The Great Altruist (5 page)

           
“That's easy: I want to see my parents again. But you've not told me why you came to
me
?” Jadzia asked. “It couldn’t have been just to help fix the past.”

           
“I came to a decision not long ago. I have a power that was given to me somehow. And even though I can’t explain all that I can do, I can still help. More than anything else, the one thing humanity has in common is a desire to fix a wrong from their past. They are always filled with shame and regret, self-loathing takes over and soon, they become paralyzed by hopelessness. Why should anyone have to live like that while I’m alive?

           
“But that’s only partly the reason I came to you. You know you’ve made mistakes but you’ve never let that change the kind of person you are like so many others. There’s one thing you want though, and it is truly noble.”

           
“I don’t understand,” Jadzia said.

           
“Sure you do. You’ve spent the last six years of your life surviving unlivable conditions, surrounded by despair, with the threat of death all around you. Besides the people with unshakable faith in God, you stood out because you thought of others. While the women around you cursed their lives, you only wanted to see your parents again.”

           
“How will I find them?”

           
Genesis grinned. “Has it occurred to you that since I already know so much about you, I already know about them?”

           
“Do you?” she asked.

           
“Yes. Come with me.”

           
Jadzia attempted to speak but the blue light enveloped them. They slipped into the stream of time and emerged a second later in a field of copper grass. As she looked around, she saw nothing but bare trees along the horizon in all directions and felt the crisp air gently touch her face. All over the fields were signs that autumn had gone and winter was near. She was naked, but since there was nothing to be seen for miles in every direction, she refrained from covering herself. Genesis hovered at eye level again with a forlorn expression on her face.

           
“What’s wrong?” Jadzia asked. “Where are we?”

           
“We’re in the future; about twenty years,” she said. “The camp that housed your parents does not exist anymore, and this field is all that remains of that horrid place. All the shelters, barracks, and evidence were burned and left here, where the earth reclaimed it. The people who died were left here as well.”

           
Jadzia looked down and saw a German pistol lied just under the grass. Rust had consumed it and as she brushed her foot against it, the brittle instrument of death crumbled. She crept away from the grass and ran to the nearest tree as she realized what Genesis was trying to say but seemed too scared to utter: her parents were dead, buried somewhere in the field. She fell to the ground and let out a terrible cry as the words reverberated in her head. Her parents were gone, and she would never see them again. Genesis rushed to her side, but there was nothing she could say. She hovered nearby and watched out for any signs of life off in the distance. Jadzia had collapsed against the side of the tree. Her back was bleeding from the scratches of the tree bark, but she didn’t seem to care. When the tears ran out, she just lied at the base of the tree and went numb. Before long, she fell asleep under the weight of her grief.

           
Jadzia awoke with a terrible headache. High above her, in the boughs of the solitary tree that supported her while she grieved, sat Genesis on one of its branches. She looked out across the horizon for signs of life. Finding none, she glanced back at Jadzia and descended to the ground. Jadzia remained numb and in a tightly-held ball, her back against the tree.

           
“Do you know what happened to them?” she asked.

           
“I do," she answered. "But I won’t speak of it. Some things are best left unknown. You already know of the things that went on in these places.”

           
Jadzia shuddered as the unmentionable memories of her years in the camp returned, images so terrible that she didn’t want to imagine what happened to her parents. No doubt whatever occurred was horrid and if she was ever to live a normal life, perhaps leaving their demise a mystery would help her heal. Still, her one goal upon her freedom was to find her parents. Now that she had, she was confused over what to do. “So, what now?" she mused aloud. "Where do I go from here? Do I go back to Poland and hope to marry? Do I stay in Germany or go to America?” As the immensity of the choices before her sunk in, the tears returned and Jadzia wept.

           
Genesis swooped closer to Jadzia. “I’ve not brought you here to see only terrible place.”

           
“I’m scared,” Jadzia said.

           
“I know. But I’m here to help you. I want to show you something.” Genesis waved her hand as she floated away from her.

           
She gained control of her emotions and slowly rose to her feet. After struggling to regain her balance, she followed Genesis into a forest over a nearby hill. There, scrambling in the leaves, she saw a fox chase a small rodent into a rotting tree stump. It tried frantically to catch its meal but the fox was left pacing back and forth, deciding if the catch was worth it.

           
“Watch this,” Genesis said with her hands on her hips and a broad smile
across
her face.

           
Jadzia saw nothing spectacular at first. Then, the fox ran away as the rodent scurried out of the stump and chased the fox. Just as the two animals were about to mate with one another, and as though coming out of a trance, the animals stopped and the aggressor changed once more. “What happened?” she asked.

           
“One of the things I learned while studying the stream,” Genesis said, “is how everything is connected. Since I can manipulate the energy within the stream, I can also modify the way things connect to it. What you’ve just seen is what happens when I take the consciousness of a fox and swap it with a rat. The rat believed itself to be a fox and began chasing the real fox to mate with it. The fox thought it saw an aggressive male rat in pursuit and ran. Once their minds were back in their bodies, their relationship returned to normal.”

           
Jadzia watched in awe as the rat hid in the stump while the fox hungrily paced outside. What struck her as odd was how neither seemed to notice anything had changed. “What does this have to do with me?”

           
“This is how you are going to see your parents again.” Genesis waited for a reaction from Jadzia, but there was none. Instead, Jadzia stared at her feet and examined the ground. “What’s wrong?” Genesis asked.

           
“How am I supposed to go on? They were all I had. ”

           
Genesis settled atop her shoulder and stroked Jadzia’s hair to comfort her. “I envy you. I don’t know if I even have parents. But I want to give you the chance to see yours again.”

           
“What do I say to them, that they won’t live through the war?”

           
“I would tell them how much you miss them and how much you love them.”

           
“So are you going to do to me like that fox? Transfer my mind to someone else?”

           
“That’s certainly the safest way. I can send you back to the camp as you are now, but there are risks. Sending a complete person takes more effort. It also takes longer than just a person’s mind. If you get caught, I can get you out but not easily – or quickly. And let us not forget that you will emerge just as naked as you are right now.”

           
“Whose mind will I be in?”

           
Something stirred in the distance. Genesis peered over her shoulder at the horizon and frowned. “We need to leave. It’s no longer safe.”

           
Immediately, Jadzia was whisked away to the clearing in the Canadian woods before she could respond to Genesis any further. The creek hadn’t changed since they left; in fact, the small pile of twigs used to cook their breakfast was still smoldering.

           
Jadzia fell to the ground near the fire and crossed her legs. Her shoulders slumped; she shook her head in defeat. “I don’t know what to do.”

           
“I won’t put you in the minds of the people who captured you; their minds are too poisoned. The connections to the stream are unstable. Putting you in an unstable mind can have terrible consequences for you. A part of you may be lost forever. I’ll try to find another prisoner then.”

           
Jadzia didn’t understand completely. She had never excelled in school in Poland and much of Genesis’s abilities were incomprehensible. None of her exposition mattered; there was only one solution: she didn’t want to see her parents in the body of a German guard, a nurse, or even another prisoner. If she was to speak to her parents, it needed to be in her own body, with her own voice. The risks Genesis spoke of were no worse than living life alone. Then another idea flashed through her mind. “What if I go back and save them? Like you saved me?”

           
“I’ve never done that before,” she said. “And I didn’t save you - I watched you suffer along with everyone else.”

           
“But can it be done?”

           
“Take your parents from their time and bring them here to you? Surely guards will notice their disappearance, and I’ve seen what happens to the other prisoners when just one disappoints. Hundreds of people could be killed while the Nazis look for your missing parents. That’s not something I’m prepared to watch.

           
“It’s different with you. You survived. No one’s searching for you.”

           
“You think no one would miss me?”

           
Genesis folded her arms in protest. “That’s not what I meant. But the chaos of the war’s end will mean many people will go unaccounted for. Besides, I can return you to the same moment you left.”

           
“I need to see them in person,” she said. “It has to be me.”

           
“Are you sure?”

           
“Yes, I am. I need to see them with my own eyes, and have them hear me in my own voice. If I am captured before you rescue me, then my fate will be the same as theirs.”

           
“I can’t let that happen to you,” she said. “I’ve come here to protect you, to see that you are happy - not dead.”

           
“I’ll never be happy if my parents aren’t with me.”

           
“That’s a noble thought, but what do you think your parents would want for you?”

           
Jadzia paused and stared back at the ground. “I don’t know,” she said.

           
“And you’re sure you want to go through with this?” Genesis asked.