The Prometheus Objective

40

Caleb shot up an instant later, gasping and disoriented in every one of his senses. His body felt alien, his skull a tiny thimble. Nothing fit inside. All the knowledge and wisdom of the Tree and the other place, just trying to cram back inside and scatter among the pockets inside his brain. He imagined billions of alcoves, his mind an ancient Greek library, overflowing.

So many sights, and truths, and…

“Dad!”

Someone shook him, then embraced him. A boy, and a woman. Someone else was getting up from a prone position and rubbing his head.

“Dad, do you know me? Do you know where you are?”

Caleb blinked and tried to focus his eyes on the material world taking shape around him. Dim and shadowy, almost fake in every way like a projection. Maybe from… that, the crimson tear hanging in the air, giving off waves of heat.

“Caleb,” a woman’s voice, her eyes as green as…

The little stone around the boy’s neck. The boy calling him…

“Dad?” He pulled him close, and the boy was tall, not at all as he would have pictured a son. More like a grown man, more and more every day.

“Big brother?” Another voice, from the woman helping the other dreamer back to his feet. This one familiar, like they had just been together, along with a pair of little ones.

He heard crying now, soft and weak, but full of hunger and need, and the couple went to the table to pick up and hold the twins.

“Give him a moment,” said the green-eyed, tan-skinned woman, sleek as a cat. Attractive suddenly in a way that at once made him ashamed, as if before this moment he had been incapable of feeling attraction, or lust, or shame.

An image of a man and woman, naked before an apple tree came to his mind, and then his surroundings shifted into place.

The man holding a child came closer, eying him curiously. “Caleb, don’t fight it. Don’t try to hold onto everything. Our brains aren’t meant to know everything. To retain all of it would be… well, it would really suck.”

Caleb frowned and tried to do exactly what he’d been told not to, mentally grasping at wispy bits of knowledge and items of truth. He felt like waking up after a beautiful, meaningful dream and trying to hold onto all the facets of it, the imagery and the discoveries, yet most of it just slipped away. He would always let those go because deep down he knew that dream world wasn’t important; wasn’t where he spent his days, wasn’t where his life would be lived. And thus, it didn’t matter.

Throwaway knowledge, no matter how truthful, had to make way for the information that really mattered.

He was Caleb Crowe. He had a sister, two sons. A lover… named Nina. A friend named Orlando.

And a world depending on him.

He had created this psychic catastrophe, He had to help end it.

He took a deep breath, hugged his son close, then backed away, studying the green stone around his neck. He was close to remembering something else, something vital about the nature of this thing — and everything around them when another sound jarred his senses.

Gunfire from somewhere above, echoing painfully, followed by the sound of engines, and screams.

“No!” yelled Nina. “Jacob!”

“Wait,” Aria said, holding up a hand as she had started up the ramp. “I saw him… Leading them up the ramp, about to enter the pyramid, coming in fast and he’s got an injured person with him.”

“Temple!” Phoebe said, viewing it herself.

Nina cocked the M5 and tossed the 9mm over to Aria. “Let’s go!”

“No,” said Alexander, stepping away from his father and moving ahead of the others. He touched the emerald stone, the gem of power and control. “I have another way.”

He reached out to the sense the area up there, seeing it in his memory first, and then, he closed his eyes…

…and saw it for real, opening them inside of one of the soldiers pursuing Jacob. Ahead of the dozen or so other black-clad para-military members, he roared up the ramp fast, tearing into the ice and maneuvering the corners at breakneck speed. Gaining on the two lumbering up on the Snow-Cat, he would catch them before the mangled entrance and before they could get inside to safety.

Alexander had no time to revel in the wonder of being in two places at once. He could still sense his body down there in the depths of the pyramid, could still feel the others all around him: his father’s eyes especially, concerned and more than a bit bewildered. He could only imagine what Dad was feeling now, coming back after whatever was through that breach; he wanted to help, wanted to heal, wanted to take Aria in his arms and keep her safe and build something together with her, more than anything. But right now, so much stood in the way. The end of everything as he knew it, if they couldn’t get out of here.

And he would never forgive himself if anything happened to Jacob, despite their history, their rivalry.

Alexander could save him.

And did.

This soldier was his to command, and for just a moment he pictured himself back in the lighthouse basement, playing with army men and tanks and toys, waging epic battles; victory turning on the actions of a lone hero that he, Alexander, controlled.

Just as he controlled this one.

Bearing down on the helpless, bullet-riddled Snow-Cat and the boy trying to get out and aim his gun, Alexander took control, gently, and eased the man’s weight slightly to the left, then banked hard.

Sorry.

He didn’t know this man, didn’t know if he had a family, if he was here against his will or was just a stone-cold mercenary, but he decided he’d go with the last option, and as the snowmobile flipped sideways, over and over, throwing the rider, Alexander stayed with him and endured the pain of broken bones and jarring impacts, just to see the aftermath — as the other vehicles came careening around the bend and collided with the sled or tried to avoid it. Two crashed into the mountainside, one tried to swerve and stay on the trail but slid over the edge and tumbled violently to the base. The last, a larger Snow-Cat, came to a halt before the pileup of three wrecked snowmobiles. Two men got out, but Alexander, groaning in pain and lying on the ice inside the dying man’s mind, had seen enough.

“I’m out,” he said, and opened his eyes down below, gasping and holding his ribs, still feeling the shadow pain. He fell back, into his father’s arms as Aria came closer, eyes wide.

“I saw the crash…”

He nodded. “Not super proud of that, but…”

“You should be,” Nina said from behind him. “How many left?”

“Four or five,” Aria said, holding her temple.

“Manageable.”

Nina cocked the magazine, was about to head up the ramp when she paused, looked back and aimed. Caleb ducked reflexively, and Orlando shoved Phoebe and the twins out of the way.

Gunfire sprayed in six precise bursts as Nina aimed and shifted her arm. Six times, stopping at last for a breath, and to ask once more. “Is it ok to kill these bastards now?”

One last burst, and Raiden’s body jerked with the impact of five rounds right into his chest.

“No objections?”

She nodded in satisfaction, then wheeled on her heels and started up the ramp.

Aria groaned and dropped to a knee. “Wait!”

“What?”

Aria shook her head, and as Alexander knelt beside her and tried to comfort her, she looked up, taking deep breaths. “Something’s changed. I don’t feel it anymore.”

“Feel what?”

“Anything. The sensations, the field of psychic-whatever, it’s like it’s gone.”

Her eyes blinked rapidly, scanning everyone around her. “The shield…”

“…is down,” said another voice. A familiar but quite out of place voice that made Alexander jump in shock.

He turned, with the others, and saw the impossible.

Xavier Montross was standing there, over the body of Raiden.

“We succeeded,” he said calmly, although he seemed to be struggling to maintain his standing. He shimmered slightly in a holographic-like form.

“You’re projecting,” Nina said.

His smile for her was short-lived. He seemed in pain.

“You’re still seeing something… horrible,” Orlando said, and then nodded. “The comet is still heading toward us. Armageddon still keeping our date.”

Xavier shook his head, hand up. “Yes, but…” Then he mumbled something inaudible.

Footsteps coming, rounding the bend…

Jacob, carrying along a wounded Edgerrin. Out of breath, but strong and looking triumphant, he only slowed when he saw his mother — and then Alexander.

Specifically, the gem around his neck. Green light danced in Jacob’s eyes.

The hologram flickered. “Can’t keep this up, but it’s something… that threatens everything. Happens in the next few minutes if you don’t stop it.”

Alexander’s hand went to his neck, to the gem, and it trembled in his fingers. “What?”

Xavier groaned and held his head. Getting a vision back wherever he was.

“Are you seeing your death again?” Caleb asked, shaking off more of his cobwebs, and stepping towards the apparition.

“Yes,” Xavier whispered, fading. “And everyone’s. I…” His eyes flashed to Jacob, then to Nina.

And before he disappeared, he said one word, as loud as he could — which sounded like it originated a thousand miles away.

And sounded like: “Isildur.”

Caleb had a flash of insight. Of memory maybe, fading and drying like drops on a windshield. He had seen one of a possible infinite set of futures. One here with someone all in black striding over a mountain of corpses amidst a burning world. It hadn’t meant anything in that other place, the one at the time which seemed far more real than this menagerie. But he recalled the glow of something around a hooded man’s neck as he wielded power over armies and sent them clashing against each other on land, in the sea and the skies.

“Caleb…” Orlando’s voice. “You know, I think he said ‘Isildur.’”

“Yeah,” Aria said. “What the hell is that?”

“I know what it is,” Caleb said — at the same time Alexander did.

Phoebe coughed and looked around at the others. “Wait, tell me it’s not a Lord of the Rings reference.”

“That’s my girl,” Orlando said proudly, smiling at Phoebe. “The human warrior who had a chance to destroy the ring of power, but instead kept it himself and let its power corrupt him until it ultimately found its way back to the Dark Lord and threatened all life on Middle-Earth.”

Jacob and Nina helped Edgerrin down comfortably, and as she looked back up, waiting for the reinforcements to come, Jacob stepped toward Alexander.

“What are you looking at?” Alexander asked, taking a step back.

“What?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Caleb said, stepping in front of Alexander. “The future isn’t written in stone. Who we become is up to us, based on the temptations offered and the choices we make. But today, right here and right now, we have a chance to end it. Before any such temptation.”

Again, the image of the hooded avatar of death and destruction rose in his mind.

“Then end it,” Orlando said.

Alexander met his father’s look, pulling his glance away from the jealous, deeply hungry gaze in Jacob’s eyes. “End it,” he echoed.

And in one quick motion, Caleb reached out, snatched the gem, and ripped it from Alexander’s neck. Took one step, and without a thought, just keeping his mind empty, tunneling through the conflagration of memories, visions and the flood of data he couldn’t quite shake or see in more focus, he threw it—

— directly into the rift.

“No!” Jacob yelled.

“Caleb!” Nina shouted. “We needed that, it could—”

But then the stone struck the energy of the negative space-quantum otherness on the other side. An eruption of force and pressure shook the interior of the cavern, but most of the energy seemed contained. Or perhaps it was implosion, but whatever it was, the rift turned a violent shade of green, seething and pulsing brighter and brighter — and then the tear latched itself, sewing up and over as if invisible strands bound it tighter and tighter, stretching the fabric of reality on this side and…

“It’s closing!” Jacob screamed it, running toward the barrier, but Caleb caught him at the last. Held him back, held him close.

“I hadn’t expected that,” he said as it sealed up, sparkling jade, and then vanished. “But it’s for the best.”

“How?” Jacob asked bitterly while trying to pull away. He looked to his mother who had turned back, confused.

“Now, we’re on our own,” Caleb said, holding him close and vowing to be a father again, to make up for lost time. He looked to Nina, and offered a smile of hope, and forgiveness, and reached for her.

“But never alone,” he added. “We go through this life together, and we learn, and we question, and we die — always wanting to know more.”

And then do we do it again? He wondered. Or is that it and our consciousness expands and becomes infinite and elements come back to this place to grow and strive and experience? And… love.

Alexander was standing beside him now, and Nina came closer as they all watched the rift seal, flicker and disappear, and the dead tree alone quivered and hung desolate and obsolete. Orlando and Phoebe moved closer as well, and they all stood together, and the twins began to cry, and it all began again.

“The soldiers are leaving,” Phoebe said. “With the shield down and their numbers pretty much screwed, they’re out.”

“Thank God,” Edgerrin said with a groan from the floor. “For that, but mostly because I’m not freakin psychic anymore.”

“Well that’s good,” Caleb said. “Now, how do we get out of this godforsaken place?”

“I think we’re set,” Nina said, taking Jacob’s hand and finding he wasn’t letting go of his father quite yet — and finding that she was surprisingly happy about that fact.

“What do you mean?” Edgerrin asked.

Nina sighed. “I know Xavier. Before he sent himself here, he would have seen our situation, alerted the troops. Aircraft carrier not far, if I recall. We’ll have an escort within a few hours, is my bet. Let’s go to the beach.”

Caleb was the last to head up, after the others started. They left the bodies here, the ancient treasures and statues and mosaics. Left the stories, the conspiracies, the technology and mysteries farther down; the tunnels and the long-vacant underground cities.

Left it all for another day.

Another generation.

He smiled, watching Alexander and Aria, holding hands, walking up the ramp, walking reverently past treasures belonging to truth seekers of long ago.

An unbroken cycle.

A perfect circle.

Smiling still, Caleb gave a sad look back to Raiden, acknowledging his aspirations and respecting the ultimate but misguided pursuits, and then turned and followed the others out of the past.

Toward the uncertain future.