Revelation (20 page)

At the end of the bay, Ashton led me up a short set of steps, directly into the galley. The door shut behind us. The air was now comfortably warm.

I turned right after Ashton, toward the clinic. I realized that this was the first time I had ever been alone with Ashton. I didn’t know why, but it put me on guard. I had no idea what he was going to do to test me.

We stepped inside the clinic, a near mirror image of
Odin’s,
except that it was slightly larger. I almost expected Makara or Anna to come running down the corridor right now. I wanted either of them here right now...especially Anna. I wanted to let her know that everything was alright. She would probably be turning over her reaction to me in her head, and I needed to let her know that was pointless, so we could go back to how things were.

“Sit down,” Ashton said. “This should only take a moment.”

I sat down on the neatly-made bed. Ashton went to the clinic’s other side, where a microscope was set up. The clinic was large enough to double as a small lab.

“What are you doing now?” I asked, to break the silence more than anything else.

Ashton donned a face mask, then dripped some of my blood from the vial onto a clean petri dish.

“Looking for signs of xenolife,” he said.

It was quiet again. I fiddled with my hands. I always hated the feeling of not doing something. It made me think too much, worry too much. And now I had a lot to worry about.

“Hmm. We’ve got xenolife in here. That’s for sure.”

I looked up from my hands. “What kind?”

“Just a minute.” Ashton squeezed one eye shut, peering through the microscope with the other. “The basic structure is all the same. Only I can’t tell anymore unless I can compare it with what we already have in my database. I’m going to need to return to Skyhome to analyze it. When I compare with what I already have on file, I can be absolutely sure that it’s something new.”

Hearing him say that made me wonder what I was doing here. If he could just take my blood sample home and analyze it there...

“Wait...” I said.

I realized exactly why I was here. He didn’t just want to take a blood sample to Skyhome. He wanted to take
me
.

“I’m not going back to Skyhome,” I said.

Ashton looked at me. “This is necessary, Alex. I hate to take you away from this, but this is an opportunity we can’t pass up. Coupled with what I discovered from the spire, this might be just what we needed. We will be able to find out if...”

“...If I’m dangerous?”

I was standing, now. I felt dangerous. And angry. I didn’t want to be taken from here.

Ashton backed into a corner, his eyes wide. “Alex, there’s no need to...that’s
not
what I meant!”

I calmed myself down. “I’m
not
volunteering for this, Ashton. You have my blood sample. If you need anything else, I’ll give it to you. I can’t leave here. I’m needed.”

He looked at me. I could tell he was trying to think of what to say next, wondering what the magic words would be to get me to agree. There were no magic words, though. Nothing could get me to agree to this.

I heard the blast door to the outside sliding open beyond the clinic, then footsteps running down the corridor. Ashton said nothing as Anna appeared in the doorway.

“Anna, he’s trying to take me back,” I said.

Anna didn’t say anything for a moment, but she didn’t have to. Her silence said everything for me.

“Ashton told us that, and...we all think it’s best, for now.”

I couldn’t believe it. The feeling of betrayal welled up, so much that I thought I was going to break down right there.

“This can’t be happening.”

“You’re not well,” Anna said, her eyes full of concern. “Surely, you can see that much? I’ll come with you, so you don’t have to be alone.”

I turned away. They couldn’t just push me away like this, all because my eyes were white. I sat down, too weak to move – too weak to resist, or shout, or be angry. The wind had been taken out of my sails.

“You don’t have to come with me,” I said. “You’ll probably be more useful here.”

I didn’t look at her, and I didn’t want to see the pain in her eyes. Worse, I was more afraid that there wouldn’t be any pain there. That nothing I said or did mattered. Apparently, that was how it was going to be. They had all decided this, behind my back, in the past ten minutes.

“Why?” I asked, unable to mask the pain.

“We knew you wouldn’t agree,” Ashton said.

“You were afraid I would attack you.”

“No, of course not,” Anna said. “Aren’t we allowed to make mistakes?”

“Seriously?” I asked, at last looking up. “You’re trying to make me feel guilty?
You’re
the one who made the mistake.
You
are the one in the wrong.”

Anna pursed her lips, crossing her arms.

“This is decided already,” Ashton said. “It’ll be best for you, too. You can’t be here when the xenovirus is living inside you.” Ashton gazed at me intensely. “Get that in your head. The xenovirus is living
inside
you. It has transformed your blood and your eyes. That much is clear. Do you
really
think your being here is the best idea right now? Yes, you are not a Howler. No, you are not violent. But there’s nothing that says you won’t be, in time.”

I couldn’t argue with him. No one could predict what was going to happen to me.

“I’m coming with you,” Anna said. “We’ll get this taken care of, and come back to Earth.”

Ashton said nothing in response to that. I knew it probably wasn’t going to be that simple.

I couldn’t bring myself to look at either of them. I wanted out of this room. Out of this mission.

Out of everything.

I sighed. If everyone wanted me out of the way, then there was little point in staying here.

“Take me to Skyhome, then.”

***

I felt betrayed, not just by Anna, not just by Ashton, but by everyone.

“We don’t know what to expect, Alex,” Anna said. “This wasn’t easy.”

“It’s not that you made this decision,” I said. “It’s that you kept me out of it.”

Neither responded. Maybe I was being stubborn, but I still deserved to be part of major group decisions like this. Maybe they didn’t trust my ability to reason, anymore. Maybe they thought the xenovirus would make that impossible for me.

It was clear from Anna’s stern expression that she had already steeled herself against any protest I might make. They all had. I wasn’t going to leave this clinic on my own, not until everyone was sure that I wasn’t going to turn on them.

“The others aren’t even going to see me off, then?”

“I told them to hang back,” Ashton said.

“Why? In case I get dangerous?” I glowered at Ashton. “These are my friends, and you’re keeping them from me. You think I’m going to snap and kill everyone.”

“You
could!”
Ashton said. “We don’t know what will happen to you, and until we find out, I’m keeping as few people around you as possible. It’s enough that the old geezer gets to risk himself. I told Anna to stay away, but here she is now, against my orders.” Ashton quieted. I looked at Anna, and saw from her eyes that what Ashton said was true. Ashton continued, quietly. “She’s not disloyal to you. Quite the opposite.”

“I would never hurt any of you,” I said, looking at Anna. “Least of all Anna.”

“Yes, you are in control now,” Ashton said. “But for how long? These are questions that need answering immediately. We are going to Skyhome; end of story.”

It was settled, then. Anna and Ashton were taking me hostage while we left everyone else behind in the cold desert, all so Ashton could play scientist. I knew, deep down, that nothing was wrong with me. What was frustrating was that I couldn’t get
them
to see that. All they saw was a potential Howler ready to snap.

And I can’t say I blamed them. I was to become a lab rat, and then what?

“This isn’t right,” I said.

They both looked at me, willing me not to move or do anything rash. I could believe one of two things: what they were saying, or what I was feeling. This feeling within me was so much stronger than all their words. I almost wanted it to be the opposite. Going along with what they wanted would be easier. But I
knew
I was right. I had dreamed the answer, and I knew this answer to be true. The Wanderer had spoken to me in that dream, that revelation. I had to believe in myself, and that was all that mattered.

“We’re doing this all wrong,” I said. “You need to listen to me.”

Anna and Ashton moved to block the doorway. I ignored them.

“The xenovirus,” I said. “We have it all wrong. There’s more to this than its trying to take everything over. There’s a reason, and I’m going to find it out.”

I was standing, now. Anna just looked at me, her eyes pleading with me to sit down, just as I had been. But I couldn’t just sit. I had seen too much.

Everything hinged on this.

My vision swam; Anna’s and Ashton’s forms became wavy and ill-defined. The rest of the room swirled, and then stabilized. Without even looking at myself in the mirror to my side, I knew. My eyes had changed.

I had to get out of here.

I walked forward.

Anna reached for her katana, drawing it out.

“Stay back.”

Her eyes were afraid, pained. I didn’t want her to look at me like that.

“Let me out,” I said.

Anna stood in front of the doorway, refusing my request. She thought she was helping me. She thought she was right. I thought I was right. I knew, from her eyes, that she would never kill me. Her drawing that katana was a useless gesture.

“Don’t do anything, Alex,” she said. “I’m warning you.”

She looked at Ashton quickly. Ashton reached into the cabinet.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Just stay still, Alex.”

“What are you doing?” I asked again.

Ashton retrieved a syringe, filled with a clear liquid. Probably a tranquilizer.

“No!”

In unison with my roar came a great howling from above, the tremendous sound piercing through the ship. Ashton covered his ears as Anna closed her eyes, the horrible shriek shocking us all with its sound. A gust of wind swooped past the ship.

A xenodragon had come.

Anna looked at me, as if I were to blame for this.

“What do we do?” she asked Ashton.

Then,
Gilgamesh’s
side was pummeled by a colossal force. The lights flickered as we were sent tumbling to the deck.

This was my chance. I scrambled to get up before either Anna or Ashton could. Fate had provided an escape, and I was going to use it.

“No!” Anna screamed, grabbing my leg.

I fell to the hard deck, doing my best to crawl away. Anna was strong, though. She reached, trying to pull me back into the clinic. I could hear her katana blade scraping on the deck.

“Now, Ashton!” she yelled.

In my peripheral vision, Ashton fumbled for the syringe, which had rolled away toward the wall. Time was running out. I didn’t want to hit Anna. Instead, I twisted myself, wrenching free of her grasp.

She shrieked in frustration, crawling forward. I gasped, scrambling up and aiming for the blast door.

I stumbled again when
Gilgamesh
shook beneath me, only this time I didn’t fall. I pressed the exit button, and the door hissed open. I ran down the ramp into the cold, dry air. Screams filled the night as the dragon circled in the darkness above. Shots fired from around the camp, echoing across the desert flatland.

As soon as I ran away from the ship and into the dark night, the dragon wheeled around, coming straight for me. I wasn’t afraid, though. I merely stood still as its form slowed and two legs came down, alighting on the ground gracefully. It stood before me, staring down at me with white, peaceful eyes. It seemed strange to think those eyes peaceful.

I knew, instantly, that it was here for me, and I knew what came next. I reached out a hand, stroking the dragon’s neck. The light pink scales seemed to vibrate at my touch.

“Alex!”

Anna stood on the boarding ramp, her katana drawn. Samuel and Makara were circling around from
Gilgamesh’s
front. They, too, stood in shock as they saw me touching the xenodragon. Michael slid to a stop, a cloud of dust rising before him.

I looked into the dragon’s eyes, feeling it understood everything without my needing to utter a word. My friends continued staring from beside the ship, doing nothing, as I walked around to the dragon’s back. It remained on the ground, waiting.

The yells of men sounded in the distance. Several crested the hill, toting guns that they now pointed at the dragon.

“No!” Anna shouted.

The men didn’t listen. They shot, spraying the dragon’s side with bullets. The dragon cried out in pain, but I imagine those bullets were more akin to the stings of angry insects than any sort of death-blow. Those scales were like armor, and it would take more than conventional bullets to pierce them.

Then I understood why the dragon was here. It was going to fly me away.

I felt that this was inevitable, and I had no reason not to try. It was now or never.  Going back would mean returning to Skyhome and being Ashton’s lab rat for who knew how long. If I really felt I was right, I had to prove it, and that meant flying this dragon wherever it was pleased to carry me.

I crawled up the dragon’s leg, settling onto its back, between the two ridges I knew were there. It was just as it had been in my dream. As soon as I sat, the dragon gave a roar and cast off, flying away from the ship, leaving behind the curses of men and gunshots and fire and chaos. The wind was cold, but I leaned forward, and the dragon’s warm body helped shelter me from the elements. Below, I could hear Makara and Anna yelling, could hear Samuel and Michael shouting, chasing after me. It was futile. They were already becoming smaller with darkness and distance.

I wondered, for a moment, just what the hell I thought I was doing. A moment of doubt overcame me as I rose into the darkness on the back of this gigantic beast, this dragon that could turn upside down, right now, and end me forever. It was a terrifying thought, and I clutched the dragon’s ridge in front of me more tightly. Then I calmed. I didn’t feel like I was in any sort of danger. Now, out of the camp, I felt safe. Wherever this dragon was taking me, it was where I was supposed to be.