Stones: Experiment (Stones #3) (41 page)

Keeping a tight lid on the inner core of her own mind, she opens the outer layers of her thoughts slowly and tentatively to Yarah, letting her inside just enough to allow seamless communication, but not so deep that Yarah can’t be thrown out at the first sign of trouble.

It’s been a long time since Jhata has been in a person’s mind while simultaneously allowing them in hers.

The pleasure is intense.

Thoughts flow freely. Inside Yarah’s mind, the little girl no longer speaks like a child, but shows the intelligence of a fully-formed adult. From this vantage point, Jhata can ask and probe, confident that the answers are real. She can also kill instantly if need be.

Jhata begins.

Have you decided to join me?

Yarah’s answer echoes past Jhata, the sound coming from all directions.

“Yes.”

What about Matt and Leo? Are they not your friends? Are you willing to leave them?

“They are weak. I want to be strong, like you.”

But will you change your mind again?

“Where else can I find the power you offer?”

Jhata raises a Stone in her hand, the only Stone that she can carry into Yarah’s mind. A neon red blade rises out of its base as she steps forward into the innermost sanctum of Yarah’s mind-core and stares at a trembling web of thin flesh stretching from floor to ceiling. It pulses with varying shades of pink. She pulls the blade back, ready to severe it and end Yarah’s life at the slightest sign of deception.

Do you know where I am?

“Yes.” Yarah’s voice saturates the room where Jhata stands. “You are at the Core.”

I will kill you if you lie.

“I have nothing to hide.” Yarah relaxes. “I speak the truth.”

The relaxation in Yarah’s mind is palpable. Jhata pulls back, lowering her Stone. She has just received the ultimate confirmation she is looking for.

We can do great things together. As partners. Even the Lethonen will fear us. As they fear Matt.

“I have a question.”

I may not answer. Buy you may ask.

“Why are the Lethonen so afraid of Matt?”

Jhata pauses before answering.

If I tell you this, you must allow me permanent residence in this place.

“Agreed.”

They fear Matt because he is the only being to pass through the Eye of the Universe. He has been unmade and remade. His mind and body are inseparable. He can no longer be killed by force.

“Does he know?”

He may suspect, but he does not know.

“Then how can he be killed, if not by force?”

You ask many questions.

“And I have opened myself fully to you without requiring that you do the same. If we are to be partners, I need to know.”

Jhata smiles. Yarah is not timid. She is perfect.

It is simple. And I have already spoken of it.

“I do not understand.”

He cannot be killed by force alone. But he can be killed if his mind embraces hatred and fear. It creates an opening.

“I see. That is why you force him to watch the destruction of worlds.”

One other way is possible. He can freely and willingly lay down his power and allow death to come upon him.

“Are there only two ways for him to die?”

Only two. No more. No less.

“Do you fear him?”

Jhata hesitates before answering.

He will gather strength to himself. As his strength increases, our power decreases. If we ignore him, someday he will have more power than us. We cannot allow that.

“Agreed. But you did not answer my question.” Yarah’s voice speaks slowly and evenly. “Do
you
fear him?”

I fear for the loss of my power and domains. I fear the possibility that the universe may contain one who can become more powerful than I. But I fear no human.

Yarah is silent for a long time. “I sense deception in your voice. You
do
fear him, as you have feared no one else.”

Jhata does not answer.

“If you fear him, then he must be killed. What am I to do?”

His life is worth the blood of many worlds. As I destroy them one by one, he will break and embrace hate. If he sees that you have become like me, it will be difficult for him to resist the urge to hate. Show him that you reject him without reservation and have joined me.

“Yes.” Yarah’s voice reverberates through the room in which Jhata stands. “I will follow you.”

Jhata nods. However pleasurable it is to be at Yarah’s Core, it will be necessary to withdraw until Matt can be killed. She moves silently outward to the broad plains of Yarah’s mind on her way to the surface.

As she crosses the plain, the ground trembles beneath her.

What is happening, Yarah?

“I don’t know. Something—”

Jhata is thrown to the ground. She turns to descend through multiple levels back to the safety of the Core. Once there, nothing can harm her, and if necessary, she can kill Yarah for a quick emergency exit.

But the way is barred.

Jhata quickly reverses course, racing in the opposite direction to the surface and out.

But the exit gates have been clamped shut. No way out.

Yarah, remember our agreement. Let me go.

This time, no answer.

M
att watches as Jhata and Yarah stand together, eyes closed, holding hands.

How is it possible that Yarah has decided to embrace Jhata’s madness? How is it possible that this small girl has decided to become a murderer of billions? And if Yarah is trying to deceive Jhata, how can the deception possibly work?

As he stands pondering, a sudden pain slams into his head, followed by a ringing in his ears. A loud voice plays in his mind, like a pre-recorded audio message coming through on a jax.

“Matt. Listen to me. You have to understand. I’m sending this message to you. It has to be short so Jhata won’t find out.”

The voice of Yarah booms so loudly in Matt’s mind that he instinctively puts his hands over his ears. But the voice goes on.

“I learned a trick back in my world. How to hide my real thoughts in a secret place in my head where no one, not even Jhata, can find them. I can change my thoughts and become someone else. Someone evil, like Jhata. I tried it once and stopped because it scared me.”

“Yarah, what are you talking about?”

The voice pauses, as though waiting for it all to sink in.

“I’m going to make Jhata think I want to join her. She’ll come inside my head and think I’m telling the truth. For a while, I will believe it myself. I
will
be evil. Exactly like Jhata. It’s the only way.”

Matt marvels at how
grown-up
Yarah’s words and voice sound. “But Yarah,” he says. “How can you—”

“In a few seconds, I’m going to pull you into my mind. Jhata will be there too. You can fight her with your Stone. I don’t know if you can kill her. And she might kill you.” A short pause. “I probably won’t remember any of this when it’s over. I might not remember who I was before. I might not be able to change back. I might still be evil. If I want to join Jhata when it’s over, you have to kill me and take my Stone. Don’t let me be evil. It’s the only way. I love you and Jessica and Leo.”

The voice ends.

Matt spreads his feet apart and grips his Stone in both hands, bracing himself. A far-off chord begins to ring in his mind.

When it hits, it’s as though a thousand tiny strings in his brain are yanked with incredible force.

After a momentary blur, he sees Jhata on a wide-open plain about twenty meters away.

Sprinting toward him.

“S
he was our
angekkok
,” Eva says. “She gave her life for each of us.”

Eva stands in the center of a circle of silent people from the village, all survivors of the attack, all looking at the stone-lined grave dug through the ice and into the dark permafrost. A tightly bundled form lies at the bottom, carefully wrapped in the finest seal fur they could find.

Eva steps back into the circle between Jessica and the captain. As if on signal, each of them moves forward and casts their tokens into the hole. For some, it is a shark tooth or polar bear claw necklace. For others, it is a precious skinning blade, worn shiny from generations of use. One small girl pitches in a doll made from bristles of whale baleen.

The women step back while the men dump black earth into the hole. A long slab of two-inch plate steel scavenged from the ruins of the village is pushed on top to protect the grave from predators. As a final touch, they all kneel at the side and pour cold white granulated snow onto the grave with their bare hands. When they are done, the top is smooth and even with the surrounding ice.

They all stand back, forming a circle again. Sniffles and sobs whisper through the crisp arctic air. Even the captain reaches an ungloved hand up to wipe tears from his eyes. A polar bear sits on its haunches two hundred meters away, its black eyes staring in the direction of the group.

“Aanak is with our mothers and fathers,” Eva says. “She is happy. The time of mourning is over.”

The sobs and cries end as the circle breaks apart.

All eyes turn to Jessica.

“Let’s get back to the submarine,” she says.

“What about them?” The captain looks at the men, women and children of the village.

“They come with us,” Jessica says.

The captain shakes his head. “We don’t have room on the ship for a village.”

“Half a village,” Eva says.

Jessica picks up her rifle. “We’re not leaving them here. Let’s go.” She walks past the captain without bothering to look at him.

Eva falls in line behind her, along with the rest of the village, leaving the captain and his three remaining shipmates standing alone next to the grave.

“Let’s go,” he says.

M
att looks at the blue skin on his arms and legs. Even though he’s inside Yarah’s mind, the armor is intact.

Thank you, Yarah.

Jhata rushes at him. A thick, curved blade of white luminescence bursts from her Stone. She raises it over her head and lets out a war cry.

He waits until Jhata is five meters away. Then he lunges with the Stone in both hands and shoots a single bar of purple plasma from its tip.

A shield of transparent green energy materializes on her body. The plasma missile slams against her chest, throwing her back where she lands hard on the ground. Hatred, loathing and panic are all written on her face.

Matt keeps up the attack, raking Jhata’s body with a barrage of tiny red spheres that ripple across her protective shield, making it flicker and fade. She tries to scramble to her feet, but the hits knock her down. Holes begin to appear in the black kimono she wears, exposing splotches of pink flesh.

Just a bit more.

He bends over Jhata and shoots her at point-blank range. Anger and rage surge through him. His mind floods with images of her killing and maiming innocent people in the marketplace. He sees the smile on her face as she gloats over the destruction of an entire world filled with precious life.