Echo 8 (19 page)

She tapped her foot against the closest one, gasping as a bit of it broke away. Kneeling, she ran her beam along its length. Something reflected light back at her, and she bent closer.

An oval locket. Under the locket was a patch of moth-eaten fabric, and the long fibers lying on either side of the locket were—
hair
.

“Oh Jesus,” Tess whispered. Her heart had already scuttled up to the main deck and out to the dock.

“What is it?”

“Come on, Jake!”

She bolted past him and crawled through the opening, careful of the stairs on the other side, and Jake came through right behind her.

“We have to get off this ship. Those are
bodies
—the kind that are left after Echo attacks!”

“Christ, Tess! Are you sure?”

She tripped near the bottom of the stairs and tumbled to the deck below, banging her knee so hard tears sprang to her eyes. Jake watched helplessly as she scrambled to her feet.

“Why the hell didn't I listen to you?” she moaned.

“Calm down,” muttered Jake, his face setting in a grim mask. “Watch where you put your feet. Keep quiet and stay behind me.”

Halfway across the engine deck, a light appeared on the stairs at the other end. Jake and Tess froze as someone started down.

“Who's there?” Jake barked.

“Welcoming committee,” replied a woman's voice. Maggie. “Stay where you are. Your host wants to meet you.”

“Change in plans. We're checking out. Keep out of our way.”

Maggie chuckled as three other figures ducked through the hole and started down behind her. The light from the lanterns they carried illuminated the room and threw long shadows on the walls.

A dark-haired man at the back of the group made his way forward and a wave of recognition cooled Tess's rising panic.

“Ross!” she cried.

“What the…?” began Jake.

Ross's gaze fixed on her with surprise. What she saw in his eyes—rather what she
didn't
see—started a cold trickle of terror.

 

A
LPHA

With a finite amount of matter in a cosmos that is infinitely expanding, we would expect to find not only twin Earths, but twin individuals. Somewhere out there
your
twins are thinking, “What a preposterous notion.”

—Physicist Brandon Black, Echo Task Force, UC Berkeley

R
OSS GESTURED
to his companions, and one of the men strode forward and stuck a gun in Jake's face.

“Hey!” Jake cried, grabbing his arm. The man didn't react at all to his touch—except to jam the muzzle against Jake's forehead.

“You're solid enough for a bullet, brother,” warned Ross.

“Take it
easy,
G-man!”

“It's not Ross,” Tess croaked, numb with terror.

Again the leader's eyes anchored on Tess. He stepped closer. “No one's called me that in a very long time. But how interesting to know I have a double on your world. Most people call me Mac. Beautiful women call me anything they want.”

“Oh shit,” said Jake. “Oh
shit
.”

Tess faltered back, and the Ross look-alike stepped forward, inclining his head her direction. “Come here,” he murmured, taking another step. “You smell good.”

“Don't you touch her!” warned Jake.

“We all share here, brother.” Mac glanced at his man with the gun, who had balled the front of Jake's shirt in his fist. “Shoot him if he moves.”

Tess backed away, but Mac's hand shot out. She screamed as red-hot iron tongs closed over her wrist.

“I'll kill you, asshole!” Jake sounded like he was shouting under water. Boiling water. It seeped into every opening in Tess's body.

Her legs folded and she moaned.

Mac pulled her into his chest, murmuring in her ear like he was gentling a horse. “
Easy
now, easy.… Fear makes it flow faster. It'd be a sad waste to add you to our mummy museum.”

Jake and the others faded away as the pain took over. Firebrands scalded everywhere he touched, radiating out a searing poison to the rest of her body. She had never experienced anything like this with Jake. This Echo's control was amazing—somewhere between Jake's desperate gorging and the slow throb of the energy transfers.

As he drained her, Mac continued whispering in her ear. “It doesn't have to hurt if you'll just
relax
. Mmm, you taste as good as you smell.” Even through the pain she felt her body relaxing to the sound of his voice, going limp in his arms.

Then it struck her that his voice wasn't in her ear—it was in her head, just like Jake's had been.

Now, Tess, let's see what you have for me.…

He combed through her mind, sifting through thoughts and memories, searching for something … searching for
Ross
.

Tess felt the jolt of recognition as he found what he was looking for. Felt him locking on and replaying the last week of her life. She fought the pain, clenching against him, working desperately to wall off those last scenes with Ross—the intimacy they had shared.

Let me in.

Fuck you.

Dark laughter rippled through her.
Let me in, or I'm going to kill bachelor number two.

The breath she was holding came out in a sob.

I'll do it, Tess.

She released her death grip on her memories, and probing tentacles wrenched open the last twenty-four hours of her life. His low moan rolled like thunder through her mind.

What have we here?

Please … don't …

Suddenly he released her.

She landed in a pile of trash, and Jake crouched beside her. The Echo with the gun now had his hands in the air. Before she could make sense of what had happened, a loud voice sounded in the room, reversing the slowing throb of her heart.

“Kick the gun over here.
Now
.” Ross.
Her
Ross.

She turned in time to see his shock as he stared into the face of his twin. In the moment of confusion, one of the men lunged at him, and Ross went down with a shout.

“Help him!” cried Tess.

Jake lurched toward the dropped weapon, but Maggie rushed at him with a section of pipe. Before Tess could shout a warning, the pipe connected with a solid whack, and he collapsed to the deck.

Tess rolled onto her hands and knees, her body protesting every movement.

As Maggie snatched up the gun, Mac strode over and kicked at the man feeding on Ross. “Get off!”

Ross groaned as his attacker peeled off, and Mac bent over him, closing a hand over his throat.

“Don't!” pleaded Tess.

She stared, paralyzed, as Ross's body lifted a few inches off the deck. With a crackle of static, a bluish glow enveloped them. Ross's form suctioned against Mac's. Their bodies overlapped and merged, convulsing … edges blurring.

She scrambled toward them. “Ross!”

Their bodies contorted and finally collapsed into one solid form. His eyes fixed on her, face drawn in an expression of profound shock.

“Ross? Can you say something?”

He rolled to a crouch, his gaze sweeping over the others.

“Keep them here,” he said to Maggie. Then he rose and ran up the stairs.

*   *   *

Maggie and the others followed Mac, and Tess could hear the low muttering of voices as they conferred in the room above.

One of the lanterns lay on its side on the floor, and by its light Tess could see Jake's slumped form. She crawled through the rubbish—a mix of food wrappers, cups, crumpled newspaper, and paper bags.

She felt the pull she always felt when they were close, but in her drained condition she had no resistance, and her body tipped toward him. Scooting to a safer distance, she called his name.

Jake stirred and groaned, hand moving to the back of his neck. Her heart pulsed with relief.

“Are you okay?”

“Christ,” he rasped, sitting up and looking around. “No. Are
you
?”

“I'm okay,” she replied feebly, her throat closing over the words.

“Where is that asshole?” growled Jake. “Where's Ross?”

She did her best to explain what had happened. Jake stared at her like she was talking nonsense. Maybe she was. Her head buzzed and throbbed, and her stomach had begun to gnaw at itself. She wasn't sure anymore what she'd seen.

“Do you think he's gone for good?”

She hugged her arms around her chest, trying to hold herself together. “I don't know.”

“Jesus, sweetheart.” He reached a hand toward her face, drawing back as her head pulled toward it. “You're completely wasted.”

“The other Ross—Mac—he
did
something to me. I could feel him in my head.”

His jaw clenched. “What do you mean?”

“He was feeding on me and, God, it hurt, but it was slow and controlled. While he was doing it he talked to me. Telepathically, like you did. Then he started going through my thoughts, trying to learn about Ross. I couldn't stop him. It felt like he was…”

Violating me from the inside.

Tess shuddered, and Jake squeezed his eyes shut. “That fucker is dead. The next time I see him.”

“Not until we figure out what happened to Ross.”

Jake studied her, and whatever he saw made him pull himself together.

“Could he have gone to my Earth? Dislocated, like you did?”

Was that possible? Was it
preferable
? Finally she shook her head. “I don't think so. He didn't disappear. I watched them fuse together.”

All my fault,
she thought wretchedly. If she hadn't run … if she hadn't come
here
of all places. She tried warming herself with her hands, and Jake watched in silence.

“Keep talking, okay?” she said. “We have to figure a way out of this. We have to help Ross.”

Jake thought Ross was finished; she could see it in his face. But he kept it to himself. “Did you say those are bodies in the other room?”

She nodded. “Just husks, really. That's what usually happens with Echo feedings. These people have learned how to do it without killing, even better than you and me.”

“Sometimes.”

“Sometimes. Mac told me fear makes it flow faster. It helps explain our success with the transfers.”

“Because you don't have the sense to be afraid of me, you mean?”

She managed a weak smile. “Honestly I think Ross has always scared me more than you. I'm not sure what that says about me.”

“You're more scared of yourself than either of
us
, Doctor.”

She reabsorbed the smile. “I know you've been in my head too, but don't you start analyzing me. I've got a pretty thin grip on sanity right now as it is.”

Jake's long fingers fiddled with a rubber band he'd picked up off the floor. He glanced at the doorway the others had exited through. “Can you explain why this keeps happening? First we run into my sister, now a Ross twin.”

Tess raised her hands to her face, rubbing her temples. “God knows I didn't see it coming, but remember what I told you about quantum theory and links between nonlocal entities?”

“I remember you saying a bunch of stuff that confirmed my suspicion you're much smarter than I am.”

“Well, the point is I agree with you it's more than coincidence. I'd guess it has to do with the psychic and emotional bonds between us—between you and Emily, between Ross and me. We're connected in ways we can't see or feel. I ran from Ross, but my subconscious pulled on a thread with him at the end.”

Jake frowned. “This guy isn't Ross. I've seen inside your bodyguard's head, and I can tell you the last thing he would do is hurt you. It's the only reason I put up with him being such a dick.”

“Mac is a version of Ross,” she said, her throat constricting the words. “Something made him turn out different. There is a huge number of variables.”

“You mean this Ross had a crappy childhood?”

“Possibly. But they're essentially the same person, and that's about the strongest connection you can get. I can't help but wonder if they merged because the existence of both of them in the same space-time created some kind of disruption that tried to normalize itself. The question is, can it be undone?”

It's probably not going to undo itself
.

“I have to see Mac,” she said.

Jake stared at her. “The hell you do.”

“I have to try to help Ross.”

He shook his head. “You're too weak.”

Tess rose on quaking legs, calling, “Maggie!”

“Jesus, shut
up
!”

But Maggie was already headed down the stairs. “Come on, honey. Mac wants to see you on the bridge.”

Jake rose beside her, and Maggie barked, “Just her.”

“No fucking way.” He clenched his fists.

Maggie pointed her gun at him.

“Jake,” Tess pleaded, “this won't help.”

“You won't survive another feeding.” His voice came out rough with emotion.

“He won't kill me. He could have done that already.”

“Let's go,” said Maggie.

Tess started for the stairs.

“Go slow,” snapped Jake. “She can hardly walk.”

Every movement cramped the muscles in her legs, and she gripped the railing, lungs heaving after only a couple steps. She cast a glance back at Jake before ducking through the cut opening.

The agony of helplessness and dread stamped lines all over his handsome face. “Don't you do anything stupid, Doc.”

“Same to you. I'll see you soon.”

 

H
IDE
-
AND
-S
EEK

Gentle reader, may you never feel what I then felt! May your eyes never shed such stormy, scalding, heart-wrung tears as poured from mine. May you never appeal to Heaven in prayers so hopeless and so agonised as in that hour left my lips; for never may you, like me, dread to be the instrument of evil to what you wholly love.