Vanished (25 page)

              I find my voice, “Who is he?” I ask Logan.

              “He’s one of them.”

              “How did he get down here?”

              “We brought him.”

              “Why?”

              Logan opens his mouth to answer but the man starts talking before he can, “You were touched by Agarthan Purification Fire.  Those burns can’t be healed by anything in this room or on the surface for that matter,” he gestures to the room around us.

              There’s that word again.
Surface.
“Who are you?” I ask.

              “My name is Renner.”

              “Well, we have some questions for you,
Renner
,” Logan says, his voice brimming with fury.

              Renner’s eyes linger on me for a few seconds before he turns to look at Logan, “Here’s a question.  How did six humans survive
the sweep
?”

              “The sweep?” Maddie says in a near shriek, “is that what you people call the mass genocide of an entire race? Or are you referring to the destruction your friend’s are up there doing to our city now?” 

              “What have you done with our people?” Zayn asks through gritted teeth.

              I search Renner’s face for a flicker of kindness or compassion, “we just want to know what happened.”

              He looks at me and the animalistic quality diminishes partially, he’s silent and his expression is unreadable.  He crosses his arms behind his back and looks over at Zayn.  “Most of earth’s outer population was transferred to a holding dimension.”

              “Outer population?” Logan asks, “that implies there’s an inner population.”

              “There is,” Renner says, “My people live in Agartha, a civilization with trillions of citizens, located in the inner-world.”

              “Inner..inner-world?” I stammer

              “At the center of this planet.”

              Zayn moves finally, his eyes flicking to mine, then at Renner “You mentioned a holding dimension, what is that?”

              “A virtual duplicate of Earth.”

              “Virtual?” Zayn says, cocking his head.

              “To humans – the outer population - nothing has changed, life goes on for them as normal but in reality their world is a virtual simulation – existing only in their minds.

              Zayn frowns, “How do living beings interact with this…simulation?”

              “They’re physical bodies are stored in cryogenic pods underground.  Only their consciousness is connected to the simulation.”

              “That’s…” my stomach churns as my imagination plays grotesque images of what Renner is describing, like a morbid slide-show, in my mind, “that’s…wrong.”

              His eyebrows crease together and he looks at me again.  Do I see silent agreement in those golden, star-lit eyes? “It’s as if they are living happy, healthy lives; they’ll have children, drive cars, climb mountains, have their wars and grow old and eventually die just as they would have here.  The only difference is the byproduct of your destructive nature is no longer harming the rest of the universe.  The threat is contained.”

              A lump forms in my throat.  I think of my little brothers. Elijah and Isaac weren’t a threat. As if he’s reading my mind he adds softly, “They’re given a choice.”

              “What kind of choice?” Maddie asks.

              “Before their memories of us and
the sweep
are deleted, they are given the choice to come and live in our society instead of entering the holding dimension.  I have no way of knowing right now but it is possible that some of your family members,” he looks around at all of us, “chose to remain in their physical bodies, to live out their days in the inner-world, without the illusion. If a human wants to be considered they must agree to follow the rules that govern every Agarthan, to fully integrate into our culture, to essentially, become one of us.”  

              “And if they refuse to live by your stupid rules, if they don’t want to be
like you
?” Logan sneers, his tone full of bitterness.  

              Renner shrugs, “Their memory of us is deleted and they’re connected to the holding dimension. Permanently.” 

              Logan scoffs, “What gives you the right to play God?” 

              Renner seems to consider Logan’s question for a moment before he answers in his calm, deep voice, “Call it…an intervention.”

              “Are we really that bad?” I ask. As a species we are aren’t infallible, we certainly have our flaws but look how much we’ve grown.

              He looks back at me as if he welcomes the opportunity to do so, with hungry eyes, a look more intense than any look Logan had ever given me. 

              Logan doesn’t flinch, “What happens now?”

              Renner puts out his hands palm up, “You brought me here,
you
tell me.”

              “If we let you go, I mean, what happens if we let you go?”

              Renner smiles and shakes his head, like Logan is clueless, “Let’s get one thing straight, kid.  I’m standing here by choice.  If I wanted to be back up on that ship right now, I would and it would be unwise to test me on that.  Now,” his face grows serious, “My report won’t get back to central command for another twenty four hours. It’ll give you a little head start but the odds are still against you.  Sooner or later, they’ll find you. This entire region is scheduled for terraforming during the next moonphase.”

              There’s a buzzing in my head but I try to ignore it and concentrate on what Renner’s saying. Collin says, “What the hell is terraforming?”

              “What you just witness above.  Phase one is cleansing, removing everything man-made. He shrugs, “Phase two…that’s someone else’s job.  The whales probably want a coral reef relocated here or something, how should I know, I’m just a terraformer with a torch.” 

              “Tell me what they’ll do to us
if
they find us?” Logan demands, his voice trembling with anger.

              Renner’s jaw flexes and his golden eyes glint with annoyance, “If I was guessing, I’d say all of you – but her – “ he points at me, “will enter mandatory holding, they’ll wipe your memory of all this, restore your DNA to the original two strands you had before the sweep, and plug you in to the holding dimension.  You won’t remember any of this.” 

“Why not her?” Zayn asks.

              “She’s been touched by pure-fire.”

I raise a hand and touch my face on the left side where the burn was but my skin doesn’t feel any different. Whatever Renner did to me, I’m completely healed, and the worst of the pain is gone.  Now I just feel sun-burnt all over. 

              Logan looks at me then back at Renner, “What does that have to do with anything?” 

              “Pur-fire burn victims are rare.” Renner says enigmatically then abruptly changes the subject, “They’ll be sending a sentry out, when they see I’ve landed, to see what the delay is about.  If I’m up there when they come I can claim my ship was malfunctioning and buy you some time to get away.  You better go far and hide deep because this area is no longer suitable for human habitation.”

              “You expect us to trust that you won’t follow us, or call them down on us the minute you leave our sight.”

              “Let’s just say I prefer not to get involved.” He looks at me when he says this and I hear a voice like his, deep and rhythmic, vibrating inside my head,
except with you, I wouldn’t mind getting involved with you
.  My eyes widen and my face heats up. Is it possible? Did the alien just speak in my mind? Renner gives me a meaningful look then turns and walks past Zayn toward the door to the medical room.   “Nice place you’ve got here,” he says, “I’ll show myself out.”

              There’s the sound of the door up to the next level sliding open and then closing again. 

              “What did he mean by ‘restore your DNA to the original two strands you had before the sweep’?” Zayn asks. The comment disturbed me also.  I remember - right after I saw Madison’s wings for the first time – thinking her wings could be some kind of genetic mutation, a result of the ringing sound.  The sweep and her wings had to be related but the rest of us were exposed to the ringing sound and we didn’t grow wings.

              Logan puts the gun back in his holster and shakes his head, “Not a clue.  I didn’t understand half the stuff he was talking about and I’m not sure we should believe him.  He is the enemy remember?”

              “But he healed Trin, he saved her life,” Jasmine squeaks.

              “Speaking of Trin,” Logan says, “Could I get a minute or two alone with her?”

              Zayn’s the first one to go.  He stalks out of the room without saying another word, without even waiting for Jasmine.  She looks up at us, sighs deeply, and follows him out the door. Madison and Collin leave next but not before Madison tells me she’ll be right outside my room. 

              Logan glares at her as they leave. “You left,” I say.

              He picks up a stool and sits it down beside my bed.  “Everything that happened to you today is my fault, Trin.  It was stupid and rash of me to leave like that and wrong not to talk to you about it first.” I open my mouth to say something but he holds up a hand, “just…look…before you decide whether or not I’m worth forgiving you see something.”

              I frown, “What?”

              He gets up and goes to the counter with his back to me. He opens a drawer and retrieves something shiny from inside it.  When he turns back around I see a look on his face I have never seen before.  His features are taut with strain and his eyes are wide and haunted looking, like he’s just seen a ghost.  “Here,” he says, handing me the object.  It’s a mirror. 

              “What’s this for?”

              He touches my cheek.  He wants me to look in the mirror? Why? Swallowing hard, I lift the mirror to my face then slam it down again on my lap. No, I think…No that isn’t me…that’s not my face…this must be a trick mirror.  I here Logan sniff beside me and when I look over his back is turned to me and the muscles in his chest are contracting, like he’s…crying?

              Slowly, I lift the mirror up again.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Renner

              Hitting the button on the control panel, I open a private line and send a transmission to Garrek.  I sit back and replay the encounter with the humans over and over in my mind.  Her face flashes in my mind again. Was it the
misae
in her that drew me to her so strongly or something else?

Garrek’s raspy voice comes through the speakers, filling the cockpit, “Ren, it’s been awhile, what brings you out of cover?”

“I found one, Garrek”

              “You’re kidding me! How?”

              Ignoring his question, I explain further, “A female and this one
isn’t
Agarthan.”

              There’s a beat of silence before he speaks again. “I’m not sure I heard you. It sounded like you said she’s
not
Agarthan.”

              “You heard me right.”

              “Renner, are you saying what I think you’re saying.”

              “That’s affirmative.  She’s human, with altered DNA,
Misae signature
. I healed her myself– worst case I’ve ever personally seen - but I don’t know the details.”

              He emits a knowing grunt, “She survived
the sweep
.  Intriguing. Where’d you find her? They wouldn’t let a
Misae
show her face underneath without snatching her up, especially a human.”

              “She’s not under.”

              I hear him inhale sharply, “Tell me you picked her up.”

              Her eyes flash in my mind.  One iris bleached white, the other dazzling forest green with specks of silver, wide, brave, open, eager, honest eyes that betwixt the emotions.  “No. There are complications, Garrek.  She’s Malcolm Snow’s daughter and she’s not alone.”

              There’s silence in the cockpit for a moment. I watch the other Ranger ships moving further away from the school, unknowingly rerouted and under my control until I release them. Garrek coughs, “Heard reports Snow’s daughter was still on the surface. He’s has had an SOS out on her since
the sweep
. We were hoping one of our own would bring her in.  How in the hell did that little girl…” his voice trails off and I find myself questioning his use of the descriptive word “little.” “The others with her, how many are there?”