The Tide: The Multiverse Wave Read online

  My hand groped along the wood. Wood? I thought. There was nothing made of wood on the ship. The doors were all glass, bulletproof and activated with passcodes. There were no wooden doors with… Yes, there it was, the handle! I depressed the handle and opened the door, shielding my eyes from the bright light on the other side.

  Grace

  The seedling! But it had only been an experiment. Not even that, it had been a way for Treavyn to find out who he was and where he had come from. It had taken a long time for Treavyn to tell me about his past. We’d been dating for over a year before he told me one night, as we shared a bottle of wine after a late night in the lab. That was when he told me about his adoption.

  Treavyn wasn’t like other men; that was one of the reasons I fell for him. He was more vulnerable than most men. He wanted desperately to belong. That night, I found out why.

  Treavyn had been left on Earth, abandoned in a tiny pod as a newborn baby. He had been given to a scientist working on extraterrestrial communication and space navigation—Susan Dennessee. She was one of the first scientists to work on SpaceRx. They chose her.

  But after all these years Treavyn still didn’t know where he had come from and why. Susan had analyzed the pod over and over again but could find no trace of the alien world he had appeared from. Treavyn told me himself that he was almost human. His body’s DNA had only minor differences from the rest of us. He didn’t possess anything ‘special’ as far as he knew, though there were limits as to what Susan could test without drawing attention to him. Border babies were not uncommon, but virtually human babies from an unknown alien planet would attract much attention from the government.

  I’d even helped Treavyn when he told me that he wanted to try and find where he was from and make contact. I’d stayed behind at SpaceRx and helped him sneak into the communications room. We’d tried various nearby galaxies, starting with the nearest and moving further away. We’d pushed the transmissions as far as it would go to planets that were not known to communicate with Earth, but nothing had bitten.

  Until…the seedling.

  It started with these messages from a planet called Faber 1. They came in English, which had been even more surprising, and they had wanted Treavyn to care for something of theirs. To nurture it.

  I…should have stopped it.

  I looked at the being that had taken over Kearyn and blinked away the memory that I longed to forget. Its golden aura spun around me, seeping in through my pores and making my mind hazy.

  “Grace?” Monroe said. “Grace! What the hell is a seedling?”

  But I couldn’t answer, all I could see was the gold circulating around Kearyn.

  “What do you want from us?” I said. My voice was a croaking, shivering mess. A cold sweat had spread over my body, and I imagined that I was as white as the standard-issue SpaceRx lab coats.

  “We want to live,” said the being. “We want a new planet. And we want you to help us.”

  The being stumbled back. For the briefest of moments, the golden aura faded, and Kearyn seemed to shine through.

  “Help me,” Kearyn said.

  Kearyn

  It wasn’t that it was bright on the other side of the door, it was more that my eyes hadn’t adjusted to the change in brightness. I had to squint and shield my eyes until they adjusted the light became the norm. I took a step forward and pain radiated out from my abdomen. I stumbled onto green grass and looked at my hands to see that they were shaking.

  “You okay, little sis?”

  I looked up. This wasn’t the store room, or the cabins, or even the engine room. It was my back garden from when I was a kid.

  “Not really, Caz,” I admitted.

  The girl before me had my deep brown eyes and chestnut hair. But she was taller and stood with her hands on her hips as though she ruled the world. I think I knew even then that she’d grow up to pretty much do just that, or at least command the vast majority of what was left of the world. My big sister, Caroline Jones, or Colonel, as she was known to her friends.

  “What are you doing here, Caz?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you be at the SpaceRx headquarters keeping an eye on us and making sure we stay out of trouble?”

  “Don’t be silly, I'm an astronaut,” she said.

  I looked at her properly then. She was exactly how I remembered her at age ten, with a snub nose and freckles across her face. It was the year before she got braces and her teeth were slightly crooked. But that scowl was the same. She reserved that look for me when I was annoying. She picked up her spaceship and maneuvered it through the air, making zoom noises.

  The same pain radiated out from my abdomen, and I stumbled forward, almost knocking into Caz and her zooming spaceship.

  “Watch it!” Caz exclaimed, cradling her spaceship to her chest.

  I had the sudden urge to vomit but managed to swallow it back. Instead, I dropped to the ground and sat facing my sister on my backside, with the dewy grass cold beneath my jeans. Every muscle in my body felt weak, as though the strength was fading from me. It wasn’t a sensation I was used to. I was never ill. Neither of the Jones kids was ever sick. We were the strongest at our school, giving the boys a run for their money in most sports. I hated this.

  “You don’t look so good, Kear,” Caz said. For a change, her brown eyes narrowed in concern. “You look kinda pale, like the porridge I ate this morning.”

  “Probably best you don’t talk about food right now, Cazzy,” I replied, rolling my eyes.

  “Whatever,” she said in a mocking voice.

  We were both silent for a heartbeat, with Caz staring down at the spaceship in her hands. During the silence, I heard the sound of the voice again, muffled and far away. I gasped for breath as the tightening in my chest came back. I felt like I was trying to burst out of a trap, but I couldn’t see what the trap was or how to negotiate it. I pulled myself back to my feet.

  “I think I need to figure out where the voice is coming from,” I said.

  “I don’t want you to go,” Caz said.

  “Me neither,” I admitted.

  “But you should,” Caz said with a nod. “You should find the voice, and you should shut it up.”

  “You think?”

  Caz nodded. “You should fight back. Otherwise, you might fade away.”

  “Okay, big sis, you’re the boss, as always.” I fought against tears building up on the backs of my eyes. Jones girls don’t cry. Then I turned around and walked through the door.

  The corridor was dark, but I shut the door anyway. This time, the voice was louder. I ran toward it, ignoring the ache in my muscles, ignoring the way my body wanted to fold in on itself and curl up in a ball on the floor. I ran toward the sound of that voice, and I began using my own voice. I shouted.

  “Hey! I’m here! I’m here!”

  But my strength was waning. In utter terror, I felt as though I was going to just disappear. I felt like I was about to be swallowed by the darkness.

  Then I heard Grace’s voice, followed by a voice that sounded almost like my own but more robotic. No, I thought. You don’t speak for me. You do not.

  I pushed as hard as I could, and then I yelled, “Help me.”

  Chapter 10 – J.L. Hendricks

  Grace

  Oh my God! Was that Kearyn trying to come through? The real Kearyn?

  “Kearyn, I’m here. I will do everything I can to help you,” I cried. But just as quickly as the gold aura had faded, it came back. Like a blip on a radar screen. One moment she was there, and then the next, it was the creature I sensed in her.

  “We want to live. Provide us with more bodies like this one so that we may survive.” Whatever the creature was, it seemed to be taking over Kearyn’s body, but she was still somewhere inside, fighting for her life, for her own body.

  Its glowing hand made a gesture, and the door opened on its own. The body that was no longer Kearyn walked out, and Monroe pulled me back toward him.

  “Grace, we have to get ou
t of here before it contaminates us too!” he said urgently. He was walking backward while trying to pull me with him.

  “We don’t want to harm Grace; she has cared for and nurtured our seedling. She will not be touched. Where is our seedling, and Treavyn?”

  “They are still on the planet. Why are you here, in this craft with us?” I couldn’t understand why they had followed us up to space. They had the planet and almost all of its inhabitants, or at least what was left of mankind.

  “We want to survive.” It kept saying that while looking at me with wonder. Monroe kept walking me backward, and the body snatcher kept following us. I had no idea where Monroe was going, but I wasn’t going to stop him. Not yet anyway.

  Riley

  Slowly I opened my eyes. All I could remember was dying. Or at least what I thought was gonna die. My mind was hazy, but there was a memory where I stopped breathing, and the feminine voice told me to relax, that everything would be fine. I tried to bring my hand up to rub my temples, but both my arms were strapped down.

  “Help! Can someone hear me?” It was pitch black around me, but I could feel the walls closing in on me. I had never been claustrophobic before, but something inside me was itching to move, it was screaming to get out of wherever I was.

  A pleasant voice came over the speakers near my ears. “Riley, please calm down, or I will have to sedate you again. You are still infected. However, we believe we know how to rid your body of the virus and the invader it carries.”

  I stopped moving around. “What do you mean invader? I thought it was just a virus, something that made people act like zombies or something crazy like that.” I had waited for several moments before the pleasant voice spoke again.

  “I am unable to tell you all of the truth, just know that you may actually be the cure for what is left of the human race. Please calm down while we try one more procedure. It would be best if you were awake for this part as we need to keep your brain function operating at a normal level, or as close to a normal, waking state as possible in your situation.”

  My memories were coming back to me. They had already killed me once and brought me back to life.

  “Does killing me have anything to do with killing the virus and the invader? Is it a hitchhiker virus?”

  “Yes, and no. The invader uses a virus to weaken your immune system; then it is able to take over your body and grow. Eventually, your body will accept it, or it will tear itself apart, and the invader will try to find another body to live in before it dies.”

  “So we are looking at an invasion of body snatchers scenario here?” I must be dreaming. That old movie couldn’t have been real, could it? “How long before I can get out of this medical pod and…wait, who are you? Your voice is not the same as the one I heard when I went into this pod.”

  “You are correct: I am not the AI. I am a human on Earth who has taken over the medical pod’s controls. We have been monitoring your ship and the others as well. You presented the perfect opportunity for us to try our experiments. We tried here on Earth, but we needed someone in space.”

  “Who are you? And how did you get control over a SpaceRx ship? No one outside of the government could do that!” I could not believe what I was hearing. What was going on down there? Did someone take over the US government already?

  “Let’s just say that we have our hands in many “pockets” and prefer to keep our anonymity for now. Riley, I hate to tell you this, but you will be experiencing some discomfort. But, it is all for the betterment of man. We truly believe you are the key to our survival, and instrumental in halting the destruction of the virus and their attempt to kill us all off.” The voice was still pleasant, but it had a bit of an edge to it. For a while, I did think it was an A.I. as it had no emotion, but these last few exchanges made me realize it truly was a human on the other end somewhere.

  But the real question was: am I okay with being their human pincushion, or whatever they are doing to me? Some of my memories might be hazy, but they did already kill me once. Granted they did bring me back, but could I do this? Would I do this?

  Chapter 11 – Craig Martelle

  We are The Tide.

  As the tide ebbs and flows, so do we. Through space we travel, seeking to survive. We flow to distant shores whereupon we wash. As the tide cleans the sands of life, we roll ashore, stake our claim, and recede when there is nothing left. We are The Tide.

  The warmbloods don’t understand. We need them, but they need us. Strength flows from the force of our wills into their bodies.

  If they would only let us in. We can help them.

  If they would have only talked with us, the warmbloods. The creatures they called cattle, if we had them, we could have coexisted, peacefully. But they didn’t respond when we asked our question. They didn’t talk with us.

  We flowed over them as The Tide does, from one to another we jumped, multiplying, adding to the hive mind all that we are, all that we learned.

  The Tide could not be turned back. Once we joined with the human flesh, we hungered! We multiplied, more than we had to, but they fought us. Fertile ground in which we planted ourselves. So hungry.

  The cattle.

  We flowed over them, too, because we became many, more than even we could count. With our hive mind we were never individuals, and with our great numbers, we counted only communities, of which there were too many to count. The Tide—trillions of us washed over humanity.

  If they would have only talked with us. Stupid humans. They couldn’t hear us; we think because they weren’t listening. They pointed their antennas toward the sky, listening for the big sounds. But that’s noise. The universe speaks softly, rolling on The Tide, where listening carefully is its own reward. That’s where we speak of life and our future.

  That’s where others are, too. And that’s why we came to Earth. They heard us and came for us with creatures of metal, no warmbloods anywhere. For us. The Tide ebbed, then fled. To a place where we could grow.

  So hungry! Warmbloods. The youth of The Tide, those born of Earth, ran rampant, out of control. No longer can The Tide be held back.

  There can be no compromise.

  The Tide flows. Over the planet called Earth and back into space. We’re not ready to return to space, but you take us with you. The Tide flows against itself.

  “Grace! Talk to me, Grace!” a voice called through the glass on one wall.

  We are The Tide. Why can’t you hear us? This one can. She is holding us back. We cannot flow from her. We cannot.

  The Tide must flow. Why, Grace, must you fight us as you do? How can you hold back The Tide?

  “Grace! Stop! Give us a sign that you’re still in there,” the face in the window pleaded.

  “Why must you hurt me?” Grace said within herself to the beings that shared her body.

  We are The Tide. Now is the time for The Tide to flow. Through you, we flow.

  “No,” Grace replied simply, softly.

  “Grace, give us a sign, please! I beg you, don’t leave us…” the face in the window sobbed, holding her head in her hands, looking down, away from the human with the strange disease consuming her body.

  “I’m going to let her know that I’m here and working things out, okay?” Grace asked as if she were requesting a second helping of potatoes, and not for an extraterrestrial phage to give her back control of her body.

  The Tide does not agree. There is no purpose in communicating with your fellow humans. They are irrelevant.

  “Then it doesn’t matter. I’m going to wave to them now and smile.” Stiffly, Grace stopped walking and turned, raising one hand and smiling, although her lips were a gruesome view. The Tide was unrelenting.

  The Tide does not agree.

  “It’s time for The Tide to ebb,” Grace whispered as she leaned to the side, putting her hand into a small canister.

  “It’s time for The Tide to ebb.” A weak voice joined Grace, barely audible, but there, in her mind.

  “Who is
this? I can’t recognize your voice,” Grace said, trying to reach the other, someone who wasn’t The Tide.

  We are The Tide, and we must flow. Warmbloods!

  “Kearyn. I am Kearyn. I. AM. KEARYN!” the voice exclaimed.

  “It’s time for The Tide to flow, from me to a new world.” Grace filled herself, not understanding how, but the more she felt herself, the less room there was for The Tide. Like the storm surge, they flowed, down her arm, over her hand, and into the metal canister. With one last shake of her hand, she cast the last away. She closed the lid and looked back to the window, to tell her friend that she was okay, but she could only see the top of someone’s head.

  Grace tapped on the glass, and the woman looked up. Grace smiled and mouthed the words, “I’m free.”

  We are The Tide, echoed through her mind as Kearyn fought them, not with anger, but with peace and quiet reigning in her mind. The more fear a person felt, the more vulnerable he was. The angrier a person became, the easier it was for The Tide to flow. A mind at peace held back The Tide and two minds at peace ebbed The Tide.

  Chapter 12 – Taki Drake

  Treavyn

  The military officer was frightening. Colonel Jones was her name, I believe. I have never gotten along with people who carried their authority like an invisible weapon. Despite the visible guns at her waist, there were far more intimidating and frightening things about this woman than merely manufactured artifacts. Her gaze, so direct, so implacable, reached deeply into an inexhaustible pool of anguish that filled the center of my being. It had always been there, from the time when I was small to my current reality. Like a crippled arm, it kept me company, waking and sleeping. Sadness, anger, abandonment. These were the bones that have formed my skeleton, the foundation of my entire being.