Ascension (41 page)

“I thought we had a test,” she said, struggling to believe that such a thing had bothered her. “It just wouldn't feel right. He'd often give me a hard time for being lazy and for not applying myself. I don't want to disappoint him anymore.”

Monica placed both hands upon her shoulders. “I don't think that's even possible. He felt only pride for what you've become and achieved. Just like your mother would have done. Let's get moving, shall we?”

She guided her out of the classroom, along the school block's main corridor, and led her toward the staff parking area.”

“Do you think I could drive?” Katherine suggested.

Monica tossed her the car keys. “I can't see any harm in it. That is, so long as you follow my instructions.”

Katherine grinned. “As if I'd do anything less.”

The moment she started up the ignition, she could tell by the look on Monica's face that she'd immediately regretted this decision. Katherine then nearly clipped a neighbouring car, and backed into another upon her reversing. A few miles later, including the running through multiple stop signs, and occasionally excessive speeding, she eventually pulled up at the cemetery.

“How did I do?”

“It was not quite the worst driving I've ever experienced…,” Monica replied, weakly. “That dishonour belongs to the time I took your mother out for her first driving lesson.”

They left the vehicle and made their way up through the rows of tombstones towards where Duncan was to be buried. Aleisha and Gavin arrived next.

“The others aren't too far behind,” Aleisha said, holding a bouquet of flowers. “But it sounds as though Lance and Blake may be running late.”

She was surprised that Lance could even attend, for he'd hardly been able to move when she last visited him. As for Blake, she knew he had been assigned the task of following a lead as to the whereabouts of the mysterious winged Corrupted.

“How is Blake progressing with his mission?”

“Apart from his encounter with that earthen Corrupted – the very same one we thought we'd already disposed of, he was successful in containing the immediate threat,” Aleisha replied. “But he's yet to find the winged Corrupted.”

“Earthen Corrupted? You can't mean the one we fought in the city's centre?”

Monica sighed. “It would seem this Randall Waite is more resilient than we anticipated.”

“He's been moving underground ever since, making his way toward the coastline,” said Gavin. “And we're hoping that Blake can extract more information from Randall Waite to help us track down this winged Corrupted.”

“Sorry if I'm a little late,” Naomi huffed, ending their exchanges about the Corrupted. “I noticed there are quite a few from class who're now on their way here.”

“We'll wait – I really appreciate all the support they're showing me,” Katherine responded.

When Walter eventually arrived, accompanied by many members of the Project fit enough to attend, they settled in for the ceremony.

She heard so many operatives impart their experiences with her father during his lifetime. They spoke of events relating to the organisation with the upmost caution, aware of the many present who knew little about it, or even of the ‘
Project's'
existence. But the one thing that many expressed, and which touched her deeply, was how her father had had such a strong influence upon their own lives and careers. At first, she thought many of their words sounded stilted and lacking in real emotion, but their demeanour told of a different tale: for many had their heads bowed, wore sombre and grim expressions, and were struggling to hold back their tears.

“I worked with Duncan for many years during his time in the military,” said Walter in his eulogy. “He was a wonderful soldier, a loving father, and one of my dearest friends.”

Towards the end of the ceremony, Blake and Lance finally arrived and took up their positions as pall-bearers. The time had come to lower the coffin into the ground.

With a handful of dirt, Katherine slowly approached the grave and let the soil fall through her fingers. Both Lance and Blake followed, mumbling their last farewells. Lance once told her that Duncan had been like a father to him, and Monica's memories in a way had confirmed this – when she had seen the fate that had befallen Lance's own father. She had heard her own father's disgust about the way they'd neglected to take care of him, and over the past couple of days Monica had also said that Duncan had taken it upon himself to adopt a fatherly role with the boys. Katherine then thought about Blake. She still was unsure if she'd understood it correctly, but she'd learned that Blake might not even be Lance's brother, or even the offspring of human parents. Just by looking at Lance and Blake, she could see how important Duncan must have been to them, playing a role in filling the void of a childhood without parents. Despite the difficulties in her life, Katherine took great strength and comfort from the many lives her father had enriched during his time on earth.

As the burial drew to a close, many present during the service had already left.

“Did you want to see the game?” Monica asked. “If you do, we can still make it before tipoff.”

“I don't think he'd want me to mope,” Katherine said, looking down on her father's tombstone. “I wonder if they have any chance without Justin?”

“You'd have to ask Naomi. As I recall, she's the expert,” Monica replied. They found the young woman waiting for them near the cemetery's entrance. “By the way, I'm driving this time,” Monica said.

With Monica behind the wheel, they set off from the cemetery and headed back toward Anabasis High.

“I heard they needed to run some last minute repairs on the gymnasium before the season officially got under way. Has everything been taken care of?” Naomi questioned.

“It's all been taken care of,” Monica replied. “There shouldn't be any delay. I only wish the same could be said for the city.”

From what Blake had told her, and after his battle with the horned Corrupted, there was substantial work required from the organisation before the first game – to hide any remnants of the Corrupted and their struggle from the public. Many operatives had hastily worked over the last week to get the gymnasium up to standard. They'd needed to drain the gymnasium of excess water and fumigate to rid it of any insects that might remain in its walls. Katherine had also been told that once these repairs were completed, only then would they move to rebuild the city.

Now that the first game of the season was set to begin within less than an hour, she could hear booming music fill the air as she approached its front doors. Inside, the bleachers were packed with students and local residents. Many cried out and danced along with the music as the minutes were drifting away; the atmosphere was deafening and fuelled with a buzzing excitement.

“Over here,” Gavin shouted, having saved them some seats a few rows back from the main court.

Katherine gazed down at the home team's bench. “I still can't believe Blake made the team.”

There were a lot of things recently Blake had done that left her in disbelief. He'd even once said something nice about her; for he'd told Monica that Katherine fared far better than he had ever expected, and that he'd been wrong to question her fitness to serve as one of the organisation's Indigos.

“He's actually quite talented,” said Naomi, as they sidled along the crowded aisle to their seats. “He's not the tallest, but his athleticism is really impressive. There are some questions around his passing ability though; he can be rather selfish with the ball in hand. But if he manages to reign in his ego at the door, they may have a chance of reaching the national tournament.”

That sounds like Blake;
she thought to herself,
his own pride and arrogance are the only things that might hold him back.

But she also believed there'd been a notable change in the way he'd addressed her lately, as if a mutual respect now existed between them.

Since Monica had moved in with her at eleven Delphi Crescent, she had asked more questions about what she'd seen through Alu's illusions, but she had never brought up anything about Blake and cloning. It was difficult enough to even understand this notion of cloning, and she felt it wasn't her place to inquire about anything that wasn't on a “need to know” basis. Nevertheless, it certainly left her seeing Blake in a different light. Then there was the burden they shared. They were both Indigo's of the organisation, and would need to support each other before the end.

Naomi sighed. “Unfortunately he's no Justin Ellis. It's a shame he decided to withdraw from the team.”

Withdraw? I wonder how much she remembers,
Katherine thought to herself, and not for the first time.

“I think they'll be much better off without him,” she said, gazing down at the court where Walter was giving Blake a lecture about the fundamentals of basketball. “Breaking up with Justin Ellis was one of the smartest things I've ever done. And I think Blake could prove to be an even better player than him with the right motivation.”

She half expected Naomi to rebuke this remark, at least strictly on a basketball level, but her friend appeared distracted, distant and her mind seemed to be elsewhere.

The light's dimmed, and there was an announcement made for a moments' silence. She watched as everyone in the gymnasium closed their eyes; she could hear a number sob as the names of those who'd fallen victim during the ‘earthquake' were read aloud. Soon, the lights flickered and both team's players strolled out on the court.

“I'm looking forward to seeing the unveiling of our new school banner,” said Naomi, peering up at the rafters. “Although I feel as if I've seen it somehow before, and not in your sketchpad.”

“What do you mean?” Katherine asked.

“It's nothing really. I've just been having many strange dreams lately. Sometimes it feels like someone, or something, is calling out to me; trying to share my memories and desires.”

“I can relate to that,” Katherine replied, treading carefully with how much she should reveal.

Perhaps it's only a matter of time before a new Indigo comes into the fold,
she thought to herself, as she smiled back at Naomi.

Naomi giggled, giving her shoulder a shove. “You're just humouring me.”

“Not at all,” she replied. “There are some things in this world that go without a conventional explanation; things that are difficult to explain, but that we know are there nonetheless.”

Before the opening tip, a school announcer directed their attention toward the gymnasiums' ceiling. A red banner was soon furled; streaming down from the rafters. All could see the design weaved from Katherine's own imagination. She looked up in admiration of her handy work; at a banner framed with embroidered lace, and donning the school's new mascot in the centre. Her mascot, the one selected by the school to represent them thereon, was a winged creature of legend: with the brave head of an eagle, the hulking body of a lion, and its eyes speckled with gold.

Epilogue

Drained of almost all that remained of his celestial energy, the sun god crawled along a remote island's sandy shore. With what remained of Atlantis having sunken deep within the watery depths, Ra had soon after found himself floating aimlessly out at sea.

Despite the loss of his home, his resolve had not once wavered. As he'd drifted, carried by the ocean's currents, he'd dreamt of the many ways he could restore what was lost. But he knew there were certain conditions that needed to take precedence. First, he needed to rejuvenate his waning energy. Second, he needed to find those of his kin, who'd survived the conflict; who could help him rebuild their new world. Third, he desired to secure of a new land; a land suitable to reconstruct his ancient citadel.

He clambered within the sand, and he heard a loud hissing and snapping noise coming from behind the nearest dune. The sight of reptilian feet scurrying toward him then caught his eye. Initially he'd thought these feet belonged to a crocodile. But this lizard-like creature had the mane of a lion had an incredibly bulky hide, and was covered within tufts of husky golden hair.

“Ammit, leave my lord be,” he heard a familiar voice bark out from off in the distance.

Amidst the glare of a blinding sun, this figure: with a helm crafted to resemble that of a jackal, dressed in a pleated kilt that hung about his waist, and clutching a long flail of solid bronze, placed a clawed palm atop the head of this unusual reptilian creature.

“Anubis, you're alive,” Ra responded, toiling to raise himself up from the shifting sand. “Is Setekh with you? Where were you when Atlantis was lost?”

“My lord…, there is much I must tell you,” said Anubis, helping the sun god to his feet. “We've been betrayed by one most dear to our hearts.”

“Of whom do you speak?”

“My lord father,” Anubis affirmed. “I was unable to stop him. Both Isis and I found him meddling with the most forbidden of technologies.”

“Mer-Ka-Ba…?” Ra cried, as visions circulated within the depths of his mind of a world fragmented; with all earthen energies thrown off balance.

“Yes my lord. Within moments he'd lost control. I witnessed tears open from the cosmos above, unleashing the wrath of many horrifying creatures upon our earthly realm. I saw one of these creatures join with lord Setekh, corrupting him, and together I heard them declare themselves as the new ruler of this dimension.”

“Namtar…,” lord Ra murmured. “What is this creature that now follows you?”

“Ammit is one of those spirits that descended,” Anubis replied, guiding the sun god further into the depths of an ever-expanding desert. “But he has not once strayed from my side. We formed a bond of sorts, and he now calls me his new master.”