The Great Altruist (9 page)

           
Genesis flew into the air at great speed; the dew wicked from her skin by the friction. Once she passed the tree-line, she picked up a powerful burst of speed. A sonic boom was left in her wake as she sailed across the atmosphere. Back on the ground, Jadzia remained on the grass, rolling over into the warm grass in full view of the sun. As she bathed herself in its warmth, she raised her arms high above her head and yawned. A few minutes later, Genesis returned, and at full strength again.

           
“I hesitate to say ‘good morning,’” she said, “but I’m glad yesterday is over.”

           
Jadzia arose, stretched and yawned, and quickly sought out the fallen tree behind a patch of bushes. “I’m glad too,” she called out from her makeshift lavatory. “Promise me I never have to see another person die.”

           
“Do you see now why I’m opposed to killing anything?” Genesis asked rhetorically.

           
Jadzia emerged from the bushes and said: “Yes, but that poses a bit of a problem.”

           
“What’s that?”

           
“Who’s going to make our breakfast?”

           
Genesis laughed heartily. “I suppose this means I’ll need to find some more vegetables.” She disappeared into the woods and scoured the ground for something to eat.

Jadzia slowly stepped into the creek. The water was still cold, but Jadzia didn’t care. She sat on the bank and dangled her feet in the creek and then slid her body under the water when she realized it was just deep enough to cover her body. She floated atop the icy water for as long as she could tolerate before climbing onto the warm grass where she dried off in the sun.

           
“So what next?” Genesis asked as she entered the clearing with a trove of mushrooms and herbs in tow. She couldn’t carry much in her hands, but she gathered the vegetables into a ball and pushed it through the air as though its own gravity held it together. When she reached the banks of the creek, she set the ball on the ground and separated the food.

           
Jadzia yawned again and stretched. “Can I just stay here forever?”

           
“You
can
. You’re far from the war. There’s no one around.”

           
“I’d sure love to,” she said. “But the feeling I had last night when I went to sleep hasn’t gone away.”

           
“What feeling is that?” Genesis asked.

           
“I know you said your power needs to be used responsibly, and I agree. In fact, I’m glad the power you possess is in the hands of someone so wise and considerate – even if you do brag too much.” Genesis frowned.

           
Shaking off her barb, Genesis sat beside her on a boulder. “Tell me truthfully,” she said, “if you could do anything with the power I have, what would you do?”

           
Jadzia sat up and mused aloud: “I know saving my parents would be a selfish act, but I must admit, I’d still save them if I could. On a larger scale, I’d do anything I could to stop that bomb from going off. I’d probably prevent the whole war.”

           
Genesis didn’t say a word in reply for several minutes. She merely acknowledged the words of her friend and nodded as she weighed their larger implications. “I have to be honest with you,” she said finally. “When I flew off earlier this morning, I made a special trip into the future. I had a few questions of my own. I wanted to learn more of the bomb, who made it and why. It wasn’t pleasant. I travelled as far into the future as I could and the fear of that thing still dominates humanity. The terror of it has never gone away. It ended the war, however, but the Americans had to drop a second one to do it. A new war simply replaced the one that just ended.”

           
Jadzia’s hopes of life returning to normal diminished. “No matter what happens I want you to know that I am eternally grateful for giving me hope, however short-lived it may have been. And I saw my parents before they died. I can’t thank you enough.”

           
“You’re very welcome,” she said.

           
Jadzia began to fidget with a clump of grass and threw pieces of it into the water as she said: “Have you ever considered doing what I suggested? Preventing the war?”

           
“No I never have,” Genesis said, “until yesterday. I know what I said about using my powers responsibly, but after learning how many people died from that one horrible thing, the responsible thing is to prevent it.”

           
“What should we do?” Jadzia asked.

           
Genesis leapt off the rock and began hovering back and forth across the clearing as though pacing. “Preventing something as complex as a world war isn’t going to be easy. I don’t even know if it can be done.”

           
“Why not?”

           
“A war isn’t started by just one event or person; it’s a composite of grudges, disagreements, even old wars left unsettled that set the stage for the next one.”

           
“Then we need to find out how and where the war started.”

           
Genesis shrugged her shoulders and snorted. “Hah!” she said. “That could take ages.” The she said: “I have it! I’ll be right back.” She disappeared suddenly, and just as quickly, returned out of breath.

           
“Where did you go?” Jadzia asked.

           
“The future. Everything we need to know is in the history books.”

           
“How far did you go?”

           
“As far as I could. The stream gets muddy the further I travel and travelling far into the future - at least in the vicinity of Earth - is near impossible. Still, I found out all we need to know.”

           
Jadzia smiled with delight. “So all we have to do is go back to the very beginning and stop whatever started it, right?”

           
Genesis caught her breath and sat on the boulder near the creek. “No, it’s not that simple, I’m afraid. You see, the further we go back, the riskier everything gets for
you
.”

           
“Why?” Jadzia said. Her excitement waned.

           
“Watch this,” she said. She hovered over the creek and watched the fish swim about. “Remember how I told you the stream is like a river?” Suddenly, the creek divided. As though an invisible barrier was put in place, all of the water on one side of the creek merged to the other side. It all happened so quickly that many of the fish couldn’t swim to the other side of the creek. The fish gasped for air when she released the barrier and water flooded both sides again. “If we change something in the past, it will divert the stream of time and change
your
future.

           
“So, if we went back to the moment Germany invaded your country, we could prevent the start of the war, or we could just stall it. In either case, a change like that could preserve your parents, and possibly millions more. But consider if we prevented the Hitler from seizing power: that occurred before you were born. Anything prior to that point may decide whether you will even exist. Remember, your existence depends on your parent’s conceiving you at the exact moment they did. If we prolonged that by even the smallest unit of time, you might never be - or you may be a boy. If we go back to a point during the first war, it may interfere with your parents ever marrying. Or your parents may still marry and conceive you, but some innocuous event in the stream may mean the death of your father when you are five, or they may both die and you’ll end up an orphan. More than likely, though, you will never be conceived in the first place. And when we returned to the present, you would exist in a world where you never existed. The paradox that would create might be disastrous. It may not even be possible to bring you back. You would be stuck in the past.”

           
Jadzia buried her head in her folded arms as she listened carefully to Genesis explain the dangers of time-travel. As much as her heart yearned to save her parents, she wondered if taking such a risk was necessary. Her parents weren’t angry at her for not killing the guards. Even the feelings of regret over that event had begun to subside. Perhaps she could just beg Genesis to take her parents from the camp so they could live together here in the forest. As she condemned her own selfishness, the thought fled her mind as quickly as she thought of it. “I’d sacrifice anything to save my parents,” she said. “But how could I think only of myself while so many good people suffer?” She covered her face and began to cry. Genesis rushed to her side and sat atop her shoulder.

           
“I won’t leave you,” she said.

           
“You can’t stay here forever, will you?”

           
“I have nowhere else to go either. But don’t worry,” she added, “you’re in no rush to decide what to do regarding the war. It won’t be stopped overnight anyway.”

           
Jadzia wiped her eyes dry. “I feel like I have nothing left. My family is gone, I have no home. I don’t even have any clothes to wear! My only friend is you.”

           
“Of all the people I could have chosen, I’m proud of choosing you,” Genesis said. “And by the way, if you want clothes, I can always go find you some.”

           
Jadzia lied back on the grass and stretched out in the noon sun. “We’re in this together, right? If you don’t get clothes, I don’t get clothes!” she said, laughing.

           
Genesis laughed as well and said: “The offer stands.” As Jadzia bathed in the sun, Genesis flew into the sky and hovered several meters above the creek. “Get some rest,” she said. “I’ll be back soon.” With that, Genesis shot into the sky at tremendous speed and disappeared from Jadzia’s view.

           
Jadzia closed her eyes and meditated on the choices set before her. There were but two paths to choose from: she could leave her old life behind and start anew – perhaps here, in the forest; or she could save the lives of millions of others and possibly negate her own existence. Her selfish part chose the former path; it cared not for the lives of others, but was interested only in self-preservation. But as Jadzia followed that road in her mind, she was left with a sinking feeling in her gut. She would she be alone, without family, and she wouldn’t even be able to live with herself. The other choice risked her life, perhaps even unnecessarily - after all, even Genesis could never be sure if their efforts would be successful. And if they failed, would Genesis be able to go back and fix the events that would allow for Jadzia’s conception?

           
As despondent as Jadzia felt over losing her parents, she could not ignore her youth, the decades of potential life that lie in front of her. Besides, she had sworn to herself that she would never return to the camp where she suffered for six years, but what if her attempts to prevent the war forced her to witness other atrocities, heinous acts so wicked she could not imagine them in advance! But still, the thought of giving away all she had to save even one life left her with a feeling of deep and profound satisfaction.

           
Relieved with her decision, she went to the pile of food and ate what she could. A moment later, Genesis arrived in a flourish and sat atop the stone by the water. Jadzia ran cool water from the creek through her hair and returned to Genesis’s side. “I’ve come to a decision,” she said.