Socket 3 - The Legend of Socket Greeny (24 page)

The other was Chute.

And before I dissolved to transport my body
across space-time, my mother buried her face in her hands. Perhaps
she was relieved it was finally over. Maybe she was relieved she
resolved the bitterness and rejection that festered in her heart
for all these years. Relieved that what was asked of her was
finally done.

Regardless, it was not me the world was lucky
to have.

Sadness saturated me like a thick vapor. It
travelled with me as I dissolved, as I passed through the mountain
and into the Preserve. Sadness for my mother. Sadness for the
lifelessness of birds, insects and mammals littering the topical
jungle. Death extended all the way to the micro-organic level of
bacteria and fungi. The Preserve was void of life.

I gathered my body at the base of the stone
slab that led up to the grimmet tree. It was colder than normal.
The overhead forcefield that protected the Preserve from the
outside elements had been shutdown, the first since it had been
erected. Cool wind had already begun to wither the tropical
plants.

The grimmet tree came into focus as my eyes
solidified, its barren branches spotted with the colorful grimmets,
the only organism to survive the life-cleansing. And at the base of
the massive tree was Pike, his shoulders slightly hunched, his arm
extended with a curved dagger in his hand, the tip pushing into the
pure skin of Chute’s neck. An odd pain sliced my earlobe as it did
when Pivot showed me the black cube that contained Fetter.

She was on her knees. Her eyes wide with
terror. Her heart pounded in her chest, echoing in my own chest.
Adrenaline pumped through her arteries. Carefully, I slid my mind
around her, penetrating the knife’s point, surrounding her with a
protective grip.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Pike said. “It’s not the knife
you need to fear.”

The knife was only to strike fear in Chute.
The real weapon was standing next to her, his mind poised to pull
her mind apart. And while he would not survive such a strike – I
could obliterate his existence with a thought, he would see how
mortal he was – it would not be quick enough to save her.

“You don’t have to do this,” I said.

“Wrong, wonderboy. You don’t know what I have
to do. You don’t have even a sliver of a fucking idea of what I
have done, the depths of me. Wonderboy.” The silly expression that
had contorted his face the last several months gave way to a dark
and gray complexion that pulled on his face. He worked his lips
like he was drunk, his balance wavered. “You must listen,
wonderboy. You must
listen.”

“I’m listening.”

The blade pushed into Chute’s neck, sparking
a cry from deep in her throat. But she was held motionless by his
mind, frozen in space. Helpless if he swayed too far to the
right.

He was drunk with essence, having imbibed
every life within the Garrison in such a short time. How many lives
had he taken? How much was enough? Why would he be so greedy?
Because he could, was that it?

“I’ve spent a lifetime, you hear,” he said.
“A lifetime doing despicable things, things that no human could
fathom, things that should never have been done. That no one
deserved. I did those things.” He pulled his lips over his teeth
like he could no longer bear the pain. “I DID THOSE THINGS!”

“Don’t do it again.” I held my arms out, let
my mind open. Vulnerable. “I’m here, Pike. You can have me.”

“Oh, you have something.”

“Just let her go.”

A smile crept over his face. He looked down
at her, wavered, and back to me. “Are you afraid your precious
vision won’t come true, is that it? Wonderboy, is that it? That you
would live happily ever after with your true love here, huh?” He
caressed her cheek with the flat side of the cold knife. “Are you
afraid you don’t know everything?”

“Those visions were a lie, you said so
yourself. Pivot tricked me.”

He straightened. “Oooh, so the student
becomes the master, is that it, then?”

“Just let her go.”

“What if nothing is what it seems, eh?” He
waggled his eyebrows and his black glasses slid on his nose. “That
you know nothing.”

“What do you want, Pike?”

“What do I want? WHAT DO YOU THINK I WANT,
YOU SHIT?” His face stiffened, his lips pulled tightly over his
teeth. “I want this to end.”

Pike loved to talk in circles. He wanted to
tell me something, to reveal something about himself that was right
there, just under the surface, but he just babbled nonsense. His
mind was powerful, but the frayed ends of his previous condition
were starting to show. Not all things could be healed. Now that he
had me, what good would he be? Why exist?
Without you, there is
no me.

And for the first time, there was pain in his
tired eyes. He was exhausted and spent. Fat with essence, lethargic
like a glutton eating for days. Or maybe the Paladins gave him a
fight after all. Or the grimmets were imperceptibly pulling at his
mind. Each moment that passed, he swayed just a bit more, a bit
steeper, and could fall over at any moment. But his mind was still
pressed tightly against Chute’s.

“Right naw,” he said, slurring, “I want you
to come closer.” He wiggled his fingers, beckoned me. I didn’t
move. If I could wait just a bit longer, he would slip, he would
drop his guard, his mind would falter, and I would pounce. Once
Chute was free, then we could talk. But Pike clenched his teeth and
pushed the point of the knife into her skin. A tear rolled down
Chute’s cheek. “Don’t fuck it up now, wonderboy. Get your ass over
here.”

I took a step. As my foot touched the stone,
Chute’s heart beat harder in my chest. And with each step that
followed, it beat louder. Her fear chilled my stomach. Pike opened
his hand, fingers reaching.

“Come closer.” He flicked his fingers. “Come,
come.”

The air did not stir.

And the grimmets watched, eyes on my
approach. Waiting, once again. As if they were on his team.

[Protect her,]
I thought to them.

I stopped one step away. Pike shook his arm,
almost begging for the last step.

“Let her go,” I said. “You have my word, I’ll
come to you.”

“You’re in no position to haggle, wonderboy.
I’ll stick this goddamn knife through the top of her skull. If you
have not noticed, I don’t give a fuck.”

“You’re terrified of dying.”

“On the contrary. I’m begging for it.” He
relaxed, his shoulders released their tension and his hand opened
softly. “Now, one more step.”

“Do not harm her.”

He grimaced. “I wouldn’t think of it.”

No moves left.

One step.

And his fingers reached for my face. “You
have something.”

Softly reaching for my ear.

“Something I need.”

And as his fingers neared my ear, the pain
lanced my earlobe again. Then there was warmth. There was a rush of
blood, of energy, into my earlobe. I was harboring an alien that
wanted out.

My ear exploded.

A powerful current rushed from the side of my
head, surging through his fingers. He shook like he’d grasped high
voltage, unable to let go. And then was blasted away, slammed into
the tree. The grimmets fluttered on impact. I fell back, then
grabbed Chute as Pike’s mind vanished, cradled her in my arms. She
was so cold. I huddled over her, surrounding her delicate mind.
Nothing would harm her now. No explosion, no psychic force,
nothing. Nothing.

Pike appeared plastered against the tree.
Something was inside him, just beneath the skin, transforming him,
stretching him. His cries were involuntary. His body looked
malleable.

The massive tree creaked. Fractures split the
trunk, the cracks exploding as the petrified wood succumbed to the
immeasurable force swelling inside Pike. The temperature plummeted.
He absorbed whatever heat, whatever force, whatever life was left
in the Preserve. The black hole of his existence pulled on me and I
hunkered down lower, tighter around Chute. Its force sheered the
outer layers of my mind. Leaves, branches and rocks slid across the
slab.

And then it stopped.

The air was still. Silent.

Pike was imbedded into the tree, his arms
out. His legs folded one over the other. His head had merged with
the trunk, his features barely visible. His lips moved like the
tree was about to speak.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

An expression of relief fell on him. He
closed his eyes. The madness left his presence. The being that was
identified as Pike faded from existence. And then as suddenly as
the storm had ended, it returned, like we were only sitting in the
eye of a hurricane and the backside of the storm approached.

It was a whine. The beginnings of an
explosion. All I could do was cover Chute, lower us to the
ground.

CCCCCRRRRRAAAKKK-BBOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The grimmet tree shattered.

Shards of wood blew over the trees, stripping
leaves from the branches, pelting my back, deflected only by my
mind. Grimmets were blown away like debris, smashing holes through
the trees, dispersed like cannonballs out of sight.

The ground erupted. The stone slab quaked and
split into upended chunks. We slid into the ground as it tilted and
debris showered from above. The ground rumbled.

Dust blotted out the sun. Rocks trickled down
and settled in the deep chasms. When silence returned, I lightened
my grip on Chute. Her heart was thumping. She looked at me,
squeezed a little tighter, and nodded. Then we embraced. Squeezing
so tightly, I might’ve pushed her inside me, merging our bodies
together like Pike had with the tree. I didn’t want to let go.

But something was waiting for us. The
Preserve was not dead. Life had returned.

“Wait here,” I said.

She reluctantly nodded.

The top of the stone was angled upward. I
wanted to pull Chute out, to get her as far away from danger as
possible, maybe even to South Carolina. I pulled myself to the top
and stepped onto the only flat stone remaining.

The grimmet tree was gone.

There, standing on the smoking remains, was a
woman wearing flowing white clothes.

“You can come out, darling.”

The sky fluttered with leaves, some green,
others black. Smoke crept over the crumbled ground and the stump of
the grimmet tree smoldered. The grimmets were nowhere to be
seen.

Fetter laced her hands together with a gentle
smile. She bounced with a soft laughter at the sight of me climbing
out of the wreckage; the look on my face must’ve been amusing.

She waved me closer. When I didn’t, she
stepped off the stump and slowly, yet nimbly, made her way a step
at a time through the rubble. Her lifeforce was weak, but her mind
was already reaching out and searching for a source of energy. For
essence. I surrounded Chute with my mind, hardened myself against
the upcoming pull of Fetter’s lethal thoughts.

She stopped near me and took a deep breath,
looked longingly at me, then peered down at Chute. “You can come
up, too, darling.”

Chute hesitated, but there was no reason to
hide, there was no protection down there. She took my hand and
pressed tightly against me, her cheek against my shoulder. Fetter
looked at our hands clasped tightly.

“Oh,” she said, touching her cheek, “that is
just precious. Young love is just so precious.” She reached out to
stroke my cheek. I turned away and she withdrew, a little hurt.
Then came the pressure.

Pike had consumed every bit of essence, there
was none left, none she could find, but her mind stretched out,
searching the ground and trees for anything with a heartbeat,
better yet a soul, to get her strength back. She was in a desert,
no water in sight. She continued to expand. Eventually, she would
find something. Once she did, she’d suck the life out of it with a
sweet smile.

She didn’t show desperation, but I felt her
mind searching Chute, searching for any weakness in my protection,
a crack in my shield, to plunge inside and slurp Chute’s essence
out like water.

“Very well, then,” she said, the pressure
letting up. “If you wish to delay the inevitable, we can move
forward.”

The leaves piled up around her feet and began
to move, swirling around her legs and then lifting over her head. A
funnel cloud moved upward, pulling dust and smoke into its vortex
like a water spout, pulling the clouds around it. The faint colors
of grimmets were high above, set free by the collapse of the
forcefield roof. They dotted the sky like colorful starlings,
circling widely around the funnel.

I pushed Chute behind me.

“Oh, come now, darling. I told you I couldn’t
die. I’ve been alive for eons, I know every trick there is. Manumit
didn’t recognize that single byte of data inside you was me. Pike
thought he could absorb me, like he could consume me like a magic
potion and become a god, but honestly, he had no idea what he was
doing.”

He was waiting for something. He was waiting
for the call.

“However, I do owe him, considerably, and
might have to reinstate his consciousness once I’m home. Maybe even
make him a partner. He could never replace Manumit, but with time
he just might make a suitable Mr. Fetter.”

“Pike did this?”

“Don’t blame him, darling. He was only doing
what any good predator would do. He wanted power, thought I was
vulnerable for a take over. Thought if he ate god he would become
god, but it doesn’t work that way.”

“Pivot didn’t know you were…”

She shook her head. “He had no idea I could
hide on a cellular level, I’m afraid. His efforts are to be
applauded, certainly. His plan was genius, a magnificent work of
art. But my dear lover forgot what he once was.” She took a deep
breath and sighed. “I’m going to miss him, but at least now it’s
over. I look forward to hunting him down, to be honest.”