Journey of Rick Heiden Ch. 33-34

As we rose, I appreciated that I hadn't eaten for a while when I felt my stomach drop, and the air rushed past me. Flight packs may present a faster and easier means to reach a destination, but I didn't much care for the sensation of feeling exposed while flying. Within a minute, we landed at the top. The stream of people I saw entering the temple was moving far faster than I would have expected.

We unstrapped ourselves and left the pack just inside the temple door, out of the way. We entered level-two containment and saw Magnar at the open door of the level-one containment. A flashing light came from inside the portal room.

"You won't believe it," said Magnar, as we rushed to him.

The portal had altered its mode somehow. A sphere, a fraction of its usual intensity, rotated an open quarter wedge from left to right, like a revolving door. They stepped into it and exited onto the portal at Painshill Park. Laurel and another member of her group took readings from a machine and recorded images.

"After ten consecutive groups went through, it began doing this," said Laurel. "We sent a volunteer through, and they returned telling us they saw the park, since then, a stream of people has walked back to Earth."

I spoke to the line of people before us. "I don't understand, why are you leaving?"

One of the women holding the hand of her little boy and girl replied. "We know they have the diamond now," she said, "and they have blinded us to the other portal. They've sent drones. We don't know what they're doing."

"Look what the portal can do," said one man, "if this one can do it, then so can the other. They will come. We know that if we wait on Earth a day, it will give you five or six days on Jiyū to find the other portal and stop them."

"Yes," said another, "and until you do, the families that fled this morning were right; we must protect our children. If you cannot find it, and this ends in fighting, I don't want mine in the middle of it."

I heard much agreement from the others in the line.

David looked at me. "Our people are flooding into the park. I should communicate with the British Government what has happened, even if our people stay there only a day."

"It will look like an invasion if you don't," I said.

"They will need money," said Magnar.

"I don't know what to do about that on short notice," David said.

"Did you remember your mobile?" I asked.

He nodded, took the bag from my hands, dropped it at his feet, and pulled me by the hand to the orientation room of the temple away from everyone else.

"Are you okay with me leaving without you?"

"You know I'm not," I said, "but don't worry, I have plenty to keep me busy." I gestured that we should turn off our communication with Iris for a moment, and we did.

"What's wrong?"

"Neal's nanos have viral code causing his condition. Someone threatened the nano technician into telling me nothing about it and give the impression the cause was something physiological. He wrote the truth on some paper that someone compromised Iris. We're being listened to, David, just as I suspected."

"What a terrible time for me to leave."

I held him. "I think I can fix our Iris problem."

"How?"

"Our drone from Earth. It's independent. Can the Iris we have now disengage from the system, or like Venn, is she the system?"

David pulled back and shook his head. "Don't do that. Have a trusted group connected through the separate system but leave whoever controls Iris to believe nothing has changed. Don't give up your element of surprise and find them." David returned to my embrace. "I will leave you and Magnar as my proxies while I'm away."

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Magnar, because he sponsored me and people respect him, but you because, as my mate, people would expect it. I trust you. It would lower your standing in the community if I were to choose anyone else, and I won't have you dishonored. Magnar knows what to do but give your input as much as you feel necessary. Don't let Magnar's dominant personality run you over. You both have an equal say as my proxies."

"Very well," I said, "but you may find things different when you return."

"I expect it, just as long as nothing changes between us." He kissed me, and when our lips met, I sought to remember that moment. "I will return when I can."

"How will I find you if I need you?" I asked.

"I have my mobile, so call me," said David. "If that doesn't work, contact Amanda. I will make sure she always knows where I am. If that doesn't work, I have the GPS tag Katheryn hid in Amaré's jacket. Katheryn knows how to track it. Yes, I know, don't trust Katheryn, but I know of no other means to find me unless it's the blog, which I may not have access to if all else has failed. So that you know, I never had the chance to tell Aiden or Maggie that I was leaving."

I accepted it as coincidental of its previous usage, but I came to call that day: D-day. Not because troops stormed the beach at Normandy, but because the day resulted in a succession of ten "D" words summing up the day to perfection. Up to then, we had the death, the disclosure, the diamond, the device, the destruction, and the darkness. We had arrived at the departure, and I would see three others before the completion of my day.

He looked at me, smiling. "We're alone here, and for as much as I like to take my time, I could give you a load for the road."

"You mean, fuck me here?" I shook my head. "I'll smell like sex, and I prefer to shower afterward." I gripped the front of his trousers. "I would love to please you before you go."

He nodded and leaned against the table. He wore his uniform, so I removed his codpiece, marveling at the clever invention which allowed me easy access to my favorite toys; his cock and balls lay there on display. He had such a beautiful cock. I pressed it to my face and inhaled the aphrodisiac of his scent, it told me, I knew, that I had a strong connection to David. I sucked his left nut into my mouth, and it filled it like an enormous gobstopper, and I wished I had room for both. I did the same for the right one bathing them lovingly and cherishing that he appreciated the attention I lavished on him. He caressed my head and ran his fingers through my hair. His cock lay up my face and onto my forehead. I released his right nut and kissed the head of his cock, glossing my lips with his precum. It tasted sweet from all the fruit we tend to eat.

In one go, I shoved his cock down my throat because I knew he loved that. I wanted to take my time, but I knew I couldn't. I throated him repeatedly and used my hand on the way back up. I made as many slurping and sucking sounds as I could, and he came quickly. I gulped down his offering and almost stopped.

"No, keep going," he said. "I came too fast."

I continued to suck him. His erection never went down if I stimulated him. I jammed his cock down my throat and held it there making short, deep strokes. I pulled back and kept slurping on his cock like it would save his life. I sucked, slobbered, stroked him repeatedly craving that reward. I looked up, he held his eyes closed and my head loosely in his hands, lost in the pleasure. His cock stiffened just before he shot his second load. I pulled it back to my mouth and felt him shoot with my tongue. I gulped and swallowed as fast as I could taking all he had to offer me and loved every second of it. Once he finished, I cleaned his cock and balls of my spit, squeezing the remnants of his cum up his shaft to the tip where I gladly devoured it. Presentable again, I kissed the end of my favorite toy just before I carefully tucked him back into his codpiece.

Afterward, we stood next to the striped wood table, kissing our passionate goodbye and saying our I Love You in private. It came all too abruptly, but we had no remedy for the situation. He had to speak to the British government about our presence on their soil, and they would insist that he stay to fulfill his promise, and in doing so, it would ensure they treated our people well. I would have the hardest time, and David knew that. Once he left, the time for me would drag at a differentially induced pace of five or six to one. Five or six days for me would be perhaps a day on Earth. Even if it took six Earth months to make any headway, that would equate to a separation from David of almost two and a half jears from my perspective. When it came time for David to leave my embrace, I swore to myself I would cry later and not show him a puffy-eyed man bawling like a child as he went.

David made a Trust-wide communication announcing he had ambassadorial duties on Earth impossible to delay with his intention to leave, and that Magnar and I had assumed the responsibility of acting as his proxies until his return.

When he climbed the portal steps and looked back, I wished I had gotten the memory enhancement so I would remember that moment in detail. I decided then I would receive that enhancement before I left the temple. I did my best to remember everything about that moment. The way he moved when he took the steps and turned to give me one last parting glance. He smiled and nodded at me, telling me I knew where to find him if I needed him, and that I would see him again. He then vanished into the portal.

Laurel spoke to Magnar and me to discuss her findings for over an hour when a scuffle and shouting occurred behind us at the revolving door. It halted the progress of the exodus. I turned to see someone I did not expect to see. Two Trust members held a man by the arms, and he said in a loud and clear voice. "I'm here for my medicine. Would anyone happen to have a spoon?"

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

"What should we do with him?" asked one of the men holding him.

The face of the man in custody grew a sly grin when he turned his glare to anyone within view. "Yes, what will you do with me? Take your time; there's no rush."

Magnar insisted the families leaving continue their journey, or the portal would reset itself. I had the man brought to the orientation room that David and I used earlier, where Trust members dropped him into a chair at the table. I thanked them, and they glowered at the man as they left.

The room, the size of an average bedroom, had a bank of windows behind the man's back. They overlooked the red columned great hall, which made up the bulk of containment area two. Magnar stood behind me, arms folded, leaning against the wall. I sat across from the man and leaned toward him. "So, who am I addressing, Pearce or Zachariah?"

He tipped his head in curiosity and raised an eyebrow. "Pearce. And you have spoken to my mother. How is the dear old drug-addled witch? Still alive, I take it. That's surprising."

I reclined in my chair. "Nope, she's dead."

"What did you do, have a seance?"

"She died of hypoxia in my arms this morning."

He nodded a little. "Did Mother have a lot of pain?" he asked, sounding as if he hoped she did.

"I believe so. Her last words were expressing a fear that Jesus wouldn't find her."

He nodded. "That sounds like her. What a small god she had." He tilted his head far to one side to peer over my shoulder. "Hello, Magnar, still fucking Sandra at beddo parties behind her mate's back?"

"Sergey knows," said Magnar, "and that ended long ago, not that it's anyone's business."

"Of course, he knows...now," said Pearce, leaning forward. "I told him before I left."

Magnar pulled his sword but made no advance, "I should run you through for that."

Pearce drew back in his chair, putting up his hands.

"Magnar! Calm down," I said.

"I'm just making a point, Magnar," said Pearce. "If I must take my medicine, many people on Jiyū need a dose of it themselves."

"Point not taken," said Magnar. "None of the rest of us have committed treason, whereas you-"

"You have certainty of my guilt, but the innocence of the other- Ah, well, whatever the number of people on Jiyū now. Minus those people leaving, of course. Not since Aurum has the population dropped like this."

"You know of that?" I asked.

"What I know would astound you," said Pearce. "If knowledge has power, I'm the most powerful man on this planet."

"Uh-huh." He didn't convince me. "Out of curiosity, David left through the portal a bit before you arrived. Did you see him?"

"Yes, and I spoke with him. He arrived to find me in a restrained position, just as when I arrived here."

Magnar sheathed his sword and moved toward the table with interest. "What did he say to you?"

"He asked what I wanted. I said I needed medical help. He pointed at the portal and bellowed at me to go take my medicine."

"That sounds like something he would say," I said.

"I knew what he meant."

"So, he sent you through to face the consequences."

"Yes, and he told me to whisper something to you if you didn't believe he agreed with my return." When I leaned across the table, he whispered into my ear something he couldn't have known. "Iris is a problem."

I nodded. "Okay, I believe that." I thought about it for a moment. "And now, what's the real reason for your return?"

"I came to warn you, get medical help, and collect some of my things."

"Warn us about what?" asked Magnar in growing anger.

"Well, I note that parents with children are leaving, so I'm a bit late. You already seem to know the Americans will pour through the other portal as we do into the park. You did find the other portal, didn't you?"

"No!" Magnar pounced his hands upon the table and leaned into Pearce's face, "and if they're coming through, it's because you gave them the diamond you stole from the Louvre and told them of our vulnerabilities."

"I did no such thing!" Their faces were barely an inch apart. "And I did not give them the diamond. They took it from me!"

Magnar leaned in closer. "I don't believe you! What I believe is you're an agent of the Aggregate, and not to be trusted."

"I would like an explanation for your behavior," I said, "and don't think we'll send you on your merry way without one because I insist."

Pearce pulled his face away from Magnar's, glancing at me. "And the aggregate is..."

I stood to pull Magnar's furious scowl away from Pearce by his shoulder. "A singular serendipitous epithet for our diverse adversaries, although accidental, it's apt."

"I see," he said, and we both returned to our seats. "Well, I accept that I owe you an explanation, perhaps more so you and the others from the mission than anyone else. I know you've spoken with my mother, so there's no telling with what diabolical deeds she's attributed me, poisoning your mind against me. You said she died of hypoxia. She was smoking the weed when she died, wasn't she? That narcotic changed her perception. Couple that with the fact that she hated me because I reminded her too much of Jackson, and you have a recipe for saying harsh and untrue things."

"The truth comes unbidden," I said. "How would you know your mother told us terrible things about you if she didn't tell the truth?"

"Because she said harsh and untrue things to my face most of my life here. My 50 jear absence wouldn't change her."

I studied his face. His words felt true, but I excelled as an inadequate lie detector. I couldn't trust my judgment, and I didn't know if I could believe him. Neal told me Teresa didn't lie. Of course, that could just mean she believed what she was saying. I wished David hadn't left; he might have known the truth. I asked Magnar, who returned to the wall behind me. "Magnar, what say you?"

"I admit," he said, "it's consistent with her general behavior."

"Okay, Pearce," I said, "I tentatively accept that. I should tell you, however, that we read in your journals where you admit to torturing your mother."

"Ah! I see. Well, I didn't torture her. I just did things I knew would drive her mad. None of them worked, so I resorted to the weed. She couldn't resist it, and she told me whatever I wanted to know."

I sat there in shock. "You got your mother hooked on that noxious plant?"

"Of course not! What sort of deranged sociopath do you take me for? John caused that. She came from the American South and lived there during the era that doctors handed out opiates like candy. They had her addicted as hell, and Jackson encouraged that in secret. It made her pliable in the beginning, you see. Somehow, she and John, who worked for Jackson, fell in love. Once he discovered she had fallen pregnant, he brought her here to protect us. Luckily, he had exposed her to the Foundational Enhancement. It protected me from her addiction at the time of conception. If it hadn't, I would have had low birth weight and a collection of health issues if I survived at all."

"Why did John get her hooked on it?" I asked.

"He didn't intend that. As a botanist, he felt he could help her, so when they arrived, he got her to smoke the dried leaves of the plant to ease her withdrawal from the pills. With his assistance, it would have worked, but I understood he returned to the U.S. to take care of something. I don't know what. He hadn't planned to stay long. I suspect he intended to confront Jackson. At the time, Odette held the post in London. She sent word that John hadn't checked in with her as he said he would. After some investigating and time had passed, she believed he had died because he vanished.

"People who knew Mother, in the beginning, said they couldn't console her, and that John's death changed her. In my youth, she smoked for a while and sometimes quit. During an interval of sobriety, she told me of my father, but not his name, and as a last resort, I enticed her with the weed to get her to tell me the whole truth. I don't feel bad at having done that. She would have started again eventually. I left with David when he went for service on Earth."

Magnar spoke up. "In your absence, she continued to vacillate between bouts of indulgence and abstention."

"Why doesn't the foundational enhancement prevent addiction?" I asked.

"Because of the mental and emotional component that comes with it," said Pearce. "I believe my mother's anguish at the loss of John kept her trapped. She wanted to escape the drug, but she couldn't without creating an emotional distance from John. He did give it to her. However, when she stayed away from the drug, she thought more of John, and she couldn't bear that."

"Didn't anyone try to help her?" I asked.

"We tried to help her," said Magnar, "but nothing worked."

"They tried many times," said Pearce. "She couldn't let go of John, and after the jears of believing John was my father, I guess neither could I. He saved my mother and me. I revered him as my hero, and I held onto that. He felt so real to me, and I never even met him."

"You went to Earth for your father, didn't you?"

"Yes, I had a reactionary response to the news, I know that now. After Mother told me what she did about John, I felt desperate for a father, an alive one. Between the time she told me, and when I left, I resolved to find him, meet him, reveal myself to him, and in my deluded imagination, I would finally have a father. Mother told me I would regret it. If she could, she would gloat right now. In the end, Mother wanted me to leave. She said the older I became, the more I reminded her of Jackson. When she smoked, she always acted abominably to me. She hated him, and that hatred spread to me as a matter of convenience. I presented a local manifestation of him in her eyes."

"Are you like him?" I asked.

"I look nothing like him. I sound nothing like him. I didn't see any resemblance at all, physical or otherwise, and of course, he had no influence on my life during my formative years."

"Why didn't someone do a DNA test for you?"

"I thought of that," said Pearce, "they couldn't. John had no relatives here, and by the time it became a question, no DNA from him existed to test. And I couldn't test Jackson's. As a political figure, he never let anyone near him. However, he admitted something to me. During the conversation we had before they released me, I told Jackson he was my father, and he told me that he had a vasectomy before he married my mother."