Chapter Eighteen

Rilex crouched down beside the body and scanned his eyes over it, trying to detect any changes that might have happened since they found it. Even though he had noticed that there weren’t any symbols on the walls that would indicate that Ryan or some of his Valdician assistants had sent the hybrids to check on the body, he was aware that that didn’t necessarily mean that no one had come at any point to see the body. It only meant that there was no official need to check on it. As he looked over the body, Rilex couldn’t see anything that seemed different from when they left it lying in the tunnels before going to the compound the first time. It was still resting on its back the way that he had turned it so that he could take the book from its arms. The skull was lying to the side, its empty eyes staring at the wall beyond him.

Rilex looked into the voids, wishing that he could see the last thing that those eyes saw, that he could know the last moments of this man’s life. Just those last few seconds, trapped forever in eyes that were long-since gone, could have answered so many questions for him. Though Severine had lamented that this man was down here in the tunnels alone when he died, Rilex wondered if that was truly accurate. Simply because he was left lying here didn’t mean that his last moments alive were completely isolated. If someone was there with him, though, that only presented further questions. Who was it that was with him in the tunnels when his last breaths were drawn? Did that person know that he was dying, or did they walk away from him thinking that he was going to revive, only to discover later that he had never emerged from the chamber? Did that person get taken out of the tunnel and was unable to recover the body? Or was that person the one responsible for the man dying and leaving his body behind?

Moving as carefully and respectfully as he could, Rilex reached forward and touched some of the tatters of clothing that remained clinging to the body. He wanted to feel the fibers and see if he could narrow down the time period in which this man had lived. He knew by the style and cut of the clothing that they had been designed more than a hundred years before, but the longer that he had thought about that, the more he realized that that only gave an idea of the clothing rather than any real information. As soon as he touched the fabric and looked closer at the condition of the bones, however, he knew that his original estimation was correct. This body had been lying in the tunnels for at least 100 years, and likely more. The fibers of the fabric, while not entirely unique, were ones that were designed for a climate that was very unlike the one on Penthos and were rarely seen outside of Earth and a few closely-linked planets. That furthered Rilex’s initial impression that this body was human, though he couldn’t be positive.

He gently pushed areas of the clothing aside on different parts of the body to reveal the skeleton. Rilex didn’t know what he was looking for, but he knew that he would recognize it if he saw it. Severine sat by quietly, her eyes occasionally sweeping over the body. There was a sadness in her eyes that touched Rilex’s heart. He hated that she was suffering and he knew deep within him that this was more difficult for her than it was for him, challenging her in a way that he couldn’t understand because of all that she had gone through. He paused for a moment and reached across the skeleton to touch her face. She looked up at him and tried to give him a smile, but he could see the tremble of her lips.

“It’s alright,” he whispered. “We’re with him now. He’s not forgotten anymore.”

“But we don’t know who he is,” she said softly. “We might never know.”

“That’s true,” Rilex said, knowing that he couldn’t lie to her and that there was a strong chance that they wouldn’t be able to figure out who this man had been or why he was in the tunnels. “I can’t promise you that we’re going to be able to find out anything more about this man than what we already know.” Severine looked down, her face dark again, but he tucked his hand beneath her chin to lift her face to look at him again. “But I can promise you that I am going to do everything that I can and that we will work with the people back at the compound. George, Eden, Zuri, Samira. They are all amazing scientists and I’m sure that they will work with us to find out anything that we can.”

Severine shook her head.

“I don’t want them to look at him like an experiment,” she said. “I don’t want them to disrespect him.”

“They won’t,” Rilex said. She tried to look away again, but he prevented her face from tilting down. “They won’t,” he said again more insistently. “This man is not an experiment. You are not an experiment. None of you are experiments any more. And you never will be again.”

“He still has so many people,” she said softly, the emotion evident in her voice.

“Ryan?” Rilex asked.

Severine nodded.

“So many. I don’t even know how many.”

“But Eden and Pyra said that the facility was empty,” he said.

“No,” Severine said. “They got out everybody that they could find, but that wasn’t anywhere near everybody. They know that. They know that there are so many who fought in the battle at the laboratory and who tried to stop us from getting to the transportation bay. Then the ones here.”

Rilex nodded, he realized now what she was saying. They had been too narrow-minded. The scope of what Ryan had done and was continuing to do had escaped all of them and they would need to change everything that they thought about it if they were going to truly be successful.

“We will do everything that we can,” he said.

“I know,” Severine said, nodding sadly. “For some, there is nothing that you can do for them. Some of them wouldn’t leave even if we walked right up to them and offered to take them away.”

“The men who joined Ryan willingly,” Rilex said, experiencing the same sickening feeling in his stomach that he felt the first time that she told him about these people.

He couldn’t imagine what could possibly be going through the thoughts of men who would know what the scientist was doing and sacrifice their bodies, their minds, and their freedom to support him. Such craving for power didn’t make these men seem strong or intimidating in Rilex’s mind. Instead, they seemed weak and cowardly, so deeply believing that this man would be able to come into total control of the Universe that they were terrified for themselves and felt that they needed to align themselves with him to prevent becoming a part of his plan to ravage the universe. That thought made Rilex shiver. This wasn’t the first time that the Universe had encountered this type of lust for power and willingness to spread death and mayhem throughout the stars just to achieve it. But it had been so many years. So long had passed. There had been hope that they wouldn’t return, but Rilex had had many conversations with Malan throughout their lives and he knew that the King had never forgotten what he had gone through when Eamon called for him and had never truly believed that it was over.

Rilex was starting to respond to her, to say anything that he could to comfort Severine, but before the words could come out of his mouth he heard a piercing scream cut through the tunnels. Severine’s head turned sharply in the direction of the scream and then back to him, terror in her eyes. There was another scream, muffled by the distance through the tunnels but still loud enough that it sent them running frantically through the tunnels.

Rilex didn’t know where they were going. He hadn’t paid close enough attention the first time that they made their way through the tunnels to be able to move through them with confidence and he had to follow along with Severine closely to make sure that he stayed in her path and didn’t lose her. He knew all too well that these tunnels were complex and confusing, some of them turning on themselves many times and others leading into dead-ends that seemed to swallow the people who went down them. He knew in the back of his mind that there were things about these tunnels that only very few knew and understood. Even he knew only that there were mysterious elements of the tunnels, sections that were not created or run by Ryan and his Valdicians. He didn’t know where these sections were or how they worked. Those were details that Malan never got to share with him.

A heaviness settled in Rilex’s heart and stomach as he thought about his best friend. It had been so long since he had seen him. Years for him, a lifetime for Malan. Rilex could still feel the fear and panic that he had felt when he first realized that he was on Earth countless years after the time of Malan and had no way to return. He had moved through a portal that he didn’t know existed and had no knowledge of any other portals on Earth that would bring him back to his time, with the exception of one. There was one portal on Earth to his knowledge, a single one that would instantly bring him back to his stream, but that portal had long-ago been sealed, closed off so that it couldn’t be used.

Of course, now he knew that he had been wrong. That portal was not just a connection to his stream. A particularly complex portal, that one branched to several different streams, bringing the user to a different place depending on how they used the engraved key. Though he knew that in his time the portal that would have connected him back to his stream was sealed, many years after he came to be on Earth he met Galadriel and soon learned that she was able to travel through that portal. It was that event, the twist of fate of Galadriel contacting him about the HM-1313 wall, that set off the series of events that brought Rilex here now. He still wished that he knew about the portals that were hidden throughout this planet and why they were there. Not just so that he could feel a stronger link to his kind and the world that he had left behind to carry on the responsibilities he took on from Malan, but also so that he could feel safer now as they made their way hastily through the tunnels. Even though Severine said that she knew these tunnels well, the sections with the portals were beyond those, yet seemed very much like them. This meant that a single turn that she didn’t realize that they were taking, or a moment of confusion, could send them to a place that they didn’t know without knowledge of how they could possibly return.

The screaming continued, growing louder and clearer as they wove their way through the tunnels. Suddenly it fell silent and Severine paused in front of him.

“Where did it go?” she asked through labored breath. “What happened?”

Rilex shook his head.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I can’t hear it anymore.”

Severine took a few more steps down the tunnel and then started running again, Rilex falling into step behind her. Ahead of him, he could see the darkness of the tunnel lessening and soon he could feel air brushing across his face as they approached an exit. He tucked the lightstick that he held in his hand back into the small pouch on his hip, not wanting to draw any additional attention to them if they were walking into a conflict. As they started up the steep incline that led out of the tunnel he realized that they were walking out into what looked like a deep pit of stone. It took him a few moments to realize that they were in a quarry, apparently where they had sourced the stones to build the compound. He could only imagine that horrific conditions that those who cut the stones and carried them on their backs experienced as they built up the buildings that would become their prison.

Across from them, Rilex noticed movement and he braced himself, reaching out to grasp Severine’s arm to prevent her from going any further if she hadn’t noticed the movement. A second later, however, he saw a man step out of the ground, followed closely by Maxim, who cradled a tiny bundle in his arms, and a woman Rilex didn’t recognize. Maxim stood cradling the bundle until the woman came up behind him. He turned and rested the bundle in her arms, revealing the tiny head of a baby. She held the baby for only a few seconds before the peaceful quiet was broken by the sound of a man’s voice shouting from across the quarry.

Rilex turned to look toward the voice, but his eyes quickly turned back toward the man who had stepped out in front of Maxim. He didn’t know if he could trust his eyes and he quickly diverted them back to the sound of the man shouting for Maxim. At the edge of the quarry he saw the figure of a man appear, the glow of a lightstick around him, and Rilex quickly recognized him as Aegeus. He paused and stared into the quarry, the expression on his face indecipherable. Rilex looked back at the small group across the quarry, wanting to see their reaction. Maxim turned and took the baby from the woman’s arms and Rilex saw that her face was pale, her eyes wide, and he realized that this must be Maxim’s mother.

Severine started across the quarry toward Maxim and Rilex followed. Hearing their approach, Maxim turned and saw them, his lips breaking into a smile.

“Maxim,” Severine said as she stepped up to him, reaching to touch her hand to the baby’s head. “Who is this?”

Maxim smiled as he looked down at the baby in his arms.

“This is my daughter,” he said.

“Your daughter?” she gasped.

He nodded and Rilex could see the overpowering love in the young man’s eyes.

“She was just born,” he said. “Ivy is resting in the tunnels.”

Rilex and Severine had never met Ivy, but they had heard Maxim talk about his partner frequently. He hadn’t mentioned, however, that she was preparing to give birth.

“We didn’t know,” Severine said.

“No one did,” Maxim admitted.

“Why would you keep something so wonderful from all of us?” she asked.

It warmed Rilex’s heart to hear her interacting with Maxim so comfortably and confidently, and referring to herself as a part of the unit that was forming on the planet. He knew that she had had difficulty seeing herself in that way, perceiving herself as less than the rest of them. It took her identification of herself as part of what she called the Others that helped her to embrace this difference in a way that allowed her to assimilate into the rest.

“She’s a gift, Maxim,” Rilex said.

He thought of Hallow, the vulnerable baby boy he had embraced as his son. He wished that he had been there the moment of his birth so that he could have seen his first breath.

Maxim nodded.

“She is.”

“Mhavrych.”

Rilex looked up and saw the young man whose face was burned in his mind, pricking in his thoughts the same way as the Valdicians when he first saw them, rushing across the quarry toward Aegeus. That was enough of a confirmation. Rilex knew what he was seeing, who he was seeing, and he struggled with everything inside of him to hold back against the compulsion to run after him. Aegeus gathered the man in his arms in a tight embrace and Mhavrych pounded on the older man’s back affectionately. They pulled back and looked at each other, both smiling in the way that only those who were looking through the haze of many years could smile.

“What is it?” Severine asked from beside him.

Rilex looked down at her and shook his head.

“Nothing,” he said, not yet ready to tell her what he had just seen. He looked at Maxim. “Is that your mother?” he asked.

Maxim nodded, looking toward his parents. Tears sprung to his eyes and he pulled his tiny daughter up closer to him as though she would help him control his emotions.

“This is the first time that they’ve seen each other,” he said.

“You should be with them,” Rilex said. “Your family needs each other.” He touched the little girl’s head. “Especially now.”

Maxim looked at him as though the gravity of the situation that was unfolding in front of him had barely registered, as though he knew what he was seeing but couldn’t truly believe that it was happening and didn’t know how to respond to it. As though Rilex’s words had gotten through to him, Maxim stepped down from the stone where he stood and crossed the quarry toward his parents.

“Aegeus was in the lab,” Severine said as if she was reminding herself of what she had learned since her rescue from the facility.

“Yes,” Rilex said. “He’s Maxim’s father. Ryan used him in his experiments, but now he’s after Maxim and Kyven.”

“Why is this the first time that Aegeus and she have seen each other?” Severine asked.

“He spent decades in that lab.”

“But she never came for him. In all that time. In all the time that he has been right here. She never came for him.”

“She didn’t know,” Rilex said.

“Know what?” Severine asked.

“That he was alive.”