Stones: Experiment (Stones #3) (28 page)

“W
hat do you think?” Jhata points at the interior of the blue dome.

Leo stares in amazement at the countless specks of light suspended in the darkness like diamonds. As his eyes grow accustomed to the view, he begins to notice the variation in size and color. Some of the stars burn white hot. Others are larger and red. Others blue.

“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.” Yarah flies past him, running through the interior of the dome with her arms outstretched, making noises like an air transport. As she runs, she opens her mouth like a shark and pretends to swallow stars and planets, squealing with joy.

The beauty of the scene pulls him forward. He moves among the stars, walking between them and through them. Focusing on a white dot hanging not far from his face, he brings his hand up close to it and tries to nudge it. But it remains motionless, burning brightly, passing right through the flesh of his palm. Leaning in close, he studies it.

Tiny flecks of brown and blue drift in the dark a centimeter away from it.

“Planets.” Jhata looks over his shoulder. “That’s the Oxzelian System. The core of the brown planet is solid platinum. I have an active mining operation going on there to decorate my palaces.” She stretches out her finger and touches the brown dot. It immediately expands out so the planet is the size of a bowling ball. “Of course, distances between stars and planets inside the dome are not to scale. But it’s a convenient way to keep track of my kingdom.”

“Your kingdom?”

“That’s right.” Jhata sweeps her gaze through the interior of the dome. “All of this is mine.” As she turns, she throws her head back and curls her upper lip.

Sparks of fear shoot up Leo’s spine.

“What about Earth?”

“Your home planet. What about it?”

Leo takes a step back. “Is it part of your kingdom too?”

“Not yet.” Jhata speaks without hesitation. “What a silly question.” Her hand reaches out to touch Leo on the cheek.

He tries to hold still, but his body instinctively moves back against his will, away from Jhata. Another cold chill tingles his spine. His gaze returns to the brown planet floating in the darkness a few feet away.

“Will it be?” He speaks without looking up. “Someday?”

“Why do you ask?” Jhata says.

“There’s someone else I know that’s trying to keep it for himself.”

“Ryzaard?”

Leo’s glance shoots up to Jhata’s face. “He wants to make everyone his slave, after he collects all the Stones.”

She smiles. “A very cunning man. I met him, briefly.”

He backs away, eyes narrowing. “Then you
have
seen Earth. You know where it is. What it’s like.” His glance drops to the Stones lining her waist. “You’re not just a fairy godmother, are you?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.” Jhata presses her palms together in the center of her chest. “But I can see that you’re scared. There’s no reason to fear me. In fact, I’d like to help you. Give you what you want. What you
really
want.” She turns and starts to walk through the interior of the dome, past innumerable stars.

A glance over her shoulder tells Leo that he is to follow. He stays a few paces behind.

“That’s why I brought you here,” Jhata says. “To show you what I have done. What you
could
do, if you want it.”

“What do you mean?”

“You said you wanted your own planet, like Yarah and Matt.”

“Yes, but—”

“As you can see, planets are a dime a dozen. Planets are nothing. How would you like your own star system? Your own galaxy? Thousands of worlds. Or more.”

Leo says nothing. Fear gathers in his chest, causing the muscles to tighten. He remembers what Matt taught him and tries to relax by focusing on a star hanging in front of his eyes and breathing in slowly, sensing the air flow into his lungs, imagining it moving out through his body.

Jhata walks on in silence, her voice trailing back into Leo’s ears.

“That’s good,” she says. “Let the fear drain away.”

“I’m not afraid.” Leo looks up from the star he’d been watching and walks closer to Jhata.

“And you’re not a good liar, either,” she says. “I sense your fear as clearly as I see you standing there. Let me tell you what you’re afraid of.” Jhata’s delicate hand moves out and cups a binary star system that hangs a few inches from her eyes.

Leo stares as Jhata speaks to him, afraid of betraying his true thoughts.

“You’ve helped people all your life. You have a gift for empathy. That’s why you’re such a good healer.” Jhata bends close to the two stars floating above her palm. “You believe in a fundamental right and wrong in the universe.”

“Don’t you?” Leo slowly lifts his head.

“Your belief is a flaw. It leads to fear, fear of doing wrong, fear of hurting people, fear of making a mistake. Fear leads to weakness. And weakness is one step away from death.”

“You’re saying that there’s no right and wrong? But how—”

Jhata lifts her hand to stop Leo. “Right and wrong exist. Most definitely. I’ll show it to you. Then you will understand. Come closer.”

Leo walks to Jhata. Fear floods his chest. He sees Yarah moving among the stars at the far end of the dome.

“Take a look at this binary star system. I acquired it many years ago from another Stone Holder, but I’ve never had time for a personal visit.”

Leo bends in close. Two stars hover above Jhata’s palm. Tiny flecks of purple, blue and red float nearby.

“I have absolute power over this system and the billions of intelligent life forms that inhabit these planets.” She bends close to the dual stars and extends two fingers to touch them. “I have decided that, for personal reasons, it is
right
to cause these stars to go super-nova. You might say it suits my fancy at the moment.”

Leo’s eyes open wide. “But you’ll kill all life on the planets within the system.”

“Like I said, I have decided that it is
right
to do so.”

“You can’t be serious.” He moves forward. “Why murder billions of people on a whim?”

“Because it is the right thing to do.” Jhata drops the tips of two fingers.

“No!” Leo lunges and grabs Jhata’s arm, trying to raise it up and away. “Don’t do it.” But it’s impossible to budge her hand, as hard as a rock. Dropping to his knees, Leo looks into Jhata’s eyes. “I beg you. Billions of innocent people. Men and women. Little children.”

Jhata looks on Leo, pity in her eyes. “I’m sorry you don’t understand.” Her fingers drop to the stars, brushing their surface.

On making contact with Jhata’s fingers, the bright dots start to change color, turning deep red and slowly collapsing on themselves until the stars disappear from view.

Leo stares, unable to move.

Minutes pass. Two tiny flashes of light form a ring and expand outward.

“Let’s have a better view.” Jhata waves her hand near Leo’s face. The entire system expands in size before Leo’s eyes until he can see it clearly.

Reaching out with both hands, Leo cups one of the planets that resembles a blue marble in his palms. It’s got white at the top and bottom, showing polar icecaps. Brown continents span the northern and southern hemispheres with splotches of equatorial green in the middle. Wisps of clouds swirl over vast oceans. On the night side of the marble facing away from the dual suns, dots of intense yellow mark cities where land and water meet.

It’s incredibly alive.

So much like Earth.

“Please.” Lines of tears stretch from the corners of Leo’s eyes to his chin, and he shakes his head from side to side. “You can stop it. You have the power. There’s so much life, so much to
live
for. You don’t have to do this. I understand what you’re trying to say. You don’t have to show me. Just stop it.”

“I don’t think you do understand, Leo. I don’t think anyone understands. That’s why I have to do this.” Jhata steps away, her face devoid of emotion, and turns her back. “If you had the power,
you
could stop me. You could decide what is right. But you don’t. That’s what I want you to understand. Power is everything.”

As Leo stares, the minutes tick by and the small ring of fire flattens out and nears the planet whose inhabitants will have no warning. He tries in vain to shield it with his hands, to hold back the impending destruction. Closing his eyes, he goes into his Stone to unlock its power, but finds it cold and dead. The fire of the expanding ring passes through his fingers without slowing.

“No!” Leo yells.

The edge of the ring gently kisses the outer rim of the planet. Its light blue atmosphere ignites, turning deep purple, then red, then pink. The oceans flash white. Billions of cubic miles of water instantly turn to steam.

As the leading edge of the supernova engulfs and consumes the planet, Leo notices another inner ring of grey.

The shockwave.

It slams into the planet, opening deep cracks of red in its outer crust, like the surface of a fragile broken egg. For an instant, the planet holds together against the force of the wave, like an armadillo withdrawing into the protection of its own armor. Within seconds, the laws of physics exert their ultimate authority. The planet’s mantle peels away and disintegrates, leaving a bright red core that persists for a few more seconds before fracturing into pieces and vaporizing.

In the darkness, Leo’s eyes reflect the blooming display of horrors taking place between the palms of his hands. He stares until the intense colors fade into nothing more than an expanding pool of gas.

“Beautiful, in its own way. Don’t you think?” Jhata stares over Leo’s shoulder.

“Billions of lives snuffed out. Destruction of civilizations.” Leo stands up and takes a step backward.

“But it was the
right
thing to do. That’s all that matters.”

“I don’t understand.” Leo’s eyes scan quickly for a door, but there aren’t any. “How can the murder of billions be right?”

Jhata folds her arms. “That’s the whole point. It’s right because I say it’s right.”

“But only God can say such things.”

“Precisely.” Jhata smiles and nods her head. “I’m glad you finally understand.”

“So.” Leo
does
finally understand what Jhata is saying. “Whatever you do is right because you are . . .” He hesitates before saying the last word.

“God. Yes.” Jhata spreads her arms. “I
am
the God of all of this. And whatever God says is right
is
right.”

Leo backs up another step, a rush of thoughts surging through his mind.

Just like Ryzaard. No. Worse.

“Why do you think that?” Jhata steps forward. “I’m not like Ryzaard. Compared to me, he knows nothing. He wants to destroy you, but I want to help. Help you become the god of your own kingdom. Help you get everything you ever wanted. More than you could possibly imagine. We could be—”

“Partners?” Leo says.

“Yes, partners. Allies. Whatever you like to call it.”

“Equals?”

Jhata doesn’t answer.

A giggling blur of color passes between them. Yarah stops, a huge smile on her face, looking first to Leo on her right and then to Jhata on her left. Her smile slowly fades.

Reaching his arm out, Leo draws Yarah close. “It’s time for us to go.” He speaks quietly, keeping a wary eye on Jhata. “Matt and Jessica will be wondering where we are.”

Yarah pulls back from him. “But I don’t want to leave. It’s so fun here.” She reaches her hand out to Jhata, her eyes turning upward. “Can I stay?”

“You can stay as long as you like, child.”

“But Yarah, you don’t understand.” Leo moves toward her. “We have to go. Now.”

Jhata drops a hand on Yarah’s shoulder. “Something has happened to Leo. He isn’t well.”

As she speaks, a searing pain pierces Leo’s spine at the base of his neck. It moves up the vertebrae to the base of his skull, spreading out across the back of his head, sending darts of agony into his eyes. It’s impossible to think. He tries to talk, but no words come out of his mouth. Dropping inside his own mind with every remaining ounce of concentration, he sees a small jagged dot, moving like a virus through his brain, cutting, tearing, destroying.

He turns to run.

“Where are you going, Leo?” Jhata says. “Let me help you. I can heal you.”

He’s in a full sprint, running for the spot where he entered the blue dome an hour before, the stars and planets of Jhata’s domain passing through his body as though he is nothing.

Five meters from the wall, the connection between his mind and body is severed, like a strand of licorice pulled too hard, thinning and snapping. His legs buckle, and he collapses to the floor. As the vision fades from his eyes, he glances up.

Jhata and Yarah stand over him.

“Poor Leo,” Yarah says. “He’s hurting so much inside his head.”

Jhata lays her fingers on Leo’s neck.

“Can you help him?” Yarah’s large brown eyes are full of expectation.

“Of course, child. I know just what he needs.”

“Y
ou’ve done well.” Ryzaard nods, almost imperceptivity, and takes a sip of tea while staring at Miyazawa on the other side of the table. “Complete conquest of India. Over 100,000 shrines, each with a trained priest. New worshipers numbering in the hundreds of millions. I congratulate you and your organization.”