Aliomenti Saga 6: Stark Cataclysm (43 page)

The Mechanic nodded slowly. “I see where that might be confusing.”

Angel emerged from the trees, spotted Fil, and sat down next to him. Fil glanced at her, his invisible eyes asking a question that she could ascertain without needing clarification. “Charlie’s gone to the Cavern for a few days. We’re thinking of staying here permanently, making this our home.” She smiled. “It’s such a beautiful area. He’s going to retrieve some of our things before heading back.”

Fil nodded.

Angel glanced at Adam and the Mechanic. “What’s the topic of discussion?”

Fil straightened up. Angel was laying the cheerful empathic Energy on thick… and even though he knew she was doing it, he couldn’t help be feel more positive. “Wondering what Dad’s been up to. Wondering if…” He paused, then shrugged. “I guess we’re really wondering if he’s still around at all.”

“The historical record said that Will vanished from the world after the encounter with the Hunters,” Adam noted. “But we know he didn’t die at that point, because he reappeared to launch the Energy summons to bring the Hunters to Pleasanton. And…” He paused, glancing at Fil, as if wondering.

Fil shrugged. “We’ve all figured that part out, Adam. Dad—the old Dad—visited Mom nine months before I was born. That’s why Angel and I have different levels of Energy.”

Angel nodded, and then grinned. “It’s weird, isn’t it? We have the same father… but in many ways we don’t.” She patted Fil on the arm. “He just wanted to make sure you were best able to protect your sweet, adorable little sister.”

Fil tried to glower at her, but she pouted her lips, and he couldn’t help but laugh. Adam chuckled. The Mechanic smiled.

“Dad’s around,” Angel said. “So is Mom. I know they are; I can feel them. They’re healthy, and undoubtedly doing their own thing to help all of us.”

“I still wonder why Dad never showed himself again, though.” He sighed. “And Mom. I guess I keep remembering her being so sick that I struggle with the idea that she’s healthy and staying hidden.”

“Perhaps they got so proficient at staying hidden that they never knew how to reveal themselves to you,” the Mechanic suggested.

Adam nodded. “Hope hid from Will for decades; I suspect between the two of them, they could vanish from the world without much effort.”

Fil sat back. “I guess we have to just wait for them to choose to reveal themselves, then, don’t we?”

Adam nodded.

“We do have a problem to think about, though, outside that,” Fil said. He leaned forward, his focus returning. “The Aliomenti. Dad’s stay here was brief, but it’s done two things. They know he’s alive… or was, at any rate. And he indirectly caused Aramis’ death.”

“We don’t know that Aramis died, though,” the Mechanic noted.

“True.” Fil shrugged. “That’s the less important of those facts. They’d given up the Hunt for Dad and then he walks into Headquarters and severely injures a Hunter. With help.” He glanced at the Mechanic, whose lip curled into a grim smile. “They… can’t be happy.”

Angel sighed. “They’re going to start a war, aren’t they? They won’t be content any longer to just imprison our people.”

Fil nodded and sighed. “I think so. I can’t imagine the news of Will Stark’s continued existence is going over well. Aramis’ condition will provide something of a rallying cry, at least among the other Hunters and the Assassin. Assassins, that is.” He shuddered. “We need to be ready.”

Adam sighed. “We could certainly use Will right now. He’s known the Hunters and the original Assassin longer than any of us. Hope’s had a few encounters, but not to the extent Will has.” He turned to Fil. “I hesitate to suggest this, but… if you wanted to, you could… end the Aliomenti threat.” He spoke slowly, uncertain how his suggestion would be received.

Fil sighed. “I know. But I… I don’t want to be like them. I could level the island and Arthur and the Hunters and Assassins would be gone from the world. But we’d lose good Aliomenti in the process. And the humans there?” He shook his head. “I won’t do that. The last time I did… it didn’t end well for anyone.”

Angel squeezed his arm. “So… we should head back home, then? Make contingency plans, wait for Dad and Mom to appear?”

Fil sighed. Then he smiled. “I think that’s our best choice. Until we take the next step? We live freely. That’s what our parents would want.”

Angel and Adam nodded.

But the Mechanic laughed. “Freely? You call what we’ve been doing living freely, do you?”

The others turned to stare at him.

Eva, who’d noticed all three of them missing, moved closer. “What do you mean, Mechanic? Why do you laugh at the use of the word?”

The man shook his head. “If you’re living freely, you’re not living under constraints set by others. You’re not holding back on the good you want to do in the world because you’re worried that Porthos will find you. You’re not thinking about something you think would be a great course of action, but letting a video of a memory stop you because it might mean that some obscure future event won’t come to pass. No, everything we’ve done for centuries has only
seemed
free. We convinced ourselves that we’re living in greater freedom than Arthur’s brainwashed minions because we can make choices. But we have our own shackles. And most of the Alliance, like most of the Aliomenti, don’t even realize it.” He shook his head. “This isn’t true freedom. We can’t live in freedom until those shackles are removed.”

They sat in silence for a moment, pondering his words.

Eva finally spoke. “Your words ring true, Mechanic. Yet one shackle is now gone, is it not?”

He nodded. “With the journey through time commenced, we have no future history to guide and control our actions. Yet we still live in fear of the Aliomenti.”

Adam gave the Mechanic a curious look. “What are you suggesting? That we take the attack to them? That
we
start the war that we all know is coming?”

The Mechanic smiled. “Why not?”

“Dad wouldn’t want that,” Angel said. Her voice was quiet.

“Are you sure about that?” the Mechanic asked. “The guidance about not harming or killing the Aliomenti and the Hunters… do you think that was a moral decision, or a practical one? Killing Porthos in the year 1800 meant he couldn’t find Pleasanton in 2030. But without that constraint, is Porthos’ work something that you’d allow to continue?”

“I…” Angel frowned, staring at him. “Something’s not right here.”

The Mechanic smiled. “Perhaps.”

He closed his eyes. And they watched, mesmerized, as those next minutes unfolded.

His orange clothing morphed, turning a deep shade of purple. His face smoothed over, age spots replaced by freckles, his thinning, graying hair turned a deep red in color.

Adam frowned. “David, why are you suddenly concerned about your appearance? You’ve had the ability to look like you did in college ever since you joined us, and yet you allowed yourself to age. Why change that now? And what happened to your clothes? Why is your Energy suddenly registering so much stronger?”

The blue eyes twinkled. “My name isn’t David.”

The eyes snapped shut.

The ground around them rumbled as the man’s Energy swirled. The four bystanders watched, looking at each other, trying to understand what was happening. Were they in danger? Should they do something to stop him? What would they be stopping?

And then his Energy changed.

Fil’s eyes opened wide, so wide he thought they would fall out. Angel’s hand slapped over her mouth to prevent from crying out. Adam’s shock was complete, recognizing at last in an old friend his
oldest
friend, a transformation finalized as the eyes switched from a cobalt blue to a deep jade green, as the freckles vanished, as the hair darkened to a black as deep as the color of Fil’s clothing.

“I think you sent me back in time a
bit
farther than you let on,” Will Stark told them. His face was stern, eyes blazing.

They stared at him. Was it really Will Stark?

Eva looked at him, doubt etched on her face. “Tell me something no one else would know.”

“We first spent a lot of time together on our first trading expedition, not long after I arrived at what we later called the North Village. There wasn’t a separate wagon for me, so we rode together. You had enough Energy skills at the time to recognize that I did as well. We talked about Hope… which wasn’t her name at the time, of course—and about how the biggest threat to her wasn’t really her father.” Will’s green eyes blazed. “Shall I continue?”

Eva shook her head. “No. You have convinced me of your identity.”

Will turned to Adam. “We met for the first time beneath the lake on the island we called Atlantis. You thought I was threatening Eva and held a sword to me. When your father died and we called upon you to take his place, you were hesitant.” He paused. “Until she talked to you.” He nodded at Eva. “One day, Eva, you’ll have to tell me what exactly you said to him that so quickly transformed this man into the one I know now.”

Eva’s face remained placid. “I was the best trader in our village, Will Stark. I can be quite persuasive when necessary.”

Will nodded. He turned to Angel. “You always sensed my presence, even before you were born, even when I figured out how to change the signal of my Energy to enable complete invisibility to everyone else. I think it’s your strong empathy. You sense people and emotions far more than Energy, and those signals can never be masked.” He shook his head. “I went back in time knowing for mere seconds that I had a daughter. And I realized that the young woman I met reminded me so much of her mother that I couldn’t understand how I never made the connection until you told me.” He didn’t turn, but they knew his next words for all of them. “You modified my memories before I went back in time, didn’t you? Or at least before I regained consciousness? I didn’t recognize Eva and the others when I arrived in 2219. I didn’t recognize Eva in the eleventh century. You made sure of that, didn’t you? You made sure I couldn’t even recognize Angel.” He refocused his attention on his youngest child. “Hope’s natural hair color was a flaming red, just like you have now. Did you know that?”

Angel couldn’t speak. She shuffled forward, her eyes full of tears, and threw herself at her father, feeling for the first time the embrace of a man she’d never truly known but desperately wanted to meet. Will wrapped his arms around her and held tight, his hand atop her head, shaking with emotion of his own. He steadied himself and fixed his gaze upon Fil.

His face spoke volumes, and Fil knew what he needed to do. The mirrored sunglasses dissolved from his face, and he looked upon his father with his icy blue eyes, moist with tears. “I’m so—”

“Don’t,” Will said. “I’ve had twelve centuries to understand, and twelve centuries to make decisions that I didn’t care for either, some of which you’ve yet to learn. I had to sit back, invisibly, watching you grow up, wishing I could be there directly to answer the questions you had. I couldn’t have asked for a better role model to be there for you, though.” He glanced at Adam, who looked startled. “You’ve undergone a far greater trial than I have, son. Don’t let worry about my thoughts on your actions and decisions be part of that burden.” He removed an arm from Angel and waved his son to his side.

Fil didn’t shuffle. He moved to Will’s side in two long strides to join in the family embrace.

The embrace seemed to last an eternity. When at last they separated, Will reached out and tussled his son’s hair. Fil grinned. “You always did that when I was younger.”

Will grinned back. “You’re still pretty young in my book.”

Angel looked at him. “Mom…”

“She’s fine.” He frowned. “I waited too long to act. I hoped you’d figure something out. I didn’t want to take her from both of you when you were still so young and needed her presence. It took… a long time to restore her health. But I learned a few things by secretly watching some experiments.” He glanced at Adam. “Some of them were quite innovative. And they mattered.”

Adam startled once again. “What… are you saying…?”

“I’m saying I was there in the room on the day of my birth. And I know what you saw, and what you did.” He moved to Adam and held out his hand. “I finally understand your comment about wanting to join the family, a comment you made yesterday or twelve centuries ago, depending on your perspective.” When Adam accepted the handshake, Will nodded. “You have my blessing, Adam.”

Angel and Fil glanced at each other. “I think we’re missing something important here,” Fil muttered.

Will nodded. “We’ll get to that in a moment. The point, right now, is this. We’ve been living in fear for far too long. We’ve feared attracting the wrath of the Aliomenti. We’ve feared altering a future history we knew must happen to ensure our past remained unaltered. We eliminated the second concern yesterday, when Will—when
I—
went back in time. It’s time we went back to the Cavern, rallied the troops, and ended that fear of exposure once and for all.”

The word had gone out by then, among those in the camp, that Will Stark had returned. They moved into range, heard his words, and murmured among themselves.

“You want to… attack the Aliomenti?” Eva asked.

“In a manner of speaking,” Will replied. “I’ve had a few centuries to think this through. My son is correct in saying that an outright destructive assault would harm the innocent with the guilty.” He shook his head, and glanced around. “We can discuss the approach in the Cavern, but at this point, I can think of no greater impediment to being the change we want in the world than the work the Aliomenti Elites focus on. If we can stop that threat and that fear?”