Unity and Destiny Pt. 04

"Everything's better since I woke up," Selena said. "The pain is still horrendous, but I can tolerate it as long as it keeps decreasing."

Esther explained how she'd escaped the pain. "I wish I could help you. But trying to reach otherspace is like touching white-hot metal. I need more time."

Selena smiled wearily. "You already helped me. I know I'd still be incapacitated without a lifetime of dealing with overwhelming sensory input, and all of your techniques. It makes me worry about Nicola and Mark. And all the other Changed."

"Someone sent that vision," said Esther. "And as awful as it was, I think it might have been necessary. Disabling all the Changed for a while. A forced pause. Someone was coordinating attacks around the world, and if it was the Chosen, maybe this interfered with the plans. Maybe it even stopped a nuclear war."

Selena nodded. "I'm never going to forget this vision, for sure. You want to come on a walk? Javier said there was a good view from just up there in the hills, and it's light enough to see now."

Esther convinced Raj to come along by pointing out how much he might see with his own eyes. She went into the house and returned with Grace and a pair of binoculars.

It was a quarter mile to the top of the hill. Esther and Javier had come up here a few times. They'd even made love one night a few months ago, a giggling affair that left them dirt-covered and extremely pleased with themselves.

From the top, a sizable portion of the Bay was visible. Overwhelming all of it were two vast mushroom clouds, the flattened tops merging together and shading to pink and yellow with the dawn sunlight. For a moment Esther couldn't think of anything except pictures of nuclear bomb tests. But of course, it was the fires. They stood there for a while, speechless at the sight.

"That can't be just refineries," said Grace. "Could it? That looks worse than the Oakland firestorm. I never thought I'd see anything that bad again."

As they watched, Esther started to see signs of the firefighting effort. Planes, even immense helicopters circling to scoop water out of the Bay. They looked pathetic compared to the disaster.

"The bridges are all still jammed with cars," said Selena, lowering the binoculars. "Enough people abandoned them when they heard the radio warnings, and then everyone was stuck. Plenty of abandoned cars elsewhere, too, but some people are driving on the freeways. Still don't see any sign power's back on. A lot of emergency vehicles. Oakland looks all right, but I can see damage, broken glass on the skyscrapers. That blast must have been tremendous even from there."

"Police frequencies said they were sending everything around the Bay," said Raj. "All the fire trucks were headed towards Richmond and Martinez, to do what they can. You're right, Grace, those fires are out of control. Maybe that rain from last night will help things. Maybe we'll get more later."

Overhead there was the sudden roar of fighter jets, and everyone fell silent.

"The world didn't end," said Esther. "But the Chosen saw this. And I think they made it happen. They killed hundreds of people, probably, just in those fires. You were right, Selena. We should have found a way to stop them."

"We did what seemed best," Selena said. "And you said yourself the Oregon group were mostly keeping close to their colony. I doubt it was them, or at least they weren't alone. Things like this were happening everywhere."

"Do you think they caused—what happened in India?" Grace asked.

Raj shook his head, wiping his eyes. "Maybe they did, but Pakistan and India could have done the work all on their own at this point. That's the longer pattern that Geoff described, isn't it? Inflame sectarian tensions, anything that destabilizes governments. Individually we may feel smart, but together we are all such fools."