Have I been here so long that I am developing strong emotions for these humans? If I am stuck here any longer, I may develop the ability to shed tears. I will shed both tears and my life if I don’t get released soon. I have been stuck inside the broken empty building ever since the disaster trying to hold my life energy together.
Energy? Empty building? Airi suddenly knew how to get the kids past the alarms.
He smiled a big blue grin up at his giggling hosts.
“Humor or desperation can be good for putting the mind to work. I have thought of a solution.” His tiny voice called up to them as they looked over into the cup. “We will travel to the tree. Then we will all travel to Dead End where I met Zoe, then you can travel back here to the moment in time just after my capture. While in Dead End you will…”
Red cleared his throat, “Ah...mm. Say that again. What’s this Dead End? How will we get there?”
“The same way I got here,” Zoe answered, “I guess.”
“But what good would it do?” asked Zoe.
Airi only said, “Let us all hurry and go back to the tree.”
“What tree? Why?” Sheila and Lane both asked.
“Silly girls, it is the alarms that concern us, right?” Stated Airi firmly.
“But what is this Dead End?” Red asked.
“And how will we get back later?” Lane wanted to know.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I will see to it.” the genii said in a huff.
“Somehow I still feel like worrying.” Lane said as she looked at Red. Zoe noticed that Red seemed ready to go. Even so, she felt like worrying too. She remembered how hard she had to struggle just to get here. Could they learn to climb down the tree? Or would that be up?
Her thoughts were
interrupted by Airi’s voice inside her mind. He suggested they leave
right away, “I sense the dark presence is
near to us”.
They all had their heads bent over a cup and the other people in the Coney had begun to look at them funny. “I think we should leave.” Sheila said.
“Yes, lets get away from here,” Lane agreed and was the first one to slide out of the booth.
“Where is this tree?” Asked Red as they walked back towards Woodward.
“Near a place with a lot of tall buildings.” Zoe answered.
“Not much help. We are surrounded by tall buildings.” Sheila said. “Maybe we need to go home first and look at a map?” Lane said with seeming relief.
“No.” Airi said, “The tree sits on the grounds of a university.”
“There is only one university around
here, the one I am going to in the fall,
After he spoke, he pulled out his wallet and frowned.
Lane noticed and commented, “Hey, bro. I’ll pay you back for the bus trip Friday, and so will Sheila.
Sheila nodded and Red’s steps got brisker. “Let’s hurry then, it’s getting late.” They walked then rode the Woodward bus a short ways and got off at the corner of Warren and Woodward. This way folks. The university is a block away on Cass. Red seemed more at ease now because he knew his way around this part of the city. His improved mood infected his sister and Sheila who began to walk briskly beside him. All three girls talked in happy tones while they walked in the direction of the tree that Airi would point out when they got close.
On the way, Zoe tried to explain to the group about Airi looping in time, though she didn’t half understand it herself. She tried to explain why her world was now called Dead End, too, but as she spoke, she noticed that their eyes looked blank. It was as if they didn’t or couldn’t believe her story. In truth, she wasn’t able to explain it very well. Except she thought she did a better job than Airi who’s speech made everything seem more complicated then it needed to be. Then again, maybe no one could describe Dead End.
They walked across campus up to the tree that Airi pointed out. It was large and beautiful, the same one Zoe had gasped at when she first arrived. A few students walked past, but not nearly as many as earlier in the day. The sky was growing darker as they sat down on the lawn near the tree.
“I feel kind of silly,” Sheila said.
“Me too.” Red added. “You sure this is necessary?”
Airi spoke to all of them from the stone hanging around Zoe’s neck, “It is necessary.”
“Well, lets get going before that stupid shadow finds us.” Zoe said. “Oops, I wasn’t supposed to talk about that.”
Lane looked around her, but the others didn’t seem worried about any shadow. Instead, they each closed their eyes and listened as Airi began to speak to them in a soothing tone about climbing inside a tree and following the sap upwards into the future.
Lane tried to meditate but kept breaking away and couldn’t get into the feel of it. Red followed and then Sheila broke off too.
“I can’t,” she said. “I don’t think any of us can.”
“It is vital that you do so.” Airi said. Remember, I am a genii and I can assist you.
Zoe thought of her new friends and the happiness she felt at being together with them. It gave her an idea. Timidly, she suggested that they try holding hands. Holding hands is what finally worked. It made a conversion of the group into one. With Airi in the center describing how they needed to sink into the bark, then into the atoms and feel the flow of the sap, it turned their meditation into movement through the tree which led them to Dead End.
The first thing Red, Sheila, and Lane saw when they opened their eyes was the tree as it had looked when Zoe first saw it, broken, burnt, its bark wounded, and limbs reaching overhead with only a scattering of leaves left.
Zoe sighed. Easy for her to accept the abrupt change of view from a vital, bustling world back to her familiar Dead End. Not for Red, he gasped beside her in horror, as did Sheila and Lane and they stopped holding hands.
“Where are we? Red exclaimed. “This can’t be true. It just can’t be.”
He stood up in shock.
Zoe didn’t try to answer Red. The answer was obvious.
“My God. What happened to the city? The world? Sheila whispered as she stood too and looked around.
Zoe shrugged again because any answer she could give would be stupid.
Lane moved to stand next to her brother. “I am scared.”
Airi said inside Zoe’s mind. “Best to let them absorb the disaster that surrounds us. We will give them a few minutes to get over the shock before we go forward.” Minutes passed while the group stood turning and looking in horror at the landscape.
“My God. Oh, my God,” was all Sheila could say as she looked around. “I can’t even see the sun. I can’t believe God would have let this happen.”
“Yes, God loves us.” Lane agreed. “He wouldn’t let this happen.”
“Well, it wasn’t God who did it. It was humans.” Zoe said. “God gave humans free will. That means we can do what-ever-in-the-hell-we want-with-our-own-planet.”
Red said. “Even destroy it.”
Airi appeared in the form of the giant, blue genii once more and hovered above the group so he could get their attention.
He said in a loud voice, “If we don’t hurry, we won’t be able to fix it.”
Still, no one moved for a long minute. The three young students were still stunned by the broken landscape as far as the eye could see.
“What do you mean, fix? Can you change this? Can anyone turn it back to normal?” Red asked. He spread his hands out in a gesture of futility. “The whole world is gone. I mean, when…when, did it happen?”
“I was about three years old so it happened about twelve years ago.” Zoe said, “I don’t know the exact date. We just call it Dead End now.”
Red looked up at the genie and dared ask, “When does it happen in my world?
“Less than a two year span after we meet you.” Airi said in a low voice.
“That would make me in college when it happens.” Red said quietly.
“I can’t believe it.” Sheila said in a quiet voice.
“Help us, Genii” Lane said, “Fix it back somehow?”
“It won’t be easy or maybe not even possible. It was a collaboration of many people, nations and events.” Airi told them, and added, “You may be the ones who finally correct it, with my instructions.”
“Airi told me that if we get him out, he might be able to stop it all from happening,” Zoe popped in although she wasn’t sure she believed it. And maybe even Airi wasn’t sure.
“Oh, Yes, yes, we must,” Lane said. Red and Sheila nodded. “It can’t be allowed to happen. It just can’t.”
“Then lets get moving.” Zoe agreed. “We need to go where I found Airi, or, rather, where he found me.”
Suddenly a shadow slithered from around the tree trunk and along the ground like a fat, rolling oil spill. It touched Zoe’s tennis shoe and was climbing up to her naked ankle. She felt a cold finger creep over her foot and looked down. “Run,” She screamed, “Run.”
They ran.
Chapter 24
A Run through Dead End
Airi had disappeared into the stone again. The three young adults followed behind Zoe as she ran a zigzag around the many obstacles in their path. They climbed across piles of wood, ran around buildings, many half falling down. They scrambled under a twisted spire of concrete, climbed over a bramble of wire and bricks, and lastly climbed through a hole beneath a broken door that lay on the ground. Together, each one holding the other’s hand, they climbed down a long flight of pitch, black twisting and turning stairs with some treads missing until they reached the bottom. Finally, out of breath, eyes big taking in the dark and the small twinkling lights, they stood in the basement room where Zoe had first met Airi.
Heart and breath pounding, Zoe waited for each of them to catch their own breath before she spoke. “I think we got away from the shadow thing.”
“I saw it too,” said Sheila.
“Maybe that was what I saw in the closet.” Lane added. She still seemed shaken by the experience.
“I didn’t see anything, but this is your world and you know it better then I do. If you say run, I am willing to run,” Red said.
“It looked like the same thing I saw in the closet?” Lane repeated.
“I don’t know. Maybe it was.” Zoe admitted.
“Did it follow me back to this world?” Lane shuddered in fright.
“No, it is not following you.” Airi spoke up and said. “I am beginning to suspect I know what the shadow is and…, the reason for everything…”, Airi’s voice trailed off.
Airi was indeed beginning to understand where the shadow might have came from. It was a subject he could not speak or even think of lightly. Humans might call it his alter ego. His feeling of uncertainty and hesitation could be compared to a human’s feeling of embarrassment at the mention of personal sex. His species kept such things private. He was afraid that this shadow being was once vitally attached to him, that it had been one of the parts of himself that split off when he was sucked into the computer. He feared that the black thing the children were afraid of might be his secret half, his Abo. Humans might label it, his dark half. Finally understanding that the shadow chasing them was a missing part of himself gave him little comfort. It had been split off from a dark and hidden place within him. It was not only lacking in principals and morals, but its attachment to Airi was so vital that it would do anything to join back to him. It would be jealous of any one who came near him as well.
His Abo was capable of causing great damage. Airi thought it probably had a big hand in causing earth’s destruction. Worse, in the depraved state his being was in now, even he could not prevent his Abo from doing more damage. Fear gripped him as he realized what it could do, what it had done. At least tell the truth to yourself, he admonished. It is entirely my fault, he told himself in shame. Dare I let these beautiful children learn of my guilt? No, because even now that he knew the true cause of earth’s disaster, he could do nothing to fix it at present. Not with his essential body still captured inside the computer. Worse, there was nothing he could do to stop his dark Abo from spreading more destruction, even doing damage to these children in a rage of jealousy. If Airi had a body at that moment, it would have turned red with shame.
He felt truly mortified but now was not the time to feel shame or sorry for himself. He was more determined then ever to fix earth’s past events. He believed he could if these children could extract him from the computer.
“I understand more fully now. I will speak of this problem at a later time,” he told the group. “Right now it is vital that we get to work extracting my essence from the computer. I tell you that it is imperative, for the sake of the entire earth that we do so quickly.”
Chapter 25
Back to the FBI building
Airi then called for them to gather around near the main frame computer.
“Hey,” Red exclaimed, “I never seen a computer like this before. Well, maybe in the movies. This is big, I mean big!”
“Yes, it is very powerful which is how it captured my essence,” Airi told them. Zoe noticed that Airi had somehow stopped the echo that she had to listen to the last time they were in the basement. She remembered her rose and went over to it. Sheila followed and watched Zoe touch the rose.
“I am surprised there are roses growing here in this horrible place.” Sheila said.
“This may be the only one left? Well, it’s the only one I ever found.”
“This place is so horrible. I still can’t believe it is the same planet.” Sheila was almost sobbing. “If it can be fixed, we will help, I promise.” She then startled Zoe by suddenly reaching over, putting her arms around her and squeezing her in a long hug.
Zoe felt unusually bashful and sad inside the hug. No one had hugged her since her grandfather died. It was a nice feeling, one she had almost forgotten was possible.
“We’re your friends now and don’t you forget it. Even when this is over we will still be friends somehow. That is a promise.” Sheila said to her.
Zoe smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “Guess so, if we can.” She had a big grin on her face, in spite of her doubts.
“Come see what Red is doing,” Lane called over to them.
Red’s fingers were flying over the keys and pictures and words were running even faster across the screen, first one and then another taking its place. It looked like a lot of different words and numbers were being pulled up from inside the computer.
“I don’t have the slightest idea of what he is doing. Do you?” Lane asked Sheila and Zoe. They both shook their heads.
“Guess only Red knows what he was doing,” she shrugged. They watched Red in silent awe as he typed on the keyboard in front of the large computer screen. He kept making comments as he went along. “Man, oh, man, this is great. What a set up.”
Then he would type some more, check the screen, make another comment and type again.
The millions of colors, numbers, and letters that flowed across the computer screen was making Zoe anxious that he would make a mistake. She never imagined anything so complex before.
“Can he do it? She whispered to Airi? Can he do it?”
Finally, Red stopped typing on the keys.
“And the code is: 696e2074686520626567696e6e696e6720476f” Red announced. His pride was obvious.
“Done,” he added, “Done at this end, at least.”
“What do you mean, at this end.”
“This code will be able to break the computer’s hold on Airi and throw him out of its system for good, but it’s like Airi said, we need to go back to just after he was pulled in to complete the deletion I just set up.”
“Didn’t we just try that and find that we couldn’t get in?” Lane asked.
“You are already in the building,” Airi said. “Just twelve years too late.” He explained to them that because they were already here inside the empty building, he could probably send them back to this exact time and place, perhaps just moments after the computer captured him. Hopefully, they would be standing at the computer at exactly the right time to release him.
“You have all jumped in time at least once with the help of the tree. Moving forward into the future is quite hard. You will find it quite effortless to travel backwards. If I configured the time correctly, you will arrive at the right moment.”
“There would have been fewer techs working if it was late evening or early morning.” Red said.
There was silence for a moment before Airi said, “I have just checked. The capture happened at 3:23 am. Perhaps no one was working at the computer at the time.”
“How do you know that?” Red asked.
“Didn’t Zoe explain to you what happened? At my capture, I was split up and parts of my body were scattered backwards and forwards in time. I began looping sixty years in both directions.”
“Ah, what did he just say?” Sheila asked.
“He keeps riding a time flow between before the world Deadended and now. Airi lives the destruction over and over again.” Zoe answered, proud that she finally understood.
“Oh, how horrible.”
“Yes, bad enough to live through earth’s destruction once”, Zoe admitted.
“It might be dangerous inside the FBI building. Why not just send me back alone?” Suggested Red.
“That is a considerate thought young man but what if you run into someone and get stopped. Who would take your place at the computer? My energy is constantly dissipating, running down, as you would say. If we wait too long, I may be too weak to send anyone back. My weak state of being prohibits a second attempt.” Airi added with great force in his voice, “No. It is imperative that each of you learn the code and are capable of inserting it.”
“Then, don’t forget the most important part—we need to push the delete button.” Red said with emphasis on the word delete.
“I don’t know anything about computers. I’ll be the lookout.” Zoe told them.
“Hey, good one. Kick anyone who comes close.”
“I don’t know much about computers either?” Lane complained. “How am I going to memorize such a long number?”
“Well, we did have paper in our day.” Sheila said.
“What do you mean?” asked Lane.
“You have a tablet in your pocket. That’s what it means.” Sheila laughed.
“Oh, yeah, all we need to do is write it down.” Lane smiled.
“What did you say it was Red?” Sheila asked pen and tablet in hand. “It’s quite a long string of numbers.” Red slowly spoke the code that he had burned into his own mind. “696e2074686520626567696e6e696e6720476f” Sheila wrote the number down on four sheets of paper and tore them from the notebook. “Here, every one take a copy. You too, Zoe, just incase. And don’t anyone loose it.”
“Yikes, what happens if we mistype a number or something?” Lane asked.
“Don’t.” said Red.
“I don’t think I could type in all those numbers.” Sheila said. “I’ll just protect you.” She laughed at her own silly idea. She was tough but not tough enough to handle an FBI agent.
They all laughed with her and then felt better. A laugh was what they’d needed to break away from the fright of what they were about to do. “Looks just like a long string of junky letter and numbers to me.” Lane said.
“Hey, it was easy to pull up with Airi’s help.” Red explained. “Just don’t anyone forget to push the delete key.”
Sheila looked her copy. “None of us could ever memorize this. So lets read each copy out loud make sure they are all correct.”
This time they didn’t need to go to the tree. They would attempt to step back into time from this same computer room only 12 years later. When they felt they were ready, Sheila took Red’s hand as he held Zoe’s and she in turn grabbed Lane’s. In this way, they were making a circle for their minds to travel in.
“Well it worked by the tree,” Red said delighted to be holding Sheila’s hand.
“And I will be kinda glad to get out of this place.” Sheila said.
“Yeah, I never want to see this place again.” Lane agreed.
“You will never need to if we are successful. If I am set loose, I will have a great amount of power at my disposal, enough to move mountains, if need be. Just break me loose and you will see. For now, we must do with what we can.”
“When this is all over I’ll miss you,” Sheila said, “Will we will never see Zoe again?” she asked Airi.
“I can’t predict that and neither can you. Perhaps Zoe will be able to keep her ability to travel. Consider that if the world does not experience the coming disasters you three will be adults and Zoe will be a mere child.
“I am not a child.”
“Chronologically you are a child. Devastating life experiences have made you grow up sooner than should have been necessary.”
“Maybe I won’t like who I am if we fix up the world.”
“Hey,” yelled Red, “It needs to get fixed now, so lets cut the jabber and get going.”
“Send us now.” Zoe told Airi.
“Yeah, before I get too scared.” Lane added.
Chapter 26 Red at the computer
Suddenly they were in the same building but the floors now had bright brown tiles and the clean, smooth walls were painted a light cream. Small lights winked all around them and overhead an alarm was blaring.
Red saw that a red laser light was pointing at his chest. He scampered away and motioned the others away from the sensor light. No good. Moving away didn’t stop the alarm. He ran to the computer and began to type in the correct code.
While he typed he heard a man shout, “What the hell!” How’d you kids get here?
This area is a code five?”
Red kept on typing as if his life depended on it.
“Stop or I’ll shoot.”
Red heard the man shout from the side of him. He glanced away from the computer for a minute and saw the man’s neatly pressed kaki uniform and polished black shoes glaring in the bright light.
“Oh, God,” Red said. “The army is after me.”
The guard took another step towards him, but Red had turned back to the computer to continue typing in the long string of numbers and letters with shaky fingers. Red felt the sharp pain in his side at the same time he heard the blast of gunfire. The hit was powerful enough to push him away from the computer. He staggered and fell to the floor. The next thing he knew he was sitting on the polished floor. Not yet, he told himself. He grabbed on to a near-by chair and tried to lift himself back up to the computer.
When he realized that he was grounded, maybe doomed, he yelled out in a voice that was beginning to weaken, “Delete. I didn’t delete.”
Lane screamed at the Army man, “Don’t you understand? The whole world is going to be destroyed in ten minutes unless you let him finish.” While Lane yelled at the man, Sheila ran towards the computer console.
“No time for words.” She reached one hand to the computer and the other towards Red to hold him up. She had grabbed on to his shirt but he was sliding back down to the floor.
“Move away from the computer young lady, or I will shoot. Come here at once. Then we can all take a walk down the hall to see the boss.”
Zoe said, “Take me. I’ll go, but she must stay.”
She looked over at Red. He was on his knees; blood ran from his side. His shirt was pulling out of Sheila’s hand. Red looked about to collapse. Red had been the best one to type in the code because he understood what each symbol meant. Zoe knew she couldn’t have done it, but she could do something else. She lifted her foot and kicked at the guard in the gut. The gun flew out of the guard’s hand clattering as it hit the wall and then the floor. She then grabbed him by the neck and yanked him off his feet in a martial arts move that would have delighted her grandfather.
While the guard lay gasping on the shinny tiled floor, Zoe motioned to Lane to join her. They both sat on him so he couldn’t get up. Still, they could hear feet pounding down the hall towards them.
“Hurry, Red, hurry.” But Red had fallen out of Sheila’s grip and collapsed on the floor. Zoe didn’t dare go to him because the man below her was struggling to get up.
Sheila turned dark with anger. She stood up straight in front of the computer. “I’ll complete the task for Red. I think he did everything but delete. Isn’t that what he said?”
She closed her eyes. Please God, let this work. I know you love us. Please? After Sheila pushed the delete button, tears clouded her eyes as she bent down to hug Red. Blood poured out of his wound in vast quantities now. He wasn’t dead yet because he opened his eyes at her touch, grinned, and tried to speak. What ever it was he tried to say came out garbled and then his eyes closed once more.
“I pushed delete.” She whispered to him. “I pushed delete. I don’t know what to do now,” she sobbed as she looked over to Zoe and Lane.
Sheila didn’t know if Red heard her. Maybe he would never hear anyone ever again. When more men wearing tanned uniforms and carrying guns rushed into the room, Zoe and Lane got up from the struggling guard.
Either the job was done now, or it would never get done, Zoe realized. What should they do next? Where is Airi? He’d been silent all this time.
“Where are you?” She whispered into the room.
The question of what to do next was taken out of their hands. A group of five army guards with rifles surrounded Sheila, Zoe and Lane in a standing formation. One of the men, with a hand held phone, called for an ambulance. Red still lay silent on the floor in a twisted position as if he were in great agony. Zoe couldn’t stop the tears that slowly filled her eyes. She noticed that Lane and Sheila were crying too. Was Red gone?
Two men with a stretcher came rushing into the room. Red’s face was white, but Zoe noticed his hand tremble a little as he was rolled on to the stretcher. A ray of hope?
“Oh, hurry, please get him to emergency, quick.” Lane cried as the emergency crew rushed past them and down the hall, “That’s my brother.”
Red was whisked quickly away. The rest of them were handcuffed, Zoe’s feet and hands were cuffed. She guessed the guard didn’t want to land on the floor again. Then they were marched down a long corridor and shoved into to an empty room, clean and bare of furniture. There wasn’t a single chair in the room so the girls sat down on the floor as metal clanged from their cuffs and leaned their backs against the wall after the guards left. Zoe asked Sheila if she had finished putting the code into the computer. Sheila looked up at her with tears in her eyes, “I think Red was done, so I pushed the delete button.”
“Please God don’t let Red die.” Lane said.
“I am sorry, Lane that I couldn’t help Red.”
“Nothing you could do,” Red’s sister told her. “You had to finish. Red would have wanted you to finish.” Lane began to cry.
Finally, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, Zoe said, “Maybe we lost one but saved millions.” This wasn’t a sentiment that the other two wanted to hear right now, but Zoe added, “I saw his hand move a little when they took him away. Maybe he will be ok.”
Zoe had stopped crying. She remembered the rose that she’d cried harder for not long ago. Isn’t Red more important? Maybe I’ve run out of tears. She was afraid for herself now too. What will happen to me now that Airi is gone? Zoe suddenly felt afraid and alone, in spite of being so close to her new friends. Just then, a bald man with a wrinkly face and big nose opened the door and walked into the room with two guards at his side. He wasn’t wearing an army uniform but the guards were.
He pointed at Zoe and said, “You first.”
Zoe looked up at him, puzzled. “What?”
“Mr. Snyder wants to interrogate you. Don’t you watch the movies little girl?” the guard said.
“No, I don’t.” Her answer caught her in the funny bone for some reason and she began to laugh.
Sheila laughed too. They both got the joke, but Lane barely smiled, concern for Red still evident on her face.
“You kids on crack or something?” Mr. Snyder asked.
Zoe asked, “What is cracked?”
“Oh, come on. You playing the sweet little girl role now?” He motioned to the guard to walk over to nudge Zoe towards the door.
One of the guards pulled Zoe up off the floor with a yank, too hard of a yank, so she jumped into the air, chains and all, and sent a kick directly into his middle. He doubled over in pain.
The other guard grabbed Zoe and held on to her tight. “Damn crack heads.” He muttered.
Angry, Sheila yelled out, “Stupid. She is not a crack head. She doesn’t know anything about that kind of stuff. She is from the future. You killed her world, you jerk. My world too.”
“Crack heads.” The bald man agreed.
She lifted her hands and tried to scratch at the guard’s face who was grabbing at Zoe. The other guard was still struggling to get up off the floor. Two more guards came in to the room and stood next to Sheila and Lane.
“We would have treated you nicely if you’d cooperated,” the bald man said. Usually Lane was shy around strangers, but her fear for Red made her angry and daring. She said, “You didn’t give us a chance. You think we’re dope heads. Then how’d we get here. Hah, tell me that.” She stuck out her tongue.
“I intend to find out. Talk. Why were you kids in the computer room and how did you get in there?”
“You wouldn’t believe us.” Lane answered.
Just then one guard acted like he wanted to slap her but the bald man stopped him with a look.
“We will book you and call your parents.
Smiling to herself, Zoe thought, he’ll never believe that I am only three years old right now, and shivered as she realized the odd scale of time she was caught in. She didn’t even know her own full name. I am truly alone without Airi. Where are you Airi?
“We intend to find out how you got into that room. If you will explain that then it will go easier on you. The truth may allow you to go home to your parents by tonight providing it proves correct. That room is top-secret territory, a highly secured area. Impenetrable, or so we thought.”
“We don’t know how…” Then Sheila smiled and said, “A genie put us in there.” Sheila realized she had said something very stupid because he bald man gave her a stern look. He thought her words were a taunt.
Zoe spoke up then. “He isn’t really a genie. He just told the others that he was so they would help him. He is really a life form from outer space who got caught here on earth. Inside your computer,” she added.
“Yeah, your stupid computer,” Lane said.
Sheila groaned. This was even worse.
The bald man stood looking at them with his hands folded on his chest, anger making his face grow red.
“Ok, soft treatment is over. Lock them up again. This time in a real detention room.”
Airi felt himself break loose from the computer. For the first time in sixty earth years and a quadrillion subjective years, he was free of the time loop. Free to stop bouncing back and forth between the vault and computer, free from the need to witness earth’s string of disasters over and over. He felt like streaking around the universe with joy, but held himself in check. Not yet, he couldn’t anyway, not without his Abo. He still had much to do and undo.
He must retrieve his Abo. He assumed the job would be easy, but how could he be sure. This kind of separation had never happened to anyone of his race before except in myth. Long ago, his race had joined symbiotically with the dark Abo to save their own world from disaster.
He was certain now that an Abo should never run free. He must get back the missing shadow soon before it created even more havoc on earth. Humans had their own darkness to contend with, they didn’t need his Abo added into the mix. What his Abo had actually done was push the human psyche into failure mode. Its darkness increased until the people themselves wanted war and bombs. With the infrastructure destroyed, sickness completed earth’s destruction.
When he got back home, he would have many tales to tell. But for now, he must hurry and gather all the parts of himself that had been scattered, including the Abo. His Abo, when it was complete, is what gave him the agility and mental augmentation to soar between the stars. Without it he would only be only half free and might still be stuck here on earth.
He lifted higher up into the sky and surveyed the landscape. His first step would be to go back and forth in time to search out the missing parts, each should have slight piece of his Abo still attached.
Airi began his search backwards. A few
years before his capture, he found his shadow in a tall man instructing a group
of older students how to blow up buildings. At the sight of Airi, the man
sputtered and fell prone to the floor. Airi paid him no attention as he erased
the slight power that had stuck to the man along with his Abo. Next, he pulled
a fragment of power and Abo away from a South American drug lord on a machine
gun rampage. Further back in years, he took the shadow
away from a group of Americans hiding out in an empty house as they planned a
raid on the
A few years back he found a fragment
of his dark self in
Airi searched with his lightning eyes but he didn’t need to depend on vision alone, its presence should call to him like a beacon as soon as he got close. Like smell, and was that a whiff? Perhaps. The symbiotic must be in as great a need of him as he was of it by now. Still thinking while he searched, Airi suspected it was the need to rejoin him and this craving for completeness is what caused the dark side to work so much evil. The people did it to themselves, but his Abo had prodded them into it. He hoped he never needed to tell Zoe the whole truth.
The sky felt good to Airi, but he could go no higher until he completed the job. He had his own craving to hold in and could understand the shadow’s yearning. Even humans have hidden, dark recesses inside them, but mine was darker and has escaped its cage.
The new freedom from the computer gave him a more enlightened and steady view of the burnt and broken world. His sorrow was great for the people who had lived and died through the traumas. It was just as well, he reflected, that he hadn’t known a part of himself was the cause before this or the knowledge might have drove him to insanity. This way, learning of it just before his release, he could possibly control his mental sorrow and then after gathering up all his parts, proceed to change events. This might even prevent the worst of the disasters from happening.
He swooped down towards a broken line of pavement where he’d thought he saw a deep shadow move nearby. In Dead End, he didn’t need to worry about being seen, because there were few healthy people left alive. While he searched out the last of his Abo, a vague part of his mind was able to see and take note of Zoe’s plight. He saw that the group had been caught right after his release. No matter, he could now complete his promise to them soon.
Airi glided across the land as he searched. There, its smell had a distinct tang. He swooped down just in the nick of time to see the dark shape slither beneath a bridge.
He yelled, “Eiiiya,” and dropped beneath the bridge. Now the half-mindless thing had slid around and behind a rock. The rainbow that was Airi suddenly swooped from sky and sat down on top of the dark shadow like a pancake. Airi wiggled and squirmed as the dark shadow lovingly bled through all of his pores and then solidified into a light purple hue around his giant butterfly-like body.
“Oh, what all have you done my bad little Abo?” He said to the cobalt blue stripe that rippled at the very edge of his wings. It couldn’t hear of course because it had no ears. Picking up his final section of Abo had added a dark purple band of energy to his bright color bands. Airi fluttered with pride in his own beauty. The tint of red, yellow, and green bands reflecting in daylight turned him into a grand rainbow. If there were more sun, he would have shown brighter then the sky. His actual body was not made of solid matter, which was how he had got caught up into a computer in the first place. His magnetic polarity was opposed to earth’s own magnetic strands of energy.
Aireramegishia rose high above the clouds and then dove back down in a swooping curve. His size was now almost immeasurable, his power grand. “Now things can be put to right.”
In order to make things right, Airi had to go back to when he had begun looping and erase himself out of time. An easy task now. It was natural for his type of being to be present in a wide swath of time and the more mature his people become, the wider the time stream they controlled.
He gathered each part up without care what the people might think of the rainbow that dropped from the sky. Each time he grabbed up a fragment of self, the world called earth became a little more lighthearted and happy.
Happier even than the now cleansed earth, Airi twittered with gladness. He swooped into clouds, twirled around the sun, and came back to earth with lightning speed to the time where he’d left the children.
Airi noticed that the three girls were standing in a small room and surrounded by men in kaki uniforms. A bald man was talking. Time for action.
Aireramegishia put much effort into his glow, easier now that he was complete. He landed in front of Zoe who was being led by two guards out of the room into a long hallway. The rainbow glow that now filled the hallway couldn’t be missed even by the determined minds of the guards. Airi now looked like an angel that had stepped down from heaven.
Mr. Snyder’s eyes got big as saucers at the brightness. He looked at Zoe in time to see her hand and leg cuffs fall off and clang to the floor. He saw her arms reach around and hug the rainbow ball of light that now filled the hallway. The guards stammered and stood back against the wall as if they might get burned by the colorful light.
Lane and Sheila knew it must be their genii Zoe was hugging. Not wanting to be left out, they ran up to the rainbow to give their own hug. As soon as the light touched them, their steel cuffs clanged to the floor.
Mr. Snyder reached out to grab at Lane but the light was so intense, he stepped back away afraid to touch it or be touched. All three of the young people stood within the rainbow glow now. Then they didn’t. They were gone with the light. All that was left where they had stood was a piece of torn jean fabric and a diamond laying on the floor.
They had gone to find Red who was being transported by ambulance to
Within minutes, Sheila, Lane, Zoe and Red, who Airi had completely healed of the bullet wound stood in front of the house where they had first met. Red was embarrassed to be wearing a bloody shirt but felt his side with wonder. It felt as if he had never been shot.
The street should have been dark because it wasn’t daylight yet, but Airi’s rainbow lit up the whole area where they stood. He was truly beautiful, truly an angel of light.
“We must leave,” Airi said to Zoe. “I will take you home before I leave earth. You must say good by to your friends.”
“Oh, I don’t want you to go,” said Sheila.
“Me neither,” Lane said. “And what about that wish you promised? My wish is that I can visit with Zoe all the time, as much as I want.”
“I am not really a genii. I don’t grant wishes, but…if what I think happened, did, then you will be able to visit Zoe when it pleases you.”
“Not sure I know what you mean,” said Red.
“Me neither.” Agreed his sister, Lane. “I’ll miss Zoe.”
“I’ll worry about her.” Sheila said.
“I will be ok.” Zoe said. “I may be able to visit from time to time now that I know how to step into time. That old tree will stay around for a long time, I think.” She hoped the tree was still alive.
“Of course,” Red said with a grin. “Who, knows, maybe we’ll remember how to visit you too. Believing in something is half the battle to getting there. Besides, I want to see what the future looks like after it gets fixed.”
He paused, “Did it get fixed Airi?”
In answer Airi told them, “I believe the earth frame has rearranged emotional folds and reversed itself, more or less, back to ordinary, problems of culture. The only way to know for sure is to go forward and take a look, which I mean to do immediately.” He added, “Zoe we must leave now.”
“What a bunch of gibberish. I couldn’t understand a word he said, could you?” Zoe said as she laughed. She looked at Red, Sheila and Lane who laughed with her. They each stepped up and gave Zoe a quick hug before she was whisked away inside Airi’s brilliant light.
“We love you,” they called out as the angel light and Zoe disappeared into the sky.
Chapter
29 Zoe goes home
While she was still surrounded by his shimmering rainbow, Airi asked Zoe, “Is there any place you would like to go before I leave for good.”
“Yes, I want to go to the tree. The one we climbed down.”
Suddenly they were there beside the tree.
Zoe stood in front of the now healthy tree, a majestic king among other trees. She felt delightful as she watched its branches gently sway in the breeze. Its bark was a beautiful mahogany color with stripped gray ribbon lines running down its bark. It was beautiful.
Zoe nodded to the tree and reached her arm out and touched a darker spot on its bark. “Does it look to you like a tear has run down this line of bark?” She asked Airi.
“If so, then it was a tear of joy,” Airi answered.
Zoe thought she could feel contentment emanating from the tree. The world was so changed now she wasn’t sure if she could orient herself. The buildings stood complete and unbroken, the grass was green, and the sky blue. It looked as alive as her friend’s world now. “It is as if it never happened,” she whispered in quiet reverence to Airi.
She could not only see the change but feel it. She felt the bright sunshine on her head and skin. “Oh, Airi my world has become beautiful again.”
She thought she could even feel her grandfather inside her heart as if he had never left. But could that really be true? Yet, people walked to and fro across the grass and cars revved their engines in the distance.
Zoe could no longer see a great distance because the many trees and buildings blocked the view, buildings that weren’t broken or falling apart. She reached down and rubbed her hand across the real grass. Then she skipped for joy because right next to a green park bench, maybe the same one she sat on during the trip into the past, grew a huge profusion of red roses. Zoe walked over and touched a red rose that was in full bloom. She bent her face down to it and smelled the perfume swirling through the air.
“Oh, Airi,” she said, turning in a circle as if to dance, “It is too wonderful for words.”
“Yes, it is isn’t it. Now, young lady I must leave and you must run home to a grandfather who is wondering where you have gone off to.”
“Did it really happen, Airi, did the world truly get fixed after being destroyed?”
“Yes, it is all true, and if I were you I would hold on to the memories. Make sure it never happens again.”
“Oh, I will, I will.” She threw him a kiss as his rainbow light lifted high into the blue heavenly sunshiny sky.
“Good-by dear Airi.”
It wasn’t until the spark of light blurred into the sun that Zoe turned and ran towards home. She ran in the door to find her grandfather putting a pot on the stove. She ran up to him and hugged him so tightly she almost toppled his old frame.
“Oh, grandfather. You won’t believe what happened. I have such a strange, wonderful story to tell you.”
“If it’s that good, wait until your father and mother get home.” He looked down at his watch, “Very soon now. You can tell your story during dinner.”
After getting settled in her new, bright
world, Zoe realized that she lived in the same world that her friends did, only
12 years later than when they’d met. Zoe looked each
of them up on her own computer. Her
friends were now twelve years older, adults really, but they had never
forgotten her, or the adventure they once shared with Airi. They visited with
each other often to eat popcorn and watch television, but mostly they liked to
reminisce about their shared experience on that strange night in
It was this memory that had pushed each of them to take up professions that worked for the well-being of people and world peace. Red had become a doctor, still in residence. Sheila had become an emergency room nurse. Lane was still in college to studying theoretical physics. She belonged to many peace organizations. Zoe studied hard in the middle school not too far from where she lived with her parents and grandfather. She intended to become an alien biologist one day. Even though most people didn’t believe in aliens, she knew they existed and that there were angels flying between the stars. One day she intended to meet Airi again and learn more about that grand stuff that made up Airi’s rainbow of light.
Just after Airi left Zoe, he noticed that the absence of his dark side hadn’t made the nations of earth exactly high quality, but his relief was great at what he did see. People all around the world in a hurry, shopping and buying. Plants growing all over the planet once more. In other words, a world filled with living people like it should have been all along. If an alien could smile, Airi did when he remembered his little human friend Zoe’s delight when she found that her world was no longer Deadended.
The End