Immortal (25 page)

“They deserve our help.” She said quietly.
“But, Jonah…” she began. He turned, held her tightly for a moment,
and then released his embrace. He looked into her eyes, and saw the
confusion and concern. He kissed her softly on her cheek. He could
feel her pull back slightly at first, and then relax.

“There is no option here, Nessa.” He said
quietly, so low that the others could not hear.

“But Jonah? What would we do?” She asked, her
eyes were wide with fear. She turned and left the room, with tears
in her eyes.

“Excuse me.” He said, as he passed Gabrielle
and Jericho and followed her into the bedroom. “Nessa.” He entered
the room behind her, and the door slid shut behind him. She
turned.

“How dare you.” She said with restrained fury
in her voice. “This is our life, Jonah. Our lives. How can you
jeopardize what we have. How can you just throw away the last
hundred years, like it doesn’t matter at all?” She sniffed between
her tears, and turned away from him again. He slowly approached her
from behind, and whispered over her shoulder.

“Nessa. My love. I don’t want to throw away
our lives. I want to be with you forever. You are my love. My hope.
My reason for living.” He said softly, and placed his hand gently
at her side. She lifted her face, sniffed, then wiped at her eyes
with the back of her hand.

“Jonah, dearest. But that is exactly what you
are suggesting we do.” She said, the anger in her voice less
intent, but still evident. “I feel bad for them.” She said as she
swept her hand towards the living area. “I do. And maybe we can
help them somehow. But Jonah.” She said. She turned towards him.
“We cannot put ourselves in danger for them. We cannot put our
lives in jeopardy for them.”

“Nessa-” He began.

“I will not let you do that.” She said, and
suddenly the anger boiled up again. “We have a nice life, Jonah. We
have everything we need right here. We have each other.” She said
as she grabbed his arms. “And you will not throw that away!” Her
voice cracked slightly as it rose in pitch.

“Shh.” He said, and turned his head towards
the closed bedroom door. “Nessa, those kids need our help.”

“Great! Feed them. Give them something to
drink! Let them take a shower. Whatever. But you are not going to
interfere with this. You’ve done too much already. Why, what if
Roger or Charles found out that you had helped them this much. If
they knew they were here? What would they do to us now?”

“Nessa, I don’t know what they would do, but
it doesn’t matter.”

“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?” The
fire in her eyes flared. “Haven’t you heard a word I’ve said?
Aren’t you listening to me?”

“I’ve heard every word.” He backed away from
her. “And I can’t believe that any of them came from you.” He
turned away from her and stared at the door. “Nessa?” She turned
and looked at him. “I’m not sure I even know who you are anymore. I
would never have believed-”

“Who I am?” She asked with disbelief. “I!”
She began. “Am your wife!” She quickly closed the gap between them.
“And you pledged to love me. To honor me. To protect me!”

“And I do love you.” He said as he slowly
turned back and saw the enraged expression on her face. “But I am
going to help them. With or without you, I am going to help.” She
slapped him across the face, and turned away angrily. His
expression had not changed. “And Nessa?” He said.

“What!” She said between her tears.

“I’m going to stop this madness. I’m going to
expose this whole horrible nightmare.”

“What do you mean?” She asked, as her anger
turned into sudden worry.

“There will be no more harvesting. Not as
long as I live. And the others?” He stepped to the door, and it
slid open. “The people in the village? I will make sure they are
released. They will be free.” He turned and left the room. She
looked after him in disbelief, not able to comprehend that her
beloved Jonah had just confirmed that he would end their entire
civilization as they now knew it.

Jonah crossed the room silently, and stepped
to the glass wall which opened onto the vast covered patio. He
pulled out his pipe, and stepped to the balcony rail. He looked
down into the street below. Even as he took a drag from his pipe,
what he saw made his blood go cold. A group of six of the
mechanical men marched up the street in perfect unison. He ducked
back out of view.

“Jericho.” He yelled, and motioned for him to
come to the railing. Jericho ran outside and up to the rail. As he
looked where Jonah pointed, he saw the last of the Guardians as it
turned the corner and headed away. “That’s what I saw in sector
two.” Jonah told him excitedly.

“They are Guardians.” Jericho said
simply.

“Guardians of what?”

“Of us, it seems.” Jericho said with a blank
expression. Jonah, thought for second, and then nodded.

“They were all carrying rods, like the one
you have.” He pointed at the control stick in Jericho’s hand.

“They all have them. I took this away from
one of them. You have to watch the ends of these things.” He said,
and explained how the control stick worked. Gabrielle and Vanessa
joined them outside, as Jericho finished the explanation of how the
control stick could be used to disable a Guardian.

“Do they have any other weapons?” Jonah
asked, as he noticed that Vanessa had rejoined them. He glanced at
her, but did not betray any emotion. She would not look at him, but
instead spoke to Gabrielle.

“Do they need anything else?” Asked Vanessa.
“You saw the size of those things.” She shuddered at the thought of
facing one.

“She’s right.” Gabrielle said. “The control
stick is the only thing we’ve ever seen them carry. Besides a whip,
that is.”

“A whip?” Asked Jonah.

“That,” began Jericho, “is another story.” He
said quietly. “Their center of balance seems to be here.” He
pointed to his stomach. “They can be toppled with enough force,
applied up here.” He said, as he indicated a place high on his own
chest. “But that’s the hard way to do it.” He said seriously, and
then grinned sheepishly.

“Alright.” Said Jonah. “First we have to
figure out our plan. We have to get the two of you out of here.”
For the first time since the outburst in the bedroom, Vanessa
looked at him, with a slight sliver of hope in her face. He knew
that she believed the solution was for them to be gone.

“You’re going to send them back?” Vanessa
tried not to relay her hope in her tone.

“No. Not back there.” Jonah replied.

“If not there, then where? They can’t stay
here.” She said emphatically. “And if they won’t go there…they’ve
got to go somewhere.” She said, exasperated. “Where?”

“I’ve got an idea.” He said, and turned and
walked back inside. “Follow me.” He led them inside, past the
silent video wall with as its images streamed by, and back into the
kitchen. The two trays still sat on the center island, with bits
and pieces of meat and sweet buns haphazardly arranged. Jonah
picked up the largest of the buns and laid it on the counter.
“Okay, this is New Sebastian.” He looked to Jericho, then
Gabrielle. “Where we are now.” They both nodded. He picked up a
piece of meat and set it adjacent to the sweet bun. “And this is
sector two.” Their expressions were blank. “Where we met earlier.
The room with the boxes.” They nodded. He took a piece of sweet
bun, tore a few pieces from it, and made a line that led away from
sector two. “And this is the tunnel.”

“What tunnel?” Vanessa asked.

“It leads back to other side.” Gabrielle
answered. “Into a huge room, full of those stacks of boxes. Just
like sector two.” Jonah nodded, and placed a piece of meat at the
end of the line he had made.

“And this,” he said, as he pointed, “is that
room.”

“You’ve been there?” Jericho asked, with
sudden disbelief. Jonah nodded.

“A long time ago, when I was a kid.” He
pointed to one side of the meat that represented the cavern. “Did
you see a large door? Here?” Jericho looked at Gabrielle, who shook
her head. Jericho thought for another second, and then shook his
head as well.

“No. Not that we noticed.” He said.

“Let’s not go into the how or why, but lets
just say that I have a very good reason to trust my memories from
long ago. I know the door is right there.”

“We came through a large door to get there,
but it was over here.” Said Gabrielle, as she pointed to the
opposite side.

“Yeah.” Said Jericho. “It was some kind of up
and down room. Like the one we used to come up here.” He said as he
pointed towards the entrance of the apartment.

“An elevator.” Said Jonah. “I remember that
as well, though I was never in it.”

“And you don’t want to be, either.” Gabrielle
said. “It’s like it has no floor!” She shook her head, and
remembered her fear while she had stood on the open grated
floor.

“That’s not a problem, because that’s not
where we are going.” He said as Vanessa turned and glared at him
when he had said the word, we. “The door we want is right here,
where I said.”

“I just don’t remember seeing it.” Jericho
said.

“Me neither. Not even when we were on top of
the stack.” Said Gabrielle, as she shook her head. Vanessa was
nervous and tried to remain calm, as she reached into the cabinet
and removed more bottles of assorted colored liquids for everyone.
She sat the first down in front of Jericho, and picked up his empty
bottle. She casually tossed it towards the cabinet, which opened,
accepted it, and closed in a flash of a second. She blinked in
shock, as in that same instance, Jericho had sensed the movement
and wrapped his arm around her, pulled her to the side, and swung
out with his control stick. Jonah’s mouth hung open. He silently
stepped around the extended control stick, and backed his way
towards the counter where the bottle had disappeared. He pressed a
hidden activation switch. The cabinet opened and revealed its most
recent contents. Jonah clearly saw now what he thought he had seen
happen only seconds before. Jericho had, in mid flight, struck the
bottle. The control stick had melted a small hole in its side.
Vanessa still stood in shock, as she desperately clutched the
remaining three bottles as if her life depended on it.

“That’s some pretty quick reflexes you’ve got
there.” Jonah said calmly to Jericho. Jericho relaxed his stance,
as he realized that no danger was currently at bay, and dropped the
control stick to his side. He looked at Jonah, and shrugged. “You
always been that fast?” Jonah asked. Jericho shrugged again.

“He’s not really that fast.” Said
Gabrielle.

“Looked pretty fast to me.” Said Vanessa, as
she sat her three bottles down rather shakily.

“I’m not sure that fast even describes it.”
Said Jonah. “More like blazing.”

“Seriously.” Said Gabrielle. “He’s not that
fast. He just feels what’s about to happen. And when he senses
something, it’s like, before he even knows it, he’s moving.” Jonah
continued to stare at Jericho in wonder, as Jericho nodded.

“Like a premonition.” Said Jonah.

“Premonition?” Asked Jericho. “What’s a
premonition?”

“It’s when you know something is going to
happen before it actually happens.” Jericho considered this for a
moment.

“I guess. Like a premonition. But it’s not so
much as I know what’s going to happen, as I just feel things.” He
looked away for a second, and then turned his gaze back to Jonah.
“It’s like I feel where I need to be, or need to go or even how to
move sometimes.”

“It probably has something to do with his
assignment at the factory.” Gabrielle said.

“Factory?” Asked Jonah? “What Factory.”

“Didn’t we mention that?” Replied Gabrielle.
“That’s where we went every day. We all went there. You know, for
our shifts. Some had night shifts, but we had day shifts.” She
said, as she snapped the cap off of her new bottle and took a
drink. Jonah’s eyes lit up.

“Could you see the ocean? From the factory, I
mean?” Jonah asked excitedly.

“Ocean?” Asked Jericho. “You mean like the
water. The beach?” he asked.

“Yes. The rolling waters at the edge.” Said
Jonah. Jericho shook his head.

“Not from the factory.” He said, and Jonah’s
excitement began to wither.

“But we once went there, from the road.”
Gabrielle said, and Jericho nodded.

“We got there from the road to the factory.
Through the fence.” He said. Jonah’s expression shifted to one of
relief.

“Perfect.” He said. Absolutely perfect.” He
pointed back to the map he had created out of food. “This is where
the door is. And don’t worry, I am certain that it is there. And
more importantly, I know where it goes.” Jericho and Gabrielle
exchanged glances.

“Where?” Asked Vanessa. Jonah, looked at her,
a twinkle in his eyes.

“Outside.”

As Charles rode the elevator down to the
cavern, he keyed commands into his comm unit. He relayed Roger’s
command to activate the Guardian Defensive Squad in New Sebastian.
For as long as he could remember, they had stood dormant in their
storage room, designed only to be activated if New Sebastian had
been overrun from the outside. Charles had been carefully
instructed that they had been preprogrammed to repel invasions, and
to control the population. And as far as he knew, these orders
could not be overridden. Guardian Control could activate them, but
they operated autonomously from their control. He waited until he
reached the elevator before he made his final decision to either
obey or disobey Roger. Charles could not override a direct order
from the Premier. But he could delay it, indefinitely he thought,
if he felt it was in New Sebastian’s best interest. Even as he
pressed the final authorization codes and sent them to Guardian
Control, he felt sick to his stomach. But ultimately it was his
loyalty to Roger that made him complete the command. His heart
still ached for Jillian even after all these years, and it had been
Roger that had offered at least a vague hope for her. He owed this
to him, he thought, as the elevator came to a stop and he exited.
He turned back to see Amelia as she moved uncertainly when she
exited the elevator. She passed the Guardian still stationed at the
door without a glance. He smiled. She would get used to them
eventually, he thought. He turned and spoke to the Guardian.