The Antarcticans (36 page)

“He has promised me everlasting life. I can’t leave that. I have to—” Gavin was despondent. He heard his wife’s warning in his ear.

“Your deceit will be your undoing. Trust in me, Gavin, and trust in yourself. It’s all that is certain. Use your ideas of God to understand the transcendence on the other side. The brilliance and belief that will make your life one that saves. You don’t need a savior. You need to become one—it’s why your family was chosen.”

The cavern walls began to shake. Margie had gone quiet; her head was turned to the side, her eyes staring at one of the 3-D images that had turned to static. Earth and rocks fell from the walls, piercing the images and crashing through the spires of the temples. The colorful statues of animals and ethereal-looking men tumbled to the floor and shattered. The chair Gavin had arrived in was crushed. Gaping holes were forming in the ceiling; beyond them was a limitless ocean held back by an invisible force.

“Stop this. Stop,” Gavin yelled at Lucifer.

“I can’t. This is Joshua’s world falling apart. Only you can stop it. He’s here still—my hands are upon him—but he must know he can believe in you.”

Gavin reached the altar and looked at Joshua’s skull; his eyes were intact, and they moved to focus on him. Lucifer’s blue nails, beautifully curved and serrated, were wrapped around his rib cage. Gavin felt Lucifer watching him as he caressed the side of his son’s skull. “You know I can’t do this,” Gavin told his son. “You know our reward is in Heaven. I’m so sorry.” He could see that Joshua felt betrayed and defeated—he knew that from having known his son for seventeen years. Gavin’s chest pain became unbearable; his heart was breaking in two. He couldn’t face his own convictions, his own decisions. “Oh, Lord help me.” He put his head to Joshua’s, his tears streaming into his son’s eyes.

The gaping fissures in the ceiling opened, and ocean water poured into the cavern. The images of Joshua’s life standing before the altar were wiped out, the memory slots behind them swirling together in a spinning green vortex. Gavin could feel that he and Joshua were being pulled in. The waters rose, and Margie was swallowed by the rushing currents. The cold seawater masked the depressions and features of the cavern floor; each second they reached up steps of the altar, covering a new stair.

“He’s fading quickly, Gavin. He’s almost gone. I’ll ask you once more.” Lucifer’s voice was deep and calm. “Are you willing to sacrifice your son for your beliefs?”

The water reached Gavin’s feet and continued to pour from the walls and ceiling. It was an icy blue coffin.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Gavin cried out.

“It is done,” Lucifer replied.

The vortex picked up speed and pulled at Lucifer’s fur. Gavin gripped tightly to Joshua, determined to be with him to the last second. The water froze his legs and lapped at the top of the altar, sloshing through Joshua’s bones.

“No! I’ll save him! I’ll give you my soul. Please save Joshua. Save him,” he screamed, looking up at Lucifer.

Lucifer raised his hands and arms in the air. The waters parted, creating a path before them, stretching down the altar stairs, over the painted cavern floor, and into the darkness at the other end of the cavern. On each side of the path, a wall of water was held back, reaching up to the cavern ceiling. Margie had been in that path, but now she was gone. The boulder that had pinned her to the floor lay just beyond where the chair Gavin had arrived in had come to rest. At the end of the waters stood a spiral staircase reaching up to a realm of bright white light filtering down, cascading over the wide leisurely steps and ornate iron balustrades. The vortex behind them quieted. When Gavin looked away from the staircase in the distance and back down at his son, he was looking into his eyes, and his body was whole again.

Joshua pushed him back with his perfect arms. “Dad? You did that? You chose me over God?”

Gavin’s eyes were heavy; his weariness showed on his face. “Yes, son.”

Joshua grabbed hold of him and pulled him close, hugging him. “Thank you. I love you. You saved me. The voices are gone. It’s…it’s so quiet.” He looked out to the staircase. “We should go.” Joshua sat up on the altar, swung his legs over the side, and jumped down to the floor. His eyes darted throughout the cavern. “Are those things all gone?”

“Yes,” Lucifer said. “You’re in control now.”

“How?” Joshua started toward the staircase, his eyes fixated on the boulder.

“You needed someone to show you that you were worthy of believing in yourself. And not just anyone.” Lucifer patted Gavin on the shoulder.

As they walked the path, Gavin reached out and touched the wall of water; his hand went through the surface into the cold wetness. When he pulled his hand out, drops fell to the floor. They reached the boulder, and Joshua knelt beside it. One small pink rose with a bumblebee was stuck under the rock, wet and tattered. He looked up at Lucifer. “Do you think I’ll ever see Margie again?”

“I never rule anything out.” Lucifer gestured to the staircase. He walked behind them, his massive golden paws guiding them forward to the light. They slowly took the steps one by one.

“What’s through the light?” Joshua asked.

“Only one way to find out.” Lucifer gave them a nudge as he lumbered up the stairs behind them.

The light surrounded them for a few steps, and then they rose from their beds. Noila grabbed Joshua and hugged him. She wouldn’t let go. Gavin got out of his bed and wrapped his arms around both of them. Lucifer had returned to his human form and was speaking with Dr. Cristofari near the door.

“Take your time,” Dr. Cristofari said.

Gavin, Joshua, and Noila nodded at both of them with tears in their eyes.

“When you’re ready, there’s so much we have to do,” Lucifer said.

“I just want to go home,” Joshua said.

“That’s not possible. You were saved for a purpose.”

“What have I signed us up for?” Gavin asked.

“You signed up for this a long time ago,” Lucifer replied. “Remember when you came looking for me? You didn’t realize I needed you more than you needed me, but that’s the thing about life: we never know what we really need. Noila already knows what kind of catastrophic events await us if we don’t do something. These events won’t just affect me and the species you’ll meet when we get to Antarctica. There will be events of massive destruction all over—”

“Wait,” Gavin said, cutting him off. “I appreciate that you’ve done this for Joshua. At first glance, it appears that he’s cured, although we’ve been through this before with him. A miracle cure lasts a few days, and then the voices come back. We’ve been through a lot, and our family needs to go home.”

“I can bring you there, but what you’ll find isn’t what you hoped was waiting for you.”

“I’m sorry…I don’t understand,” Noila said.

Lucifer looked at Dr. Cristofari and nodded. She brought up a display, and the national news came on. The streaming headline declared, “Florida Coast Lost, New York City Next.” A helicopter cam above South Beach showed the tops of a few colorful buildings just above the sea level. The barrier island was gone, and the Intracoastal Waterway had become part of the ocean.

“My mother,” Gavin whispered. “I have to get my mother. She’s in Florida City. I have to get her before the tide gets to her.”

“Give me the address. We can get her to a safe location. There’s no time for you to personally go,” Lucifer said.

Joshua looked at Dr. Cristofari. “Is this real? Am I still in a simulation in my head?”

“No, Joshua, this is real. It might take you a few days to adjust to your new reality. If we had the time, we would have brought you out more slowly, but we wanted you to come out with your dad. I thought that was important for your progress.” She switched off the news and brought up Joshua’s vitals, blood composition, and important statistics about his health.

“How long were we in there?” Gavin asked.

“Three hours, not counting the time we had to pull you out and dissolve a blockage in one of your arteries,” Dr. Cristofari said.

Gavin looked at Noila for confirmation; she nodded.

“We have a lot to catch up on, but we need to get to Antarctica as soon as possible. Our helicopter will leave in thirty minutes. Meet me up top, Noila. I’ll count on you to get everyone there. Remember your obligation.” Lucifer left the room.

“Are you coming with us?” Noila asked Dr. Cristofari.

“I can’t. The
Dragon
needs me. There are plenty of good physicians there. We’ll be starting humanitarian missions soon to help those affected in Miami and on the South Florida coast.”

…

They climbed to the top deck of the
Dragon
. The helicopter’s rotors never stopped spinning when it landed. It was kicking up water and dust from the main deck of the ship. Noila, Gavin, and Joshua, hunched, with their arms around each other’s backs, ran for the copter’s open door. Gavin helped Joshua and Noila into the cabin. They took the two leather bucket seats facing the front of the helicopter. Lucifer, who was sitting in the copilot seat, handed a headset to each of them. When Gavin got in, he noticed the fourth passenger seat was occupied, facing Joshua and next to where he was sitting. Captain Bongri was strapped into the seat and shackled. Gavin nodded to him awkwardly and looked at Lucifer for an explanation. Lucifer reached back and pushed Gavin’s headset at him. Gavin put the headset on and buckled himself in. The door closed automatically and locked. The helicopter then lifted from the deck of the
Dragon
, tilted to the side, and shot over the sea. They flew low over the green ocean.

“Good afternoon, everyone. You might be wondering who our guest passenger is, so let me address this first. Twelve hours ago, I might have introduced him as your temporary captain. But sadly I’ve learned that he took matters into his own hands and tried to undermine our mission for a little…what would you call it? Influence?” Lucifer turned around in his seat and patted the captain hard on the shoulder.

The captain pulled away. “Get your fuckin’ hands off me. Just take me back to the landing pad, and I’ll be outta your hair.”

“I’m not sure I can do that for you. You see, we have an interesting policy on the
Dragon
for defectors. It’s called eternal silence.” He looked out the windshield as they climbed above one thousand feet over the water. “Any guess how deep the ocean is here?”

Joshua looked at his father and shrugged. Gavin just shook his head and used his index and middle fingers to tell Joshua to put his eyes to the floor.

“Must be a couple hundred feet at least. That would be hell to work your way out of, don’t you think, Captain? Do you think cutting out the main bilge pumps as we headed into the tsunami put us on a course with the seafloor? I’m sure you must have estimated the depth.”

The seat-belt tensioners yanked Noila, Gavin, and Joshua back in their seats. The helicopter dove toward the water. When they were about a hundred feet above the ocean, the door next to Joshua and the haggard-looking captain unlocked and opened. The belts strapping the captain popped off with a hiss. His hands and feet remained shackled, and he reached down to the seat to hold on. On Lucifer’s command, the pilot pitched the helicopter to its side, and Captain Bongri tumbled out the door, fell through the air, and disappeared into the deep-blue ocean. Noila’s and Joshua’s mouths hung open. The door closed, and the helicopter straightened out and picked up speed.

Gavin pressed his head against the glass; he was still reeling from the episode in Joshua’s mind. As he watched the water pass below them, he was pushed further into shock.

“Don’t worry too much about him. He has about three hours of oxygen and a homing beacon. The Chinese government, whom he works for, has been alerted. It’s up to them to save him. He endangered the world. I shouldn’t have let him live, but that type of punishment isn’t in my nature. I prefer to just teach lessons.”

Noila, Gavin, and Joshua exchanged looks of relief. An hour of silence passed; Gavin began to notice debris in the water that looked like human bodies.

“Are you seeing this?” he announced to everyone in the cabin.

“The tsunami that rocked the
Dragon
destroyed the Florida coastline and many of the islands out here. The debris fields go for hundreds of miles.” Lucifer was paging through some information projected in the air in front of him. “Don’t let it disturb you too much. There are bigger issues we need to focus on. The disasters have made it easier to keep the public from panicking about the news of the various world leaders who have perished. When your own house is floating away, you worry less about a monarch you’ve never met.”

A runway with an attached platform holding a few buildings and a control tower rose out of the ocean, breaking through the debris in the water. Small machines emerged from the side of the runway and cleared the water and debris from it. The helicopter banked toward the landing strip and descended. Gavin heard an air traffic controller clear the helicopter to land. The landing skids touched down on the white stripes near the end of the runway, and the rotors came to a stop. The captain announced it was okay for everyone to unfasten their seat belts and for the pilot to open the door.

“Anyone need anything before we get on the plane? It’s a fifteen-hour flight.” Lucifer’s left eyebrow arched. Gavin noticed he looked tired; deep creases lined his eyes, and his hair wasn’t as brilliant and silky as it normally was. His speech seemed slower; his mind clearly was somewhere else.