Regenesis (Book 1): Impact (46 page)

The
armored man nodded. “One cannot see the future because it is not completely
defined. There are events which will occur, that is certain, but the minor
details as well as catastrophes, personal choices, the results of wars, and
other events shape the future. Simply put: the future is not predetermined.”

“Then
what about the past?”

The
stranger admitted he was unsure why Drake had such a limitation. “What have you
witnessed thus far?”

“I
only watched some man propose to a young woman in Japan in what I could only guess
was thirty years ago or so.”

The
armored figure admitted he was uncertain why Drake saw what he had and only
offered the advice of continuing to experiment with his adventures into the
past.

Drake
thanked him and asked for his name.

“You
can call me Pyotr.”

“Alright
then, Pyotr, were those the only two limitations I need to worry about?”

“For
the most part. The only other restraint I can think to mention is that there
are certain times and places you cannot go to or see.”

“For
instance?”

“Christ’s
era, a majority of the dark ages, and primarily anything which surrounds
significant religious events throughout history.”

“Why
is that?”

“I
believe it has something to do with a religious barrier which has been set
around individuals with abilities.”

“Do
you think that means there really is a God of some sort?” Drake questioned him,
“That we might have received out abilities from Him?”

Pyotr
simply chuckled and said, “I am not one to press my beliefs onto others,
especially since I would hate to send you down a road that might be contrary to
what’s beneficial to you.”

“Do
you believe there’s a God?”

“I
do, but it has nothing to do with our situation.” Pyotr waited for a moment
before he asked whether Drake had questions he might be able to answer for him.

Drake
said he only had a few. “Firstly, how is it possible for me to exist like
this?”

“Could
you explain what you mean to me?”

Drake
extrapolated by questioning how he could survive moving at speeds beyond the
speed of light, as well as how he could continue to perceive light and sound in
an environment which neither light nor sound could travel in.

Pyotr
smiled and told Drake that his ability was far more complex than he realized.
“This place, this stopped time, isn’t traditional. As you most likely guessed, both
air and water are stationary in this environment, which means that
realistically you could not move through either rain or the air, as it would be
immoveable. The same is true for light and sound.”

“Then
how can I function here?”

“This
ability is more than a simple matter of time control, my friend. I am not
entirely certain of the possibility or classification of such a thing, but you
could call this realm a separate dimension from the traditional third and
fourth dimensions you are familiar with.”

“What
do you mean?”

“Basically,
this is a place that exists outside of the limitations of the first four
dimensions you are familiar with. Here you can walk through low density matter
in a stationary environment, you never feel hunger or fatigue, you are able to
hear and see even though you shouldn’t be able to, and your structural
integrity is fortified to withstand heightened speeds.”

Drake
looked away from Pyotr and mused at the thought of an additional dimension. “It
does explain the anomalies…would that also explain the minor healing factor?”

“Pardon?”

“I
entered this dimension as you called it with a minor cut on my finger earlier
in the day and it regenerated itself,” Drake explained. “Would that explain
that occurrence as well?”

Pyotr
slowly nodded his head. “It would. You could think of it as a failsafe against
a demise paradox.”

“A
what?”

Pyotr
repeated himself, “A demise paradox. It’s a term I made up to categorize this
phenomenon. Basically, if you were to be fatally wounded, stopped time, and
perished while time was stopped, only one of a few outcomes could occur. First,
you would die and time would remain still indefinitely. Second, you would die
and time would resume upon your death, as you could no longer control time.
Third, you could not die in the stopped time environment and as such, a selfish
being would remain living in the stopped-time environment indefinitely to
preserve their life. However this revelation solves for the dilemma; you are
healed whilst in this realm, which negates any need to remain here once healed.
It also safeguards against death in this realm.”

Drake
could hardly follow along with Pyotr’s reasoning. He took a moment to run the
hypotheses through his head once more before he asked, “You weren’t aware of
the healing factor here?”

Pyotr
said he hadn’t ever been injured and entered into that realm before. “It makes
sense though…I mean, some contingency needed to be in place, wouldn’t you
agree?”

Drake
didn’t respond.

Pyotr
paused for a moment before he asked whether all of Drake’s questions were
answered; Drake merely told Pyotr that he was satisfied and left the matter
alone. “Then I guess you and I had better part ways here. I’m personally off to
Iraq, so unless you’d like to accompany me–”

“How
is it that you and I can both stop time?” Drake interrupted him.

Pyotr
frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Is
there anyone else who can do what we do?”

“Not
to my knowledge, no.”

“Then
this is a completely new experience for you as well?”

Pyotr
nodded, “More or less.”

“Then
why didn’t I frighten you when we met?”  

He
smiled once more and said, “Drake, think for a moment. You were on the right
path earlier when you asked me how there could be more than one person pulling
on the reins of time. If there were two people who could manipulate time, they
would either have to act in tandem or neither of them could stop or move time
at all.”

“Then
how is it possible for you and I to be here right now?”

Pyotr
shrugged, “Maybe one of us isn’t who they say they are?”

Drake
stared at him. He felt his limbs stiffen and tried to make his mind about what
the man said, but Pyotr only chuckled and told him to put it out of his mind.
“I am not like you and that is all that is significant about my presence here
Drake. What I do suggest is that you try to solve your dilemma with whatever it
is you see in the past and apply it to your present.”

“Who
are you?” Drake asked.

Pyotr
turned away from him and vanished in an instant. And though Drake tried to stop
him, time was already frozen, which to Drake meant that Pyotr moved on a plain
of reality outside of time, which was utterly beyond Drake’s control and
influence.

The
meeting bothered Drake, but he knew that even if he turned and headed straight
for Iraq, he doubted he’d ever find the man again. As such, he relented and
returned to his wanderings through a stationary world.

---*---

Obscurity

Chapter
17

September
11
^th
, 2029

6:44
AM

Baltimore,
Maryland

Detective
Felton stood beside a mound of freshly unearthed dirt and grass. A deep hole in
the ground exposed the damaged and emptied casket of Jeff Foster, the eighth
victim in the case. The bitter morning held Felton’s breath midair as he
studied the roped off site. The grass was held erect in every place except for
where Detective Felton, the groundskeeper, and a few officers had stepped,
though from the recollection of the groundskeeper, who called in the grave
desecration, there were no footprints at the site. The only clue Felton had was
the Roman numeral carved into the headstone, assumedly by whoever committed the
crime.

Bryce
Maguire happened to be one of the officers who responded to the call first and
helped keep the onlookers away from the site. Felton called him over and had
another officer replace him. Bryce glanced once more at the open grave and the
Roman numeral for eight carved in the headstone before Felton asked how
everything appeared when he first saw it.

“Well
it was open, there were footprints, not that we’d be able to use them, since we
assumed they were from the groundskeeper, and you noticed the marking on the
tombstone…” he scratched the back of his head, “Does that answer your
question?”

“Not
really,” he mumbled, “But that’s fine. I think we’re done here.”

“Do
you think this was Cladis?”

Felton
admitted he wasn’t sure and started off toward his vehicle. He fished his phone
out of his pocket and dialed Sergeant Murdock, who responded to another
instance of an apparent grave robbery. It rang twice before the sergeant
answered, “Find anything worthwhile?”

“Take
a guess,” Felton sighed. “Who was the site for on your end again?”

“I
was lucky enough to have two cases on my end,” Murdock informed him. “Caroline
Reynolds and Tim Qing; both unearthed, coffins broken into, not opened mind
you, bodies gone.”

“Did
you find anything on the headstones?”

“Yep,
number four for Qing and nine for Reynolds, both in Roman numerals.”

“Same
here.”

“So
what do you think this means? Do you think Cladis is collecting the bodies?”

“I
don’t know what else to think at this point.”

“Well
what about the ones that were cremated?”

Felton
rubbed his forehead and said he was unsure. “Maybe he got to them before the
bodies were burnt and replaced them?”

“I’d
like to think that someone would have noticed they were cooking up the wrong
stiff. And that could even mean additional bodies if Cladis was stealing the
others…and why not use those if he did?”

“I
know, it doesn’t make any sense to me.” Felton paused and watched his breath
dance before him. “Maybe he doesn’t need the whole body, but only a part of
it,” he mused.

“Like
a piece or an organ?”

“Possibly.
He could take that before the cremation and leave the rest of the body to
burn.”

Sergeant
Murdock relented and told him he had a few more graves to check on in the area.
“I’m guessing anyone buried up to now isn’t going to be resting soundly,
judging by the number of calls we’ve received about the graves. Are you headed
back to the station yet?”

“Nope.
I have another graveyard to visit myself.”

“Do
you know which victims they are?”

“No,
but I’ll text you once I do.”

They
hung up and Felton unlocked his car door, entered the vehicle, and swore under
his breath as he started the engine.

---*---

7:22
PM

London,
England

Relax
Jason. They’ll no doubt marvel for a short while but you’re not going to be the
spectacle of the evening. Abigail will undoubtedly remark about the uncanny
similarities between the heroes across the world and my recovery, but they
won’t accuse me of having super powers…they shouldn’t. Audrey hasn’t told them,
she wouldn’t, I know she wouldn’t gossip about this. It’s going to be fine. You
haven’t had any media coverage, you haven’t pranced around London proclaiming
yourself a hero, the savior of the whole damn world, you’ll be fine Jason.
Breathe and relax. This is going to be another long evening in with her family,
you’ll stop Alan and Audrey from bickering, listen to Abigail’s stories and
Jack’s self-righteousness and the evening will go off without any
complications. Everything is going to be fine. Everything will be fine.

Jason
and Audrey drove to her mother’s home for a celebratory dinner. He wasn’t
comfortable with the pretext of the party but knew her family was simply happy
he had his health once more.
They want to see us together and see me whole
once more too. Maybe I am just a sideshow attraction now. I don’t like it,
leave it alone. Leave me alone damn it.
Audrey already voiced her concern
over Alan’s inevitable disapproval of her contribution of store bought rolls
but Jason assured her he would understand.
We don’t have any appliances or
kitchen supplies to bake or cook; store bought is all we can manage. It has to
be enough; we can’t do any more than that.

“Do
you think we should have at least bought fancier rolls?” Audrey asked him.
“Maybe that would have at least curbed his disappointment.”

“I’m
sure it’ll be fine.” Jason kept his eyes on the road but felt removed from
their trip.
Everything feels so slow. My head’s in a fog and I can’t think.
What was I working on before the accident? Was there a project I forgot about?
A meeting? How far behind am I? What have I forgotten? Oh Audrey we shouldn’t
be here I haven’t prepared enough for this I’m going to fall behind and lose my
job and we won’t be able to afford any place to live. I can’t, I can’t…

Jason’s
breathing quickened and Audrey took note of it. “Are you alright honey?” She
leaned toward him and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. Jason
snapped back to their ride together. He looked at her for a moment and he
returned to a rested, steady rate of breathing.

Audrey
studied him for a moment before she asked whether he was fine once more. “Are
you feeling ill? What’s on your mind?”

Calm
down Jason, calm down. What the hell was that? You can’t have a panic attack
about all of this. You were in an uncontrollable event and they are going to
allow you to take the time to return to work. But I shouldn’t have taken time
off for that vacation, it was planned and they knew about it, but, but I should
have stayed and caught up on what I’d lost. What if they’re already looking for
my replacement? It wouldn’t be too outlandish to assume so. I almost died. I
did die in fact. What if they are replacing me? What if they’re going to edge
me out of my spot in the company and I’m going to lose everything? Should I
start looking for work again, I mean I guess I need to though I don’t like this
I shouldn’t have to change my job because of this it wasn’t supposed to effect
all of this I shouldn’t have gone I should have stayed here and worked I should
have stayed here and worked oh my–damn it why did I go? Why did I have to go?

“Jason?”

He
stopped. Jason rubbed his eyes for a moment and apologized. “I don’t know why
my but my thoughts are racing right now Audrey. I’ve got a lot on my mind
between work and refurnishing our new home once we can move in.”
I have to
thank Jack for his help there. I wouldn’t have moved so far out of the city
considering where I work but he didn’t hold much hope in my survival anyway.
He took a breath and added that he wasn’t looking forward to their dinner.

“Is
it because of the whole rise and appearance of super heroes?” Audrey asked. She
frowned and apologized for her family, “They’re going to be excited about the
possibility Jason. You don’t have to tell them if you don’t want to.”

“You
haven’t told them have you?”

“Of
course not. That’s your news and I’m not going to say a thing unless you say
so.”

Jason
thanked her.
Of course she wouldn’t tell them. She’s not like that. Why
would you doubt her Jason? She’s your wife and she loves you more than anything
else. She wouldn’t betray you like that.
“Do you think we should tell
them?”

Audrey
shook her head, “I don’t see why we should. They don’t need to know, and unless
you wanted to come out and tell the world about your powers I would actually
suggest we leave them out of the loop entirely.”

Jason
agreed. “How are we going to explain this to them though?”

She
shrugged and said they could blame it on another hero.

“You
mean lie and say someone healed me, or rather brought me back from the dead?”

Audrey
smirked and said they could call the hero Lazarus.
At least she’s joking.
Maybe I should too? Though I guess my sense of humor’s been dampened since our
return. I need to relax. I need to calm down and relax.

“Don’t
worry so much Jason,” Audrey continued, “It’s going to be fine. Mum’s going to
think your recovery is amazing whether you were healed by a super hero or by
modern medicine…though honestly she’d be happier than anything else to know it
was a hero who helped you recover. But in the end they’ll forget about it and
it will end up being one of those old family stories our kids and grandkids
will tune out entirely.”

A
lie would make things easier.

“Mum’s
going to be more obsessed with the Human Titan and Captain Density than
anything else,” Audrey reminded him. “In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she
kept a little book with all of the names and powers of every super hero
collected in it.”

“Do
you think London even needs guardians like that?” Jason asked her.

Audrey
paused for a moment before she said she admitted that she couldn’t make up her
mind. “We have crime here in London just like anywhere else, so I don’t know
how to answer you. We have a police force for a reason.”

“I
know, I know,” he stopped her, “But do you think we need someone who can tear
an engine block in two punishing thieves?”

Audrey
shrugged and told him the heroes might help curb crime as a whole. “I wouldn’t
worry about it too much Jason.”

Does
it matter? None of this matters unless you plan on joining those lunatics. And
would you Jason? Why would you? Would you?

Audrey
glanced his way for a moment before she cleared her throat and added, “I heard
something about a few murders last week, all in Richmond mind you. The first
was somewhere near Saint Margaret’s, some young woman named…Smith, I think. The
police found her missing her lips and tongue. And the second was a man whose
body they found at Richmond Hill, drained of two liters of blood, surgically
drained from his body Jason. The authorities aren’t entirely sure how, a system
of syringes or something, but the news said it was the fourth in a series of
killings.”

Jason
admitted he heard about the murders as well. “But what am I supposed to do
against that Audrey? Whoever is killing these people is very meticulous about
the slayings and he is obviously kidnapping the victims first and then dumping
their remains later. I am not a detective and I don’t know the first thing
about hunting down some sort of…of serial killer.”
A serial killer? This is
insane. There’s one in the States I’ve heard about…what were they calling him
again? But here too? Two serial killers? It doesn’t make any sense. But there’s
something happening here, something obvious, seeing as how Audrey and the
public have pieced this all together. But I don’t have the slightest inkling of
where to begin hunting for this villain. I’m in the dark Audrey, can’t you
understand that?

--          --          --

“There’s
this one in Greenland who calls herself Foliage or something like that and
apparently she can make plants grow at alarming rates,” Abigail told her
captive audience. “And someone in Whales who called herself Wellspring, though
I don’t know how authentic they are, but the records show they might be quite
impressive.”

On
and on and on Abigail, please just stop. I don’t want to hear about every damn
one of them I’m not one of them and I don’t care if I could be they are not me
and I am not them just leave it alone you miserable old hag why do you have to
go on and on and on about this every single bloody time we see you?

Jason
sat beside his wife and Abigail on the sofa in her living room. Audrey’s
brother Jack and his wife sat on another sofa across from them with their
youngest, Alan busied himself in the kitchen, and Suzy smoked outside while she
chatted with her boyfriend over her cell phone. Abigail’s rant began long
before Jason and Audrey arrived and he imagined it would last long after they
left.

“I
suspected this for quite some time mind you,” Abigail reminded her son Jack,
“But now that they are here and fighting to save this world I swear I’ve never
slept better. This business about heroes and supernatural powers bothered me
for months I tell you. And now that it’s all out in the open I can sleep
soundly. Isn’t that peculiar?”