Birth of the Alliance (2 page)

It was forever too late to change that.

I

Visitors

1701 A.D.

Recent rains had left the dirt roads of the young city muddy. Small puddles of standing water formed in the light drizzle that was falling from the sky, dabbing the hair, hats, and clothing of residents out walking in the weather. The early morning summer warmth was sufficient to illuminate the shops and store buildings lining the sides of the roads. Hand-painted signs identified a coffee shop, a tailor, a few printers, a pub, and other businesses. Many of the buildings were two stories, and the shop proprietors lived above the businesses they maintained. The growing heat of the early morning exacerbated the aromas driven by refuse in and along the streets, dominated by human and equine wastes. Most pedestrians opted to walk close to the buildings, limiting their chances of stepping in some of the unpleasantness, and limited the stench to distasteful rather than overpowering.

A horse-drawn carriage raced down the road, the driver careening side to side. Passersby pointed and laughed, for the driver was clearly intoxicated and had lost control of his steed. The driver strained with the reins, pulling the horse back toward the center of the road. As the cart swerved close to the buildings before moving back to the center of the road, the rear wheel plunged into a puddle, spraying dirty water upon unlucky pedestrians.

Two of the bystanders drenched by the putrid liquid looked at each other and began laughing, in contrast to others who shouted curses at the driver.

The man was relatively tall, with jade green eyes and jet black hair now slicked down after his anti-bath. The woman was somewhat shorter, and her platinum blonde hair glistened white as snow in the sunlight. Her laughter reached her blue eyes. Their eyes, for those who looked closely enough, seemed to sparkle with an unnatural inner glow, giving their eyes an unnatural air.

The couple scurried through a gap between a pub and a tailor’s shop, emerging in an uninhabited back alley. After confirming their isolation, each concentrated, and the glow evident in their eyes emanated from their very core. The warmth generated from that special Energy was sufficient to dry their clothes and hair, expelling the mud and other debris from their bodies, leaving them clean and fresh. One would never suspect they’d endured a fully-clothed mud bath only moments before.

The young woman’s smile was indicative of one far older than her visible youth suggested. “I prefer that approach to cleaning clothes over scrubbing them in a creek. Do you remember doing that?”

Will Stark nodded. “It never was a favorite chore of mine.” His face clouded with concern as Hope shivered momentarily. “Are you still cold? Do you need something warm to drink?”

Hope nodded. “Do you think we might be able to get some hot tea in one of the pubs?”

Will shook his head. “You told me that your mission will have you spending a large portion of your time here in the colonies going forward. We can use this opportunity to acquaint you with the local beverage of choice.”

Hope shot him an inquisitive glance. Will smiled, and led the way back through the crevice and out on to the street they’d just vacated. Will located a man walking along the street through the rain, and waved a hand to get his attention. “Excuse me. Is there a place in town where we might find coffee?”

The man raised an eyebrow. “Coffee? You have expensive tastes, sir. Do you have the money to pay?”

Will nodded. “I do. My bride has not tasted coffee before. And it has been far too long since I last had the pleasure.” It had in fact been nearly seven centuries of actual living time—since the morning of his thirty-fifth birthday, when he’d been taken to the future—since he’d last tasted coffee. The Purge, traumatic as it had been, had arrested any withdrawal symptoms. He could still remember the smells, though, percolating through his home and office.

The man gave Will an appraising glance, and then nodded. “Follow me, then. I am headed in the direction of an establishment that sells coffee. You will be able to drink your fill there.”

The trio moved at a brisk pace through the rain, which had intensified. None of them had an umbrella. Will felt his shoes sticking in the mud as the dirt became even more saturated with water. The clopping of horse hooves was replaced with a suctioning sound as the steeds pulled each limb from the deep indentations they created with each step. Hope slicked water from her hair and eyes, a task she seemed to find amusing.

After a ten minute walk, their guide led them inside a small brick building. “Welcome to Ye Coffee Shop, my friends. I suspect the owner, Mr. Carpenter, will be here shortly.”

True to their guide’s prediction, the owner of Ye Coffee Shop emerged from a back room a moment later. He nodded an acknowledgement to Will and Hope, and then gaped at the third person awaiting him. “Mr. Penn! It is an honor, sir! How may I be of service?”

Will stared at the man as well. They'd been led to Ye Coffee Shop by the founder and Proprietor of the Pennsylvania Colony, Sir William Penn. He stretched his memory to history, recalling that Penn would forever leave the colony bearing his name in just a few months’ time, and live his remaining years in a great deal of financial tumult. Their encounter here was fortuitous.

“My new friends have expressed an interest in drinking coffee, and I knew you were the man to help them, Samuel,” William Penn replied. “Given the chill in the air from this rain, I'd enjoy some myself.”

Samuel Carpenter nodded, giving a slight bow to the Proprietor. “I’ll begin the preparations at once.” He hesitated, glancing at Will, and cleared his throat. “Begging your pardon, sir, but I do not know you, and coffee is not an inexpensive product. I must ask if—”

Carpenter broke off as Will placed ten gold coins on the counter. “If it's sufficient, I'd like this money to cover Sir William’s coffee as well.”

Carpenter nodded, scooped up the coins, and set off to work grinding the coffee beans. In moments, the familiar smell of brewing coffee filled the Ye Coffee Shop, reminding Will of mornings he’d wake to that same aroma in the Stark family home, of times spent with Hope chatting about topics hyperlinked together.

“What brings you to Philadelphia, if I may ask?” Penn's manner was genial and kind. His Quaker heritage and beliefs ensured he'd welcome travelers to his colony and primary city.

“We suspect that we will merely be passing through,” Will replied. “We've recently arrived here in the new world, and believe a family member might live here. We will seek him out once we find lodging.”

“Oh?” Penn seemed interested. “Who is it that you seek? Perhaps I am familiar with your party and can offer direction to their home or place of business.”

“Elijah Stark,” Hope replied. “He makes saddles.”

Penn stroked his chin, thoughtful. “I’m afraid I'm not familiar with the name. I wish you well in your search. I hope the seas were kind to you?”

Will nodded. “Our journey was a pleasant one, thank you. I pray you may find similar conditions on your next journey.”

Penn inclined his head in Will's direction. After finishing his coffee, the Proprietor departed, his memory of the encounter with Will and Hope already erased from his memory.

Will and Hope chatted briefly with Samuel Carpenter. The man told them that he ran an inn, and had a room available if they needed lodging while searching for their relative and seeking more permanent quarters. After spending the remainder of the rain-free day walking through the streets of Philadelphia, they returned and accepted Carpenter’s offer. The room was spacious by standards of the day, with windows opening to the back and away from the main street. Carpenter started a fire for them in the fireplace. After accepting a tip from Will, Carpenter left them, shutting the door behind him.

Will bolted the door and Hope put out the fire. Both teleported back to the
Nautilus
, nestled under the waters of the Atlantic several miles away. The submarine, created and improved upon by Will for the past several centuries, would put its early twenty-first century kin to shame. Its walls were sleek; it used a clean propulsion system; and its autopilot feature meant that Will and Hope could focus on matters other than navigation and piloting during their times aboard the ship.

It had been Will’s primary home over the past few centuries, taking him from its primary berth on an island in the North Atlantic he’d dubbed Eden to points around the world. He tweaked it and refined it and made it everything he wanted it to be. Sharing it with Hope at long last had given the watercraft the feeling of home that couldn’t be matched.

After materializing in the submarine, Hope took glasses from the galley and filled them with a mix of fruit juices, while Will warmed up fish they’d cooked through the night before. It wasn’t ideal, but they refused to waste anything. The aroma permeated the submarine. Will placed Hope’s dish in front of her, sat down, and took a sip of the juice, reveling in the sweet flavor.

“It would seem Philadelphia remains an Aliomenti-free zone,” Hope noted, before depositing a forkful of fish in her mouth.

Will nodded. “For the time being. The colonies will become a huge potential market. They’ll get here eventually.” He forked a bit of fish into his mouth, and followed it with a sip of juice. “I suspect they’ll be here inside the next century.”

Their foray into Philadelphia had been for that singular purpose. Hope had been tracking and protecting Will’s direct ancestors for centuries. They’d been early immigrants to the newly-formed English colonies, and Hope had lived in and around the young town of Boston for much of her time in this hemisphere. Boston had no evidence of an Aliomenti presence, which made Hope’s job far simpler. With Elijah Stark due to arrive in Philadelphia in less than a month, they’d wanted to ensure the small town, boasting a population of less than five thousand, remained uninfected as well.

Prior to his renunciation of the Aliomenti over the Oaths and loyalty hypnosis instituted by Arthur Lowell, Will had been better connected to the future plans of the Aliomenti than most of its two thousand members throughout Europe. As one of three members of the Old Guard, Will had a special standing in the group due to his seniority. As such, Will had been part of the decision making process for expanding and contracting outpost locations where Aliomenti could congregate. It didn’t hurt that Will had a special knack for picking the best spots for economic expansion, given his uncanny ability to foresee future economic trends and top markets.

At no point in Will’s presence had they discussed expansion to the colonies in North America. That didn’t mean they hadn’t made such plans without his knowledge, as they had done with the Oaths they knew he’d oppose. But he suspected they’d go with the comfortable and stay in Europe, which meant Hope would remain free of them for a few decades more.

“I’ll be ready for them when they arrive,” Hope said. “I know they will. By then I’ll have perfected my knowledge of this city and my identity here. I’ll need somewhere to go periodically to reinvent myself, of course.”

“I know someone with a rather nice submarine you can use,” Will said, smiling. Immortality added complications when you lived among mortals. After a time, they’d realize she didn’t age. Or someone pushing their seventh decade would realize that they’d met her in their childhood. Hope would generally leave a city after ten or twenty years, spend some time crafting a new Energy-enabled appearance, and then return. She repeated this process as often as necessary. Her list of pseudonyms had grown so lengthy that she’d forgotten some of them. So long as she avoided reusing a name inside a normal human lifetime, though, it wouldn’t matter.

“I’ll probably start here as a servant for one of the wealthier families. It will give me a chance to learn about the key citizens and decision makers. It will also mean few will pay attention to me as I move about town.” She’d played that role often in her time. In most societies where she lived, women skilled in various professions were too noticeable. Servants blended in and weren’t questioned about their movements around town; they were assumed to be running errands on behalf of those they served. Hope had earned and saved enough money that she could buy the entire colony from Sir William Penn, so future options were certainly possible. But it was her preferred mode of entry into a town.

Will nodded. “I have to find a home as well.”

It grew silent in the submarine, save for the thrum of the salt-water engines. The smell of the reheated fish seemed more pungent in that moment, the silence and isolation of the underwater home more palpable.

Each of them had a mission to fulfill, and those would lead them to the final conclusion: Hope’s meeting of the young Will Stark. That meeting would one day bring into the world the two children who would save their father’s life, and in so doing save their mother’s as well. That mission meant many sacrifices, and the pair found it easier to spend only brief periods of time in each other’s direct presence as a result. Hope would spend time playing guardian angel to Will’s direct ancestors.

Will had a mission of his own.

He planned to redo the Aliomenti in his own way, without the mind control, without the Oaths that would one day require a squad of Hunters and an Assassin for enforcement. Their focus would not be extracting as much in the way of wealth and lives from their fellow man as possible; it would be on building everyone up. They’d use their skills not to rob others, but to help them enrich themselves. He’d thus spend his time in Philadelphia and elsewhere, looking for men and women of high character he could teach about Energy. He’d stored a significant amount of morange, zirple, and ambrosia seed on Eden to ensure those he recruited would have the option to take all—or none—of the miracle potions.